Anthem Player Posts Long Message Asking BioWare "What's Going On" With Anthem, BioWare Replies

An Anthem player asks BioWare "what's going on" with the game in a lengthy post touching on loot, EA, Mass Effect Andromeda and more! Surprisingly, BioWare posts a detailed, non-PR reply! Read the entire thing in the article.

[TheGamez100]

Hopefully that gets into biowares head? It certainty wont with ea though lol. I blame the vast majority of the problems of the game at ea and for other games, every other filthy greedy publishers alike, I dislike blaming the devs.

[PhantomS42]

But it IS the devs fault. How many disappointments have Bioware rolled out over the years? ME3, DA2, DAi, MEA, this. Bioware is barely a shell of their former self, they are a mask that EA wears. This was in development for seven years and was Bioware's chance to step away from the old school Bioware and make something new. It flopped. EA isn't innocent in all this at all but stop giving Bioware a free pass.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

You can only blame Bioware for selling out to EA. EA is what destroyed the f**king company

[Nitrowolf2]

@brave
At the end of the day they made the game, 6 years, you are telling me they have been developing this game for 6 years and that EA is to blame for its issues and shortcoming? In this case EA certainly gave them plenty of time

[Armaggedon]

Is that why the AAA games that come out from EA have been flops for the past 4 years? Battlefront was not Biowares work, neither was Need for Speed, or Battlefield 5. Sure Bioware has some blame, but most of it is likely on EA. The game being barren of content, the story being chopped up and worthless, the repetitive and lackluster loot, etc. These are the signs of a product in which they fully intended to sale a large portion of its acceptable content to us later.

[Armaggedon]

@Nitrowolf
Just take a look at the video Bioware released in November 2018, and take a look at all of the content that was there, and compare it to what we have now. The higher ups gutted the game, and this is an absolute fact. Before the game came out, I always said " Sure, there may not be any loot boxes; but Ea WILL get their money." But if EA does not stop their monetization schemes, they wont be getting any money at all.

[ShadowWolf712]

...I liked DA:I.

[DuckOnQuack35]

I personally liked dragon age 2 and I loved dragon age Inquisition. The story to DAi was pretty great imo. Also I was one of the people that felt like me3 was great. I didnt like the ending much but the rest of the game was great. I don't understand all the hate for these 3 games.

[warriorcase]

Dragon age 2 was rushed out on EA's orders I'm pretty sure. Remember hearing a an interview on I think game informers podcast with an ex-bioware dev who said it took them 5ish years to make Dragon age 1 and get the systems working and after it was a success EA told them they have 1 year to make a sequel which forced them to just reuse assets and create basically only 1 play area and try their best to be creative with it as that was a near impossible task. I do agree though, I think the bioware of old is gone and a lot of the talent has moved on to other teams and opportunities away from EA.

If the next dragon age doesn't nail it then I wouldn't be suprised if Bioware is the next on EA's chopping block.

[No Way]

What's funny is that Bioware/EA said that Andromeda was bad because they put their B team on it. They put their A team on Anthem, and... well.

[conanlifts]

ME3 and Dragon Age inquisition were well received and have great meta scores. I think the problem is their last two games, not those that came before.

[RacerX]

Hey Bioware: T-minus 3 hours for official Division 2 launch. I hope you have an amazing patch up your sleeve, or you won't have to worry about your angry player base anymore.

[EmperorDalek]

Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II were disappointing because they were rushed by probably at least a year or two each. That could very well be EA's fault. Even then, Mass Effect 3 was a fairly good game (despite the horrific ending), just not up to Bioware's standards.

Inquisition won game of the year, I'd argue it was at least on par with the first game. Andromeda was made by a new C team at Bioware if I'm not mistaken? Anthem is mediocre at best though.

I'm fully agree their games haven't been as good since Mass Effect 2. But I would put much of the blame on EA, and I still think they might have more great games in them, if given the time and freedom to make them.

[Antnee534]

Me3 was not a dissapointment neither was dragon age inquisitor

[FanboyPolice]

Gets into bioowares head like bioware is a person that changes his mind and be like, shit let me do a good mass effect now. That changes nothing.

[n1kki6]

This is the dumbest shit I have ever read. Weeks after Apex comes out, an EA published games, we are not back to blaming EA. Gamers are morons.

[Armaggedon]

An EA published game that is not AAA, and not $60. Sounds to me like EA was very hands off, and that's likely why its good.

[SlagWolf]

I use to love Bioware games.
Note key words “use to”.
I haven’t enjoyed a Bioware game in around 10 years.
In fact that company has fallen so far, that even if they announced Star Wars KOTOR 3 I would go “meh” and not even give it a second thought and I looooove KOTOR. Best Star Wars game ever.
I have no faith or trust in them any more.
I only expect them to at best shit out some thing completely mediocre.

