RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 22, 2019
It's a Bioware title so I would have to imagine there would be a heavy emphasis on story and characters.
Teaser trailer
Gameplay reveal
E3 Conference teaser
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lestye
United States4100 Posts
RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 22, 2019 It's a Bioware title so I would have to imagine there would be a heavy emphasis on story and characters. Teaser trailer Gameplay reveal E3 Conference teaser | ||
Sermokala
United States13540 Posts
I mean even the footage we've gotten is a weird take on destiny game play. I mean if they went super modular with the different mech suits making the branching class trees appear with different looking mechs I would be interested. But I just have no faith in the game being anything but a game that I never play and never want to. | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
I haven't heard anything about the business model, but its EA so its plausible it'll be terrible. However, your point about that jerk was disavowed by the Casey Hudson: I have hopes for this game, hell I think it would be super easy to beat Destiny 2's class design since there's not very well defined equipment and theres only a few abilities/choices. Not to mention they could just have more classes than Destiny. | ||
Sermokala
United States13540 Posts
Destiny seems like its trying its best to make an emphisis on the guns as well as the classes themselves. Which is a good way to spread out the depth I think. I really don't care for an fps MMO like that but its cool I guess. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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gingerfluffmuff
Austria4570 Posts
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lestye
United States4100 Posts
On June 05 2018 04:11 Sermokala wrote: That was the David crooks guy the one I was talking about was Mike Jungbluth (@lightbombmike). He currently has an apology about it pinned. Destiny seems like its trying its best to make an emphisis on the guns as well as the classes themselves. Which is a good way to spread out the depth I think. I really don't care for an fps MMO like that but its cool I guess. this is a tps! For some reason its only first person when you're doing RP stuff in the world, so whatever that means! On June 05 2018 04:51 gingerfluffmuff wrote: Idk, it looks just so generic. idk, not many mech suit games, especially ones that are open world, co-op, and are as vertical as this | ||
VengefulJerry
United States5 Posts
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Yurie
11533 Posts
So I'll look forward to it but maybe not get it since I don't feel like playing a shooter again. Enjoying Pillars of Eternity combat more than any recent shooter I've played and it doesn't even have great combat. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
With that said, I do hope it will be a good game! Looking forward to seeing what they have to show at E3. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
EA is cancer. | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
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lestye
United States4100 Posts
https://www.gameinformer.com/cover/2018/06/09/july-cover-revealed-anthem https://www.gameinformer.com/video-interview/2018/06/09/123-rapid-fire-questions-about-anthem https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/anthem/flying-to-a-new-frontier With their baseline capabilities, the four javelin types essentially function as classes. In addition to their locked-in melee attacks, defensive maneuvers, and ultimate attacks, each suit can equip two weapons, along with two pieces of gear – a category that includes a wide variety of tools like explosives, energy blasts, and more. However, you can’t just mix-and-match, since the javelins have access to different arsenals that accentuate their natural abilities. For example, the ranger can use cryo grenades, but only the colossus has the power to wield heavy machine guns. You also have a variety of options within each javelin type, allowing you to alter your loadout to specialize in certain weapons or tactics depending on the task at hand. During our hands-on time, we played a ranger with a cryo grenade modified to send out additional shockwaves from enemies who are killed while frozen. We also played a colossus with a flamethrower, while another colossus in the group used a mortar. Full EA Play presentation: | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
So it sounds interesting. But this is EA... | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Lengthy Eurogamer interview. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-06-11-the-big-bioware-interview-the-response-to-anthem-and-the-future-of-mass-effect | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
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TelecoM
United States10583 Posts
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Latham
9507 Posts
On June 19 2018 14:03 GGzerG wrote: This looks really awesome, but almost identical to Destiny 2 from what I can see, but with more 3rd person...regardless, this looks really awesome. Funny, on the subreddits I visit people were saying this is Warframe, but with better flight controls :^) | ||
ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On June 21 2018 03:03 ticklishmusic wrote: i don't think it'll be a bad game (EA notwithstanding), but the problem is that people who would play it are already playing other stuff which they've invested tons of time into and has had time for multiple releases of content. so unless it's legit really good, it will be hard to build much of a playerbase imo. But none of those games let me be Iron Man. And I have wanted a good Iron man simulator for a long time. From what the folks at Waypoint and Giant Bomb were saying, the game has some real slick, tight controls for the flight that make it feel awesome, but also like you could fall out of the air if you got hit hard enough. And the weapons have a real good feel to them, that something awesome is always off cool down and ready to combo. | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
On June 21 2018 03:03 ticklishmusic wrote: i don't think it'll be a bad game (EA notwithstanding), but the problem is that people who would play it are already playing other stuff which they've invested tons of time into and has had time for multiple releases of content. so unless it's legit really good, it will be hard to build much of a playerbase imo. I think there are people that are dissatisfied with those games. I think the fact that its third person alone will make it find an audience, and thats not talking about stuff about the business model. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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ZenithM
France15952 Posts
I understand that it's kind of a requirement for looters, as well as having very spongy enemies (otherwise you don't have enough margin of progression between lvl 1 noob and lvl 99 badass with a Legendary© gun). But it just makes for boring shooting gameplay. Guns feel light and weak. | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
Hell, I'd want numbers in my shooters too. I am kinda annoyed Overwatch doesn't have numbers when I'm used to them in TF2. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/9al7cu/what_we_learned_about_anthem_this_weekend_from/ | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/9g203k/what_we_learned_about_anthem_this_week_from_the/ | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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lestye
United States4100 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
This week, BioWare took some time in Los Angeles to show off key details about its upcoming online action RPG Anthem, sharing story details with members of the press in advance of a trailer preview at The Game Awards. Next week, we'll be bringing you a conversation with game director Jon Warner about the direction of Anthem, but during the presentation BioWare lead producer Mike Gamble was able to talk to Gamasutra about the transition to live gameplay operations, and shared an interesting detail about BioWare's philosophy toward its (loot box-free) plans for monetization. Namely, Gamble said that as of this time, BioWare doesn't feel the need to target so-called "whales" as the core part of its plans. A lot of game companies, especially in the free-to-play space, structure their monetization to attract large spenders who hopefully exceed the average user spend for a given game. When pressed if Gamble thinks BioWare needs these kinds of players for Anthem to succeed, Gamble's immediate reply was "I don't think so." With Anthem, Gamble stated that BioWare "is hoping to attract as many people as possible, make the pool as wide as possible, to support the game as long as possible. So even if we don't have lots of people spending lots of money, we're hoping the economy is such that we have a number of people [who can support the game.]" "Having whales is great...but we don't cater towards any particular group," Gamble explained "Some people have more time than others, some people have less time than others, and that's just where we leave it." Gamble also made an interesting comment during a group Q&A in response to a question from Mashable's Jess Joho about BioWare's plans for live operations for Anthem. "We want to support matchmaking where you don't have to know six people on Reddit to play the game," he said, rather bluntly pointing out that many online RPGs in the vein of Diablo and Destiny have that social barrier that can even turn away experienced players without the right social group. "We feel that is one of the barriers into getting into these kinds of games...we've tried to design the game that we felt we could get into [as single-player RPG players], we could take that extra step and say 'you know this is actually fun playing with someone else.'" Source | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
But at least it has match making for everything(Shakes fist at Destiny) | ||
InFiNitY[pG]
Germany3463 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
Inquisition was pretty good IMO. It has very real flaws, but I still liked it a lot. | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
I got Anthem with my graphics card, so either way i'm good i already own it - i actually think it might be a winner. At the very least, it won't be worse than Destiny 2 pre-activision split, take that as you will. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/23/18194825/anthem-release-date-when-can-i-play-where-to-play-early-access-demo-pc-ps4-xbox-one For those pathologically adverse to Polygon. + Show Spoiler + ANTHEM VIP DEMO Dates: Jan. 25-27 Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Requirements: pre-order, or EA Access or Origin Access subscription This is the first early access demo that EA is offering for Anthem. It’s only available to players who have the game pre-ordered, or subscribe to EA Access (Xbox One) or Origin Access (PC). Origin Access has two tiers. The first is Basic ($4.99 per month), which is the same price as EA Access and offers the same early access benefits. The second is Premier ($14.99), which offers more benefits and has no console equivalent. It’s still unclear what exactly will be included in this demo, but it will probably just be a small portion of the overall game. ANTHEM OPEN DEMO Dates: Feb. 1-3 Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Requirements: none This one’s just what it says: an open beta with no strings attached. If you want to check out Anthem on any of these platforms, you can download it and try it during this three-day period for free. ANTHEM EARLY ACCESS TO THE FULL GAME Release date: Feb. 15 Platforms: PC Requirements: Origin Access Premier subscription This will give players access to all of Anthem, a full week before its official release. It will let players experience all of the game’s content with no time limit. The only catch is that you need Origin Access Premier, which is only available on PC. ANTHEM 10 HOURS OF ACCESS TO THE FULL GAME Release date: Feb. 15 Platforms: PC, Xbox One Requirements: EA Access or Origin Access Basic subscription Players on Xbox One and PC who pay for EA Access or the Basic tier of Origin Access, respectively, will be able to play the whole game for up to 10 hours starting on Feb. 15. PUBLIC ANTHEM RELEASE DATE Release date: Feb. 22 Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One Requirements: buy the game This is the proper release date of Anthem. As of Feb. 22, anyone who wants to can buy it and play it. I guess if there is a demo for PC I'll give it a try and be disappointed with how it runs. | ||
blade55555
United States17423 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
If money matters to you, wait a month or a month and a half after release to decide to buy or not. Remember who we're dealing with here. Major changes to the game a little after release and reviews are out are very likely here.. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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m4ini
4215 Posts
I enjoyed myself with a mate in Anthem. Granted, only played like an hour and a half, but that hour and a half was fun. So far, flying is a bit wonky, but i think that's due to my settings (still had smoothing on). Gunplay isn't actually bad. Not a huge fan of the city, since it's ego perspective and more importantly, it feels slow traversing it and the map of it isn't really helping all that much. That being said, i would assume that if you start from actual scratch, you get introduced to the POIs - which isn't the case in the Demo since you start at level 10. Movement itself is.. Fluent, and satisfying. The "sprint-jump-fly" sequence feels and sounds good. AI, ahm, well i did see some NPC trying to dodge stuff, but there's a lot of cannon fodder too. Wouldn't buy it for the AI. The concept itself i of course like, it does seem a bit Destiny-y. It's a looter, so generally, the carrot on a stick is indeed working. So far my biggest surprise is A: it runs on a mates potato of a computer, and B: how "satisfying" movement feels. It's hard to explain, it has to do with the sounds and deliberate delays. Like the sprint for example, if you press shift, there's a 0.5 second delay where you can "feel" the rockets in your back ramp up and kick in with a satisfying "thump" sound. Story seems to be there of sorts, i didn't actually pay too much attention since i don't want to spoiler myself too much. Story sequences seem well made though, and voice acting is good. Bonus points for a character named Zoe (something to do with your Javelin, mechanic or something) having an (actual) irish accent. Not much to say otherwise yet. If they want to monetise the shit out of paints and other non-gameplay stuff, i don't care, as long as you can't buy weapons or boosters of sort, doesn't matter to me. They'd need to put effort in to make it worse (or more crooked) than Destiny 2 in that regard. If it's like Division where you basically bought new skins - go for it, i'll even buy some judging by my behaviour in other games. Now, i'm in the comfy position of already owning the game (got both Anthem and BF5 with my RTX card), and i'm looking forward to playing the game. My mate who i played with, who usually isn't into "science fiction future stuff" enjoyed it too. There's things to fix, like the flight controls could be better (or easier/clearer to set up) - but that's to be expected. Other problems like basically no introduction into anything are due to the demos limitation, so, i'd assume that this is different in the final game where you actually start at level 1. Sure, it's EA, so there might be shenannigans later down the line - that's for everyone to judge for themselves. I enjoyed playing it in the current state, and EA at least stated that the microtransactions will be exclusively for cosmetics. They also won't be gated, but obtainable with the ingame-currency, and no randomised loot boxes. They didn't rule out new Javelins for cash later down the line, which is somewhat fine to me since they're considered DLC (and games like Warframe take cash for those too). They specifically ruled out "blind drops" as well. If they stick with this, to be clear, with their own statements about how they're going to monetise it, that's fine to me. Again, i already got the game and i look forward to playing it. I probably would've pre-ordered after playing the Demo, too. It's hard to put it in words, but i don't feel "angsty" in regards to Anthem, it seems like they want to do it right, and so far "evidence" backs up that claim. Of course they could always walk back on their statements (like Ubi did with the Division), but hey, that could happen in literally any game (apart from Cyberpunk 2077). I'd suggest waiting if you expect another Fallout 76, but in any way, shape or form, i suggest playing the demo and make a somewhat educated decision after that. | ||
iamthedave
England2814 Posts
EA deserves nobody's trust. I'll keep a watchful eye on Anthem, but I won't even fling a penny its way until at least six months have passed. If they're going to pull any shenanigans, that's the window where it'll happen. | ||
thePunGun
598 Posts
Don't get me wrong it might just be the game for you, but I like the games Bioware used to make and it saddens me, to even put that in writing...."games Bioware used to make." Well, at least there's Cyberpunk 2077 to look forward to....maybe Dragon Age 4 will be released and if the stars align perfectly it won't be a disappointment. | ||
iamthedave
England2814 Posts
On January 27 2019 01:13 thePunGun wrote: A friend invited me to play the VIP demo. I wasn't really too impressed by the gameplay videos, so I've been hoping to find something in there I'd find enjoyable. Sadly I didn't, I'm not a fan of Warframe or Destiny so I wasn't really too surprised, I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong it might just be the game for you, but I like the games Bioware used to make and it saddens me, to even put that in writing...."games Bioware used to make." Well, at least there's Cyberpunk 2077 to look forward to....maybe Dragon Age 4 will be released and if the stars align perfectly it won't be a disappointment. If Anthem fails and DA 4 fails (bearing in mind internal targets are going to be ludicrously high) don't be surprised if Bioware is shut down inside a year. So far they're going the exact same ways Westwood, Visceral and plenty of others have (put under increased time pressure, not allowed to release games in the state they'd prefer to i.e. in time for EA's specific fiscal quarters, forced to make monetisation changes, tasked to make games the studio has shown no talent for in the past) before being shut down. | ||
ETisME
12082 Posts
On January 27 2019 02:12 iamthedave wrote: Show nested quote + On January 27 2019 01:13 thePunGun wrote: A friend invited me to play the VIP demo. I wasn't really too impressed by the gameplay videos, so I've been hoping to find something in there I'd find enjoyable. Sadly I didn't, I'm not a fan of Warframe or Destiny so I wasn't really too surprised, I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong it might just be the game for you, but I like the games Bioware used to make and it saddens me, to even put that in writing...."games Bioware used to make." Well, at least there's Cyberpunk 2077 to look forward to....maybe Dragon Age 4 will be released and if the stars align perfectly it won't be a disappointment. If Anthem fails and DA 4 fails (bearing in mind internal targets are going to be ludicrously high) don't be surprised if Bioware is shut down inside a year. So far they're going the exact same ways Westwood, Visceral and plenty of others have (put under increased time pressure, not allowed to release games in the state they'd prefer to i.e. in time for EA's specific fiscal quarters, forced to make monetisation changes, tasked to make games the studio has shown no talent for in the past) before being shut down. I think Anthem failing alone will kill the team, unless DA4 somehow pulls a miracle sales | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
On January 26 2019 18:55 m4ini wrote: So far my biggest surprise is A: it runs on a mates potato of a computer, and B: how "satisfying" movement feels. It's hard to explain, it has to do with the sounds and deliberate delays. Like the sprint for example, if you press shift, there's a 0.5 second delay where you can "feel" the rockets in your back ramp up and kick in with a satisfying "thump" sound. On January 26 2019 18:55 m4ini wrote: AI, ahm, well i did see some NPC trying to dodge stuff, but there's a lot of cannon fodder too. Wouldn't buy it for the AI. thanks for these insights. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Though I have to say that these type of games don't really interest me as a long term hobby, but rather as a short and intensive single player style experience through the campaign mode. I really appreciated Destiny 2 for mixing the multiplayer so well with the single player, so that you could just jump nigh seamlessly between them. What I've seen from the Gameplay and aesthetics of Anthem appeals strongly to me. Being able to fly longer distances in a sort of travel mode is a must that hopefiully is implemented. Haven't seen that in non advert footage. Unless the gunfire/ability visuals get too annoying, they bothered me in most of what I've seen today, I'm almost sure I'll pick it up at some point at the end of the year and enjoy like a binge week of playing it 8hrs/day or something similar. | ||
ZenithM
France15952 Posts
I would feel more confident if it was coming out of another publisher :D. | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
On January 27 2019 04:48 Artisreal wrote: Thanks for the link Jimmy, I thought this a quick and concise first impression. Though I have to say that these type of games don't really interest me as a long term hobby, but rather as a short and intensive single player style experience through the campaign mode. I really appreciated Destiny 2 for mixing the multiplayer so well with the single player, so that you could just jump nigh seamlessly between them. What I've seen from the Gameplay and aesthetics of Anthem appeals strongly to me. Being able to fly longer distances in a sort of travel mode is a must that hopefiully is implemented. Haven't seen that in non advert footage. Unless the gunfire/ability visuals get too annoying, they bothered me in most of what I've seen today, I'm almost sure I'll pick it up at some point at the end of the year and enjoy like a binge week of playing it 8hrs/day or something similar. After another, i think, like roughly 5 hour session yesterday, got some more opinions to share, and some to say about the travelling. We finished the "campaign" (well, the demo only has one short-ish questline, it's 3 consecutive quests), we played some freeroam, and we tried the dungeon kind of thing. Summary: it's okay. There are a few things that are annoying, there are things that are buggy, there are things that are fun, and some things actually might be.. "broken", for the lack of a better term. Lets start with annoying stuff. Again: the town. The town switches you into first person, it's where you take quests, listen to story, modify your javelin, etc. The map of the town is completely worthless, it doesn't show anything. Yes, it shows the location of NPC, but you can't see any paths how to get to anything. And, the second annoying thing, once you figured out where to go - you go there very slowly. The entire game is pretty fast paced, then you go into the town and fall asleep basically crawling everywhere. Story. Of course i can't say anything about the general story of Anthem, there was just one brief questline. What i can say is that the voice acting is good, not just compared to shitty ones like Andromeda - the voice acting was genuinely good and funny (especially by a character named Matthias and the Barkeeper). Combat. Satisfying in the beginning, with nice visual and auditory feedback. But here's where the game might become broken for me: it's very... busy. When we did the dungeon kind of thing, i was in the tank-javelin, my mate in the melee-rogue kinda thing, my wife in the standard ranger and a random used the lightning-caster type javelin, so we had everything. And jesus christ, a disco in the 70s-80s had less flashy colourful lights than combat in Anthem. It's very very busy, explosions everywhere, to the point where it can get disorienting (well i'm old, so that doesn't help) because everything is just flashing with humongous explosions, lighting stuff, seeker mines of the enemy etc. It was okay, but after a few hours of playing, you (or i, at least) just lose focus. Difficulty. We played on the hardest available difficulty (higher difficulties only unlock at level 30 and seem diabloesque by having "grandmaster 1, 2 and 3" - and some balance needs to be done there. For the most part it seemed fine, but some things are just overtuned to a point where it isn't fun anymore. There's a boss in the last quest mission. After spending literally every single round on both javelins, we did roughly 10% damage to it - while my supposedly "tanky" javelin (colossus) died in less than 3 seconds even with his physical shield up. We proceeded to basically glitch the fight (got boss stuck and threw grenades on cooldown), took around 30 minutes, but it shouldn't have been that hard. That being said, these are very fixable numbers-problems. Easily tweakable. To answer the question about travelling, it kinda depends on how you fly. The mechanic basically is, hovering slowly overheats your rockets, ascending overheats them faster, descending cools them down a little (as in, the "overheat bar" indeed goes down), and flying close to the ground increases range very noticeably (there's puddles etc everywhere, if you fly over them, you get the "cooled" bonus which extends range by overheating less). Flying, after 10 minutes of tweaking, was indeed enjoyable (the controls felt unresponsive before), but i could for the life of me not get swimming ("underwater flying") to work satisfactory. That being said, they'll eventually overheat. I've flown for around a minute straight if you do it carefully - then you just drop for 3 seconds to the ground and the rockets are completely cooled again. But, if you go full ham, they can overheat after 15 seconds already (basically if you just go straight up). That's for both ranger and colossus javelin, i'm not sure if the other two can fly longer because they're lighter. We also ran into a bug that ruined our dungeon run: i played tank, went down - nobody could pick me up. The bar just went to full, but nothing happened - and it was something broken on my side, since multiple people tried picking me up and couldn't. So i relogged, turns out it's a bit like WoW for example where boss rooms are inaccessible after a bossfight starts (i didn't spawn in where i alt-f4d but at a checkpoint). Fair enough. The other three proceeded to die in the boss room (unintentionally, noobs) - and nothing happened because i was alive outside the boss room. The boss didn't come for me, the door didn't open so i can pick people up for a reset (like in WoW), nothing. So i went into a puddle of acid to kill myself, we all got into a loading screen - and the game crashed for all of us. That being said: bugs are to be expected. Like, yes, i'd love to get a bug free game, but these are like unicorns. I'm realistic enough to understand that most games i enjoy were varying levels of buggy at release (including things like Witcher 3 btw). Brings me to class balance. Felt.. okay. The tank seems a little undertuned, considering on "hard" you don't live longer than other Javelins (indeed you live shorter because while your healthbar is bigger, you don't have the same regenerating shield as the others, but a physical shield that blocks damage only from the front - and not much of that, either). These are numbers problems, fixable - not a big deal for me. Can't really say much more, didn't do any PvP or parse damage, so it's all just gutfeeling. Optimisation seems well done, it unsurprisingly ran well on my rig (2080ti/8700k on ultra), it ran well on my wifes PC (ryzen 1500x/980ti on high with sprinkles of ultra), and me mates (2600k/680) potato. And for my wifes pc and mine, i mean over 70fps at all times, haven't asked my friend for numbers, he just said it runs well. Again: if Bioware can stick to their promises, this will be a decent game. Not a blockbuster, especially not with things like Division 2, Cyberpunk etc in the pipeline (Anno 1800!). But not every game can be game of the year, and this one is included in their monthly thingie, so if you don't own it because you bought an RTX card recently (that's why i own it, didn't pre-order), i'd suggest just throwing a 5er at EA, play it for 10 hours and get it out of the system. I'm pretty sure for those 10 hours it'll be fun, then you can decide if it's worth. The entire "EA literally hitler lol nevar gonn buy stiff!", sure. EA sucks. Bioware has shown with DAI though that they can make good games even with EA as publisher, and it's their last stand on top. If this goes down FO76 monetisation-hell, it'll spell the end of Bioware. And they know it, too. So, yes, don't do stupid and pre-order biggest package (wouldn't be worth it) - but EA (rather fairly btw compared to many other publishers) gives you the option to play the full game for a 5er. Use it, instead of bitching. Not to mention, the tip with "wait 6 months" - i'd rather play the first 6 months, because i know i won't stick with it for life. Once they "implement all the things they said they didn't" - i'm already done with the game and don't give a shit in the first place. The game itself is looking quite good, but we'll also have to wait on EA's business model. You can be sure there will be microtransactions and incentives to go for them, I just hope they keep it reasonable. I would feel more confident if it was coming out another publisher :D They announced monetisation already. Skins, colours, visually different parts for the javelin (like different arms, chestplate etc - but those don't have stat values). No lootboxes, no "gambling". Of course, Ubisoft said similar with Division and that was a lie, but by that measure, i mean.. CDPR. That's the only company i'd trust there. Everyone else is just as american as EA. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
I got excited that this weekend was a demo weekend an preordered to participate, but the only controller I have on me right now is the switch pro and I can't for the life of me get the right stick (movement) to work. I just look around with both left and right stick xD kinda expected as they say xbox 360 is supported but also disappointing, as it is a very good controller. e: im also not quite interested in tinkering too long, if it aint working via the steam-route, I'm out -.- | ||
nanaoei
3358 Posts
the underwater portion of that last available mission was and is hilariously bad. i really have no words for it. the moment you step in you get a brief flashback to the first underwater sequence you experience with the game and think, "this is not going to go well". well it was worse than i could have imagined. my friends and i just laughed at how absurd and frustrating it was, on top of all the other tech issues that were piling on. this was not a "demo[nstration]", it was a beta. i'm most happy with how quickly it uninstalled. | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
On January 27 2019 21:14 Artisreal wrote: Thanks for the writeup! I got excited that this weekend was a demo weekend an preordered to participate, but the only controller I have on me right now is the switch pro and I can't for the life of me get the right stick (movement) to work. I just look around with both left and right stick xD kinda expected as they say xbox 360 is supported but also disappointing, as it is a very good controller. e: im also not quite interested in tinkering too long, if it aint working via the steam-route, I'm out -.- Unsurprising, had a Nacon Revolution "pro gaming" controller, for my PS4 - didn't work for shit either with many games. It's because PS4/Switch controllers are DirectInput, whereas the Xbox controller is Xinput (which is what many games support). https://au.pcmag.com/how-to/58253/how-to-use-a-nintendo-switch-pro-controller-on-a-pc This explains how to do it, you need a "Dinput to Xinput" wrapper, basically. It does work, i got my Nacon to work eventually as well, it's just a pain in the ass, so i bought an Xbox Controller. That being said, i'm pretty convinced that Anthem plays considerably better with Keyboard and Mouse. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/akb2nf/no_spoilers_struggling_colossus_players_heres_why/ | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
On January 28 2019 01:57 Godwrath wrote: @m4ini I don't know if you read this yet about colossus durability. It may be useful. https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/akb2nf/no_spoilers_struggling_colossus_players_heres_why/ No haven't, cheers - it's entirely possible that the problem was in front of the screen and not the javelin itself, admittedly i didn't spend much time checking this. edit: and the fact that i've probably played it wrong too - autocannon, i mean, how can you not just stand there and rain hell down on the enemies for the three seconds until you die. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
The story (as one would expect) takes a backseat here in favor of the "MMO live services gameplay" that EA tries to push onto consumers so hard, but even the hub and some (not all mind you) NPCs feel like they came out of Andromeda with those lifeless eyes and blank stare. I've heard multiple people say that the hub is very slow to maneuver around in, and an unwelcome change from the fast-paced shootout outside. Others are calling this "EA's take on Destiny" with just 1 ninja melee frame ala warframe... I also really dislike you being FORCED to play this in a 4-man squad. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate other people but I do appreciate being able to play alone without randoms joining in on the fun I'm having. I dunno, I had hopes. Not high hopes mind you, but still some. I'd never preorder a game, but it really looks like I'll have to wait for the full release and only then make head or tails out of this game. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
And npc's are lightyears ahead of Andromeda. | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
On January 28 2019 03:54 Gorsameth wrote: I would say its wrong to judge a campaign based on 3 missions plucked form its early-ish part. And npc's are lightyears ahead of Andromeda. I'd say it's stupid. And completely moronic to argue that the story is "as expected" bad, especially not having played the tiny bit that we saw yourself, which of course would be entirely possible rather than relying on something parroted from LegacyKillaHD or whatever these kinds of shitshows are called. edit: just out of interest, how many "melee-javelins" would we expect here, out of four in total (tank, caster, ranged dps, melee), when it's apparently an issue that there's only one? | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
If it ends up being good it's going to be a major surprise to most people considering EA, microtransactions and "we plan to make it a game people will play for 10+ years" being involved. I'd want to say it's naive to expect anything decent story-wise here, but hey, if you believe that EA can not let you down in the part of a game that they give absolutely 0 shits about, then by all means. | ||
m4ini
4215 Posts
There's an indicator to the story being well done. That's something you can actually check. Not to mention that EA has nothing to do with having a story or not, they're the publisher and not the developer. It's developed by Bioware. You know. The Mass Effect 1-2 guys (indeed, this isn't the team that made Andromeda - but it's part of the reason why Andromeda turned out shit - that team, Bioware Montreal, works now as "EA motive"), the Dragon Age Inquisition people. You could've argued that the story/presentation is bad before we actually saw it, but now that we saw a well presented snippet (granted, it's just a snippet, but a good story doesn't need to be 150+ hours), it's indeed "to be expected" that the rest is on the same level. If you see something good and still harp on that it's expected to be bad, even though there's evidence to the contrary, yeah. That's stupid. Personally i'm "carefully optimistic". I'd want to say it's naive to expect anything decent story-wise here I'd say it's moronic to say this not having played whatever story there is to the guy who did. Don't get me wrong, i despise EA as much as the next one (probably not, since i really don't care about EA and the only thing i've ever bought on Origins is Andromeda) - but arguing that Bioware isn't able to make a decent game (which they did multiple times under EA already) is just riding the hatewave for likes. Edit: to be clear. This won't be Witcher-levels of story. Obviously. But this didn't feel worse than the direct competitor Destiny 2 - indeed i'd say it felt better thanks to the cutscenes being decent. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
I only said its not fair to judge a story by reading 5 pages halfway through chapter 4. | ||
iamthedave
England2814 Posts
On January 28 2019 19:48 Gorsameth wrote: No where did I say I expect the story to be good, nor do I particularly care about how good it is when most of the time would be spend at the end-game post story. I only said its not fair to judge a story by reading 5 pages halfway through chapter 4. If a company puts out a demo, they should pick parts that are representative of the full experience. It's not the players' fault for judging based on the choice bits put out to try and hype them up. Did you see any negativity around Resident Evil 2 Remake's demo? Maybe it's a bad demo and they picked out bland-ish stuff because they want there to be surprises in the final release. That is a bad idea. If anything, demos should 'spoil' something incredibly awesome, because the entire point is to make people go 'I GOTTA SEE WHERE THIS GOES'. Story-wise, I mean. Gameplay wise you just need to find something dynamic and fun. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On January 28 2019 19:47 m4ini wrote: Not to mention that EA has nothing to do with having a story or not, they're the publisher and not the developer. It's developed by Bioware. You know. The Mass Effect 1-2 guys (indeed, this isn't the team that made Andromeda - but it's part of the reason why Andromeda turned out shit - that team, Bioware Montreal, works now as "EA motive"), the Dragon Age Inquisition people. You see that is the naivety that I'm talking about. Also you playing the game and seeing the story does not make it objectively good, it makes it subjectively good. Also I don't even know why are you assuming that I didn't play it. I mean I didn't, but it's funny that you would assume that and base your whole point on it without knowing at all if it is the case or not. Do you honestly believe that EA does not dictate what Anthem will be like? Do you really think that Bioware are the ones who get to make the major decisions for this franchise? Grow up. People aren't arguing that Bioware can't make a story, they're arguing that EA is a big enough cancer to not let Bioware do what they want to do. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
EA is going to have some influence over Anthem and has been an overall negative influence over Bioware in my opinion, but it is still worth checking out the game to see if it is worth our time. EA’s negative influence isn’t CEOs dictating how the story should be, but weak middle management that made middling, safe narrative choices. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
- Performance is shit for a good amount of people's rigs. - Connectivity issues, I lived the TORtanic crash first hand. The problems people are having to get into servers when EA already knew the probable number of concurrent players are incredible in 2019. Remember the word "demo" =/= "beta" - People are reporting to really have a hard time with infinite loading screens, having to close the game and re-open it plenty of times, in some cases losing the XP they had gathered (the gear seems to be safe). Bioware never was Blizzard when it came down to a polished product, but they used to be closer to Blizzard than to Bethesda, nowadays not so much. - I will have to get a feeling on the gameplay, Andromeda was crap in that regard, so was DAI, I hope this time is better. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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m4ini
4215 Posts
