The VIP demo of Anthem was plagued by problems. The developers list which of these should be fixed by the release in the letter.
This is what happened: Players who tried the VIP demo of Anthem last weekend encountered nasty bugs and lags. One error caused players to get stuck on the loading screen. As a result, they could either not go on missions or could not even get into the game. The loading screen bug was the biggest evil. However, there were more problems.
This is how BioWare reacts: In an open letter to fans, the Head of Live Service, Chad Robertson, addresses these issues. He explains which demo problems will be gone by the release.
List of issues that will be fixed by the release
- Players will no longer lose all XP after completing a mission
- The performance has improved. Players had problems with lags or could not move from their spot.
- The stability is expected to be further improved. This likely refers to servers.
- Groups on missions were sometimes bugged, causing players to be pulled together. This should no longer happen.
- The perks of weapons or skills sometimes only showed 0% as stats. The correct stats will be available at launch.
- There will be a social hub at release where players can see each other outside of missions
- Weapons that can only be used by specific Javelins had bonuses that applied to another. Weapons that can only be used by the Colossus had a bonus like “Ranger grenade damage +5%”.
Are these problems fixed in the open demo? No. According to Robertson, this list refers to the launch of Anthem. These issues may still appear in the open demo, which will be made accessible to everyone next week.
Here you can learn everything you need to know about the open demo of Anthem.
Demo is in build 6 weeks before the release
The demo is a special build: The demo differs in some ways from Anthem itself. For example, the demo lacks six weeks of bug fixes. The demo of Anthem is also “easier”, in the sense that XP and coins can be earned faster.
According to Robertson, there would still be thousands of things that need to be improved or already fixed by the release of Anthem. They have been preparing for the launch for weeks.
These issues will be worked on until the open demo:
- Incorrectly assigned account rights: Players who should have access to the VIP demo could not do so due to a bug.
- The server performance is to be improved
- The loading screen bug will be examined more closely this week and fixed if possible
- The bug that prevented players from unlocking their second Javelin. This was already fixed during the VIP demo.
- Bugs affecting logging in, clients, and platforms
Will these issues be fixed by the open demo? The developers are currently working on these issues. At this point, however, one cannot be sure that these issues will no longer be present in the open demo.
A special focus will be placed on the loading screen bug, as this has ruined the VIP demo for many players.
Your monster killed 2 million innocent rabbits
Robertson thanks the players who participated in the VIP demo in the letter. He is grateful for the support that BioWare has received from the players. Finally, Robertson reveals a few numbers regarding the VIP demo.
These statistics are shared by BioWare with the fans:
- Approximately 9 million hours were played in 2.5 days
- Players completed 1 million strongholds that work like small raids
- Almost 2 million rabbits (Grabbits) were slaughtered. These are cute, colorful bunnies that hop through the open world.
BioWare apologized for VIP problems: The VIP demo was frustrating for many players because of all the problems. This is particularly bitter for those who had to pre-order Anthem to participate in the VIP demo. Others also accessed it for free with a friend’s code.
This feels for pre-orderers like paying for a beta test. BioWare apologized for these problems and gives players a gift:
Players of the VIP demo can also play with all Javelins in the open demo. Only two Javelins are actually intended in the demo.
