Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer

Cooperative multiplayer is a game mode that is featured in Mass Effect 3, and marks the debut of multiplayer in the Mass Effect series. In this mode, up to four players can join together online and customize characters to fight on the front lines of the galaxy-wide war against the Reapers, as well as Cerberus, Geth and Collector forces. Progress in co-op earns the player rewards in Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War that can be used to influence the outcome of Mass Effect 3's single-player mode.

Playing the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer mode requires an Online Pass, which is now free to download. On October 11, 2012, BioWare published a dedicated website, N7 HQ, featuring stat-tracking and gameplay data for Mass Effect 3's single-player campaign and multiplayer mode alike.

Missions
Missions in cooperative multiplayer consist of pitting the player and up to three other allies against eleven waves of enemies consisting of Cerberus, Reaper, geth, or Collector (requires Mass Effect 3: Retaliation) troops on various battlefields throughout the galaxy.

Missions have four challenge difficulties, in order from easiest to hardest: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. (Platinum difficulty was added by the Mass Effect 3: Earth DLC pack.) Higher difficulties feature stronger and more numerous enemies, as well as difficult enemy types in earlier waves and in larger numbers, but will also reward more credits to spend in the Store and more Bonus XP for successful completion. Platinum also features enemies from factions other than the one chosen.

Players must survive the first ten waves by eliminating the enemy forces while also accomplishing objectives for the mission to be successful.

There are five types of objectives that are chosen randomly at waves three, six, and ten:
 * Devices: Enable or disable four key devices in sequence.
 * Assassination: Take out four targeted enemies in sequence. Time is extended after each kill.
 * Hold Position: Capture and hold a point in order to retrieve critical data before time runs out. Additional players within the zone quicken the process.
 * Retrieval (requires Mass Effect 3: Rebellion Pack): Retrieve two high priority packages and securely transport them to a designated extraction zone on each map. While carrying the package, players move slower than normal. Using sprint, combat rolls, and certain powers (i.e. Biotic Charge, Tactical Cloak, Shadow Strike, or Havoc Strike) causes the player to drop the carried package.
 * Escort (requires Mass Effect 3: Earth): Activate and escort a drone to an extraction zone while it collects data. Additional players within the escort zone quicken the process. The drone itself is invulnerable and will occasionally replenish player shields and attack enemies with missiles or electrical shocks.

Objective Notes:
 * Enemies continue to spawn continuously until the objective is completed. All objectives have a time limit and the mission will fail immediately if time expires.
 * After completing the objective, the remaining enemies still have to be eliminated to complete the wave.
 * Each completed objective awards a base number of credits (depending on difficulty) and bonus credits depending on the amount of time left when the objective itself is completed.

After the first ten waves, on the eleventh wave, all players must defend against the enemy for a set time period before retreating to the designated extraction zone within the time limit. Although the mission is considered complete after clearing the tenth wave, bonus experience (relative to the number of players extracted) and bonus credits (if the player survives extraction) are awarded after completing wave eleven.

Even if the mission fails, experience and credits (if awarded before the wave failure) are still awarded to the player after the multiplayer match. Partial awarding of galactic readiness will also take place depending upon how many waves were completed before the wave failure.

Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War
Playing cooperative multiplayer ties into the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system. Participating in matches can quickly increase the player's Galactic Readiness rating, and multiplayer characters who reach the maximum level can be "promoted" into valuable War Assets for the single-player campaign. Co-op and the Galaxy at War system are entirely optional, however, and are not necessary to achieve the optimal endings in single-player, although the process could be considered significantly more difficult.

Each map, unless chosen at random, is associated with one theatre of war and will increase readiness mainly in that theatre.

Completing a multiplayer mission while having a readiness rating of 100% grants a 5% boost in experience earned, shortening the amount of time it would take to promote a multiplayer character to the Galaxy at War.

Ranking
Each multiplayer user has several associated rankings. These rankings serve as an indicator of players' overall level of experience with the game. Each ranking can be viewed in multiple locations in the multiplayer system, and on BioWare's N7 HQ, but are most prominently and publicly displayed in the lobby before a multiplayer game. The rankings are displayed on rotating banners underneath the player's name.


 * N7 Ranking is displayed on a red banner with the N7 logo and is calculated by adding together the total levels ever gained by each character class plus 10 for each time a character class has been promoted. N7 ranking is uniform across all character classes.
 * Challenge Ranking is displayed on a gold banner with a gold challenge medallion and is the total number of challenge points the user has accumulated. Challenge ranking is uniform across all character classes.
 * Promotion Ranking is displayed on a blue banner with a galaxy symbol and is unique to each character class. Promotion ranking shows the number of times that the character class has been promoted.

