The RPG smiths at BioWare have La Forge'd a new set of DLC items for Mass Effect 2, including the fashionably next-gen Archon Visor seen above. As it's being delivered outside of the in-game Cerberus Network tomorrow, the "Equalizer Pack" will cost 160 MS Points (or 160 BioWare points if you're on PC).
Aside from the Visor add (it reduces the recharge time of Shepard's powers), the pack also offers the Capacitor Helmet for faster shield recharge, along with the Inferno Armor, a once pre-order bonus that increases tech and biotic damage and gives you an "edge in negotiations."
If we might play the role of advisor: If you're going to spend $2 on all this advanced armor, negotiations should only take place once the other person is at a severe and permanent disadvantage.
Reader Comments (45)
Posted: May 3rd 2010 5:59PM iFester said
What is this, Malibu Spacey?
Posted: May 3rd 2010 5:59PM Ballistic H said
Why isn't it free for PC? Learn it from Valve: all of their PC DLCs are free.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:10PM AwesomeSauce said
I agree. I love Mass Effect to death, but I just don't buy into all this cheesy DLC. Its to bad Bioware doesn't do DLC like they did module style for Neverwinter Nights. That stuff was worth paying for.
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Posted: May 3rd 2010 8:02PM Drake Lake said
Valve goes for the consumer support rather than money from DLC. They have decided to make that money with their numerous posters and (sadly overpriced) stuffies on the Valve store without looking like they want to nickel and dime on download content.
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Posted: May 4th 2010 12:00AM wcarnation said
Valve makes money by getting people to continually buy their games as a service.
People are still buying TF2 in droves, years after release. Can the same be said of BioWare/EA's games?
No.
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People are still buying TF2 in droves, years after release. Can the same be said of BioWare/EA's games?
No.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:06PM onan said
It's not free for PC because it's on EA's online thing, so it unlocks on all platforms (So if you get ME2 for PC one day, you'll have access, and vice versa).
Just a heads up to folks who haven't gotten this yet, I had the inferno armor from my Amazon preorder and it was pretty much useless. Not because the bonuses were bad, not just because you couldn't customize the armor, but because you couldn't take the helmet off. You can achieve all the stats on that armor with other bits you found in-game, including the negotiation bonus. The helmet killed it for me because it blocked all the emoting in cutscenes.
This is not worth 160. If you're dying to spend some cash, spend that on the Kasumi DLC, that's actually something semi-substantial that you might get some use out of.
Just a heads up to folks who haven't gotten this yet, I had the inferno armor from my Amazon preorder and it was pretty much useless. Not because the bonuses were bad, not just because you couldn't customize the armor, but because you couldn't take the helmet off. You can achieve all the stats on that armor with other bits you found in-game, including the negotiation bonus. The helmet killed it for me because it blocked all the emoting in cutscenes.
This is not worth 160. If you're dying to spend some cash, spend that on the Kasumi DLC, that's actually something semi-substantial that you might get some use out of.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 7:45PM Fullmetal Salchemist said
If you're dying to spend cash, try not to waste it by giving it to a company trying to nickel and dime you.
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Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:06PM SovereignSky said
Looks great and all, but I would rather have some more story based DLC like Stolen Memory....
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:13PM Ruinkind said
Agreed. Even at $2, this isn't a great deal, or even a very interesting product. None of those items are remotely necessary. They are instead marginally useful, and maybe in some cases good looking.
But I suppose it's a viable avenue for donating $2 to BioWare, for fans who are into that.
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But I suppose it's a viable avenue for donating $2 to BioWare, for fans who are into that.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:07PM Rhamsey said
I already have the inferno armor (and all of the other pre order stuff), so if I buy it i"m just getting a visor and a helmet for two dollars? If I hadn't purchased horse armor I'd be pretty upset.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:09PM (Unverified) said
Sounds like that whole Cerberus deal was temporary. Nice.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:22PM Debley said
When they announce they are going to stop releasing DLC then you can make a comment like that, howd u know what future DLC they are going to release. Just because they are charging for some DLC doesn't mean they are not going to release some Cerberus DLC in the future.
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Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:08PM StarFoxA said
So the Cerberus Network has been rendered useless only months after it started?
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:17PM Ruinkind said
"Rendered useless" is perhaps an exaggeration since it will still give some DLC to people who buy the game new. But yeah, it's unlikely we'll see more free DLC through the Cerberus network. That was part of EA's "project $10". And I expect they figure we've already seen about $10 work of DLC out of it.
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Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:11PM (Unverified) said
My shepard don't wear no head gear
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:14PM Dirty said
Did somebody call the Waaambulance?
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:16PM Petebot330 said
Yeah wow. I love ME2. but this lame.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:53PM Prinnywithascarf said
Dear Bioware,
I love you but stop this shit. NOW.
Make some real and affordable DLC(bonus scenarios, etc.). I feel that all these little weapon/armor add-ons should have came out when ME2 first came out.
I purchased this day 1 and I feel like I got ripped off, even with the whole Cerberus Network thing(didn't get many cool things from it).
I don't mind paying to support you guys via buying DLC, just make it worth my while.
Sincerely,
- Prinny-with-a-scarf-who-is-kind-of-annoyed
Reply
I love you but stop this shit. NOW.
Make some real and affordable DLC(bonus scenarios, etc.). I feel that all these little weapon/armor add-ons should have came out when ME2 first came out.
I purchased this day 1 and I feel like I got ripped off, even with the whole Cerberus Network thing(didn't get many cool things from it).
I don't mind paying to support you guys via buying DLC, just make it worth my while.
