Some additional Anthem information, mostly to clear up what you saw on the stream.

FIRST: no compensation will be given to those of you that bought the game full price, and no, there is nothing I can do about it.

Very odd that so many people actually think that I have anything to do with EA or BioWare. I basically take what I hear (mostly from low level employees) and write it down in this blog. Sometimes I try to do some hacking if I hear a game did something really dumb (like placing too much trust client side). Nothing else.

I have no ability to fix bugs or get you compensation for anything, and to think any differently is a little absurd.
As you can see, I didn't even put the Got fails? - mmogfails@gmail.com line at the end of my last post because of how many e-mails I was getting.

So if I do not respond to you, please don't write me an e-mail a few hours later threatening me... And then again a few hours hours later apologizing... Only to threaten me again a few hours later. This was an actual example from someone. Four e-mails in a span of ten hours, with some severe bipolar tones to it.
When things like this happen, it really just makes me want to stop leaking, and makes me feel even worse for what the BioWare community folks have to deal with.

With that rant out of the way I can actually tell you that the topic of making things right with their early adopters was already brought up and quickly put down (by leadership). This will change if the game goes F2P and some compensation will be given to those that own the base game.

Here are some more answers to common questions that I saw in my inbox:

- Yes, the Cataclysm is a time gated, timed, and score based PQ-like event.
   - A new map has been specifically designed for the event. The map will open up as the six week Cataclysm progresses. The map will then be "re-purposed" once the Cataclysm is over.
   - Higher score = more currency rewards.
   - You have to use currency earned to buy chests that contain loot. This is in addition to loot that will still be dropped. New leveled items will only be available in the chests for now. This may change during the Cataclysm.
   - When the event is over, the new item levels will carry over to the base game.
   - PTS is in fact coming to consoles. At least eventually. A lot of work went into getting it set up for the console already (on the PlayStation), and I doubt they will just discard it.
   - The PTS will be a social experiment of sorts, and BioWare will in fact take the recommendations made by these players to heart. So be civil and play nice. You actually have a chance to improve the game.

- With luck removed, MOST players will now have a much higher chance of getting Masterwork and Legendary items. Yes, this equates to better overall loot drops. Internal testing has shown this change almost doubled the speed in Legendary item acquisition and almost tripled the Masterwork item acquisition for the AVERAGE player.
Those that were running luck builds before, will still be impacted by this change because all GM difficulties across the board had a slight increase to purple drops (and above). Factoring in the luck change, more purples = more Masterwork and Legendary items FOR ALL.

- The communication embargo has been lessened. BioWare and EA want to hype up the Cataclysm (trust me, this is a good thing, keep an eye on SM). As long as players aren't hostile to them, I don't see a reason as to why they would not keep communicating.
I said this multiple times already, but please have some decency towards these people.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them. Otherwise more leaks as I get them. Oh and cut it out with the demands and threats please. It's getting really old now.


Got fails? - mmogfails@gmail.com