Should Bioware Focus More On Single Or Multiplayer?

Today’s release of the “Earth” DLC pack for Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode will no doubt draw a lot of fans who might have moved on to other games back in for at least a day or two. However every time one of these new multiplayer packs is announced, there seems to always be a very vocal outcry for more single-player DLC.

Some especially irate fans will go so far as to claim that Bioware is “wasting their time” with all this multiplayer DLC instead of devoting more effort to the “true” focus of the game: Shepard’s story. Now, while such statements are certainly a bit over the top, it does beg the question of where should Bioware be focusing most of its efforts?

A recent announcement at Comic-Con revealed that Bioware does have more single-player DLC in the works and that it will focus on Shepard but some fans still aren’t happy. Many upset fans level the blame for Mass Effect 3′s lackluster single-player endings squarely at the feet of the game’s multiplayer while others claim that trying to tie the multiplayer and single-player experiences together did more harm than good.

So far, a total of five DLC packs have been released for Mass Effect 3 and of those five, only two were for the game’s single-player component: the day one release “From Ashes” and the “Extended Cut.” Of course when you consider the poor reception “From Ashes” received (many fans were concerned with the DLC’s amount of content vs. its $10 price tag and others were outraged that Bioware was charging them for content that should have been in the base game), and the fact that Bioware had to make a whole separate DLC just to explain the game’s ending, it’s hard to build a convincing case for Bioware.

While Bioware itself hasn’t confirmed its existence yet, the recently rumored “Leviathan” DLC, in which Shepard must rescue an indoctrinated mining facility from a rogue Reaper and possibly recruit the Reaper to his side, could be a bit of welcome news if and when Bioware makes it official. However I’m also left wondering if fans will be happy with having to shell out another $10 for more single-player DLC when, so far, all of the game’s multiplayer DLC has been free.

What sorts of incentives would Bioware have to include in order to make the single-player DLC worth the price of entry? New planets to explore? New weapons and armor? New quest/story arcs? One idea that seems to have caught fire amongst the Mass Effect community is helping Aria T’Lok take back Omega from Reaper control. Such an idea certainly has potential; getting to amass an army of mercenary (and possibly Alliance) ships and personnel for an all out assault on the Omega base, re-establishing Omega as an allied forces stronghold from which Shepard could accept a whole bevvy of new quests and tasks, maybe even getting a new squadmate or two.

What would it take for you to boot up your old Mass Effect 3 saves? Should Bioware continue developing new content for the game’s multiplayer or should the refocus their resources and aim to deliver an appealing single-player experience?

tanto

single player is all that matters
Matt S

MP for ME3 is a waste of time. Who’s playing the MP? I am not. No one on my friends list is even playing it. The game was clearly a rushed effort
http://nhohlvg.blogspot.com/ Nathaniel Hohl

As much as I respect both of your…erm…opinions, trying to pass them off as fact might be overstepping just a bit.

I personally really enjoy the MP and I hope that Bioware continues to support it. If you google the raw analytical data for the game’s MP, you’ll see that it is far from being a “waste of time” since thousands of players still continue to play it daily.

I doubt Bioware would bother with developing new MP DLC packs if they felt nobody was playing the MP.
Logan

I’ve enjoyed the little multiplayer DLC packs. They’re not game-changers, but the ME3 mutiplayer is fun and it’s nice to have a multiplayer mode where you need to work with the other players to succeed, rather than act like a raging douche. I’m looking at you, Call of Duty.

That being said, the meat-and-potatoes of the Mass Effect series (and Bioware games in general) is the single-player story. Bioware set the bar high for DLC with Lair of the Shadow Broker and that’s what fans want to see. In addition to the potential Omega DLC, there are pushes for some kind of DLC featuring Jack and/or Miranda, since those two characters had such amazing storytelling potential in ME2 and were sidelined in ME3. There is also a push for what has been dubbed “The Romance Extended Cut” DLC. Essentially, people would like to see the non-ME1 romances flushed out more, with legitimate romance scenes for everyone not Liara-Ashley-Kaiden and some kind of acknowledgement of a Thane-Jack-Miranda before the assualt on Cerberus (a la the picture scene in ME2)