this is the best i could of expected and am grateful

I wonder if this is the first of many DLC's..

that's an interesting approach. very cool. i'm not sure if this is enough to sway me though. i've got enough on my plate!

Sounds like a good compromise to me.

I hope that this mode has some meat, instead of just being a short distraction.

Makes me excited.

I agree, I hope it's not just a couple of quickie 10 minute shootouts.

If it is even say 6 15-30 min missions, that would be a nice diversion. Having different race/class combinations will increase replay value if you have to level them up, but there would need to be variety to make you want to come back.

Most of my mixed feelings have resolved in favor of co-op based on what I've seen. I still have my reservations about integrating everything with the single player campaign, though. I agree that giving the player more options is a good thing, but giving the shaft to the thousands of players who only want to play 1P (and yes, Jim, they're a strong voting bloc too) is the wrong way to do it. Fingers crossed that Bioware understands that. For the record, this is a day one buy for me one way or another, and if anyone wants some cover fire from a salarian sniper, hit me up.

I hope it has SYSTEM LINK!

--- Replying to Bakken Hood -----
I have my doubts as well. I never really cared for the combat in ME as other games do it much better. For me, ME is all about the characters and setting. Long sessions of character interaction and dialog don't sound like much co-op fun to me. I'll gladly sit through that alone but listening to NPCs talk is not why I get together with friends. And since the co-op stuff seems to be about combat (if I'm reading things correctly) I'm not terribly compelled to play it. I'll probably change that opinion as the game gets closer to launch and more details are known but for now that's how I feel.

This . . . sounds . . . SWEET! This is well thought out. I'm a hard core ME player, having beat it on both Consoles with multiple characters. My biggest concern was seeing multiplayer injecting into a winning formula at the last minute. But seeing that Bioware is trying to steal WoW's MMO thunder with Star Wars The Old Republic - this sounds like an innovative hybrid. It brings a co-op MMO element to a great single player game, yet keeps the main campaign true to the predecessors!

My co-op concerns for Mass Effect are now fading! I'd like to see how this pans out.

I saw a video last night where one of the BioWare guys was explaining a bit more about the co-op process. He said that fans do not have to fear their single player experience being compromised by the whole multiplayer thing. Since they have plenty of resources of all variety, they assigned an entirely separate studio to work exclusively on the co-op portion.

He went on to say that despite the co-op missions and the single player being connected, you could still maximize your single player game and not lose any advantage if you decide to never touch the co-op portion.

These BioWare folks is smart

--- Replying to CoopBob -----
this could be a terrible, terrible thing. any software developer can tell you that. if there's not enough communication going on between the two groups, the whole thing could turn into a pile of mush because the two parts don't fit together the way they were designed. that said, bioware seems capable of pulling that off successfully. lets hope for the best.

--- Replying to SecretAsianManz -----

Yup, 100% agreed. Combat in ME2 was adequate, but in no way deeply satisfying in and of itself, just to the degree it supported the rest of the game. Building a whole new game mode out of one of the weakest parts of the franchise seems… questionable, at least.

And I'm concerned about what other Galactic Readiness Level tie-ins they might come up with, and how important they might prove to be. Play the Facebook game from Zynga and annoy the ever-living crap out of your friends for Readiness points! Play the Android game! And play the separate iOS game too! And participate in the FourSquare competition to be elected mayor of the Citadel! And charge $2,000 on your American Express card the month before ME3 is released to get an extra 25% readiness! Don't turn on your console without it!

--- Replying to Macrocephalus -----
That is a really depressing thought, which is only made worse by the fact that it might actually happen.

Bioware has at least claimed that you can reach the same "battle readiness" level without doing all the extra social gaming stuff.

If companies want to do all that extra stuff to simply enhance the experience then I don't mind. Hopefully they don't start limiting your game experience if you don't take part.

--- Replying to CoopBob -----

Yeah, but is that "can" as in "it's entirely feasible and not any more difficult than anything in previous ME games", or "can" as in "sure, you can beat Demon's Souls in an hour or so without leveling up your character much or getting any incredible loot but only if you're insanely skilled, dedicated and knowledgeable"?

--- Replying to Macrocephalus -----

Thankfully I am uber-insanely-skilled so it's not a concern for me

But seriously, who knows? At this point I could only speculate with you. My off hand reaction is that I don't mind if it means more single player leg work as it means more game time. But generally I do agree with you, I hope all this new-fangled social gaming synergy doesn't mess with my game!