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 and Geth 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.

Missions
Missions in cooperative multiplayer consist of pitting the player and up to three other allies against eleven waves of enemies, including Cerberus, Reaper, or geth troops on various battlefields throughout the galaxy. Players must survive these waves by eliminating the enemy forces, and also accomplish objectives.

All objectives have a time limit, and the mission will end if time expires. There are five types of objectives, occurring randomly at waves three, six, and ten:
 * Devices: Enable or disable four key devices in sequence. Time is extended after each device.
 * Assassination: Take out four targeted enemies in sequence. Time is extended after each kill.
 * Hacking: Capture and hold a point in order to hack critical data before time runs out. Additional players within the hacking 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. Players cannot sprint or evade while carrying packages.
 * 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 will occasionally replenish player shields and launch missiles at enemies.

On the eleventh wave, all players must retreat to the landing site and defend against the enemy for a set time period until an evacuation shuttle arrives. Though the mission is considered complete after clearing the tenth wave, bonus experience is rewarded for each player extracted during wave eleven.

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, but will also reward more credits to spend in the Store.

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 Galaxy at War 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.

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.

N7 Ranking
Each multiplayer user has an associated N7 Ranking. The ranking serves as an indicator of players' overall level of experience with the game, and is calculated by adding together the total levels ever gained by each class, plus 10 for each time a class has been promoted.

Character Customization
Players can choose from six different classes and ten different races to create a unique multiplayer character. Characters' weapons and equipment can be customized between matches, and additional weapons and equipment obtained by purchasing packs from the Store. Leveling up and promoting characters directly affects a player's N7 Rank.

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 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, BioWare Points on PC, or currency on PlayStation 3.

Weekend Events
Weekend Events are held every other weekend. Participating in events can reward players with unique weapons, free items packs, and additional experience for multiplayer characters.

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

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

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

Squad Awards
Awards are earned by the squad for killstreaks, the outcome of the extraction (at least one squad member must be extracted and the outcome depends on the size of the squad), surviving multiple waves consecutively without a single squad member going down, completing an unknown map, the level of the completed map, completing the map with unknown enemies.

Awards for survival and killstreaks are earned regardless of map completion.

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

Earth Pack Maps

 * Firebase London
 * Firebase Rio
 * Firebase Vancouver

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

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, and April 11, 2012 for PlayStation 3.

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, and May 30, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 in Europe.

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, twelve weapon mods, eleven gear upgrades, a new match objective, and a new Platinum difficulty. The Earth Pack was released on July 17, 2012 for Xbox and PC worldwide. For the PlayStation 3, the pack was released on July 17, 2012 in North America, and July 18, 2012 in Europe.

Bugs

 * 1) Issues have been reported with already unlocked kits, characters, and items are being locked again, typically after switching kits. This bug has since been remedied and now it is impossible to buy kits from the store while "ready".
 * 2) Another bug occasionally happens by using Biotic Charge immediately before getting knocked out. It will 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.
 * 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 they die on their own (usually falling through the map).
 * 5) A bug has been reported that the Ultralight Materials upgrade for SMG's does not actually reduce power cooldown times. This bug was initially reported to be fixed in Patch 1.03; however, the bug is not fixed by Patch 1.03, and has been removed from the official 1.03 patch notes.

Trivia

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