Anthem (XB1/PC/PS4) - Anthem NEXT cancelled

Godzilla wrote:

A brilliant review, explains everything about the game in detail.

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DAY ONE PATCH NOTES

What’s changing between Early Access and World Wide Launch

For those of you who have been playing the Early Access version of the game, we wanted to let you know that a Day 1 Patch is on its way. The patch will deployed before worldwide launch. On February 22, 2019, the game will include the following updates and our Live Service officially begins.

High level fixes

Decreased loading times for older disk drives
Fixed many infinite loading screens
Fixed multiple challenges not tracking properly
A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash
Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers
General Fixes and Improvements

Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.
The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations
At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on "Recording Victories" or "Skipping All".
Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin
During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed
Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels
Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes
Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board
Some enemies have had their shield values decreased
Loot now properly drops for players who are downed
The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved
Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen
Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly
Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn
Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance
After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously
Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
Corrected an issue during the Mission "Bad Deal" where outlaws won't spawn, blocking progress
The start of expedition screen has been improved
Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events
Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present
Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield
Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations
Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the "Finding Old Friends" mission while the cinematic is playing
Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay
Increased the damage of the electric status effect
Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations
The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended
Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans
Fixed loading animations on Marksmen Rifles
Players can now access the Vault from the Forge
Swimming into jellyfish underwater no longer leaves a visual effect stuck on players.
Idle animations will no longer sync up over time in the Launch Bay
Haluk is no longer dual-wielding canes in the epilogue scene
Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
Fixed an issue that could cause players in the launch bay to have identical emotes and be unable to use them
Interceptor melee ability animations will no longer stretch out in certain situations
Corrected an issue where the default Ranger appearance doesn't preview in the forge in some situations
All animations now play as intended in the Forge
Players can now enter the Tomb of Gwanes while in a party
The default Javelin wear state has been changed from "Dirty" to "Old"
Sentinel Loyalty 2 text no longer incorrectly states that it will lead to a larger vault
Picking up ammo from the ground now properly gives you 30% of that ammo back into both the current magazine and the maximum spare ammo
Fixed a bug where some global (Javelin Icon) inscription bonuses were not being properly applied to the Javelin and other gear/weapons.
Fixed some issues that could cause the Armor Pip count on the UI to break and not display properly
Strongholds

Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss
Temple of Scar - Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room
Temple of Scar - Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall
Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team
Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit
The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations
Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations
Implemented more safeguards to stop players from going AFK in Strongholds
Challenges

Only Masterwork items can now be used to progress Masterwork challenges as intended
Corrected an issue where some Challenges track progress simultaneously instead of incrementally, as intended. (ex: Blast Missile I and then Blast Missile II instead of both incrementing at the same time
Gear and Weapons

After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang
Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear
Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly
Players can no longer salvage equipped items
Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren't intended for
Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions
The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip
Suit-wide specific weapon ammo bonuses coming from infusions are now correctly applied
A Network Error Message no longer appears when opening an item chest in the second tutorial
Colossus shoulder gear will now share the appearance of the rest of the javelin as intended
Deadeye has increased spare ammo 10 -> 20
Cloudburst has had increased damage 16.3 -> 21
Torrent has had increased damage 22.2 -> 28.6
Lightning Strike’s pre-visualization will now accurately depict that the explosion snaps to the ground.
(Ranger) Inferno Grenade base damage 130 -> 175
(Interceptor) Cryo Glaive base damage 20 -> 50
(Storm) Living Flame base damage 50 -> 60
(Storm) Glacial Beam base damage 150 -> 120
(Storm) Arc Burst secondary damage 100 -> 150
(Ranger) Pulse Blast base damage 225 -> 300, and now deals extra damage to Shields (previously did extra damage to Armored).
(Ranger) Blast Missile now properly scales up in damage as the item level increases
(Interceptor) Melee attacks now have some minor resistance penetration
Large Area of Effect abilities will better register multi-kill activities for challenges and medals
Spark Dash functionality has been significantly improved when the target enemy is at a different height (above/below) the Interceptor.
Several gear pieces that had missing primer or detonator icons have been fixed.
Interceptor
Tempest Strike - Detonator Icon
Spark Dash - Detonator Icon
Venom Spray - Primer Icon
Detonating Strike - Primer Icon
Colossus
Lightning Coil - Detonator Icon
Shock Coil - Primer Icon
Flamethrower - Primer Icon
Several improvements have been made to ensure gear use on PC prioritizes turning the Javelin towards the reticle when used rather than casting in front of the Javelin's current direction.
Javelins

