Public Test Server Megathread: Discussion & Feedback | November 2019

Freeplay and Fort Tarsis are covered in snow and decorations, the former looks really good.

New Freeplay Event: Javelin racing, seems fun enough, rewards are ok.

New Competitive Stronghold, Tyrant Mine: Sections are timed & scored, bonus objectives have been added, a bunch of new puzzles for bonuses (one of which seems to involve destroying 4 devices hidden throughout the stronghold, reward unknown). It's alright, a good enough reason to do Strongholds, reward seems to just be the usual loot + crystals tho.

Feedback: We need new forms of progression, whether that be crafting/rerolling/mastery/new gear, I don't care, the same seasonal store just isn't going to cut it. A big part of what made Cataclysm so good was that it introduced a new item slot and 33 new pieces of gear to grind for, we need these updates to deliver something similar or they don't give much reason for most people to play.

EDIT: Datamining seems to confirm that the new Competitive Stronghold activity will be on a weekly rotation with other Strongholds.

This does not seem worthy of needing a PTS...

Bah. Was really hoping for loot update. It cant be THAT hard, can it?

In any case: good yhat atrongholds get love. Although I am NOT happy that its more hur durrr puzzles.

It would help if they communicated a bit. But my gut feeling is they don't want to spend too much time on tons of new items that will just require reworks with core systems changes. That's not to say we won't get any new gear with this update. But they may not show it to us in this PTS.

Loot changes/crafting would have been nice was hoping it was that with the Jav mastery system. Oh well. What's this I hear about Jav races??

So many questions... But let's get to balancing first since INT can button smash it's way through faster. Did they at least disable the jumping ahead thing somehow to have an even balance across all Javs?

Now let's get into are they any fun? How many are there in freeplay or like just a couple same routes over and over? Guess I'm wondering if there is a randomization element to it..

Lastly wtf do you get for rewards perhaps some colored thrusters/effects to add to our Javs? Guessing that is a nope. You win pride man..

If no Jav effects please people of PTS advocate for that. If you can now race. I feel like that should be a thing more so now than before. Just makes sense if your racing..

Edit: Guess the person I replied to got a ban so just putting this here..

There would need to be new gear; abilities at the very least. Especially considering the cata abilities were just different versions of already existing abilities. How hard can it be to give other gear this treatment and thus provide something for us to grind. Cosmetic rewards are nice but if it turns out to be more armour locked behind a ridiculous grind I'll be extremely disappointed.

Don't mind me Freelancers, just commenting so that I can follow the updates.

Won't interceptor always win a race?

>!The Monitor Is a Grabbit!<

So after playing the pts stronghold a few times i figured out all the secrets i could find >! summoning all the extra enemies that grant points when you kill them and the puzzle in the secret room after you first enter the tunnels !<

By no means do i think we found everything but other than one spot i haven't checked yet i can't think of where there could be any more secrets, our score was the top score in the pts at that time and we got like 1.5k crystals for it (this was pretty early so its prob been beaten by now)

Anyway for me at least, i like being able to save up a bunch of crystals and then spend them all at once, if were only getting like ~2k crystals per run after doing all the secrets then maybe that might be worth tuning.

Also would be a nice benefit to doing secrets if we got reputation on completion also.

This is no troll, totally my opinion . Launched in and after several disconnects and finally got to move around the Fort, the snow effects are lovely and a nice addition. Freeplay is absolutely gorgeous. I did not notice any new events outside of the racing. It was intriguing the first time doing it but it is not something I see myself doing regularly. I do feel it will have a niche audience that enjoy it. The stronghold idea is nice addition but just doesn't seem adequate this far into the launch. I'm grateful for at least something added but as a player with 225 hours, this is not enough to really reel me back in.

Probably will play just enough to complete challenges, and likely get offline the second daily's are finished because this is a boring update. Would rather they spend time with dramatic overhaul than give us this.

