Twitchy Questioning 19: Le Gouffre Aux Twitches

(3) It's been asked and answered several times already. The answer is "no".

...

HOWEVER. I have all this crap in a Google Doc, so we may as well Tweet it @ Fernando. Listed below are the final questions I have gathered. Critique, rewrite, suggest ones to remove (particularly this - there are too many) and I'll hit him up with it later this week. Then I can wash my hands of this mess and finally reveal the origins of all the Twitchy Questioning titles.

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The final batch of questions. Critique and suggest ones to remove.

Equipment & Boosters

Equipment: several weeks ago you stated all remaining new Equipment would show up in the Store before it became a truly random rotation. Can you please force the new Equipment to drop over the next several weeks?
Suggested rewrite: Can you release all the remaining equipment right now since the last 3 weeks has been old equipment only


Any updates on ammo pack possibilities? Can you release an Ammo pack with level 1 Ammo of every type (Cryo, Disruptor, Incendiary) at an affordable price for newer player? They’re Looking Into ItTM.


Can you please remove the Supplies from everything except Supply and Jumbo packs, so we waste fewer credits on them when chasing Rares and Ultra-Rares?


Can you please lower the MF price of mod variants so we can get them in less than the 6-12 months it would take to accumulate enough MF for their current prices? (not exaggerating!)


Can you please increase the damage bonus from ammo? Even at Rank IV, 10% is not much of a bonus.
I think we should forget about this one and concentrate on the Cryo and Incendiary ammo questions


Can you please increase the damage dealt by Cryo Ammo, to offset the fact that it overrides the armor debuffs from Snap Freeze, etc.?


Can you please increase the damage dealt by Incendiary Ammo, to offset the fact that its non-DOT does *not* deal extra damage to armor? (despite what the tooltip says)
Suggest rewrite: Can you please increase the damage dealt by Incendiary Ammo DOT to offset the fact that Incendiary Ammo does *not* deal extra damage to armor?



Can you please increase the shield bonus from Cyclonics? Currently they make no difference to enemy Time To Kill, given the low base shields on player characters.



Challenges

Is it possible to adjust Map Challenges so they don’t require playing on specific difficulty levels? i.e., Bronze (or higher), Silver (or higher), Gold (or higher), Platinum (or highe- joking).
Don't think it's possible without patch


Can you adjust the Daily Challenge rotation to be less truly random? To have fewer repeats. So we don’t get stuck with the same map / enemy / etc. day after day.
While it would be nice, it won't change much in reality. I would put it at the bottom of the priority pile


Is it possible to reduce the number of points required for Tech Challenges? Those powers don’t deal as much damage as Combat or Biotics, so Tech takes much longer.


Is it possible to add Platinum difficulty Challenges? It would be cool to have red & silver nameplates!
Don't think it's possible without patch


Is it possible to add Melee Challenges? There are Challenges that track almost everything else.
Don't think it's possible without patch


Is it possible to add Weapon Challenges? Such as X points (*less than* 35,000!) with a class of weapons like Pistols or Shotguns.
Don't think it's possible without patch


Would you consider a grace period for in-progress Daily Challenges? It’s frustrating when you start a game with ~20 minutes to go, the game takes unexpectedly long, and you get no credit for what is now yesterday’s challenge.



Possible Future Support

Will the Apex HQ app continue to receive updates? (We know it’s a separate team, but we didn’t know where else to ask this.)
It will receive updates, I get the MP Builder data from there and the values need to be updated for the new stuff anyway. I don't see the point in wasting a "question slot" for that


Could you pin a list of known MP issues on EA Answers HQ, Bioware Blog, MassEffectDOTcom, or somewhere? Explain what can and cannot be fixed, and cut down on repeated questions and new bug reports.
Would be nice, but won't change a god damn thing


Because everything going forward will be a server-side change, can you please notify us when the changes are made? (esp. to char. skills) -- on the BW blog, Apex HQ, and in-game if possible. Otherwise, we have to figure things out by process of elimination.
They never did, I doubt they'll start now...


We talked about how enemies spawn behind players as result of arena map setup. Is it possible to set a minimum distance for enemies to spawn in relation to players? So we have more time to react.


Is it possible to make the timer on Devices slightly longer and/or pause the timer while Device is being worked? Currently, it’s too easy to fail - more frustrating than enjoyably frenetic.
The only way to fail this objective is to take for granted someone else will do it. It's a L2P issue, not the devs fault... Would be nice if the timer for the devices would beep for the whole 30 seconds instead of only at 10 seconds when it's too late, but I doubt this can be done without a patch.



Weapons

Halberd needs help. BSN proposes: Halberd was 189 Damage 300 ROF. Change to 140 Damage 405 ROF. This gives same DPS but in a much more responsive feeling gun.


Sandstorm needs help. BSN proposes: Sandstorm was 199 Damage 210 ROF. Change to 500 Damage 100 ROF. This increases DPS, but Sandstorm badly needs it. Plus gets it in line with other Rare ARs.


Valiant: Is it possible to reduce the in-scope view-kick? The huge kick makes its actual fire-rate *feel* bad due to visual recoil. I find I space out my shots too much, unconsciously.


Piranha: Can you please take another look at the Piranha? It's really awful for both an N7 and an Ultra-Rare. [would appreciate some numbers here]


Why do most SRs have a hipfire penalty? Shouldn’t SRs do same damage regardless of whether you Aim Down Sights (ADS) or not?
I think we can drop this one, too far into the support cycle to be changed...



Powers

Energy Drain: Is it possible to change rank 5B to make it a multi-detonator? Would make Exemplar better at dealing with Platinum armor hordes, and would also be nice booster to Asari Sentinel should she go Double Throw 5A+6A.
Don't think it's possible without patch


Game Mechanics

The Host Ping Indicator was a great addition, but it raised a few questions.
Host Ping 1 of 2: What does the indicator mean for the Host? (ex. you receive < 4 bars to yourself)
Host Ping 2 of 2: For non-Hosts, could you explain what the bars mean in terms of latency, packet loss, etc?
Would it change anything if we get an answer?

When looking at your telemetry for Platinum, what can you tell us about...
Telemetry 1 of 2: usage / success rate for certain characters (particularly Infiltrators - are they overused?)
Telemetry 2 of 2: usage / success rates for weapons (feels like only a few are Plat viable, which is boring)
No problem with this, but at the very bottom of the priority pile


Packs and Drop Rates

How are items weighted in packs? It seems like at any given rarity, items drop in the order characters, weapons, mods.

Are you willing to reveal the actual weighting of characters vs. weapons in Reserves and Arsenal Packs respectively?

What is the official rarity of Character Respec cards? (Out of curiosity.)


Is there anything that will change something whatsoever in these 3 questions?



[end]

Then again, store rotation today - or rather, the absence thereof - shatters any of that optimism.

It's just a big fuck you.., again...

I'm referring to the fact that they haven't switched UR weapon to character (buy for MF) for the third week in a row, which used to rotate on a weekly basis. By that I mean to say that he can promise all he wants but in the meanwhile, they've downgraded store rotation, shattering (my) hopes for spending some MFs on UR characters.

Sorry, I should have been more clear...

I can't remember the 960 MF UR not changing for three weeks in a row prior to this. But it could be me and perhaps you're right. It feels somewhat draggy to me, though...