Yuuup.

I thought it would be a trick passed down through the cycles, to convince the races of the cycle to devote their time and resources to this one big project.

Then they throw the bulk of their forces trying to retrieve the Catalyst (which should be in the Reapers' possession), which of course is going to inflict horrendous casualties. And if they're successful, they desperately ready the Crucible to fire and...nothing. It does absolutely nothing. And the decimated remnants of the cycle's forces are destroyed in one fell swoop.

So this is what I was expecting to happen. You ready the Crucible and it's a trap, it was a red herring, and you realize too late. But you've got the combined fleets of the entire galaxy right there...and they all say... "Well, we're fucked anyways - why not take as many of 'em down with us as we can?"

And if you had enough war assets...this cycle's diversity really pays off. With Shepard's efforts in uniting all the different races of the galaxy, all fighting together in a united assault...maybe you could actually stop them, in a stand up fight.

At least that's what I was expecting.