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The Most Popular Class In Mass Effect 2 (And Other Interesting Stats)

by Matt Miller on Sep 07, 2010 at 07:23 AM

BioWare has revealed extensive data on their hit sci-fi action/RPG, demonstrating that some people have a lot of time on their hands.

In an article over at IGN, Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson shows off extensive telemetry that the development team has collected on the ways that players are experiencing their game. Information is gathered via players online, but no identifying information is tied to the details. Instead, BioWare can examine millions of users at once, determining what options and play styles are most popular. The subsequent information can be helpful in designing future projects, including Mass Effect 3.

Several fascinating nuggets of information emerge. Players play the Soldier more than every other class combined. 80 percent of players join the galactic fight as a male Shepard. The average completion time stands at 33 hours.

In addition to general stats, BioWare also examines the outliers. Four Xbox 360 players got all the way through the game 23 times. There are also a number of players that took 66 hours to get through a single playthrough. So, as it turns out, there are people who like Mass Effect better than you -- or at least have a whole lot more free time than you.