BioWare released today update 1.2.0 to Anthem out of the blue. This is a rather large hotfix, but a small content patch at the same time. The highlights are the new Freeplay features and the three new Legendary missions. The studio is also releasing a Public Test Server (PTS) with the Cataclism on it and is planning a live stream to preview and talk about it!
Please, consider white-listing VULKK.com with your AdBlocker and support the site! Thanks!
It has been a while and that’s exactly what Jesse Anderson (community manager for Anthem) states in his opening post introducing today’s update:
“It’s been a little while! I’m excited to finally share some of what the team has been hard at work on.
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.”
Today we got Anthem Update 1.2.0. it is about 4 GB in size for PC and about the same size for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Next time you log in to the game’s launcher, you will be asked to update your game before you can play.
Nothing from the delayed features have been added just yet, but we do get some great news. The Cataclism will be accessible on PC via a Public Test Server and the devs have announced a live stream for May 30th on which they plan to preview some of it and talk some more of what is coming and what the team has been busy with in the past few weeks.
Today we also got three new Emerald Abyss Legendary Missions. A lot of fixes for the previously added six Legendary Missions have also been applied with the patch.
An update and some tweaks have been made to the matchmaking system. Community manager Jesse Anderson explained on the official EA HQ forums that the tweaks that the devs made for this update may result in slightly longer waiting times before you are put into a mission, but this will lower the chances that you get thrown into an expedition alone. The timers that allow players to backfill existing missions have been extended as well.
The best of all – the Freeplay features! Collectible items will now show up as question marks on the map when you are near one. A purple target icon will show the ares in which an enemy with guaranteed loot drop will spawn for you. This is usually the final mob that spawns. They always have been spawning, the game now just points you to the direction of the next enemy location.
You can also fast-travel from one Strider location to another directly from within Freeplay. This will make exploration even faster. I do not recommend it to beginner players, though. Anthem’s world is filled with interesting things to see and pick up. Now that you also get these nice question marks in the radar, you can find them a lot easier and complete your unfinished exploration achievements quicker.
Chat is still not available in Anthem, but the devs have added a tool that could stand between a regular chat feature and nothing at all – a circle with emotes. You can ask for help, tell others to follow you and other things like that. The three emotes are also available from here. The panel is accessed by pressing B on PC. The reactions are shown for a few seconds in a special “chat” box in the bottom left corner of your screen. If your javelin is downed, a chat message is sent automatically to the group and the chat window pops up.
By the way the text to speech feature (disabled by default and available from an earlier update) is also a nice alternative until eventually a real chat functionality is implemented.
The nerf to Dominion Brutes is at the same time annoying and very welcome. There are several encounters in the game where these creatures are heavily present and attacking you in waves. Now they have no shields any more and the level of the challenge much lower.
One little quality of life improvement that I noticed immediately is that when you add a Sigil to a slot, it now automatically takes you back to the previous menu, thus saving you an extra pointless click to get back. Absolutely loved that. Next, please – bulk sigil crafting option!
Now, for the more curious of you, here are the full and official patch notes for Anthem Update 1.2.0, released on May 28, 2019:
Features
- Freeplay
- Improved the compass to show collectible items as a question mark when you are near one.
- Added a purple target icon to show an area where an enemy that is guaranteed to drop loot will appear. When the enemy appears, they will have a white target icon.
- Added the ability to fast travel to different strider locations from the map while in freeplay.
- Three Emerald Abyss Legendary Missions have been added.
- Load screens now display lore regarding the location that you are loading into.
- Added a simple UI for players to communicate non-verbally with each other and express themselves via emotes. This is accessed by pressing down on the D-Pad if using a controller, or B on a keyboard for PC.
General
- Fixed an issue where the “Alt” key could not be correctly used in keybinding.
Creatures
- Dominion Storm and Frost Brutes no longer have shields.
- All Storm Javelins (Elementalists, Valkyries, etc) now regenerate their shields like other shielded creatures. When hovering they can be grounded with force or with fire status effects.
- The Scar Hunter can now be grounded with fire status effects.
- Improved the animation of the Scar Grenadier grenade throw to be more clear.
