Anthem - PrEAying it Doesn't Suck

[MCerberus]

So waiting for reviews and, oof.
It's 61 on metacritic right now, which makes me wonder.

Do you think there's an element of hype backlash? EA hate? Overreacting to past overly-glowing reviews in the genre? Because UI design aside, I've not seen a game with a technically competent core gameplay get this kind of reaction, which, if I can quote Penny Arcade is game reviewers using the "forbidden numbers".

[Psyren]

I don't think it's "EA hate." Apex is also EA and it's beloved by the masses, sitting at 89%.

This Forbes article is pretty spot-on for my own perspective. The problems (and they are real problems) are all fixable; it's not like there is an issue endemic to the core gameplay loop's fundamental DNA. The lack of content, the questionable peripheral design decisions, the bugs are all knots that can be untangled.

I have a lot of playtime left, and by the time I get to the point that there is nothing left to see, I'm confident there will be. March is only a week away after all.

On a related note - what was the Division rated at at launch, and what did it eventually become?

[Inarius]

I don't think it's "EA hate." Apex is also EA and it's beloved by the masses, sitting at 89%.

This Forbes article is pretty spot-on for my own perspective. The problems (and they are real problems) are all fixable; it's not like there is an issue endemic to the core gameplay loop's fundamental DNA. The lack of content, the questionable peripheral design decisions, the bugs are all knots that can be untangled.

I have a lot of playtime left, and by the time I get to the point that there is nothing left to see, I'm confident there will be. March is only a week away after all.

On a related note - what was the Division rated at at launch, and what did it eventually become?

Honestly I seem to remember the Division getting pretty good reviews on launch in general. I think the problem is mostly people are just tired of games like Destiny and Division that release with limited content at launch that will eventually get to a fuller state.

Personally I don't think its a solvable issue with these style of games, they already have long development cycles just to get them to launch state and it usually takes another 2ish years to get them into the state where people consider them fully fleshed out. Financially these games wouldn't make sense for AAA publishers without getting people in as early adopters. Not that that's not a predatory business strategy, but I think its probably the only one that works for this game style.

Also I think there's a touch of Bioware disappointment going on, though it seems way less vitriolic than it was for Andromeda. I'm pretty sure every Bioware game is going to be tainted to some degree by that if the company manages to survive going forward.

[Binks]

On a related note - what was the Division rated at at launch, and what did it eventually become?

Around 80% (6-8/10 or 4/5 ballpark) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cl...vision#Reviews

It's basically still in the same place today - https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/t...s-the-division

[Giggling Ghast]

The big complaint about The Division at launch was how boring it was, and the bullet sponginess of its enemies. But a degree of tedium seems to go hand in hand with looter shooters, so fans of that genre stayed loyal.

The complaints about Anthem seem to be centred on its constant loading screens, bugs, poor story and some bizarre design choices on BioWare’s part, like the lack of a stats screen.

I still see a lot of people who like it, so I think Anthem will do OK sales-wise, but it ain’t gonna be the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for.

[Inarius]

The big complaint about The Division at launch was how boring it was, and the bullet sponginess of its enemies. But a degree of tedium seems to go hand in hand with looter shooters, so fans of that genre stayed loyal.

The complaints about Anthem seem to be centred on its constant loading screens, bugs, poor story and some bizarre design choices on BioWare’s part, like the lack of a stats screen.

I still see a lot of people who like it, so I think Anthem will do OK sales-wise, but it ain’t gonna be the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for.

Yeah those were listed reasons for why people had issues with the Division and Anthem and there's validity to them too. The thing is most people will ignore those issues if there isn't a bigger issue at play like say lack of content which leads to too much repetition. There's a reason Fallout New Vegas is considered the best of the new Fallouts, and yet its probably the buggiest of the bunch. I'm sure we could both come up with a host of other games that are a lot of fun despite their bugginess so usually when I see people bring up issues like that I tend to think of them as not the main issue with the game even when people are claiming it is.

[ngilop]

So far I have enjoyed the game, it is , to me, a lesser firefall/better warframe.

My issues are the following:

Load screens. I mean you get loading screens for your load screen. I literally have to wait longer for the 6 or 8 load screens than the actual expedition.

