BioWare’s general manager Casey Hudson shared in a blog post a few thoughts of how Anthem’s launch was more rocky than expected and how the company is determined to please the players with constant and useful updates to the game in the months to come. In short – the studio has big plans for the game and wants our support.
It has been nearly a month since the worldwide release of Anthem on February 22, 2019. The general manager of BioWare – Casey Hudson – posted a few thoughts on the company’s blog to summarize the game’s launch and first updates after it. Not everything was shiny and flawless… to put it politely.Anthem’s many game-breaking bugs like the PlayStation 4 crash, the sound loss, the endless loading screen and frequent disconnects plagued the first weeks after the release. BioWare has been doing their best to patch and fix things in reasonable time and they deserve credit for their efforts.
Casey, himself, acknowledges the issues Anthem had at launch in the blog post: “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”, and admits that “we were of course very disappointed about that, as were many of you.”
It is true that some things can only be noticed when you go large. The devs took no break in the first few weekends, working to patch and fix some of the core problems. The last week’s small “loot update” on the server side was a great example that they listen to the community. It increased the chance for Masterwork and Legendary items to drop in Grandmaster 2 and 3 difficulties. That update, however, seems to have been accepted with mixed feelings. Some players even believe the update broke some time on Saturday and reverted back to the old version from before Thursday.
While the “luck stat” exists in Anthem, things will always be shaky and strange. While the RNG factor in deciding if the inscriptions get a “god roll” for your new Masterwork or Legendary item. While the Heart of Rage‘s final boss is the only thing 80% of the players get to see when queuing for this Stronghold. While… ok, you get the point. These are only a few of the most popular comments and complaints that you can see from the community if you open any Anthem Facebook page, Forum, EA Answers HQ or Reddit.
The studio proved already that they listen to feedback. Many, if not most, of the changes since launch are based on the players’ demands and requests. The second big client-side patch – Update 1.0.3 – introduced a ton of things taken directly from “BioWare’s suggestion box” (no such thing exists in reality, hence the quotation :P).
Anthem is yet again a step into a brand new direction for BioWare. This is the first new IP from the studio in many, many years. “With Anthem we’re trying something a little different than we’ve done before. And likewise our upcoming games will be different from Anthem” – strong finishing words from the general manager. His post clearly proves that just like it was with SWTOR (MMORPG that launched in 2011 and is still staying strong today), it will be a while before the developers and designers find the sweep spot Anthem wants to be in. Right now the game struggles to be many things at once, but fails at some and doesn’t stand out at all in others. The only place Anthem is an absolute king is the flying and the gameplay over all.
“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” – Casey is doing everything he can to assure the us, the players, that the game is here to stay. He also reminds us that “this is all a learning experience for us” (us = BioWare).
While all the rage on Anthem’s issues seems to have overtaken the internet and mostly YouTube, Venturebeat came up with an interesting statistic, showing that Anthem is the best selling game in February and second best for 2019. Even better – Anthem scored the second best launch month for a BioWare title. It only falls behind the studio’s Mass Effect 3 from 2012.
Vulkk’s thoughts…
I, personally, am still enjoying Anthem and plan to do so in the long term. I also experience some annoying bugs like the random disconnect just after you have formed the group and started an expedition. I endure the many issues, because I know what the modern definition of a “game as a live service” means. I expected it. This doesn’t mean I like seeing all these problems, but nothing in this world is perfect.
Why am liking Anthem then, you ask? I like sticking to a game once I choose it. Ever since the E3 2017 trailer, I knew I will be playing it. So far I am glad to say that the problems surrounding Anthem have not withered my entertainment. The GM3 farm for Legendaries gets boring at times
For me Anthem is a completely new experience as well. I have never before played or cared for looter shooter games. I liked Diablo 2, but never to the point where I would farm the **** out of a dungeon/map to get that elusive item with a drop rate of 0.00012%. I like Anthem’s mechanics and see that BioWare is not giving up on it like they did with Mass Effect: Andromeda last year. Anthem has so much potential, it’s insane what this game could be in a few months or an year.
Where do you stand in all of this mess? Do you enjoy Anthem? Have you even tried it or did the bad press put you off?
Last, but not least, let me remind you that tonight on Wednesday March 20th, there will be a Live Stream from BioWare (starting at 21:00 GMT on Twitch and Mixer), previewing the new content coming to Anthem. The recently updated Anthem Roadmap suggests that the first batch of Legendary Missions should be released this month.
If you miss the stream or cannot sit through its length (40-50 minutes usually), don’t worry. Full recap and overview of what was announced will be available right here on VULKK.com shortly after the event! So, don’t forget to sign up for new posts notifications if you haven’t done so yet.