Javelin Changes
- Looking away from interaction point while interacting no longer cancels the interaction.
Gear Changes
- Interceptor
- Base damage of Cluster Mine has been increased from 110 to 135
- Base damage of Searching Glaive has been increased from 550 to 605
- Base damage of Plasma Star has been increased from 110 to 210
- Base damage of Wraith Strike has been increased from 250 to 315
- Colossus
- Base damage of Burst Mortar has been increased from 300 to 400
- Base damage of Flak Cannon has been increased from 42 to 60
- Base damage of Black Powder (Masterwork Flak Cannon) has been increased from 52.5 to 75
- Ranger
- Base damage of Blast Missile has been increased from 220 to 310
- Based damage of Argo’s Mace (Masterwork Blast Missile) has been increased from 275 to 387.5
- Storm
- Base damage of Flame Burst has been increased from 150 to 260
- Base damage of Venomous Blaze (Masterwork Flame Burst) has been increased from 225 to 390
- Base damage of Arc Burst has been increased from 300/150 to 375/185
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed a bug where multiple status effects applied to creatures were not able to be detonated for combos.
- Inventory slot count at End of Expedition now matches the Forge and Vault
- Cortex Menu – Various bugs with navigation and opening/closing the cortex have been fixed.
- Cortex Menu – Fixed issues where some entries could not be ‘mark as read’ or would be become unread
- New items gained from an expedition will now properly show the new item icon
- Reduced frequency and intensity of several weapon muzzle flashes and gear effects.
- Colossus Components “Reinforced Hull” and “Colossal Stock Augment” have had several issues with their text descriptions fixed.
- Fixed an issue where the Javelin’s lower body would twist oddly when strafing and swapping weapons.
- Resolved errors with the “Conductive Lattice” Interceptor Component not always providing correct stat bonuses.
- The “Recommended Power” values were unintentionally reverted to their original values and have been fixed. The values should now read 425 for GM1, 575 for GM2, and 675 for GM3.
Strongholds
- General – Fixed various issues where players could get stuck, get outside of the environment, and other art-related issues.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where the Monitor’s glaive would rotate oddly during his final animation.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where you couldn’t replay the Heart of Rage after selecting to play another mission at the end of expedition screen.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where the door closed prematurely preventing players from progressing to the arena.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where a player could be party gathered if hovering too close to the door of the second arena.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where you would receive no loot if your entire party was downed during the final phase of the titan fight.
- Heart of Rage – Fixed an issue where the Monitor encounter would break if too much damage was done before the final phase.
- Sunken Cell – Fixed an issue where the Fury sometimes would collide with rotating pillar on entering the arena.
- Sunken Cell – Fixed some issues where creatures were unable to path to the player correctly.
- Sunken Cell – Fixed an issue where the flight suppression progress wasn’t showing for some members of a squad.
- Sunken Cell – Fixed an issue where Ash Brutes would be able to move while frozen.
- Sunken Cell – Fixed some issues with the Spanish voice over conversations.
- Temple of Scar – Fixed an issue where the player could stand inside the shield bubble of the final boss.
- Temple of Scar – Fixed an issue where the player could be knocked into a cage and trapped in the boss arena.
- Temple of Scar – Fixed an issue where rejoining a session at the final boss arena would cause the player to spawn outside of the arena and then get party gathered into the arena.
- Tyrant Mine – Fixed an issue where the icon would appear twice on the Expedition map.
- Tyrant Mine – Fixed an issue with text missing on the objective.
Missions and Legendary Missions
- General: Fixed an issue where the Legendary Missions did not unlock after completing Return to the Heart of Rage.
- General: Fixed an issue where a player could launch a legendary mission that was no longer available on the schedule and would spawn in with no content.
- General: Fixed an issue where Legendary Missions would be locked until the next mission was available if you started a mission and didn’t complete it.
- Finding Old Friends – Legendary: Fixed an issue where disconnecting during the mission would cause the mission objectives to disappear and prevent the mission from progressing.
- Finding Old Friends – Legendary: Fixed an issue where two objective markers were present at the same time.
- Finding Old Friends (Original and Legendary): Fixed an issue where dying on the “Go to Strider” objective, the player would be respawned across the map.