[glennhkboy]

EA is certainly part of the issue (force Bioware to use Forstbite engine, make Anthem into a MP co-op shooter instead of a story-driven one, etc.) But it is Bioware's executions that must bare a bigger responsibility. Just compare Anthem to the new Division2. A MP loot shooter can still has an interesting story, better loot, ect. Bioware should learn from other similar games, which they don't.

[shadowraiden]

it was proven false on EA forcing Bioware to use frostbite people need to research before seeing this. in fact it was Bioware's decision to use frostbite even though they had no clue how things worked in it and if the engine could even do what they wanted

[shadowraiden]

but all these issues are development issues. EA isnt the one that decided to make loot boring, you have to go through 10+ menu's and loading screens to see the loot you find, long ass loading screens, one world that looks identical everywhere, boring ass generic missions, no content what so ever even less then Destiny 1's Beta if im honest.

the developers at Bioware have no clue anymore and they have no clue on how to fix the game with alot of the issues so far ingrained they cant fix it without essentially making a whole new game

[Armaggedon]

EA's AAA track record has been horrendous for the past few years. I guess all of the devs under EA are highly incompetent

[maybelovehate]

To be fair to Bioware they did lay out a road map. There is new content and changes coming. The endgame is pretty baron right now. Nobody will argue that. But I am fine taking a break and coming back to the new stuff when it is ready. So many gamers feel like they need a single game to consume their life. That is impossible. Even a game like WOW which has been around since what seems like the beginning of time, adding content the whole time, can't do that.

It is fair about them abandoning Andromeda and I can see the concern. But Andromeda was never meant to be a game that evolved over time. Anthem is. Let's see where it goes.

[LordoftheCritics]

Games of today and hopefully not the future.
1. Buy the installation files for 60$
2. Play some of the game
3. Wait for content
4. Buy micro transaction content meantime, while content is being made. People might say that you don't need to buy the MT, but think of like this. You live in an area where the only accessible restaurant is a Mc Donalds, at some point on a long day of work when you just don't feel like cooking or doing anything, that McDonalds suddenly looks good. Now you can either move to a better area(play a better game) or give in to it at some point. Humans are fallible creatures. I feel that some companies take advantage of this.

Overall cost significantly higher than 60$ due to MT.

[maybelovehate]

I already have around 100 hours into Anthem. Which is more than every game I have bought this year. And I plan on adding many more in May when the new content comes out. Most people will probably put less than 30 hours into Devil May Cry. Same price. Not saying that it is bad value to buy a single player game for the same price, just pointing out the hypocrisy.

[LordoftheCritics]

@maybelovehate

People value quality time. There are many games I have played for over 250 hrs but I still value Mass Effect 2's 25hr campaign more than most of those hundreds of hours.

The overall experience is what creates that value. God of War is shorter than Anthem but resonates much more deeply in our minds and if you look at your own life too, its the stronger and higher quality experiences that stick with you.

[maybelovehate]

I disagree about God of War. I always value coop games more than single player. Being able to teamwork with friends is always superior for me. And those memories always last longer. Not saying I don't appreciate single player games, I play a lot of them. But I definitely value being able to coordinate and play with friends much higher.

[antz1104]

@maybelovehate

Well there's a difference between playing a 30 hour single player campaign and grinding another game for 100 hours. Personally I'd play the 30 hour any day. And then announcing a road map with patch after patch and no "raid" coming until May is nothing to pat them on the back for. That's lazy development.

[FanboyPolice]

Not the future? Dude, is worst, is the PRESENT. The future will be more money-aggressive. The problem lies in that the kids of today don't know any better. For them, the current standards is what it is, so instead of blaming a incomplete game full of bugs and complain about paid DLC for additional content that is not so additional really, they just buy a new game and say: "I can't wait for the first patch to fix x bug or the DLC to add more missions!. While we, the older ones, know where we come from and now that games used to be long beasts that needed no updates and the DLCs were add-ons like extensions for your browser.

[Armaggedon]

People in power whether in video games or beyond set the stage for people and then exploit them. The race is fallible because that is what it wants to be. People will buy these games, and then look forward to the drip fed content that was removed from a mostly finished product.

[Armaggedon]

@maybelovehate

The difference is that one game was made to be a game that fans would enjoy, while the other was made that will get people to pay for content that was gutted from the game. You are wrong, what we bought is only 1/4 of the complete package. We will one way or the other, end up paying far more than $60. This is EA, they will find a way to strong arm people into playing.

[Razzer]

@maybelovehate

"Not saying that it is bad value to buy a single player game for the same price, just pointing out the hypocrisy."

