BioWare’s dropping a big patch for embattled shared-world looter Anthem tonight – and it makes some welcome changes.
Patch 1.0.3, which goes live between 7am and 9am Central Time (1pm and 3pm UK time) today, 9th March, removes respawn restrictions, changes the way loot works, tackles crashes and improves the audio.
Digging into the detail, respawn timers are now based on the activity a player is in. So, Crit-Path, Agent Missions and other non-endgame missions now have a respawn timer of 10 seconds. Meanwhile, Strongholds, Legendary Contracts and other endgame missions now have a respawn timer of 30 seconds. (The respawn timer in freeplay is unchanged.)
As for the loot changes, common (white) and uncommon (green) drops will no longer appear for player who are level 30, which is certainly welcome.
And there’s a stability pass for all platforms which hopefully fixes the issues that were causing crashes or connection problems.
More generally, there are a lot of quality of life improvements in this update that should make Anthem a better experience. There’s a long list over on reddit, but highlights include:
- Players may now launch an expedition from anywhere within the launch bay and Fort Tarsis.
And…
- The Colossus can now shield charge through destructible objects such as explosive canisters or harvest nodes.
BioWare also previewed some of the issues it’s working on fixing in the future, including challenges not tracking properly, and visual effects on javelin thrusters not functioning properly while stormy weather is present in-game.
Anthem has had an awful time of it since launch, with players complaining about a raft of technical issues, including an alarming bug that causes PlayStation 4 consoles to shutdown. The problems don’t end there, though. There’s a Lv1 rifle bug that makes a type of basic loot way too powerful – perhaps the most powerful weapon in the game. (Both these issues are set to be tackled by a patch released next week.)
BioWare has of course vowed to stick with the game, but is Anthem a game worth saving? If it is, BioWare has a long road ahead of it.
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