Sincerely,
- Prinny-with-a-scarf-who-is-kind-of-annoyed
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:58PM Petebot330 said
This is exactly the kind of thing that would work as free DLC too. Seriously.
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Posted: May 3rd 2010 8:18PM RogueJedi86 said
Prinny, if $2 is in the unaffordable range, then I doubt you had the money to buy ME2 in the first place.
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Posted: May 4th 2010 1:20AM Deschain said
@ RogueJedi86
That is very dense of you to say. You see, there is this thing we call "value". And I don't care how rich you are, a couple of helmets and armor add-on's are not worth 2 bucks. The fact of the matter is that ME2 was severely lacking of a good amount of armor customization to begin with. It's obvious they just withheld some back to spread it over time to get extra money.
tl;dr: This is the type of "dlc" that should have been in the game to begin with. If not, at the very least free dlc.
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That is very dense of you to say. You see, there is this thing we call "value". And I don't care how rich you are, a couple of helmets and armor add-on's are not worth 2 bucks. The fact of the matter is that ME2 was severely lacking of a good amount of armor customization to begin with. It's obvious they just withheld some back to spread it over time to get extra money.
tl;dr: This is the type of "dlc" that should have been in the game to begin with. If not, at the very least free dlc.
Posted: May 7th 2010 12:03AM TheRedComet said
No 3rd Heavy Pistol can only be construed as fail.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:21PM Diemer said
@Ludwig, Just wanted to let you know I appreciated your pun.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 6:57PM TheDarkWayne said
I already have the inferno armor, so this is pretty much bust. Why are they selling the preorder armor already when there was clearly a never before seen armor in the screenshots for the lightning gun?
Posted: May 3rd 2010 7:48PM faceturd said
I don't understand why there aren't more customizable armors or casual clothes, such a huge hole in this game... $2 visor is a rip-off. I never even used visors or helmets because it removes all the facial expressions during the dialogue which is all you're ever looking at.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 8:03PM AwesomeTown said
I still love you BioWare. I'll put this into the "Crap we contractually have to put out and charge for so that we can have some DLC out there for free" category.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 8:26PM Crsh said
Reminds me of the DA:O paid "prank" addons for April 1st, sure they were cheap but that kind of stuff should be free; good going EA.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 8:53PM MrCheeks said
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite DLC on Xbox Live.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 9:17PM Cafecito said
Me wants another costume pack, but for my REAL favorite characters, that is, Miranda, Grunt, Tali....
Actually, make it just an even sexier costume for Miranda and I'm sold.
Actually, make it just an even sexier costume for Miranda and I'm sold.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 10:19PM Baron Milton Von Crompton said
I don't mind paying for this, it's only $2 anyway. What, that's like... well -- you can't buy anything else for a mere $2 these days. Not where I'm from anyway, so this is good.
Besides, I got my Collector Armor and Incisor Rifle and Collector Rifle for free- thanks in part to an extremely friendly and generous seller on eBay- who went above and over the call of duty to give it to me.
Looking forward to this nice looking visor, albeit useless piece of DLC.
Besides, I got my Collector Armor and Incisor Rifle and Collector Rifle for free- thanks in part to an extremely friendly and generous seller on eBay- who went above and over the call of duty to give it to me.
Looking forward to this nice looking visor, albeit useless piece of DLC.
Posted: May 3rd 2010 11:54PM NeoCloud said
Posted: May 4th 2010 1:11AM (Unverified) said
There is a high chance that nobody gives a crap but this just bugs me:
"The RPG smiths at BioWare have La Forge'd a new set of DLC items"
"La forge" is the building were smiths forge things
"To forge" translates in french by "forger". If you conjugate to the third person in french it becomes "forge". So if you really wanted to put a french word in that sentence, it should have been:
"The RPG smiths at BioWare have forge'd a new set of DLC items"
Though writing it like that only makes it look like a weird typo.
Putting "La" or "Le" before a word doesn't make it sound french, most of the time it just shows you can't align 2 words in french whitout making an obvious mistake.
"The RPG smiths at BioWare have La Forge'd a new set of DLC items"
"La forge" is the building were smiths forge things
"To forge" translates in french by "forger". If you conjugate to the third person in french it becomes "forge". So if you really wanted to put a french word in that sentence, it should have been:
"The RPG smiths at BioWare have forge'd a new set of DLC items"
Though writing it like that only makes it look like a weird typo.
Putting "La" or "Le" before a word doesn't make it sound french, most of the time it just shows you can't align 2 words in french whitout making an obvious mistake.
Posted: May 4th 2010 4:56AM Ludwig Kietzmann said
It's actually a reference to the visor and Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. But everything you said is correct.
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Posted: May 4th 2010 7:49AM devilmachine said
I agree with the sentiments raised in this thread, that if your going to release lame DLC like this, make it available on the Cerebus network, isn't that what it was for in the first place?
Posted: May 4th 2010 5:54AM (Unverified) said
Enkindle This EA!
Posted: May 4th 2010 8:08AM Pixel Scuba said
This is good news. Anyone thinking they should buy this game new so they have access to the Cerberus Network can see that project $10 was a scam. So, like I said, good news, you can buy the game used, save some money, not give any to EA AND not lose out on anything... since they aren't giving you anything for that $10 anyways.
Posted: May 9th 2010 1:18AM (Unverified) said
Seriously. Come on you guys. If you don't like it.. Don't buy it. That simple.
Posted: May 23rd 2010 7:53PM (Unverified) said
Well all I can say is that th-ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL
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