The Anthem demo has come and gone, and thankfully, the technical issue we’ve experienced during the private demo were practically non-existent. This feat hasn’t escaped BioWare, as the studio has posted a new blog post about this and more.

According to BioWare Head of Live Services Chad Robertson, the “war rooms” at BioWare were tranquil this weekend since there wasn’t any major issues. What’s even more impressive here is, there were over 40 million hours of playtime in the game across the two demo sessions (private, public)! Not bad, no? Not bad; especially considering the first demo weekend had a lot of issues that prevent people from playing.

If you want to see some of the user-created javelins, head on over here.

In other Anthem news, BioWare has mentioned that they want to add more Stronghold missions as soon as possible, and it’ll be free.

For PC players, don’t forget that BioWare has overhauled the controls for the final launch build version which you can read about here.

Just a few weeks ago, we reported that Anthem will have three Stronghold missions available at launch. For those not familiar with it, Stronghold missions are some of the game’s endgame activities, and will require a four-man team to coordinate with each other to complete. Think of them as a shorter version of Destiny’s Raids, though it’s definitely longer and meatier than Destiny’s Strike missions.

If you find that three Anthem Stronghold missions out of the gate is a tad too few, don’t worry too much as BioWare has confirmed that they want to add more Anthem Strongholds “as soon as possible,” and mentions that if they indeed add ’em, these missions will be free! This was revealed by Anthem Producer Ben Irving during a Discord chat with fans.

Ben Irving: We want to add more strongholds as soon as possible and then continue to do so.

Oh and when we add them they’ll be free.

In the same chat, Irving confirmed that BioWare will revamp the stat screen after every end of mission, and mentions how the UI “needs some love.”

Ben Irving: We we know the UI needs some love, the first phase of that will be in at launch, however I don’t think that’ll address the issue you outlined but we want to make that better after launch. Being a very loot based game we need to be much better at getting you the information in the easiest way.

Regarding an Anthem horde mode, Irving says that it has been discussed though they’ve got some other stuff to do before it gets implemented — if at all.

Ben Irving: It’s been discussed. I think we’ve got some other things to check off first though.

Lastly, Irving has also confirmed that BioWare has looked into endless dungeons or something of the sort, and adds that they are “SUPER difficult.”

Ben Irving: Yes and it is SUPER difficult.

That’s very welcome news regarding Strongholds, right? Let’s hope BioWare can churn these out soon-ish since you just know how some players will be gunning to finish e’m ASAP.

In other Anthem news, BioWare has cleared the air regarding microtransactions in the game, and also confirmed that guilds won’t be available at launch.

Source: Reddit

If you’ve played the Anthem demo and completed a mission, chances are you might have seen an Alliance bonus when it comes to XP. Now if you’re not familiar to what it is, and what constituted the bonus, here’s the official explanation.

BioWare Producer Ben Irving posted a message on Reddit announcing that Anthem guilds won’t be available at launch, and what the Anthem Alliance system is, and how it works.

The Alliance System – “What is That & How Does it Work?”

The Alliance system is a way for you and your friends to be rewarded for playing the game. Anytime you complete an expedition (Mission, Contract, Freeplay, Stronghold) you earn experience. That experience also goes into the Alliance system. Even better, the experience from the OTHER people in your group also goes into the alliance system. Even better STILL, players on your friends list who play without you – THEIR experience also goes into the Alliance System.

At the end of every week, you are awarded Coin (our in-game earned currency, used to purchase various items throughout the game) based on how much experience was contributed to the Alliance System. There are several tiers you can work through each week as well as a weekly cap. We want to encourage players to form friendships and play together and we’ve created the Alliance System to do just that!

Guilds – “What About Those?”

The short answer is, Guilds will not be available at launch. While we believe the Alliance System is a great way to encourage social interaction with Anthem, we also understand Guilds play a critical role in helping players form organized groups with people of similar interests and play styles. Our goal is to release guilds as soon after launch as we can. Details on timing will come as soon as we have our plan locked in. We want this to be awesome.

In other Anthem news, make sure to check out how combos work in the game via this handy cheat sheet graphic. BioWare has also cleared the air when it comes to Anthem microtransactions, which you should read about here.