40% of you played the most boring class in Mass Effect Legendary Edition
I refuse to believe people actually prefer shooty man to space wizard
Last night, BioWare released a fun infographic with stats about player choices in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Most of it is pretty unsurprising, with players mostly choosing to be the good guys, opting into peace and Paragon points. But it also has info about what backgrounds and classes players chose. And I have to know, in a game where you're able to play as techno wizards and space sorcerers, why did 40% of you decide to play the class in which your only special skill is "has several guns"?
I'm talking to you, soldier players. The majority of Shepards ended up being shooty shooty men over having glowing blue alien powers that let you throw people across a room. 40% of people decided to play Mass Effect: Call Of Duty rather than be a tech expert that can literally launch fire at people. Baffling.
Does this mean that 40% of people who played ME don't know the joy of comboing a biotic explosion with your squadmates? The most satisfying *whoompTISH* sound as an enemy you left floating in the air suddenly hurtles at a wall on the other side of the map. (I know you can make two biotic squadmates do this without you but it's just not the SAME.)
I'm also very disappointed that over half of Mass Effect players chose the Earthborn background. That's the same energy as playing a human in a fantasy setting when elves, tieflings and dragon men exist. It's a space game! You have two options to be from space! Take them!
But I digress. I was surprised to see that 60% of players saved Ashley on Virmire to just 40% saving Kaidan, but he is a massive wet blanket so I appreciate that. The rest of the stats paint a very paragon picture: 96% of players had Wrex survive Virmire, 94% made sure Tali wasn't exiled from the Migrant Fleet after her loyalty mission in ME2, and 93% saved the Rachni Queen on Noveria in the first Mass Effect. (The tiny percent of folks who didn't select these options are monsters, just FYI.)
It's all very indicative that players really want to do the right thing. I know I certainly do. Hurting virtual people's feelings makes me sad, and I'm very much a creature of habit. Paragon playthroughs are often the best, because most of the characters survive, letting you hang out with them until the bitter end. Renegade playthroughs are supposed to be painted as the "Shepard is an asshole" runs, but they're more like "lol, everyone's dead cos you made bad decisions" runs.
I bet those Renegades choose more interesting character classes than you though.