BioWare Confirms Retaliation Multiplayer DLC Release Date

BioWare confirmed yesterday they will be releasing the latest multiplayer DLC for Mass Effect 3, Retaliation, on Oct. 9.

This new DLC will be free like all of the other previously released Multiplayer DLC and will not only include the obligatory new classes and weapon mods and consumables. It will also add the Collectors from Mass Effect 2 as a new enemy faction, environmental effects, and a “Challenge” system to multiplayer.

Fans that closely watch the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer forums on BioWare Social might notice that this information was leaked several weeks ago on Reddit. Fans argued a great deal over whether it was genuine up until the moment Community Coordinator Chris Priestly posted the official announcement.

The introduction of the Collectors as an enemy faction in multiplayer comes as little surprise as the community has been clamoring for new enemies for some time now. The Collector units will be Scions, Collector Troopers, Collector Captains, Abominations, and Praetorians. Sadly for fans of Harbinger, BioWare has said he will not be present to Assume Direct Control and deliver his trademark color commentary even though he does make an appearance in the official trailer and clearly directly controls many of the Collector units shown. BioWare has stated that they placed Harbinger in the trailer because they felt that he was necessary to give an introduction to the Collectors because the two were so closely tied together in Mass Effect 2.

In addition to the new Collector faction, the Geth and Cerberus multiplayer factions are receiving two new units: the Geth Bomber and the Cerberus Dragoon, respectively.

This DLC pack also has the distinction of adding sixteen classes/kits rather than the expected eight. The official announcement only specifically mentions the Turian Havoc Soldier and the Turian Ghost Infiltrator, but data-mining of the huge Origin patch released to prepare the servers and games for the new content reveals a full list of all the new classes. In addition to the Turian kits, the DLC adds the Turian Saboteur Vanguard, Asari Valkyrie and Huntress, Quarian Marksman, Volus Engineer, Adept, Mercenary, and Protector; Drell Assassin, Geth Trooper, Krogan Shaman, Batarian Slasher and Brawler, and Vorcha Hunter.

Information as to the actual abilities and stats of each kit are yet to come. The decision to focus on adding more classes might be motivated by an attempt to capture players’ attention, as recent multiplayer operations appear to have suffered from much lower participation.

Details as to how the new Challenge system works are scarce, but the announcement does say that players will be able to unlock new banners and titles by completeing various challenges. These banners and titles will be visible in game lobbies and the character menu. Data-mining of the Origin patch reveals that the challenges are split up into various categories such as “Geth Mastery,” “Shotgun Mastery,” or “N7 Mastery.” They hint that the challenges will be based on mastering certain categories of maps, weapons, or classes.

As for new weapons, the Collector Assault Rifle will become a standard item rather than a promotional-only one, and players will get access to the new Collector SMG, Collector Sniper Rifle, and Quarian Minigun. Along with the new weapons, players can use new Explosive, Phasic or Drill Rounds as power-ups. New multi-use gear upgrades are coming as well, including the Medi-Gel Transmitter, Armored Compartments, Responder Loadout, Survivor Loadout, and Assault Loadout.

While players are not getting any new maps from this DLC, some existing maps such as Firebases Ghost, Giant, and Dagger will have new environmental hazards and traps. The annoucnement lists them as Acid, Lightning, Meltdowns, Sandstorms, Swarms, and Whiteouts. Presumably, each is tied to a specific map as whiteouts would make little sense anywhere other than Firebase White and sandstorms would make little sense on Firebase White. Meltdowns must obviously occur on Firebase Reactor, and so forth.

The Retaliation DLC looks to offer quite a lot of new content for the community. Sixteen new kits provide players with many more hours of playtime, especially if the new classes are up to the same level of quality as the Earth DLC characters. The new faction and enemies certainly help liven up the game. The fact that all this new content comes for free is just a handy bonus.