Mass Effect 2 - Firewalker and Appearance Pack DLC Released

[Dhruin]

BioWare has released the Mass Effect 2 Firewalker free DLC via Cerberus Network and the Alternate Appearance Pack for sale:
Two new awesome pieces of Downloadable Content are out today!
The first is free to all Cerberus Network (http://masseffect.bioware.com/info/cerberus/) members: The Firewalker Pack (http://masseffect.bioware.com/info/cerberus/) and features 5 new missions and introduces the Hammerhead heavy assault vehicle. The next is the Alternate Appearance Pack (http://masseffect.bioware.com/info/dlc/) for 160 MS or BioWare points. Download and equip new outfits for Thane, Subject Zero, and Garrus.

More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=14657)

[Krzychu]

The vehicle, I'll play! :)
But Horse Armor? Thanks, but no thanks.

[JDR13]

But Horse Armor? Thanks, but no thanks.


Exactly! That's the first thing that came to mind for me as well.

[Korplem]

Hah! That's lame. There needs to be a set of rules for DLC. Rule #1: NO HORSE ARMOR!

[pox67]

The DLC I really want is a patch to fix the mouse and a patch to change the FOV. Hell I'll even pay for it...

[JDR13]

What's wrong with the mouse?

[pox67]

There are some mouse settings turned on by default and they can't be changed in the options: smoothing, damping etc.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/761152/1

It doesn't seem to bother some people but I can't play this game as a shooter with those settings. My gun either overshoots or undershoots its mark. Also the mouse in the minigames is all elasticky and unprecise.

At this point I would seriously buy a DLC patch for these issues as I have only played a few hours of the game so far.

[bjon045]

It doesn't seem to bother some people but I can't play this game as a shooter with those settings. My gun either overshoots or undershoots its mark.

Is it like Mass Effect 1 were the more points you spend the more accurate it is? At least thats how I remember it was, I could certainly be wrong.

[Dhruin]

The vehicle, I'll play! :)
But Horse Armor? Thanks, but no thanks.

Come on, show some charity. Jack can't even afford a shirt!

[Korplem]

Come on, show some charity. Jack can't even afford a shirt!

Actually, her uniform was Captain's orders. ;)

[Maylander]

Is it like Mass Effect 1 were the more points you spend the more accurate it is? At least thats how I remember it was, I could certainly be wrong.

No, they removed that. It plays like a shooter.

[pox67]

Is it like Mass Effect 1 were the more points you spend the more accurate it is? At least thats how I remember it was, I could certainly be wrong.

Nah this is caused by how the mouse is programmed within the game. Nothing to do with in game skills.

[Arhu]

The DLC I really want is a patch to fix the mouse and a patch to change the FOV. Hell I'll even pay for it…

I want more. ;)
Mouse wheel support in menus.
Keyboard shortcuts to access menu items like journal, skills etc.
Keyboard shortcuts to change weapons.
Correct tooltips for keyboard shortcuts (they only show the defaults, which doesn't help much when the keys are remapped
No limit of savegame slots (they are limited to 50 - had to overwrite a lot).
Custom names for savegames in addition to the automatic naming.
Fix of or option to change the FOV. It was ok for cutscenes, but for the shooting/exploring parts it needs to be increased, at least in the PC version.
Improved minigames. Planet scanning with a mouse didn't work out too well. Way too much movement required.

[Krzychu]

Come on, show some charity. Jack can't even afford a shirt!

I know space is cold and all, but hey - once I finished her loyalty mission I made her wear those additional clothes for the rest of the game, so she shouldn't complain. Make do with less, I say! ;)

Keyboard shortcuts to access menu items like journal, skills etc.

This. I cannot comprehend why they dropped this "feature", if something so obvious can even be called one. I kept pressing J , O , and other keys throughout my playthrough even after realising there are no shortcuts.

Also: I think the mouse in minigames is unresponsive on purpose, to make them more difficult. When you get the "scanning" upgrade for the Normandy, you can move your mouse faster. Not that it was the best option imho, but, yeah.

[Arhu]

Also: I think the mouse in minigames is unresponsive on purpose, to make them more difficult.
I don't think so — the sluggishness in the bypass minigame for example was, at least for me, directly proportional to the current framerate. High framerate -> very accurate and fast mouse movement; low framerate -> prepare for reloading.

