So Operation Silencer is going to be taking place this weekend, with the global goal of killing 3 million banshees. They're also hinting at a new DLC pack, I think.

Cerberus defectors have verified key intel on Reaper banshees to help provide us a vulnerability to exploit. Banshees are created from a specific kind of asari that cannot be replaced quickly, so we are diverting forces to focus on an all-out banshee extermination effort.

This task is an onerous one, and many of you are right to dread contact with these particular foes, but rest assured that we are prepared to reinforce your battalion with reserves. The vorcha want in, and as soon as they complete combined-arms training with our technically-skilled personnel, we will let them loose.

It’s time to make our enemies scream.

Allied Goal: Kill 3,000,000 banshees

Squad Goal: Survive until a full extraction on any map against any enemy on gold difficulty.

Successful completion of the allied goal will grant all players a Victory Pack.

Successful completion of the squad goal will grant all squadmates a Commendation Pack.

I'm not sure if Vorcha would be rewards for this particular mission (probably for gold), but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'd welcome additional classes, but it feels like this multiplayer is getting a little stale. I'd understand if they wanted to put paid content out (especially considering they had to pretty much give away the last two packs for free), but by the same token I get the feeling the day they do put out paid multiplayer DLC for this game is the day half of the fanbase just quits.

At the very least, everyone needs to have the same maps. What happens when a squad leader selects a premium map? Does everyone without it get booted out?

Given the amount of money they're raking in from the slot machine style unlock system for weapons, I think it's in their best interest to put all multiplayer DLC out for free, or at least add it to the loot tables so people have a chance of getting it for free. This Vorcha tease is a good example. Would anyone pay for a vorcha race/class unlock? I don't know if I would. I'm guessing their racial trail will be minimal shielding, but recharging health bars (or a rapid heal ability). I also can't see them as anything but soldiers. They seem too dumb to work electronics, and I'm pretty sure the entire race is incapable of biotics. It really, really isn't something I'd ever pay for.

(That said, I'd probably pay for a Hanar.)

Looks like the leak is true again. With that said, expect to see some Protheans and male Quarians.
 
I'd pay for a Volus. Niftu Cal up in this bitch.

It'll be interesting to see if they will keep their health regenerating racial trait for the multiplayer.

The MP was suprisingly great and I have played it loads but I agree it is getting stale. I haven't played it in a while but I will probably get my salarian infiltrator on to do that squad goal.

New characters and maps are nice but I think a new mode is what is really needed.

Man, I missed the Vorcha in ME3. I missed a bunch of things in ME3.

So if the leak is true we're looking at:

Male Quarians (Infiltrator/Engineer)

Vorcha (Soldier/Sentinel)

Prothean (Vanguard/Adept) - Dubbed 'Phoenix' in the game files (Phoenixes rise FROM their ASHES - get it?)

I think people who still plays MP enjoyed the game or didn't care about all the internet fuss , I still like the MP just in short bursts if I play for too long it gets boring . I do hope they update the new clases by way of completing the N7 challenges that would be really cool ,if they end up releasing them as DLC then whatever I'm not into buying multiplayer DLC even if it is Mass Effect , however wouldn't Protheans negate the notion that the Galaxy at War belongs in the same canon as the game?.

@AngelN7 said:

I think people who still plays MP enjoyed the game or didn't care about all the internet fuss , I still like the MP just in short bursts if I play for too long it gets boring . I do hope they update the new clases by way of completing the N7 challenges that would be really cool ,if they end up releasing them as DLC then whatever I'm not into buying multiplayer DLC even if it is Mass Effect , however wouldn't Protheans negate the notion that the Galaxy at War belongs in the same canon as the game?.

Unless they happened upon some secret still-functional cache of Prothean (literal) sleeper cells. Like the ones on Ilos, or Eden Prime. For that to work though, they'd need to function off of some indefinitely renewable resource, most likely geothermal energy.

Still, wow, that would be one hell of a BS maneuver. I'd be more willing to accept Thorian asari clones, with moves like "Thrall" that releases spores that function like the Sabotage ability, only on organics, and a racial passive that allows them to see anything on the map that someone else has seen through walls and stuff, kinda like how they describe how well the Zhu's Hope survivors are doing fending off Reaper attacks.

Plus, they're green!

@probablytuna said:

It'll be interesting to see if they will keep their health regenerating racial trait for the multiplayer.

Didn't the Korgan's in ME2 have recharging health too? but now in multiplayer they don't.

Someone on the Gamespot forums was speculating that Phoenix race would actually be Collectors.

Still waiting for my Volus biotic god.

