Mass Effect 3 multiplayer offers largest operation to date

After a full year of support, Mass Effect 3's DLC is drawing to an end. To send out the shooter in style, BioWare is hosting a huge multiplayer event.

Operation Lodestar rund from March 5 through 10, and differs from past multiplayer events in that it offers three different reward tiers.

As detailed on the BioWare Blog, any player who extracts on any difficulty will score a first tier reward. Those who extract once against each of the four enemy factions at Silver difficulty or higher will take home a second tier reward pack.

To earn the highest reward, players need to extract four times, once against each faction, on Platinum difficulty. This is not going to happen to me.

Each tier includes a commendation pack, so those who manage tier two and above will end up with more than one, and second tier and above includes a banner with the words "Stood Fast, Stood Strong, Stood Together".

Here's the mission briefing direct from Admiral Steven Hackett:

We are coordinating the largest-scale attack in the brief history of this war. N7 unit actions will pave the way for resistance and conventional forces trying to retake the population centers of our homeworlds. There is no retreat. When an objective is finished or a target destroyed, you will immediately focus on the next. Our assets will provide cover to network ships that will update your targets in real-time. Rally points are at your disposal in the event that all space assets meet with catastrophic casualties. From there, you will fight as your CO sees fit or until further orders arrive.

I cannot fully express my deep respect for all of you, the sapients of the Milky Way who serve together under our banner. When future generations look back on this war, they will see the courage and commitment it takes to change the fate of a galaxy. It has been a hard road, but at last: the end is in sight.

Finish it.

Mass Effect 3's last free multiplayer DLC, Reckoning, released late last week, and its final single-player offering, Citadel, is out now - although PS3 owners may have to wait for a local network update.