As part of today’s Anthem livestream, BioWare has given a huge Anthem Cataclysm update and what players can expect in terms of how long the event will be, what loot to expect, and lots more.
Thanks to Reddit user jwp12, we have the Anthem Cataclysm update summary on what was discussed! Aside from the Cataclysm event, BioWare has taken “Luck” out of the game, and Anthem will have its own PTS (Public Test Server) which starts next week.
The Cataclysm Event
• 8 week event
• First 2 weeks: Pre-events
• 3 new missions
• New area: The Cataclysm
• New systems: Scoring, inversions, leaderboards
• New power & new rewards
A new faction is formed from the remnants of the Dominion. They trigger the Cataclysm and the freelancer has to stop it.
Pre-Event
- The pre-event will be the first two weeks of the Cataclysm.
- During the pre-event, gear will not be rewarded but new cosmetics will.
The Cataclysm Overview
- The Cataclysm takes place in a new area of the map
- The objective is to get to the boss, Vara, and kill her before time is up.
- You earn a score along the way.
- There will be “arenas” where you can complete objectives and increase your score and extend your timer.
- Not every arena will be available from the start.
- While you’re in this area, a storm is raging and you need to create “safe zones” to protect yourself from it.
- There will be secrets and mysteries to solve in the new area.
- There will be leaderboards so that you can compete with friends and the rest of the world.
- You will earn currency by playing the Cataclysm and that can be spent on warchests that contain gear.
- Warchests will rotate.
- A feature called inversion will be active in the cataclysm.
- Inversions are like modifiers to gameplay, e.g. increased ultimate charge rate, decreased ability cooldowns, certain weapon kills giving bonus points etc.
- Inversions will change from time-to-time e.g. weekly, daily etc.
- There will also be 3 new main missions that include new cinematics and progress the story.
Cataclysm loot
- New weapons
- New masterwork gear (different Masterwork/Legendary variants of existing gear)
- Melee equippable slot (not items but variants, e.g. a detonator for Ranger rather than a Primer)
- Masterwork and Legendary Support Gear
- All NEW items will have a higher power level than existing items. Currently, the Masterwork and Legendary items are 5 levels higher.
Public Test Server
- PTS will start next week.
- They are looking to run it for 2-3 weeks.
- It is PC-only.
- It will not always be up e.g. it may be up for a couple of days, then go down for a while before coming back online.
- If you own Anthem or have a subscription to EA Origin Premiere, you will have access to the PTS.
- It will be a separate client that you have to download.
- The first week will include the Cataclysm but not the rewards.
- It’s a PTS, so it will be unfinished. It will be buggy and may crash.
- Patch notes will be made available for changes.
Luck
- Luck has been removed from the game.
- All suits will now have max luck by default (90%).
- Any exisiting luck rolls will change to armour.
Given how long BioWare has been radio silent has been regarding Anthem, I gather, players are happy to get whatever update or content the studio is releasing soon. Hopefully, it’s enough to reinvigorate the player base, and maybe rope new players in.
There’s been an Anthem patch that was released this week as well, which you can read about here.