I'm surprised by how committed Bioware are to the multiplayer of ME3, good on them I guess.

Vorcha would be interesting considering their extremely effective health regeneration. Though in Mass Effect 2 they only came in three variations really...

Looks like I'll be making my return to multiplayer.

@onan: Yeah it deppens on how they hande it if it turns out to be Protheans , maybe it could be another race a Yagh maybe? or just a variation on another of the existing ones? because just saying oh yeah we found a new planet with a bunch of cryo pods full of Protheans ready to fight it would be a real stretch and Javik would loose a bit of what makes him special as the last Prothean survivor.. and about Shiala-like possible unit for MP it would be interesting but they'll have to build on it since there's no Thorian or other source for mass produce organic clones that have the same ability to sense one another, I acutally was more surprised for the lack of a Krogan member in the ME3 party Liara covered the asari role on the team like she needed to.

I'd pay 1200 points to play as Blasto the Hanar Spectre

@chilibean_3 said:

Man, I missed the Vorcha in ME3. I missed a bunch of things in ME3.

For that I said that I wouldn't make much sense for Shepard to be killing Blood Pack Vorcha and then asking their help to fight the Reapers.

Well it's simple: When Javik woke up, during one of your trips to the Citadel, he went out and started mackin' on some ladies and they be having his babies.
 
You just can't explain that.

@AngelN7: Clones?

@AngelN7 said:

@onan: Yeah it deppens on how they hande it if it turns out to be Protheans , maybe it could be another race a Yagh maybe? or just a variation on another of the existing ones? because just saying oh yeah we found a new planet with a bunch of cryo pods full of Protheans ready to fight it would be a real stretch and Javik would loose a bit of what makes him special as the last Prothean survivor.. and about Shiala-like possible unit for MP it would be interesting but they'll have to build on it since there's no Thorian or other source for mass produce organic clones that have the same ability to sense one another, I acutally was more surprised for the lack of a Krogan member in the ME3 party Liara covered the asari role on the team like she needed to.

@N7 said:

Well it's simple: When Javik woke up, during one of your trips to the Citadel, he went out and started mackin' on some ladies and they be having his babies. You just can't explain that.

Another possibility: I'd imagine Javik wouldn't have a problem with the Alliance cloning him for the purposes of battling the Reapers. They've already been cloning Krogan mounts for that one side mission.

Also, AngelN7, dude, run-on. Wow.

I figure they could say they've been studying the effects of the thorian in order to isolate what makes the Zhu's Hope people such effective fighters, and it's become a really good training alternative (inject people with spores and they learn tactics through osmosis). Lots of Asari volunteer because humans can't survive the procedure, with the downside of it turning your skin green.

@N7 said:

Well it's simple: When Javik woke up, during one of your trips to the Citadel, he went out and started mackin' on some ladies and they be having his babies. You just can't explain that.

maiting? you say.

@chrissedoff said:

I'd pay 1200 points to play as Blasto the Hanar Spectre

@chrissedoff said:

I'd pay 1200 points to play as Blasto the Hanar Spectre

lol. That's fucking hilarious and I second that!

I, too, want to play as a biotic god.

As long as the Protheans get Dark Channel and their biotics are green I'm down! Also make the Male Quarian's not suck like the female ones.

This sounds awesome if true, and since the last leak became true I have high hopes for this to be true as well.

I really hated the Vorcha.

@AngelN7 said:

That is, real, real good.

@AngelN7 said:

@N7 said:

Well it's simple: When Javik woke up, during one of your trips to the Citadel, he went out and started mackin' on some ladies and they be having his babies. You just can't explain that.

maiting? you say.

That video just made me love Mass Effect 3 again.

@SmasheControllers said:

As long as the Protheans get Dark Channel and their biotics are green I'm down! Also make the Male Quarian's not suck like the female ones.

Well they couldn't possibly, they've got those little breather masks.

Since we're on the topic of things we'd pay for, I'd pay a little cash to see this as the new replacement ending:

http://stacieponder.com/2012/03/do-comics-count-as-fanfiction/

Just found that a few minutes ago and it's perfect.

I wasn't expecting to care a whit about playing as Batarians, but they were surprisingly cool additions to the MP. Kinda quietly looking forward to the Vorcha. Hoping they spring for some kind of flamethrower weapon / ability. After spending a few weeks on the Bioware Social Network forums, it's refreshing to see the Giant Bomb ME3 forum isn't (at least not currently) mired in a constant flame war about the last five minutes of the game.

The "Thank you, EDI" video totally made my night.