Others are hypocrites because you've played a lot of Anthem? lol.....ok

[LordoftheCritics]

Absolutely. I value a good co-op game too. That's what people probably wanted Anthem to be. Mass Effect story experience in a multiplayer environment.

My example of God of War was because you rarely see a dam good single player story experience with a good co-op.

[maybelovehate]

Anthem's story was good. I enjoyed it. And I loved some of the mini npc story lines. Especially the mother storyline. But the best part of coop games is making your own stories. Anthem offers a good sandbox for that. At this point I am with most users wanting more. But I am wanting more because I really enjoy the gameplay and want more reasons to keep playing. Not because it is a bad game that isn't fun.

[LordoftheCritics]

I cannot argue with your opinion about Anthem's story. In my opinion, the story was generic, tiring, and I never skipped conversations so fast in my entire gaming career.

[maybelovehate]

You didn't like the Mother storyline? Wow. I didn't think that was possible.

[Armaggedon]

They laid out a roadmap of content that was present in the game before EA came along and gutted it you mean.

[maybelovehate]

Nothing on the road map will cost money, if that is what you are getting at.

[Armaggedon]

It already has. You pay for all the upcoming "free" content(that was removed from the final game) by buying armor packs and cosmetics(that were also all removed from the final game). Whether you like the game or not(which I personally do), EAs strategy is to keep you playing the game for a long time so they can milk you with microtransactions.

[Realms]

EA can pull the plug on Anthem when ever they want so, what makes you so sure they won't? Seeing that the game is slowly dying I'm not so sure that they won't. When will people learn these kinds of games have to be on point out of the gate to succeed long term or be supported with free/compelling content. Rainbow Six Seige comes to mind but if the community isn't on board or divisive like with Anthem the game will die ala Evolve insert every other game that wishes to make money in perpetuity.

[JackBNimble]

You can be assured that EA will try to recoup as much money as possible before ever pulling the plug.

[shabz666]

I really wanted to like anthem. I did the 10 hour trial on ea access on my one x and was not impressed by it. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. And hopefully BioWare can address the issues and end up with a better game. Because I’d love to jump into it again.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

My only problem with the game is I don't have a single legendary drop, This Whole entire time I been playing. Legendary gear doesn't exist in my game at all. Ive quit playin until they changed do something about it.

[excaliburps]

Imagine this dude: http://n4g.com/news/2249030... LOL!

[Double_O_Revan]

Ouch

[GameBoyColor]

oof feels real bad

[LordoftheCritics]

I got the Papa pump shotgun 3 times, the exact same one. Repeat drops are not a problem, just that nothing else seems to drop for me.

[RacerX]

My first 5 masterworks were the exact same HANDGUN. I switched Javelins, and all of the sudden I started getting different drops... Weird, but give that a try and see if it works for you.

Still no legendaries for me.

[maybelovehate]

Yeah, the drop rate for legendaries is way too low. And to make it worse they usually have bad rolls. The current farm is to run the Monitor Stronghold on GM1 and just speed through it. And leave the game after you pick up the second chest. You don't really need to worry about being rude because 9 times out of 10 everyone will leave haha. Just max out your luck since you won't need to worry too much about gear on GM1.

[RacerX]

The drops are weird all around anyway. Like seriously? 'Epic' doesn't scale upwards at all? It just stops at 38? Why even drop stuff lower than masterwork/legendary if all that other gear is useless?

[Redemption-64]

I agree with you, I have only found about 3

[XabiDaChosenOne]

"Anthem Player"
Well that was your first mistake.

[Spenok]

So you don't think getting feedback from someone who actually plays the game is a good thing? That's logical... /s

[Einhander1971]

Selling out to EA is like selling your soul to the devil. Obviously EA pull all the strings behind the scenes.

[sander9702]

It's scary that you can actually feel the life of a dev studio draining out for every game they make while working for EA, it's the slow replacement of real gamers making games into workers making a product.

[averagejoe26]

Nope. It's already been confirmed this was the game Bioware wanted to make. They just fucked up. EA didn't influence the creativity or making of the game.

[HaVoK308]

This is what happens when you stop hiring, promoting, and rewarding based on merit.

[AK91]

They sold their souls to EA

[kayoss]

This is like Destiny 2 all over again. Destiny 2 went through almost the same thing. Before launch, devs were visiting forums and answering questions. After the game was released and bugs and issue were found, the Bungie was no where to be found.

[Spenok]

As it is addressed in the post, devs job is NOT to go into forums and respond to people. Theirs is to make the game, fix the issues, make additional content.

But when they do go into the forums and twitter etc and get attacked left and right with the worst kind of vitriol, LITERALLY told to either kill themselves or that it is wished upon them to all die of cancer etc... of course they are going to stop responding. That's not only terrible, but it makes them not want to read the comments. They'll just leave that to the persons who job it is.

