Time to lay down arms?

I might, depending on who is participating.

I think part of the issue is that the trolling behaviour wasn't culled during the period of ME:A where we weren't sure if DLC was coming or not. By the time news came out that no DLC was forthcoming a whole bunch of people ended up turning to private messages to hold conversations because it was the only way to have a conversation about it without trolls and flame wars. That's the sign of a divided community, if it had been stamped out early on it might have been overcome. The issue does also lie in part with those who got angry and responded to the eejits that were trolling, it only fed them.

Though there is an issue with the Mass Effect community, it's something I've spotted for years... everyone claims to love the series but there is constant abuse hurled at it at every opportunity. It's an incredibly negative atmosphere that's existed since before ME3 released, and it's no surprise to me that Bioware got rid of the forum as it was a terrible advertisement for their games. Some people genuinely show love and support of it, they make cool things to do with it, or discuss and debate the merits of the story, but the majority seems negative. I think it's a community-wide problem involving too much entitlement, too much racial/gender politics instead of enjoying one of the finest RPG's of the last generation and a great sci-fi setting.

ME3 endings didn't have anything to do with ME's death. It was a major clusterfuck and it's impossible to deny it somewhat tainted the trilogy, even after the extended cut. But it's also impossible to deny that ME3 was a comercial success and very well received by the critics. And indeed, it's an outstanding game, even in the close aftermath after its released this was acknowledge. Comments like the game is awesome except for the last 10 minutes were quite common. Morover, the Citadel DLC might not have removed the already mantioned taint the endings left, but it did closed the trilogy on a very high note. At that moment, Andromeda had everything it needed for success, it was only up to it.

It was not ME3 fault that virtually every major decision surrounding that game was a bad one. The concept of going to Andromeda isn't a bad one, but the justification was aweful. And everything that followed it was terrible.

ME3 has as much fault in this as the Big Bang. 

To be honest not many fans agreed with the critics, accusing them to be paid off by EA. There was  that controversy with having a games reviewer voicing a character. Even though there are some who said the game was fine until the ending, there were many others who disliked the railroading, weak villains and the constant auto dialogue from Shepard.

I appreciate the gesture.

Personally though I find any kind of forum policing... unnecessary?

Going maybe a bit on a tangent here...

Maybe that's just me but I don't even understand why threads get closed just because they've been going on so long there is nothing more to say. Like, why not let threads die? So people have resorted to shit flinging? Ok. So? Always takes two. So if these people engage in it, they want to. So just let them go on.

*insert granny voice*

When I was young... there was no such thing as thread closing, banning people left and right and reminding everyone to watch their language. I could necro threads from two years ago because I have something to say about the topic.

Now it's "this thread has run its course. CLOSED" and it annoys me. Even if people get stuck in a loop flaming their opinions, it's a free world we live in, you know?

Threads will die on their own when people get bored of discussing / insulting each other.

I get your point. The internet is rude in general. Which is why this is the only forum I'm an active member in. I don't like these flame wars. We have some pretty rude people on BSN who do nothing but insult others. Not cool. But I prefer that to the moral police actually.

I'm team free speech even if that means we all have to suffer through occasional insults.

Just my two cents on message board etiquette.

Yeah I agree I think ME3 is just as guilty when it comes to what happened as much as MEA was so for me they both share the blame.

People probably weren't expecting the series to continue after the ending debacle either but it did. They could have very easily just drpoped ME after 3 and just started a new IP to replace it.

That a nice euphemism for a major disaster that killed the franchise. Now, I don't think Andromeda is the worst game ever made, but it's not even close to be the miniminum it should have been. I don't want to make anyone feel bad for liking the game, but everyone should face the reality of the situation.

Sometimes I want to try to go back and give Andromeda were more try... and I simply can't. Maybe one day.

I remember people feeling very uncertain about Mass Effects future after ME3. I was surprised that Bioware was doing another game.

I agree with this as well...sometimes i feel threads are being closed prematurely even when debates aren't that volatile.