Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Update

When BioWare says that some big changes are headed to Mass Effect 3 they aren't speaking in regards to the game's single player story (still a sore subject after all these months) but are, in fact, talking about the game's multiplayer. While, at launch, players were racking up hours upon hours of playtime in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer battlegrounds, enthusiasm has presumably tapered off since then.

To help entice gamers back to the mode, BioWare has announced a few additions to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer that will help it better resemble some of today's more popular multiplayer titles. The biggest change will be the game's challenges, which ask the player to complete a specific task a number of times. By completing each challenge, a player will net themselves a predetermined amount of Challenge Points.

Challenge Points in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer will not be like the mode's credits, which allow the gamer to unlock new character classes, weapons, and items, but are merely for bragging purposes only. Think of it like the Xbox Live's Gamerscore, a handy way to identify oneself as a dedicated Mass Effect 3 player.

While BioWare's announcement doesn't provide any examples of challenges Mass Effect 3 players might encounter, they do say the challenges will be tiered in such a way that the higher, gold level challenges will deliver greater rewards, namely a banner to recognize oneself as having completed the challenge.

Additionally, the update will bring with it a new N7 HQ that will allow players to check their in-game stats, character lists, and leaderboards even while they aren't logged in to their console of choice. This will come in handy for players who want to track their challenge progression, but can't boot up their Xbox or PS3.

BioWare has also announced that multiplayer 'Operations'Mass Effect's bi-weekly events — will now be replaced with Weekend Challenges. Not only will Weekend Challenges take place every week, they will allow players to track overall completion progress in-game, and unlock the applicable award instantly.

No more having to wait a few days for a special 'pack' -- players can open them up right then and there. There's still no guarantee that one of the multiplayer's new classes or races will be unlocked, but at least you can get that instant feeling of defeat.

It may not be exactly what gamers are looking for when BioWare talks multiplayer improvements to Mass Effect 3, but it's enough of an incentive to log a few additional hours and see what exactly the developer has introduced.

What do you think of BioWare's new additions to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer? Will you participate in the Weekend Challenges?

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Source: BioWare