The sound just randomly stops.

Expeditions just glitch and that last unique mob never spawns so you have to leave and restart all over

I have seen other colossi using a giant metal shield.. How do I get one and if I already have it.. how do I use it. It is nowhere on my keybind options and I cannot find any information on how to use it in the internet just that the 'shield' bar you see on a colossus is their shield that is big and metal. ANY help with this would be good.


I wish it was more MMO than what it is, but I guess I have to settle when they make things cross platform.

[Psyren]

I still see a lot of people who like it, so I think Anthem will do OK sales-wise, but it ain’t gonna be the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for.

Destiny did a fine job at being the Destiny-killer all on its own

So far I have enjoyed the game, it is , to me, a lesser firefall/better warframe.

Ahh, Firefall. What could have been...

I have seen other colossi using a giant metal shield.. How do I get one and if I already have it.. how do I use it. It is nowhere on my keybind options and I cannot find any information on how to use it in the internet just that the 'shield' bar you see on a colossus is their shield that is big and metal. ANY help with this would be good.

It's the same button that's used to dodge on other javelins, so whatever that keybind is for you... I'm afraid I don't know the default because I immediately bound the dodge key to middle mouse like I did for Andromeda.

I wish it was more MMO than what it is, but I guess I have to settle when they make things cross platform.

It was never meant to be an MMO in that sense though. It's a lot closer to Diablo - a lot of people can play, but only a few will see each other in a game session at any given time.

Firefall is probably as close as we're going to get to a truly massive MMOFPS for a while. It's a shame too because it had so much potential, and it got sunk by bad business practices moreso than by the product itself (though the abysmal gearing system certainly didn't help.)

[Driderman]

I still see a lot of people who like it, so I think Anthem will do OK sales-wise, but it ain’t gonna be the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for.

I thought Destiny 2 was the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for?

[Kadesh]

The big complaint about The Division at launch was how boring it was, and the bullet sponginess of its enemies. But a degree of tedium seems to go hand in hand with looter shooters, so fans of that genre stayed loyal.

The complaints about Anthem seem to be centred on its constant loading screens, bugs, poor story and some bizarre design choices on BioWare’s part, like the lack of a stats screen.

I still see a lot of people who like it, so I think Anthem will do OK sales-wise, but it ain’t gonna be the Destiny-killer EA was hoping for.

At least with Looter Shooters like Borderlands, you have Alien entities and vast mecha constructs which gives some credence to "oh, this stuff is now stronger because you are". With the Division, you're actively making yourself worse as you level, which is senseless, benjamin button gameism, which is hard to rationalise against humans, post apocalyptic or otherwise.

[Calemyr]

I disagree that all of Anthem's problems are fixable. A few of them will require major overhauls, on par with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, to resolve.

The major things the can fix (relatively easily) to my mind?
* Redesign missions to utilize more than the two existing event types (Point Defense and Scavenger Hunt). The monotony is murderous. Events that play on the verticality of the environment and the mobility of the Javelins would really help. Hell, the very concept of Shaper Relics opens a world of possibilities. I mean, imagine having to use a relic to ground a flying enemy by turn Wyverns on them to cook their engines or a swarm of bugs screw with their flight. Or using one relic to detonate the relics an outlaw is trying to load into his vehicle? Or creating hard light platforms to allow the party to flank the enemy and/or get access to their weak point? You could do so much with them with a little more creativity.
* Redesign flight just a little. Remove overheating outside of combat - the distance and the flight to an objective should be highlights, not tedious. Or at least remove overheat when "tethered" as nothing in this game frustrates me more than trying to catch up to a speedrunner, only to heat up and have to land and get caught up in yet another <numerous expletives deleted> loading screen.
* Find ways to improve Tarsis. The inability to run or jump in there makes it an exercise in tedium while the game seems to relish putting quest-critical conversations in the bar or Matthias's room, forcing you to traverse the whole fort to get there, then go all the way back to the Forge to leave.
* If you can't get rid of or reduce them, make loading screens useful or entertaining. Give us gossip, lore entries, player stats, lists of nearly-completed challenges, or even a <redacted> Grabbit prancing around the black abyss. Heck, give us clips from Crimson Lancer or Dawnguard!
* Common to Masterwork weapons being iterations of the same 3 models per class is... acceptable. Hopefully new models will be introduced over time, but for the moment it works. But legendary weapons should be more unique in look and feel and not just simplistic mechanical quirks. An LMG that looks like a minigun. A laser rifle. A revolver with that feels (in power and rate of fire) more like a sniper rifle than a side arm.
* Add sorting options to gear pages. Let me arrange it so I can see all my Havoc LMGs in a row so I can clean out the trash.

