Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[Zevox]

So, during the extended maintence downtime for this place, we got our next multiplayer DLC announced. Retaliation (trailer), coming October 9th. Big stuff in this one:

• New Faction: The Collectors
• New enemy troops: Dragoon for Cerberus, Drones for Geth.
• New classes: Turian Havoc Soldier, Turian Ghost Infiltrator, "with many more being added on a regular basis."
• New "hazard" versions of stages - not entirely new stages, but five existing ones will now have versions with what amount to traps throughout them, such as acid and seeker swarms.
• New weapons: Collector Assault Rifle, Collector SMG, Collector Sniper Rifle.
• New ammo mods and gear (unspecified).
• New "Challenge" feature: basically an achievement system which earns you points that can be used to unlock banners and titles.

On top of that, someone found in the patch that dropped the other day the names of quite a few more classes, perhaps for this DLC or future ones (or possibly just ideas that may never be, for all we know). Most don't have regular class names, so what they are is just speculation, but I like what I see for the most part:

Turian Saboteur Vanguard
Asari Valkyrie (Sentinel? Soldier?)
Asari Huntress (Infiltrator? Vanguard?)
Quarian Marksman (Infiltrator? Soldier?)
Volus Engineer
Volus Adept
Volus Mercenary (Soldier? Vanguard?)
Volus Protector (Sentinel?)
Drell Assassin (Infiltrator?)
Geth Trooper (Soldier?)
Krogan Shaman (Adept?)
Batarian Slasher (Soldier? Sentinel?)
Batarian Brawler (Soldier? Vanguard?)
Vorcha Hunter (Infiltrator?)

The Volus are a surprise, but one I'm eager to see in action. I'd also love to try out an Asari Sentinel or Krogan Shaman, if I'm right about those. Oh, and Turian Vanguard too, that would be awesome. Which is good, because the classes announced for the DLC as-is don't do anything for me, being a Soldier and an Infiltrator.

Anyway though, great to see a new faction being added into the mix - we've needed that for a long time. I'm less pleased with the "hazard" stages - I want to fight the enemies, not the terrain. But not much for it I suppose. Of course, just my luck, it releases on the same day as XCOM, so if that game proves at all enjoyable, it'll be a week or two minimum before I get around to playing this. Ce la vie, I suppose.

Zevox