Too little loot, too much effort, and pointless perks on the loot – the loot system of Anthem has been harshly criticized. Now the loot patch is live, which is supposed to make everything better. But did it really help? MeinMMO author Robert puts it to the test.
I have been in the endgame of Anthem for several hours. That means:
- Completing legendary missions
- World events in free play
- Farming strongholds
All of this, of course, with the goal of getting better gear and becoming stronger to conquer the higher difficulty levels. However, players quickly noticed stumbling blocks.
What was the problem with the loot? While there are guaranteed masterwork items (the second-best rarity tier) after completing certain activities, these were often nearly useless, as the properties on them did not match the found item. Sometimes it took on adventurous turns:
- Pistols with more ammunition for grenade launchers (the Colossus can use grenade launchers but not pistols),
- Elemental abilities with bonuses for physical damage
These were just two examples; in fact, the problem with the loot system ran even deeper:
- Even at max level, players still have to deal with low-quality loot (white and green gear)
- The game grants far too little good stuff for the poor properties on the gear, which in turn leads to
- the elaborate activities not being worth the yield
For these reasons, players have sought ways to shorten the endgame grind, which is obviously not the point.
How did Anthem solve the loot problem? In the recently deployed hotfix (server-side, players did not need to download an update), various issues were addressed:
- The attributes should now match the object that you have found
- The crafting costs for masterwork items have been reduced
In fact, the low-quality loot from activities from level 30 was also supposed to be removed, but this functionality did not make it into the hotfix.
Is Anthem now a better game? Yes, definitely. Will that be enough in the long run to keep players entertained? No. Admittedly, the equipment that I have been getting since the change is consistently better than anything the game previously threw at my feet.
This has led to me becoming significantly stronger and I can now play Grandmaster 1 relatively easily. For me personally, the changes do not go far enough, however. This has less to do with the loot per se.
The problem is not the loot, but the effort: Those who have already played all three available strongholds will have noticed: Especially the last boss in the Heart of Rage gives a whole new meaning to the word bullet sponge.
My first (and only) trip into this stronghold took more than an hour. The team with which I was subsequently victorious looked completely different than the group with which I started. The whole rigmarole was worth exactly one masterwork item, which I could immediately dismantle.
And this is exactly where the problem lies. The stronghold Mine of the Tyrant can easily be completed in 20 minutes, but yields the same yield as the Heart of Rage.
The daily legendary missions and world events within free play can even be completed even faster. While I can now appreciate the quality of loot after the patch more, this is not the case with the effort for it.
What are the consequences of this “yield imbalance”? Players will tend to play exactly the activity that offers the best loot/time correlation. As a result, the game becomes monotonous, and players eventually drop out.
Some players also report that the two highest difficulty levels yield only slightly more loot, resulting in little incentive to even try them.
For now, the grand gameplay and beautiful game world keep me engaged. I simply want to dive into the battles and bring fear and terror with my Storm. But how long will this fact alone be enough?
To keep me engaged in the long term, BioWare urgently needs to bring new activities and, above all, align the yield of existing activities with the respective effort.
This applies particularly to the toughest enemies in the game. When I take down a big legendary, archaic Zinder titan, I don’t want to be left with a white and a green item!
What do you think of the new loot system? What do you feel is still missing?
