The game is slowing down. Platinum will be needed soon.

Gold in this really does seem very easy compared to what it used to be in me3 before everyone had god tier level x guns and op dlc characters. The first months I usually had to pick something like an infiltrator and literally carry with double the points of the next guy. In this game I usually get a full extraction every time and everyone seems to be able to pull their weight sort of. today I leveled up a krogan merc and was extracting almost every time even as a level 13 with a talon 2 or something. The krogan merc is hardly op and neither is the talon 2 but it was still a non issue (and I wasn't getting carried based on the points I was getting).

If you are level 10 + and you have an equalizer/vanquisher/talon even at level 1 you are pretty much gold ready. When i leveled up my angara avenger I was breezing through gold from about level 11 and towards level 18+ I was more focused on watching twich than actually trying in game since it was basically just spamming avenger strike and melee and if you max fitness and take bioelectric ward you'll only die if you run into a cluster of enemies. A level 20 avenger basically makes gold feel like a hybrid between bronze and silver. Several classes can breeze through gold like this. Asari adept and vanguards are 2 others.

Me3 definately was a lot more challenging. Even so I feel that a lack of maps(only 5 and they are not me3 quality) and boring factions are a bigger issue than a lack of platinum. That and many classes that feel unfun to play because their powers suck. I'm getting sick of spamming melee. And I hate that I can't even take half of a berserkers armor off with a maxed out full duration blast from the flamethrower even with a power amp, isn't it supposed to melt armor? Well it doesn't. Many of the abilities don't really do what they are supposed to do. Energy drain is supposed to strip shields, well even maxed out it just tickles them.

Maybe but a maxed overload can't strip shields off a silver remnant laser beam unit (whatever they are called). In me3 energy drain was great for stripping shields. In this everything is nerfed to crap, energy drain is just one example.

Yup, equalizer, vanquisher, or raptor and you're more than ready for gold.  If you play a character that's not weapon dependent, it doesn't matter what gun you bring in.  I've tried most of the guns on various characters.  It comes down to preference over the gun mechanics.

I think I know why the factions are boring.  In an attempt to address a lot of the criticism of ME3 mp (biotic elbow, stabby sword, mindless turrets, stalking etc), Bioware made an attempt to make the AI not resort to cheap tactics, but in doing so, the enemies are now just bullet and power sponge.  Add to that, we all now have incredible jet packs and our mobility is far better than the enemies.  It's inevitable this game has a ceiling on difficulty.  Without the cheap tactics and our new mobility, the new enemies just can't match ME3's enemies.  The outlaw are not comparable to Cerberus.  The remnants are a cheap version of the geth.  The ketts are a joke compared to either the reapers or collectors.

I don't think there are any characters that are inherently better than others for gold.  Like ME3, every character and class can do gold.  I've played with teams made up of all of them, and they've all extracted.  So far, I've only taken 3 into gold, and it was easy for all 3.  AA, SI, Salarian Operator.  Most of the gold teams I've been on were made up of mostly common humans and Krogans.  There is definitely no "power" build.  It's all what you prefer.  If you like guns, you will gravitate to soldier and infiltrator.  If you like tanks, krogans.  If you like biotics, adepts and vanguards.  I find the long reload and cooldown really downgraded the soldier and infiltrator experience for me.  If those two are taking that long, I'd rather not rely on guns and pick a power-based character instead.  I didn't like either of the Salarians I took into gold that much when I tried using them with snipers, ARs, or shotguns.  Once I switched back to using a pistol and got nice cool downs, the salarians became a blast.  What can I say?  I like to see me some explosions.  One thing I will say about the SI, grenades are plenty in Andromeda.  I love putting two sticky grenades on a Berserker and shoot him so he gets angry and then do the Krogan battle cry just before the grenades kills him .  Good times.  Oh man, it's almost like the genophage all over again, but killing those angry krogans is so much fun.

I'm only getting my first few rare weapons and people are already getting bored with Gold? Seriously what...?

Either we have some ridiculously dedicated MP players around here, or I'm just playing it too safe right now on Silver.

The operator is very good and fun if you keep his cooldown low (pistol). He has overload so if you bring in some ammo consummables, he's loads of fun. As a weapons platform, not so much as all the weapons outside the pistols are so heavy.

I opted the SI for cloak duration and shield regen during cloak to help with saving people and getting objectives. Energy drain is a big disappointment. I did energy drain multiple and damage to shield. It's been underwhelming. I wouldn't call my build optimal. If I respec him, I'd put most of that energy drain into sticky grenades.

For offensive, I went with power combo. For support system, I went with of health and movement. His cloak takes so long to cool down when sniping that I usually forget to cloak.

How useful is Invasion?

Cross eDongs later

I only have it up 3 levels.  It's good for stunning enemies so I can shoot at them without being shot back.  I haven't done a lot of experimentation yet.  I'm going to be away for awhile and won't be able to play this game for a month so been trying to get my fill now .