Recent Game Highlights and/or Low Points

High: Just maxed my second manifest (on Xbox this time).
Low: It took me almost 1200 hours and around 3000 games.
High: That's around 500 hours quicker than it took me first time around.
Low: Still 72 URs needed to max my third manifest (back on lolPS3) so it looks like I'll be back playing Russian Roulette with the Collectors sooner rather than later.

cool stuff !! congrats, two platform maxxed stuff must be quite uncommon
seems pretty lot for a seasoned player ?!? i kinda recall <500hrs for a mostly plat player and maybe 700-800 for gold (edit, i did it in 950 but with a lot of silver)

might be overreach, but it s almost as easy to plug a laptop in your tv, install a ME3 and a controller mod, and enjoy hax, mods, and 60 fps on your TV screen.
But maybe the point of a console is exactly not having to bother with a PC, Or maybe is it more money related or both.

WARNING! It's numbers time

So, with the generally understood 7.5% UR hit rate per SP/PSP/RP/AP gold slot rate (no difference among the packs, except 1 slot for the SP and 2 for the latter 3), you are expected to reach max manifest (210 UR weapons) at 210/(2*0.75) = 1400 PSP/RP/AP's.
If ME3's RNG is any good, how much variance should you expect?

Binomial distribution says:
1400 packs --> ~50% probability
1500 packs --> 87% probability
1600 packs --> 98.5% probability
1700 packs --> 99.92% probability
1800 packs --> 99.9998% probability (1 chance in 50,000 of NOT maxing)

So even at the crazy 1800 packs, that's only about 30% more packs (and playtime) to meet. If it really took that much more extra time for you, either:
1) you are EXTREMELY unlucky (and ME3 RNG really, really sucks)
2) you didn't play as much Gold as you think (your credit rate was lower)
3) other people are underestimating the #hrs to max manifest
4) you bought a crapload of JEPs

I don't think early strategy would matter much as the vast, vast, majority of the credits is in the "end game" (everything but UR weapons maxed). As long as you are buying PSP/AP/RP. AP vs. PSP shouldn't matter.

... which all points to: ME3's RNG really, really sucks

OK, so if we can accept that it's not a massive stretch to believe that it might take around 1600 Premium Packs to max a manifest, the simple question is how long does it take a player to earn 99k in credits? If you can do it in half an hour it would take 800 hours to max, assuming the purchase of nothing but Premium packs. I wouldn't ever get close to that rate, ever, on Xbox, where 99% of my games (other than around 20 solos) have been pugging off-host.

My games played:time taken ratio points to 24 minute games, based on 100% successful completion, which is obviously not accurate. 30 minute games are very regular occurrences, and there have been enough tortuous duos or trios on Rio or Condor or Dagger Hazard which have hit the 40 minute mark - far more frequently than running into a team who can rattle off 3 games in an hour. I probably average something closer to 165k per hour, and everything about my game data would point towards taking around 1000 hours to max. I can happily accept that 100 hours on top of that is down to my own purchasing habits, where my fear of dropping below 50 of any of the main consumables results in more JEPs, or the fact that if I finish a 2-game session with an even 160k I will regularly buy a Spectre Pack along with an Arsenal Pack. That leaves around 100 hours of play over and above what I would have hoped for. RNG shenanigans, most likely.




1.I AM extremely unlucky when it comes to any interaction with digital technology (see my rant about computers for further evidence). I'm known as 'Bad Code' by my mates, many of whom are employed in tech industries.
2. I played Silver when my characters were leveling up the first time, and I don't do promotions, so I've played almost exclusively Gold since then. I only ever search UUG. The few Silver games I've played since the beginning have only been on the literal handful of occasions when I couldn't find a game on Gold. I've only completed Giant and Hazard maps on Plat, with around 60 or 70 games in total across all maps.
3. Probably the most likely scenario. BSN bias tends to make us think we're all elite players, whereas I've never made any claims to anything other than being spectacularly average. Experienced and reliable, yes, with a high success rate, but I've never exactly been in a hurry.
4. Undoubtedly more than strictly necessary, but I'd stop short of a crapload.



Yeah, the purpose of maxing things in the 'correct' order has almost nothing to do with maxing the manifest, but lots to do with how to be effective on Gold as quickly as possible. I have to point out that I play for the love of the game, constantly rotating challenges, with maxing the manifest only a by-product. I didn't start an Xbox account to max another manifest, I did so to play with some BSNers and Collectors. I suspect, ultimately, that just under 1200 hours to max is probably pretty average. I could have done it quicker but I enjoyed my journey doing it slightly more slowly while managing to have a few 'extra' shotgun amps along the way.

Nice stuff guys, it s cool to see how it goes around. I was already convinced console was quite slower with finishing games being more difficult and more slow. (edit i m not thinking nor telling its a peasant L2P problem)
WHen i maxxed mine (950 hrs with a lot of silver) my average time per game was 20 min.

High: After playing some other games the past few weeks, Balbock and I returned for some MP shenanigans for this N7 day! Happy N7 day to everyone, even if it is already over here.
We were quite rusty, but had the great pleasure to play with SenorZanahoria again to curry us. Or did we curry him? Nevermind It was just awesome chaotic fun as always
Our comeback was made with lovely Claymore TSents, followed by some Asari boom-booms and then Vorcha mayhem, before going for a break.

Some time later we teamed up with an old friend of Bai first and then Senor had some time again, so we played some more, and we even got vastator along for the fun!
A full team of Claymore HSols were no match for Trollectors, so they cheated by glitching one of the targets in W3, so we couldn't do any damage to it
Revenge followed and the same kits landed on London, with some Cerberus to take care of. It was lovely. For London anyway...
Since the lobby felt a bit buggy, we restarted and played a final match, this time on Plat, on Senor's host. Despite it being Glacier we had a great time with some Asari booooooooooooms again, so it was over very quickly, with almost no effort. I think Senor even had some gel left

Thank you all for the great fun! Hopefully it doesn't take as long as this time before we team up again

Some pics:

I watched this vid about seven time when it popped on youtube and had no idea what's the matter with it. Thanks for the clarification.

Got tricked by Alfonsedode into playing Platinum with vastator and eng57land. We got Geth/Palaven, Alfonsedode had connection problems, but we somehow won it as trio.

Damn, confused the numbers Still, the game was epic.

High: Alright, time to put this sucker to bed