It’s been a huge, huge couple of weeks for BioWare. Studio co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk retired and today we learned that SWTOR lead designer Daniel Erickson is following in the footsteps of executive producer Rich Vogel who left back in July. To combat the potential negative buzz surrounding the departures after some missteps in their key franchises (see: Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3), Electronic Arts opened the floodgates on a series of major announcements.
They unveiled Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, confirmed the upcoming Mass Effect 3: Omega DLC, announced the release of the Mass Effect trilogy, revealed that a new Mass Effect game is in development in addition to a brand new next-gen franchise. There’s a lot happening and the studio promises to continue supporting there key franchises, especially Mass Effect 3 which has free DLC and updates on the way in additional continued multiplayer event weekends.
Since the release of Mass Effect 3, BioWare has continued to expand the game’s multiplayer offerings, which at launch represented more of a limited proof of concept and has since grown to include a variety of new maps, new weapons, loads of new character classes and even a few new features and modes. That growth continues with next week with Mass Effect 3′s biggest multiplayer DLC pack yet: Retaliation.
Mass Effect 3 Retaliation – Swarm Hazard
Mass Effect 3: Retaliation augments existing maps by added new hazardous elements to them and more importantly, it adds a new enemy faction that we on Game Rant said they should add when the game launched: the Collectors. It also introduces a new challenge system that’ll reward players based on completion in the form of customization options with player banners.
The Retaliation DLC is entirely free and also adds two new Turian classes – check out the official features:
- New “Hazard” Versions of Existing Maps – Wage war across six maps as a regular rotation of Firebases will be introduced to different hazards and traps. Survive the onslaught of Acid, Lightening,Meltdowns, Sandstorms, Swarms and Whiteouts!
- New Deadly Enemy Faction – Prepare to face off against the Collector Praetorian, Scion, Abomination,Trooper, and Captain. Reports have also come in that Cerberus has enlisted the Dragoon to their ranks and the Geth are deploying new Drones to the battlefield.
- New Unlockable Weapons – The Collectors have also brought deadly new weapons to the fight: the Collector Assault Rifle, Sub-Machine Gun, and Sniper Rifle. Unlock these weapons and new equipment upgrades to build to your arsenal.
- New Class Kits to Unlock – A host of new characters have joined the war to fight this new threat, including the Turian Havoc Soldier and Turian Ghost Infiltrator. Additional class kits will be added as the weeks progress.
- New Powerful Upgrades – Outfit your weapons with three new ammo modifications and fortify your gear with five unique upgrades to defeat even the toughest foes.
- New Multiplayer Challenge Feature – Think you are the best soldier in the Alliance? Make sure to track your progress in the new “Challenges” database. Complete various multiplayer assignments and feats of strength to unlock titles and banners to display in-game, and then compare your progress against your friends.
If you’ve been out of the fight for some time now and want to get in some practice before the DLC hits, this weekend would be the prime time with Operation: Overdrive, the latest multiplayer weekend event, and a very simple one to complete at that.
Operation OVERDRIVE (October 5th-7th)
Based on intel recovered during Operation PATRIOT, we are anticipating a massive strike from the Reapers on multiple fronts. Our information officers and special-ops teams stationed behind enemy lines require immediate extraction.
Objectives:
- Squad Goal: Full extraction on any map at any difficulty in 20 minutes or less. Squads can be any size.
- Allied Goal: Complete 200,000 extraction waves on any difficulty. Squads can be any size. Full extraction not required.
Rewards:
- Squad Goal Success: All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack
- Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack
Are you still playing Mass Effect 3 and if not, will the DLC and event weekends draw you back in?
Mass Effect 3: Retaliation releases on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 9 in North America & October 10 in the UK.
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I would just like to make it aware to everyone that if you follow the Clevernoob forums (as I do) there was a post of a leaked ME3 DLC timeline, in that post about the leak, which is a couple of weeks old now, this DLC was already mentioned, now that it is official I think we can say that the DLC leak posted on Clevernoob has some merit to it.
In case you’re wondering, the leaked DLC is rumored to have a few more SP DLC’s culminating in March with the long rumored Project X that is said to tie all SP DLC’s together.
The titles of the DLC’s lead us to believe that BioWare may in fact be taking an IT route or at least something similar, the final DLC before the Project X is called “Rebirth”, tell me that isn’t a big hint.
So anyone who is hoping for a better ending, as everyone should, the news of this DLC should excite you. WE SHOULD NOT SETTLE FOR A SLIDE SHOW/PICTURE MONTAGE FOR THE END OF ME3.
If you’re curious about the leaked DLC’s check out Clevernoob by following the link: http://www.clevernoob.com/forums/index.php?/forum/46-mass-effect/
The guy who runs the website is none other than the man who made the great IT documentaries on YouTube.
If IT ended up being true it would still leave me with a sour taste in my mouth. Mass Effect 3 was supposed to be the end of Shepard’s story, not Mass Effect 3 plus DLC is the ending to Shepard’s story.
On the other BioWare failures I have no plans to get Dragon Age 3 after the crap they pulled with Dragon Age 2. I never picked up their Star Wars MMO since I refuse to play any game with a dialogue wheel on the pc.
Really? Just out of curiosity, how does a PC change your opinion of a dialogue wheel? Just seems weird to me.
I hated the wheel playing Dragon Age 2 on the PC. The controls there felt awkward and clunky when trying to pick a response.
I don’t mind the dialog wheel, its just that it feels like its made for consoles.
Oh, gotcha. A dialogue wheel kind of makes a game for me. Like Rise of the Argonauts (one of those “good bad games”).