@AngelN7 said:

@N7 said:

Well it's simple: When Javik woke up, during one of your trips to the Citadel, he went out and started mackin' on some ladies and they be having his babies. You just can't explain that.

maiting? you say.

Lol, Mark Meer truly delivers.

how would male quarians play any different then the females? there probably just a skin change. hopefully not.

@DEMONOLOGY_24 said:

how would male quarians play any different then the females? there probably just a skin change. hopefully not.

Just like the Asari Justicar plays different than regular Asari Adept , their "loadouts" or skills are different even if they belong to the same race, their skins are different too like the Vanguard Krogan Battlemaster and the Krogan soilder.

@AngelN7 said:

@DEMONOLOGY_24 said:

how would male quarians play any different then the females? there probably just a skin change. hopefully not.

Just like the Asari Justicar plays different than regular Asari Adept , their "loadouts" or skills are different even if they belong to the same race, their skins are different too like the Vanguard Krogan Battlemaster and the Krogan soilder.

So's long as there skill aren't ass like the females then I'm good. Personally when you're fighting Geth and the only Engineer is a Quarian and no one else has a means to strip shields, then that fucking sucks! An Engineer without a means to strip shields, isn't an Engineer.

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

As long as the Protheans get Dark Channel and their biotics are green I'm down! Also make the Male Quarian's not suck like the female ones.

Well they couldn't possibly, they've got those little breather masks.

Since we're on the topic of things we'd pay for, I'd pay a little cash to see this as the new replacement ending:

http://stacieponder.com/2012/03/do-comics-count-as-fanfiction/

Just found that a few minutes ago and it's perfect.

I was a female Shepard that romanced Liara and chose the destroy ending because I wasn't about to let some awful character that I just met talk me out of destroying the reapers, and I sure as hell wasn't going to just blindly trust everything that they told me. Soooo perfect.

@SmasheControllers said:

@AngelN7 said:

@DEMONOLOGY_24 said:

how would male quarians play any different then the females? there probably just a skin change. hopefully not.

Just like the Asari Justicar plays different than regular Asari Adept , their "loadouts" or skills are different even if they belong to the same race, their skins are different too like the Vanguard Krogan Battlemaster and the Krogan soilder.

So's long as there skill aren't ass like the females then I'm good. Personally when you're fighting Geth and the only Engineer is a Quarian and no one else has a means to strip shields, then that fucking sucks! An Engineer without a means to strip shields, isn't an Engineer.

True the human engineer is to me the best engineer (to me) plus I just love using the combat drone that thing is just as effective as another team member

I want more maps and enemy types before new classes. I have more than enough classes to play. We got 24 character sets, 30+ guns, all that's great... but there's 3 enemy types and 8 maps.

Let us fight mercenary squads from ME2. Blood Pack of krogan, vorcha and varren. Eclipse with asari, salarians, and the three mech types, Blue Suns of human, batarians and turians. Say the Reapers have reverse engineered the Cerberus mind-control technology and have used it to enslave the merc gangs.

@Brodehouse: I was thinking of a way they could contrive having the Collectors as an enemy type. They could do an expansion pack of some sort, with a new single-player section that explains how there was a few surviving Collectors that were out on a mission when the Collector base was destoryed and at the end you have to choose to kill the remaining forces or ask for their help against the Reapers. They could also add on to the multiplayer with two new Collector classes, a new map set on a Collector ship and some Collector weapons.

@AngelN7: I feel bad for the Quarians, both their classes are effectively useless now. I alwas thought Salarians were better, but now with Geth there is no point to play the Quarains. As said the Engineer can't strip shields and Infiltrator is ONLY useful against the Geth forces. So please Bioware don't make Male Quarians suck.

@Brodehouse: Instead I think they should introduce new units for the current factions, I don't think bringing back Bloodpack Krogan and Eclipse mercs is a good fit sure it makes for more variety but the Cerberus and Reaper forces are so superior in threat level and strategy required to fight them that it makes all those mercs from ME2 feel like a cakewalk , facing other equally equiped enemies as you in both weapons and aviable skils doesn't feel as challenging as facing a Brute or a Phantom , it would be more interesting if they make new maps that allow Harverters to land on ground or introduce reverse engineered Salarians and Quarians for the reaper forcers and a new unit for the Cerberus forces it could be a biotic a la Gillian Grayson , and thus keeping the new additions relatively in canon

@SmasheControllers: I just play the Engineer Quarian for her "I'm scared! " voice when she says more enemies are comming and freezing enemies is fun even when not really useful in matches.

