Mass Effect: Andromeda may not be getting any single-player DLC (although maybe it will, too—nobody really knows!) but it will, based on a very brief teaser released yesterday, be getting a new, tougher "Platinum" difficulty level for its multiplayer Apex missions.
Apex missions are "weekly limited-time missions" in which players can earn rewards including new gear and "mission funds" for completing specific objectives. They're currently playable at three difficulties—Bronze, Silver, and Gold—each of them offering increased risk and reward. Platinum difficulty, as BioWare said on Twitter, will require that you "take your skills to the next level."
Take your skills to the next level. Platinum Difficulty is coming to APEX Multiplayer. pic.twitter.com/RbqH0PrQjoJuly 4, 2017
What's more interesting in all this (at least to me) is the appearance of a Batarian in the teaser, ushered in by the ominous Inception sound. Batarians, infamous as the quad-eyed scumbags of the galaxy, were a sideshow (albeit a fairly significant one) in the original trilogy, but did not transition to Andromeda. The video clip suggests that they may be on the way, although obviously nothing about what form they'll take—that is, whether they'll appear and maybe play some sort of impactful role in the campaign, or if they'll simply be a multiplayer skin.
It's reminiscent of the May tease, also through Apex missions, of the looming arrival of the Quarians, another (and far more important) Mass Effect trilogy race that didn't appear in Andromeda. They were delayed, according to the Wiki, because their Ark is carrying other races, including Drell, Hanar, Elcor, and Volus, and was thus a more complex undertaking. Perhaps the Batarians are hitching a ride with them?