Character Customization
Players can choose from six different character classes and twelve different races to create a unique multiplayer character. Individual character weapons and equipment can be customized between matches with additional weapons and equipment obtained by purchasing packs from the Store.

Players are awarded experience points from multiplayer gameplay to gain new levels.

Level Notes:
 * Multiplayer level is capped at Level 20 for all six character classes. Each character class has the same requirement of 2,500,000 experience points to reach Level 20.
 * When the player reaches the experience cap of 2,500,000 points for the character class, no new experience points will be gained from multiplayer play until the character class is either promoted or another character class with less than the 2,500,000 experience points cap is played.
 * Experience points do not transfer over when promoting a character. Promoted characters start back at zero experience points on Level 1. If the player has 499,999 out of 500,000 experience points needed to reach Level 20 before a multiplayer match, after the match is played only the amount needed to reach level 20 will be awarded. (In this case, one experience point.)

As the player gains new levels in multiplayer, additional points are awarded to allocate to your powers.

It is not possible to max out all powers with the 84 points available. 105 points would be needed to reach maxed out full powers.

Using all of the 84 points available at Level 20, filling the ranks for four of the powers and leaving one power with no points uses the most points. Shown here as (6/6/6/6/0). You can also allocate points as (6/6/6/5/3) to use all 84 points as well.

Points unused don't necessarily mean that the character build is inefficient. Depending upon the race, character class, and play style, choosing to not use all of the points but filling more powers can be a better use of points.


 * Leaving 1 point unspent, you can allocate (6/6/6/4/4).
 * Leaving 2 points unspent, you can allocate (6/6/5/5/4).
 * Leaving 3 points unspent, you can allocate (6/5/5/5/5).

† The first time you play with each of the six character classes, one point is already allocated. If you promote the character class, the previously allocated point will now be available to allocate at level 1.

Store
The Store sells multiplayer item packs and distributes reward packs from weekend events. Contents of these packs include new weapons, multiplayer characters, experience points, weapons mods, and pieces of equipment, all of which are of varying quality. Credits to purchase packs from the Store are earned through gameplay; alternatively, packs can be purchased with BioWare Points on PC, or currency on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Packs can only be purchased via in-game credits on the Wii U version of the game.

Weekend Challenges and Events
Weekend Challenges were held every weekend, and featured objectives that individual squads or players were able to complete. Upon successful completion of the Weekend Challenge, players were rewarded with Commendation Packs containing unique weapons.

Weekend Events were held periodically during weekends and featured objectives that the entire community was able to participate in. Successful completion of Weekend Events rewarded players with item packs.

Weekend Challenges and Events concluded with Operation Lodestar on March 10, 2013.

Medals
Depending on how well individual players or the entire squad does, at certain milestones, they will earn medals. The awards are leveled by Bronze, Silver, and Gold with each having their own individual levels.

Individual Medals
Individual medals are awards earned by each member of the team. They are specific to each character and are not shared with other members of the squad. Each weapon class, in addition to tech and biotic kills, has its own medal for killing enemies with it. There are also medals for assisting other squadmates with kills, reviving downed squadmates, and getting headshots with any weapon.

Individual medals cannot be earned again in the same match. You can only get one of each individual medal per match. The Bronze level of a medal gives +500 XP, the Silver level gives +1000 XP, and the Gold level gives one of two bonuses: +1500 XP for weapon kills, and +2000 XP for anything else.

Not all characters can earn every type of medal. Weapon medals are limited by the weapon loadout (1 or 2 out of 5 weapon types), tech and biotic medals by the characters abilities. Volus, Krogan Warlords and Geth Juggernauts also cannot gain over-cover grab medals (since they cannot perform the action).

It is possible for actions to contribute to more than one medal progress, such as performing a headshot with a sniper rifle.

Squad Medals
Medals are earned by the squad for killstreaks, the percentage of players that successfully extract, surviving multiple waves consecutively without a single squad member going down, completing an unknown map, the difficulty level of the completed match, and completing the map with unknown enemies.

Medals for survival and killstreaks are earned regardless of map completion. Level, Map and Enemy rewards are earned at the end of wave 10, extraction at the end of wave 11.