Also I don't even know why are you assuming that I didn't play it. I mean I didn't, but it's funny that you would assume that and base your whole point on it without knowing at all if it is the case or not. Because it's pretty obvious you didn't. Bioware never was Blizzard when it came down to a polished product, but they used to be closer to Blizzard than to Bethesda, nowadays not so much. Well, lets not get carried away here. I'm old enough to remember the shitshow WoW was for the first few expansions, with repeating mistakes. The saying "never play on patch day" has a background. Diablo 3 was rocky, at best, too. To be clear, this isn't an excuse for anyone: i was pissed off too since i only could log in at 23:00 instead of 7:00 in Anthem, but that doesn't mean it's okay to fanboy another company that isn't a gram better. If a company puts out a demo, they should pick parts that are representative of the full experience. It's not the players' fault for judging based on the choice bits put out to try and hype them up. I'm pretty sure the reason for the scope of the demo is that it's the point where you unlock the second javelin. Everything prior to that is content made around the Ranger Javelin, since the others don't exist at that point (lvl 1-12). I'm not sure how this isn't representative though. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On January 29 2019 04:31 Plansix wrote: I’m old enough to remember WoW at launch and the serve queue times. This problem is as old as the industry and won’t go away any time soon. Best to be honest about it and just stagger when people get try to log in. That doesn't mean it's fine. Every company should get a shitstorm after such, especially if they're as rich as EA and with the history of EA(SWTOR(BioWare's launch too), SimCity 4?). It's no Christmass and there's a shit ton of free hardware in clouds around and with company as EA there shouldn't be any issue to buy sufficient connectivity and hardware from Amazon with premium pricing and with data protection failsafe in billions. But hey, why do it, when players will go "this is an old problem, don't shit on EA"... On January 29 2019 07:25 Godwrath wrote: Not even close to the same, specially talking about releases that happened almost 15-10 years ago. But, i was talking more about the product itself than the connectivity issues derived from a lack of resources. The launch of Diablo 3 is 7 years old, Blizzard was rich as fuck, still the disconnects become a meme There was no excuse. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On January 29 2019 18:18 Harris1st wrote: I think there is a free demo for all people this weekend, not just preorder vip stuff. We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year Wait, this was a controlled environment demo? They knew how many people can join? Please tell me I get this wrong... | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On January 29 2019 18:28 deacon.frost wrote: Show nested quote + On January 29 2019 18:18 Harris1st wrote: I think there is a free demo for all people this weekend, not just preorder vip stuff. We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year Wait, this was a controlled environment demo? They knew how many people can join? Please tell me I get this wrong... you're not wrong. you could play only if you pre-ordered or if you have origin access. That's the point. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
On January 29 2019 18:18 Harris1st wrote: I think there is a free demo for all people this weekend, not just preorder vip stuff. We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year The price of games falls so fast these days consumers are tempted more than ever to wait a few weeks and snag it for 1/2 the release price. Its going to be tough for this game to be a "mega hit". Activision did a far better job hyping up Destiny than EA did hyping up Anthem. | ||
gingerfluffmuff
Austria4570 Posts
Gameplay looks fun at least, the question is how long until the novelty of the fly thing wears off and you are back to just shoot bulletsponges while cycling your abs. IMO people on PC shouldnt preorder stuff. You just will get fucked time and time again. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On January 29 2019 18:28 deacon.frost wrote: Show nested quote + On January 29 2019 18:18 Harris1st wrote: I think there is a free demo for all people this weekend, not just preorder vip stuff. We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year Wait, this was a controlled environment demo? They knew how many people can join? Please tell me I get this wrong... Kinda ye. Pre-orders and Origin access premiere accounts, hence the name VIP Demo. This weekend will be free for all players, only need a origin starter account which is free Dunno if you can call it "controlled" but the numbers of pre-orders and premiere accounts should be known to EA I guess | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On January 30 2019 00:07 Harris1st wrote: Show nested quote + On January 29 2019 18:28 deacon.frost wrote: On January 29 2019 18:18 Harris1st wrote: I think there is a free demo for all people this weekend, not just preorder vip stuff. We will see if they have resolved all/ some/ none of the issues by then. I fully expect this to a be a shitshow again to be honest, cause player numbers will triple for this. This demo will be make or break point for me. If this goes bad, I will maybe get this in half a year or never, depending on what I'm doing/ playing in half a year Wait, this was a controlled environment demo? They knew how many people can join? Please tell me I get this wrong... Kinda ye. Pre-orders and Origin access premiere accounts, hence the name VIP Demo. This weekend will be free for all players, only need a origin starter account which is free Dunno if you can call it "controlled" but the numbers of pre-orders and premiere accounts should be known to EA I guess To me this is a failure, I can see how you fail in an open demo as you cannot do a good guess, but considering you know the pre-order numbers(because you ditribute the keys for Anyway, that's even worse than I thought, at least in my eyes. But I am very critical to such failures because I work in networking and as a programmer I see how companies ignore proper volume testing(if that's the proper English term) | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
BioWare has updated fans on its progress fixing the Anthem issues which arose during last weekend's VIP demo. Anthem's trial version will return this weekend, this time open to anyone who wants to give it a go. All eyes will be on BioWare to see if things work a little smoother. And if you need a little more incentive, BioWare has teased you should tune in towards the end of this weekend to get a "glimpse" at its future plans. "As I shared on Saturday, [last weekend] started rocky, but we stabilised that afternoon and maintained it until we turned servers off Sunday evening," head of live service Chad Robertson wrote in a new blog post. "We learned a ton about our game, our service, and you, our community. We're working hard to ensure everyone can enjoy the game exactly as we've designed it." Issues being worked on ahead of this weekend include entitlement bugs, server performance updates to address rubber-banding, fixes for infinite loads, platform bugs to validate Javelin unlocks, plus client and platform login bugs. I played a good deal of the demo over the weekend. The performance was extremely patchy, and the "infinite load" issue - which required you restart the game every time you tried to load a mission - meant I missed out on whole chunks of story having to randomly join someone else's server partway through. But, of course, this is just a demo. And, as BioWare states, further fixes and improvements have already been built into the version of the game ready for launch next month. Those fixes include further performance improvements and stability fixes, as well as the recently-detailed Launch Bay social hub for up to 16 players - added in response to fan feedback. Last weekend saw nearly 9m hours of playtime across two-and-a-half days - it'll be interesting to see how that scales when the demo is opened up publicly. During that time, 1m stronghold missions (think: Destiny's strikes) were completed. And, upsettingly, 2m innocent grabbit creatures were gunned down. Please stop, you monsters. It'll be interesting to see how those numbers stack up this weekend, particularly towards the end, when BioWare has something new planned: "Make sure stick around for Sunday afternoon," Robertson concluded. "You'll see a glimpse of some of the cool things we'll be doing in the future!" BioWare has talked in the past about keeping Anthem's world somewhere worth returning to through live changes - it may be we'll see the first of these. Source | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
"But of course, this is just a demo" Look at all these ways somebody is trying not say the word "beta". Another interesting point that has not been mentioned here yet, some speculation which has been pretty much confirmed by bioware is showing that the costs for the cosmetics are currently set to around ~20$ for shitty skins (probably more for when the actual good skins come out) , around 4$ for a spray, 12$ for emotes, etc. In other words, absolutely insane prices. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ajg581/image_featured_store_items_cost/ Developer comment also in comments, not denying the prices assumed. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On January 30 2019 23:08 abuse wrote: Because its not a beta?"trial version" "But of course, this is just a demo" Look at all these ways somebody is trying not say the word "beta". Another interesting point that has not been mentioned here yet, some speculation which has been pretty much confirmed by bioware is showing that the costs for the cosmetics are currently set to around ~20$ for shitty skins (probably more for when the actual good skins come out) , around 4$ for a spray, 12$ for emotes, etc. In other words, absolutely insane prices. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ajg581/image_featured_store_items_cost/ Developer comment also in comments, not denying the prices assumed. These weekends are not for testing the game (well its a bit of a stress test aswell) its for giving people a chance to try out the game. Which is what a demo or 'trial' is. Yes the mtx stuff is expensive, assuming that is going to be the price, but who cares. Its cosmetics with no impact on gameplay. If they want to charge an arm and a leg for it let them, I simply won't buy it. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On January 30 2019 23:14 Gorsameth wrote: Because its not a beta? These weekends are not for testing the game (well its a bit of a stress test aswell) its for giving people a chance to try out the game. Which is what a demo or 'trial' is. It is a beta though. Look how you want at it, it's a beta. A demo is a shorter snippet of a completed game. This game currently is a buggy mess. And they're supposedly fixing bugs reported by the community after trying the "closed demo". and as for the "expensive MTX - who cares" thing, a lot of people care. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
There really is no pleasing some people. Sure you can complain about the issues, and you'd be justified in doing so but that doesn't change that this was a snippet of the completed game. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
By your definition every beta is a demo then. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
There is pretty much only upsides besides the "negative" press + users get to try the game + stresstest + bug reveal + there is no such thing as bad press classic case of bemo / deta | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Hi, again! It was an eventful VIP Demo weekend for BioWare. As I shared on Saturday, it started rocky, but we stabilized that afternoon and maintained it until we turned servers off Sunday evening. We learned a ton about our game, our service, and you, our community. We’re working hard to ensure everyone can enjoy the game exactly as we’ve designed it. I’m particularly proud to be part of our amazing team across Austin and Edmonton. Their dedication and passion showed this weekend. Our war rooms in both locations were hot-beds of activity 24x7 all 3 days. We had fantastic support from EA and our partners. We’ve got a long list of things that were addressed during the weekend, or are being addressed for next weekend’s public demo. These include:
We’re doing more scale testing this week, particularly to be ready for the opening rush of players on Friday, and to verify we’ve got “infinite load” problems improved, the latter of which was a primary frustration for many players. We’ve also been preparing for many weeks for our full launch. That version of the game already has a long list of things that are already fixed that won’t make the public demo weekend. That list includes
Overall, we remain humbled by the response from players and appreciate the support from the community. One of my favorite experiences from the weekend was checking out all your fantastic screenshots, video clips, streams and other amazing content – and that’s in addition to all your direct feedback. Thank you. It’s incredible to think we had nearly 9M hours of play across the 2.5 days the demo was open. In that same time, over 1M strongholds were completed (go Freelancers!) and nearly 2M grabbits were slaughtered (seriously! – what is wrong with people? – they’re innocent grabbits!) I’m looking forward to the Open Demo weekend starting this Friday and having more players join us. We hope to see everyone from the VIP Demo return. See you in game! (And make sure stick around for Sunday afternoon; you’ll see a glimpse of some of the cool things we’ll be doing in the future!) Stronger Together! Chad Source | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Open Demo starts today at 6 pm CET and is open till Monday 3 am CET. It should be possible to preload before hand ( haven't tried though) Let us crash some servers boys Edit: Also this happened twitter.com EA still the shitshow that we love so much <3 | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On February 01 2019 22:32 Harris1st wrote: You can download the demo from Origin.Short FYI: Open Demo starts today at 6 pm CET and is open till Monday 3 am CET. It should be possible to preload before hand ( haven't tried though) Let us crash some servers boys | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
- Game has potential, combats are fun, and abilities are rewarding. The game mechanics, atleast superficially are good. - Keyboard control need some tuning, nothing massive, but flying can be weird at times due to it being designed for the joystick in gamepads. Swimming... lol. - Graphics are amazing, but the optimization is shit. Even if you lower the settings to the lowest, it's still choppy and clunky. - Being booted out of the game is very common, specially frustrating when you are in the last boss of the stronghold. - 95% loading screen freeze is still there. I am not buying it at release. The game could be a lot of fun, but when you see a demo with this performance, it is way more likely that the release will be trash, than the other way around. They say that they had been working on a lot of fixes, and i believe them, but i doubt there is enough time to sweeping changes to optimization or the weird bugs that the full release is more likely to have, because it is the full game rather than a small segment nitpicked as a demo. Hopefully i am wrong. Atleast, I hope you guys have fun with it. | ||
JoeCool
Germany2517 Posts
Me and my friend we started playing at around 8.30 pm yesterday and had no trouble at all connecting to servers or going online. As a matter of fact the game was stable 100% of the time for me and 90% of the time for my friend as he had one disconnect. Apart from that we experienced no issues at all. No lags, no crashes, no issues with our party, no frameratedrops etc. So from a technical point of view the demo went almost perfect. Graphics and sound are pretty good I'd say, it's really fun to see your javelin rain down lots of fire and whatnot on your enemies. It's even more fun when you have multiple javelins working together, however this can get a little messy since often you have no idea what's going on if you've been caught in the middle of an enemy spawn. Other than that the combat is really fun. Gunplay feels good, not as good as in destiny but still good, What I don't like is the fact that you can only change your gear in the city and not while exploring the world, a stronghold or doing an expedition. Customization on the other hand is pretty nice, you can change almost anything about your javelin and if I'm not mistaken armor is purely cosmetical. There are however two things I really dislike that might kill the game for me. 1. Constant loading screens, even when flying around in explorere mode. The game is divided in different zones which means that you'll see a loading screen quite often. Which takes away the feeling of having an open world. 2. The world is too empty and there are barely any other players around. Plus you cannot see other players while not beeing in your javelin. I really hope that there will be some sort of city or hub where you can walk and meet other players. Like the main planet in destiny. Because you'll feel alone pretty soon otherwise. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
The game seems fine. I won’t pick it up at launch, but there is potential. They need to clean up some stuff and make some of the enemies more interesting. And for the love of god take that melee off a cool down. It isn’t good enough to be on a cool down to begin with. The Colossus was fun. Running with that really big shield was a good time and made the mech feel very different from the Ranger. I wish they had just given us a full set of weird weapons to screw around with right off the bat because some of those kits were real dull to start. Finally, all sniper rifles need to shoot exploding bullets from now on. Nothing sold me on a weapon quicker than knocking an enemy out of sky with one of the sniper rifles. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
I'm personally going to wait at least a full week before buying for a lot of reviews to go up, like I usually do. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 07 2019 03:57 Latham wrote: I'm just curious, how many of you will be playing this "early", so before the official Feb 22nd release? I'm personally going to wait at least a full week before buying for a lot of reviews to go up, like I usually do. I got it for free for my RTX 2060. No idea when I will be allowed to play. Some RPG elements just got cancelled out of the game. It was possible to level your pilot with a different skill tree than your javelin. It got removed for the retail and possibly forever | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On February 08 2019 19:51 Harris1st wrote: Show nested quote + On February 07 2019 03:57 Latham wrote: I'm just curious, how many of you will be playing this "early", so before the official Feb 22nd release? I'm personally going to wait at least a full week before buying for a lot of reviews to go up, like I usually do. I got it for free for my RTX 2060. No idea when I will be allowed to play. Nope | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Do NOT spoiler us with your awesome experiences this week | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
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Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
I'm hearing reports that the game runs much better in this final build, but the load times are still a bit much. I really want to know when the demo made, because it sounds like it might have been E3 ass preview build they boot strapped together to work as a public demo/beta thing. | ||
digmouse
China6282 Posts
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m4ini
4215 Posts
So far, i enjoy myself. The game runs well, it's well optimised (a friend of mine plays on a 2600 non-k plus gtx 780 zero problem, obviously not maxed out but that'd be a bit much to ask for). My CPU (stock 6700k) doesn't go above 60% load (because it's bottlenecked by my maxed out 2080ti), and fps never dips below 75. Of course, everything cranked up to 11. Loading times, i don't know what people install the game on, but on SSD it's absolutely no problem. I load from the forge into the launch bay into the game itself in less than 60 seconds. The loading screen from launching the "match" to be able to move is less than 30 seconds. The only problem we had once was me spawning inside an object after a cutscene (or something like that, wasn't able to move nor see my character), from the technical side. This is btw the general consensus on reddit too. Performance is good, loading times heavily dependant on what you install the game on. And i'm sorry if i come off like a jerk now, but a "gaming pc" absolutely is expected to have an SSD nowadays to install games on, with an HDD as a storage drive(!), not as the main drive to run games off of. Story is.. okay. It's actually not bad, but not a grand epic either. The characters for the most part are very well dubbed, and the animations in cutscenes are good too for the most part (facial expressions etc). The UI got "reworked" (i can't figure out where exactly that would be classified as a rework, and not an adjustment, but here we are), and it's slightly better than the Demo, but still is in need of an actual rework - might be preference, but i don't like "minimalistic stylish shit" - a problem that Division 2 shares, as well. Flight and underwater controls improved massively, though underwater is still disorienting if you don't stop and orient yourself before setting off. It's less the controls and more the level design in that regard (Tyrants Mine as an example). The "shooter" part is a lot of fun. Played the first dungeon on "hard" (highest available difficulty for non-30 characters), and it was indeed "hard". Was entirely manageable even undergeared/underleveled, with three other decent people - but still, a lot of death happened, which i'm entirely fine with. The loot probably was a little "meh" for the amount of effort needed, but that's on low level so who really gives a shit. The only real problem here is people who queue for hard, realise that "hard" is indeed hard, and then run like little bitches. Matchmaking sorts that out somewhat though. Microtransactions, for now, are reasonable. I don't care for any of that, so i'm probably the wrong guy to ask, but they reduced the (real money) prices compared to the leaked screenshots, and increased the ingame currency prices. I started at 40k ingame currency, after roughly playing 5-6 hours so far, i'm sitting at 65k - and i didn't specifically farm these coins. It's.. okay, i guess. It's absolutely possible to farm the stuff ingame - but slowly. Again, i couldn't care less for cosmetic stuff, so probably not the right guy to comment on this. Overall, i enjoy myself. It's not a game i could play like i played WoW when i was younger (read: for years), but it'll absolutely be fun the 4 weeks i paid for - with the subscription running out one day before Division 2 releases. And i have no doubt that i'll enjoy that amount of time, and for 15 bucks, i'll absolutely not complain. It's not a blockbuster though. It doesn't outperform every looter shooter out there. People usually don't tend to do this, but try to categorise games in more than two drawers. There's something in between "best game ever" and "dogshit". That's where Anthem sits, to me. edit: to clarify, this is me being 6 hours in, reaching level 12. Can't comment on endgame. | ||
yamato77
11589 Posts
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digmouse
China6282 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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JoeCool
Germany2517 Posts
On February 17 2019 23:31 m4ini wrote: Try playing it on something more powerful than a gameboy. [...] Thanks for summary! I'm really looking forward playing the game next week. My expectations are not exceptionally high so if I get bored after like two weeks I don't mind. For me it's just about having some fun with a couple of friends and raining down havoc on the enemies. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On February 17 2019 23:31 m4ini wrote: Optimization is like a roulette, you can't brush off people's complains about performance just because it is running well for you and your friend.Try playing it on something more powerful than a gameboy. So far, i enjoy myself. The game runs well, it's well optimised (a friend of mine plays on a 2600 non-k plus gtx 780 zero problem, obviously not maxed out but that'd be a bit much to ask for). My CPU (stock 6700k) doesn't go above 60% load (because it's bottlenecked by my maxed out 2080ti), and fps never dips below 75. Of course, everything cranked up to 11. Loading times, i don't know what people install the game on, but on SSD it's absolutely no problem. I load from the forge into the launch bay into the game itself in less than 60 seconds. The loading screen from launching the "match" to be able to move is less than 30 seconds. Non-SSD obviously. Oh and sometimes i get the 95% loading shit. Lost half an hour today due to that :D And i'm sorry if i come off like a jerk now Then don't. The UI got "reworked" (i can't figure out where exactly that would be classified as a rework, and not an adjustment, but here we are), and it's slightly better than the Demo, but still is in need of an actual rework - might be preference, but i don't like "minimalistic stylish shit" - a problem that Division 2 shares, as well. Flight and underwater controls improved massively, though underwater is still disorienting if you don't stop and orient yourself before setting off. It's less the controls and more the level design in that regard (Tyrants Mine as an example). The UI is top tier trash. There is no need to call it fancy names like minimalistic, it's obviously overdesigned, too many menus, too many buttons, icons too big, responsiveness is atrocious, it lacks information. I know PC UI was an afterthough, but i am pretty sure it is also crap for console players. Just as an example, since i don't have an SSD, i play missions in a burst avoiding as much as possible going to the forge etc, atleast until i had done good amount of missions. Let me tell you that when you fill your inventory, it is going to take a very, very lengthy amount of time to scavenge stuff. I mean they designed a trash bin to speed up the process, and it's actually slower than manually scavenging stuff, that's how shit they are at designing UIs. The "shooter" part is a lot of fun. Played the first dungeon on "hard" (highest available difficulty for non-30 characters), and it was indeed "hard". Was entirely manageable even undergeared/underleveled, with three other decent people - but still, a lot of death happened, which i'm entirely fine with. The loot probably was a little "meh" for the amount of effort needed, but that's on low level so who really gives a shit. The shooting part is fun, too bad that if you don't have an SSD, outside of strongholds, you are pretty much half the time loading or fighting the UI boss. The only real problem here is people who queue for hard, realise that "hard" is indeed hard, and then run like little bitches. Matchmaking sorts that out somewhat though. Hard is pretty easy. It only requires to have half a brain. Normal is easy, and easy storymode. But well that's pretty much the default on gaming nowadays. Microtransactions, for now, are reasonable. I don't care for any of that, so i'm probably the wrong guy to ask, but they reduced the (real money) prices compared to the leaked screenshots, and increased the ingame currency prices. I started at 40k ingame currency, after roughly playing 5-6 hours so far, i'm sitting at 65k - and i didn't specifically farm these coins. It's.. okay, i guess. It's absolutely possible to farm the stuff ingame - but slowly. Again, i couldn't care less for cosmetic stuff, so probably not the right guy to comment on this. Overall, i enjoy myself. It's not a game i could play like i played WoW when i was younger (read: for years), but it'll absolutely be fun the 4 weeks i paid for - with the subscription running out one day before Division 2 releases. And i have no doubt that i'll enjoy that amount of time, and for 15 bucks, i'll absolutely not complain. It's not a blockbuster though. It doesn't outperform every looter shooter out there. People usually don't tend to do this, but try to categorise games in more than two drawers. There's something in between "best game ever" and "dogshit". That's where Anthem sits, to me. edit: to clarify, this is me being 6 hours in, reaching level 12. Can't comment on endgame. I agree, i took the premier because i have some RL friends very hyped about it, so i said why not, i actually enjoy the gameplay, the problem is reaching that part. | ||
Yarcc
Finland27 Posts
Hey my overclocked i7 4790K and GTX 1080 are apparently not worthy of a good game! Im running about exact same setup on high. Smooth as butter, reinstalled my computer about 6 months ago. Have not updated drivers for GTX lately, maybe gonna get some more performance from there. I guess I got lucky. Also read somewhere that game performance can vary a lot depending on how much free space you have in your computer. Don't get me wrong, they got shitloads to optimise and fix in this game. (bugs everywhere, half of stats in gear dont do anything, no stats screen, half the menus are just bad port stuff, 20sec load meme, no combo explanations or indicators, dailys/weekly/monthly are hidden in wrong place... list is steep and thats not even touching graphical and technical side) | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 18 2019 01:37 Artisreal wrote: Which game loads fine on a hdd that is somehow comparable. I'm genuinely curious. I had Destiny 2 installed on my HDD. Loading times were atrocious. A SSD takes maybe a quarter of the time. SSD prices are quite low right now, so I have to agree with m4ini: Get yourselves a nice SSD guys, it's worth it I hope they fix at least a few of the bugs till Saturday. If I don't enjoy my first few hours, chances are I'll never touch this game again. I read they want to do some rebalancing of the javelins. What were your impressions there? | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 18 2019 19:42 Godwrath wrote: Weird, i had destiny 2 on a HDD and no problem watsoever. I guess it's because i am not used to 5 second loading times anyways, or the game didn't want you to be loading screen after screen Imagine every time you want to unlock your phone it would take 5+ seconds... people would riot in the streets! I guarantee it :D | ||
sCuMBaG
United Kingdom1144 Posts
On February 18 2019 18:14 Harris1st wrote: Show nested quote + On February 18 2019 01:37 Artisreal wrote: Which game loads fine on a hdd that is somehow comparable. I'm genuinely curious. I had Destiny 2 installed on my HDD. Loading times were atrocious. A SSD takes maybe a quarter of the time. SSD prices are quite low right now, so I have to agree with m4ini: Get yourselves a nice SSD guys, it's worth it I hope they fix at least a few of the bugs till Saturday. If I don't enjoy my first few hours, chances are I'll never touch this game again. I read they want to do some rebalancing of the javelins. What were your impressions there? Please don't judge the game by the first 2-3 hours. It's almost all introduction and takes some time getting used to controls - especially when it comes to flying mechanics. And even more so if you are looking to play interceptor - which needs a lot more getting used to, and it feels like a lot more skill as well to play properly. but once you get the hang of it, interceptor is by far my favourite javelin. It's insanely fun - and I don't get people bitching Sure there's quite a few tweaks needed and some balance issues are emerging. but I can guarantee that I'll get at the very least 200 hours of lots of fun out of this game, and that's if they don't change much at all. If they actually do it right - fix most of the problems and keep adding good content, I'm sure there could be years of great gameplay in this. For now after around 40 hours of play (demo + game now) The game is still sooooo much fun, it's sick. I got so hooked - I played the demo on my PS4 for free. but then couldn't wait for release day on the 22nd. So I registered on Origin, paid £ 15.99 for a Premier subscription and started playing the game on PC now, because I couldn't wait a day longer. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
Can any of you (that played this) add some more pros and cons? What is your personal opinion? I really want a fun sci-fi game, and I don't generally dislike looter-shooters, but if this is in fact half-baked I'd rather stick to monster hunter world with some odd warframe sprinkled here and there. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
tells or telegraphs are an essential part of PvE combat. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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seemsgood
5527 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 21 2019 16:49 seemsgood wrote: should i buy the game right away or wait for 1-2 months ? all the fuss about this game really got my hype drying out Honestly, at this point I wouldn't buy at all. If you really want to play, get a 1 month subscription to origin and play for a month. New content is very far away anyway (nothing announced, massive amount of bugs to fix and polishing to do) When the first DLC arrives the main game could very well be F2P already | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/aspzjb/day_one_patch_notes/ Happy release Day Eve. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 21 2019 23:09 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Day One Patch notes: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/aspzjb/day_one_patch_notes/ Happy release Day Eve. I think for EU it starts at 00:01 :D | ||
Yarcc
Finland27 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On February 21 2019 23:09 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Day One Patch notes: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/aspzjb/day_one_patch_notes/ Happy release Day Eve. release day was a week ago. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On February 22 2019 18:49 Artisreal wrote: For PC, as he pointed out when he wished pc gamers a happy release day. my bad, I thought "eve" meant "everyone" not "PC players" | ||
Yarcc
Finland27 Posts
Also End game gear (leggys/MW gear) are way too powerful compared to epics or gear you end campain with. Good legendary weapon and components just are 5x more powerful than any before. Weapons having random rolls with +200% damage are absurd. Its not even fun before you get any of those gears, cause you know, everything after grandmaster is basically balanced around this OP stuff. GM2/3 are more balanced around the fact that you have team syenergies which give benefits from combos (which is impossible to manage with LFR style tool). You can ofcourse clear whole GM2/3 with just patience and cheesy strats, but it takes more time than clearing gm1 3-4 times, which gives good chunk of MW and legendaries. Overall, its basically startting point of loot&shooter which needs lot of time to develope to actually compete any other looter shooter around there(div, destiny). If you absolutely love iron man style gameplay, its good game. But if you're just generic loot&shooter fan, it wont tick many boxes on your expectation list. edit. typos and such. Also quick heads up, mission with skar base (not the acid thingie), everyone leaves after 2nd chest. Used to be "THE" speed gearing tactic and no one sticks for last boss even after they made it guarantee drop MW (or so goes hearsay in reddit). | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 22 2019 21:23 Yarcc wrote: Now that I've done my grind for endgame gear, All I can say you can get about 2 days worth of playing at end game before it feels too repetitive. Also End game gear (leggys/MW gear) are way too powerful compared to epics or gear you end campain with. Good legendary weapon and components just are 5x more powerful than any before. Weapons having random rolls with +200% damage are absurd. Its not even fun before you get any of those gears, cause you know, everything after grandmaster is basically balanced around this OP stuff. GM2/3 are more balanced around the fact that you have team syenergies which give benefits from combos (which is impossible to manage with LFR style tool). You can ofcourse clear whole GM2/3 with just patience and cheesy strats, but it takes more time than clearing gm1 3-4 times, which gives good chunk of MW and legendaries. Overall, its basically startting point of loot&shooter which needs lot of time to develope to actually compete any other looter shooter around there(div, destiny). If you absolutely love iron man style gameplay, its good game. But if you're just generic loot&shooter fan, it wont tick many boxes on your expectation list. edit. typos and such. Also quick heads up, mission with skar base (not the acid thingie), everyone leaves after 2nd chest. Used to be "THE" speed gearing tactic and no one sticks for last boss even after they made it guarantee drop MW (or so goes hearsay in reddit). Destiny 2 was a complete clusterfuck at release but now (or since Forsaken release) it's a pretty decent game IMO. I never expected Anthem to deliver the perfect endgame at release anyway, so that doesn't bother me much | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On February 22 2019 21:48 Harris1st wrote: And how much money will you have invested in D2 by the point it has gotten to a 'pretty decent game'?Show nested quote + On February 22 2019 21:23 Yarcc wrote: Now that I've done my grind for endgame gear, All I can say you can get about 2 days worth of playing at end game before it feels too repetitive. Also End game gear (leggys/MW gear) are way too powerful compared to epics or gear you end campain with. Good legendary weapon and components just are 5x more powerful than any before. Weapons having random rolls with +200% damage are absurd. Its not even fun before you get any of those gears, cause you know, everything after grandmaster is basically balanced around this OP stuff. GM2/3 are more balanced around the fact that you have team syenergies which give benefits from combos (which is impossible to manage with LFR style tool). You can ofcourse clear whole GM2/3 with just patience and cheesy strats, but it takes more time than clearing gm1 3-4 times, which gives good chunk of MW and legendaries. Overall, its basically startting point of loot&shooter which needs lot of time to develope to actually compete any other looter shooter around there(div, destiny). If you absolutely love iron man style gameplay, its good game. But if you're just generic loot&shooter fan, it wont tick many boxes on your expectation list. edit. typos and such. Also quick heads up, mission with skar base (not the acid thingie), everyone leaves after 2nd chest. Used to be "THE" speed gearing tactic and no one sticks for last boss even after they made it guarantee drop MW (or so goes hearsay in reddit). Destiny 2 was a complete clusterfuck at release but now (or since Forsaken release) it's a pretty decent game IMO. I never expected Anthem to deliver the perfect endgame at release anyway, so that doesn't bother me much Base game + Season pass + Forsaken + season pass. Sorry if my standards are slightly higher then 160? bucks for decent. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On February 22 2019 22:27 Artisreal wrote: Tbh 160 bucks is not that much if you get 500+hrs of entertainment... Not every game is dota 2 where everything is free but the time you invest in while maintaining a very good and mostly polished product with incredible replayability and depth. Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. The fact that there are people who think 160 bucks for any game is "not that much" is concerning. The fact that there are people who say they wouldn't even pay it themselves, but still think it's an ok price is more concerning. The fact that people are even willing to wait for 2 years after a game's release to get to enjoy their 160 buck investment is also concerning. Do people not want a game to be /a finished game/ when when they are released? blows my mind. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 22 2019 22:21 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + And how much money will you have invested in D2 by the point it has gotten to a 'pretty decent game'?On February 22 2019 21:48 Harris1st wrote: On February 22 2019 21:23 Yarcc wrote: Now that I've done my grind for endgame gear, All I can say you can get about 2 days worth of playing at end game before it feels too repetitive. Also End game gear (leggys/MW gear) are way too powerful compared to epics or gear you end campain with. Good legendary weapon and components just are 5x more powerful than any before. Weapons having random rolls with +200% damage are absurd. Its not even fun before you get any of those gears, cause you know, everything after grandmaster is basically balanced around this OP stuff. GM2/3 are more balanced around the fact that you have team syenergies which give benefits from combos (which is impossible to manage with LFR style tool). You can ofcourse clear whole GM2/3 with just patience and cheesy strats, but it takes more time than clearing gm1 3-4 times, which gives good chunk of MW and legendaries. Overall, its basically startting point of loot&shooter which needs lot of time to develope to actually compete any other looter shooter around there(div, destiny). If you absolutely love iron man style gameplay, its good game. But if you're just generic loot&shooter fan, it wont tick many boxes on your expectation list. edit. typos and such. Also quick heads up, mission with skar base (not the acid thingie), everyone leaves after 2nd chest. Used to be "THE" speed gearing tactic and no one sticks for last boss even after they made it guarantee drop MW (or so goes hearsay in reddit). Destiny 2 was a complete clusterfuck at release but now (or since Forsaken release) it's a pretty decent game IMO. I never expected Anthem to deliver the perfect endgame at release anyway, so that doesn't bother me much Base game + Season pass + Forsaken + season pass. Sorry if my standards are slightly higher then 160? bucks for decent. Me personally? Not much I never bought Destiny 2 cause I knew it was a clusterfuck. I got it for free, then bought Forsaken including Osiris and Warmind. So about 50 bucks. Since I am not that hardcore into Looter-Shooter grind I got about 200 hrs out of it until I got bored. I also didn't pay a cent for Anthem though, got it for free with my RTX GPU ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edit: My probably best games in hours/ money invested would be Heroes and Starcraft 2. Both were in retrospect ridicolously cheap for the 1000 hours I played :D | ||
