Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[Edge-]

The largest undocumented change/bug I'm hearing about is that other people in your party can pick up loot for you. You do not have to run over the item, anyone in your group can. The item is put in your bag, but people are freaking out about it.

I mean, that's not surprising. Folks have been actively avoiding garbage loot so they don't fill up their inventories, this just allows teammates to troll others. It makes no sense and I'm not sure why on earth they'd have done this except to force people to go back to town more often. Folks don't want to deal with that garbage, at least not until mass dismantling is a thing.

And it seems like they messed up boss loot? Folks are reporting no more guaranteed MW's dropping.

Man, it feels like every time they take steps forward (because this patch has a whole lot of improvements) they still manage to take steps backwards that leave everyone scratching their head and asking "why?"

[kaelleria]

I mean, that's not surprising. Folks have been actively avoiding garbage loot so they don't fill up their inventories, this just allows teammates to troll others. It makes no sense and I'm not sure why on earth they'd have done this except to force people to go back to town more often. Folks don't want to deal with that garbage, at least not until mass dismantling is a thing.

And it seems like they messed up boss loot? Folks are reporting no more guaranteed MW's dropping.

Man, it feels like every time they take steps forward (because this patch has a whole lot of improvements) they still manage to take steps backwards that leave everyone scratching their head and asking "why?"

I have no idea what's going on with their QA environment and QA process.

Either they don't care (doubtful), their QA process doesn't involve anyone actually playing the game outside of small test cases, or their production environment is so wildly different than their QA environment it introduces these bugs.

In regards to loot in bags... You don't have to go back to town more often. The text is just bad when your bags are full. You will still get any loot that matters.

[chazus]

People are freaking out because folks don't want to max out their 250 limited bag with garbage blues and purples.

I don't understand that. In a pile of items, how do you 'pick' what you pick up and don't? How would someone else? I get avoiding a random blue, but you can't really.. avoid that in piles of loot.

[Edge-]

I have no idea what's going on with their QA environment and QA process.

Either they don't care (doubtful), their QA process doesn't involve anyone actually playing the game outside of small chunks, or their production environment is so wildly different than their QA environment it introduces these bugs.

I'm not surprised there are bugs slipping through given how fast they're pushing these out. Things like the boss drop seems like a bug.

But it's things like the change so that loot is shared with your group is an intentional one that makes zero sense.

In regards to loot in bags... You don't have to go back to town more often. The text is just bad when your bags are full. You will still get any loot that matters.

Fair, I didn't know MW/Lego's overrode garbage loot, that's actually good.

But for a lot of folks I'm reading that the issue is that they simply don't want to deal with the loot at all. At least not until mass-salvage/dismantle options are added so they can scrap all their blues/epics at once rather than doing it one by one for hundreds of times.

Reading PC saw some good improvements in terms of performance though, which is solid.

[kaelleria]

I'm not surprised there are bugs slipping through given how fast they're pushing these out. Things like the boss drop seems like a bug.

But it's things like the change so that loot is shared with your group is an intentional one that makes zero sense.



Fair, I didn't know MW/Lego's overrode garbage loot, that's actually good.

But for a lot of folks I'm reading that the issue is that they simply don't want to deal with the loot at all. At least not until mass-salvage/dismantle options are added so they can scrap all their blues/epics at once rather than doing it one by one for hundreds of times.

Reading PC saw some good improvements in terms of performance though, which is solid.

Yeah that's understandable. They've supposedly improved mass salvage in the vault... but they really need to add that to end of expedition screen as well.

[Ophenia]

And it seems like they messed up boss loot? Folks are reporting no more guaranteed MW's dropping.

Confirmed, no MW on Scelos in GM2.

Two chest opened, no cosmetics.

One legendary on my Legendary mission, this one is hella fun tbh

[chazus]

But it's things like the change so that loot is shared with your group is an intentional one that makes zero sense.

Makes sense to me... I can't count the number of times I've literally lost items because a mission/stronghold ended before I could get to it, or if I'm down and people go get their loot and forget their teammates. Tyrant Mine is notorious for ending it literally seconds after the boss drops stuff. If it's shared, then if someone grabs it, everyone grabs it.

