Hell, the first time I played ME3 MP, I was decent at killing things, but had no clue about powers or other tactics. 3 months down the road, I'm at a reasonable N7 level (for someone who only plays 3 hours a week), and I'm ranked 651 outta 10,000 players in Malaysia (which I think is reasonable when I only play 3-4 hours a week, and only started playing MP in late April).
First time I played, I was all shoot everything till it died. Now I play as an Engineer sniping with the mantis and using Overload to Reload Cancel and Crowd Control.
But yes, the hype was waaay to high, in hindsight. That said, I enjoy this ep - IMO it's the best compromise, and the core essence is there.