Yarcc
Finland27 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
On February 22 2019 22:48 abuse wrote: Show nested quote + On February 22 2019 22:27 Artisreal wrote: Tbh 160 bucks is not that much if you get 500+hrs of entertainment... Not every game is dota 2 where everything is free but the time you invest in while maintaining a very good and mostly polished product with incredible replayability and depth. Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. The fact that there are people who think 160 bucks for any game is "not that much" is concerning. The fact that there are people who say they wouldn't even pay it themselves, but still think it's an ok price is more concerning. The fact that people are even willing to wait for 2 years after a game's release to get to enjoy their 160 buck investment is also concerning. Do people not want a game to be /a finished game/ when when they are released? blows my mind. I'm absolutely willing to pay for quality content. You really have to take into perspective what you're being delivered, of course, that's absolutely what I've said. I just think it's ridiculous to expect years and years of updates, basically unlimited replayability and endless endgame (to be a bit hyperbole here) - and all that for 60 quid. I'd be hard pressed to shell out 160 at the start without knowing the product and its progression over time, but 30 or 40 bucks à year for annoter 100+ hours of gameplay... That's fine in my book. Don't get me wrong, what I'm saying is not supposed to defend a game that ships while still in development. Like EA aparently did with anthem. Having a couple of patches that get the balance /drop rate /whatever right after launch is fine. Player feedback is essential in getting things right. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
It's 60 quid + microtransactions. It's also not ridiculous to expect updates for a game after it launches, it's been done for ages before this. It's IS ridiculous to think that any AAA publisher these days would go for "years and years of updates"(quality updates at least) instead of just making Anthem 2 or Destiny 2, like it already happened. I mean, don't get me wrong too, if any publisher would ever get me a QUALITY game with years and years of updates, and endless endgame, I wouldn't mind paying 160 too. But It's never going to happen. Ever. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 22 2019 23:49 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: I think this is what is at the root of the problem with games as a service, they should be free to play with MT thrown in for cosmetics, in game pets etc. Then Bioware/EA could sell the DLC's and expansions. No complaints would be heard. It does work for games like Guild Wars 2 and the likes. Can't fault them for trying But you guys are right. People nowadays pay way too much for way too little. The whole early access stuff for example. And Pre-Order boni. It has come so far that people pre-order an early access title like Anthem and are even paying for additional microtransactions... what a world we live in. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
By summer this game will be cleaned up and likely run fine, with better loot and more content. EA just dumped all this money into the game and then kicked it out the door before it was done because they didn’t want to anger shareholders with a 4 month delay. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/atjevm/anthem_current_and_upcoming_changes_2222019/ | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
of all the big four,EA's the only one seems like they really want to step up the curent bussiness model with BF and anthem and i think people are over-bashing them | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
a trail of deleted tweets and statements like "i was taken out of context" LOL. the article keeps getting updated as EA keeps trying to cover its ass on statements that were probably lies with EA trying to make it look like a "misunderstanding" https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/22/paid-review-anthem-youtuber/ I say this thing gets "Humbled" before November 1. Everyone is saying the AI of the enemies is crap and the combat is lame. Based on how Datto described the combat I can understand why very few people like the combat. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/youtuber-says-ea-demanded-takedown-paid-review-1203146117/ “Our GameChangers program is not designed to pay for review content. We don’t believe in that. In this case, the conditions for disclosure for this specific video were not met – which is something we adhere very strictly to – so we asked for it to be taken down and corrected. We’ve not asked for the content of the video to be changed, or ‘blacklisted’ the creator. Our full disclosure rules can be found here: https://www.ea.com/game-changers/disclosure.” Which is in line with the requirements created by the FTC for advertising. Paying for a review is not a good plan and quickly runs afoul of those regulations. The pervasive myth that video game publishers pay for positive review, or reviews at all has always mystified me. There are so many more effective ways to spend a marketing budget. My bet is that EA asked him to review the water mark specifically because he put up a review and they did not want any confusion that they paid for any reviews. | ||
blade55555
United States17423 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Although if the story keeps on being shat on I'll rethink even that. | ||
Elmonti
Spain299 Posts
On February 22 2019 22:48 abuse wrote: Show nested quote + On February 22 2019 22:27 Artisreal wrote: Tbh 160 bucks is not that much if you get 500+hrs of entertainment... Not every game is dota 2 where everything is free but the time you invest in while maintaining a very good and mostly polished product with incredible replayability and depth. Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. The fact that there are people who think 160 bucks for any game is "not that much" is concerning. The fact that there are people who say they wouldn't even pay it themselves, but still think it's an ok price is more concerning. The fact that people are even willing to wait for 2 years after a game's release to get to enjoy their 160 buck investment is also concerning. Do people not want a game to be /a finished game/ when when they are released? blows my mind. Times have changed dude, things are different... I don't know about you, but I'm 27 yo, so I have grown in an era when you got what you paid for, and THEN you could like the game or not. They had their flaws for sure, but bugs didn't break the game, and you got the full content... maybe a couple of expansions in the future... You didn't pay for a game hoping to become what you were told after many months. I don't know, maybe in the future when you buy a car it will have flat tires and damaged suspension, which will be fixed 2 months after you have paid for it. It really blows my mind too... how some people got to a point where "It will be a good game in 6 months" justifies buying a game in day 1 at full prize. And its more frequent every year. Someone said above that EA is "stepping up the current business". He should know that their objective is taking our money, so a step up for them means a step back for us, because we are not getting a better product in exchange of that money, on the contrary as we are seeing with many AAA lately... And I can get through DLCs like the Total War ones, you know, 15€ for a race and a short campaign, even when I think they are WAY overprized, because you get already a full content with the base game. But this "you will get the game you paid for in 6-12 months, because we know you are ok with it" shit is getting annoying. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
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Yurie
11533 Posts
On February 23 2019 08:11 Elmonti wrote: Show nested quote + On February 22 2019 22:48 abuse wrote: On February 22 2019 22:27 Artisreal wrote: Tbh 160 bucks is not that much if you get 500+hrs of entertainment... Not every game is dota 2 where everything is free but the time you invest in while maintaining a very good and mostly polished product with incredible replayability and depth. Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. The fact that there are people who think 160 bucks for any game is "not that much" is concerning. The fact that there are people who say they wouldn't even pay it themselves, but still think it's an ok price is more concerning. The fact that people are even willing to wait for 2 years after a game's release to get to enjoy their 160 buck investment is also concerning. Do people not want a game to be /a finished game/ when when they are released? blows my mind. Times have changed dude, things are different... I don't know about you, but I'm 27 yo, so I have grown in an era when you got what you paid for, and THEN you could like the game or not. They had their flaws for sure, but bugs didn't break the game, and you got the full content... maybe a couple of expansions in the future... You didn't pay for a game hoping to become what you were told after many months. I don't know, maybe in the future when you buy a car it will have flat tires and damaged suspension, which will be fixed 2 months after you have paid for it. It really blows my mind too... how some people got to a point where "It will be a good game in 6 months" justifies buying a game in day 1 at full prize. And its more frequent every year. Someone said above that EA is "stepping up the current business". He should know that their objective is taking our money, so a step up for them means a step back for us, because we are not getting a better product in exchange of that money, on the contrary as we are seeing with many AAA lately... And I can get through DLCs like the Total War ones, you know, 15€ for a race and a short campaign, even when I think they are WAY overprized, because you get already a full content with the base game. But this "you will get the game you paid for in 6-12 months, because we know you are ok with it" shit is getting annoying. The only genre where it works is multiplayer games. Where you want to be on top of the curve from the start and have full servers for fast games. A single player game doing the same would tank much harder since there is much less premium about a release. Though the biggest titles sadly get a pass here as well. If you take a niche multiplayer RTS game you likely can't find multiplayer games after a year. So waiting for them to fix it wouldn't work if you want to play it at all. Personally I play single player games and Dota, so doesn't really effect me that much. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
The combat is really fun. Did go for the storm immediately and raining down hell is awesome. Story is okay, nice cutscences, funny dialogues. Freeplay with a pug is super boring cause everyone does their own thing. Haven't tried strongholds yet I guess it's not worth 60 bucks, but if it goes down to 40' ish in a few month and when the bugs are fixed I can definitely recommend this. Problem might be that Division 2 launches in 3 weeks and then nobody cares about Anthem anymore | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
On February 23 2019 08:11 Elmonti wrote: Show nested quote + On February 22 2019 22:48 abuse wrote: On February 22 2019 22:27 Artisreal wrote: Tbh 160 bucks is not that much if you get 500+hrs of entertainment... Not every game is dota 2 where everything is free but the time you invest in while maintaining a very good and mostly polished product with incredible replayability and depth. Would I, personally, pay this for a loot shooter? No. The fact that there are people who think 160 bucks for any game is "not that much" is concerning. The fact that there are people who say they wouldn't even pay it themselves, but still think it's an ok price is more concerning. The fact that people are even willing to wait for 2 years after a game's release to get to enjoy their 160 buck investment is also concerning. Do people not want a game to be /a finished game/ when when they are released? blows my mind. Times have changed dude, things are different... I don't know about you, but I'm 27 yo, so I have grown in an era when you got what you paid for, and THEN you could like the game or not. They had their flaws for sure, but bugs didn't break the game, and you got the full content... maybe a couple of expansions in the future... You didn't pay for a game hoping to become what you were told after many months. I don't know, maybe in the future when you buy a car it will have flat tires and damaged suspension, which will be fixed 2 months after you have paid for it. It really blows my mind too... how some people got to a point where "It will be a good game in 6 months" justifies buying a game in day 1 at full prize. And its more frequent every year. Someone said above that EA is "stepping up the current business". He should know that their objective is taking our money, so a step up for them means a step back for us, because we are not getting a better product in exchange of that money, on the contrary as we are seeing with many AAA lately... And I can get through DLCs like the Total War ones, you know, 15€ for a race and a short campaign, even when I think they are WAY overprized, because you get already a full content with the base game. But this "you will get the game you paid for in 6-12 months, because we know you are ok with it" shit is getting annoying. huh ?? don't get me wrong i were not defending anthem at all ,this game ain't worth 40$ even with "the cataclysm update" coming out for next 3 months but still....on the other hand EA did right with battlefield and i believe it's much better than thier rival activison's black ops 4 which is still charging season pass for 40$ | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
On February 25 2019 18:15 Harris1st wrote: I'm playing this very casually (I think 5 hours so far) and I'm fine with it. No technical issues or bugs yet. The combat is really fun. Did go for the storm immediately and raining down hell is awesome. Story is okay, nice cutscences, funny dialogues. Freeplay with a pug is super boring cause everyone does their own thing. Haven't tried strongholds yet I guess it's not worth 60 bucks, but if it goes down to 40' ish in a few month and when the bugs are fixed I can definitely recommend this. Problem might be that Division 2 launches in 3 weeks and then nobody cares about Anthem anymore i can get this game after 3 months for 30$ by buying used ps4 disc tho | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
Should be plenty of time to get bored of it with only minimal investment. | ||
sCuMBaG
United Kingdom1144 Posts
On February 25 2019 19:37 Gorsameth wrote: If your worried about value the best answer is probably a month of Origin Premium, 15 bucks for Anthem and a host of other games for a month. Should be plenty of time to get bored of it with only minimal investment. The game is a lot of fun though. Yes there are issues - but they have already given a fairly decent timeline for the next three months with updates. If they do it right - it can turn into an amazing game. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
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Elmonti
Spain299 Posts
On February 27 2019 20:47 sCuMBaG wrote: Show nested quote + On February 25 2019 19:37 Gorsameth wrote: If your worried about value the best answer is probably a month of Origin Premium, 15 bucks for Anthem and a host of other games for a month. Should be plenty of time to get bored of it with only minimal investment. The game is a lot of fun though. Yes there are issues - but they have already given a fairly decent timeline for the next three months with updates. If they do it right - it can turn into an amazing game. Jesus christ... Is that where we have set our expectations as customers? I apologize if this offends you, I really do, but I think it's really sad to see someone say that. To see those kind of requirements from a person who spends 60$ on a game. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
I play 2-3 missions most days of the week. By the time I reach endgame the first content update has likely already hit. Still, I think mid March most people who play these kinds of games will switch over to Division 2, which will basically make Anthem a dead man walking Now about the price tag discussion: Yes 60$ is to much for a buggy, unfinished game like this. That is why there are options like origin premiere. 15$ is an amazing deal IMHO and the combat alone is worth it. Go check it out | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
If that's how long it takes you to get to endgame, then you are an extreme minority here, sadly. I fully expect the game's population to drop to like 5% of what it is now(or more precisely, what it was a week ago) by the time May comes around. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
When I heard live service I thought MMO. Content on a monthly basis. Not this "release now, patch it in later" type of deal. The content should be in there already, or like in Destiny's 2 case, endgame raids would start coming as late as 1 week after release, and the gameplay loop should be fun enough to absorb the player for hours at a time. If they want recurrent player interest and monetisation, they can't cater to casuals, but the hardcores that would play the shit out of this daily. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 27 2019 23:19 Latham wrote: The thing is, I don't think a game that was marketed as a "live service" caters to casual players who play it 1-3h a day... When I heard live service I thought MMO. Content on a monthly basis. Not this "release now, patch it in later" type of deal. The content should be in there already, or like in Destiny's 2 case, endgame raids would start coming as late as 1 week after release, and the gameplay loop should be fun enough to absorb the player for hours at a time. If they want recurrent player interest and monetisation, they can't cater to casuals, but the hardcores that would play the shit out of this daily. Strongholds are in the game and the Legacy mission stuff should be available in a week or sth. Also they are thinking about a Loot 2.0 kinda overhaul right now. Should be sth official on that tomorrow. 1-3 hours a day is casual? How many hours does your day have? I'm kinda limited to 24 I think there is way more "casual" players than hardcore players and that they are the main income source. But I could be wrong there. I don't have any numbers to back this "gut feeling". I just think there is way more casuals out there. I played endgame before in multiple MMO's, slow and steady wins the race And just to clarify: Yes this game released to early. This right now is basically a better beta test. Or early access. Or whatever. | ||
gingerfluffmuff
Austria4570 Posts
On February 27 2019 21:04 Gorsameth wrote: I miss the time when games were supposed to be good when you took them out of the box, not hopefully in 6 months. Because people will still buy this shit. It is also better to spend insane amounts of money on advertisements than on the development of said games. Gaming in 201x is just an investment vehicle. | ||
gingerfluffmuff
Austria4570 Posts
On February 27 2019 21:44 Harris1st wrote: If you play a normal amount and don't want to be in the endgame on day 1 the roadmap looks fine to me. I play 2-3 missions most days of the week. By the time I reach endgame the first content update has likely already hit. Still, I think mid March most people who play these kinds of games will switch over to Division 2, which will basically make Anthem a dead man walking Now about the price tag discussion: Yes 60$ is to much for a buggy, unfinished game like this. That is why there are options like origin premiere. 15$ is an amazing deal IMHO and the combat alone is worth it. Go check it out The 15$ is just another trap, cause you get like half the game and the publisher is aiming on people who dont cancel that sub. (gym membership routine says hi) | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On February 28 2019 05:02 gingerfluffmuff wrote: Which is why you do the smart thing and cancel it right after subbing so you can't forget.Show nested quote + On February 27 2019 21:44 Harris1st wrote: If you play a normal amount and don't want to be in the endgame on day 1 the roadmap looks fine to me. I play 2-3 missions most days of the week. By the time I reach endgame the first content update has likely already hit. Still, I think mid March most people who play these kinds of games will switch over to Division 2, which will basically make Anthem a dead man walking Now about the price tag discussion: Yes 60$ is to much for a buggy, unfinished game like this. That is why there are options like origin premiere. 15$ is an amazing deal IMHO and the combat alone is worth it. Go check it out The 15$ is just another trap, cause you get like half the game and the publisher is aiming on people who dont cancel that sub. (gym membership routine says hi) | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 28 2019 05:16 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + Which is why you do the smart thing and cancel it right after subbing so you can't forget.On February 28 2019 05:02 gingerfluffmuff wrote: On February 27 2019 21:44 Harris1st wrote: If you play a normal amount and don't want to be in the endgame on day 1 the roadmap looks fine to me. I play 2-3 missions most days of the week. By the time I reach endgame the first content update has likely already hit. Still, I think mid March most people who play these kinds of games will switch over to Division 2, which will basically make Anthem a dead man walking Now about the price tag discussion: Yes 60$ is to much for a buggy, unfinished game like this. That is why there are options like origin premiere. 15$ is an amazing deal IMHO and the combat alone is worth it. Go check it out The 15$ is just another trap, cause you get like half the game and the publisher is aiming on people who dont cancel that sub. (gym membership routine says hi) Exactly. Also happy birthday | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On February 28 2019 00:17 Harris1st wrote: 1-3 hours a day is casual? Yes. Hardcore MMO players can easily play 6++++ hours a day On February 28 2019 00:17 Harris1st wrote: I think there is way more "casual" players than hardcore players and that they are the main income source. But I could be wrong there. I don't have any numbers to back this "gut feeling". I just think there is way more casuals out there. Pretty sure you're wrong there. Well, idk you might already be right by now, it definitely wasn't the case at launch, and wasn't supposed to be, but by the way the game is handled, only casuals will remain. Either way, in live services, it's not the casuals who are the main income source - ever. It's the whales, who are in most cases hardcore players. On February 28 2019 00:17 Harris1st wrote: I played endgame before in multiple MMO's, slow and steady wins the race I don't know of any MMO's(or any games for that matter) where "slow and steady" would win over hardcore grind. It doesn't even make sense. You don't beat flash by playing a few hours a week. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 28 2019 17:06 abuse wrote: Yes. Hardcore MMO players can easily play 6++++ hours a day Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 00:17 Harris1st wrote: I think there is way more "casual" players than hardcore players and that they are the main income source. But I could be wrong there. I don't have any numbers to back this "gut feeling". I just think there is way more casuals out there. Pretty sure you're wrong there. Well, idk you might already be right by now, it definitely wasn't the case at launch, and wasn't supposed to be, but by the way the game is handled, only casuals will remain. Either way, in live services, it's not the casuals who are the main income source - ever. It's the whales, who are in most cases hardcore players. Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 00:17 Harris1st wrote: I played endgame before in multiple MMO's, slow and steady wins the race I don't know of any MMO's(or any games for that matter) where "slow and steady" would win over hardcore grind. It doesn't even make sense. You don't beat flash by playing a few hours a week. IMO this is not really a game for "whales". Item shop doesn't get you anything worthwhile. In a Chinese Mobil game, you are absolutely right ofc. Since there is no (gear dependant) PvP (yet?) it doesn't really matter I guess, but yes you are right again. Was more of a joke there More on topic: Loot overhaul will come today or tomorrow https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-is-getting-a-loot-overhaul-tomorrow-here-are-the-details/ Question on Javelins: Whats your favorite and why? Is it worth "leveling" all Javelins or just go with one to level 30 and then gear all Javlines up since items before 30 are shit anyway? | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. | ||
iamthedave
England2814 Posts
On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On February 28 2019 19:35 iamthedave wrote: Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. I am sure developers would love to develop games like Blizzard of the past. But sadly, publishers demand that games shipped in specific time frames and sometimes even demand demos as pre-order bonuses that might pull resources away from the final game. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On February 28 2019 23:14 Plansix wrote: I like that casual gamer is now someone who only plays 1-3 hours every day. Mind you, if you did any other hobby on the planet 1-3 hours every day, people would say it is a fundamental party of your lifestyle. But Gamers are magical, special creatures. Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 19:35 iamthedave wrote: On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. I am sure developers would love to develop games like Blizzard of the past. But sadly, publishers demand that games shipped in specific time frames and sometimes even demand demos as pre-order bonuses that might pull resources away from the final game. Casual players are not determined by the hours/day ratio in the new game they play but how long they stick and how many they play in a longer on average. And by my standards casuals don't go over 7h/week on average based on a longer time frame. This is bad planning on the developer side of things. If they lay before you this plan you need to price it accordingaly and then you need to plan with some backup time. But thats just me xD | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
Its interesting how Bioware Edmonton had to use the Frostbite Engine. Its Pierre Trudeau's "Branch Plant" economy lament happening in 2019 at a high tech level. What happened to the days when Watcom C was used for building everything from compilers to operating systems? Oh ...Whoa ...Canada. Just sad man. So many veteran people have already left....if Bioware Edmonton goes down it'll be sad.. but its really looking that way. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On March 01 2019 03:50 deacon.frost wrote: Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 23:14 Plansix wrote: I like that casual gamer is now someone who only plays 1-3 hours every day. Mind you, if you did any other hobby on the planet 1-3 hours every day, people would say it is a fundamental party of your lifestyle. But Gamers are magical, special creatures. On February 28 2019 19:35 iamthedave wrote: On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. I am sure developers would love to develop games like Blizzard of the past. But sadly, publishers demand that games shipped in specific time frames and sometimes even demand demos as pre-order bonuses that might pull resources away from the final game. Casual players are not determined by the hours/day ratio in the new game they play but how long they stick and how many they play in a longer on average. And by my standards casuals don't go over 7h/week on average based on a longer time frame. This is bad planning on the developer side of things. If they lay before you this plan you need to price it accordingaly and then you need to plan with some backup time. But thats just me xD You see, I view the concept of casual gamers as a construct created to serve as a gate keeper to a hobby or simply a way for people to place themselves as the most important customer to a consumer product. It is "not a true" of video games, if we treat video games like bands or professional sports. | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On February 28 2019 19:35 iamthedave wrote: Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. In my opinion they should not look to WoW but rather Borderlands 2. First you make something like BL2 (same level of quality and content) and then you just improve on the multiplayer and count your money. | ||
WolfintheSheep
Canada14127 Posts
On March 01 2019 10:34 Manit0u wrote: Show nested quote + On February 28 2019 19:35 iamthedave wrote: On February 28 2019 19:30 Latham wrote: I just wanted to chime in and say casuals are important for a game at launch and further down the road when expansions launch, but it's the hardcore player retention that matters. The players that will stick to your game for months or years, not the ones that flocked to it because it's new, and will leave when the next awesome title comes out next month. It's not even about a % of those hardcores becoming spender whales, it's about stabilizing the numbers of concurrent players to gauge the interest level. Many games are still alive because of a solid cult-like following of dedicated/hardcore gamers despite being old(er). Company of Heroes 2, Warcraft 3 TFT, Guild Wars 2, Monster Hunter Series etc. just to name a few I actually play myself. Also don't forget about the elephant in the room which is StarCraft: Brood War. Despite not having balance patches or expansions made for the game it flourished because of its hardcore community playing on private servers like Fish IcCup, Garena etc. It stuns me how few of these developers have learned any meaningful lessons from by far the most successful comparable game: World of Warcraft. Even today, with WoW under constant fire for fucking up each expansion more and more, WoW at its worst is superior to all of these games that are trying to mimic its format (only with 1st/3rd person shooter mechanics). There's zero excuse for these games to release the way they do. Nil. None. The trailblazer games have been and gone. Lessons should be learned. In my opinion they should not look to WoW but rather Borderlands 2. First you make something like BL2 (same level of quality and content) and then you just improve on the multiplayer and count your money. The Borderlands path is exactly what EA/Bioware did... Take a fun, successful single player franchise (Borderlands, Mass Effect), force in unnecessary multiplayer content that impacts the main content (Borderlands 2, ME3), push a beloved franchise to a side-team to milk (Borderlands Pre-Sequel, ME:A), and throw your main efforts on a multiplayer flop (Battleborn, Anthem). | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On March 01 2019 07:32 Plansix wrote: You see, I view the concept of casual gamers as a construct created to serve as a gate keeper to a hobby or simply a way for people to place themselves as the most important customer to a consumer product. It is "not a true" of video games, if we treat video games like bands or professional sports. I don't really think that too many people view it as a gatekeeping or "not a true" of video games. A gamer is a gamer. It's just annoying that these days developers cater to the casual gamer much more to someone who plays games "more seriously". Casual gamers often don't finish games, they play for a small amount. Their interest often wanders from one game to the other quickly and they often don't stick to a single game for long. Hence building a game "for the casual gamer" is a recipe for disaster, cause they'll bail ship quick enough. Casual gamers don't bring stability to a game, they don't give a constant playerbase, both things that are needed for a "live service experience, we plan to deliver for 10's of years" The problem with developers catering to the casual gamer, is that the non-casual gamer gets screwed in the process, while if the developer would focus on the non-casual gamer, then there'd be enough there for everyone. It's like cooking a shitty pasta+ketchup instead of a proper dish. Both a foodie and a person who only eats shit all day will enjoy the proper dish, but a foodie wouldn't enjoy the pasta+ketchup that tastes like shit and has no effort put into it. It also means they can release unfinished shit like anthem and keep a majority of the casual gamers satisfied,without actually doing their goddamned job at developing a video game. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On March 01 2019 16:52 abuse wrote: Show nested quote + On March 01 2019 07:32 Plansix wrote: You see, I view the concept of casual gamers as a construct created to serve as a gate keeper to a hobby or simply a way for people to place themselves as the most important customer to a consumer product. It is "not a true" of video games, if we treat video games like bands or professional sports. I don't really think that too many people view it as a gatekeeping or "not a true" of video games. A gamer is a gamer. It's just annoying that these days developers cater to the casual gamer much more to someone who plays games "more seriously". Casual gamers often don't finish games, they play for a small amount. Their interest often wanders from one game to the other quickly and they often don't stick to a single game for long. Hence building a game "for the casual gamer" is a recipe for disaster, cause they'll bail ship quick enough. Casual gamers don't bring stability to a game, they don't give a constant playerbase, both things that are needed for a "live service experience, we plan to deliver for 10's of years" The problem with developers catering to the casual gamer, is that the non-casual gamer gets screwed in the process, while if the developer would focus on the non-casual gamer, then there'd be enough there for everyone. It's like cooking a shitty pasta+ketchup instead of a proper dish. Both a foodie and a person who only eats shit all day will enjoy the proper dish, but a foodie wouldn't enjoy the pasta+ketchup that tastes like shit and has no effort put into it. It also means they can release unfinished shit like anthem and keep a majority of the casual gamers satisfied,without actually doing their goddamned job at developing a video game. What's more interesting. BioWare already tried catering to the casual players during their SW-TOR experiment named Knights of the Fallen Empire(KotFE expansion), when they didn't provide ANY content for the hardcore gamers, actually offended the hardcore gamers and in MMORPG they catered to the single player(!!) casual(!!!) players. The result was that the game bleeded players like never before(except the launch). They know it doesn't work in the long term(KotFE was the best expansion launch) and it's just a short term benefit. While yeah, BW Austin isn't BW Edmonton(or whoever created Anthem) it's still EA, it's still even BW and they should know better by now. I'm quite astonished how developers can't learn from others mistake or even their own mistakes!! Edit> BTW the need to cater hardcore gamers is more than "long term player base". It's the hardcore gamers who create the guides, who create the stat ratio, who lure the forum/social sites, give advice etc. You need the hardcore gamers because they essentially do the first line of customer support and PR. They also help in the game when they give advice during harder group content to the newer players(if they join newbie groups). The more hardcore gamers you can sustain the better. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 01 2019 17:44 deacon.frost wrote: Show nested quote + On March 01 2019 16:52 abuse wrote: On March 01 2019 07:32 Plansix wrote: You see, I view the concept of casual gamers as a construct created to serve as a gate keeper to a hobby or simply a way for people to place themselves as the most important customer to a consumer product. It is "not a true" of video games, if we treat video games like bands or professional sports. I don't really think that too many people view it as a gatekeeping or "not a true" of video games. A gamer is a gamer. It's just annoying that these days developers cater to the casual gamer much more to someone who plays games "more seriously". Casual gamers often don't finish games, they play for a small amount. Their interest often wanders from one game to the other quickly and they often don't stick to a single game for long. Hence building a game "for the casual gamer" is a recipe for disaster, cause they'll bail ship quick enough. Casual gamers don't bring stability to a game, they don't give a constant playerbase, both things that are needed for a "live service experience, we plan to deliver for 10's of years" The problem with developers catering to the casual gamer, is that the non-casual gamer gets screwed in the process, while if the developer would focus on the non-casual gamer, then there'd be enough there for everyone. It's like cooking a shitty pasta+ketchup instead of a proper dish. Both a foodie and a person who only eats shit all day will enjoy the proper dish, but a foodie wouldn't enjoy the pasta+ketchup that tastes like shit and has no effort put into it. It also means they can release unfinished shit like anthem and keep a majority of the casual gamers satisfied,without actually doing their goddamned job at developing a video game. Edit> BTW the need to cater hardcore gamers is more than "long term player base". It's the hardcore gamers who create the guides, who create the stat ratio, who lure the forum/social sites, give advice etc. You need the hardcore gamers because they essentially do the first line of customer support and PR. They also help in the game when they give advice during harder group content to the newer players(if they join newbie groups). The more hardcore gamers you can sustain the better. Very good point! Never thought of that | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
Hardcores will create mini tournaments with 50-100$ prizes over the weekend, they will make guides like you guys stated above, and if you provide them with the tools - they will create maps and mods for your games, which can by par and away extend the life expectancy of your game easily by years while you put in shitty microtransactions in... Best example for me here is the Total War series by Creative Assembly. Their games pretty much thrive with game overhauls and balance patches/bug fixes made by the community. But most importantly... hardcore players will try, and WILL break your game. They will find out the most optimal builds, the best timings, best strategies, best skill rotations, break boss line of sight, get them stuck on geometry and bug them out etc. etc. They WILL find the path of least resistance, whether you like it or not as a developer. A hardcore community is a passionate one. | ||
WolfintheSheep
Canada14127 Posts
On March 01 2019 16:49 Godwrath wrote: Borderlands never was a singleplayer game. Fine, co-op game. The entire game was completely accessible in single-player, even if it was miles better as co-op. It certainly wasn't the loot/exp grind and bizarre MMO raids of 2. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-04-anthem-shutting-off-ps4s-sony-issuing-refunds some middle-of-the-road Giant Bomb game reviewer guys with a really boring track record stated Anthem hard crashed and caused the entire PS4 to shut down. They then had problems restarting their PS4 but eventually they got the PS4 working again. Given their non-descript history as Giant Bomb employees a highly suspect this is happening. I can't see these guys BS-ing about this. On March 01 2019 16:49 Godwrath wrote: Borderlands never was a singleplayer game. Borderlands 1 , 2 and the Pre-Sequel can all be played as a single player. Borderlands has no PvP. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Otherwise, still having a good time. Some of the NPC's have really funny / sad / tragic stories to tell. Sure, they won't change much and there is no grand decisionmaking involved, but still. Can't believe most ppl rated this at around 6.5/10 I would give it 8 -8.5/10 in a heartbeat. Though I'm still not at the endgame. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On March 05 2019 17:13 JimmyJRaynor wrote: Things are getting ugly with Anthem. A group of people are claiming Anthem completely shuts down their PS4. Sony is issuing refunds to some customers. Some people are claiming it bricked their PS4. Who knows what is and isn't true. Any way you look at this... WHAT A MESS compared to the Apex Legends launch. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-04-anthem-shutting-off-ps4s-sony-issuing-refunds some middle-of-the-road Giant Bomb game reviewer guys with a really boring track record stated Anthem hard crashed and caused the entire PS4 to shut down. They then had problems restarting their PS4 but eventually they got the PS4 working again. Given their non-descript history as Giant Bomb employees a highly suspect this is happening. I can't see these guys BS-ing about this. Borderlands 1 , 2 and the Pre-Sequel can all be played as a single player. Borderlands has no PvP. PS4 machines are old. They can be very dusty inside, thus overheating can be an issue because this is a demanding game. Overheating is always manufacturer's issue or maintenance issue. The question is, whether the PS4 overheats or whether Anthem has a broken code inside that does invalid operations. If this was Bethesda, i would say it's both | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