I'll take 'getting loot I have to salvage' over 'get stuffed'

But for a lot of folks I'm reading that the issue is that they simply don't want to deal with the loot at all.

One of the things people have wanted, complained, begged for, is just tons of loot. Even if more of it is crap. Just to have more options. it's nicer to have lots of stuff and dig through it, than get a small handful and its trash too.

[yasiru]

Confirmed, no MW on Scelos in GM2.

Two chest opened, no cosmetics.

One legendary on my Legendary mission, this one is hella fun tbh

Are you saying no cosmetics from the Elysium chest? Bummer

[kaelleria]

Are you saying no cosmetics from the Elysium chest? Bummer

No... you get them. They're just not showing up until you relog.

[Ophenia]

Are you saying no cosmetics from the Elysium chest? Bummer

No... you get them. They're just not showing up until you relog.

No I really didn't have any yet in three chests. All I got so far are the resources bundles - but as you can't have the same rewards twice, you'll end up having the cosmetics anyway. It's written when you get them, there are 162 different rewards, now I "only" have 159 possible rewards. You need about 4 Elysian Chests opened per day if you want to get them all (40 days remaining), which will require probably... a lot of strongholds, as you'll probably never get the 4 chests opened unless you're playing in Premade.

[kaelleria]

No I really didn't have any yet in three chests. All I got so far are the resources bundles - but as you can't have the same rewards twice, you'll end up having the cosmetics anyway. It's written when you get them, there are 162 different rewards, now I "only" have 159 possible rewards. You need about 4 Elysian Chests opened per day if you want to get them all (40 days remaining), which will require probably... a lot of strongholds, as you'll probably never get the 4 chests opened unless you're playing in Premade.

Ah gotcha... I thought you were referring to the issue where people aren't seeing the rewards.

[Ophenia]

Ah gotcha... I thought you were referring to the issue where people aren't seeing the rewards.

You actually see them but you have to NOT skip the End of mission Screen. It appears before the "Alliance" rewards (the same way you got the notifications of level up, slot/javelin unlocks and so on).

If you "skip all", you don't get the Elysian reward screen.

[kaelleria]

You actually see them but you have to NOT skip the End of mission Screen. It appears before the "Alliance" rewards (the same way you got the notifications of level up, slot/javelin unlocks and so on).

If you "skip all", you don't get the Elysian reward screen.

In some cases they weren't showing up in the forge either until relog.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok a few things they're working on/looking into -

Bosses not dropping guaranteed MW's anymore was not intended.
Loot being picked up by others is also not intended.

[Edge-]

Ok a few things they're working on/looking into -

Bosses not dropping guaranteed MW's anymore was not intended.
Loot being picked up by others is also not intended.

Just saw that, glad they're looking into them. But it seems like there's always significant issues that slip through with every patch, they really need to look at their QA/deployment processes to figure out how to stop that from continuing to happen. They do so much great work in these patches and it's frequently undermined by folks mad at the bugs that slip though.

[kaelleria]

Just saw that, glad they're looking into them. But it seems like there's always significant issues that slip through with every patch, they really need to look at their QA/deployment processes to figure out how to stop that from continuing to happen. They do so much great work in these patches and it's frequently undermined by folks mad at the bugs that slip though.

Yeah... like I said, it feels like something about their testing/deployment process is broken.

Maybe they're relying too much on automated tooling and don't have enough people running through test cases in game? Or they have people only trying super specific test cases and no one is doing a full playtest?

[Edge-]

Yeah... like I said, it feels like something about their testing/deployment process is broken.

Maybe they're relying too much on automated tooling and don't have enough people running through test cases in game? Or they have people only trying super specific test cases and no one is doing a full playtest?

Yeah, I dunno. Would be awesome to get a test server, at least on PC, to help test these patches out, but given the pace at which they're deploying them it doesn't look like they'd have much of an opportunity for folks to test and catch the bugs without delaying the patches.

So it's a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation where they need to rush these patches out to address community concerns but in their rush they're not going through as much testing and consequently cause other issues. The upside is they're good at fixing those issues quickly for the most part, but it doesn't do them any favors with an already agitated community.

