order of attack -- pacing and sequencing of MEA worlds

That would be a good premise for a sequel as well.  I think if we had a better understanding of how far away the cluster that the Kett originated from was in relation to Heleus, we could discern what type of invading force they could collect and when it would arrive.  As it stands, an older Ryder in their 40's or 50's could make a solid advisory role or NPC not unlike Hawke in DA:I although I wouldn't mind them breaking precedent and having your Ryder from ME:A be a squadmate with your psychological profile created during your playthrough determining the character that joins your new team.  Also, like you stated, if would be enough time for the inevitable internal conflicts between the respective races to surface making galaxy-wide relations less certain. 

I do think I prefer doing Havarl before Voeld, since doing Voeld really puts Havarl on a back burner and I have a tough time justifying going there. It just seems more logical to go from Voeld to Aya (dropping off the Moshae) and then directly to Kadara to chase down Vehn Terev.

This started with some comments in the Twitter thread. I started to reply there, but as my reply got longer and longer, I could feel Hrungr breathing down my neck, so I moved it to this thread.

So this is another example of Bioware designing the game particularly for me and not for the vast majority of players. The same thing happened with DAI and the Hinterlands -- my first PT I immediately figured out how to work that zone for maximum value, just by doing what I normally do in open worlds. While it's pretty widely agreed that BW fucked up the Hinterlands and blew the pacing for 99.9% of players, for us 0.1%'s, it was perfect.

Maybe DAI trained me how to play MEA? Eos was a bit disorienting at first, so that was my learning experience, but once I got to Havarl (which I decided to do before Voeld -- wonder what the percentages are on that choice?), something clicked and I figured out how to work each world. Fixing the Vault is almost always last, it's the closing scene of the act, at least for the first major visit. Side-quests can send you back to a world, but the main act closes with the opening of the vault (ha!) The exception is when there is a Priority Ops mission associated with the world, like on Kadara, then that goes last.

With where to end sorted out, let's look at the beginning. Getting all the forward stations manifested was always a priority for me. I wouldn't beeline to them, always tried to have a quest to put me in the area, but getting them set up for fast travel and, very importantly, healing and ammunition resupply, was a priority for me every time I came to a new world.

After that, what comes next is a matter of perference. Personally, I liked doing Alliances & Relationship quests on the world first. Next, or if there weren't any A&R stuff, do the "make the world suitable for an outpost" quests, which of course includes activating the pillars, as well as dealing with whatever the threat/political situation is. That stuff would take up the bulk of the act. I'd save the big battle/raid for last-ish, usually just before dealing with the vault. When some side-quest would bring me near a pillar, I'd cruise over and get that done -- I don't think I did them purposely after Eos, it was always because I was in the neighborhood.

As for Tasks, I consciously tried not to do most of them. If they were "Gather X of Y" type, forget it. If I happened to be right next to one on the way to something else, fine, but otherwise, ignore. The exception being the Memory thingeys, those I did try to get for the sake of unlocking that bit of narrative. Tasks that were more about going to strange places, meeting new people and killing them (j/k), I'd do if they seemed interesting. Overall, I don't need BW's prompts to get me to go look at their cool environment design, I'd voluntarily do that on my own.

Finally, one additional note. When a quest sent me back to the Tempest, I fucking went, without delay. Not only because I wanted to progress the loyalty missions of my crew, but also because I didn't want to tempt the bugged-out quest gods and screw something up. You play BW games long enough, you learn that going back to headquarters/your ship should not be delayed. Even if nothing sent me there, I always tried to go back to the Tempest after I did something major on a world, just to see if something was unlocked. And of course, if I had email.

The above worked really well for me. I really only got lost and fed up on Eos the first time. And I was able to avoid most of the dumb side-quests, with one exception. Contagion. What a PITA that one is! Avoid at all costs.

They could have added an ignore option to hide all the crappy tasks you suggest avoiding, but they didn't.

Can't we all just ignore tasks ourselves, without technical assistance?

Can't we all just ignore tasks ourselves, without technical assistance?

Yeah, I usually clear Havarl on the first trip too. I really wish Ryder had portable email. I hate having to go to the ship, cutscene take off, read email, etc. then cutscene landing back to where I just was because I don't have email access on the planet. Yet there are two terminals in the Tempest? Really, SAM? Why can't you download my emails to my onmitool?

No. Some of us have OCD that makes it really hard and stressful. I really would have appreciated a more clear indication of which task and mission is actually important for the story instead of making them all seem vital on the surface. How would scanning and sampling of potential food sources not be a priority when Nexus supplies are running out? If I could immediately see which task leads to something important and what doesn't, I could make an informed choice. There was that side mission leading to the revelation of the kett having profiles of MW species or something and the initial task description sounded completely unimportant! I wouldn't have done that mission if I hadn't been so bent on completing every mission on my first playthrough. And would have missed out on vital information about the kett, which are part of the main story arc. 

Thank you for creating this thread btw PapaCharlie-etc., great tips on how to go about it! I usually stay away from open world games because of my OCD issue, but how could I not buy and play a Mass Effect game? I never experienced so much stress playing a ME game but at the same time I feel compelled to play because I love the premise, the world, the story lines and everything. I just wish they had made it more linear and restricted like the previous games. My first playthrough of ME:A lasted a bit less than 200 hours -- that included a lot of time marvelling at the scenery and daydreaming and trying to fill in the numerous holes in the story with my own imagination. Now  I really wanted to start another playthrough but I'm wondering if I really should spend my few gaming hours on a game I already played and which will last another 200 hours, when I have so many unplayed games I could finish in 5-20 hours... 

Which brings me to another question I've had for a while: how many ME fans actually wanted an open world ME game? Why did the developers think fans would want that? Did they see a general trend in gaming or was it just a hunch for them? It would be fair enough if they had based their decision on some hard data, like the majority of ME fans playing open world games in addition to ME. But then again, they obviously did not quite know how to design an open world game if you consider the organisation of the mission journal and the pacing. During your first playthrough, it should be way more obvious to the player how to proceed. It shouldn't take multiple playthroughs when you consider that most players only barely complete a game once, let alone the fact that multiple playthroughs - > less money for the developer because they won't buy new games as long as they're playing the same game over and over. Perhaps it's mostly about the rushed schedule during development, but that doesn't change the fact that they truly thought that procedurally generated worlds could work and be genuinely interesting and attractive to players of a trilogy that was very linear and heavily story-driven. That just doesn't click, you know?