Edit: One more really obvious one.
* Redesign the Tomb challenges to be interesting instead of busy work. Why the hell does the ghostly guardian of a dead hero care if I've looted 15 chests? How does that make me "worthy"? Why not make the challenges tied to the owner of a tomb. "This guy was a saint, so do X Javelin repairs, Y world missions, and this unique contract where you help a Strider get home safely." "This gal was a knight, through and through. Kill X enemies in melee combat, kill Y enemies of elite or higher rank, and complete this unique contract disposing of an unusually large Wyvern."

At least, those are the ones that come to mind quickly.

[Psyren]

^ Agreed on the tomb quest and the loading screens. I want more mission variety also; not necessarily what you suggested but some additions would be nice. They have a lot of examples to draw from (ME3, Warframe, Destiny) so adding variety shouldn't be difficult.

Some counterpoints however:

- You actually can run in Tarsis, it was added after the demo. I do think not being able to launch from wherever you are in the fort is an oversight, especially since you can do exactly that if you're in a party, nobody has to walk back to the launch bay then.

- Overheat while flying between points of interest is a good thing - it rewards skilled play by aiming for waterfalls, dipping into lakes, skimming rivers etc to extend or reset your flight time. The vast majority of routes contain at least one of the three.

- You can view/sort your gear by type in the Vault, and salvage there as well.

[Calemyr]

^ Agreed on the tomb quest and the loading screens. I want more mission variety also; not necessarily what you suggested but some additions would be nice. They have a lot of examples to draw from (ME3, Warframe, Destiny) so adding variety shouldn't be difficult.

Some counterpoints however:

- You actually can run in Tarsis, it was added after the demo. I do think not being able to launch from wherever you are in the fort is an oversight, especially since you can do exactly that if you're in a party, nobody has to walk back to the launch bay then.

- Overheat while flying between points of interest is a good thing - it rewards skilled play by aiming for waterfalls, dipping into lakes, skimming rivers etc to extend or reset your flight time. The vast majority of routes contain at least one of the three.

- You can view/sort your gear by type in the Vault, and salvage there as well.

I wouldn't count a 5% increase in speed (if that) "running", not in a game that captures the joy of movement so well in the rest of the game. Striding, maybe? Power walking at most. Sure, you may not have superhuman agility outside of the Javelin, but I should at least be able to reliably tell when the shift key is actually doing something. At least give me enough freedom of movement that the janitor yells at me, okay?

I will accept that sometimes the tricks to extend flight time can be fun, but they greatly overextend their welcome. And it's made so very much worse by multiplayer's tethering system, which makes it nearly impossible to catch up, doesn't give you the time to even try to catch up, hides your heat bar while the timer is displayed, and ultimately punishes you with yet another loading screen because some jackass already knew where the next objective was going to be before the marker updated.

Didn't know about the vault. Thanks for pointing that out.

Edit: I'm not sold on my mission objectives suggestions, either. However, it's poor form to critique without offering alternatives, if only to get the ball rolling.

[Spacewolf]

I do quite enjoy the heat system when I'm flying around I was messing around in Freeplay yesterday to get the tombs and could get from one end of the map to the other without needing to land if I planned and it does mean you can't just zone out completely.

The world events are pretty repetitive though looks like there are about 3/4 and I collected so much loot on my expedition that I ran into Anthems salvage system which is pretty awful. You can only salvage one item at a time and there's an annoyingly long wait between each item, you can send it to the junk pile and then salvage all from there but their is still a delay to move each item to the junk. I'm guessing it's supposed to stop duping by giving the main sever a chance to detect the change but as it is it's pretty awful.

