Home Gaming Bioware details fixes for Anthem after last weekend’s buggy demo experience

Bioware details fixes for Anthem after last weekend’s buggy demo experience

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Ant-Hem
Ant hem

If you were looking to hop into some Anthem action on the weekend, your session probably went a little something like this:

  • Download VIP Beta Demo
  • Get hyped son
  • Start game
  • Sit in menus for half an hour as servers were at full capacity
  • Finally get in
  • Wonder who decided to give you the walking speed of a snail high on LSD in the game hub world
  • Start an expedition
  • Get stuck at the 95% loading screen
  • Scream
  • Keep screaming
  • Dude stop, it’s just a game
  • My freakin’ ears

I only managed to properly play Anthem on Sunday, as general exploration seemed to be buggy and only the actual missions were working for quick matchmaking. While I liked what I played, I’m still not completely sold on Anthem, not to the point where I’d make the game my latest hobby over a few hundred hours. There’s a lot that needs to be fixed, as the demo provided plenty of salient data for Bioware to sift through and highlight key areas that need a keen eye. “It was an eventful VIP Demo weekend for BioWare,” head of live service Chad Robertson wrote on the developer’s blog.

As I shared on Saturday, it started rocky, but we stabilized that afternoon and maintained it until we turned servers off Sunday evening. We learned a ton about our game, our service, and you, our community. We’re working hard to ensure everyone can enjoy the game exactly as we’ve designed it. We’ve also been preparing for many weeks for our full launch. That version of the game already has a long list of things that are already fixed that won’t make the public demo weekend.

So far, those fixes include:

Anthem (1)
  • Weapons with 0% infusions
  • Weapons with bonus that applies to different Javelins
  • Plot integrity / party gather issues
  • Changes to Javelin unlock behavior
  • Fixes for losing XP at end of some expeditions
  • Performance Improvements
  • Additional stability fixes
  • A Social Hub: The Launch Bay
  • And a few thousand more (literally)…”
Anthem (2)

Lead designer Ben Irvo also responded to a thread on Reddit where he elaborated on some of the other fixes that will be looked at in future patches based on player feedback from the demo. These will specifically be fixes for issues on PC only. You can check out the full technical explanations in the link above, but the Reader’s Digest version is below.

  • Fix mouse acceleration and input lag on PC
  • Make adjustments to flying in the game so it’s easier to control with a keyboard and mouse
  • Swimming will be made easier
  • Menu/UI navigation improvements
  • Being able to set FOV
  • Fixing keybinding issues
  • UI referring to controller DPad buttons instead of actual bound keys
  • Overall game performance to be worked on

If you missed out on the private demo and you’re still interested in Giving Anthem a go, an open demo will kick off this weekend. Anthem ain’t a bad game, but much like Bungie’s Destiny, it seems to have taken inspiration from that game’s best and worst features. It’s fun, but its more frenetic pacing makes for a visually messy game when the action gets turned up to 11. Anthem releases in full on February 22.

Last Updated: January 29, 2019

14 Comments

  1. I wish devs would give some more info about demos like these. Most people probably assume this is the latest version of the game but it’s likely to be a snapshot from weeks ago and they might even have fixed some of these issues. It would be nice to tell players how up to date the thing is they are playing.

    Also on the server side, they were probably also only given a small number of servers to use for the betas which makes sense.

    Not wanting to defend crappy releases etc. but it just seems to me that if devs/publishers were more upfront about these things it might go better for them. But then again it’s all about the money/hype so telling players there is only space for 1000 players at a time (for example) would be a no go.

    Reply

    • The D

      January 29, 2019 at 11:58

      The demo build is from six weeks ago apparently, so here’s hoping we’ll see those tweaks!

      Reply

      • MaSeKind

        January 29, 2019 at 12:04

        Yeah I hope the release goes well, not because I care or will probably play the game, but I do care about Bioware though.
        And even though I believe EA isn’t that stupid to kill one of the last good things they own, there does seem to be a lack of braincells in the EA management department.

        But hey if the game turns out good I might give it a go. It looks fun but maybe a bit repetitive. Also as others pointed out wtf is going on with the flying controls on PC

        Reply

  2. PestControl

    January 29, 2019 at 11:27

    What worries me is… how the fuck did they play it (on PC) and think to themselves: “Yeah this flying/swimming feels good…. let’s leave it like this for the demo that millions of people are going to play.”

    Reply

  3. Kromas

    January 29, 2019 at 11:33

    Not gonna lie. It was an ambitious project for Bioware. Still I must say I think I will stick to hoping Division 2 is better. That beta is coming in less than 10 days.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      January 29, 2019 at 13:53

      I think the nice thing that separates Anthem from the others is how much more of a vertical game it is, which is actually damn nice.
      I’m not really interested in any of these two games, but Anthem does seem to do quite a few things well.

      Reply

  4. For the Emperor!

    January 29, 2019 at 11:47

    “Fixes for losing XP at end of some expeditions” – saw Angry Joe’s video, where Other Joe and Delrith got XP but Joe didn’t. His face said it all hahaha

    Reply

  5. Captain JJ

    January 29, 2019 at 13:53

    I do believe there is potential there, for sure. Will I ever buy it? No.
    But it does look like it could be good. Sure, there’s space for some serious MTs, but only time will tell how that pans out.

    Reply

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