One of 2012′s most anticipated games, the Mass Effect 3 launch got off to a bumpy start with a few discouraging glitches and, more famously, an underwhelming (and arguably incomplete) set of endings. However, after BioWare refocused their post-launch efforts into a successful release of the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC, most of the controversy seemed to have passed – allowing the team to lock back into their planned DLC schedule. The Extended Cut bumped back the title’s first campaign DLC, Leviathan (which will hit digital stores in less than a week), but nonetheless BioWare has been churning out plenty of complimentary multiplayer add-ons (including new characters, maps, and weaponry).
Many players expected the stream of new multiplayer content to die-off as time went on – in conjunction with talk of further campaign DLC already in the pipeline. However, it now sounds as if BioWare is still preparing digital content for both single player and multiplayer fans – with the possibility of a new enemy faction for online play.
Members of the BioWare Community team took to Reddit towards the close of Gamescom to answer fan questions. Jessica Merizan, Lead Community Manager for BioWare Edmonton/Montreal, led the discussion – with the caveat that the BioWare delegates had non-disclosure agreements for certain topics. That said, while the group drops plenty of “no comment” answers, they also make a point of providing a few intriguing hints and refuse to outright deny specific lines of inquiry – which, in the games industry, can often mean a more official confirmation is already en route.
You can check out the full list of answered (along with plenty unanswered) questions at Reddit. However, since the thread has become pretty inflated, we’re going to touch on two of the most interesting responses.
Responding to a fan question asking why Harbinger (a pivotal character in Mass Effect 2) was relegated to a bit part in the Mass Effect 3 campaign, and whether the reaper character might fit into the Mass Effect 3 ”Leviathan” DLC story, Merizan offered a subtle confirmation – read: Harbinger will be referenced in “Leviathan”:
“Harby as he’s affectionately called is just one of many many reapers. He was important in ME2 because he was the herald, the reaper who scouted ahead and foreshadowed what was to come. There’s lots of great plots and unfortunately we can’t shed light onto all of them. I can’t say that we won’t expand on Harbinger’s purpose either, so try Leviathan.”
Given that “Leviathan” will cost players $9.99, it’d be pretty reckless for Merizan to recommend playing the DLC to the Reddit commenter – if Harbinger didn’t factor into the storyline. It’ll be interesting to see just how much Harbinger content is in the add-on, since the character was positioned as a major antagonist for Mass Effect 3 – only to appear in a few of the game’s Earth battle cutscenes.
As a result, it’s possible that BioWare may use the post-launch single player DLC to tell other stories that didn’t quite fit into the standard Mass Effect 3 storylines – such as the previously rumored, Omega. Of course it’ll be awhile before we know exactly which stories will get fleshed out with DLC but fellow community team member, Chris Priestly, was quick to confirm that more single player DLC is in production:
“There is definitely more DLC coming for Multiplayer as well as single play, but we can’t reveal the details yet.”
The prospect of further DLC for both singleplayer and multiplayer isn’t exactly a surprise; however, pairing Priestly’s response in connection with question he was actually answering - “Will there be more Mass Effect 3 enemy factions for multiplayer in the future?“ - has already led to speculation that BioWare might also introduce a new multiplayer enemy group (to join Cerberus, the Geth, and the Reapers), possibly in conjunction with a future DLC launch.
Could we see online players face-off against the Collectors or another enemy faction? It’s certainly a possibility. The developer could have easily retooled enemy assets from the prior game (or created all new ones). Although, it’s important to keep in mind that Mass Effect 3 enemies were designed with a “Horde Mode” in mind – which resulted in fairly distinct class-like enemy types for each faction (standard grunts, fast moving close-quarters forces, heavy damage tanks, etc).
That’s where the developers might have an interesting challenge on their hands, designing new enemy characters (since there’s no clear Collector analogue to the Atlas or Brute, for example) to fit the current gameplay format. Depending on the amount of new content produced for the various campaign DLC offerings, it’s possible that BioWare might introduce entirely new enemies (that could then be added to multiplayer) but that’s purely speculation at this point.
In the meantime, gamers can get their Mass Effect 3 fix by tackling the latest multiplayer operation “Alloy” – which charges players and the community with promoting characters to the Galaxy at War (2 personal characters, 50,000 total).
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for further updates on Mass Effect 3 as well as other movie, TV, and gaming news.
The Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC will be released for $9.99 on August 28, for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Source: Reddit [via DarkZero], BioWare
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“successful release of the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC”? The EC was just more crap added onto the crap ending(add an s if you’re not color blind) we got. But I guess that’s what they call a success nowadays.
