In a blog post today, BioWare Austin director Christian Dailey outlined some of the changes coming to loot and weapons in Anthem. One of the changes discussed includes an increase in the frequency of loot drops. Another is the ability to pursue specific loot without “relying on randomness alone,” and making loot feel “exciting and more noticeable” when it drops. Here are some of the changes which were outlined in the blog post: Satisfying Loot Experience A good player experience depends on the loot system being extensible and robust, and a lot can go wrong. A lot did go wrong. We fell short here and we realized that building something new from the ground up was going to be required – starting with taking a long look and understanding the best in class of the many great games that inspire us.
Respect Your Time Increase the frequency of Loot Drops Loot is viable more often; All items are better and more competitive, but there’s still a chance of getting something exceptional All loot rarities have strategic value throughout progression
Embrace Choice You can pursue specific loot without relying on randomness alone; Quests; Specialized Vendors; Unique Loot Tables Modify your loot, including rerolling inscriptions and leveling up items
Create a Rewarding Loot Experience Loot feels exciting and more noticeable when it drops, and is celebrated when collected Rare enemies (aka “walking treasure chests”) create exciting moments to get a burst of loot all at once Keep it Accessible and Immediate Reveal and equip loot right away Complete revamp of the equipment sheet – including a detailed stat sheet (not shown) The equipment sheet can be accessed from anywhere, allows you to easily see what you have equipped in each slot
Reliability of Equipment and Rewards Each item has an inscription “budget”, based on its Power and Rarity No more useless items because they were missing must-have inscriptions (see “Increased weapon dmg by +225%”) Exceptional items are about getting the exact types of bonuses you want, instead of maxing values on every bonus
Scale for the Future Your power cap can be easily increased, and the loot system scales accordingly Advanced telemetry data allows us to identify trends and make meaningful balance changes
Other Areas of Exploration
In addition to loot and equipment, there are some really good improvements to the feel and types of items we are supporting. Gunplay is overall more responsive with enemies reacting to hits near-instantly with improved client-side prediction, we are looking into the role of melee items and builds, and of course, being able to spend skill points to unlock new types of equipment and synergies. One of the things I am most excited about is seeing all the awesome new weaponry concepts based on our factions.
While all of this seems promising, it’s worth noting it will probably be a while before the revamped version of the game is made available. Concept art for Anthem 2.0, or Anthem Next as it’s also dubbed, was shown off recently on Twitter by Dailey. We were given a look at a pirate faction and its base, and concept art featuring the game’s world.
