Anthem’s Cataclysm event delayed as BioWare shuffles 90-day roadmap
Following yesterday’s game update 1.1.0 for Anthem, BioWare hosted a livestream in which they addressed the game’s 90-day roadmap.
BioWare hosted a livestream yesterday in which lead producer Ben Irving and head of live services Chad Robertson provided a rundown on Anthem’s 90-day roadmap. For those who couldn’t tune in, the gist of it is that much of the game’s promised post-launch content has been delayed.
It’s not exactly the news players wanted to hear, but it’s what we expected, especially given the many issues that plagued Anthem at launch. In fact, it was BioWare’s focus on getting Anthem in a stable, playable state that caused them to push back work on the actual post-launch content.
As I pointed out yesterday when the update dropped, many of the features promised in Act 1 didn’t seem to be on track for release, and these suspicions were right.
“We have been prioritizing things like bug fixes, stability and game flow over the new features of Act 1. We set aside time for this work, but the reality is there are more things to fix and improve than we planned for,” BioWare said. “While this is the best thing to do for the game, it means some items from the calendar will be delayed.”
Guilds, leaderboards, and weekly stronghold challenges have all been delayed, along with phase two of the legendary missions and numerous freeplay events.
But perhaps the most disappointing news is that The Cataclysm, Anthem’s big in-game event that’s supposed to cap off the first act of post-launch content has also been delayed. BioWare promised that Cataclysm will bring “new challenges and rewards,” while pushing the story of Anthem forward; however, we’ll have to wait until May for more details. Based on the timeline and how much has already been delayed, I wouldn’t expect The Cataclysm to arrive until June.
BioWare also addressed Anthem’s loot, or lack thereof. If there’s one thing that has frustrated players more than anything else in Anthem, it’s the game’s broken loot system. BioWare has attempted to address this throughout the weeks with multiple updates, but nothing seems to have worked. That said, the developer will continue to work on improving the loot and progression systems. Sadly, no details were offered.
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“We have heard your concerns around end game loot. We agree that our loot and progression systems need to be improved and we are working towards this. When we have more information to share, we will,” BioWare said.
Again, while these delays were expected, it puts a damper on Anthem for the time being. In its current state, the game is a mess that lacks meaningful content. The only thing that keeps it fun, in my opinion, is its combat; but, lackluster rewards makes that frustrating as well.
“We believe the game will be great, but we recognize getting there will take a lot of hard work. We want to do that work and we want you all to join us on the journey to get there,” BioWare concluded.
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Update 1.1.0 added some much-needed quality of life improvements, but it lacked meaningful content. As I said, the key to running a successful “game as a service” is delivering fresh content at a steady pace. BioWare has completely dropped the ball here and, as a result, players are leaving the game in droves. BioWare insists that they believe in Anthem, and they urge players to stick with them as they attempt to recover from a crashed landing.