[Psyren]

I wouldn't count a 5% increase in speed (if that) "running", not in a game that captures the joy of movement so well in the rest of the game. Striding, maybe? Power walking at most. Sure, you may not have superhuman agility outside of the Javelin, but I should at least be able to reliably tell when the shift key is actually doing something. At least give me enough freedom of movement that the janitor yells at me, okay?

I can reliably tell; I wouldn't object to more speed though.

I will accept that sometimes the tricks to extend flight time can be fun, but they greatly overextend their welcome. And it's made so very much worse by multiplayer's tethering system, which makes it nearly impossible to catch up, doesn't give you the time to even try to catch up, hides your heat bar while the timer is displayed, and ultimately punishes you with yet another loading screen because some jackass already knew where the next objective was going to be before the marker updated.

I'd be fine with the tether being longer too, but usually I'm at or near the front of the pack anyway. As for knowing where you're going before the marker appears, that's really only possible in Strongholds, the layout of which are pretty easy to learn. Contracts and Agent missions are essentially random.

Edit: I'm not sold on my mission objectives suggestions, either. However, it's poor form to critique without offering alternatives, if only to get the ball rolling.

I actually did, but probably not in a lot of detail if you aren't familiar with the games I listed. ME3MP for example has 5 mission types (plus Extraction) while Warframe has an absolutely bonkers 21. Destiny 2 meanwhile has a particularly brilliant idea that Anthem could leverage, i.e. triggering "heroic" versions of missions with harder difficulty/bigger rewards, but for which you'll probably want a full squad to complete. Like I said, there's a lot there to draw from.

[MCerberus]

I actually did, but probably not in a lot of detail if you aren't familiar with the games I listed. ME3MP for example has 5 mission types (plus Extraction) while Warframe has an absolutely bonkers 21. Destiny 2 meanwhile has a particularly brilliant idea that Anthem could leverage, i.e. triggering "heroic" versions of missions with harder difficulty/bigger rewards, but for which you'll probably want a full squad to complete. Like I said, there's a lot there to draw from.

Also modifiers. There's actually room to 1-up destiny with these by letting you manually toggle these or have them in missions other than... I think the Anthem term is "strongholds"?

[The_Jackal]

The big complaint about The Division at launch was how boring it was, and the bullet sponginess of its enemies. But a degree of tedium seems to go hand in hand with looter shooters, so fans of that genre stayed loyal.

Just a quick ask, but did you ever play Borderlands or Diablo 2? If so, did you find either of those games 'tedious'? The reason I ask is that in my own opinion, those are the two best-executed examples of the loot-grind genre (which are both, coincidentally, viable single-player games).

[Psyren]

Also modifiers. There's actually room to 1-up destiny with these by letting you manually toggle these or have them in missions other than... I think the Anthem term is "strongholds"?

Yeah I'd be fine adding affixes/modifiers to strongholds and legendary contracts as a starting point.

Just a quick ask, but did you ever play Borderlands or Diablo 2? If so, did you find either of those games 'tedious'? The reason I ask is that in my own opinion, those are the two best-executed examples of the loot-grind genre (which are both, coincidentally, viable single-player games).

Borderlands had no real endgame though; once you beat the story there was nothing to really do but play it again on a higher difficulty with bigger numbers. Even Diablo 2 had more to go on than that.

Not to mention of course that both games had plenty of hacking and duping due to their offline statuses.

[Neptunas123]

Seems like with the new roadmap at sight, Anthem will make up for its more than lacking beginning. If any1 still doesn't know, BioWare has released a 3months plan full of events, fixes, and entertainment looks very promising in my opinion. I've bought and am playing Anthem myself, I do enjoy it quite a lot despite the mass hate. It certainly is lacking before level 30, but once you hit that bench-mark, it gets tons better. oO

Source:
Anthem 90-days Road Map

[Spacewolf]

I will say compared to most looter shooters I've played the bullet spongyness of enemies has been pretty low, which personally I find more enjoyable the stronger scar hunters are the only ones I've actually noticed taking probably too many shots for what they are. The combo system helps as well, my colossus is even set up to trigger combos and does very well at it.

