A few days after their second demo weekend for Anthem, BioWare has published a preview graphic of their upcoming schedule for the Anthem live service post-launch.
The schedule, located on the Anthem main game page, previews the roadmap for the game in March. Titled Act One: Echoes of Reality, the game will see three major updates in the first month of Anthem's launch, named Evolving World, Stronger Together and most ominously, The Cataclysm.
The updates will be adding a ton of content into the game, including an expanded progression system, a new stronghold, new in-game events and missions, and more quality of life improvements, likely based on feedback from the two demo weekends. The final part of announced is the aforementioned Cataclysm, which BioWare promises will change the in-game world and the landscape for all players. Cataclysms can include extreme weather, an outbreak of hostile creatures, or more, with players learning to adapt to survive the hostile environment.
Echoes of Reality is also only the first step for Anthem, with BioWare promising at least two more Acts after the Anthem live service content begins to come in at March. It is unknown if all of Echoes of Reality is planned for March only, or that all of its updates will be from a longer period of time, but it is clear BioWare has a clear plan for future content updates going forward for at least the rest of the year.
BioWare also went into details on the endgame content on Anthem, in a brand new trailer and blog post.
Players of the demo got a taste of the strongholds, which would be the equivalent of a "dungeon raid" to a boss battle for some of the rarest loot drops in the game. Anthem will launch with at least three strongholds, but will quickly gain a 4th with Echoes of Reality.
The endgame content is mostly focused on harder difficulty levels, which will unlock as the player levels up, which includes the three Grandmaster ranks. Similar to the Borderlands series, the progressive level ups will make the in-game world more difficult, but also increase the power and rarity of the reward drops you can find in the game.
Rare drops can include weapons, personalization items, and crafting materials. Players will also have access to Contracts. Contract missions will be given by members of Fort Tarsis and will be a number of unique objectives to tackle for rewards, such as crafting blueprints. Do enough contracts, and a Legendary Contract will open up; which are multi-part missions that take a lot more time to complete, but with greater rewards.
BioWare is also planning daily, weekly and monthly challenges along with world events happening in freeplay, for those who wish to play the game at their leisure instead of taking up a legendary contract.
Anthem will be released on February 22nd, for the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If you want to find out more about our thoughts on Anthem, check out our impressions on the demo's that have been held.
What do you think of the Anthem live service plan? What about the end game content? Let us know in the comments below!