The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon
The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up
Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm's ultimate attack to be used more times than intended
The Colossus exo can now shield and revive at the same time
Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component
Ranger melee now has a cooldown when striking in the air
The Target Beacon ability now correctly seeks targets
Spark Dash and Venom Spray now target based on player cursor instead of character facing. This should also improve the travel path of Spark Dash.
The Colossus will no longer be knocked out of the sky in some situations when the attack was blocked by their shield
Combos + Status Effects

Combo indicator icons above creatures now are correctly removed when detonated.
When a Storm detonates an electric status effect the chained electric effect now correctly deals damage.
Combo damage now penetrates resistances
Crafting

Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork
A number of javelin components that had different icons for their recipes and the actual items are now the same
The Battle Cry gear recipe now has the correct description
Fixed Spark Beam gear having the wrong description when being crafted
Crafting recipes are now sorted alphabetically
The items in the crafting store are now sorted by type to be clearer
Controls

Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made
UI

Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed
The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player
Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often
Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One
Motion blur can now correctly be turned off
The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly
An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD
The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations
A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player's vault is at the cap of 250 items
On the "Repair the Strider" step of "A Cry for Help" the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools
Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear
Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn't
Toggling the HDR option now properly prompts the Apply Changes button
Player banners should now display correctly
Camera shake slider has been added to settings menu
Players may now track 10 challenges instead of 5
An option to adjust screen boundaries on consoles has been added
Changing a player banner through the banner menu now properly saves the selection
Health, cooldowns, and key bindings now light up on supported keyboards
Players will now receive more clear messaging when a squad is disbanded or are kicked from a squad
Squad leaders will no longer always show as ready
The icon for players in a downed state will no longer appear in cutscenes
Cypher Annotations will now appear for more than one player if they are looking at it simultaneously
Removed mentions of respawning on the player UI when they die in a restricted respawn area
The Player Banner now updates immediately when updated from the squad screen
Fixed a number of situations where a combo will trigger but no combo floating text appears
Pressing esc to pass a notification screen no longer opens up the in-game menu
Quick chat messages will no longer appear from an ignored player
Removed a message from the mailbox which incorrectly stated that messages will be removed after 3 days
A number of inscription icons have been updated to properly reflect whether they are Javelin specific or not
Corrected an issue where players could not change loadout names on PC
Players no longer need to exit and re-enter the forge for loadout names to update
The on-screen VOIP indicator which shows a player speaking will no longer be active if that player is muted

For my WD Black 3D NVMe SSD, not much has changed. Searching for a server actually took almost double the length of time post-patch – 38 seconds as opposed to 20-25 seconds – but setting off and returning from an expedition was pretty much identical. The former came in at 33 seconds (which previously varied between 31-36 seconds, so bang in the middle), while the latter came in at 15 seconds (two seconds quicker than what it took pre-patch).

As for my regular Samsung 850 Evo SSD, however, I’d say Anthem’s loading times have actually got worse post-patch. The only time that actually improved was the time it took to search for a server, which practically halved from 41-47 seconds down to just 25 seconds.

Everything else took even longer. Whereas launching an expedition once took around 30 seconds, it left me waiting between 50-70 seconds this time round, and returning back to Fort Tarsis took between 16-22 seconds.

The good news is that those promised HDD loading time improvements are definitely a heck of a lot better. They’re still considerably longer than what you’ll find on an SSD, but my WD Blue HDD managed a much better 46 seconds to find a server this time round (down from just over a minute pre-patch), and a mere 52 seconds to launch an expedition (which previously took a good 75-90 seconds). Even getting back into Fort Tarsis was a relative breeze, coming in at just 24 seconds as opposed to somewhere around the 52 second mark.

Working against its own strengths is a theme in Anthem. There are so many loose threads that I'm constantly asking myself "why?" Why is there an overly-detailed mission summary screen that tallies experience points after I've reached level 30 and no longer need those points? Why do I have hundreds of crafting materials that can only be used to create weak gear I'll never need again? Why are major details of Anthem's combat never explained? Why does a loot system even exist if almost everything below Masterwork is practically the same but with slightly higher numbers?

BioWare has already detailed some of what will be coming in the next few months. As a live service game, it's reasonable to expect that Anthem will change a great deal the same way that Destiny 2, The Division, and Warframe have. BioWare certainly seems keen on responding quickly to feedback, which is promising. But I'm not going to hold my breath.