Mass Effect 3 Operation Alloy Launching This Weekend

BioWare will host a special multiplayer event this week for Mass Effect 3's co-op mode. Operation Alloy encourages players to help train new recruits for the war against the Reapers.

Alloy revolves around the promotion mechanic in multiplayer. In co-op, players create custom characters and can level them up by completing missions. Once they hit the cap of level 20, players can promote them into the single-player campaign. This boosts the player's War Assets in the campaign, thereby making it easier to achieve the better endings in the game. The trade-off to promoting a character is that it resets them to level 1.

The goal for each player during this weekend is to promote 2 characters. Collectively, the player base of ME3 needs to promote 50,000 characters. Achieving the individual goal will unlock a Commendation Pack. If the community goal is met, then all participating players will get a Victory Pack and an increase in their medi-gel capacity.

BioWare's put a lot of effort into making sure everyone keeps playing ME3's multiplayer. They host these special events on a biweekly basis in order to draw in players. Furthermore, they've released several DLC packs for multiplayer. The most recent DLC, "Earth," introduced new maps, weapons and character classes for no charge.

It's not clear if and when BioWare will release the next DLC for co-op. The next ME3 add-on on the way is "Leviathan," a new single-player adventure.