[Anteros]

How's the solo play? My friends are looking to pick up a game, but I know with our schedules we'll be playing at different times quite a bit.

[Brother Oni]

So far I have enjoyed the game, it is , to me, a lesser firefall/better warframe.

I'm curious as to what things you think Anthem is doing better than Warframe - could you elaborate please?

I'm interested in the game, however I need to justify a fairly major computer upgrade (new processor, motherboard and probably RAM too) in order to play it.

[Psyren]

Seems like with the new roadmap at sight, Anthem will make up for its more than lacking beginning. If any1 still doesn't know, BioWare has released a 3months plan full of events, fixes, and entertainment looks very promising in my opinion. I've bought and am playing Anthem myself, I do enjoy it quite a lot despite the mass hate. It certainly is lacking before level 30, but once you hit that bench-mark, it gets tons better. oO

Source:
Anthem 90-days Road Map

Thanks for the link! I knew about March, but the stuff beyond that looks promising.

I will say compared to most looter shooters I've played the bullet spongyness of enemies has been pretty low, which personally I find more enjoyable the stronger scar hunters are the only ones I've actually noticed taking probably too many shots for what they are. The combo system helps as well, my colossus is even set up to trigger combos and does very well at it.

This should really have been in-game, but have a combo chart:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGa..._all_javelins/

How's the solo play? My friends are looking to pick up a game, but I know with our schedules we'll be playing at different times quite a bit.

It's totally fine - pretty similar to Andromeda combat if you've played that, except you can double-jump, fly and hover for extended periods. Each Javelin plays very differently so you're bound to find one that fits your playstyle.

You can't do the entire story solo though, there are a couple of missions that force you into Freeplay and a Stronghold which will require grouping up with people.

I'm curious as to what things you think Anthem is doing better than Warframe - could you elaborate please?

You didn't ask me but there's a number of things about Warframe that turned me off:

Spoiler

Show

1) The new player experience - Anthem has a couple of systems that could use more tutorializing (like combos, secondary stats, hovering, and flying near water) but it's got nothing on Warframe's opacity when it comes to key systems like endo, focus, exclusive resources, knowing which early frames or weapons to prioritize to avoid painful grinds or lack of efficiency later etc.

2) The "mastery" system - by far the #1 thing that turned me off Warframe was being forced to grind frames and weapons I didn't actually want to use because the stuff I had that I actually liked using was maxed out and couldn't raise my MR any higher. I don't have a problem collecting every frame just in case a future patch makes them more fun to play, but that doesn't mean I want to level the ones I don't find fun, and I certainly don't want to level unfun weapons either. If it was just frame slots gated behind this system that would be one thing, but so many other benefits are gated behind it that it becomes nigh mandatory - higher level weapons, Focus caps, mod capacity and even daily rep among others.

3) The critical path for story content is much clearer. For Warframe, clearing junctions is the goal, but if you're most interested in getting to the (quite phenomenal) narrative stuff in Second Dream and beyond, the game itself isn't all that concerned with pointing you there, you'd generally have to be looking outside to find the most efficient route. At least in games like Anthem and Destiny, you know exactly what you need to do to keep the narrative moving without needing a trip to the wiki.

4) Unlike WF, the microtransactions are purely cosmetic. Warframe is not "pay-to-win" exactly, but you can definitely throw your wallet at a stack of Plat to pick up whichever frames are FotM this balance pass, rare mats, exp boosts, a set of powerful mods and guns to go with it etc. You have to still put in some legwork to level all that, but you can pay to skip a big chunk of the grind.

5) All the Javelins are equally viable and keeping them all geared is simple, because the only "level" that matters in Anthem is Pilot level, and you can quickly catch up an off-javelin through crafting or drops - even a set of leveled whites is good enough for Hard difficulty, and a single trip through a Stronghold on that javelin will get you a pile of blues and purples to kit them out in. Viability is of course a relatively easy task when you only have 4 "classes" to balance as opposed to nearly 40, but it's still nice to know that there are no bad or even suboptimal choices, it's all based on playstyle and preference.