the stuff i'm hearing/reading is it has nothing to do with overheating. the system does not shutdown during long play sessions with other games. it shuts down quickly without the PS4 system being warm. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Specially the part about "not starting anymore"? This would mean the game has some influence over the booting sequence? | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On March 06 2019 00:44 Harris1st wrote: No, just 2nd hand accounts of people with badly maintained consoles running into overheating problems when playing demanding games.lol how can this happen? I'm not much into coding and stuff. Specially the part about "not starting anymore"? This would mean the game has some influence over the booting sequence? | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On March 06 2019 00:44 Harris1st wrote: lol how can this happen? I'm not much into coding and stuff. Specially the part about "not starting anymore"? This would mean the game has some influence over the booting sequence? The game can request an operation only PS4 Pro can provide thus it can shutdown PS4 via a demand which cannot be satisfied. I am no PS4 programmer, this is an example which should be handled both by Anthem and by SONY. Considering SONY was a little laxing in the past with their coding(*cough* certain hardcoded key and huge information leak *cough*) I think it may be possible. Although this should just shutdown the application, system should be robust enough to survive this. Obviously if the system crashes many times it gets corrupted thus not loading anymore. A lot of shoulds and making up. I haven't seen an RCA and I doubt anyone will | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
turning the PS4 back on requires all kinds of integrity checks. YongYea is pretty careful about the criticisms he lobs at Developers and Publishers. | ||
Firebolt145
Lalalaland34456 Posts
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2007/12/eve-online-trinity-borks-windows-deletes-boot-ini/ https://www.eveonline.com/article/about-the-boot.ini-issue | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Also I fell out of a cutscene and was left with the audio, a black screen and the abilities and sounds of my javelin. Overheating into bottomless falling, then a loading screen which basically signified that I was waiting for the cutscene to pass. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On March 06 2019 01:09 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + No, just 2nd hand accounts of people with badly maintained consoles running into overheating problems when playing demanding games.On March 06 2019 00:44 Harris1st wrote: lol how can this happen? I'm not much into coding and stuff. Specially the part about "not starting anymore"? This would mean the game has some influence over the booting sequence? just wondering, but how can you possibly know that this is only with people who have badly maintained consoles? And why is anthem the only game that seems to cause it then? | ||
gingerfluffmuff
Austria4570 Posts
On March 06 2019 16:48 abuse wrote: Show nested quote + On March 06 2019 01:09 Gorsameth wrote: On March 06 2019 00:44 Harris1st wrote: No, just 2nd hand accounts of people with badly maintained consoles running into overheating problems when playing demanding games.lol how can this happen? I'm not much into coding and stuff. Specially the part about "not starting anymore"? This would mean the game has some influence over the booting sequence? just wondering, but how can you possibly know that this is only with people who have badly maintained consoles? And why is anthem the only game that seems to cause it then? Anthem is just a badly programmed product with the ability to hard-crash the PS4. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
I signed up for EA Prime or whatever that shit is called to play the game. So far it is enjoyable, but I understand it gets stale after a while. But at about 6 hours in I'm having a good time. The potential is clear, even if the gameplay is a bit lacking in variety. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Don't really see the appeal in the grind though. | ||
Sermokala
United States13540 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On March 07 2019 03:53 Artisreal wrote: It's incredibly fun to fly and jolt around and kick ass with swords and explosive devices. The feedback of movement is great and you can do high skill ceiling stuff as well. Don't really see the appeal in the grind though. As someone who has 200 hours of Monster Hunter World under his belt, the grind appeals to me. But Monster Hunter World is a better game across the board. | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On March 07 2019 06:56 Sermokala wrote: Aparently reddit has figured out that the stock first level 1 rifle you get is also the best rifle in the game. The devs have already comented that its a bug related to how the game scales damage for low level people but this has got to be a meme from now on for the game. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ay0oh7/psa_the_level_1_defender_rifle_is_the_best_weapon/ More drama. Loot is pointless in a looter-shooter. Default rifle you start the game with is more effective than lvl 45 masterwork. Also, damage numbers that pop up have absolutely nothing to do with actual damage done (6 bullets at 1.2k dmg vs 4 bullets at 200 dmg each to kill the same opponent). | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-03-05-ea-asks-for-help-to-diagnose-anthems-awful-ps4-crashes this says it best... "All of that said, Anthem's hard crashes are a serious issue - and not one anyone should expect to encounter, let alone repeatedly, and in a big budget EA tentpole release." | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ay4czr/developer_stream_summary_03062019/ | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
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Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On March 08 2019 00:09 Godwrath wrote: Because a level 2 player can get paired into a dungeon being done by a level 30 through quick-play. So some sort of scaling is needed to make that work.Hahahah. I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). The stupid part is apparently tying it to equipment level rather then player level. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 08 2019 00:24 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + Because a level 2 player can get paired into a dungeon being done by a level 30 through quick-play. So some sort of scaling is needed to make that work.On March 08 2019 00:09 Godwrath wrote: Hahahah. I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). The stupid part is apparently tying it to equipment level rather then player level. That's fine for that content, but for gm1+ it is worthless. Also you can do level brackets in matchmakibg and be done with that. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
I have to say, they need more flying gameplay. The moment when you have to dodge turrets shots or that time you have to dodge beams while flying through some crazy room are really cool. It is a great change of pace too. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
The game needed another 6-8 months in the oven to fix the UI, test bugs on all platforms etc. Maybe even give time for the content team to put more into the main game and work on other DLC. I really, really hope EA doesn't shut this game down. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Still love this game. Some of the NPC side stories are great. Bit in love with Tassyn <3 Mostly playing with Storm Javelin, cause it's awesome to rain down death and destruction, but holy shit do I die fast in higher difficulties. Really hope Anthem survives the release of Division 2 | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On March 08 2019 01:04 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + On March 08 2019 00:24 Gorsameth wrote: On March 08 2019 00:09 Godwrath wrote: Because a level 2 player can get paired into a dungeon being done by a level 30 through quick-play. So some sort of scaling is needed to make that work.Hahahah. I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). The stupid part is apparently tying it to equipment level rather then player level. That's fine for that content, but for gm1+ it is worthless. Also you can do level brackets in matchmakibg and be done with that. Well it's a looter shooter so there has to be the need for better gear. usually it's done the way, that the scaling cannot ever meet the top gear. e.g. top gear means you have power 1000. Scaling for that content via game should give you, I don't know, let's say 900 power top. This essentially means you can do the scaled content(which requires 850 power) while getting better gear gives you still better resources and you still have to get the gear to do unscaled content(if there's such thing in Anthem). | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 08 2019 18:30 deacon.frost wrote: Yes. But this is a system that scales you individually in regards to the content you are doing. Show nested quote + On March 08 2019 01:04 Godwrath wrote: On March 08 2019 00:24 Gorsameth wrote: On March 08 2019 00:09 Godwrath wrote: Because a level 2 player can get paired into a dungeon being done by a level 30 through quick-play. So some sort of scaling is needed to make that work.Hahahah. I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). The stupid part is apparently tying it to equipment level rather then player level. That's fine for that content, but for gm1+ it is worthless. Also you can do level brackets in matchmakibg and be done with that. Well it's a looter shooter so there has to be the need for better gear. usually it's done the way, that the scaling cannot ever meet the top gear. e.g. top gear means you have power 1000. Scaling for that content via game should give you, I don't know, let's say 900 power top. This essentially means you can do the scaled content(which requires 850 power) while getting better gear gives you still better resources and you still have to get the gear to do unscaled content(if there's such thing in Anthem). It's the oppossite of what you think it is... you are looting stuff to be more powerful, but you don't get to feel more powerful. Reminds me of oblivion. Not to speak that most numbers in this game are a lie which gives a very sour taste in a looting game. You can do the difficulty scaling far easier and with a better system such as Diablo 3 and PoE. And if the point of contention is "not being able to play with my lowbie friend", that's bullcrap. You just powerlevel them, like you do in those games aswell. Matchmaking =/= Private. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 08 2019 18:48 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + Yes. But this is a system that scales you individually in regards to the content you are doing. On March 08 2019 18:30 deacon.frost wrote: On March 08 2019 01:04 Godwrath wrote: On March 08 2019 00:24 Gorsameth wrote: On March 08 2019 00:09 Godwrath wrote: Because a level 2 player can get paired into a dungeon being done by a level 30 through quick-play. So some sort of scaling is needed to make that work.Hahahah. I will never undestand the pretentious thinking that goes into trying to go for a system that scales with your gear. You can do the same way easier with the regular difficulties to infinitum. And to what end? Your players never get to feel more powerful, you just designed a powerful tool that does nothing for your product, and that's if you did it well, most of the time it will be trash (this isn't the first time for bioware either, TOR bolster buffs were also trash, and you were better in pvp instances going naked and stuff like that). The stupid part is apparently tying it to equipment level rather then player level. That's fine for that content, but for gm1+ it is worthless. Also you can do level brackets in matchmakibg and be done with that. Well it's a looter shooter so there has to be the need for better gear. usually it's done the way, that the scaling cannot ever meet the top gear. e.g. top gear means you have power 1000. Scaling for that content via game should give you, I don't know, let's say 900 power top. This essentially means you can do the scaled content(which requires 850 power) while getting better gear gives you still better resources and you still have to get the gear to do unscaled content(if there's such thing in Anthem). It's the oppossite of what you think it is... you are looting stuff to be more powerful, but you don't get to feel more powerful. Reminds me of oblivion. Not to speak that most numbers in this game are a lie which gives a very sour taste in a looting game. You can do the difficulty scaling far easier and with a better system such as Diablo 3 and PoE. And if the point of contention is "not being able to play with my lowbie friend", that's bullcrap. You just powerlevel them, like you do in those games aswell. Matchmaking =/= Private. I hated Oblivion! The only TES game I never finished cause the scaling pissed me of so much In a stronghold yesterday I felt like I had the most impact damagewise, with me beeing lvl 20, two 30's and a lvl 14. It seemed to scale us to the average and then me playing Storm Jav actually did the most dmg. Dunno. Feels weird | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
On March 08 2019 17:01 Harris1st wrote: Finished story yesterday, did my first stronghold and legacy contract. Still need a lot of achievements and stuff and have more side quests to do. That's good cause I'm just lvl 20 right now. Still love this game. Some of the NPC side stories are great. Bit in love with Tassyn <3 Mostly playing with Storm Javelin, cause it's awesome to rain down death and destruction, but holy shit do I die fast in higher difficulties. Really hope Anthem survives the release of Division 2 how long does it take to fully finish the game without rushing ? | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
I'd say 40 hours. I'm roundabout 33 hrs in, have done some grinding to get to max level (still 3 away from that) and have some side quests to finish still. I hope for some QoL changes with the upcoming patch that allow for less loading screens and less running around. These are the two things that annoy me, as a casual gamer, the most. So...many...loading...screens... | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 09 2019 10:25 seemsgood wrote: Show nested quote + On March 08 2019 17:01 Harris1st wrote: Finished story yesterday, did my first stronghold and legacy contract. Still need a lot of achievements and stuff and have more side quests to do. That's good cause I'm just lvl 20 right now. Still love this game. Some of the NPC side stories are great. Bit in love with Tassyn <3 Mostly playing with Storm Javelin, cause it's awesome to rain down death and destruction, but holy shit do I die fast in higher difficulties. Really hope Anthem survives the release of Division 2 how long does it take to fully finish the game without rushing ? Can't say for sure. I think I played about 35 hours so far. Pilot level 22, Story done, side missions done. Mostly played alone (about 95%). When you are through with the story you get a new quest which will take probalby another 40 hours, but it starts to get grindy. You can switch Javs though, which makes it a lot more replayable IMO. You can do a lot of achievement hunting if that's you thing. And of course the "get to max level and gear up" spiral is still there, which does motivate quite a lot. Newest patch fixed a lot of bugs and made some QoL changes like fast stronghold queue and a lot less walking in town | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
While some interesting storylines exist, the narrative is picked apart by the horrendous loading screen after loading screen issue. At least you can start missions from wherever now. But you can't customize your javelin without a loading screen. Which will necessitate a loading screen to get back to where you can start missions which will take a loading screen to take you into the open world. So coming back from a mission is similar. Loading screen after the mission. Look at loot. Loading screen for Customizing javelin. Loading screen for fort Tarsis, loading screen for next mission. I hope they fix that rather soonish. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 13 2019 17:36 abuse wrote: so apparently players are boycotting anthem now? Is this some reddit thing? Cause of the loot changes? Or are ppl just playing Division 2 XD | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On March 13 2019 18:05 Harris1st wrote: Its a reddit thing because of the loot changes.Show nested quote + On March 13 2019 17:36 abuse wrote: so apparently players are boycotting anthem now? Is this some reddit thing? Cause of the loot changes? Or are ppl just playing Division 2 XD But Division 2's release would have likely had a similar effect anyway. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 13 2019 19:13 Artisreal wrote: I've had a blast playing it yesterday I've encountered multiple Stronghold bugs Happens quite often that ppl spawn outside of barriers and stuff. And twice I got stuck in loading screen, queuing for quickplay stronghold And why FFS is quickplay stronghold ALWAYS Heart of Rage? Takes forever | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Quickplay is super buggy, that's true. And servers are unreliable. I had fun nonetheless, though if I weren't such a fan of the concept, many things would repel me... | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
GM1 drop rate seems fine. I get 1 MW per Stronghold. Only problem is, it takes over twice as long as "hard" which almost always drops a MW item as well | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Tldr is that the average of your items is more important than everything else. Properties of components matter little in comparison to just equipping max level items | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Right now I'm switching through all my MW and Leg gear so I get the blueprints. Got all fractions done now, almost through the challenge of valor (damn you world events!) and this month I may be able to get "Path to glory" gold and get those juicy MW embers. Next week I will probably dabble a bit with Division 2 | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
I defended arcanists trice against brutes yesterday, in the same free play session, twice at the same spot. Almost nothing else pops up, rather... Curious Question :I'm getting duplicate mw at the moment. Many many of them. Is it because I've used the other items too little to have unlocked their mw version? I've also linked the reddit post I was talking about in my last post | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 13 2019 17:36 abuse wrote: so apparently players are boycotting anthem now? More like anthem is boycotting anthem. It's absolutely hilarious to watch. | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
On March 16 2019 04:00 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + On March 13 2019 17:36 abuse wrote: so apparently players are boycotting anthem now? More like anthem is boycotting anthem. It's absolutely hilarious to watch. they do have a roadmap for new contents but other than that,seems like they don't have any direction i wonder who's in charge currently as the lead designer after the former one is gone | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 15 2019 23:23 Artisreal wrote: World Events are bugged? I defended arcanists trice against brutes yesterday, in the same free play session, twice at the same spot. Almost nothing else pops up, rather... Curious Question :I'm getting duplicate mw at the moment. Many many of them. Is it because I've used the other items too little to have unlocked their mw version? I've also linked the reddit post I was talking about in my last post Yesterday it was awful. Nothing worked. Dunno why. World event bugged, Strongholds bugged, quickplay missions bugged Often the next phase of event didn't start or started with a 5min delay which I only noticed cause I went to get coffee. Everyone else already left cause they thought it was buggy. Quest markers didn't show. Threasure chest didn't spawn. The amount of bugs I encountered yesterday was more than the rest of the days combined. To the other question: I have found one MW rifle "Thunderbold of Yvenia" 5 times already. Which is strange considering I have only found about 15 MW items ever. No Legendaries so far, which is quite sad too. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
All legs from random Mobs iirc. Switched to GM2 early on saturday and did not find any MW in my first run, switched back to GM1 and found 5 in one scar base run. Usually one Drops from the trash Mobs in the first section and then one at the chests each. If I have Drops, most of the time its multiple items. I have also found many many many duplicate MW, sometimes in the same session… Which is rather disappointing tbh. But nice for perfecting a build and replacing the crappy rolls on the items :p Switched back to GM2 after a couple of runs due to the increased chances esp. for legs though. I also ran with 89% luck most of the time. Due to finding better items I'm down to roundabout 30 now though. Can do GM2 free Play without Problems on my Interceptor at the Moment, which is nice I guess. What I usually do atm is to spam the Scar Event a couple of times and then switch to free Play and fly around the map once and do every WE that Pops up. My subjective Observation is that when switching Events, the drop rate increases a lot. But I suppose its just coincidence :o) sorry About the weird capitalisation, it's the browser's fault. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
This also seems to delay their roadmap. At this point there is almost nothing left to do for most ppl. Would be interesting to see some player numbers. I guess they took a real dive and most of the leavers will not be coming back. I have the fixed goal to finish the Challenge of Valor. After that I'll be gone as well :/ | ||
sCuMBaG
United Kingdom1144 Posts
On March 19 2019 19:41 Harris1st wrote: I feel like it is taking them too long to fix the issues like bugs and loot. And everytime they run a quick hotfix they close a window and open a floodgate of new issues. This also seems to delay their roadmap. At this point there is almost nothing left to do for most ppl. Would be interesting to see some player numbers. I guess they took a real dive and most of the leavers will not be coming back. I have the fixed goal to finish the Challenge of Valor. After that I'll be gone as well :/ That challenge isn't even worth it. Although I do have to admit that I'm running around with the decal too - as there don't seem to be that many who have that skull. There's a dev stream tomorrow, where they'll address quite a few bits - but I agree on the loot side of things. If they don't get in ad fix the items/loot, as well as that HP bug, then people will leave. I hear so much about "The division 2" ... so good, everything works, no bugs, great game... Yes - BUT.... it's the same freaking game again. Might look a bit better and have a few new bits. But it's another shooter, humans, guns, yadda yadda... I'm still hoping for a kind of No Man's Sky situation with Anthem, where they get everything fixed, some great new content and it will be amazing. Because seriously - it is quite innovative and could be ridiculously amazing if they fix the issues. I am playing less now (back to grinding dota lol) - but will definitely stick around until their Mastery update. I think they promised the Mastery (like GM4 & 5 or something) system, drop rates, inscriptions etc. before the end of April iirc. If they haven't fixed at least the most pressing issues in 4-5 weeks time - then I'm a gonner too. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 19 2019 20:18 sCuMBaG wrote: Show nested quote + On March 19 2019 19:41 Harris1st wrote: I feel like it is taking them too long to fix the issues like bugs and loot. And everytime they run a quick hotfix they close a window and open a floodgate of new issues. This also seems to delay their roadmap. At this point there is almost nothing left to do for most ppl. Would be interesting to see some player numbers. I guess they took a real dive and most of the leavers will not be coming back. I have the fixed goal to finish the Challenge of Valor. After that I'll be gone as well :/ That challenge isn't even worth it. Although I do have to admit that I'm running around with the decal too - as there don't seem to be that many who have that skull. There's a dev stream tomorrow, where they'll address quite a few bits - but I agree on the loot side of things. If they don't get in ad fix the items/loot, as well as that HP bug, then people will leave. I hear so much about "The division 2" ... so good, everything works, no bugs, great game... Yes - BUT.... it's the same freaking game again. Might look a bit better and have a few new bits. But it's another shooter, humans, guns, yadda yadda... I'm still hoping for a kind of No Man's Sky situation with Anthem, where they get everything fixed, some great new content and it will be amazing. Because seriously - it is quite innovative and could be ridiculously amazing if they fix the issues. I am playing less now (back to grinding dota lol) - but will definitely stick around until their Mastery update. I think they promised the Mastery (like GM4 & 5 or something) system, drop rates, inscriptions etc. before the end of April iirc. If they haven't fixed at least the most pressing issues in 4-5 weeks time - then I'm a gonner too. The callenge is not really about the rewards, more like a last mission for me. Then I've done everything, seen everything and have some "closure". For me personally, I give them time till Monday to change things or at least give me a specific date! I could absolutely love this game. Shame really I already have Division 2 installed ^^' As soon as I start it up the first time, Anthem is a gooner. At least until I'm through with it. Then we'll see if come back or go to the next best thing | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
| ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
| ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
As for gear they need to go the RNG/Set route. Whew. How’s everyone doing out there? It’s been a wild ride these last few weeks. On the one hand it’s been a rougher launch than expected. But then as I think back we also knew that big new online games tend to hit some kind of problem once they go live, so as much as we tested and prepared to make sure everything was ready, we were also ready for the possibility that unexpected issues might arise at launch. And we continue to be committed to responding to them. We launched a game that so many of you tell us is really fun at its core, but we also had a degree of issues that did not reveal themselves until we were operating at the scale of millions of players. We were of course very disappointed about that, as were many of you. I’ve been in there playing with you since those early days (I’m a Ranger in Edmonton Oilers colors!) and it makes me sad to hear about any issues that would hold someone back from fully enjoying the game. I take that very personally, and it’s been our top priority to get improvements out to you in the fastest, safest way. In these first few weeks, our Live team has worked hard on that, delivering over 200 improvements through patches and live updates, across stability, loot and progression, customization, and more. We also continue to listen to your feedback, with more improvements to endgame loot and progression, game flow, and stability and performance coming soon – so there’s a lot more work that we intend to do. This is all a learning experience for us, and as we work to make sure the game is improved and perfected, we can’t emphasize enough how much we appreciate you staying with us. Especially because the next stage is where things really get exciting. As we move through this most difficult period of launching a new game and IP, we are also working on the things that will really show what Anthem is capable of – a series of world events, new story content, and new features, that all build towards the Cataclysm later this spring. But we understand there is skepticism out there. We hear the criticisms and doubts. But we’ll keep going anyway, working hard every day on Anthem – an ever-changing world, constantly improving and growing, and supported well into the future by our team of passionate developers. With Anthem we’re trying something a little different than we’ve done before. And likewise our upcoming games will be different from Anthem. But with everything we do, we focus on staying true to our mission, creating worlds that inspire you to become the hero of your own story. So what’s most important to us is you, the players who have supported us in this journey. And we’re excited to prove that with Anthem, the best is yet to come. Casey Source | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On March 20 2019 19:56 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: You think the loading screens are there for fun and not because of technical limitations? Think the major problem is they now have to change Anthem from an Instanced MMORPG to a seamless one. While fixing bugs, and adding more content there needs to be a team whose sole project is to start removing the load screens and adding features where one can equip guns etc while in the world. They have to get rid of some of the load screens otherwise the stone is will be around their neck regardless of what they release in the future. As for gear they need to go the RNG/Set route. Show nested quote + Whew. How’s everyone doing out there? It’s been a wild ride these last few weeks. On the one hand it’s been a rougher launch than expected. But then as I think back we also knew that big new online games tend to hit some kind of problem once they go live, so as much as we tested and prepared to make sure everything was ready, we were also ready for the possibility that unexpected issues might arise at launch. And we continue to be committed to responding to them. We launched a game that so many of you tell us is really fun at its core, but we also had a degree of issues that did not reveal themselves until we were operating at the scale of millions of players. We were of course very disappointed about that, as were many of you. I’ve been in there playing with you since those early days (I’m a Ranger in Edmonton Oilers colors!) and it makes me sad to hear about any issues that would hold someone back from fully enjoying the game. I take that very personally, and it’s been our top priority to get improvements out to you in the fastest, safest way. In these first few weeks, our Live team has worked hard on that, delivering over 200 improvements through patches and live updates, across stability, loot and progression, customization, and more. We also continue to listen to your feedback, with more improvements to endgame loot and progression, game flow, and stability and performance coming soon – so there’s a lot more work that we intend to do. This is all a learning experience for us, and as we work to make sure the game is improved and perfected, we can’t emphasize enough how much we appreciate you staying with us. Especially because the next stage is where things really get exciting. As we move through this most difficult period of launching a new game and IP, we are also working on the things that will really show what Anthem is capable of – a series of world events, new story content, and new features, that all build towards the Cataclysm later this spring. But we understand there is skepticism out there. We hear the criticisms and doubts. But we’ll keep going anyway, working hard every day on Anthem – an ever-changing world, constantly improving and growing, and supported well into the future by our team of passionate developers. With Anthem we’re trying something a little different than we’ve done before. And likewise our upcoming games will be different from Anthem. But with everything we do, we focus on staying true to our mission, creating worlds that inspire you to become the hero of your own story. So what’s most important to us is you, the players who have supported us in this journey. And we’re excited to prove that with Anthem, the best is yet to come. Casey Source I would not count on them going away at all. Engine re-writes are not something Anthem has time for. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 20 2019 20:15 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + You think the loading screens are there for fun and not because of technical limitations? On March 20 2019 19:56 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Think the major problem is they now have to change Anthem from an Instanced MMORPG to a seamless one. While fixing bugs, and adding more content there needs to be a team whose sole project is to start removing the load screens and adding features where one can equip guns etc while in the world. They have to get rid of some of the load screens otherwise the stone is will be around their neck regardless of what they release in the future. As for gear they need to go the RNG/Set route. Whew. How’s everyone doing out there? It’s been a wild ride these last few weeks. On the one hand it’s been a rougher launch than expected. But then as I think back we also knew that big new online games tend to hit some kind of problem once they go live, so as much as we tested and prepared to make sure everything was ready, we were also ready for the possibility that unexpected issues might arise at launch. And we continue to be committed to responding to them. We launched a game that so many of you tell us is really fun at its core, but we also had a degree of issues that did not reveal themselves until we were operating at the scale of millions of players. We were of course very disappointed about that, as were many of you. I’ve been in there playing with you since those early days (I’m a Ranger in Edmonton Oilers colors!) and it makes me sad to hear about any issues that would hold someone back from fully enjoying the game. I take that very personally, and it’s been our top priority to get improvements out to you in the fastest, safest way. In these first few weeks, our Live team has worked hard on that, delivering over 200 improvements through patches and live updates, across stability, loot and progression, customization, and more. We also continue to listen to your feedback, with more improvements to endgame loot and progression, game flow, and stability and performance coming soon – so there’s a lot more work that we intend to do. This is all a learning experience for us, and as we work to make sure the game is improved and perfected, we can’t emphasize enough how much we appreciate you staying with us. Especially because the next stage is where things really get exciting. As we move through this most difficult period of launching a new game and IP, we are also working on the things that will really show what Anthem is capable of – a series of world events, new story content, and new features, that all build towards the Cataclysm later this spring. But we understand there is skepticism out there. We hear the criticisms and doubts. But we’ll keep going anyway, working hard every day on Anthem – an ever-changing world, constantly improving and growing, and supported well into the future by our team of passionate developers. With Anthem we’re trying something a little different than we’ve done before. And likewise our upcoming games will be different from Anthem. But with everything we do, we focus on staying true to our mission, creating worlds that inspire you to become the hero of your own story. So what’s most important to us is you, the players who have supported us in this journey. And we’re excited to prove that with Anthem, the best is yet to come. Casey Source I would not count on them going away at all. Engine re-writes are not something Anthem has time for. It is strange though. Basically the forge is opening you inventory, change a item and leave your inventory. I mean that shits possbile since Diablo 1 or sth | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Summary Update 1.04 is planned to be released next week. Specifics are yet TBA. Patch notes will be released shortly before the patch goes live (and they are hefty - 13 pages long on Word). As always, plans can still change so please bear this in mind. Elysian Caches Elysian caches are available at the end of Strongholds when the boss has been killed They can contain vanity items and crafting embers You get a key for the cache by completing a select daily challenge Everyone in the squad receives the rewards, so if all 4 players have keys, you will get 4 rewards The number of keys is listed in Fort Tarsis next to how much coin you have Forge improvements There is now no loading screen to get into the Forge It can be accessed anywhere from Fort Tarsis All equipped components are now listed under the weapons and gear These improvements are an incremental step to Forge improvements A stat screen is still being investigated. No news to share yet. Loot Stronghold bosses still guarantee one Masterwork on GM difficulty, but now the remaining loot can be rolled for Masterworks/Legendaries Strongholds and freeplay chests will see improved drop rates for rarer gear Legendary missions Legendary missions will be added to the game. These are more difficult, replayable critical path missions. There will be 6 missions on release, with one playable each day. There will be an apex creature at the end of each mission - these can be either an Ursix, Titan, Luminary or Fury You do not need to start conversations with NPCs to initiate these missions - they will always be on the map FOV Options FOV sliders have been added to the PC version of the game. The options include: Ground FOV Zoomed FOV Pilot FOV Flight FOV Swim FOV Miscellaneous changes, improvements and fixes NVIDIA DLSS support has been added. SLI support is still being looked into. There is the usual performance optimisations included. This is described as being an ongoing project that is never finished. Salvaging in the vault should be near instant now. Lots of fog walls have been removed, especially in Strongholds. More improvements have been made to bugged quickplay missions. If a missions has surpassed a 15 minute timer, you can no longer be matchmade into it. You can also no longer be matchmade into a Stronghold after two minutes have elapsed (quickplay is not included in this). The bug where you respawn timer would reset if your revive was cancelled has been fixed. The bug where you could no longer interact with the environment or revive teammates has been fixed. Javelin thrusters have been improved by 20% across the board. Overheat time has similarly been reduced by 20%. You now hold the melee button to melee with Interceptor, instead of repeatedly mashing it. This change has not been made for the ultimate ability, however. More universal components have been added. One example is Acid Slugs, which improves Shotgun damage and applies the acid effect if 7 pellets hit the enemy. There have been various fixes and buffs to Masterwork components. The inconsistent armour bug should have been addressed, but please feed back if you are still experiencing issues. The bug where Strongholds/missions/contracts go missing from your map has been fixed. Masterwork ember drop rates have been increased. Improvements have been made to address the "Pilot data error" issue. Consumables can now be sorted by name/rarity. When diving into deep water, the transition is now smoother. Still being looked into/investigated Javelins receiving Legendary/Masterwork components that fit in the wrong Javelin Power scaling issues New enemies and new story additions Better in-game communication systems A stats screen Achievements not popping Support gear Masterworks SLI support Increased inventory space | ||
sCuMBaG
United Kingdom1144 Posts
