Anthem Updates

[Oort]

Patch 1.2.0 hit this week and there was a developer livestream about the upcoming changes.

https://www.ea.com/games/anthem/news/update-120

For those who want a summary:

• Patch added a couple of features to freeplay to improve it:
  • A question-mark on the compass for collectables/nodes/etc.
  • Purple icons for areas that will spawn an elite with a guaranteed drop (though the drop may be garbage)
  • Fast travel around the map from strider to strider.
• Patch added a handful of canned communications commands ("Thanks", "Follow me", etc.)
• Some new Legendary Missions (technically, they're not new if they're replays of old missions).
• A bunch of bug fixes.
• A bunch of gear changes.
• A QoL fix (looking away from an interaction no longer cancels it).
• Stream talked about some of the upcoming changes:
  • A PTS is expected to go live next week.  They'll be dropping builds of Cataclysm to it.  Initial builds will have functional gaps.
  • News about the Cataclysm:
    • Designed for four players.
    • Score-based leaderboards, with score being both a product of what you do and the difficulty level.
    • Some new items with slightly higher power levels than current gear.
    • 2-week lead-up to the event with vanity rewards.
    • 6-week event, with different weeks having different special rulesets (i.e., gear does quad damage for a week).
    • Cataclysm will be a new map area.
  • A new melee weapon slot that will allow each javelin to have either primer or finisher for melee attack.
  • Luck as a gear stat is going away (inscriptions will be replaced with +Armor).  Everyone will be given max Luck, which they say will increase drop rates.
    • I run 90+ Luck on most of my kits and don't see great drops, so I'm dubious of the value here.  But +Armor is nice and not having to wear stupid/sub-optimal gear for the Luck will be nice.

From practical experience, Freeplay flows nicer now.  Less bored searching for events.  Now you can hit clusters of mobs as you search for events.

Questrox and I run together several nights a week.  Guild activity is currently down to about 3 people.

Not all the problems are gone from the game, but they've clearly been working hard and there's still some life left in it.  For those that enjoy the gameplay, it remains enjoyable.  For those who don't enjoy the gameplay, it's not really different enough to magically make you love it.

But if anyone was on the fence about committing more time to it, there's life from the devs, and we have a couple of people who play most days, and doing the group content is always better with the same people than pugs.  So swing by and check it out again.

[Damis]

Thanks for the update.

[Oort]

PTS is up.  Aside from the PTS being not-ready-for-prime-time (not a surprise), there are improvements over the base game.

[Boshu]

Thanks for the update. I really enjoyed the gameplay, but got real tired of farming gear that was just crap. Can’t remember how many grandmaster 2 missions and the group missions I forget what they are called and only ever got one piece higher than mastercraft. And it wasn’t even for the javelin I was in. 

 

Have they fixed that?

[Oort]

Fixed getting gear for other javelins.  Loot drop rate is still pretty bad.  If your focus is gear, the game will be frustrating and unpleasant.

If you enjoy flying around or just general gameplay, then getting the loot is a nice bonus.  Though I did get frustrated trying to get the last weapon I needed for the weapon challenges and then the last Ranger gear I needed for those challenges.

I suspect the big patch will be disappointing and the next level death knell for the game unless they improve loot drop rates.  Given random inscriptions, there need to be more (I rarely keep any drops anymore because I've managed to assemble decent inscriptions).

I'll keep playing this till I find something I enjoy more.  Or the game will improve, and I won't find that something.