I made a mistake, I judged it on the beta which wasnt really fair in hindsight...players get lambasted fer doing the same thing here so Im guilty as charged. I take back my earlier doom and gloom comment if I could.
I just logged in fer an hour cos it occured to me I havent really done much freeplay...got a bit carried away with the initial missions and basically just getting used to the controls and flying. The flying part I love...takes some skill to stay airborne fer long periods of time, from steep diving to flying through waterfalls or skimming the surface of a river to cool down. Looks like a novelty item but its actually like a minigame in itself and can be very useful once ye learn how to use it in combat.
Ive unlocked a second javelin but find myself still loving the ranger which was my first choice. I unlocked the big colossus because Ive always liked point blank melee style fighting, and again assumed the tank would be the best...again I assumed wrongly and I should have known better. In me3 fer example, I enjoyed using the N7 vanguard fer up close and personal stuff which was, in reality, a glass cannon. Stats wise the N7 was one the weakest characters which relied heavily on powerful biotics and speed...health wise it was paper thin. Lotta guys used the geth juggernaut to farm platinums...I couldnt even survive a gold as a geth but farmed them with weaker characters.
Its a little detail but one that matters...to me anyway. Bigger is not always best, a common enough mantra in hundreds of games, elite notwithstanding. It matters cos missions will see variety instead of using whatever meta charcter exists...nothing as bad as playing with 4 juggernauts after all...doesnt really catch the moment.
Ive completed my first public event...alone. Felt good cos it was one helluva fight that really tested my limits...good practice fer what comes later methinks. The loot Im getting is still common and uncommon at best, but Im getting there.
I play by one golden rule...if I start a new game and Im still playing after 3 days then chances are I like it and its already worth the money.
Strong alone, stronger together freelancer ^
Yeah, I've played with all classes and Colossus is by far my least favourite. It suffers from the same predicament Storm does - very strong team support-focused Javelin, that therefore kind of sucks when left on its own. Interceptor, on the other hand, doesn't give a damn about others. Its damage output and self-sustenance is just amazing. It's highly single-target focused but can dispose of single targets so quickly that it doesn't matter.
And the Ranger - oh I LOVE the Ranger. First and foremost - it's Iron Man. And who doesn't want to be an Iron Man.
And second, Ranger is just good at everything. Single target DPS, AOE, priming, detonating, all kinds of status effects. If you prefer playing alone, Ranger and Interceptor are the way to go. Storm and Colossus are definitely awesome team players, but they are much harder to master if you want to really be useful.
As for the loot, yeah, the start is kind of slow but around lvl 15 when you start getting a lot of blue (rare) and some purple (epic) gear, things really pick up speed and you can start really focusing on various builds and experiment with them.
And I agree with what you said about flying - I love it. It feels great and it's not just means of transportation from one place or another but a real standalone gameplay element that requires some mastery. When I started, I basically spent two or three days in Free play just flying around, doing random events and exploring. I love the world, btw. There is a lot to be discovered in Free play and some parts of the map are really breathtaking.
So yeah. Missions are usually fun (I kind of love some of the NPCs that give you the missions and the radio chatter is hilarious) but I'm probably still spending more time in Free play just doing stuff and having fun.
I'm some 40 hours in, I'm not even close of being half way through the story, but I can already see this one will stick with me for a long time.
