Mass Effect 3's Operation Raptor deploying this weekend

Mass Effect 3 players on PC and Xbox 360 will have another chance to become online, intergalactic legends during EA and BioWare's next multiplayer promotion, Operation Raptor.

The latest event to march under the N7 Bounty Weekend banner, Operation Raptor runs this Friday at 5pm (PST) to 5am (PST) Monday, April 1. This time around, the powers-that-be are challenging the Mass Effect 3 community to promote a total of 150,000 characters to the single player war effort in exchange for free Victory Packs. Individual players will also be rewarded with Commendation Packs for promoting two of their own characters to the Reaper offensive. Bonus XP will be provided to help toward this goal.

“Promoting” someone in Mass Effect 3 means leveling a character in the game's multiplayer mode to level 20 and trading them in for a war asset in the single player game. Doing so increases one's preparedness for the final Reaper throwdown, but resets that character's level and powers in the multiplayer campaign. It's a sacrifice, but hey, that's war.

Right now, Operation Raptor is for PC and Xbox 360 troops only. However, BioWare stated on its blog that the studio is working on bringing PS3 owners on board, writing, “We are continuing to work with Sony to enable these types of Operations on the PlayStation 3 platform. We appreciate your patience, and we expect an update later this week regarding Operation Raptor and the PlayStation 3.”

If this is your first tour, learn what you're in for in our coverage of last week's Operation Fortress (Mass Effect 3's N7 Bounty Weekend starts today, brings bonus XP), and the first Operation Goliath (Mass Effect 3: Rare weapons are yours for the earning in first N7 Challenge Weekend).

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.