You have to admit the snarky/charming responses in DA2 are some of the best pieces of dialogue in any game, though.
“You have to admit the snarky/charming responses in DA2 are some of the best pieces of dialogue in any game, though.”
No, nononono oh no. All the picked and auto dialogue in Dragon Age 2 was bad. The only ones that were funny were the group banter between companions.
The only thing that made Dragon Age 2 playable was muting the TV so that I could imagine my own tone instead of that stupid voice ruining it. I can’t understand why they can’t (in any of the Dialogue Wheel games) make the paraphrase match the actual text that’s spoken. I can’t tell you how many times I was annoyed that Shepard flirted with Vega when the paraphrase never even hinted that she would. My Shepard was in a relationship with Liara. Dragon Age 2 was just as bad.
every time i play mass effect 2 or 3 it has this feeling that it was rushed an the DlCs made them feel complete and if this is true it would be great indeed to have a feeling of a complete game
These dlc only add new elements to the multiplayer, a part of the game that is of no particular interest to me.
If they would at least bring out some decent SP dlcs…
Then again I still wouldn’t play them since it would mean I had to spend more money to turn the game into what it was supposed to be in the first place… and I’m still pissed about the endings.
its mostly EAs fault not biowares ….the dlcs they are makeing would be free if not for EA ( i think )
That may be but at this point Bioware doesn’t really exist anymore.
They have been thoroughly assimilated, the name Bioware has become nothing but a glamorous brand to put on the packaging.
All the good lead writers are gone and with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck the ramaining two founders have left the company, most likely because they didn’t like the direction dictated by EA. The next game with the Bioware brand being a f2p-Command&Conquer is just the last nail in the coffin.
The Bioware that brought us Baldur’s gate, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the old Republic is thoroughly and utterly dead.
I stopped paying attention to this game a long time ago. Didn’t even play the Extended Cut. It’s honestly not worth bothering over.
But it is worth reading an article on it and commenting on it…..come on you secretly love it……come on. I know the truth.
Holy crap! I haven’t played ME3 multiplayer in a while but I’ll definitely jump back in it. Sounds like an awesome DLC pack!
I really think they should have made the multi-player part of the game into a complete and separate game. The single player fans will always believe that the single player story suffered for the addition of the multi-player. If I was a fan of the multi-player component I would be ecstatic over all this new content but instead I just feel neglected and pumped for money. I am hopping the push Dragon Age back towards what it was in the first game and less off an action game that it turned into on DA2. I thought the DA2 story was good the gameplay not so much.
pumped for your money? Dude, it’s free.
Yeah, none of the multiplayer DLC’s have cost money, and it was made originally by a separate team. How did the single-player suffer from the multiplayer? I understand it suffering from Bioware having the stifling glove of EA shoved down its throat, but I don’t see how the multiplayer had any Mass(ive) Effect.
@1ntelligentDiscourse: I’ll tell you how the single player has suffered from the multiplayer content. There are those of us (including myself) who aren’t fans of multiplayer, have no desire to play multiplayer or pay $60 for X-Box Live Gold in order to play multiplayer, & yet we single player gamers get shafted with only a 50% Galaxy Readiness rating, effectively penalizing those who don’t wish to play multiplayer. I believe there should be an option for those who don’t wish to play multiplayer to be able to opt out of multiplayer & be able to obtain a 100% Galaxy Readiness rating based upon how many war assets one finds during their playthrough of the single player campaign. We shouldn’t be forced into playing multiplayer in order to obtain a better Galaxy Readiness rating. It’s unfair to those, like myself, who strive to find every war asset in the entire game (including added DLC war assets) only to be docked half of their total military strength (total military strength vs effective military strength) because EA decides to force multiplayer upon everyone when there are those who don’t care for it. It’s just not right nor is it fair to those who don’t play multiplayer.
I had forgotten about that. My first playthrough I did without multiplayer and was kind of frustrated. But, just fyi, you can also play the iOS games or just use the 2-day gold pass in the box to fill your readiness and then play the ending with all your characters one after the other. That doesn’t change the fact that you can’t get it completely self-contained, but if you wanted to do it.
I wonder if in 6 months or a year we will read an article about how all these ex-Bioware Devs have gathered together and formed a new company sans-EA.
One can only hope…
Oh, and about the DLC… who gives a crap; ME3 was a waste of 60 bucks as it is.
Well, all the other ex-Black Isle people are at Obsidian now.
(Project Eternity!)
The purpose to dlc is to add replay value to the game and make money…that being said ESP with the mp dlc being free no one should complain about it..I like everyone else want more sp dlc which at least we are getting with omega and whatever follows it…I have said it before I want BW to keep adding sp content just to keep me in the mass effect universe a little longer…ESP since there will be at least a 2yr wait for ME4…the 3 games all tied together was the best sci fi trilogy in gaming in my opinion..the endings disappointed at lot of us but at least was addressed and if is added to even more through more sp dlc I have no issue with that..give me more of shep And my crew and when it’s finally done ill play all 3 again…and again
The purpose to dlc is to add replay value to the game and make money…that being said ESP with the mp dlc being free no one should complain What am I picking up?his physical papers? it..I like everyone else want more sp dlc which at least we are getting with omega and whatever follows it…I have said it before I want BW to keep adding sp content just to keep me in the mass effect universe a little longer…ESP since there will be at least a 2yr wait for ME4…the 3 games all tied together was the best sci fi trilogy in gaming in my opinion..the endings disappointed at lot of us but at least was addressed and if is added to even more through more sp dlc I have no issue with that..give me more of shep And my crew and when it’s finally done ill play all 3 again…and again