On March 21 2019 22:30 Harris1st wrote: Patch for next week looks sth like this Show nested quote + Summary Update 1.04 is planned to be released next week. Specifics are yet TBA. Patch notes will be released shortly before the patch goes live (and they are hefty - 13 pages long on Word). As always, plans can still change so please bear this in mind. Elysian Caches Elysian caches are available at the end of Strongholds when the boss has been killed They can contain vanity items and crafting embers You get a key for the cache by completing a select daily challenge Everyone in the squad receives the rewards, so if all 4 players have keys, you will get 4 rewards The number of keys is listed in Fort Tarsis next to how much coin you have Forge improvements There is now no loading screen to get into the Forge It can be accessed anywhere from Fort Tarsis All equipped components are now listed under the weapons and gear These improvements are an incremental step to Forge improvements A stat screen is still being investigated. No news to share yet. Loot Stronghold bosses still guarantee one Masterwork on GM difficulty, but now the remaining loot can be rolled for Masterworks/Legendaries Strongholds and freeplay chests will see improved drop rates for rarer gear Legendary missions Legendary missions will be added to the game. These are more difficult, replayable critical path missions. There will be 6 missions on release, with one playable each day. There will be an apex creature at the end of each mission - these can be either an Ursix, Titan, Luminary or Fury You do not need to start conversations with NPCs to initiate these missions - they will always be on the map FOV Options FOV sliders have been added to the PC version of the game. The options include: Ground FOV Zoomed FOV Pilot FOV Flight FOV Swim FOV Miscellaneous changes, improvements and fixes NVIDIA DLSS support has been added. SLI support is still being looked into. There is the usual performance optimisations included. This is described as being an ongoing project that is never finished. Salvaging in the vault should be near instant now. Lots of fog walls have been removed, especially in Strongholds. More improvements have been made to bugged quickplay missions. If a missions has surpassed a 15 minute timer, you can no longer be matchmade into it. You can also no longer be matchmade into a Stronghold after two minutes have elapsed (quickplay is not included in this). The bug where you respawn timer would reset if your revive was cancelled has been fixed. The bug where you could no longer interact with the environment or revive teammates has been fixed. Javelin thrusters have been improved by 20% across the board. Overheat time has similarly been reduced by 20%. You now hold the melee button to melee with Interceptor, instead of repeatedly mashing it. This change has not been made for the ultimate ability, however. More universal components have been added. One example is Acid Slugs, which improves Shotgun damage and applies the acid effect if 7 pellets hit the enemy. There have been various fixes and buffs to Masterwork components. The inconsistent armour bug should have been addressed, but please feed back if you are still experiencing issues. The bug where Strongholds/missions/contracts go missing from your map has been fixed. Masterwork ember drop rates have been increased. Improvements have been made to address the "Pilot data error" issue. Consumables can now be sorted by name/rarity. When diving into deep water, the transition is now smoother. Still being looked into/investigated Javelins receiving Legendary/Masterwork components that fit in the wrong Javelin Power scaling issues New enemies and new story additions Better in-game communication systems A stats screen Achievements not popping Support gear Masterworks SLI support Increased inventory space I was just about to link this too. I feel like they are working hard and it is going in the right direction. At least in my case - I will be sticking around for the next 2-3 months, before making a final decision. I do want to see where this is going and what the next acts will look like. | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On March 22 2019 00:30 sCuMBaG wrote: Show nested quote + On March 21 2019 22:30 Harris1st wrote: Patch for next week looks sth like this Summary Update 1.04 is planned to be released next week. Specifics are yet TBA. Patch notes will be released shortly before the patch goes live (and they are hefty - 13 pages long on Word). As always, plans can still change so please bear this in mind. Elysian Caches Elysian caches are available at the end of Strongholds when the boss has been killed They can contain vanity items and crafting embers You get a key for the cache by completing a select daily challenge Everyone in the squad receives the rewards, so if all 4 players have keys, you will get 4 rewards The number of keys is listed in Fort Tarsis next to how much coin you have Forge improvements There is now no loading screen to get into the Forge It can be accessed anywhere from Fort Tarsis All equipped components are now listed under the weapons and gear These improvements are an incremental step to Forge improvements A stat screen is still being investigated. No news to share yet. Loot Stronghold bosses still guarantee one Masterwork on GM difficulty, but now the remaining loot can be rolled for Masterworks/Legendaries Strongholds and freeplay chests will see improved drop rates for rarer gear Legendary missions Legendary missions will be added to the game. These are more difficult, replayable critical path missions. There will be 6 missions on release, with one playable each day. There will be an apex creature at the end of each mission - these can be either an Ursix, Titan, Luminary or Fury You do not need to start conversations with NPCs to initiate these missions - they will always be on the map FOV Options FOV sliders have been added to the PC version of the game. The options include: Ground FOV Zoomed FOV Pilot FOV Flight FOV Swim FOV Miscellaneous changes, improvements and fixes NVIDIA DLSS support has been added. SLI support is still being looked into. There is the usual performance optimisations included. This is described as being an ongoing project that is never finished. Salvaging in the vault should be near instant now. Lots of fog walls have been removed, especially in Strongholds. More improvements have been made to bugged quickplay missions. If a missions has surpassed a 15 minute timer, you can no longer be matchmade into it. You can also no longer be matchmade into a Stronghold after two minutes have elapsed (quickplay is not included in this). The bug where you respawn timer would reset if your revive was cancelled has been fixed. The bug where you could no longer interact with the environment or revive teammates has been fixed. Javelin thrusters have been improved by 20% across the board. Overheat time has similarly been reduced by 20%. You now hold the melee button to melee with Interceptor, instead of repeatedly mashing it. This change has not been made for the ultimate ability, however. More universal components have been added. One example is Acid Slugs, which improves Shotgun damage and applies the acid effect if 7 pellets hit the enemy. There have been various fixes and buffs to Masterwork components. The inconsistent armour bug should have been addressed, but please feed back if you are still experiencing issues. The bug where Strongholds/missions/contracts go missing from your map has been fixed. Masterwork ember drop rates have been increased. Improvements have been made to address the "Pilot data error" issue. Consumables can now be sorted by name/rarity. When diving into deep water, the transition is now smoother. Still being looked into/investigated Javelins receiving Legendary/Masterwork components that fit in the wrong Javelin Power scaling issues New enemies and new story additions Better in-game communication systems A stats screen Achievements not popping Support gear Masterworks SLI support Increased inventory space I was just about to link this too. I feel like they are working hard and it is going in the right direction. At least in my case - I will be sticking around for the next 2-3 months, before making a final decision. I do want to see where this is going and what the next acts will look like. Wouldn't it be better to wait a year or so and then play the game that's pretty much bug free and has the full experience in it? | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 22 2019 02:23 Manit0u wrote: Show nested quote + On March 22 2019 00:30 sCuMBaG wrote: On March 21 2019 22:30 Harris1st wrote: Patch for next week looks sth like this Summary Update 1.04 is planned to be released next week. Specifics are yet TBA. Patch notes will be released shortly before the patch goes live (and they are hefty - 13 pages long on Word). As always, plans can still change so please bear this in mind. Elysian Caches Elysian caches are available at the end of Strongholds when the boss has been killed They can contain vanity items and crafting embers You get a key for the cache by completing a select daily challenge Everyone in the squad receives the rewards, so if all 4 players have keys, you will get 4 rewards The number of keys is listed in Fort Tarsis next to how much coin you have Forge improvements There is now no loading screen to get into the Forge It can be accessed anywhere from Fort Tarsis All equipped components are now listed under the weapons and gear These improvements are an incremental step to Forge improvements A stat screen is still being investigated. No news to share yet. Loot Stronghold bosses still guarantee one Masterwork on GM difficulty, but now the remaining loot can be rolled for Masterworks/Legendaries Strongholds and freeplay chests will see improved drop rates for rarer gear Legendary missions Legendary missions will be added to the game. These are more difficult, replayable critical path missions. There will be 6 missions on release, with one playable each day. There will be an apex creature at the end of each mission - these can be either an Ursix, Titan, Luminary or Fury You do not need to start conversations with NPCs to initiate these missions - they will always be on the map FOV Options FOV sliders have been added to the PC version of the game. The options include: Ground FOV Zoomed FOV Pilot FOV Flight FOV Swim FOV Miscellaneous changes, improvements and fixes NVIDIA DLSS support has been added. SLI support is still being looked into. There is the usual performance optimisations included. This is described as being an ongoing project that is never finished. Salvaging in the vault should be near instant now. Lots of fog walls have been removed, especially in Strongholds. More improvements have been made to bugged quickplay missions. If a missions has surpassed a 15 minute timer, you can no longer be matchmade into it. You can also no longer be matchmade into a Stronghold after two minutes have elapsed (quickplay is not included in this). The bug where you respawn timer would reset if your revive was cancelled has been fixed. The bug where you could no longer interact with the environment or revive teammates has been fixed. Javelin thrusters have been improved by 20% across the board. Overheat time has similarly been reduced by 20%. You now hold the melee button to melee with Interceptor, instead of repeatedly mashing it. This change has not been made for the ultimate ability, however. More universal components have been added. One example is Acid Slugs, which improves Shotgun damage and applies the acid effect if 7 pellets hit the enemy. There have been various fixes and buffs to Masterwork components. The inconsistent armour bug should have been addressed, but please feed back if you are still experiencing issues. The bug where Strongholds/missions/contracts go missing from your map has been fixed. Masterwork ember drop rates have been increased. Improvements have been made to address the "Pilot data error" issue. Consumables can now be sorted by name/rarity. When diving into deep water, the transition is now smoother. Still being looked into/investigated Javelins receiving Legendary/Masterwork components that fit in the wrong Javelin Power scaling issues New enemies and new story additions Better in-game communication systems A stats screen Achievements not popping Support gear Masterworks SLI support Increased inventory space I was just about to link this too. I feel like they are working hard and it is going in the right direction. At least in my case - I will be sticking around for the next 2-3 months, before making a final decision. I do want to see where this is going and what the next acts will look like. Wouldn't it be better to wait a year or so and then play the game that's pretty much bug free and has the full experience in it? That's like "do I see this movie in the cinema now or wait a year and buy the blueray with additional features" A LOT of ppl go to cinemas | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
The game is lots of fun when you get to play it properly. That's the tricky bit tho lol | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
| ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On March 22 2019 02:51 Harris1st wrote: Show nested quote + On March 22 2019 02:23 Manit0u wrote: On March 22 2019 00:30 sCuMBaG wrote: On March 21 2019 22:30 Harris1st wrote: Patch for next week looks sth like this Summary Update 1.04 is planned to be released next week. Specifics are yet TBA. Patch notes will be released shortly before the patch goes live (and they are hefty - 13 pages long on Word). As always, plans can still change so please bear this in mind. Elysian Caches Elysian caches are available at the end of Strongholds when the boss has been killed They can contain vanity items and crafting embers You get a key for the cache by completing a select daily challenge Everyone in the squad receives the rewards, so if all 4 players have keys, you will get 4 rewards The number of keys is listed in Fort Tarsis next to how much coin you have Forge improvements There is now no loading screen to get into the Forge It can be accessed anywhere from Fort Tarsis All equipped components are now listed under the weapons and gear These improvements are an incremental step to Forge improvements A stat screen is still being investigated. No news to share yet. Loot Stronghold bosses still guarantee one Masterwork on GM difficulty, but now the remaining loot can be rolled for Masterworks/Legendaries Strongholds and freeplay chests will see improved drop rates for rarer gear Legendary missions Legendary missions will be added to the game. These are more difficult, replayable critical path missions. There will be 6 missions on release, with one playable each day. There will be an apex creature at the end of each mission - these can be either an Ursix, Titan, Luminary or Fury You do not need to start conversations with NPCs to initiate these missions - they will always be on the map FOV Options FOV sliders have been added to the PC version of the game. The options include: Ground FOV Zoomed FOV Pilot FOV Flight FOV Swim FOV Miscellaneous changes, improvements and fixes NVIDIA DLSS support has been added. SLI support is still being looked into. There is the usual performance optimisations included. This is described as being an ongoing project that is never finished. Salvaging in the vault should be near instant now. Lots of fog walls have been removed, especially in Strongholds. More improvements have been made to bugged quickplay missions. If a missions has surpassed a 15 minute timer, you can no longer be matchmade into it. You can also no longer be matchmade into a Stronghold after two minutes have elapsed (quickplay is not included in this). The bug where you respawn timer would reset if your revive was cancelled has been fixed. The bug where you could no longer interact with the environment or revive teammates has been fixed. Javelin thrusters have been improved by 20% across the board. Overheat time has similarly been reduced by 20%. You now hold the melee button to melee with Interceptor, instead of repeatedly mashing it. This change has not been made for the ultimate ability, however. More universal components have been added. One example is Acid Slugs, which improves Shotgun damage and applies the acid effect if 7 pellets hit the enemy. There have been various fixes and buffs to Masterwork components. The inconsistent armour bug should have been addressed, but please feed back if you are still experiencing issues. The bug where Strongholds/missions/contracts go missing from your map has been fixed. Masterwork ember drop rates have been increased. Improvements have been made to address the "Pilot data error" issue. Consumables can now be sorted by name/rarity. When diving into deep water, the transition is now smoother. Still being looked into/investigated Javelins receiving Legendary/Masterwork components that fit in the wrong Javelin Power scaling issues New enemies and new story additions Better in-game communication systems A stats screen Achievements not popping Support gear Masterworks SLI support Increased inventory space I was just about to link this too. I feel like they are working hard and it is going in the right direction. At least in my case - I will be sticking around for the next 2-3 months, before making a final decision. I do want to see where this is going and what the next acts will look like. Wouldn't it be better to wait a year or so and then play the game that's pretty much bug free and has the full experience in it? That's like "do I see this movie in the cinema now or wait a year and buy the blueray with additional features" A LOT of ppl go to cinemas I also go to the cinemas. Usually director's cut version of a movie isn't that much different from the original. In case of games (especially those with season passes and what not) most of the time you get like a third of it in the beginning if you're lucky (usually it'll be like a tenth of final content, and most of it buggy). | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
| ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
regarding the patch: | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/b58deb/did_anyone_else_quit_the_game_and_keep_coming/ | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway On March 26 2019 15:25 Artisreal wrote: Try the low sodium sub tho I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway Nah, those dedicated community figures are playing Div2 now :/ | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/b5q1f4/anthem_104_game_update_notes/ | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. Oh, there is vital feedback to be found there as well, no worries. Just not as toxic and belittling. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 27 2019 07:10 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: So apparently the patch has broken the loot system even more so. Was wondering about that yesterday evening. Seems I was right Did contracts for the key, then stronghold, then new legendary mission and then quit. Was it always this boring? Or have I just lost my mojo? | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 27 2019 04:24 Artisreal wrote: Show nested quote + On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway On March 26 2019 15:25 Artisreal wrote: Try the low sodium sub tho I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. Oh, there is vital feedback to be found there as well, no worries. Just not as toxic and belittling. Not really. And yeah, poor devs that get to face some customer blacklash for releasing a not even half-assed game that people paid for and a patch support that at this point is just hilarious to watch from the outside. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 27 2019 22:54 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + On March 27 2019 04:24 Artisreal wrote: On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway On March 26 2019 15:25 Artisreal wrote: Try the low sodium sub tho I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. Oh, there is vital feedback to be found there as well, no worries. Just not as toxic and belittling. Not really. And yeah, poor devs that get to face some customer blacklash for releasing a not even half-assed game that people paid for and a patch support that at this point is just hilarious to watch from the outside. Ye at this point I'm ready to play SC2 again until one of the singleplayer games recently released will be on sale In all fairness though, I got almost 50 hours of "fun" out of Anthem. Well 30 hours fun and 20 hours frustration | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
On March 27 2019 22:54 Godwrath wrote: Show nested quote + On March 27 2019 04:24 Artisreal wrote: On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway On March 26 2019 15:25 Artisreal wrote: Try the low sodium sub tho I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. Oh, there is vital feedback to be found there as well, no worries. Just not as toxic and belittling. Not really. And yeah, poor devs that get to face some customer blacklash for releasing a not even half-assed game that people paid for and a patch support that at this point is just hilarious to watch from the outside. It doesn't appear to you that devs would obviously have worked on the game for some additional time to straighten it out? It's kinda obvious that they have envisioned more than what's to see right now. But to be clear, negative feedback is welcome, as long as it's constructive. I just don't agree with the mob mentality to shit on someone for something they are tangentially responsible for. While it's alright to voice frustration, even in an extreme manner, it's hardly gonna speed up the process of you keep talking the game ded | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On March 28 2019 03:57 Artisreal wrote: What? Some additional time ? Straighten it out ? Compare the division 2 to Anthem with a straight face. And yeah, it is obvious that MMOs normally require some additional time, but i have zero trust in Bioware being capable of delivering (i am not even saying there is evil intent, just complete inepts).Show nested quote + On March 27 2019 22:54 Godwrath wrote: On March 27 2019 04:24 Artisreal wrote: On March 26 2019 22:33 Godwrath wrote: On March 26 2019 18:50 Harris1st wrote: Following their record, it will be the community the one delivering the patch notes to bioware.Patch should hit in a few hours. No official notes yet. Knowing their track record now, most changes won't be mentioned in the patchnotes anyway On March 26 2019 15:25 Artisreal wrote: Try the low sodium sub tho I like that people who enjoy the game can get their echo chamber where to comunicate with people who also enjoy the game, but i don't think that would be a good idea for the devs. Oh, there is vital feedback to be found there as well, no worries. Just not as toxic and belittling. Not really. And yeah, poor devs that get to face some customer blacklash for releasing a not even half-assed game that people paid for and a patch support that at this point is just hilarious to watch from the outside. It doesn't appear to you that devs would obviously have worked on the game for some additional time to straighten it out? It's kinda obvious that they have envisioned more than what's to see right now. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On March 28 2019 03:57 Artisreal wrote: But to be clear, negative feedback is welcome, as long as it's constructive. I just don't agree with the mob mentality to shit on someone for something they are tangentially responsible for. While it's alright to voice frustration, even in an extreme manner, it's hardly gonna speed up the process of you keep talking the game ded We're way past constructive feedback. Speed up what process? The game deserves to be ded for even being released like this. It's been a month after release, it is a grace period that shouldn't even be accepted at all. It never used to, until the recent games as a service shit started being shoved down everyone's throats, and even after this month, progress has been so tiny that you can't even call it that. The community has been more than fair. Way more fair than I would've ever personally been, by even posting the actual patch notes for the devs(while those sneaky bastards only mention a small portion of actual things done, while opting to not mention things that people would get mad about), testing the game for them, everything that the consumer should not do. People get paid to do this, and they're supposed to do it before the game is released. Bioware doesn't listen to constructive feedback. None of the important features have even been addressed by Bioware, whenever armor sets get mentioned, that have been even in the previous dev streams MANY MONTHS AGO, and are missing now, Bioware stay quiet, when people boycott the game because the loot system is terrible - they stay silent. They give off the illusion on being talkative to their customers, while avoiding all of the actual important stuff, and actually gave the gall to say that they don't go to the anthem subreddit because their feelings get hurt too much that their tiny fragile feelings can't bare it anymore, like some kind of entitled child. It's pathetic. If they had some actual balls to step up for what they used to stand for, we might have gotten something closer to Apex legends at least in terms of quality of the product, but what we got was Anthem. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Where we differ is that blaming devs for a publishers decision is alright and that ascribing incompetence will make anything better but the posters' rage level. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
Staying silent on the matters that matter right now - is the dev's decision, hiding things from the patch notes - is the dev's decision. Many things are their decision and not the publisher's and they're also a huge part of why people are angry. Hell, I'd go even as far as to say that being published by EA is their decision, so it's only fair to criticize them for it. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
But more importantly, blaming Bioware is exactly what the suits at EA want. They want any anger to be forced on the developer and not their poor decisions to make every developer use frostbite for every time of game. Or kicking games out the door when they are clearly not done. It is fine to be frustrated, but focus the anger on the people who made the decision to fuck over this game. Because if Bioware had its way, they would have delayed the game until November. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
I doubt the suits at EA care at all if the hate is focused on them or Bioware, because they simply don't give a shit about opinions. They've been the most hated company in the US for several years now, and they give absolutely 0 fucks. Don't get me wrong though, people still hate EA and know that they did have a huge play in this. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
To paraphrase a former bioware developer(who quit to start his own studio) after EA layoffs a couple years ago: He knew all the middle managers who made calls that screwed over development and people who worked hard to ship a good game. The hard workers were let go and the middle managers were moved to new projects. When the hammer falls, the people who wanted to give you a good game are going to be the ones to take it in the teeth. Because that is the culture of EA. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
ive had my money's worth of fun but having reached GM2 and not progressing with the jav Ì'm playing most with and the continuation of rushed patches... yeah Will keep an eye on the prediction of Harris1st. Would be suprised if it happened this year though. The pay 2 win luck booster made me chuckle :D | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
EA is a cancer to the gaming world. + Show Spoiler + It wasn’t even supposed to be called Anthem. Just days before the annual E3 convention in June of 2017, when the storied studio BioWare would reveal its newest game, the plan had been to go with a different title: Beyond. They’d even printed out Beyond T-shirts for the staff. Then, less than a week before the Los Angeles press conference held by BioWare’s parent company, Electronic Arts, word came down that securing the rights to the trademark would be too difficult. Beyond was ruled out. The leadership team quickly switched to one of their backup options, Anthem. But whereas Beyond had been indicative of what BioWare hoped the game would be—you’d go out beyond the walls of your fort and into the dangerous wilds around you—Anthem didn’t really mean much. “Everybody was like, ‘Well, that doesn’t make any sense—what does this have to do with anything?’” said one person who worked on the game. Just days before their game’s announcement, the team at BioWare had a brand new name that nobody really understood. Such a major last-minute upheaval might seem strange to an outside observer, but on Anthem, it was common. Very few things went right in the development of BioWare’s latest game, an online cooperative shooter that was first teased in mid-2012 but spent years floundering in pre-production. Many features weren’t finalized or implemented until the very final months, and to some who worked on the project, it wasn’t even clear what kind of game Anthem even was until that E3 demo in June of 2017, less than two years before it actually came out. Later, they came up with an explanation for the name: The game’s planet was enveloped by something called the Anthem of Creation, a powerful, mysterious force that left environmental cataclysms across the world. When Anthem launched in February of 2019, it was panned by fans and critics. Today, it has a 55 on the review aggregation site Metacritic, BioWare’s lowest score since the company was founded in 1995. The developer once known for ambitious role-playing games like Dragon Age and the original Mass Effect trilogy has now released two critical flops in a row, following 2017's disappointing Mass Effect: Andromeda. Although hardcore fans have put their faith in BioWare to continue fixing Anthem’s bugs and improving its mechanics—especially since Bungie’s Destiny, a similar game, had a rough launch and eventually recovered—few were happy with the initial release. Anthem wasn’t just buggy and thin on content; it felt half-baked, like it hadn’t been play-tested and tweaked enough by developers with experience playing other loot shooters. In the weeks after launch, there appeared to be a major new problem every day. Fans have speculated endlessly as to how Anthem went so awry. Was it originally a single-player role-playing game, like BioWare’s previous titles? Did EA force BioWare to make a Destiny clone? Did they strip out all of the good missions to sell later as downloadable content? Is the loot system secretly driven by an elaborate AI system that keeps track of everything you do so it can get you to spend more money on the game? The answer to all of those questions is no. This account of Anthem’s development, based on interviews with 19 people who either worked on the game or adjacent to it (all of whom were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about Anthem’s development), is a story of indecision and mismanagement. It’s a story of technical failings, as EA’s Frostbite engine continued to make life miserable for many of BioWare’s developers, and understaffed departments struggled to serve their team’s needs. It’s a story of two studios, one in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and another in Austin, Texas, that grew resentful toward one another thanks to a tense, lopsided relationship. It’s a story of a video game that was in development for nearly seven years but didn’t enter production until the final 18 months, thanks to big narrative reboots, major design overhauls, and a leadership team said to be unable to provide a consistent vision and unwilling to listen to feedback. Perhaps most alarming, it’s a story about a studio in crisis. Dozens of developers, many of them decade-long veterans, have left BioWare over the past two years. Some who have worked at BioWare’s longest-running office in Edmonton talk about depression and anxiety. Many say they or their co-workers had to take “stress leave”—a doctor-mandated period of weeks or even months worth of vacation for their mental health. One former BioWare developer told me they would frequently find a private room in the office, shut the door, and just cry. “People were so angry and sad all the time,” they said. Said another: “Depression and anxiety are an epidemic within Bioware.” “I actually cannot count the amount of ‘stress casualties’ we had on Mass Effect: Andromeda or Anthem,” said a third former BioWare developer in an email. “A ‘stress casualty’ at BioWare means someone had such a mental breakdown from the stress they’re just gone for one to three months. Some come back, some don’t.” EA and BioWare declined to comment on this story. Among those who work or have worked at BioWare, there’s a belief that something drastic needs to change. Many at the company now grumble that the success of 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition was one of the worst things that could have happened to them. The third Dragon Age, which won Game of the Year at the 2014 Game Awards, was the result of a brutal production process plagued by indecision and technical challenges. It was mostly built over the course of its final year, which led to lengthy crunch hours and lots of exhaustion. “Some of the people in Edmonton were so burnt out,” said one former BioWare developer. “They were like, ‘We needed [Dragon Age: Inquisition] to fail in order for people to realize that this isn’t the right way to make games.’” Within the studio, there’s a term called “BioWare magic.” It’s a belief that no matter how rough a game’s production might be, things will always come together in the final months. The game will always coalesce. It happened on the Mass Effect trilogy, on Dragon Age: Origins, and on Inquisition. Veteran BioWare developers like to refer to production as a hockey stick—it’s flat for a while, and then it suddenly jolts upward. Even when a project feels like a complete disaster, there’s a belief that with enough hard work—and enough difficult crunch—it’ll all come together. After the high-profile failures of Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem, it has become clear to current and former BioWare employees that this attitude is no longer working. In recent years, BioWare has done serious damage to its reputation as a premier RPG developer. Maybe the hockey stick approach is no longer viable. Or maybe—just maybe—that sort of production practice was never really sustainable in the first place. One thing’s for certain: On Anthem, BioWare’s magic ran out. At the beginning, they called it Dylan. In late 2012 and 2013, while finishing up the Mass Effect trilogy, BioWare director Casey Hudson and a small team of longtime Mass Effect developers started work on a project that they hoped would be the Bob Dylan of video games, meaning something that would be referenced by video game fans for years to come. Even within BioWare, it was a mystery project—you needed a password to get into the wiki, according to one person who was on it. For a while, the team stayed small. Most of BioWare’s staff were on Dragon Age: Inquisition, which needed all hands on deck in order to ship by the end of 2014. The early ideas for Dylan (which we’ll call Anthem from now on for clarity) were ambitious and changing constantly, according to people who were on the project. As is typical during this sort of “ideation” phase, nobody knew what the game would look like yet—they just wanted to see what might be cool. It would be an action game, certainly, and you’d be able to play it with your friends. The goal was to get away from traditional sci-fi and fantasy, so the game would feel distinct from Mass Effect and Dragon Age. One concept that quickly emerged was the idea of a dangerous, hazard-filled planet. Anthem would be set on a hostile alien world, and in order to go out into the wilderness, you’d need a robot suit. A realistic, NASA-inspired robot suit. The pitch was simple: Iron Man, but less cartoony. Over the months, a core concept started to crystallize: Anthem’s planet would be sort of like the Bermuda Triangle of this universe, with an inexorable gravity that was constantly pulling in alien ships and hazards. As a result, the world would be lethal and full of dangerous creatures. ”You are the bottom of the food chain, and everything is significantly more powerful than you,” said one person who worked on the game. When describing these early iterations of Anthem, developers have made comparisons to Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon, even Shadow of the Colossus. There would be big, scary creatures out in the world, and your job would be to see how long you could survive. One prototype allowed the player to attach themselves to a giant monster; others centered on the atmosphere, the weather, and environmental effects. “The idea was going to be that there were all these levers that could be pulled internally so there’d be different events happening at all times,” said a developer. “You’d be out somewhere, and an electrical storm would happen at random, and you had to survive it. We had an early demonstration of this where the environment was dynamic and by pulling levers we could change it from summer to winter to fall. You’d see the snow hitting the ground, hitting the trees… There were states of the build where that was being demonstrated, and that we could see this was something you could actually accomplish.” We saw a small glimpse of these prototypes at E3 2014, when BioWare showed a teaser trailer for the as-yet-untitled game that would eventually become Anthem: The final game would have nothing even close to those teases. Anthem was always envisioned as an online multiplayer game, according to developers who worked on it, but it wasn’t always a loot shooter, the kind of game where you’d endlessly grind missions for new weapons. In these early versions, the idea was that you’d embark from a city and go out on expeditions with your friends, staying out in the world as long as you could survive. You’d use a robotic exosuit, and you’d fight monsters with melee and shooting attacks, but the focus was less on hoarding loot and more on seeing how long you could survive. One mission, for example, might take you and a squad to the center of a volcano, where you’d have to figure out why it was erupting, kill some creatures, and then fight your way back. “That was the main hook,” said an Anthem developer. “We’re going out as a team, going to try to accomplish something as a team, then come back and talk about it.” Along the way, you could scavenge or salvage alien ships for parts and bring them back to your base in order to upgrade your weapons or enhance your suit. “It was really interesting,” said one person who worked on it. “It really struck a chord with a lot of the people who were working on it originally.” What remained unclear during this process was how many of these ideas and prototypes would actually work at scale. Dynamic environments and giant creatures might perform nicely in a controlled environment, but would the Anthem team really be able to make those features work in an online, open-world game played by thousands and thousands of people? And would Frostbite, the volatile video game engine that BioWare was now using for all of its projects, really support all these features? As these questions lingered, the Anthem team faced a major shake-up. In August of 2014, as they continued to prototype and dream about their game, they lost their leader. Casey Hudson, who had directed the beloved Mass Effect trilogy and was supposed to be creative director on Anthem, was departing. “The foundation of our new IP in Edmonton is complete,” he wrote in a letter to the studio, “and the team is ready to move forward into pre-production on a title that I think will redefine interactive entertainment.” Jon Warner, a relatively new hire who had worked for Disney before joining EA in 2011, took on the role of game director. BioWare veterans liked to describe Casey Hudson’s Mass Effect team as the Enterprise from Star Trek: They all did what the captain said, and they were all laser-focused on a single destination. (By comparison, they called the Dragon Age team a pirate ship, meandering from port to port until it reached its final destination.) Now, the Enterprise no longer had its Jean-Luc Picard. Still, members of the Anthem team say they remained happy. Dragon Age: Inquisition shipped at the end of 2014 to critical acclaim, and many of those developers moved over to Anthem, where they found a team full of high hopes and ambitious ideas. “EA had these team health reports,” said one. “Anthem’s morale was among the highest in all of EA. It was really, really good for quite a while. Everybody saw there was so much potential in those early prototypes. ‘Potential’ was always the word there.” One BioWare developer who hadn’t yet moved to the Anthem team recalled hearing those colleagues talk about how much better they had it than the people who were stuck on Mass Effect: Andromeda, which at the time was going through serious struggles thanks to technical challenges and significant directional changes. Surely, they thought, that couldn’t happen to Anthem. “We took so much time to get the experience correct,” said another person who worked on the game. “I think that’s why morale was so high. I knew we had taken the time to really refine what we wanted the game to be about. Now we just had to go and produce it.” Question was, how would they do that? As development progressed, it became clear that some of the Anthem team’s original ideas either wouldn’t work or weren’t quite solidified enough to be implemented. Take traversal, for example. The mandate was that Anthem’s world would be massive and seamless, but how would you get around? The team played around with prototypes, exploring different ways in which your exosuit could move vertically across the world. For a long time they thought it’d be climbing up the sides of mountains and ledges, but they couldn’t get that quite right. Early iterations of flying—which, developers say, was removed from and re-added to Anthem several times—were more like gliding, and members of the Anthem team say it was tough to get the system feeling all that fun. Every time they changed the traversal, it meant changing the world design accordingly, flattening and stretching terrain to accommodate the latest movement style. There were experiments with procedural encounters, where dynamic creatures and environmental hazards would