The Gears of War 3 news just keeps coming. As you may know, the ‘Horde Command Pack’ is now out. Epic have also announced the ‘Versus Booster Pack‘, which brings five new MP maps for free. They’ve now announced that all your XP will be doubled until 14 November, there is a new ‘Alpha Playlist’ and that they’re bringing back a ‘new and improved’ One Shot. Oh, and don’t forget about ‘Raam’s Shadow’ coming next month and featuring campaign DLC.
I’ll leave it to the chaps at the Epic Community Forums to detail everything for you.
Horde Command Pack is Out!
Today marked the release of the first DLC for Gears of War 3, “The Horde Command Pack.” The add-on includes three new maps, three new playable characters, two new weapon skins and additional achievements worth 250 Gamerscore. The Horde Command pack also includes new fortification upgrades in the fan-favorite Horde mode. The add-on is available for 800 Microsoft points or for automatic download for consumers who have purchased the Gears of War 3 Season Pass.
Versus Booster Map Pack
On November 24th, Epic Games will release a free downloadable content pack for Gears of War 3. The “Versus Booster Map Pack” adds two more maps for online play. The new maps include “Bullet Marsh” and “Clocktower”, two old favorites from the first Gears of War. The other three are the new maps from the “Horde Command Pack: Azura, Rustlung, and Blood Drive. All maps will be available on public matchmaking via dedicated servers.
The Alpha Playlist
Alpha is a new playlist incorporated into Gears of War 3 that offers players a familiar, yet different experience from our standard playlists. Here is a breakdown from Epic Games‘ Level Designer Quinn DelHoyo:
Team Size: 4
Gametypes: Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Execution
Loadout: Lancer/Gnasher
Weapon Pick-ups: Default with the some custom swaps.
Weapon Respawn: Set to “After Pick-up” with quicker respawn times.Quinn explains, “Something to keep in mind here is that this is only the first version of Alpha and the success or failure of this playlist is predicated upon how much you (the community) play and contribute to it. So please provide feedback and let us know what you would like to see happen with Alpha”
We hope you enjoy the new Alpha playlist. Please visit http://epic.gm/alpha to discuss the playlist with Quinn.
Gears of War 3 Double XP!
We are starting an XP event today at 6:00 PM EST that will run through November 14th at 9:00 AM EST. You’ll get DOUBLE XP in all gametypes, so now is the time to rank up and get those unlocks!
Let’s Talk About: Weapon Swaps!
As you know, the One Shot was temporarily removed from the map ‘Mercy’, but because of your feedback we’re bringing it back and it’s better than ever. It will now take less time to lock on to your target and the field of vision is a bit greater. This will allow you to see a larger area when you zoom in.
For a full breakdown of weapons swaps we’ve made since launch and to join in on the discussion, please visit http://epic.gm/swaps on the Epic Games Community Forums. Post in the comments to let us know what you think of the changes!
