Anthem has re-engaged at least some fraction of the playerbase with its Calamity event, something that actually did become me dorsum playing avidly for a niggling while before I became engrossed in my pre-release copy of…another looter shooter.

But the weird matter near the Cataclysm is that it was supposed to be a limited time outcome, 8 weeks, where new challenges are added almost every calendar week and then information technology's…what, over?

There's no way. While there may be some sort of story component that "concludes" the Cataclysm at the end of eight weeks (which volition happen later this month), there'due south admittedly no adventure that BioWare decides to simply remove this massive chunk of content from the game, and I call up they've implied equally much already.

Anthem's Cataclysm needs to stay because it'southward far and away the near engaging action the game has correct now, and removing it would exist a disaster. But a few things need to happen in one case this result menses is over:

- Having 7 challenges in the Calamity is going to exist just too much as it makes the event from something fun and farmable to a slog. I would take iv events live per week, and rotate which ones those are, going forward.

- More than weight needs to exist given to combat, and less to points from secrets. The secrets are fun, just in one case yous've run the Grabbit puzzle or door opening a few dozen times, it kind of gets annoying that one-half of every Calamity run is just flying around doing the same secrets over and over again. It'due south too much of that, non enough fighting

- War chests can stay for targeted drops every week, but it's fourth dimension to open upwards the loot pool. All the new items demand to start dropping in the wild across all activities rather than staying time-limited similar they are now. I take to believe that'due south in the cards.

- The modifiers demand to be more pronounced. They're a expert concept, but few of them are noticeable enough to make you want to alter your build to suit them in any existent style. Probably three quarters of them need retuning.

But all of this is merely nigh the Cataclysm. What about the future of Canticle as a serial?

That's a larger question, and ane I just don't know the answer to. While I know that at least some players returned to play the Cataclysm and found it fun, I accept no idea what percentage of the playerbase actually came back, and I take to believe information technology was low considering frankly, I experience like I'yard the only person in games media even talking about this. Twitch viewership hasn't changed, which is not an end-all, be-all metric, but it is an indicator of continued disinterest. And besides for as good as Cataclysm was, it wasn't monetized at all. That's practiced for players, only not skilful for BioWare trying to justify continuing to support the game.

I just don't know what BioWare and EA are thinking about Anthem now, whether to double down and try to build on the Cataclysm's momentum, or to cut their losses and move over in full to Dragon Age or future Mass Effect games. While I think Cataclysm is skillful, I don't come across information technology as the Reaper of Souls moment Diablo three had, or the Taken King moment Destiny had. Information technology's merely not on that level, decent as it may be. And that's probably what it was going to have to really turn the series effectually.

In the roadmap-that-isn't-really-a-roadmap-anymore there are still 2 more "acts" of gratuitous DLC and events and such that are supposed to come to Anthem at some point. Will we always meet those? I don't know, merely after the Cataclysm ends, I think it's time for BioWare to be straight with anybody about where this game is or isn't going next.

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