spawn randomly from the world, but those weren’t working too smoothly, either. “That took a long time,” said one developer. “The game was super reliant on this procedural system that just wasn’t fun.” The story started changing drastically, too. In early 2015, veteran Dragon Age writer David Gaider moved over to Anthem, and his version of the story looked a lot different than the ideas with which they’d been experimenting for the past few years. Gaider’s style was traditional BioWare—big, complicated villains; ancient alien artifacts; and so on—which rankled some of the developers who were hoping for something more subtle. “There was a lot of resistance from the team who just didn’t want to see a sci-fi Dragon Age, I guess,” said one developer. Added a second: “A lot of people were like, ‘Why are we telling the same story? Let’s do something different.’” When asked for comment on this, Gaider said in an email that when he’d started on the project, Anthem design director Preston Watamaniuk had pushed him in a “science-fantasy” direction. “I was fine with that, as fantasy is more my comfort zone anyhow, but it was clear from the outset that there was a lot of opposition to the change from the rest of the team,” he said. “Maybe they assumed the idea for it came from me, I’m not sure, but comments like ‘it’s very Dragon Age’ kept coming up regarding any of the work me or my team did... and not in a complimentary manner. There were a lot of people who wanted a say over Anthem’s story, and kept articulating a desire to do something ‘different’ without really being clear on what that was outside of it just not being anything BioWare had done before (which was, apparently, a bad thing?). From my perspective, it was rather frustrating.” Gaider left BioWare in early 2016—“As time passed, I didn’t feel keen to play the game that I was working on,” he told me—which led to new writers for Anthem and a total story reboot. This led to even more chaos. “As you can imagine, writing for BioWare sets the foundation for all the games,” said one developer. “When writing is unsure of what it’s doing, it causes a lot of destruction to a lot of departments.” Instability had become par for the course on the Anthem team, as Hudson’s departure left a void that proved tough to fill. The job of steering Anthem now fell to the creative leadership team, a group that included game director Jon Warner, design director Preston Watamaniuk, art director Derek Watts, animation director Parrish Ley, and a handful of other Mass Effect veterans who had been on Anthem since the beginning. Some current and former BioWare employees feel a lot of resentment toward this group, and in interviews, many who worked on Anthem accused the leadership team of indecision and mismanagement. “The root cause of all this was that lack of vision,” said one former BioWare developer. “What are we making? Please tell us. The recurring theme was there was no vision, there was no clarity, there was no single director saying, ‘This is how it all works together.’” “They never seemed to settle on anything,” added that person. “They were always looking for something more, something new.” Said another: “I think most people on the team felt like we didn’t know exactly what the game was or what it was supposed to be because it kept changing so much.” The most common anecdote relayed to me by current and former BioWare employees was this: A group of developers are in a meeting. They’re debating some creative decision, like the mechanics of flying or the lore behind the Scar alien race. Some people disagree on the fundamentals. And then, rather than someone stepping up and making a decision about how to proceed, the meeting would end with no real verdict, leaving everything in flux. “That would just happen over and over,” said one Anthem developer. “Stuff would take a year or two to figure out because no one really wanted to make a call on it.” “Keep in mind,” said another Anthem developer, “everyone had hard decisions to make that we’ve never done before. New IP, new genre, new technology, new style, everything was new.” Throughout 2015 and 2016, it appeared to the Anthem team that they were accomplishing very little. They struggled with the online infrastructure, they hadn’t figured out how missions would work, and while they had built a few environments and creatures, it still wasn’t clear exactly what the basic gameplay might look like. The story was changing constantly, and progress on the game grew sluggish. One early idea was that there would be multiple cities, which eventually turned into one city and player-created outposts, which eventually turned into one city and a mobile Strider base, which eventually turned into a single fort. Those earlier survival ideas melted away. “They were still figuring out core parts of the IP, like [crafting material] Ember, how technology worked, that sort of thing,” said one former BioWare developer. “The whole back-end architecture and everything wasn’t figured out yet.” At the same time, BioWare’s studio leadership had to focus much of its attention on Mass Effect: Andromeda, a game that was causing headaches for just about everyone and whose rapidly approaching release date was set in stone. Put another way: Anthem might have started to look like it was on fire, but Andromeda was already nearly burnt to the ground. Complicating these problems further was the fact that sometimes when the Anthem leadership team did make a decision, it could take weeks or even months for them to see it in action. “There were a lot of plans,” said a developer, “where by the time they were implemented it was a year later and the game had evolved.” The explanation for this lag can be summed up in one word, a word that has plagued many of EA’s studios for years now, most notably BioWare and the now-defunct Visceral Games, a word that can still evoke a mocking smile or sad grimace from anyone who’s spent any time with it. That word, of course, is Frostbite. “Frostbite is full of razor blades,” one former BioWare employee told me a few weeks ago, aptly summing up the feelings of perhaps hundreds of game developers who have worked at Electronic Arts over the past few years. Frostbite is a video game engine, or a suite of technology that is used to make a game. Created by the EA-owned Swedish studio DICE in order to make Battlefield shooters, the Frostbite engine became ubiquitous across Electronic Arts this past decade thanks to an initiative led by former executive Patrick Söderlund to get all of its studios on the same technology. (By using Frostbite rather than a third-party engine like Unreal, those studios could share knowledge and save a whole lot of money in licensing fees.) BioWare first shifted to Frostbite for Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2011, which caused massive problems for that team. Many of the features those developers had taken for granted in previous engines, like a save-load system and a third-person camera, simply did not exist in Frostbite, which meant that the Inquisition team had to build them all from scratch. Mass Effect: Andromeda ran into similar issues. Surely the third time would be the charm? As it turned out, Anthem was not the charm. Using Frostbite to build an online-only action game, which BioWare had never done before, led to a host of new problems for BioWare’s designers, artists, and programmers. “Frostbite is like an in-house engine with all the problems that entails—it’s poorly documented, hacked together, and so on—with all the problems of an externally sourced engine,” said one former BioWare employee. “Nobody you actually work with designed it, so you don’t know why this thing works the way it does, why this is named the way it is.” Throughout those early years in development, the Anthem team realized that many of the ideas they’d originally conceived would be difficult if not impossible to create on Frostbite. The engine allowed them to build big, beautiful levels, but it just wasn’t equipped with the tools to support all of those ambitious prototypes that they’d created. Slowly and gradually, they started cutting back on the environmental and survival features that they’d devised for Anthem, in large part because they just weren’t working. “Part of the trouble was you could do enough in the engine to hack it to show what was possible, but then to get the investment behind it to get it actually done took a lot longer, and in some cases you’d run into a brick wall,” said a BioWare developer. “Then you’d realize, ‘Oh my god, we can do this only if we reinvent the wheel, which is going to take too long.’ It was sometimes difficult to know when to cut and run.” Even today, BioWare developers say Frostbite can make their jobs exponentially more difficult. Building new iterations on levels and mechanics can be challenging due to sluggish tools, while bugs that should take a few minutes to squash might require days of back-and-forth conversations. “If it takes you a week to make a little bug fix, it discourages people from fixing bugs,” said one person who worked on Anthem. “If you can hack around it, you hack around it, as opposed to fixing it properly.” Said a second: “I would say the biggest problem I had with Frostbite was how many steps you needed to do something basic. With another engine I could do something myself, maybe with a designer. Here it’s a complicated thing.” “It’s hard enough to make a game,” said a third BioWare developer. “It’s really hard to make a game where you have to fight your own tool set all the time.” From the beginning, Anthem’s senior leadership had made the decision to start from scratch for a large part of the game’s technology rather than using all of the systems the company had built for Inquisition and Andromeda. Part of this may have been a desire to stand out from those other teams, but another explanation was simple: Anthem was online. The other games were not. The inventory system that BioWare had already designed for Dragon Age on Frostbite might not stand up in an online game, so the Anthem team figured they’d need to build a new one. “Towards the end of the project we started complaining,” said one developer. “Maybe we would’ve gone further if we had Dragon Age: Inquisition stuff. But we’re also just complaining about lack of manpower in general.” It often felt to the Anthem team like they were understaffed, according to that developer and others who worked on the game, many of whom told me their team was a fraction of the size of developers behind similar games, like Destiny and The Division. There were a number of reasons for this. One was that in 2016, the FIFA games had to move to Frostbite. The annual soccer franchise was EA’s most important series, bringing in a large chunk of the publisher’s revenue, and BioWare had programmers with Frostbite experience, so Electronic Arts shifted them to FIFA. “A lot of the really talented engineers were actually working on FIFA when they should’ve been working on Anthem,” said one person who was on the project. There was also the fact that BioWare’s main office was located in Edmonton, a place where winters can dip to minus 20 or even minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which staff there say has always made it difficult to recruit veterans from more habitable cities. (One also has to wonder: How many programmers heard about Frostbite’s razor blades and decided to shy away?) When a BioWare engineer had questions or wanted to report bugs, they’d usually have to talk to EA’s central Frostbite team, a group of support staff that worked with all of the publisher’s studios. Within EA, it was common for studios to battle for resources like the Frostbite team’s time, and BioWare would usually lose those battles. After all, role-playing games brought in a fraction of the revenue of a FIFA or a Battlefront. “The amount of support you’d get at EA on Frostbite is based on how much money your studio’s game is going to make,” said one developer. All of BioWare’s best-laid technological plans could go awry if they weren’t getting the help they expected. No matter how many people were involved, one thing about Frostbite would always remain consistent, as it did on Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda: It made everything take longer than anyone thought it should. “We’re trying to make this huge procedural world but we’re constantly fighting Frostbite because that’s not what it’s designed to do,” said one developer. “Things like baking the lighting can take 24 hours. If we’re making changes to a level, we have to go through another bake process. It’s a very complex process.” Frostbite’s razor blades were buried deeply inside the Anthem team, and it would prove impossible to stop the bleeding. By the end of 2016, Anthem had been in some form of pre-production for roughly four years. After this much time in a more typical video game development cycle, it would have entered production, the point in a project when the team has a full vision of what they’re making and can actually start building out the game. Some who were working on Anthem say that’s when they started feeling like they were in trouble, like the game was screwed, like they would soon have to face the same sort of last-minute production crunch that their co-workers were suffering on Mass Effect: Andromeda. Yet word came down from leadership that everything would work out. It was time for BioWare magic. “You had to throw your prior knowledge out and either go on blind faith or just hope things were gonna turn out well,” said one person who was there. “A lot of the veterans, guys who had only ever worked at BioWare, they said, ‘Everything is going to be fine in the end.’ It was really hard on people who couldn’t just go on that blind faith, I suppose.” One former BioWare developer said that they and some of their co-workers would bring up these concerns to directors, only to be ignored. “You’d come to management saying, ‘Look, we’re seeing the same problems on Inquisition and Andromeda, where design wasn’t figuring things out. It’s getting really late in the project and the core of the game isn’t defined.’ Basically saying, ‘Hey, the same mistakes are happening again, did you guys see this the last time? Can you stop this?’” said the developer. “They’d be quite dismissive about it.” Over the months, Anthem had begun naturally picking up ideas and mechanics from loot shooters like The Division and Destiny, although even mentioning the word Destiny was taboo at BioWare. (Diablo III was the preferred reference point.) A few people who worked on the game said that trying to make comparisons to Destiny would elicit negative reactions from studio leadership. “We were told quite definitively, ‘This isn’t Destiny,’” said one developer. “But it kind of is. What you’re describing is beginning to go into that realm. They didn’t want to make those correlations, but at the same time, when you’re talking about fire teams, and going off and doing raids together, about gun combat, spells, things like that, well there’s a lot of elements there that correlate, that cross over.” Because leadership didn’t want to discuss Destiny, that developer added, they found it hard to learn from what Bungie’s loot shooter did well. “We need to be looking at games like Destiny because they’re the market leaders,” the developer said. “They’re the guys who have been doing these things best. We should absolutely be looking at how they’re doing things.” As an example, the developer brought up the unique feel of Destiny’s large variety of guns, something that Anthem seemed to be lacking, in large part because it was being built by a bunch of people who had mostly made RPGs. “We really didn’t have the design skill to be able to do that,” they said. “There just wasn’t the knowledge base to be able to develop that kind of diversity.” One longstanding BioWare tradition is for their teams to build demos that the staff could all take home during Christmas break, and it was Anthem’s turn during Christmas of 2016. By this point, BioWare’s leadership had decided to remove flying from the game—they just couldn’t figure out how to make it feel good—so the Christmas build took place on flat terrain. You’d run through a farm and shoot some aliens. Some on the team thought it was successful as a proof of concept, but others at BioWare said it felt dull and looked mundane. In the beginning of 2017, a few important things happened. In early March, Mass Effect: Andromeda launched, freeing up the bulk of BioWare’s staff to join Anthem, including most of BioWare’s Austin office. The Montreal office began to quietly wind down and eventually closed, leaving BioWare as two entities rather than three. Around the same time, Electronic Arts executive Patrick Söderlund, to whom BioWare’s leadership reported, played the Anthem Christmas demo. According to three people familiar with what happened, he told BioWare that it was unacceptable. (Söderlund did not respond to a request for comment.) He was particularly disappointed by the graphics. “He said, ‘This is not what you had promised to me as a game,’” said one person who was there. Then, those developers said, Söderlund summoned a group of high-level BioWare staff to fly out to Stockholm, Sweden and meet with developers at DICE, the studio behind Battlefield and Frostbite. (DICE would later bring in a strike team to help BioWare work out Frostbite kinks and make Anthem look prettier.) Now it was time for a new build. “What began was six weeks of pretty significant crunch to do a demo specifically for Patrick Söderlund,” said one member of the team. They overhauled the art, knowing that the best way to impress Söderlund would be to make a demo that looked as pretty as possible. And, after some heated arguments, the Anthem team decided to put flying back in. For years, the Anthem team had gone back and forth about the flying mechanic. It had been cut and re-added several times in different forms. Some iterations were more of a glide, and for a while, the idea was that only one exosuit class would be able to fly. On one hand, the mechanic was undeniably cool—what better way to feel like Iron Man than to zip around the world in a giant robot suit? On the other hand, it kept breaking everything. Few open-world games allowed for that kind of vertical freedom, for good reason; if you could fly everywhere, then the entire world needed to accommodate that. The artists wouldn’t be able to throw up mountains or walls to prevent players from jumping off the boundaries of the planet. Plus, the Anthem team worried that if you could fly, you’d blaze past the game’s environments rather than stopping to explore and check out the scenery. The leadership team’s most recent decision had been to remove flying entirely, but they needed to impress Söderlund, and flying was the only mechanic they’d built that made Anthem stand out from other games, so they eventually decided to put it back. This re-implementation of flying took place over a weekend, according to two people who worked on the game, and it wasn’t quite clear whether they were doing it permanently or just as a show for Söderlund. “We were like, ‘Well that’s not in the game, are we adding it for real?’” said one developer. “They were like, ‘We’ll see.’” One day in the spring of 2017, Söderlund flew to Edmonton and made his way to BioWare’s offices, entourage in tow. The Anthem team had completely overhauled the art and re-added flying, which they hoped would feel sufficiently impressive, but tensions were high in the wake of the last demo’s disappointment and Mass Effect: Andromeda’s high-profile failure. There was no way to know what might happen if Söderlund again disapproved of the demo. Would the project get canceled? Would BioWare be in trouble? “One of our QA people had been playing it over and over again so they could get the flow and timing down perfectly,” said one person who was involved. “Within 30 seconds or so the exo jumps off and glides off this precipice and lands.” Then, according to two people who were in the room, Patrick Söderlund was stunned. “He turns around and goes, ‘That was fucking awesome, show it to me again,’” said one person who was there. “He was like, ‘That was amazing. It’s exactly what I wanted.’” This demo became the foundation for the seven-minute gameplay trailer that BioWare showed the public a few weeks later. In June of 2017, just a few days after that last-minute name change from Beyond to Anthem, BioWare boss Aaryn Flynn took the stage of EA’s E3 press conference and announced the game. The next day, at Microsoft’s press conference, they showed a demo that helped everyone, including BioWare’s own developers, finally see how Anthem would play. What the public didn’t know was that even then, Anthem was still in pre-production. Progress had been so slow that the demo was mostly guesswork, team members say, which is why the Anthem that actually launched looks so drastically different than the demo the team showed at E3 2017. In the real game, you have to go through a mission selection menu and a loading screen before you can leave your base in Fort Tarsis; in the demo, it all happens seamlessly. The demo is full of dynamic environments, giant creatures, and mechanics that bear little resemblance to the final product, like getting to see new loot when you pick it up rather than having to wait until the end of a mission. “After E3, that’s when it really felt like, ‘Okay, this is the game we’re making,’” said one Anthem developer. “But it still felt like it took a while to get the entire team up to speed. It was also kind of tricky because there were still a lot of question marks. The demo was not actually built properly—a lot of it was fake, like most E3 demos. There was a lot of stuff that was like, ‘Oh are we actually doing this? Do we have the tech for that, do we have the tools for that? To what end can you fly? How big should the world be?’” “The abilities and all that were still getting decided,” said another developer. “Nothing was set in stone at that point at all.” Said a third: “Going out of pre-production is never really a crisp thing. You have to just look at the attitude of the team and what they’re doing. The fact of the matter is, fundamental things were not figured out yet.” At E3 2017, BioWare announced that Anthem would launch in fall 2018. Behind the scenes, however, they had barely even implemented a single mission. And the drama was just getting worse. Until very recently, hardcore BioWare fans used to refer to the studio’s various teams using derogatory tiers. There was the A-team, the B-team, and the C-team. Opinions may have varied on which was which, but in general, “A-team” referred to the original BioWare, the office in Edmonton, Canada responsible for Dragon Age and the Mass Effect trilogy. A couple thousand miles southeast was the “B-team,” a studio in Austin, Texas that was founded to make Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. (The “C-team” usually referred to Montreal, the ill-fated studio behind Mass Effect: Andromeda.) What fans might not have realized was that even within BioWare, some people thought the same way. “Anthem is the game you get from a studio that is at war with itself,” said one former BioWare developer. “Edmonton understandably has the perspective of, ‘We are the original BioWare.’ Anybody not part of that brand is lesser, and does not garner the same level of trust as people that are in the Edmonton office. And so I think that’s a little bit of an issue there.” After shipping The Old Republic in 2011 and continuing to cultivate and support it, BioWare Austin started a few of its own projects. There was Shadow Realms, a 4v1 multiplayer game that was announced in the summer of 2014, and then there were some other prototypes, like Saga, a multiplayer open-world Star Wars game that was in early development for a few months. (And then there was the dream of a new Knights of the Old Republic game, which some BioWare Austin staffers say was always dangled as a possibility but never really came close to getting off the ground.) By the end of 2014, those projects were all canceled, and BioWare had enacted an initiative that it called “One BioWare”—a plan designed to get all of the company’s studios working in tandem. Many of BioWare Austin’s staff moved on to Dragon Age: Inquisition downloadable content and then Mass Effect: Andromeda. By early 2017, around the time Söderlund was demanding to see that new demo, most of BioWare Austin was officially on Anthem, helping with just about every department, from cinematics to storytelling. Anthem’s lack of vision in Edmonton was even more pronounced in Austin, whose developers suddenly found themselves working on a game they didn’t quite understand. Was it an online loot shooter, like Destiny, or was it more of a role-playing game? How did you get around the world? What would the missions look like? “One of the things we struggled with was, we didn’t understand the game concept,” said one former BioWare Austin developer. “When Anthem was presented to us, it was never really clear what the game was.” “They were still finding the vision for the game,” said a second. “I saw multiple presentations given to the entire studio trying to define what Anthem was about. The Hollywood elevator pitch version of Anthem: ‘When we talk about Anthem, what we mean is X.’ I saw many, many variations of that over time, and that was indicative of how much conflict there was over trying to find a vision for this game, and over how many people were struggling to have their vision become the one that won out.” Even when they did figure out what was happening, it felt to BioWare Austin staff like they were the grunts. Developers who worked both in Austin and Edmonton say the messaging was that Edmonton would come up with the vision and Austin would execute on it, which caused tension between the two studios. BioWare Austin developers recall offering feedback only to get dismissed or ignored by BioWare Edmonton’s senior leadership team, a process that was particularly frustrating for those who had already shipped a big online game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and learned from its mistakes. One developer described it as a culture clash between a group of developers in Edmonton who were used to making single-player box product games and a group of developers in Austin who knew how to make online service games. “We’d tell them, ‘This is not going to work. Look, these [story] things you’re doing, it’s gonna split up the player experience,’” said an Austin developer. “We’d already been through all of it with The Old Republic. We knew what it was like when players felt like they were getting rushed through story missions, because other players were on their headsets going, ‘C’mon cmon, let’s go.’ So we knew all these things, and we’d bring it up repeatedly, and we were ignored.” After the E3 reveal, in June of 2017, the Anthem teams in Edmonton and Austin were meant to start moving into full production, designing missions and building a world based on the vision they could now at least somewhat see. But that just didn’t happen, the developers say. “They had been in idea land for four to five years, and nobody had actually gone, ‘Okay, we need to decide what we’re making and make it,’” said one member of the team. “They were still going back to the drawing board on major systems. Which is fine—part of game development is that you iterate, and it’s like, ‘This didn’t work, let’s go again.’ They never got to the point of like, ‘This doesn’t work, let’s iterate on it.’ It was, ‘This doesn’t work, let’s start from scratch.’” The story was still in flux under new narrative director James Ohlen (who would also leave BioWare before Anthem shipped), and design was moving particularly slowly, with systems like mission structure, loot, and exosuit powers still not finalized. A number of veteran BioWare developers began leaving the studio that summer, and the untimely death of Corey Gaspur, one of the game’s lead designers, left a massive hole in that department. Core features, like loading and saving, still hadn’t been implemented in the game, and it became difficult to play test builds because they were riddled with bugs. “It came time to move from pre-production to production in June,” said one BioWare developer. “June comes, we’re still in pre-production. July, August, what the heck’s going on?” The Anthem leadership team and some other veterans continued to talk about BioWare magic, but it was clear to a lot of people that something was wrong. They had publicly committed to a fall 2018 ship date, but that had never been realistic. Publisher EA also wouldn’t let them delay the game any further than March 2019, the end of the company’s fiscal year. They were entering production so late, it seemed like it might be impossible to ship anything by early 2019, let alone a game that could live up to BioWare’s lofty standards. Something needed to give. On June 29, 2017, BioWare’s Mark Darrah published a tweet that may seem odd today. He noted that he was the executive producer of the Dragon Age franchise, then gave a list of games he was not currently working on: ”Anthem; Mass Effect; Jade Empire; A DA Tactics game; Star Wars…” The implication was that Darrah was producing Dragon Age 4. At the time, this was true. This iteration of Dragon Age 4 was code-named Joplin, and those who were working on it have told me they were excited by creative director Mike Laidlaw’s vision for the project. But Anthem was on fire, and by October, BioWare had decided to make some massive changes. That summer, studio general manager Aaryn Flynn departed, to be replaced by a returning Casey Hudson. As part of this process, the studio canceled Joplin. Laidlaw quit shortly afterward, and BioWare restarted Dragon Age 4 with a tiny team under the code name Morrison. Meanwhile, the studio moved the bulk of Dragon Age 4’s developers to Anthem, which needed all of the company’s resources if it was going to hit the ship date that EA was demanding. Mark Darrah was then installed over game director Jon Warner to become executive producer on Anthem. His role became so significant that he took top billing in Anthem’s credits: That the first name in Anthem’s credits is someone who started working on the game in October 2017, just 16 months before it shipped, says volumes about its development. If Dragon Age: Inquisition hadn’t been so successful, perhaps BioWare would have changed its production practices. Perhaps studio leadership wouldn’t have preached so strongly about that BioWare magic—that last-minute cohesion that they all assumed would happen with enough hard work and enough crunch. But it was ultimately Dragon Age: Inquisition’s executive producer who steered Anthem out of rocky waters and into port. When Mark Darrah joined the project in the fall of 2017, he began pushing the Anthem team toward one goal: Ship the game. “The good thing about Mark is that he would just wrangle everybody and make decisions,” said one former BioWare developer. “That was the thing that the team lacked—nobody was making decisions. It was deciding by panel. They’d almost get to a decision and then somebody would go ‘But what about this?’ We were stagnant, not moving anywhere.” “He started saying basically, ‘Just try to finish what you’ve started,’” said a second developer. “The hard part about that was that there were still a lot of things to figure out. There were still a lot of tools to build to be able to ship the game we were making. It was very, very scary because of how little time there was left.” At this point, that developer added, it felt like “player-based gameplay” was in a good spot. Combat felt like a strong evolution from Mass Effect: Andromeda, which, despite its flaws, was widely considered to have the best shooting of any Mass Effect game. Now that flying was a permanent fixture in Anthem, it was starting to feel great, too. Other parts of the game were in much worse shape. “It was level design, story, and world-building that got screwed the most, in that things kept changing and they had to rebuild a lot all the time,” the developer said. By the beginning of 2018, by another former developer’s recollection, Anthem’s progress was so far behind that they’d only implemented a single mission. Most of the high-level design had still not been finalized, like the loot system and javelin powers. And the writing was still very much in flux. “They talk a lot about the six-year development time, but really the core gameplay loop, the story, and all the missions in the game were made in the last 12 to 16 months because of that lack of vision and total lack of leadership across the board,” said the developer. This final year was when Anthem began to materialize, and it became one of the most stressful years in BioWare’s history. There was pressure within the studio, as many teams had to put in late nights and weekends just to make up for the time they’d lost. There was pressure from EA, as executive Samantha Ryan brought in teams from all across the publisher, including developers from outside studios like Motive in Montreal, to close out the game. And there was pressure from the competition, as The Division 2 was announced, Destiny 2 continued to improve, and other loot shooters like Warframe just kept getting better. Meanwhile, the gaming landscape was changing. Electronic Arts had gone all-in on regularly updated “games as a service” but was struggling in several key areas, closing Visceral Games in San Francisco and facing serious drama at its ambitious EA Motive studio in Montreal. The Star Wars Battlefront II pay-to-win debacle led to a reinvigorated public hatred for all things Electronic Arts and a publisher-wide reboot of all things loot box, even as EA executives continually pushed for all of their games to have long-term monetization plans, Anthem included. EA has been public about its distaste for linear games that can be easily returned to GameStop after a single playthrough. And Anthem needed to be finished. By rebooting Dragon Age 4 and moving almost all of BioWare’s staff to Anthem, the studio, now under new leadership, was doubling down. Decisions had to be made that would get the game out the door, no matter what that meant cutting. There was no more time for ideation or “finding the fun” in prototypes. “I would say it ended up being quite a stressful time and a lot of people started to develop tunnel vision,” said one developer. “They have to finish their thing and they don’t have the time.” That, the developer added, is one of the explanations for some of Anthem’s critical flaws. Consider its unreasonably long loading times, for example, which could take more than two minutes on PC before the early patch. “Of course we knew loading screens would be unpopular,” the developer said. “But we have everything on the schedule, hundreds more days scheduled of work than we actually have. So loading is not gonna get addressed.” Anthem was so in flux during 2018 that even some major features that were discussed publicly that year never made it into the game. A Game Informer cover story on Anthem, published in July of 2018, detailed a skill tree system that would allow players to build up their exosuit pilots in unique ways: “Your pilot also gains skills that apply universally to any javelin you use. For instance, the booster jets on your javelins overheat with continued use, but by investing in a certain pilot skill, you can increase the amount of time you’re able to stay airborne in all of your suits.” That system was cut before launch. “I don’t know how accurate this is,” said one BioWare developer, “but it felt like the entire game was basically built in the last six to nine months. You couldn’t play it. There was nothing there. It was just this crazy final rush. The hard part is, how do you make a decision when there’s no game? There’s nothing to play. So yeah, you’re going to keep questioning yourself.” It’s not unusual for a video game to be in rough shape close to launch. Some of the best video games in history, like The Last of Us, came out of rocky development cycles in which many of the staff felt like they were screwed until everything coalesced at the last minute. Something about Anthem felt different, though. Too much had gone awry; too many ambitions had not been realized. “I think if just one thing had gone wrong, we would’ve navigated that,” said a developer. One mandate from Anthem’s directors had been to make the game “unmemeable,” a reaction to Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s jittery facial animations, which became an internet joke in the days leading up to that game’s release. For Anthem, the team used high-end performance capture in order to ensure that the characters couldn’t be turned into embarrassing GIFs and plastered all over Reddit. Since the bulk of the game’s story-telling would be told from a first-person perspective in the hub city Fort Tarsis, players would spend a lot of time staring at characters’ faces. The characters had to look good. Performance capture, or “pcap,” did indeed make for beautiful animations, but it came at a cost. Because booking performance capture was so expensive, the team often had just one shot to get things right, which was a difficult proposition when Anthem’s design was changing so rapidly. Sometimes, the team would record and implement scenes that stopped making sense as a result of design changes. “There are little bits of dialogue, little moments in some of these performance-captured scenes, that if you stop and think, don’t make any sense,” said one developer. “The reason this doesn’t make any sense is because they changed some of the gameplay down the line, but it was impossible to change the performance capture.” One mission involving the rebellious Sentinel Dax, for example, has a few lines of dialogue that reference the destruction of her javelin exosuit, which never happens in the game. The explanation is simple, the developer said. The mission was altered after they’d recorded the dialogue, and there was no time or money to go re-record it. “They were just like, ‘Well it’s not gonna be destroyed,’” said the developer. “Wait, that makes that line of dialogue make no sense.” Hardcore fans have spotted other examples of Anthem dialogue that seems incoherent or odd, like characters talking about other characters as if they’re not present when they’re actually standing in the same room. “That’s a really strong example of the types of problems that befell us,” said another developer. “Why couldn’t they change this? It’s not that nobody wanted to. It’s because when we set the course with these huge assets, we’re sometimes stuck with them.” Because decisions were being made so rapidly and there was so much work left to do, Anthem developers say they had a hard time looking at the game holistically. It was tough to zoom out and get a feel for what it’d be like to play 40, 60, or 80 hours of Anthem when entire missions weren’t even finished. How could you tell if the loot drop rates were balanced when you couldn’t even play through the whole game? How could you assess whether the game felt grindy or repetitive when the story wasn’t even finished yet? Plus, the build could be so unstable, it was difficult to even log on to test for bugs. “I think there was an entire week where I couldn’t do anything because there were server issues,” said one person who worked on the game. Another said that the team had to test out and approve levels offline, which was a strange choice for missions that were meant to be played by four people. Just a couple months before Anthem shipped, decisions were still being finalized and overhauled. At one point, for example, the leadership team realized that there was no place in the game to show off your gear, which was a problem for a game in which the long-term monetization was all based on cosmetics. You could spend money on fancy new outfits for your robot suit, but who would even see them? The game’s one city, Fort Tarsis, was privately instanced so that it could change for each player based on how much progress they’d made in the story. So the team brought on EA’s Motive studio in Montreal to build the Launch Bay, a last-minute addition to the game where you could hang out and show off your gear to strangers. Back in Edmonton, as the crunch continued, BioWare employees say leadership assured them that everything would be fine. The BioWare magic would materialize. Sure enough, the game did continue to get better—one BioWare developer emphasized that the improvements were exponential during those last few months—but the stress of production had serious consequences. “I’d never heard of ‘stress leave’ until the end of Andromeda,” said one former BioWare developer, referring to a practice in which BioWare employees would take weeks or even months off for their mental health. On Anthem, the developer added, this practice just got worse. “I’ve never heard of people needing to take time off because they were so stressed out. But then that kind of spread like wildfire throughout the team.” This also led to attrition over the course of Anthem’s development, and a glance through the game’s credits reveals a number of names of people who left during 2017 and 2018. “People were leaving in droves,” said one developer who left. “It was just really shocking how many people were going.” “We hear about the big people,” said another developer who left. “When [writer] Drew Karpyshyn leaves, it makes big waves. But a lot of people don’t realize that there were a ton of really talented game designers who left BioWare and no one knows. The general public is unaware of who these people are.” Some of those people took off for other cities, while over a dozen followed former BioWare boss Aaryn Flynn to Improbable, a technology company that recently announced plans to develop its own game. That list includes many former high-level staff—including art and animation director Neil Thompson, technical director Jacques Lebrun, and lead designer Kris Schoneberg—some of whom were at BioWare for over a decade. By the end of 2018, those who remained on Anthem wished they could have had just a few more months. Under Darrah and the production staff, there was real momentum, but it became clear to everyone that the game wouldn’t ship with as much content as fans expected. They came up with some artificial solutions to extend the campaign, like Challenges of the Legionnaires, a tedious, mandatory part of the main story that involves completing grindy quests in order to access tombs across the game’s world. (Originally, according to two BioWare developers, this mission included time gates that might force players to wait days to complete it all—fortunately, they changed this before launch. “That mission was controversial even within BioWare,” said one. “The reasoning was to definitely throttle player movement.”) There was no escaping EA’s fiscal targets, and Anthem had already been in development for nearly seven years. They had committed to launching within EA’s fiscal year, which ended in March of 2019. The game would ship in February. Even if they wanted a few more months, that just wasn’t an option. “In the end,” said one developer, “we just ran out of time.” If there was one reason for BioWare staff to be optimistic, it was the fact that unlike the studio’s previous games, Anthem had room to evolve. Early mock reviews—critical assessments provided by outside consultants—predicted that Anthem’s Metacritic score would land in the high 70s. This was low for a BioWare game, but company leadership was fine with that, telling staff during company meetings that with some last-minute polish in the months following those mock reviews, they could get even higher. A few months after launch, maybe they’d have something special on their hands. “They had a really strong belief in the live service,” said one developer. “Issues that were coming up, they’d say, ‘We’re a live service. We’ll be supporting this for years to come. We’ll fix that later on.’” It turned out the mock reviews had been too generous. By the time Anthem came out, BioWare’s leadership would have killed for a Metacritic in the high 70s. On February 15, 2019, Anthem launched in EA’s premium early-access services, opening the floodgates as players and reviewers began to see just how flawed the game was. The loading screens were too long, the loot system felt unbalanced, and missions were thin and repetitive. Plenty of players liked the core gameplay—the shooting, the flying, the javelin exosuit abilities—but everything around it seemed undercooked. As it turned out, this February 15 build was a few weeks old, a devastating mistake for BioWare that likely led to far more negative reviews than they might have received otherwise. A patch a few days later fixed some of the bugs, such as audio drops and sluggish loading screens, that were highlighted in reviews, but it was too late. By the time the Metacritic score had settled, it was a 55. “I don’t think we knew what Anthem was going to be when it shipped,” said one developer. “If we had known the shipped game would have that many problems, then that’s a completely different take than, ‘Oh, it’s okay to get this out now because we can improve it later.’ That wasn’t the case. Nobody did believe it was this flawed or this broken. Everyone actually thought, ‘We have something here, and we think it’s pretty good.’” While talking to me, a number of former BioWare developers brought up specific complaints that were voiced by players and critics, then shared anecdotes of how they had made those same gripes to the leadership team throughout 2017 and 2018 only to be brushed off. It’s easy for developers to say that with hindsight, of course, but this was a common theme. “Reading the reviews is like reading a laundry list of concerns that developers brought up with senior leadership,” said one person who worked on the game. In some cases, perhaps they just didn’t have time to address the issues, but these former BioWare developers said they brought up bigger-picture concerns years before the game shipped. As an example, two developers brought up non-player character dialogue. Most of Anthem’s story is told through conversations in Fort Tarsis and radio chatter as you go through missions, yet the game strongly pushes you to team up with other players. As anyone who’s played an online game knows, it’s hard to pay much attention to NPC dialogue when you’re playing with other people, whether they’re blabbing in your ear or rushing you to hurry up and get to the next mission. Current and former BioWare employees say they brought this up with BioWare’s senior leadership only to be ignored. Anthem developers say they anticipated other complaints, too, like ones about the heat meter that prevents you from flying for too long without breaks, and the fact that so many of those Fort Tarsis dialogue choices didn’t seem to accomplish much. In the weeks after launch, BioWare’s Austin office began taking over the live service, as had always been planned, while BioWare Edmonton staff gradually started moving to new projects, like Dragon Age 4. Among those who remain at the company, there’s a belief that Anthem can be fixed, that with a few more months and some patience from players, it will have the same redemption story as so many service games before it, from Diablo III to Destiny. Yet questions linger about BioWare’s production practices. Many of those who have left the company over the past few years shared concerns about the studio’s approach to game development. There’s widespread worry that the soul of BioWare has been ripped away, that this belief in “BioWare magic” has burned too many people out. That too many talented veterans have left. “There are things that need to change about how that studio operates,” said one former developer. “There are lessons that need to be learned and the only way they’ll get learned is if they become public knowledge.” One big change that’s already been enacted at BioWare is a new technology strategy. Developers still at the studio say that under Casey Hudson, rather than start from scratch yet again, the next Dragon Age will be built on Anthem’s codebase. (We’ll share more on that game in the near future.) “I think Anthem might be the kick in the butt that BioWare leadership needed to see that how you develop games has changed dearly,” said one former staffer. “You can’t just start fresh and fumble your way forward until you find the fun. That doesn’t work anymore.” Perhaps Anthem will morph into a great game one day. A few people who worked on it have expressed optimism for the future. “A lot of us were screaming at the wall,” said one Austin developer. “Over time, what builds up is, ‘Okay, when we get control, we’re going to fix it.’ Sure, the game has all these problems and we understand them. It’s very much a ‘motivated to fix’ attitude.” The game that emerged from a six-and-a-half-year development cycle was the result of a number of difficult, complicated factors, ones that won’t be quite as easy to fix as Anthem’s loot drop rates or loading screens. When the Anthem team started development back in 2012, they hoped to make the Bob Dylan of video games, one that would be referenced and remembered for generations. They might have accomplished that. Just not in quite the way they hoped. Source | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
We’d like to take a moment to address an article published this morning about BioWare, and Anthem’s development. First and foremost, we wholeheartedly stand behind every current and former member of our team that worked on the game, including leadership. It takes a massive amount of effort, energy and dedication to make any game, and making Anthem would not have been possible without every single one of their efforts. We chose not to comment or participate in this story because we felt there was an unfair focus on specific team members and leaders, who did their absolute best to bring this totally new idea to fans. We didn’t want to be part of something that was attempting to bring them down as individuals. We respect them all, and we built this game as a team. We put a great emphasis on our workplace culture in our studios. The health and well-being of our team members is something we take very seriously. We have built a new leadership team over the last couple of years, starting with Casey Hudson as our GM in 2017, which has helped us make big steps to improve studio culture and our creative focus. We hear the criticisms that were raised by the people in the piece today, and we’re looking at that alongside feedback that we receive in our internal team surveys. We put a lot of focus on better planning to avoid “crunch time,” and it was not a major topic of feedback in our internal postmortems. Making games, especially new IP, will always be one of the hardest entertainment challenges. We do everything we can to try and make it healthy and stress-free, but we also know there is always room to improve. As a studio and a team, we accept all criticisms that will come our way for the games we make, especially from our players. The creative process is often difficult. The struggles and challenges of making video games are very real. But the reward of putting something we created into the hands of our players is amazing. People in this industry put so much passion and energy into making something fun. We don’t see the value in tearing down one another, or one another’s work. We don’t believe articles that do that are making our industry and craft better. Our full focus is on our players and continuing to make Anthem everything it can be for our community. Thank you to our fans for your support – we do what we do for you. Source | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
Thank god for these articles preventing the middle management that has been systematically murdering good studios from hiding. | ||
bertolo
United States133 Posts
On April 03 2019 00:41 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Bioware response: Show nested quote + We’d like to take a moment to address an article published this morning about BioWare, and Anthem’s development. First and foremost, we wholeheartedly stand behind every current and former member of our team that worked on the game, including leadership. It takes a massive amount of effort, energy and dedication to make any game, and making Anthem would not have been possible without every single one of their efforts. We chose not to comment or participate in this story because we felt there was an unfair focus on specific team members and leaders, who did their absolute best to bring this totally new idea to fans. We didn’t want to be part of something that was attempting to bring them down as individuals. We respect them all, and we built this game as a team. We put a great emphasis on our workplace culture in our studios. The health and well-being of our team members is something we take very seriously. We have built a new leadership team over the last couple of years, starting with Casey Hudson as our GM in 2017, which has helped us make big steps to improve studio culture and our creative focus. We hear the criticisms that were raised by the people in the piece today, and we’re looking at that alongside feedback that we receive in our internal team surveys. We put a lot of focus on better planning to avoid “crunch time,” and it was not a major topic of feedback in our internal postmortems. Making games, especially new IP, will always be one of the hardest entertainment challenges. We do everything we can to try and make it healthy and stress-free, but we also know there is always room to improve. As a studio and a team, we accept all criticisms that will come our way for the games we make, especially from our players. The creative process is often difficult. The struggles and challenges of making video games are very real. But the reward of putting something we created into the hands of our players is amazing. People in this industry put so much passion and energy into making something fun. We don’t see the value in tearing down one another, or one another’s work. We don’t believe articles that do that are making our industry and craft better. Our full focus is on our players and continuing to make Anthem everything it can be for our community. Thank you to our fans for your support – we do what we do for you. Source Man I don't know about that response. They say they didn't want to comment, now they are? The last larger paragraph and line sound really sad. Like if those statements were true, wouldn't they have worked harder to release a better product? So is this really coming from Bioware or EA. I loved playing Bioware's older titles, I'll admit I haven't played Anthem or their newer ones due to all the problems surrounding the games. I read the super long article. It's astonishing the amount of inter-studio fighting they had that might had saved a lot of trouble for Anthem, especially the expertise of the SWTOR team. I played that game at launch, it was not perfect by any means and they learned much over time but there was so much they could have shared with Anthem. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
We don’t see the value in tearing down one another, or one another’s work. We don’t believe articles that do that are making our industry and craft better. This is someone with a vested interest in killing the discussion of how badly managed the development was. Also, the blog was posted before the story dropped, so they didn't even read it. Edit: The parts about Frostbite also make me worried for the long tail of Anthem. The whole thing seems like trash software. And the whole thing about calling the game Beyond. How the fuck does that happen at a major publisher? Knowing what will make a good trade mark and what won't is stuff that should be handled very early on. Beyond is a shit name, but that is something you nail down early because it is easy and knowable. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On April 03 2019 02:10 Plansix wrote: Also, the blog was posted before the story dropped, so they didn't even read it. came here to say this, so just posting it up again. Can you even imagine the sliminess of a company if they already had a statement like that prepared? Within the studio, there’s a term called “BioWare magic.” It’s a belief that no matter how rough a game’s production might be, things will always come together in the final months. The game will always coalesce. It happened on the Mass Effect trilogy, on Dragon Age: Origins, and on Inquisition. Veteran BioWare developers like to refer to production as a hockey stick—it’s flat for a while, and then it suddenly jolts upward. Even when a project feels like a complete disaster, there’s a belief that with enough hard work—and enough difficult crunch—it’ll all come together. That's very heartbreaking to hear. At this point I hope that bioware closes down. Not because I hate them or anything, but because honestly it feels like everyone around would be better off if that were the case. Might even be one of the final nails in the coffin for EA in terms of how consumers view them.. The original idea for what project dylan was planned to be sounds so cool.. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
I would love there to be a backslash and an epiphany in the leadership but I'm also a buying customer of their game... What more than do an upvote on reddit can I realistically do now? Not buying the game is impossible for me. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On April 03 2019 15:37 Artisreal wrote: I would love there to be a backslash and an epiphany in the leadership but I'm also a buying customer of their game... What more than do an upvote on reddit can I realistically do now? Not buying the game is impossible for me. Don't buy the next ones unless they are actually good. Don't preorder, don't buy it until reviews come out and the game has been out for at least a month (if the reviews are positive) and ever if the game is a live services trap with a roadmap going to infinity. Steer clear of anything that hopes to be a "10 year journey" unless it is objectively the best game of the year at launch. If it's a month up until the game's launch and you don't really know what kind of game it will even be, then that's a major red flag aswell. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On April 03 2019 15:37 Artisreal wrote: I don't suspect the casual fifa or battlefield player is that involved in reading about or even aware of the development process of other games. I would love there to be a backslash and an epiphany in the leadership but I'm also a buying customer of their game... What more than do an upvote on reddit can I realistically do now? Not buying the game is impossible for me. Why is it impossible? When I was dissatisfied with The Division endgame, cheating, solutions by Ubisoft(*cough* fucking crafting materials abuse and their gorgeous solution which PUNISHED all the honest gamers *cough*) and missing social stuff(game about mulitplayer don't have social functions, oh the joy) I decided not to buy any future Ubisoft games. I love South Park, I enjoyed the Stick of Truth very much, but - I won't buy a game from a company that let me down so much. I even put 50 or 60 hours into The Division, I don't see it as a waste of money. But principles are principles, if you fuck me into the ass without any lube and use a chalk instead you won't get my money. EVER. (now I'm horrified that Ubisoft will find someone with at least a half of a brain and release good M&M or Heroes of M&M game, worst case possible they abandon AC and release a good Prince game, that would piss me off) Similarly I put on the ban list some other companies. We live in a time when we get plenty of good games in a year. There's no need to buy a game from a company which is proven to be untrustworthy(EA). BioWare sold the soul FFS (was a sole which sounds the same but it's something cimpletely else I hate mornings) to the devil(EA) I don't see a reason to buy their games anymore. Yeah, they had great story RPG games in the past. Nowadays we have inXile or Larian studios | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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CosmicSpiral
United States15275 Posts
The exact same complaints can be levied against Bethesda, whose intransigent devotion to the Creation Engine makes me dread how ES6 and Starfield will turn out. 11 years after FO3, their games still have the same ridiculous bugs. Same sky tearing, enemies continuously spawning in the air and falling through the ground, wonky collision detection fusing into walls, frame-locked hilarity, ugh. | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On April 04 2019 09:49 CosmicSpiral wrote: Considering how we've been recently spoiled by a glut of powerful, versatile in-house engines (e.g. RE, iD Tech 6, Decima), it's frustrating to see developers hamstring themselves out of pride and/or financial incentive. The management behind Anthem should've know that the Andromeda team was struggling to incorporate RPG mechanics into Frostbite. They should've know what a nightmare it was to work with from DA:I. If there had been substantive communication between subsidiaries over the last 5 years, there's no way the Edmonton studio expected their programmers to transition without a ton of friction and bewilderment. They even abandoned the systems developed for DA:I and ME:A in order to build them from scratch. UE4 was publicly opened back in 2014: why didn't upper management grit their teeth and accept the licensing fees? FFS, ME2 and ME3 were made off UE3. Surely all the staff that worked on those games didn't disappear during the interim. The exact same complaints can be levied against Bethesda, whose intransigent devotion to the Creation Engine makes me dread how ES6 and Starfield will turn out. 11 years after FO3, their games still have the same ridiculous bugs. Same sky tearing, enemies continuously spawning in the air and falling through the ground, wonky collision detection fusing into walls, frame-locked hilarity, ugh. Apparently EA is pushing hard on all the studios using Frostbite (I have no idea why though). Here's a nice summary on what went wrong with Anthem: | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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CosmicSpiral
United States15275 Posts
On April 04 2019 10:59 Manit0u wrote: Apparently EA is pushing hard on all the studios using Frostbite (I have no idea why though). It makes sense from a financial perspective. Ideally every studio wants an in-house engine tailored to their needs with no requirement to pay out royalties for using a proprietary system. Not to mention if all EA-owned studios use the same set of tools, institutional knowledge can be used and exchanged across all of them too. What doesn't make sense is why Bioware leadership insists that its grunt force needs to learn how to apply Frostbite to AAA titles - in genres that Frostbite lacks the initial tools to comply with, no less - during development of said titles. You don't want to reinvent the wheel with baseline code with so much money at stake. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On April 04 2019 12:32 CosmicSpiral wrote: Show nested quote + On April 04 2019 10:59 Manit0u wrote: Apparently EA is pushing hard on all the studios using Frostbite (I have no idea why though). It makes sense from a financial perspective. Ideally every studio wants an in-house engine tailored to their needs with no requirement to pay out royalties for using a proprietary system. Not to mention if all EA-owned studios use the same set of tools, institutional knowledge can be used and exchanged across all of them too. What doesn't make sense is why Bioware leadership insists that its grunt force needs to learn how to apply Frostbite to AAA titles - in genres that Frostbite lacks the initial tools to comply with, no less - during development of said titles. You don't want to reinvent the wheel with baseline code with so much money at stake. Because BioWare no longer owns the company and can decide about things. BioWare doesn't exist anymore. The sooner people understand this the better. EA decided it's the Frostbite engine because they have the knowledge of creators and they can save monies. BW has to listen. End of story. If the leadership isn't completely useless they told EA it's no bueno and got a middle finger with deal with it. | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
The "don't talk to the press" being the only thing said is just terrible. "We put a great emphasis on our workplace culture in our studios. The health and well-being of our team members is something we take very seriously." my ass. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On April 04 2019 17:18 abuse wrote: Its hardly a secret that working in game development is garbage outside of a very small selection of studio's.Honestly, all this is heart-breaking. The "don't talk to the press" being the only thing said is just terrible. "We put a great emphasis on our workplace culture in our studios. The health and well-being of our team members is something we take very seriously." my ass. If any of this surprised people then they don't pay much attention. | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On April 04 2019 18:11 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + Its hardly a secret that working in game development is garbage outside of a very small selection of studio's.On April 04 2019 17:18 abuse wrote: Honestly, all this is heart-breaking. The "don't talk to the press" being the only thing said is just terrible. "We put a great emphasis on our workplace culture in our studios. The health and well-being of our team members is something we take very seriously." my ass. If any of this surprised people then they don't pay much attention. It's not just gaming industry, some corporations see their people as numbers in HR list. And who cares about numbers happiness and stuff like that? Did you ever cared about the number? But they cannot directly say that. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
The head of BioWare addressed a Kotaku report on the studio’s cultural issues yesterday afternoon, acknowledging that “these problems are real” and promising that it is “our top priority to continue working to solve them.” On Tuesday, Kotaku posted an investigation into what had happened behind the scenes on Anthem, a story that also dived into cultural problems impacting BioWare’s current and former employees. The piece discussed indecision, mismanagement, and the production practice referred to as “BioWare magic,” a belief that with enough hard work—and enough crunch—every project will coalesce at the last minute. The article also detailed the stress, depression, and anxiety that has led dozens of employees to leave BioWare over the past two years. EA and BioWare chose not to respond to our requests for comment, instead publishing a blog post that read to many as dismissive and disheartening. (“We don’t see the value in tearing down one another, or one another’s work. We don’t believe articles that do that are making our industry and craft better.”) The company stayed silent for the next day and a half, other than asking employees not to speak to press. Then, late Wednesday, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson sent a note to staff (obtained by Kotaku) that addressed the piece. You can read it in full here: Show nested quote + Hey BioWare, I wanted to get a note out to you to share my thoughts on the Kotaku article and the online discussion it has raised. The article mentions many of the problems in the development of Anthem and some of our previous projects. And it draws a link between those issues and the quality of our workplace and the well-being of our staff. These problems are real and it’s our top priority to continue working to solve them. What we found out-of-bounds was the naming of specific developers as targets for public criticism. It’s unfair and extremely traumatizing to single out people in this way, and we can’t accept that treatment towards any of our staff. That’s why we did not participate in the article and made a statement to that effect. When I was offered the opportunity to return to BioWare as GM, I came into the role knowing the studio was experiencing significant challenges in team health, creative vision, and organizational focus. I was - and continue to be - excited to help drive improvements in those areas because I love this studio, and above all I want to create a place where all of you are happy and successful. I’m not going to tell you I’ve done a good job at that, and on a day like today I certainly feel like I haven’t. But some of the steps we’ve taken towards this include a more focused studio mission and values, so that we have clarity on what we are here to do and how we define a high standard for our studio culture. We updated our studio structure around a matrix so that department directors can be fully focused on individual career support and well-being. We are defining better role clarity so that people can succeed better against clear expectations. And we are putting in place production changes that will provide for clearer project vision as well as a significant post-production period that will further relieve pressure and anxiety on teams during development. But I know there’s much more to do, and we will talk in more detail about other actions we have been planning in response to internal feedback and postmortems at next week’s All-Hands. As always please continue to provide feedback on further steps we can take to make BioWare the best possible place to work. I’m committed to getting us to a place where we are delivering on the highest expectations for BioWare games, through a work environment that’s among the very best in the world. With your help, we will get there. Please let me know if you’d like to talk in person and I will be happy to set up time to hear your thoughts. Casey Since the publication of this week’s article, I’ve heard from a number of developers who work or have worked at beloved AAA game studios with messages like, “Replace BioWare with [my studio] and it’s the same story.” We can only hope that continuing to talk about and report on these issues will lead to widespread change. Source | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
Since the publication of this week’s article, I’ve heard from a number of developers who work or have worked at beloved AAA game studios with messages like, “Replace BioWare with [my studio] and it’s the same story.” We can only hope that continuing to talk about and report on these issues will lead to widespread change. This part. This part right here is a giveaway that this message is not as much honesty and planned change towards employees, but just PR bullshit, because they know that this message will get leaked. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On April 04 2019 21:39 abuse wrote: Show nested quote + Since the publication of this week’s article, I’ve heard from a number of developers who work or have worked at beloved AAA game studios with messages like, “Replace BioWare with [my studio] and it’s the same story.” We can only hope that continuing to talk about and report on these issues will lead to widespread change. This part. This part right here is a giveaway that this message is not as much honesty and planned change towards employees, but just PR bullshit, because they know that this message will get leaked. That's written by Kotaku (well, Jason ) not by BioWare. This is what people from the outside hope hope to achieve by writing about the problem. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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CosmicSpiral
United States15275 Posts
On April 04 2019 15:44 deacon.frost wrote: Because BioWare no longer owns the company and can decide about things. BioWare doesn't exist anymore. The sooner people understand this the better. EA decided it's the Frostbite engine because they have the knowledge of creators and they can save monies. BW has to listen. End of story. If the leadership isn't completely useless they told EA it's no bueno and got a middle finger with deal with it. Contrary to popular opinion EA has given Bioware way too leeway post-2010 to pursue projects without sufficient oversight or accountability. No one twisted Hudson's arm when he promised the developer could deliver ME3 in 16 months; EA neither nudged the Montreal team into tackling Andromeda by itself or chasing pipe dreams of procedurally generated worlds instead of developing a semblance of a game skeleton. Management decided to utilize Frostbite back in 2012-2013, although it is EA' fault for neglecting to teach engineers how to use it and spreading that knowledge throughout all divisions. Bioware imploded under its own incompetence, brain drain and arrogance rather than EA's interference. On April 04 2019 21:56 Plansix wrote: We will see if it leads to changes. These bosses have bosses that cannot be happy. And there is no stopping employees from talking to the press these days, because video game development isn't seen as this magical dream job any more. With how muddled the chain of command is within these companies, an internal audit -> a top-down restructuring of Bioware is probably the only surefire way to counteract the mismanagement and toxic work culture. Upper management will most likely begin circling the wagons if it is left up to them. | ||
Plansix
United States60190 Posts
From my understanding of Bioware post the Doctors, EA beholden management decisions slowly creeped their way through the studio and as established talent left the studio, that management kept making poor decisions with less and less pushback. And the thing about EA is that when they blow up studios, they move the people who are not fired around. Lot of former Bioware folks said that a good chunk of the middle managers that worked on ME:A were from shuttered studios that shipped bad games. | ||
CosmicSpiral
United States15275 Posts
On April 05 2019 03:56 Plansix wrote: I don’t disagree that there was to little oversight over the decisions being made at Bioware, but I don’t believe EA is blameless. In fact, my bet is that they have an upper management structure that rewards over promising and poor practices. Like encouraging studios to use Frostbite to the point where it was pretty much the only option unless you are Respawn and still had the founders. Oh, EA undoubtedly has a terrible incentive structure alongside the practice of overtly intruding into established companies and forcing them away from developing games that play to their strengths. That Rolodex of shuttered studios always follows the same script to a T: commercial and critical success leads to being bought, which leads to meddling from above (we need to implement this popular feature now!) and too many projects being developed simultaneously, which leads to rats scurrying from a sinking ship and closure. The Frostbite issue for ME:A and Anthem is a unique case:
Upon confirmation that Bioware's main and ancillary studios were switching to Frostbite of their own volition, EA should've immediately sent a team from DICE to Edmonton for in-depth tutoring. If upper management was so keen on a coordinated tech switch across all companies, every separate studio needed an in-house team familiar with the engine. This should've especially been a priority for Bioware as all the non-FPS games EA has published (excluding Mirror's Edge) don't approach the complexity that goes into a ME or DA entry. Instead, we have DICE advisers bouncing from game to game depending on which one is the bigger money maker. Meanwhile, programmers at Montreal were smashing their keyboards trying to figure out how to prevent wild animals from spawning inside boulders. Barring that, Bioware should've refrained from using Frostbite on large titles until they built the sufficient code base for it. It's very rare for developers to use a AAA title to debut an engine without major technical hiccups. Electing to tackle Frostbite on multiple $100+ million games simultaneously without prior experience is some ??? shit. Capcom is the only one I can think of that has pulled it off across multiple titles, and I suspect the RE engine uses a lot of material from the defunct Panta Rhei. On April 05 2019 03:56 Plansix wrote: From my understanding of Bioware post the Doctors, EA-beholden management decisions slowly creeped their way through the studio and as established talent left the studio, that management kept making poor decisions with less and less pushback. And the thing about EA is that when they blow up studios, they move the people who are not fired around. Lot of former Bioware folks said that a good chunk of the middle managers that worked on ME:A were from shuttered studios that shipped bad games. It's a departure from form for Bioware to languish in indecision. Usually EA accelerates a studio's demise by forcing them into impossible crunch-time scenarios to account for quarterly reviews. I agree that EA is responsible. I just don't know how much of it comes from their side since the pressure is indirect. In fairness, those games probably owed their poor quality to EA's influence. I don't know if that quality reflects on middle management's capacity as much as unspoken corporate policy. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
On April 04 2019 23:21 deacon.frost wrote: Show nested quote + On April 04 2019 21:39 abuse wrote: Since the publication of this week’s article, I’ve heard from a number of developers who work or have worked at beloved AAA game studios with messages like, “Replace BioWare with [my studio] and it’s the same story.” We can only hope that continuing to talk about and report on these issues will lead to widespread change. This part. This part right here is a giveaway that this message is not as much honesty and planned change towards employees, but just PR bullshit, because they know that this message will get leaked. That's written by Kotaku (well, Jason ) not by BioWare. This is what people from the outside hope hope to achieve by writing about the problem. whoops.. D: | ||
deacon.frost
Czech Republic12116 Posts
On April 05 2019 08:37 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: You think EA would have formed an entirely separate team who's sole focus was the Frostbite engine. Not only to fix bugs, but also do QA and support to studios. Also those that are hoping for redemption with the release of Dragon Age; it will still be using the Frostbite engine. https://youtu.be/iz0ehbDYotQ Isn't that Dice? On April 05 2019 03:31 CosmicSpiral wrote: Show nested quote + On April 04 2019 15:44 deacon.frost wrote: Because BioWare no longer owns the company and can decide about things. BioWare doesn't exist anymore. The sooner people understand this the better. EA decided it's the Frostbite engine because they have the knowledge of creators and they can save monies. BW has to listen. End of story. If the leadership isn't completely useless they told EA it's no bueno and got a middle finger with deal with it. Contrary to popular opinion EA has given Bioware way too leeway post-2010 to pursue projects without sufficient oversight or accountability. No one twisted Hudson's arm when he promised the developer could deliver ME3 in 16 months; EA neither nudged the Montreal team into tackling Andromeda by itself or chasing pipe dreams of procedurally generated worlds instead of developing a semblance of a game skeleton. Management decided to utilize Frostbite back in 2012-2013, although it is EA' fault for neglecting to teach engineers how to use it and spreading that knowledge throughout all divisions. Bioware imploded under its own incompetence, brain drain and arrogance rather than EA's interference. Show nested quote + On April 04 2019 21:56 Plansix wrote: We will see if it leads to changes. These bosses have bosses that cannot be happy. And there is no stopping employees from talking to the press these days, because video game development isn't seen as this magical dream job any more. With how muddled the chain of command is within these companies, an internal audit -> a top-down restructuring of Bioware is probably the only surefire way to counteract the mismanagement and toxic work culture. Upper management will most likely begin circling the wagons if it is left up to them. maybe, depends on the view. I mean if EA tries to push Frostbite through the company and the leadership either cannot or will not resist this, it's just widening the fault of BW itself. | ||
lestye
United States4100 Posts
Granted, its not exactly the same because as he's said it probably does fine for the sports games + FPS, but still. What a frustrating reason to see a studio's last 2 titles flop. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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seemsgood
5527 Posts
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Firebolt145
Lalalaland34456 Posts
On April 14 2019 07:10 seemsgood wrote: they a selling the game with a dirt cheap price(around 20$) right now.i think this is the right time to buy this game Where? | ||
seemsgood
5527 Posts
On April 14 2019 10:59 Firebolt145 wrote: Show nested quote + On April 14 2019 07:10 seemsgood wrote: they a selling the game with a dirt cheap price(around 20$) right now.i think this is the right time to buy this game Where? amazon japan | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
I'll come back to Anthem once it releases an expansion that will save the game (like Destiny 2 and Forsaken) | ||
Sbrubbles
Brazil5763 Posts
Edit: whatever that sale was, it's over | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Meanwhile no notes, upcoming pacth notes, not even a blog to tease what is coming up. | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
That's the level we are dealing with. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
That stronghold has to be ridiculously good for people to come back IMO | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
On April 15 2019 18:42 Harris1st wrote: 20$ seems like an acceptable price for 30-40 hours of fun. I'll come back to Anthem once it releases an expansion that will save the game (like Destiny 2 and Forsaken) I thought making Destiny2 $12 on Humble Bundle really helped resuscitate the game. Then the BlizzCon free weekend was also good. And again, Humble Bundling the 2 DLC packs from year 1 helped again. Forsaken was good, that said, it was also a minimum $40 USD purchase. Hasn't EA promised all DLC will be free? Good luck to Bioware coming up with anything close to Forsaken's level of content and quality while offering it for free. On April 18 2019 19:41 Godwrath wrote: My dog ate my assignment teacher. That's the level we are dealing with. i think the NASL Sound Guy dropped a boulder on the fibre optic cable connecting the entire company to the outside world. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/bg5kyv/updates_coming_tomorrow/ | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/bgkgl3/update_on_anthem_from_the_development_team/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/bgf3qv/developer_livestream_april_23rd_2019/ edit: Can't find a YouTube link to the livestream, apparently it went off the rails... With some even speculating it was prerecorded. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On March 28 2019 18:39 Harris1st wrote: I predict Anthem will be free to play in June, probably with some "luck booster" in the shop to generate money or sth | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Anything interesting on Origin right now? Wanted to give this a try anyway | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
i say its June 30th. | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
👌 | ||
abuse
Latvia1923 Posts
