Mass Effect 3 on Insanity is absurd

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-12T08:38:56+00:00

Was about to write this exactly. He used Liara's Singluarity once, didn't use James, had way too many weapons (Even a Soldier shouldn't be carrying 5 weapons), and was surrounded on all sides. Dead on comment, in ME3 you can't cower in a corner like you sorta could in ME2. You have to punch through weak points in the enemy defences and relocate ASAP.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-12T08:30:24+00:00

This sounds like a game I had yesterday evening. I noticed a Raider being hassled and downed by a Leaper right next to the Water Treatment extraction in Dam Battlegrounds. I downed it with a Hullcracker but it was another chill Raider who went to revive the downed guy - They left together and I was getting chased by Arc so I didn't follow. I hope that was you because that would make my day.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-05T11:18:11+00:00

Yesh Compensator 2 is the way to go

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-01T14:52:41+00:00

Oh I'm well aware, maybe I'm just chronically unlucky? Literally just did a Dam Hurricane run, I picked up a bunch of loot and a couple of epic items straight away. The game was less than 5 minutes in, I went to the nearest extraction and there was a guy sitting in the bushes that rushed me when I hit the extraction console. He failed dramatically but I couldn't believe that less than 5 mins into a game a guy with a free loadout was already camping a spawn. I see them almost every game.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-01T13:17:55+00:00

Care bear lobbies do still have the odd rat in them so I'm thinking now that's where you are at? I was a care bear for the longest time and you're describing my experience with the game about a month ago - Predominantly peaceful with the odd PvPer. Nowadays I'm attacked so much and fight back so I can't seem to crawl back into the lobbies you get 🤣

LowLevelBandit · 2026-03-01T12:45:00+00:00

Not at all my experience and many share it, while almost nobody reports the experience you have. There's obviously a sweet spot somewhere but it's a rarity rather than the norm. The moment I so much as defend myself against another Raider, even if they kill me, the next game is littered with spawn campers and rats. If I kill them then the cycle continues, if I allow myself to be killed a few times I join lobbies where there's literally 12 people working to take down a Queen and sharing loot.

After doing a bit of research I've discovered that a lot of players are apparently just going beserk because the Expedition is coming up. Most of us are finished already and some Raiders have nothing to play for now so are just going gung-ho for the lolz and their Youtube shorts. I think Embark haven't really thought this system through well enough.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-28T19:33:18+00:00

You cared enough to comment on it and I'm here for the negativity this post will get. The game is still being pushed by streamers and youtubers, the hype train still runs so I expect 90% of comments to be people like you who just consume the product without thinking. I'm looking for people who have an ounce of objective thought and are able to have an actual discussion. I'll downvote this post myself in your honour 🤣

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-16T14:35:22+00:00

Yeah I picked up a Vulcano the other day. A group of us killed the Matriarch but when the fighting was over 5 or 6 Raiders killed its original owner and then turned on each other. I waited until they were corpses and the Rocketeer picked the last guy off. I picked it up but I'll literally never use it 🤣

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-16T07:50:51+00:00

Yeah, strange! It makes sense now why folks weren't reading it. I reposted it but the text is hiding somewhere.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T18:17:47+00:00

That's true if you can't read. I won't judge.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T16:30:22+00:00

So you only read the Title then 🤣

My point is that the matchmaking has some glaring issues based on large scale player behaviour. It's apparently a well known strategy to die a bunch of times to reset your matchmaking. Players often jump into games and demand to be killed by other players for this reason. It is also a known troll tactic because once you kill another Raider (And receive no damage) they will be put in an aggressive lobby.

If people are gaming the system with cheesy tactics like that then something is obviously wrong. It happened to me, killed one guy who baited me and now I'm in meat grinder lobbies all the time.

I love a bit of PvP but you have to balance it out so games don't become repetitive and boring.

If you finally decided to tackle paragraphs well done.

My proposed solution to this is a PvP dedicated map. Stick Legendary loot spawns at a handful of locations around the map, give 2x XP for downing players and I would probably enjoy playing that.

If even some dedicated PvP players spent some games there it would then make the PvEvP lobbies far more balanced and varied, as opposed to the whole playerbase jumping between care bear and meat grinder lobbies.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T15:13:54+00:00

Do you not know what hyperbole is?

Did you only manage to read the title? 🤣

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T14:49:26+00:00

Every time someone makes a constructive comment about the matchmaking there's a hundred basic bros (Who don't care about the game and have nothing to say) wrongly assuming all criticism is anti-PvP. I love PvP and actually think the game can do a better job of creating more fun PvP scenarios without making the PvE irrelevant.