- Finding Old Friends: Fixed an issue where dialog wasn’t playing for some players in a squad.
- Finding Old Friends: Added missing summary text in the Journal entry for completed mission.
- Finding Old Friends – Legendary: Fixed an issue where players that did not bring both pieces of Ursix meat to gain entry to see Princess Zhim stopped the mission from progressing.
- Fortress of Dawn: Fixed an issue where players were able to control their EXO during the cinematics.
- Incursion (Original and Legendary): Fixed an issue with party gather after leaving the interior of the cave.
- Incursion (Original and Legendary): Fixed an issue with multiple objective markers appearing.
- Legion of Dawn: Added missing outcome text in the Journal entry for completed mission.
- Lost Arcanist – Legendary: Fixed an issue where the objective marker was using an incorrect icon.
- Rescue Haluk – Legendary: Fixed an issue where the mission didn’t progress until all party members arrived at the beginning location.
- Rescue Haluk – Legendary: Fixed an issue where the move to the lower courtyard objective didn’t appear until all party members reached a specific point.
- Rescue Haluk: Fixed an issue where the summary did not appear in the Journal after completing the mission.
- Matthias Contract – Arcanist Runes: Fixed an issue where no enemies were spawning on the last objective.
- Yarrow – Tempting Target: Fixed an issue where the objective marker was missing.
- Yarrow – Imposter: Fixed an issue with the text in the Journal when this mission was completed.
Fort Tarsis
- Fixed an issue where Forge UI appeared during cinematic for Crafting the Dawn Shield.
- Clarified the objective text for building and equipping the Dawn Shield.
- Fixed visual issues with the curtains at the entrance to the bar in Fort Tarsis.
- Adjusted the conversation with Sev in the introduction to the Sunken Cell stronghold to reflect that you’ve spoken with Sev previously.
Environment
- Fixed various issues where players could get stuck, get outside of the environment, and other art-related issues.
Freeplay/World Events
- Fixed an issue where scar hatches would sometimes appear and be enabled to enter in the middle of a world event instead of at the end.
- Reputation rewards – Fixed an issue where reputation points were not being awarded for the Freelancer in Need world event and added reputation points for discovering caves you can enter.
- Fixed issues with the Arcanist Korox Study world event where dying and respawning was sometimes causing the world event to break and not be able to complete.
This update does not come without some known issues and new bugs, of course. Here is a list of the officially acknowledged and confirmed issues so far:
- Players getting stuck at End of Expedition screen (have to skip results)
- Players able to be downed while using their ultimate ability
- Some challenges still aren’t tracking properly, such as “Legendary Freelancer”
- Weapons sometimes not firing where they are aimed
- Can’t talk to NPCs who have speech bubbles above their head in Fort Tarsis
- Auto rez after a boss is defeated not always working
- Health bar randomly disappearing on final boss in Sunken Cell Stronghold
- Can’t choose Stronghold/Missions again from end of expedition screen after completing one
- Armor issues (both display and actual)
- Trophies/Achievements not popping when conditions to earn them have been met
- DLSS Screen Freeze – For PC players with DLSS enabled, if they play an Arcanist Secrets world quest during freeplay, the screen will freeze upon interacting with the vault. The UI updates, but their exo and the world are stuck in place. During this time, the user is free to move around and play, but nothing will change on screen until the timer is done, at which point everything recovers.
- Slower Salvaging after update 1.1.0 – Fixed
- Values incorrect on most masterwork and legendary items/weapons (values very low – display issue only) – Fixed
This is accurate as of the time of this post’s publication.
BioWare’s Andrew Johnson posted a tweet to update us on the fact that BioWare is not part of the EA Play live stream schedule for a reason. The studio is planning to announce their content on May 30th with their own live event on Twitch and Mixer. However, Andrew points that the studio will still be present at EA Play. How and what are they planning exactly, is still unknown.
Getting a lot of questions about it, so I want to clarify that #AnthemGame will still be part of EA PLAY this year. It’s not part of the EA PLAY livestream run of show released today because we have a stream planned tomorrow from here at BioWare. More news tomorrow.
— Andrew Johnson (@UNTDrew) May 29, 2019
