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Commander Shepard abilities will reset in ME2

Hope you weren’t counting on importing a maxxed-out Shepard into Mass Effect 2. According to BioWare, Shepard’s abilities will be reset to zero for the sequel that an improved system can be implemented. However, the story won’t be exercising selective amnesia -- it will delve a bit into why Shepard is now weaker than before.
"There’s something that’s happening with the story that explains what happens with your abilities," lead designer Casey Hudson told Computerworld.

"It’s something we can’t go into detail about for obvious reasons, but it actually happens the other way around. Our goal with the story, in terms of getting the game started quickly and players into really compelling story situations... that dictated and allowed us to do certain things including changing the way that your abilities work and the way you develop your character."

According to Hudson, BioWare has gone in and "improved literally every system in the game," including powers, controls, aiming, stats and character building.

"All of those things have been dramatically improved, so there’s no direct way to map the stuff you had in Mass Effect over to Mass Effect 2 anyway," he said.

"That said, we’re taking into account all of your accomplishments in terms of building a character from the first game. So things you’d expect to be acknowledged, like if you were a level 60 character, or you were highly Renegade and don’t want to start out at the middle again."

"If you import your save game from Mass Effect, these kinds of things will be acknowledged in ways that map across to the new system. You will feel, even in terms of the character that you build, that you are continuing as that character."

So no worries, imported characters will remain fairly consistent going into the sequel. They just won’t be all-powerful. Look for Mass Effect 2 early next year