Challenges
Challenges are a gameplay mechanic introduced in Mass Effect 3: Retaliation. Completing certain goals will complete a challenge, providing the player with Challenge Points, which serve as measure of their skill. Completing a Gold challenge unlocks a banner and title card to display in the match lobby. Most challenges can be completed multiple times.

Maps
Multiplayer matches are playable on a variety of different maps. The available maps are:

Standard Enemies

 * Cerberus
 * Assault Trooper
 * Centurion
 * Combat Engineer
 * Nemesis
 * Guardian
 * Phantom
 * Atlas
 * Turret


 * Geth
 * Geth Trooper
 * Geth Hunter
 * Geth Rocket Trooper
 * Geth Pyro
 * Geth Prime
 * Combat Drone
 * Geth Turret


 * Reaper
 * Husk
 * Cannibal
 * Marauder
 * Ravager
 * Brute
 * Banshee
 * Swarmer

Retaliation Enemies

 * Cerberus
 * Dragoon


 * Geth
 * Geth Bomber


 * Collector
 * Abomination
 * Collector Captain
 * Collector Trooper
 * Collector Web
 * Possessed Abomination
 * Possessed Captain
 * Possessed Praetorian
 * Possessed Scion
 * Possessed Trooper
 * Praetorian
 * Scion
 * Seeker Plague
 * Seeker Swarm

Resurgence Pack
The Mass Effect 3: Resurgence Pack is a free DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 that added two new multiplayer maps, six new multiplayer characters, three new weapons, and four new consumable items. The pack was released on April 10, 2012 for Xbox 360 and PC, April 11, 2012 for PlayStation 3 and on-disc of the Wii U version.

Rebellion Pack
The Mass Effect 3: Rebellion Pack is a free DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 that added two new multiplayer maps, six new multiplayer characters, three new weapons, a new match objective, and a new equipment slot. The Rebellion Pack was released on May 29, 2012 for all platforms worldwide, May 30, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 in Europe, and on-disc of the Wii U version.

Earth
Mass Effect 3: Earth is a free DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 that added three new multiplayer maps, six new multiplayer characters, three new weapons, five weapon mods, eleven gear upgrades, a new match objective, and a new Platinum difficulty. Earth was released on July 17, 2012 for Xbox 360 and PC worldwide. For the PlayStation 3, the pack was released on July 17, 2012 in North America, July 18, 2012 in Europe, and on-disc of the Wii U version.

Retaliation
Mass Effect 3: Retaliation is a free DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 that added fifteen new enemies, sixteen new playable characters, three new weapons, six Gear bonuses, three ammo bonuses, environmental hazards for six existing maps, and Challenges for players to complete. Retaliation was released on October 9, 2012 for Xbox 360 and PC worldwide. For the PlayStation 3, the pack was released on October 9, 2012 in North America, and October 10, 2012 in Europe.

Reckoning
Mass Effect 3: Reckoning is a free DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 that added six new playable characters, seven new weapons, and two gear bonuses. Reckoning was released on February 26 for Xbox 360 and PC worldwide. For the PlayStation 3, the pack was released on February 26, 2013 in North America, and February 27, 2013 in Europe. This was the final Multiplayer DLC for Mass Effect 3.

Bugs

 * 1) Issues had been reported with already unlocked kits, characters, and items becoming locked again, typically after switching kits. This bug was remedied and it is now impossible to buy kits from the store while "ready".
 * 2) Another bug occasionally happened by using Biotic Charge immediately before getting knocked out. It would cause the player to glitch heavily during movement, float several feet above the ground, before getting stuck either right underneath the map or several hundred feet above the ground. This glitch was fixed by Patch 4.
 * 3) It's reported that host migrations can cause bugs with locking too.
 * 4) Sometimes when grabbing enemies, the grab animation will not occur, and the enemy will appear beside you, invincible. Should this occur, it is advisable to avoid that enemy until it dies on its own (usually by falling through the map).
 * 5) A bug had been reported that the Ultralight Materials upgrade for SMGs did not actually reduce power cooldown times. This bug was incorrectly reported to be fixed in Patch 1.03, and was eventually fixed with the next patch.
 * 6) Issues of "Waiting for other Players" has been reported where at the end of the match, the screen has "Waiting for other Players" and a black background while your experience and credits is being totaled. The only way to stop this is by pressing Circle (PS3), B (Xbox 360 or Wii U) or F (PC)  when the message comes up.

Trivia

 * The cancelled first-person shooter game, Mass Effect Team Assault, served as the basis for Mass Effect 3's multiplayer.