It's been less than three weeks since Mass Effect 3 came out and with most long-time fans having already conquered the single-player campaign, the focus is now on multiplayer. In our Mass Effect 3 review, we pointed out that BioWare was successful in adding a fun co-op experience with their first attempt at adding multiplayer to the series, but ultimately, it was a very limited addition considering it only featured one mode and six small maps.

So, to keep things fresh, fun and rewarding, BioWare and Electronic Arts are offering incentives for fans to jump online during the weekends for a chance to in-game rewards. Last week saw the first ever N7 Challenge Weekend and this weekend, players can enjoy a speed boost to their progression.

Last weekend's event, Operation Goliath, offered players who could defeat the Reapers on Silver difficulty across any map a special Commendation Pack, granting them one random exclusive N7 weapon (I got the Valiant sniper rifle!). And if the community as a whole could take down 1 million Brutes during that time, everyone who participated would also get a Victory Pack.

And not only did the community succeed, we killed 3 million Brutes! So, this weekend begins Operation Fortress. It's not a specific challenge like last weekend; instead, players earn a 25% experience bonus to help level up characters. It applies to all difficulties, all maps, all enemy types for all of the platforms the game released on.

Take advantage and level up your classes to 20, because when you do, you can recruit them. By doing so, players earn a +10 to their N7 rating and the war assets in the single-player campaign increase. The class resets at zero for players to continue their progression.

If you are enjoying the multiplayer, BioWare is frequently tweaking and adding updates, and we know there will be additional characters, classes and undoubtedly, new maps in the future as well.

Which character class do you perform the best with in multiplayer?

Mass Effect 3 is now available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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