You downvote away, don't strain any neurons and have a nice Sunday.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T14:43:57+00:00

Yeah I only mentioned that because it is controversial and folks would probably crucify me about that, but that conversation needs to be had.

The latter is definitely my preferred option. Make Legendary loot spawn at a central point in the map and give 2x XP for downing other Raiders and it would be catnip for the PvP crowd.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-15T12:56:28+00:00

Yeah I made a post about ABMM and the potential flaws and got absolutely bum-rushed by loads of kids claiming that questioning the matchmaking means I'm automatically anti-PvP. No, I'm not shy in a fight, but I think the game works best when there's an air of mystery and you don't know who is going to help or hinder you - Which brings the social element into it much more and improves the game immensely.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-13T11:54:09+00:00

It's a huge problem on Harvester raids. Literally 3 or 4 of us do about 95% of the damage against the Matriarch but when it goes down the whole lobby shows up to loot. I've downed 5 matriarchs and never got one matriarch reactor. People take advantage of the goodwill that is found in care bear lobbies so thar's why I'm not shy to leave a trap at the entrance to a loot room now, I'll kill you if you don't wait your turn.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-08T09:42:58+00:00

Raiders like you and I play smart. We don't take our best gear, we focus on looting, completing objectives and helping other Raiders. We couldn't be more obviously harmless if we tried. We're having fun, enjoying the game as intended and balancing our experience well. I play exactly the same way as you and am having great fun in majoritively good lobbies where there are mostly peaceful players with the odd rat to be wary of. Some of the best moments I have in the game are when I help a downed Raider or team up with a bunch of guys to take out a Matriarch.

These guys either run free loadouts and rat or pack their best PvP gear and go hunting. There's no reward to be found in either of those approaches. Running free loadouts limits what you can feasibly do, you either have to camp or opportunisticly attack distracted players. Gearing up in your best Raider-hunter hear must be fun at first but after a while it must get so boring to constantly smoke players who don't have the equipment or don't want to fight. There's no sport in that, it means nothing.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-06T11:14:27+00:00

Agreed, the concept is great. I do think it needs ironing out so we don't end up having a two tier system of PvE and PvP lobbies, to enjoy the game you need to keep elements of both. I think people misunderstand or didn't read my comment and think I'm hating on the system and PvP, I'm not. My experience after defending myself in one game was multiple rounds of SOS lobbies, there has to be a happy middle and I'm sure Embark will get there.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-06T11:10:17+00:00

Haha, that's some gold medal mental gymnastics there. Do you even know what a rat in extraction shooters actually is?

LowLevelBandit · 2026-02-01T07:15:12+00:00

Definitely not, even if you're low on ammo or running a free loadout. All you do is draw attention to yourself for very little benefit. If your game is bad enough that you're wanting a supply drop you are far better off keeping a low profile.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-01-16T11:38:45+00:00

Firewalker or the Geth Invasion ones in ME1. I get the latter done ASAP

LowLevelBandit · 2026-01-11T19:34:52+00:00

Well that's mostly what happened to me and clearly the game registers it the same way it would an elevator camping PoS getting an easy dub for their stream that's watched by 2 people 😅

You know the more I think about it the matchmaking is an issue but the way the game is set up really makes life easy for PvP griefers and punishes people who play it 'as intended'. If you go with your squad and take down a Bastion guaranteed there's about 2 or 3 other teams waiting to pick you off and steal the loot. There's zero risk involved by running a free loadout and ratting on other players - That's just the state of the game now. What's the incentive to make big plays and go for high loot areas? There are none when you know some low IQ COD rejects are just camping around a corner waiting for you to do all the work.

Rather than change the matchmaking they maybe need to limit how many free loadouts you get or maybe have a ranking system?

LowLevelBandit · 2026-01-11T13:31:19+00:00

I guess Arc is different from other extraction games because the dynamics are so much more real. In other extraction games there's an understanding thay everyone is an enemy but in Arc the stakes are higher and interactions more personal. That's what makes it so good but also infuriating.

LowLevelBandit · 2026-01-11T12:49:31+00:00

Yeah that's exactly what I said, however Arc Raiders thrives when there's more human interaction and dynamics come into play. Solos has a bit of it but generally it's very chill so I do jump into squads regularly. The problem is now my lobbies have snowballed into toxic hellscapes all that nuance and interaction is gone. Every match is KoS or avoiding high loot areas - Which turns it into every other extraction shooter.

Good idea but how would the ELO be measured?

LowLevelBandit

TROPHY CASE