EA has too much pride for that. Then again it wouldn't even make sense to make it totally F2P, if you can play it via origin access, which is basically free anyway, if you play any other EA games (not sure if that's how it works, but I'm guessing it does) | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Anthem, believe it or not, is meant to have a 10 year life cycle of post-launch content. But, in light of the game's systemic problems, BioWare's lack of communication, and a dwindling player base, that ambitious post-launch schedule is looking less and less likely, especially in light of recent news about the game's shifting development team. In recent weeks, three key members of Anthem's lead development team have departed from work on the project, including Executive Producer Mark Darrah, Lead Producer Michael Gamble, and Lead Director Jonathan Warner, with only the latter intending to return to the game following a personal sabbatical. According to a recent tweet from Gamble, the reason for this behind the scenes reshuffle seems to be Dragon Age shaped, as BioWare places the majority of its focus on getting Dragon Age 4 our of the door, following several reported reboots of the RPG sequel. When asked by a fan about who the Anthem community should turn to for questions and queries, Gamble confirmed that the game's Lead Producer Ben Irving and Head of Live Service Chad Robertson are now the ones spearheading the game's post-launch cycle, and hopefully steering it into a brighter future than its rocky launch period. Dragon Age 4, meanwhile, is reportedly another crack at a live-service game from BioWare, with online elements that would pivot the RPG series from its single-player roots. It's unlikely we'll be hearing anything soon from that title, so don't expect it to be popping up as one of the E3 2019 games later this June. Instead, the best we can hope for in the short-term is that Anthem experiences some sort of miraculous resurgence in quality and vibrance. Stranger things have happened. Source | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Make sense though: 2019 - 2024 is early access, then 2024 release, 2024+ some random DLCs I for one am not gonna go anywhere near Dragon Age | ||
Yurie
11533 Posts
On May 03 2019 18:15 Harris1st wrote: 10 years? TEN? Make sense though: 2019 - 2024 is early access, then 2024 release, 2024+ some random DLCs I for one am not gonna go anywhere near Dragon Age I am also negative about Dragon age, likely I won't play it the first 2 years after release at least. Though they could do a Game of the Year and I would play it, doesn't seem like they have it any more though. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Much has been written about Anthem's rocky path through development, shaky launch, and the recent reshuffling of post-launch plans as developer BioWare continues to try and save its struggling online game. Now, publisher EA has weighed in with its take on the financial side of things. It's not great but, actually, it's not all bad either. Let's get that bad stuff out the way first. "Anthem underperformed our expectations," EA exec Blake Jorgensen said during the company's investor call late last night (transcribed by Seeking Alpha). This seems to be the overall vibe. "The launch of Anthem did not meet our expectations," EA boss Andrew Wilson also confirmed at one point. EA had, perhaps wisely, never bet big on Anthem delivering immediate profits. Its expectations were conservative, and yet Anthem did not meet these. That's not great. But EA also make it clear to investors it would still be spending money to support Anthem for the forseeable future. Also, that it still had confidence in BioWare, a developer which has now suffered two flops on the trot. "We continue to invest heavily in Anthem, with developers working on game quality, content, systems and game mechanics. It's great original IP and we've doubled down on the product," Jorgensen said. "We are committed to the live service for Anthem, and delivering for our community in this new IP over the long-term," Wilson later added. "We believe in the team at BioWare, and we also believe in what they set out to achieve with this game - building a new IP and melding genres to reach a new audience." Anthem did not perform well in the UK chart, which counts physical copies sold. In fact, Anthem shifted half the boxed copies of Mass Effect Andromeda. But it did much better in digital sales - perhaps because of its online nature. EA's revenue from full game downloads was up 10 per cent year-on-year, something the publisher said had been "driven by the launch of Anthem and by the ongoing shift to digital". Almost half - 49 per cent - of full game sales on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were sold digitally during the last financial quarter. This is, again, a stat boosted by Anthem. "Judging from sales so far, [Anthem] is the most digital game we have ever launched," Jorgensen noted. One last point of interest came from Andrew Wilson's response to a query on how the launches of games like Anthem and Star Wars Battlefront 2 (which had its own drama around launch) may affect big budget EA releases going forward, with Wilson suggesting a mobile-style soft launch for big-budget games. "It also comes down to changing how we launch games and how we rolled out and you should expect we'll start to test things like soft launches, the same things that you see in the mobile space right now," Wilson said. "And it also comes down to changing how we communicate with players. And our entire marketing organisation now is moving out of presentation mode and into conversation mode and changing how we interact with players over time." Source | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
If they do and try to actually fix the game, good on them. But I wouldn't bet money on it. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
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Latham
9507 Posts
On May 09 2019 19:55 Harris1st wrote: They should just start on Anthem 2 immediately if they want to "save" the IP. And use UE4 for it. I think as long as EA owns them they are contractually obliged to use Frostbite... | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
On May 09 2019 20:11 Latham wrote: Show nested quote + On May 09 2019 19:55 Harris1st wrote: They should just start on Anthem 2 immediately if they want to "save" the IP. And use UE4 for it. I think as long as EA owns them they are contractually obliged to use Frostbite... Are you sure they are contractually obliged to? Pretty sure Bioware accepted to use Frostbite, rather than being forced to use it. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
On May 09 2019 20:13 Godwrath wrote: The best part about Wilson's comments is how "the old way to release games does not work anymore". Because releasing a bug-filled piece of crapware is the new "old way". Show nested quote + On May 09 2019 20:11 Latham wrote: On May 09 2019 19:55 Harris1st wrote: They should just start on Anthem 2 immediately if they want to "save" the IP. And use UE4 for it. I think as long as EA owns them they are contractually obliged to use Frostbite... Are you sure they are contractually obliged to? Pretty sure Bioware accepted to use Frostbite, rather than being forced to use it. I dunno who reported on it, maybe Jason Schrier or YongYea or The Quartering but for the 1st Anthem game, EA did, in fact, force them to use Frostbite. I'm a bit too lazy to dig through all the pile of controversy surrounding this game ATM, but one of the workers on Anthem that wanted to remain anonymous said EA had this grand vision of unification and having all of their games made on Frostbite, and would "strongly suggest" using Frostbite instead of UE to Bioware. Money cuts may or may not have been involved in the exchange. Then he further stated Frostbite was woefully unprepared for making games with flight involved and EA didn't send any Frostbite engineers to help them sort it out, instead sending the engineers to money milking titles like FIFA and shit... maybe not "forced to use", but definitely coerced into using... | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
Its easy to blame EA and they deserve much of it, but something the studio's just fuck up themselves. | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
As I said, BioWare fucked up big time being given 7 years to develop a game for EA with lots of money funding, and only pushing out Anthem in the last ~18 months. But this was in part because EA thinks everyone can develop everything on Frostbite. The people that run EA are not game devs or engine engineers, they are corporate shills focused on making money to make investors happy, and if they have to give a hammer to someone's hand to get ridge of a smudge on the glass window just to save 20% repair costs, then by God they will do it. BioWare is also a toxic workplace with big crunchtime now, so they clearly have internal problems, EA is the least of their worries. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/2019/04/30/ea-crippled-bioware-with-frostbite/ Everywhere you go to read you can see EA provided next to 0 help with the engine and the devs were left to their own devices on how to implement systems like skill points and flight, instead of getting help from actual Frostbite engineers. Sure they took the offer to work with Frostbite willingly because UE2 with which they made DA:2 wasn't gonna cut it anymore. But the decision to go for Frostbite and not UE3/4 was heavily influenced by EA to get max profits out of their engine license and not for the good of a game. I'm pretty sure UE4 was not even an option for them to choose. A drowning man will cling even to a razor's edge to survive... | ||
Godwrath
Spain10091 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
My bet is that Bioware could have used another engine in theory, but EA's demands for returns makes is super risky to do so. And the managers of Bioware were more interested in keeping their jobs and pleasing their bosses than making sure the game was a success. Because lets be clear, using another engine costs money. Often per unit sold. Which means they need to sell more units to make up for it. | ||
CosmicSpiral
United States15275 Posts
On May 09 2019 21:13 Latham wrote: Sure they took the offer to work with Frostbite willingly because UE2 with which they made DA:2 wasn't gonna cut it anymore. DA2 was built off the Lycium engine aka Infinity 4.0. People commonly mistake DA as an Unreal product since all ME games use different versions of UE3. On May 09 2019 21:13 Latham wrote: But the decision to go for Frostbite and not UE3/4 was heavily influenced by EA to get max profits out of their engine license and not for the good of a game. I'm pretty sure UE4 was not even an option for them to choose. A drowning man will cling even to a razor's edge to survive... UE4 didn't exist during the initial development of Anthem and Andromeda, and UE3 was already considered clunky at that point. I elaborated on the options Bioware possessed during their transition to Frostbite earlier in the thread. On May 10 2019 02:17 Plansix wrote: I have to wonder what pressures EA puts on the studio heads to use Frostbite. It clearly didn't work on Respawn, but Titanfall prime came out in 2014 around the same time DA:I. But Respawn was already deep into using their weird mutant version of the source engine for since 2011. And it is manned by the studio founder, so they can very easily tell EA to fuck off, we are not using that shit engine. My bet is that Bioware could have used another engine in theory, but EA's demands for returns makes is super risky to do so. And the managers of Bioware were more interested in keeping their jobs and pleasing their bosses than making sure the game was a success. Because lets be clear, using another engine costs money. Often per unit sold. Which means they need to sell more units to make up for it. EA didn't acquire Respawn until December 2017. Also keep in mind Apex Legends was less demanding from a technical and time-oriented standpoint than the AAA equivalent the studio would've worked on as a replacement. It was undoubtedly a reason EA management was more lenient in letting Respawn decide the parameters of the game. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On May 10 2019 02:32 CosmicSpiral wrote: Show nested quote + On May 09 2019 21:13 Latham wrote: But the decision to go for Frostbite and not UE3/4 was heavily influenced by EA to get max profits out of their engine license and not for the good of a game. I'm pretty sure UE4 was not even an option for them to choose. A drowning man will cling even to a razor's edge to survive... UE4 didn't exist during the initial development of Anthem and Andromeda, and UE3 was already considered clunky at that point. I elaborated on the options Bioware possessed during their transition to Frostbite earlier in the thread. Andromeda sure, but Anthem could easily been made in UE4. It was released March 2014. I doubt any graphics were done at this time for Anthem. I am no expert in programming and I don't really know the pros and cons of using this engine or that. I just see the results. Anyway, this Jesse guy said on twitter they are working on Cataclysms now. Their probably one and only chance to get this game even halfway on track IMO | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
On May 09 2019 18:17 Gorsameth wrote: EA also said they would keep supporting Mass Effect Andromeda after its disappointing launch. And we know how that turned out. If they do and try to actually fix the game, good on them. But I wouldn't bet money on it. good points. i agree, and successful games competing with Anthem are only going to keep on getting better. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
On May 10 2019 02:32 CosmicSpiral wrote: Show nested quote + On May 10 2019 02:17 Plansix wrote: I have to wonder what pressures EA puts on the studio heads to use Frostbite. It clearly didn't work on Respawn, but Titanfall prime came out in 2014 around the same time DA:I. But Respawn was already deep into using their weird mutant version of the source engine for since 2011. And it is manned by the studio founder, so they can very easily tell EA to fuck off, we are not using that shit engine. My bet is that Bioware could have used another engine in theory, but EA's demands for returns makes is super risky to do so. And the managers of Bioware were more interested in keeping their jobs and pleasing their bosses than making sure the game was a success. Because lets be clear, using another engine costs money. Often per unit sold. Which means they need to sell more units to make up for it. EA didn't acquire Respawn until December 2017. Also keep in mind Apex Legends was less demanding from a technical and time-oriented standpoint than the AAA equivalent the studio would've worked on as a replacement. It was undoubtedly a reason EA management was more lenient in letting Respawn decide the parameters of the game. ban this man! Too many facts and too much logic all in one post. Joking aside, good points man. A Battle Royal game can often be a subset of a fully fleshed out game. With all the different PvP , PvE, and PvEvP modes Bungie keeps pumping out for Destiny 2 they could probably pump out a Battle Royal "mode" and offer it for free. If whatever $60 full game shooter a studio has is in the middle of development and the project is starting to fail ... just turn it into a Battle Royal game and call the project a "success". Who knows what Apex Legends started out as ... | ||
Archeon
3235 Posts
Considering that Anthem is functionally a RPG shooter I don't see much of a difference either way, a shooter engine should be a good tool to develop Anthem with. @DA4 I don't get why they keep pushing online elements when it's very clear that that's not Bioware's forte. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On May 11 2019 01:29 Archeon wrote: They push online because that's where long term money lies.UE4 is fundamentally a shooter engine as well. Sure you can do a lot of things with it, but developing shooters was the standard setting and you'd have to go an extra mile to develop f.e. a round based team RPG on it. Considering that Anthem is functionally a RPG shooter I don't see much of a difference either way, a shooter engine should be a good tool to develop Anthem with. @DA4 I don't get why they keep pushing online elements when it's very clear that that's not Bioware's forte. Why put all that effort into making a great single player game that people will pay 60 bucks for once when you can sell them on a 'live service' and have them pay 60 bucks for the game, and then shovel more and more stuff at them for more money with much lower investment because the base game already exists. | ||
JimmyJRaynor
Canada15564 Posts
Of course, to have "Loot Boxes" or "Card Packs" you need to have the game online/live-service. | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
On May 11 2019 01:29 Archeon wrote: UE4 is fundamentally a shooter engine as well. Sure you can do a lot of things with it, but developing shooters is the standard setting and you'd have to go an extra mile to develop f.e. a round based team RPG on it. I think you're wrong on that front. If you take a look at the list of the games done or being done on this platform you'll notice that shooters aren't even the majority of the titles. And if you take a closer look at the list of titles you'll notice that new AION is being developed with UE4 and open world + MMORPG + flying is pretty much what defines this game (not to mention several flight simulators being developed with this engine). Weren't that exactly the elements BioWare had problems with when using Frostbite? | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://www.ea.com/games/anthem/news/update-120 Hey Everyone, It’s been a little while! I’m excited to finally share some of what the team has been hard at work on. This morning we are releasing update 1.2.0 - FULL NOTES HERE. This update contains some under the hood content you won’t see right away, but is setting things up for a future update, the Cataclysm. Speaking of the Cataclysm, you’re probably wondering when it is going to release. Rather than rush it out the door, we want to take time and get feedback from you and make changes based on what we hear. In order to do that we are releasing a Public Test Server (PTS) on PC, which will allow you to see the content as it is being developed and gives you the ability to provide feedback. While this won’t immediately solve all of the current issues, we want to continue to hear from you as we make improvements to Anthem – and the PTS is a great way to do that. We’ll be diving deeper into these topics (and others) as well as giving a first look at the Cataclysm tomorrow on a livestream at 3pm Central Time over on TWITCH or MIXER. We do hope you’ll join us as we take this step towards a better Anthem. Source | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
https://mixer.com/anthemgame?vod=107178368 https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/busywd/developer_livestream_may_30th_2019/ A couple weeks ago I played and could find't anybody to play the new dungeon except one other player, and nobody after for anything else. Logged on last night and had no trouble. So there's that. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
Anthem was one big disappointment. From release, "roadmap", bugfixing, dev communication, .... Crazy is, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results... | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Following the much-delayed release of Anthem's Cataclysm update last month, BioWare says it will be ditching its originally announced post-launch content plans, and will now be delivering "seasonal updates" in place of its planned regular "Acts" in order to focus on "core issues". When BioWare initially revealed its post-launch content plans for Anthem back in February, just ahead of what transpired to be the game's less-than-stellar release, it teased three different upcoming Acts. Each would consist of several updates, expanding the world and the activities available to players, and would culminate in a limited-time Cataclysm event, designed to shake up the core experience. Act One was originally due to go live in March, but many of its features were delayed as BioWare struggled to remedy the numerous technical issues plaguing Anthem following release. It took six months to get the game's first Cataclysm event out the door, and ne'er a word was spoken about the other two planned Acts in the interim - and now we know why. According to a new blog post from BioWare's head of live services Chad Robertson, the developer will be abandoning its multi-part Acts in favour of what it calls "seasonal updates". "These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you've seen," explained Robertson, "and are built around some fun themes we're bringing to the game." In what's become something of a mantra for BioWare since Anthem's launch, Robertson told players that "We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it." Addressing these concerns would, he said, require "a more thorough review and re-working [of systems] versus quick fixes", which in turn would necessitate moving development away from Acts. Robertson did not elaborate on any of the long-term changes being brought to Anthem in order to alleviate fan concerns. "What I can say," he concluded," is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming." Last month, Ben Irving, Anthem's lead producer (and frequent spokesperson for the game) announced his departure from BioWare after eight years with the company. Source | ||
PoulsenB
Poland7686 Posts
On September 18 2019 09:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Show nested quote + Following the much-delayed release of Anthem's Cataclysm update last month, BioWare says it will be ditching its originally announced post-launch content plans, and will now be delivering "seasonal updates" in place of its planned regular "Acts" in order to focus on "core issues". When BioWare initially revealed its post-launch content plans for Anthem back in February, just ahead of what transpired to be the game's less-than-stellar release, it teased three different upcoming Acts. Each would consist of several updates, expanding the world and the activities available to players, and would culminate in a limited-time Cataclysm event, designed to shake up the core experience. Act One was originally due to go live in March, but many of its features were delayed as BioWare struggled to remedy the numerous technical issues plaguing Anthem following release. It took six months to get the game's first Cataclysm event out the door, and ne'er a word was spoken about the other two planned Acts in the interim - and now we know why. According to a new blog post from BioWare's head of live services Chad Robertson, the developer will be abandoning its multi-part Acts in favour of what it calls "seasonal updates". "These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you've seen," explained Robertson, "and are built around some fun themes we're bringing to the game." In what's become something of a mantra for BioWare since Anthem's launch, Robertson told players that "We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it." Addressing these concerns would, he said, require "a more thorough review and re-working [of systems] versus quick fixes", which in turn would necessitate moving development away from Acts. Robertson did not elaborate on any of the long-term changes being brought to Anthem in order to alleviate fan concerns. "What I can say," he concluded," is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming." Last month, Ben Irving, Anthem's lead producer (and frequent spokesperson for the game) announced his departure from BioWare after eight years with the company. Source Mass Effect died for this | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On September 18 2019 19:40 PoulsenB wrote: Mass effect killed itself, both with the ending of 3 and Andromeda.Show nested quote + On September 18 2019 09:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Following the much-delayed release of Anthem's Cataclysm update last month, BioWare says it will be ditching its originally announced post-launch content plans, and will now be delivering "seasonal updates" in place of its planned regular "Acts" in order to focus on "core issues". When BioWare initially revealed its post-launch content plans for Anthem back in February, just ahead of what transpired to be the game's less-than-stellar release, it teased three different upcoming Acts. Each would consist of several updates, expanding the world and the activities available to players, and would culminate in a limited-time Cataclysm event, designed to shake up the core experience. Act One was originally due to go live in March, but many of its features were delayed as BioWare struggled to remedy the numerous technical issues plaguing Anthem following release. It took six months to get the game's first Cataclysm event out the door, and ne'er a word was spoken about the other two planned Acts in the interim - and now we know why. According to a new blog post from BioWare's head of live services Chad Robertson, the developer will be abandoning its multi-part Acts in favour of what it calls "seasonal updates". "These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you've seen," explained Robertson, "and are built around some fun themes we're bringing to the game." In what's become something of a mantra for BioWare since Anthem's launch, Robertson told players that "We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it." Addressing these concerns would, he said, require "a more thorough review and re-working [of systems] versus quick fixes", which in turn would necessitate moving development away from Acts. Robertson did not elaborate on any of the long-term changes being brought to Anthem in order to alleviate fan concerns. "What I can say," he concluded," is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming." Last month, Ben Irving, Anthem's lead producer (and frequent spokesperson for the game) announced his departure from BioWare after eight years with the company. Source Mass Effect died for this It didn't need Anthem's help. | ||
PoulsenB
Poland7686 Posts
On September 18 2019 19:45 Gorsameth wrote: Show nested quote + Mass effect killed itself, both with the ending of 3 and Andromeda.On September 18 2019 19:40 PoulsenB wrote: On September 18 2019 09:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Following the much-delayed release of Anthem's Cataclysm update last month, BioWare says it will be ditching its originally announced post-launch content plans, and will now be delivering "seasonal updates" in place of its planned regular "Acts" in order to focus on "core issues". When BioWare initially revealed its post-launch content plans for Anthem back in February, just ahead of what transpired to be the game's less-than-stellar release, it teased three different upcoming Acts. Each would consist of several updates, expanding the world and the activities available to players, and would culminate in a limited-time Cataclysm event, designed to shake up the core experience. Act One was originally due to go live in March, but many of its features were delayed as BioWare struggled to remedy the numerous technical issues plaguing Anthem following release. It took six months to get the game's first Cataclysm event out the door, and ne'er a word was spoken about the other two planned Acts in the interim - and now we know why. According to a new blog post from BioWare's head of live services Chad Robertson, the developer will be abandoning its multi-part Acts in favour of what it calls "seasonal updates". "These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you've seen," explained Robertson, "and are built around some fun themes we're bringing to the game." In what's become something of a mantra for BioWare since Anthem's launch, Robertson told players that "We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it." Addressing these concerns would, he said, require "a more thorough review and re-working [of systems] versus quick fixes", which in turn would necessitate moving development away from Acts. Robertson did not elaborate on any of the long-term changes being brought to Anthem in order to alleviate fan concerns. "What I can say," he concluded," is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming." Last month, Ben Irving, Anthem's lead producer (and frequent spokesperson for the game) announced his departure from BioWare after eight years with the company. Source Mass Effect died for this It didn't need Anthem's help. Andromeda was subpar because Bioware moved all experienced devs to Anthem, leaving a secondary, less experienced team to develop it (they only did DLCs before Andromeda iirc). ME3 is a great game (with amazing DLCs too) even if the last 15 minutes didn't meet the expectations. But sorry for offtopic - I'll shut up now. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 21 2019 17:52 Harris1st wrote: Show nested quote + On February 21 2019 16:49 seemsgood wrote: should i buy the game right away or wait for 1-2 months ? all the fuss about this game really got my hype drying out Honestly, at this point I wouldn't buy at all. If you really want to play, get a 1 month subscription to origin and play for a month. New content is very far away anyway (nothing announced, massive amount of bugs to fix and polishing to do) When the first DLC arrives the main game could very well be F2P already So very close ^^ A bit over half a year later Anthem is available in the origin acess basic costing 4$ a month | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
Just...Just, it's so unnecessarily complicated that while it's fun to me, it frustrates me how much better this could've been. It's almost as bad on launch as D3 (as someone recently made me realize was really shitty). And while we've come a long way since then, there's still sooo much left to be done. At least the same amount of time that's already been invested into it. Not content wise, that's a whole different story, but menu, gameplay, stats screen, balancing, bugs, crashes, server issues... | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On November 16 2019 05:23 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: If this is true its such a stupid way to go about things by doing this redesign in secret.Pretty big news considering. https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1195394013131608066 You're burning what good will your players have and by the time the redesign comes out people will be extremely hesitant to even try it. How can you not learn from FF14 who tried fixing the game for 3 months, failed and then publicly apologised and announced their intent to redesign the game. So players knew what was going on and has a reason to keep faith. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
But for Anthem it might be too little, too late. Specially considering you ever only read negative about the game and how 90% of the team left (or sth along those lines) | ||
Latham
9507 Posts
So not only making amends gameplay-wise helps, but also trying to shake off the dingleberries known as ActiBlizz and EA could also have a big impact on your game, and maybe making it available to a bigger number of players on multiple storefronts. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On November 18 2019 21:24 Latham wrote: You think leaving the blizzard launcher was a more important boost to the number of players then the f2p relaunch itself?I can't cite my source, but I've read somewhere that moving from the blizzard launcher to Steam also gave Destiny 2 a big resurge in popularity after the initial launch. It's even still in the top 5 of most played games on Steam currently. https://steamcharts.com/top So not only making amends gameplay-wise helps, but also trying to shake off the dingleberries known as ActiBlizz and EA could also have a big impact on your game, and maybe making it available to a bigger number of players on multiple storefronts. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
One year ago, we were preparing to launch Anthem – a game that represented a big leap into new territory for us as a studio. It was an exhilarating and terrifying experience to go out to the world with something new and different, and we are grateful to all the players who have come along with us on the journey. It has been a thrill for us to see the creativity of our players in designing customized Javelins, and watching them master Anthem’s flying and fighting gameplay. I am so proud of the work the team has put into this game, and at the same time there’s so much more that we – and you – would have wanted from it. Over the last year, the team has worked hard to improve stability, performance and general quality of life while delivering three seasons of new content and features. We have also heard your feedback that Anthem needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression and a more fulfilling end game. So we recognize that there’s still more fundamental work to be done to bring out the full potential of the experience, and it will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion. Over the coming months we will be focusing on a longer-term redesign of the experience, specifically working to reinvent the core gameplay loop with clear goals, motivating challenges and progression with meaningful rewards – while preserving the fun of flying and fighting in a vast science-fantasy setting. And to do that properly we’ll be doing something we’d like to have done more of the first time around – giving a focused team the time to test and iterate, focusing on gameplay first. In the meantime, we will continue to run the current version of Anthem, but move away from full seasons as the team works towards the future of Anthem. We’ll keep the game going with events, store refreshes, and revisiting past seasonal and cataclysm content – starting with our anniversary towards the end of the month. Creating new worlds is central to our studio mission, but it’s not easy. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we miss. What keeps us going is the support from players like you. Your feedback gives us guidance on how we can improve, and your passion inspires us with the courage to create. I look forward to working together with your involvement and feedback towards the best possible future for Anthem. Casey Source | ||
Sermokala
United States13540 Posts
that ended up not actually happening and was the core for the long term story that the new game would follow for years. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
After confirming it would be giving its beleaguered online shooter Anthem a thorough retooling earlier this year, BioWare has finally resurfaced to reveal more of its plans. Announcing Anthem's "substantial reinvention" in February, BioWare's general manager Casey Hudson explained the goal was deliver to a "more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression, and a more fulfilling end game", with a focus on improving the core gameplay loop with "clear goals, motivating challenges and progression with meaningful rewards". And now, three months on, studio director Christian Dailey has offered a progress report on that ambitious overhaul, revealing the team (said to total around 30 people) is currently at the incubation stage of development and "starting to validate [its] design hypotheses". "Incubation...essentially means we are going back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short," explained Bailey, "and to leverage everything that [players] love currently about Anthem." Those hoping to see a radically new-look Anthem any time soon may be in for disappointment, however. "This is going to be a longer process," warned Bailey, "the whole point of this is to take our time and go back to the drawing board." Bailey acknowledged there were "tough challenges to tackle" in overhauling Anthem's much-maligned systems, but said the team wanted to be "open and honest with where we are at and what the expectations are with where we are going". To that end, BioWare intends to begin communicating more regularly again in order to keep players informed of its progress, whether that be through blog post, livestream, or social media. "The reality is you will see things that look awesome but end up on the cutting room floor," he continued, "or things that you might think suck that you feel we are spending too much time on - but in the spirit of experimentation this is all OK. We really want to provide you all the transparency we can because of your passion and interest in Anthem. But, with that comes seeing how the sausage is made - which is not always pretty by the way." Bailey said the studio will share more of its plans soon. Source | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
www.gamestar.de Loot and progression are completely overhauled and new stuff added, like a pirate race for example | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
Electronic Arts Inc. will hold a meeting this week to determine whether it will continue trying to create a new version of the failed online game Anthem, according to three people familiar with the matter. Anthem, a multiplayer game by the EA-owned developer BioWare, launched in February 2019 to poor reviews. In the following months, BioWare put together a small team to overhaul the game. Executive Producer Christian Dailey wrote three blog posts last year outlining some of the big changes planned. But in December, Dailey left the Anthem team as part of a BioWare management shakeup, leaving the project’s fate in question. This week, EA executives will review the latest version of Anthem Next and decide whether to expand the team or abandon the project, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. The Anthem Next team includes about 30 people, BioWare said last year. People familiar with the project said it will need to expand to at least triple that in order to produce new content and continue attempting to overhaul the game. EA has not yet indicated whether it’s willing to commit that kind of budget to revive a maligned game. A spokesman for EA said the company doesn’t comment on “rumor and speculation.” Anthem Next includes major changes to the game’s core systems and user interface, the people said. It’s not clear if or when these changes will be implemented in the version that’s currently available to players. In the video game industry, second chances aren’t unheard of. Games like No Man’s Sky and Final Fantasy XIV turned around rocky launches with consistent updates and patches. CD Projekt SA’s recently released role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 is hoping to follow a similar redemption story. Source | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
If I were EA, I would let it die in piece. From business point of view: What is there to gain? Some people own it already and they are not gonna pay a dime more. And some don't own it and I can't see any reason to buy into it. Specially with a direct competitor and probably better game about to release (though that remains to be seen). EA would have to release it to F2P and gain some momentum with the playerbase to then develop it even further in direction of GaaS and make money with microtranactions and additional content. A long shot at best | ||
Firebolt145
Lalalaland34456 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 09 2021 17:42 Firebolt145 wrote: It looked a lot of fun and I was disappointed that it failed. I would definitely consider it if they did a Destiny 2 style revamp. Free demo in ~ 2 weeks. Seems pretty similar to Anthem but without the flying part (I think?) | ||
Firebolt145
Lalalaland34456 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
But imo you need thick skin to find the correct items WITH corresponding stats to make lots of builds work in the limited late game. | ||
Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On February 09 2021 19:06 Firebolt145 wrote: exactly, the flying part is what made Anthem, Anthem and not just another 'destiny clone'.But the flying was amazing! I don't think Anthem had the resurgence needed to justify spending tons more money on fixing it, so I expect it to be cancelled. Anthem needed a NMS/FF14 style recovery and never got it. | ||
Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 09 2021 19:06 Firebolt145 wrote: But the flying was amazing! Agreed! This game could have been great. And I'm not even complaining cause I got my moneys worth in play time. | ||
nakiri037
1 Post
User was banned for this post. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41087 Posts
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Gorsameth
Netherlands20756 Posts
On February 25 2021 04:13 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: No surprise. People were not coming back so why throw more money after bad.https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1364654145559539716 If they wanted to revive Anthem they needed to go full on that right after launch, they waited way to long (and likely didn't have the funds/man power to do so). | ||
Artisreal
Germany9227 Posts
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Firebolt145
Lalalaland34456 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
BioWare and EA are just a shitfest | ||
Manit0u
Poland17046 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6136 Posts
On February 25 2021 21:12 Manit0u wrote: Bioware's statement: https://blog.bioware.com/2021/02/24/anthem-update/ That seems purely for fact that they don't want to get sued. We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today. Specially this part. | ||
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