Many people lose most of all of their civility when it comes to talking to others online, and spew hate like you'd never see if it was a face to face interaction.

These dudes are human too, they are also subject to emotions, exhaustion and so on.

Do we want them to go all recluse and not respond? Absolutely not, but when it happens, it's usually due to the community being generally terrible people.

[NeodeosX]

"Surprisingly, BioWare posts a detailed, non-PR reply" = not surprising at all when you follow some of their devs, producers on Twitter who have been communicating in such a very transparent way for a few months, and answering many players questions. They also publish officiel posts on their blog.
Anthem might not be as great, as polished it could be right now, but you can tell BioWare is truly listening and I'm pretty confident the game will already get a lot better after one year of post-launch development and support.

[LordoftheCritics]

So the game is releasing a year from now.

[Darkborn]

But why should players wait a year after the game launches for it to be playable and fun? The game has been in development for 6 years already and it has more loading screens than content.

[Spenok]

He's not saying they SHOULD wait a year, he's simply saying it will be a much better game a year from now.

It SHOULD be a functional game at launch, but it's a good thing you have the opportunity to decide on whether or not you want to buy the game. If you don't want to, wait that year and see how it's progressed. You'll also likely be able to pick it up for cheaper at that.

Or, count it as a loss and move on to something else.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

The game is playable and fun though. I mean I’m now playing division 2 and dmc 5 but for the first two weeks of anthem being out my friends and I had tons of fun flying around like iron man killing things and exploring the beautiful world. I also really enjoyed the mini storylines you could experience talking to people at ft.tarsis. The mother one was super good and so was the two spies in love from different factions.

[ShadowWolf712]

"Non-PR response"? lol

[yomfweeee]

How was that not PR fluff? He blew off most things and made empty promises about others.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Have you ever read PR because that def wasn’t PR fluff

[yomfweeee]

Yes, it was. They didn't address any of his concerns with details.

[Germaximus]

It actually is PR, just with more words. Anybody with common sense can understand that response without actually needing it spelled out for them.

As you can see, sheep don't have common sense.

[Sono421]

considering only sheep would buy this game, is it really a surprise?

[william_cade]

As side from this, what they did and are doing is sleazy. Make it free to play and give people their money back.

[Knightofelemia]

I would have traded the Anthem in weeks ago

[tochi]

Seriously, how many times do we have to go through this non-sense?
If you are tricked by this cheap PR stunt, again, you already have been a part of the problem.

I am tired of repeating the same comment, but have to do it once more.
Money is the only language BioWare can understand. Speak their language, if you want a real response.

[mcgrogor]

:)

[Bwremjoe]

There's a few blind spots in this Anthem Player's post, and it is most notable when he/she says how "the communication of the developers" in No Mans Sky was the reason the community stayed. That never happened. There was radio silence for a LONG time, and I fear people are currently really looking at EA/Bioware through this very narrow and negative scope.

BioWare is doing much better in communicating, and tbf, Anthem is already in a pretty darn much better state that No Mans Sky was at the start.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

It's an EA product that's the problem

[buffig]

Bioware and EA are both complicit. I haven't even played Anthem, so perhaps I don't get to have an opinion. However from what i've seen, read and heard, there are too many fingerprints from the free to play model running through this game or at the very minimum, the MT mess that killed BF2. Imagine, 3 years ago, half way through its development, what the culture inside EA's whole business would have been like. The loot box uproar hadn't happened yet and BF2 would be a massive loot box, MT filled Trojan horse and EA was rubbing its hands. This was to be their next phase. Then it all went bad and they were left with a game which was 4 years into development which had been potentially f2p, then a full price release but loaded with lootboxes and convoluted levelling systems, performance enhancing MTs. And Bioware was aware of none of this? They would have felt it in everything they did. Unfortunately, these are real people, with families, working in a tumultuous industry. They probably hate as many things about the game as anybody else does, but they need to eat. This isn't an artistic endeavour, made with love and utter conviction. It's a product of its environment.

[LordoftheCritics]

I have been thinking of this exact same thing. Bioware is probably balls deep in this.

[OCEANGROWNKUSH]

Just go F2P and get it over with :)

[Bleucrunch]

I read every word of that man's post. It was well written and articulates my view points about Bioware, EA and this alarming trend. My response to his post is simply this, "WHAT MORE CAN BE SAID???" #MicDrop

Bioware's response was decent at best. I know that he can't speak to a number of things, but at the very least can we say that are at least listening???

[Alek83]

This game is such a hot mess. Easily my biggest disappointment of the past 5 years. No other game even comes close. Buggy, broken, tedious game that Bioware seems to want to break with every patch. And now they RUINED loot. No, really. In a loot based shooter. You are much better off naked with just one legendary because of their garbage scaling.