Finally made it through my first Gold PUG in ME3. Full extraction too. We'll see just what kind of rewards we get out of it. (No whammy no whammy no whammy...)

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

@SmasheControllers said:

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

Phoenix Vanguard ? wtf is a Phoenix in Mass Effect, other than that ridiculous pink armor I made Kaidan wear until I killed him?

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

Phoenix Vanguard ? wtf is a Phoenix in Mass Effect, other than that ridiculous pink armor I made Kaidan wear until I killed him?

No one knows, but a lot of people thing it's Prothean. Which would make sense in terms of phoenix, rising from the ashes, but not story wise. If it is Prothean, I really hope Bioware makes up something good.

@SmasheControllers said:

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

Phoenix Vanguard ? wtf is a Phoenix in Mass Effect, other than that ridiculous pink armor I made Kaidan wear until I killed him?

No one knows, but a lot of people thing it's Prothean. Which would make sense in terms of phoenix, rising from the ashes, but not story wise. If it is Prothean, I really hope Bioware makes up something good.

Edit: Incidentally, I just got my Commendation Pack, but no Victory Pack. I guess we didn't kill 3 million Banshees after all? Oh wells.

N7 Eagle sucks, btw. Got excited and tried it out in a match and it's practically an SMG. Yuck.

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

Phoenix Vanguard ? wtf is a Phoenix in Mass Effect, other than that ridiculous pink armor I made Kaidan wear until I killed him?

No one knows, but a lot of people thing it's Prothean. Which would make sense in terms of phoenix, rising from the ashes, but not story wise. If it is Prothean, I really hope Bioware makes up something good.

Edit: Incidentally, I just got my Commendation Pack, but no Victory Pack. I guess we didn't kill 3 million Banshees after all? Oh wells.

N7 Eagle sucks, btw. Got excited and tried it out in a match and it's practically an SMG. Yuck.

I don't think the Mass Effect universe is not ready for that much snark my bet is on a new race or Collectors that where hit on the head really hard.

@AngelN7 said:

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

@onan said:

@SmasheControllers said:

Apparently the DLC pack is out tomorrow accroding to PSN

Source

Phoenix Vanguard ? wtf is a Phoenix in Mass Effect, other than that ridiculous pink armor I made Kaidan wear until I killed him?

No one knows, but a lot of people thing it's Prothean. Which would make sense in terms of phoenix, rising from the ashes, but not story wise. If it is Prothean, I really hope Bioware makes up something good.

Edit: Incidentally, I just got my Commendation Pack, but no Victory Pack. I guess we didn't kill 3 million Banshees after all? Oh wells.

N7 Eagle sucks, btw. Got excited and tried it out in a match and it's practically an SMG. Yuck.

I don't think the Mass Effect universe is not ready for that much snark my bet is on a new race or Collectors that where hit on the head really hard.

Completely agree, I think it's the Raloi

Also even after the buff, the eagle is still crap, worst pistol in the game.

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/05/24/mass-effect-3-rebellion-pack/

Looks like the new rumored "phoenix" class turns out to be Ex-Cerberus soldiers instead of Protheans like people were assuming.

Not really thrilled with this, considering there are already 10 character archetypes that look exactly like the Cerberus soldier (11 if you count the Battlefield guy). Well, aside from the Cerberus logos on the armor, which you'd assume would be the first to go. (Like, seriously, seems like a really really bad idea, especially going up against Cerberus forces. It's like going hunting and wearing a hat with antlers, isn't it?) Seems like a wasted opportunity to get some more visual variety in the mix.

Two new maps though, looking forward to check out Firebase Goddess. We spent way too little time on Thessia in the game for my liking.

Also nice - This weekend's challenge will be to promote 50,000 dudes for Operation: Shieldwall. Player-specific requirements for commendation packs will be to promote 3 classes. I already learned my lesson about that, so I've had 3 waiting in the wings for promotion. Gonna save up my cash too for a better chance at those new drops.

I think is better than having Protheans for no good reason really , also operation Shieldwall is not joke but given that we (that's right you!) failed to kill all those Banshees now they are going to show up with other enemies and in greater numbers, that's really cool for them to change the challenges a bit an make dynamic the whole opertaion thing, I don't know the Ex-Cerberus class might not seem like a big deal but at least they keep suporting the mutliplayer wich many belive it was an afterthought for them , so how does that Microsoft DLC policy works? I thought developers couldn't release more than 2 free DLCs , not that it matters to me since I play on PS3 but it would suck if they couldn't release free DLC to other systems because of that MS policy.

I was waiting for a Cerberus soldier. Good enough I guess, seeing how it's free and all.