Anthem

[Nick 38]

8 hours ago, Mera'din said:

Nope. That's one of their "big" projects so I'm assuming we'll see a complete overhaul (which it needs). Most people bitch about the drop rates, but there's not anything particularly wrong with that. RNG is a bitch, but I get Legendaries pretty regularly just playing on GM1 (like I said, I've completely maxed out 2 different javelins). So  I'd expect something more profound. Hopefully alongside new content. Once they get a couple more strongholds in too, that will help. Have 4 now. New one was really fun, but definitely need some variety. 6 strongholds and some "higher" tier of content (some kind of raid style thing) would be much more well rounded.

 

I have at least seen people talking about the idea of them maybe working on a complete overhaul of the Loot System, which would probably be a huge plus for the game.

 

I keep getting worried when I hear talk about DA4 possibly being some kind of Game as a Service model, though.

[webhead 518]

I am really souring on this game type now.  Games as a service is like a cancer on gaming.  Everything seems broken and half assed in this category and everyone wants to put their own version out.

[Mera'din 306]

Doing stream right now. Talking about the Cataclysm event and showing off the new area.

 

- Cataclysm will be an 8 week event, 2 of which is a "pre" event period.

- Will have leaderboards and support a repeatable, competitive element.

- New story, missions, and high end cutscenes will be involved

- This will take place in a new area of the game.

- New faction has formed within the Dominion as a result of the main games story, their leader Vara will be the main antagonist from the sound of it.

- Map contains various "arenas" with different events and objectives to score points.

- Can only spend certain amount of time flying in the cataclysm itself before you take damage.

- Gain points meeting objectives and completing arenas and things of that nature.

- There will be a time limit that is extended as you complete objectives, as well as score multipliers and things of that nature. When time runs out you're given a score.

- Event will have "Inversions" that give buffs to certain things each week. Things like 400% increased ult charge, half time on ability charge or double damage on certain weapon types. So basically like the things on Nightfall strikes in Destiny, but everything is a beneficial effect.

- New weapons and masterwork gear

- Melee equippable slot. Not DIFFERENT weapons for the javelines, but will have different effects. Example given was Ranger melee is a primer electric ability. Can change it to be a detonator instead. Plan is for all Javelin's to be able to swap between different elements and primer or detonator for their melee.

- Masterwork and Legendary Support gear (FINALLY)

- New items will have a higher power level than existing items (kind of expected, but it's probably good they say so or I might worry. >_> ).

-Event will have currency tied to it and a special vendor you can buy chests from (  ). Items available in chests will change throughout the event.

- Removing luck stat, all Javelin's will have set "luck" to what the max was when it was a stat so effectively more loot will drop for people unless they were try-harding the game already. Any gear with the luck stat is having it replaced by armor.

- PTS will go up sometime next week and will be up for 2 or 3 weeks. They really want feedback on the systems they're putting in before it goes live. First week will be strictly testing for the event itself, and after they will patch the new loot in for feedback on that.

 

Definitely looks good overall. Not sure how I feel about this being an "event" (even if it does go for 8 weeks). The only way this is going to work is if they keep their dev. cycle really strong and have shit progress consistently. So this event will finish and another of equal size/length will start within a week or two after and keep progressing the story/world forward. This is basically going to be end game content so they can't just end it and then wait a month or more before something else happens or people will lose it. Time will tell. Austin has a LOT of experience with online services and this style of development and whatnot so I have some hope that once they stabilize with what they're doing, we'll see some consistent stuff from them. 

 

PTR is PC only which sucks for me I guess. Might actually consider contributing feedback on this since they probably legit need it and will be hard up for people not just screaming "LOOT" over and over again which is usually what 75% of the stream chat is. 

 

It's already been clipped for anyone that might want to actually watch it:

[Downshift 54]

4 hours ago, webhead said:

I am really souring on this game type now.  Games as a service is like a cancer on gaming.  Everything seems broken and half assed in this category and everyone wants to put their own version out.

You sound like me in 2015.

[webhead 518]

14 hours ago, Downshift said:

You sound like me in 2015.

 

I'd say "don't be that guy" but you are that guy.

 

The genre had promise and I've had fun with some of them but, much like Battle Royale, everyone is like "oh oh me too me too!" and now it's bogged down in broken shit.

[Mera'din 306]

Okay, so they clarified some things a bit. Mainly, the fact that, though the Cataclysm event is 8 weeks long, that doesn't mean the content will go away after 8 weeks, and that it would be kind of weird to make a whole new area and all this other stuff, and then remove it 8 weeks later. Was rather vague on details, but there is more to this than just the 8 week event they were referencing.

[Mera'din 306]

The 1.30 (Cataclysm) patch is out. Lots of big changes in addition to the new content. Guilds are in (though functionality outside of some weekly reward stuff seems limited to an app at the moment).

Luck has been removed from Gear and what was max luck is now a baseline droprate increase for everyone.

Adjustment to enemy health in higher difficulties to make them less spongy.

New gear and melee weapon types including (finally)masterwork and legendary quality gear for the support slot.

Tons of other tweaks and fixes.

 

I would say some of the underlying issues with the game are still present but this is a massive step in the right direction and hopefully now that the current dev team has this under their belt, their release cycle time will start to improve.

 

Patch notes

[webhead 518]

Have you played with the patch yet?  Curious if it's actually good enough I should consider buying it yet. On the other hand...new Destiny 2 expansion so........I dunno.

[Mera'din 306]

Pretty good so far. The new content itself is some story stuff that explains the new area and then going into the new area is something like a high difficulty, open world dungeon that is balancing survival with getting shit done in a time limit. Some really interesting new mechanics. Will take some time to learn the ins and outside and how to do it efficiently.

 

I'd say it's definitely worth checking out if you already have the game. Probably don't buy yet unless you see an excellent sale price. There is still some fixing that needs doing for sure.

[webhead 518]

Straight honest.  I like that.  Lol.  I'll wait to buy for some amazing sale.  Maybe during Black Friday or Christmas time.

[Nick 38]

I've seen some of the patch notes and was thinking about reinstalling and giving it a try. Or I just keep playing Fire Emblem and wait for Destiny 2 Expansion to come out.

[Mera'din 306]

You could also play Fire Emblem WHILE installing. ?

 

Rewards from challenges for all this stuff is nice to see. Almost everything has emotes or cosmetic stuff tied to it. Nothing in the "seasonaseasonal" that uses the cataclysm currency seems too far fetched for price either. Could get basically anything I want with a couple hours of playing. Not like the regular store where you have to play constantly for like a full week to get anything.

 

Added new legendary events to freeplay as well that are cool. And they have a timer before starting and show up on the map and everything. They're slowly figuring this shit out. XD

[Mera'din 306]

New patch 1.40

 

Anyone who has the game, if you haven't tried the cataclysm stuff yet, now is the time. All events in side it are up, all Javelin armor from the event is up, gear reward chests bought with the currency from doing it are all available this week so you can go for whichever type you want (new guns, melee weapons, and new/upgraded support gear), etc.

 

This patch also increases the vault storage by 100 slots which was sorely needed.

 

Also, the cataclysm is home to easily the best cosmetic in the game. Can give your Javelin grabbit ears.