[All4BigGuns]

I find it rather interesting that just a short time ago there was a rather heated debate about weather or not Physical Adepts were under-powered compared to Cybered up Sams, who have access to such cheap augmentation; and now here we are lamenting the too high cost of said ware.

The Adept debate was specifically referring to the Non-Ork/Non-Troll Unarmed Adepts. And yes, they were stripped down to near worthless because apparently there were some who thought "it got ridiculous" the damage that the Ork and Troll ones could get.

[Crunch]

Or, you know, not. Unarmed adepts are pretty damned worthwhile, being among other things, nigh on unhittable. The Unarmed adept thing was the typical knee jerk overreaction by people who insisted on reading 5E in context of the 4E balance points. Come to think of it it was pretty analagous to this conversation. See also Riggers are Useless, Mages are Useless, Technomancers are Useless, Deckers are Useless, etc.

[lurkeroutthere]

First thought: If you have  3 essence left you are not a sammy. You list a lot of high end bio gear not available at character gen. Sure if you have access to all the bio in the book from start you can afford to rely on stats and skills and pat yourself on the back for it.

Second Thought: I for one believe you can have a discussion about agumentation costs without dicussing adepts. Don't get me wrong I believe there has to be either parity or distinction between the roles of sammy's and physical adepts.

[All4BigGuns]

Or, you know, not. Unarmed adepts are pretty damned worthwhile...

As an Ork or Troll, maybe.

Likely result of fight:
Human Unarmed Adept punches Sam.
Sam laughs, "That tickles."
Sam backs away and blows Adept's head off.

Now if Adept were Troll:
Troll Unarmed Adept punches Sam.
Sam gets Troll-sized hole through his torso and falls over.

[Mirikon]

Guns, this is why you need to actually read to the end of people's posts. See the 'nigh on unhittable' part? Yeah. You don't have to deal overwhelming damage so long as you can avoid getting hit, and have other things you do. An adept who puts all his points in Increase Reflexes and Combat Sense, combined with skills in other areas (like B&E), can be a very valuable part of the team. Having a moving target that you just can't hit can lighten the load on the rest of the team, especially if the adept is capable of drawing attention. And then there's the fact that knucks and shock gloves go off unarmed, making it an acceptable path, especially for stealth types. Maybe toss in a silenced pistol or throwing weapons for fun?

[All4BigGuns]

I saw that part. It isn't relevant. The fun of an Unarmed Adept isn't in the defense, it's in knocking some SoB's block off with roundhouse kick without having to be a fragging Ork or Troll.

The defense is just the gravy.

[Crunch]

I saw that part. It isn't relevant. The fun of an Unarmed Adept isn't in the defense, it's in knocking some SoB's block off with roundhouse kick without having to be a fragging Ork or Troll.

The defense is just the gravy.

And that's a point where you should have prefaced your statement with "I like." You're no longer talking about mechanical effectiveness or viability, but rather about what style of character you enjoy. That's fine and all, but "I enjoy the style of unarmed adept that is really effective in SR5 less than the style that was really effective in SR4" is not the same statement as "Unarmed adepts are no longer effective."

[MadBear]

First thought: If you have  3 essence left you are not a sammy. You list a lot of high end bio gear not available at character gen. Sure if you have access to all the bio in the book from start you can afford to rely on stats and skills and pat yourself on the back for it.

Second Thought: I for one believe you can have a discussion about agumentation costs without dicussing adepts. Don't get me wrong I believe there has to be either parity or distinction between the roles of sammy's and physical adepts.

I thought a Sammie was defined by his role, not by his gear. Next you're going to tell me he's not a street sam because he doesn't use a Katana? Glad to know you're here to set me straight about character roles. ;-) 
You certainly CAN play a sam with 3 Essence. You don't HAVE to max out every stat with ware to be effective. This one is an Orc with a Bod 6(, Str 5(7), Agl 5(7), and Rea 5(7). No cyberarms with maxed out Str. No Wired Reflexes. He does have couple of really good dice pools, and enough skills to be useful in other areas. He regularly takes out heavily armed and armored Trolls, without relying on too much ware. In our game he works. In yours? Maybe not. But I'm not playing in your game, am I?
Second thought: I only bring up the Adept discussion because it so closely parallels this one. 'Phys Adepts are -because of the high cost of powers, especially when compared to sammies and their cheap ware'. 'Street Sams got hosed because of the high cost of ware'. I brought it up to point out what I see as hypocrisy. This is just my opinion, keep in mind, but it looks to me like a bunch of different groups of people(with a great deal of overlap) are all complaining that their favorite archtype got nerfed and is not as powerful as they'd like it to be. Buncho stat crunching munchkins. The fact that you insist a sammie max out his Essence implies to me you are a munchkin.
Note that I am not putting a value judgement on stat crunching munchkins. If that's the kind of game you enjoy, then good on your for having fun. But don't insist  the game be changed for the rest of us. We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost(though I agree Crit Strike got necessarily nerfed), and Cyberware does not need to be made cheaper or more available, not for every group.

[All4BigGuns]

We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost

With Improved Physical Attribute, yes we do. If it were just a flat .5 Power Point per level (without the crap doubling effect tacked on in the previous edition), then we wouldn't see as many going for the "Augmented Adept".

[Crunch]

We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost

With Improved Physical Attribute, yes we do. If it were just a flat .5 Power Point per level (without the crap doubling effect tacked on in the previous edition), then we wouldn't see as many going for the "Augmented Adept".

I suspect you won't see as much of that in 5E, at least we haven't yet, becasue they effectively revalued ware and limited resources to make the opportunity cost more comparable.

[All4BigGuns]

We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost

With Improved Physical Attribute, yes we do. If it were just a flat .5 Power Point per level (without the crap doubling effect tacked on in the previous edition), then we wouldn't see as many going for the "Augmented Adept".

I suspect you won't see as much of that in 5E, at least we haven't yet, becasue they effectively revalued ware and limited resources to make the opportunity cost more comparable.

Key word is "yet". I'm sure that the ones that did it the most are already working it out.

[Mad Hamish]

We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost

With Improved Physical Attribute, yes we do. If it were just a flat .5 Power Point per level (without the crap doubling effect tacked on in the previous edition), then we wouldn't see as many going for the "Augmented Adept".

And people having a choice as to whether to stick purely with magic or put some augmentation in is obviously evil...

[All4BigGuns]

We don't need lowered Phys Ad power cost

With Improved Physical Attribute, yes we do. If it were just a flat .5 Power Point per level (without the crap doubling effect tacked on in the previous edition), then we wouldn't see as many going for the "Augmented Adept".

And people having a choice as to whether to stick purely with magic or put some augmentation in is obviously evil...

The choice would still be there, but with Improved Physical Attribute reduced to .5 Power Point, it would just be the ones who really wanted to do it doing it. The ones who did it because it's "optimal" probably wouldn't.

[ZeConster]

Wouldn't this devalue Attribute Boost?

[All4BigGuns]

Wouldn't this devalue Attribute Boost?

It's already 'devalued' by the simple fact that it doesn't affect anything more than dice pool, and if that's all you're looking for, Attribute Boost (Agility) would still be cheaper than Improved Physical Attribute (Agility)--as an example.