At times I feel like BioWare is walking a tightrope when it comes to pleasing fans of the Mass Effect series. We all know that many found the ending to Mass Effect 3 to be subpar, which was addressed with a free Director’s Cut DLC with an extended ending, but the frustrations didn’t stop there. As our own Matthew Mann addressed recently, BioWare is being selective about which DLC is included with the Mass Effect Trilogy collection. Like I said, it is a tightrope that they are walking on, and this tightrope has led to the co-founders of BioWare to retire from the company that made them who they are due to how negative they found fans and navigating the industry to be.

With all of this being said, I think what has gone unnoticed has been the attention to detail and just how much cool, free stuff they have given away when it comes to the multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. We live in a world where games have “season passes” and many games that have a focus on multiplayer tend to nickel and dime their consumers when it comes to multiplayer content — not just single player content — and it can be exhausting. Games are no longer shipping as complete packages, instead there is material seemingly withheld for a later date to be sold at a premium price to the consumer. Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer has amassed a pretty substantial following since its release earlier this year, and BioWare has done a good job of pushing out new content for the multiplayer and doing so completely free of charge.

They just announced that coming up next week will be yet more free multiplayer content. “Retaliation” will be released on October 9th across all platforms (with EU PS3 players having to wait until the 10th) and yes, it will be free. Retaliation will add the Collectors as a new enemy faction to face off against as well as new unlockable kits: the Turian Havoc Soldier and Turian Ghost Infiltrator. You’ll be able to unlock and outfit Collector weapons, and there will be new “hazard” versions of the available maps, adding environmental challenges to the mix to make them more difficult.

On top of that, there will be a new challenge system that notes your performances and awards challenge points.