[kaelleria]

Yeah, I dunno. Would be awesome to get a test server, at least on PC, to help test these patches out, but given the pace at which they're deploying them it doesn't look like they'd have much of an opportunity for folks to test and catch the bugs without delaying the patches.

So it's a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation where they need to rush these patches out to address community concerns but in their rush they're not going through as much testing and consequently cause other issues. The upside is they're good at fixing those issues quickly for the most part, but it doesn't do them any favors with an already agitated community.

I do suppose that's good... unlike say Bungie who spends 2-3 months before replying to things.

[Baconeggcheese]

Yeah, I dunno. Would be awesome to get a test server, at least on PC, to help test these patches out, but given the pace at which they're deploying them it doesn't look like they'd have much of an opportunity for folks to test and catch the bugs without delaying the patches.

So it's a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation where they need to rush these patches out to address community concerns but in their rush they're not going through as much testing and consequently cause other issues. The upside is they're good at fixing those issues quickly for the most part, but it doesn't do them any favors with an already agitated community.

Think a test server would do a ton of good even if it did delay things because people would get to see fixes in action understanding that bugs are going to be present. A lot of the dismay stems from not having an answer to how "they're working on it" until the last second.

[nekobaka]

The upside is they're good at fixing those issues quickly for the most part, but it doesn't do them any favors with an already agitated community.

The Andromeda team was also able to turn around fast with fixes especially in comparison to the ME3 team. There was a number of systems and mechanics that remained broken and left as part of the games quirks including AI and mechanics based on FPS and running the pizza. Wonder how much is due to Frostbite vs Unreal engine. Ive seen other Unreal engine games not base their timers off games FPS and yet BW kept it there since ME1.

I do suppose that's good... unlike say Bungie who spends 2-3 months before replying to things.

BS. Yes, the Bungie is slow when it comes to development and solutions of which it often does take them 2-3 months to fix an issue if they have a solution. Most issues receive acknowledgement within days if not hours in particular patch day bug reports. BW has also been getting flack for slow communication and transparency behind changes just as Bungie is. Dang even Blizzard has been getting heat as well for this.

Think a test server would do a ton of good even if it did delay things because people would get to see fixes in action understanding that bugs are going to be present. A lot of the dismay stems from not having an answer to how "they're working on it" until the last second.

A PTR would be of great help in putting in a good check to force the devs in a good way to properly test things ignoring the cases of well reported issues that still make release *cough*Blizzard*cough*. Not a good thing when players are finding issues within hours of launch in key systems of player and patch focus.

[Lord Pebbleton]

I am still in doubt about buying the game, but I don't like the reactions to it so far.
I think that a game, at its core and regardless of genre, is judged basing on two things:
1. Expectations
2. Willingness to forgive mistakes

For example, I thoroughly enjoyed Horizon because it is a very fine game. I didn't have high expectations for it since it was an experiment and something totally new, and I quickly forgave the fact that bosses are too bland, because the rest is solid. At the same time, the low variety in bosses in the latest God of War turned me off somewhat, because I was expecting a GoW game to have incredibly spectacular bosses and I didn't find many.

I liked Shadow of Mordor because, while it was short and some things felt off, the nemesis system was interesting and they could expand on it. I hated Shadow of War because I was expecting a better game than the first, but it turned out to be a garbled, incoherent slog with very few redeeming qualities. A bad game on its own, it became even worse when I realized it ruined the series for me, and I was not willing to forgive the shortsighted decisions that made it what it is.

I tried out Monster Hunter World because everyone was so excited about it, and thus I had extremely high expectations for a game so incredible and loved. What I found instead was a massive grind with clunky controls and nightmarish music (I still remember the town theme and I hate it). If I had just bought it without all the hype around it, it wouldn't have felt as bad.

That is to say, it is possible that gamers jumped into Anthem with high expectations after being fed subpar games that only got better after months or years. The general consensus is that the game is in an overall bad shape, and people are tired of such situations. Being a new concept, abandoning it is easy for a lot if players if they don't get the satisfaction they look for in a game.
So all in all we have a game that faces high expectations because of past situations, and no one is willing to forgive its mistakes because they have been through this too many times. I'd say that a game facing these odds needs to be extremely good, and by the looks of it, it really isn't, which led to the present state of things.