That’s just, like, your opinion.
Honestly, I feel like the EC really tied the game together.
I like your Big Lebowski remark, but the EC did not tie the game together. It raised as many questions as it answered.
Well, I think it was at least a small improvement. Instead of getting our immersion broken, being given the same cutscene with a different color, and then credits all in the span of a minute, we get our immersion broken, a little more variety in cutscenes, about half of the plot-holes fixed, and an epilogue sequence that reflects our choices.
That is at least an attempt at improvement. It changed the endings from being universally hated by anyone with an IQ higher that 50 to like or dislike being a matter of opinion.
Yes it’s a small improvement, with an emphasis on the word small. I don’t know about you, but I am not satisfied with one of the greatest gaming series ending with a picture montage, are you?
Do you need everyone to write imo at the end of his or her posts? Of course its my opinion what else would it be? The added stuff didn’t do a thing for me. The endings are still crap and they’ll stay crap till BioWare retcons everything around when Casper showed up.
IMO (In My Opinion: for the people that can’t figure out that’s what forums are for).
How about actual pvp where you can fight other players ?
to the guy below me complaining about the dlc got anything else to cry about no one cares to the task at hand. if they added the collecters they could technicly add those scions as a brute type character and the specilized people (phantoms) would be the floating people that praetorians and u can add the exploding husks too that would be fun
Excellent way to introduce an article as inaccurate and biased.
I’m also amused at the “no Atlas or Brute type of Collector enemy” comment, because there’s apparently no geth equivalent to those enemies yet the Collectors *must* have them.
And the reason the whiners hate the Extended Cut is because BioWare didn’t spit in the face of everyone who respected and liked their work, because BioWare didn’t favour the people who viciously express their ignorance of the ending over the fans who actually acknowledge the events of the game.
While there may not be exact analogues for each enemy unit, they all follow certain patterns, even if each faction has different strengths over others, a new faction will be no different, though I agree with what you say, about the article and the EC.
Yeah, I think you’re overlooking the Geth Juggernauts and Geth Destroyers – both larger, more skilled and more armored classes. As it stands, Collector’s don’t really have equivalents.
And your statement that the intro was ‘inaccurate’ I’m not sure I’m clear on, but ‘biased’ is your opinion. But as someone who found the ending severely lacking, I don’t appreciate your implication that me or my friends are ‘viciously ignorant.’
Actually the Collectors did have Atlas typed units, the Praetorians.
If the Omega DLC ran in conjunction with a multiplayer release than I think all we can expect is a Collector faction supplemented by the new husk type of enemies seen in the comic where Aria loses Omega. I really doubt they will carry over Scions and Praetorians, seeing as how Ravagers do the job of Scions better and Brutes are walking Praetorians, except you can have a multiple amount of them. Bioware already stated at some conference that the Omega DLC was delayed because they had trouble working with the mechanics of a new enemy, i.e. The new husk in the comics (it has a name I just forget it) oh its Adjutants! Anyways that’s what we have to expect.
I think you illustrate the challenge that I see pretty well. The Collectors would make sense as an added enemy type that works with the DLC fiction (a marketing blitz of the ‘Return of the Collectors’ or something along those lines). But with Praetorians as….not as thrilling to fight in a Horde mode (in my opinion) the need to cross over certain enemies would start to erase the line between the Collectors and the Reaper types.
Maybe come up with new types for the campaign and then cross them over…?
You also cannot just mix in Collectors into standard Reaper forces. The rolls the various collector units had are already (mostly) filled by Marauders and Cannibals.
Ok, sure, there is a roll for the Collector Assassin, but that’s just one unit. The standard Collector Drone and the Guardian would be redundant.
The Collectors generally have enough troop variety to become a faction, though some more could be added. It’s not like lore is a problem, as the Geth get shiny new toys every game.
As it stands, here are the Collector troops and how the line up to niches already present in the game.
Standard trooper- Collector drone
Leader/improved trooper- Collector assassin
Special trooper 1- Collector guardian (will probably be re-named)
Special trooper 2- Harbinger!Collector
Large bulky enemy- Scion
Big Bad lumbering monster- Preatorian
With a few changes and some added variety, I can see them easily becoming an enemy faction.
Also, to anyone saying that we killed all the Collectors in ME2, the Codex states that the reapers were using Collectors against troops on Palaven. So they’re still alive.
Let’s get one thing straight here. The controversy has not passed and I, along with many others do not consider the EC successful. There are still plenty of plot holes and for any troll who responds to this with a ” get over it” remark, why don’t you actually tell me how the EC DLC fixed anything? If you need me to I will back up my comments, and I would appreciate if the trolls would at least try to do the same.