In the case of planet scanning, even after the Normandy upgrade it was tedious. I cheated and pressed a button on my Logitech mouse to increase movement speed even further but that only helped so much. The fact remains that you had to move your mouse a lot, particularly if you only moved in one direction. I imagine that the minigame works very well with an analog stick on gamepads … but not with a mouse.

[JDR13]

Nah this is caused by how the mouse is programmed within the game. Nothing to do with in game skills.

Are you sure it's not your framerate?

[Krzychu]

I don't think so — the sluggishness in the bypass minigame for example was, at least for me, directly proportional to the current framerate.

Yes, it was the same for me, but apart from that factor, I still think it was a bit sluggish on purpose. And I agree on scanning, it was tedious. The first 10-20 planets were okay, but then it got very boring very fast. Of course you don't have to scan most of them, since you never need too much resources in the first place.

Even so, I depleted every single planet, just so that I won't have to do it ever again. :x

[Korplem]

I don't think so — the sluggishness in the bypass minigame for example was, at least for me, directly proportional to the current framerate. High framerate -> very accurate and fast mouse movement; low framerate -> prepare for reloading.

In the case of planet scanning, even after the Normandy upgrade it was tedious. I cheated and pressed a button on my Logitech mouse to increase movement speed even further but that only helped so much. The fact remains that you had to move your mouse a lot, particularly if you only moved in one direction. I imagine that the minigame works very well with an analog stick on gamepads … but not with a mouse.

No, it was sluggish on a 360 controller. I had to keep tapping the left trigger to make my scanner jump around which isn't how they intended it but who the hell has time to scan so many planets with the speed they designed?

[holeraw]

Yes, it was the same for me, but apart from that factor, I still think it was a bit sluggish on purpose. And I agree on scanning, it was tedious. The first 10-20 planets were okay, but then it got very boring very fast. Of course you don't have to scan most of them, since you never need too much resources in the first place.
My problem was that I didn't realize that soon enough so I depleted a few clusters before I figured out that I'm never going to use all those resources.

Then at some point I suddenly imagined that I was standing across the room staring at myself spending hours doing all that dull scanning, slooooowly moving the mouse around and ... man... did I feel like an idiot! :lol:

[Arhu]

Sounds like a serious OOB experience! I remember having had the very same. ;)

I scanned only for what I needed (missed one final upgrade because of that) but I remember thinking at one point, "when ME3 comes out and it gives a bonus to initial resources for imported characters again similar to ME1 -> ME2, maybe I'll reload one of the later ME2 savegames and scan a bit more to prepare … *OOB experience* … or maybe not."

[Krzychu]

Then at some point I suddenly imagined that I was standing across the room staring at myself spending hours doing all that dull scanning, slooooowly moving the mouse around and … man… did I feel like an idiot! :lol:

Heh. Yeah, I'm not sure resource-scanning every planet was worth it... I could simply approach each one, read the description, contemplate the surface/atmosphere, check for anomalies, and leave.

@Arhu: The ME2 bonus for a lot of credits was actually extra resources!

On topic: The "New Content Available" button keeps redirecting me to "Checkout" as if I was actually trying to buy the Apperance Pack. Stop it, I'm not buying, all right?

Hint: In Cerberus News it's called "Apperance Pack 1"

[pox67]

I want more. ;)

Mouse wheel support in menus.
Keyboard shortcuts to access menu items like journal, skills etc.
Keyboard shortcuts to change weapons.
Correct tooltips for keyboard shortcuts (they only show the defaults, which doesn't help much when the keys are remapped
No limit of savegame slots (they are limited to 50 - had to overwrite a lot).
Custom names for savegames in addition to the automatic naming.
Fix of or option to change the FOV. It was ok for cutscenes, but for the shooting/exploring parts it needs to be increased, at least in the PC version.
Improved minigames. Planet scanning with a mouse didn't work out too well. Way too much movement required.



Lol, I just wanted a DLC worth of fixes. What you have there is a a full expansion worth of fixes probably at about $40.

All very good points though and I would love to see them patched in to the game.

Are you sure it's not your framerate?

Nah, I have a Core 2 Quad at 3.4GHZ and a GTX285. Even with AA on the game doesn't go below 40FPS (from memory as I haven't played in ages).