Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Getting Substantial Update from BioWare

BioWare is not joking around when it comes to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer support. They already announced the Retaliation expansion that will bring in the Collectors as a new enemy type, but they're not stopping there.

On the official BioWare Blog, Multiplayer Associate Producer Nathan Plewes sheds some light on some of the big changes they're adding to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer.

Plewes notes that they are adding "hundreds" of new multiplayer challenges that the player can tackle at their own pace. As you progress, you'll earn Challenge Points and completing "Gold" tier challenges will reward you with a unique banner and title that you can display in the mulitplayer lobby. The Gold challenges can be completed multiple times for even more points and BioWare has even added an additional leaderboard to keep track of all the points you've collected.

Going hand-in-hand with that new leaderboard is the new N7 HQ web page that offers info to the player when they're not playing. This includes character lists, leaderboards, and gameplay stats. In short, you'll be able to review your overall multiplayer progression (a la Battlelog for Battlefield 3).

One more thing they're tweaking are the multiplayer challenges. It will still run on weekends but there will be a prompt that a new challenge is available once you hop online to play multiplayer. In addition to that, players can now track their progress when it comes to these weekend challenges, and your reward (Commendation Packs) will instantly be awarded to you once you've completed the challenge — yep, you won't have to wait days before collecting your bounty this time.

Lastly, Plewes notes that there will be weekend challenges every weekend and not every other week as is the case now. On top of that, they will be unlocking new kits and "other surprises" each week to help your squad in that next big push against the Collectors.

Say what you will about Mass Effect 3's ending, but BioWare is really bringing their A game when it comes to post-launch support for Mass Effect 3's multiplayer component, no? What makes this even sweeter is that most — if not all — the multiplayer expansions they've released so far have been free; which is a rare thing in today's nickel-and-diming industry.

Are you still playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer? What do you make of these changes so far? Will this be enough to bring back old players to the fold?