I agree with this post.
IMO
Ditto.
what if the “troll” doesn’t actually care whether the EC fixed anything and is just telling you to get over it? As in move on, it’s just a game, stop defining yourself with your dislike of things that you disagree with. Why waste the energy challenging people and just find something productive to do man?
I would have thought they would do it to start with by way not have the reapers them selfs (the ships) as a enemy for a map. Start off with 1 that gets harder to kill up to round 5 then and 2 that get stronger up to round 10 where they resemble harbinger for the end of the story mode. IMO i think I could be done quite well and would make a good game mode that keeps it interesting because at the moment it’s getting like COD which I hate more than anything.
You mean a map set inside a Reaper itself, with enemies arriving as well, or just taking on the Reaper?
The reaper ship
why does the title imply new enemies are confirmed? All I got from here was “OMG He said nothing about multiplayer! New enemies confirmed.” Please stick to the truth, and can we stop rementioning the train wreck that was the first month of Mass Effect’s release? I still get a little sick. I won’t buy it. Not because Bioware doesn’t deserve it, they don’t, it’s just I moved on. The story is over and I don’t want to pay 10 bucks to fight Harby because he should’ve been included anyway.
LMAO
There’s a question mark in part one of the post title for a reason. It was never implying that new enemies were confirmed. Sorry if you felt misled but… the title is pretty clear on what is confirmed and what is rumor.
The front page excerpt: BioWare community managers reveal that further ‘Mass Effect 3′ single player DLC is en route and cause speculation that new multiplayer enemy factions might also be in the pipeline.
No one was trying to skirt the “truth.” The truth is we don’t know at this point (as is mentioned in the article) – but people are speculating. Plus, some gamers have fun talking about the idea of facing off against the Collectors again (which enemy types would be in the game) – even if it doesn’t end up happening.
Pretend you read an articl on a newspaper that read “Cure for AIDS near?” and as you read the article you realize that the author only says “Scientists have studied AIDS and are baffled by it still but they are still trying”. Tell me, they didn’t outright mention AIDS cure but because the scientist said they are still trying, the columnist manipulated the data to gain more readers?
The fact still remains that the columnist did not have any evidence proving the existence of new enemies but it was just him who implied there was going to be new enemies.
Wow, well as much as I don’t agree with your example, headlines like that are actually commonplace in newspapers and magazines. Since the article is, basically, asking that kind of question.
As for THIS instance, someone asked a developer if there were new enemy types to be added in multiplayer, to which he replied “there are definitely changes coming, but we’re not talking about them just yet.” Instead of denying it or turning the idea down, he replied that they wouldn’t say. Prompting this writer, and many others to ask, “does this mean new multiplayer enemies are coming?”
I think you’re misplacing this outrage a bit.
I personally would welcome another faction of enemies heather it’s collectors or a new enemy all together(indoctrinated merc group perhaps?)but I will take more sp dlc content whether it’s omega or something else they didn’t announce yet..with levithian just more reaper lore is good enough for me…and I’m not a BW fanboy I hate the orignal endings but BW didn’t have to add to it and I’m grateful that they did…but I love the mass effect series and I can’t get enough of it so I hope they keep churning out more sp content and maybe a few more game modes for mp…
All the fanfare died down cause we took our game back to Gamestop and traded it in while it was still worth money. It dropped to 19.99 so fast it made my head spin. The ending was so bad it went back in time and ruined the previous two games. All the noise died down BECAUSE WE STOPPED PLAYING THE GAME. Now Bio wants to talk more DLC? Good luck, few people are going to buy anymore of their crap.
I dont think the collectors will be the new enemies since they were destroyed in ME2, beside they are unlikely to create a brand new enemy faction that never appeared in the campaign.
So if “there’s no clear Collector analogue to the Atlas or Brute,” then did you forget about the Praetorians? Enormous floating death-laser abominations?
I think instead of complaining about things, we should be happy that Bioware hasn’t charged us a single penny for the DLCs. I mean, we just got a crapload of new characters to play with. Destroyer, Slayer, Paladin. So much free content. It seriously makes this game so worth my sixty bucks. And hey, has anyone else watched this Mass Effect versus girlfriend video on Youtube? Freakin hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKG2SJX4qIU&hd=1
It is not necessarily free, if loads and loads of people keep buying those packs for MP.
It is not necessarily free, if loads and loads of people keep buying those packs for MP. It pays for itself and it wouldn’t go well with the fans if they had to pay for things they later had to play for or pay for again.