Now in terms of narrative and depth, Warframe is miles ahead. But it's also had over half a decade post-release to build on its systems and story. Being F2P helped it a great deal since players could cycle in and out as those systems got refined. Anthem's core is (in my mind) every bit as strong, so if they have the chance to give it a similar level of care then it could end up being phenomenal.

[ngilop]

So.. with my totally awesome metal sheild i single handily beat the hive tyrant stronghold. Everybody was knocked out and I had to solo the boss for a while (close to 7 minutes) finally the boss went up the wall and I made my way over to the fallen javelins, whipped my metal shield out and revived all 3 just in time for the boss to come back and we easily defeated it at that point. Definately something I wish they would do is when a collosus' metal shield is out it is immune to stuns. That would go miles toward making it a bit more viable in its role, due to it being not close to agile to start.



I wish they would have looked closer at Firefall than warframe, for inspiration. I would like to be able to chose an ultimate ability. For the heavy 'tank' of the javelins.. the collosus is actually the squishy one due to not having a shield, a shield support ability, or amazing manueverability like the other 3.


I am excited and nervous about what Mastery is like for this game.. Is it going to be like classic WoW's talent tree, modern WoW's talent tree, or like League of Legends rune page? (In order of preference)

[Psyren]

Do we know it'll be a "talent" system at all? It might be close to D3's paragon system, i.e. giving you a long-term way to progress your character incrementally.

As for swapping out ultimates, there's a lot of potential there - they could add that as a new slot one day, or they could create "subclasses" for each Javelin (similar to the specializations in D2) which are distinguished primarily by changing out their melee and ult.

[ngilop]

Do we know it'll be a "talent" system at all? It might be close to D3's paragon system, i.e. giving you a long-term way to progress your character incrementally.

As for swapping out ultimates, there's a lot of potential there - they could add that as a new slot one day, or they could create "subclasses" for each Javelin (similar to the specializations in D2) which are distinguished primarily by changing out their melee and ult.

I had to look up what paragon was for diablo 3.


I am now glad that I never started playing the game.

That is one thing i absolutely detest about games. Don't give me a level cap and that isn't really a cap, but not make those 'not levels level not really impact the game on an individual level.

Right now, gaining levels in Anthem opens up equipment slots (or i guess ability slots if you look at in in an RPG mechanical sense)

That is nice and I think a good thing (if somewhat limited as of right now)

If they do a mastery system and it is just endless levels that aren't levels it will kill the game for me. Others might like it, but for me I am just not a fan of that particular design.


Id like a way to personalize my javelins. So, when I saw mastery i just got excited about it being a talent system of some sort.

Like.. allowing me to give my colossus more HP or a smaller CD on his mortar. or maybe some kind of cool capstonea that makes him immune to damage for like.. 4 seconds every 10 minutes?

Something along the line of the old WoW Hunter Pet talents, for me, would be the better way to go.

[Psyren]

I understand your preference, but balancing that stuff can be a thorny problem. If you make it too good/gate a lot of major gameplay changes like big cooldown reductions behind it, it makes the hamsterwheel feel mandatory rather than a nice-to-have. There are only so many slots they can give us too.

[Brother Oni]

You didn't ask me but there's a number of things about Warframe that turned me off:

Spoiler

Show

1) The new player experience - Anthem has a couple of systems that could use more tutorializing (like combos, secondary stats, hovering, and flying near water) but it's got nothing on Warframe's opacity when it comes to key systems like endo, focus, exclusive resources, knowing which early frames or weapons to prioritize to avoid painful grinds or lack of efficiency later etc.

2) The "mastery" system - by far the #1 thing that turned me off Warframe was being forced to grind frames and weapons I didn't actually want to use because the stuff I had that I actually liked using was maxed out and couldn't raise my MR any higher. I don't have a problem collecting every frame just in case a future patch makes them more fun to play, but that doesn't mean I want to level the ones I don't find fun, and I certainly don't want to level unfun weapons either. If it was just frame slots gated behind this system that would be one thing, but so many other benefits are gated behind it that it becomes nigh mandatory - higher level weapons, Focus caps, mod capacity and even daily rep among others.