So here's everything that currently exists, and everything I've found so far. Lots of indication that Weekend PTS may be a regular thing from here on out, will update this if there are any changes over the weekend.

Freeplay:

Race Events - >!Timed race events which seem to give you Legendaries just for a few minute long race. Given the task at hand for it, it's a nice bonus reward to get.!< Only seems to be one for now however. Probably more to come.

Snow Globe Areas - Possible there may be events here later, but nothing of note for now.

Snow Everywhere - Very pretty :D

Competitive Strongholds (Seasonal Event):

Strongholds, but with Scoring, additional secrets and puzzles. Nice alternative to Cataclysm for once to get Seasonal currency. Hoping for Currency Enconomy changes, or scoring changes.. if this will replace Cataclysm for the season it will not fair all that well.

!Currently only Tyrant Mine is hooked up, datamining suggests at least Heart of Rage will be as well!<

Seasonal Store:

Nothing changed for now, still Season of Skulls.

My hopes for future PTS weekends:

• Anything involving upgrading, crafting, or obtaining better legendaries
• Anything that allows for rerolling/upgrading Incriptions (of any tier)
• Seasonal Store bring a small selection of new components, both Universal and Iconic.
• Seasonal Store brings a new assortment of other gear.
• More Races, because those are actually great and decently rewarding. Having a loop of them around Bastion would make for a more fun way to travel from Point A to Point B while still getting good drops.
• Snow Globe events active, they look interesting but seem inactive which is a bit disappointing.
• Each Stronghold being made competitive and given a test run.

Haven't played or thought about Anthem for awhile, but I saw there was another PTS up and decided to get it a download.

Haven't fiddled with it much but the gameplay loop just makes me wish there was a lot more content to sink my teeth into. With all the bad rep, with all the bullshit and salt, Anthem still feels pretty unique and fun. I'd be playing it way more often if it had a release schedule like say Destiny 2 does or FFXIV that added more content.

People please visit https://answers.ea.com/t5/Anthem-Public-Test-Server/ct-p/anthem-pts-en and login with your Origin account to vote on the issues that you feel are important.

Specially vote for this https://answers.ea.com/t5/Anthem-PTS-Feedback/Lack-of-communication-features-with-other-players/m-p/8401149#M661

We are in dire need of text chat if we get a lot of new events where no one knows what to do. If you want to improve Anthem go there and show your concern.

Don't expect them to do major changes but something small such as a text chat support could go a long way to improve Event missions.

So are we actually going to get a decent amount of content anytime soon ? Dont get me wrong the snowy world looks cool and the races will be a nice distraction now and then but for how long are we going to be grinding the same stuff for now ?

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In watching this guys video a few things really stand out. One is that the people in town are wearing short sleeve clothing. One woman I saw was sleeveless! Are you people generating this from Texas or something? Also - why can't I see their breath when people are talking??? No shivering - nadda. Go stand in a meat locker for 15 minutes and then maybe you'll get some perspective on winter. Take a field trip or I don't know - watch a video on the effects of the cold on the human body when not properly insulated by winter clothing. People in that video would actually be experiencing the effects of hypothermia - the first effect of which is pain - so given what they're wearing they would be rubbing their arms and sort of dancing in place at a minimum.

Also - why the heck isn't there snow in the Tyrant Mine outdoors area?!! No icicles nothing! That absolutely must change!

In an area with snow - the puddle at the 5:42 mark was still water - not even a thin sheet of ice on top? It is basically standing water so that kind of stuff should definitely be getting frozen over. (Maybe watch the kids movie frozen for inspiration?)

My favorite part of this test is around the - 6:40 mark in this video where he enters an area where it is snowing hard - there is some accumulation and a decent wind is blowing all the snow around. That is what I'm talking about! That is a huge part of what this game needs right there! Not sure if I'm noticing footprints though? Could be wrong on that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPTmCZ0zB3g

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