3) The critical path for story content is much clearer. For Warframe, clearing junctions is the goal, but if you're most interested in getting to the (quite phenomenal) narrative stuff in Second Dream and beyond, the game itself isn't all that concerned with pointing you there, you'd generally have to be looking outside to find the most efficient route. At least in games like Anthem and Destiny, you know exactly what you need to do to keep the narrative moving without needing a trip to the wiki.

4) Unlike WF, the microtransactions are purely cosmetic. Warframe is not "pay-to-win" exactly, but you can definitely throw your wallet at a stack of Plat to pick up whichever frames are FotM this balance pass, rare mats, exp boosts, a set of powerful mods and guns to go with it etc. You have to still put in some legwork to level all that, but you can pay to skip a big chunk of the grind.

5) All the Javelins are equally viable and keeping them all geared is simple, because the only "level" that matters in Anthem is Pilot level, and you can quickly catch up an off-javelin through crafting or drops - even a set of leveled whites is good enough for Hard difficulty, and a single trip through a Stronghold on that javelin will get you a pile of blues and purples to kit them out in. Viability is of course a relatively easy task when you only have 4 "classes" to balance as opposed to nearly 40, but it's still nice to know that there are no bad or even suboptimal choices, it's all based on playstyle and preference.

To avoid derailing the thread once we've finally got it back on track again:

Spoiler: Warframe comments

Show

Your first and fourth points (tutorial and microtransactions) I would agree with wholeheartedly.

Your second and third points are game mechanics which, either coincidentally or intentionally, make sense within the lore and I'm happy with the way it's done;

1) the Eastern martial arts theme of the Tenno culture would make sense that the more things they master, the higher their mastery rank.
I don't blame you for disliking the Mastery Rank system though - I can understand why it would be frustrating to play with weapons that you don't find fun, particularly if you're not high MR and don't have good mods. Even so, if you bring one decent weapon or frame on the right mission, the new weapon/frame can be levelled up passively to rank 30 in a single run.

2) The Lotus really doesn't want you to find out about your past or what she really is, so until the matter is forced in the Natah and The Second Dream quest, I can understand why the story is so well hidden. That said, there's a lot of lore that's hidden or out of reach in old events (for example the whole mess that is Alad V's back story and why Tyl Regor hates you so much), that could be re-done or otherwise made available to make the story progression much better.

Your last point on keeping Javelins well equipped is the only one I would partially disagree with. In the Warframe early game, getting enough mods to be fully tooled up is an issue I agree with, but once you've got that full set of mods upgraded, the mods are pretty much universal between all the warframes and within each weapon class.
As a not very good example, my Mesa Prime finished cooking today - for the cost of only 1 reactor, I had 70 capacity on her with fully levelled mods.

Now in terms of narrative and depth, Warframe is miles ahead. But it's also had over half a decade post-release to build on its systems and story. Being F2P helped it a great deal since players could cycle in and out as those systems got refined. Anthem's core is (in my mind) every bit as strong, so if they have the chance to give it a similar level of care then it could end up being phenomenal.

As a counterpoint, in approximately 3 years time, Anthem will be replaced by its sequel and given how the Destiny to Destiny 2 debacle went, the changeover isn't always smooth.

I'd be interesting to see how the Division 2 takes over from the Division later on this year.

[Giggling Ghast]

Just a quick ask, but did you ever play Borderlands or Diablo 2? If so, did you find either of those games 'tedious'?).

No, but I did play Diablo 3 for a while, and it was pretty damn tedious.

[ngilop]

I have a question concerning item enhancements.


There are a few different symbols in front of the enhancements that I cannot find an explanation for at all.


Something that I can say is one thing I absolutely hate about this game so far.. ( I just finished it actually) The complete lack of information on so many things.


For an example I have a armor component enhancement that gives me +5% weapon damage with a gear symbol in front of it, while my weapon gives me +10% weapon damage with a person symbol in front of it. What exactly is the difference if indeed there even is one.

I also find it disenheartening that I can just run into thing with my metal shield and kill them while actually using resources doesn't do as much damage. (one of the things I hated about destiny Oh.. I am level 3 let me 1 hit melee these level 9 things but have to reload twice to kill them if I shoot)


UPDATE: I just killed Diggs the imposter and in a random elite flying shield guy Poppa Pump Dropped.