A list of things that should absolutely excite you about ANTHEM

The ANTHEM conference during EA Play 2018 brought us a whole lot of info, footage and details about the game. ANTHEM's Executive Producer, Mark Darrah has been answering questions on twitter relentlessly and has been explaining a lot of things about the game!

Here's a compact list of 5 things that should totally justify your hype about ANTHEM.

#1 - NO LOOTBOXES

This has been the concern of thousands of people online for quite a while now.

I believe a lot of ANTHEM fans were relieved to hear from multiple official sources that there will be no lootboxes, or lucky pouches or hidden cards.

All mictrotransactions in ANTHEM will be purely cosmetic and direct purchases only. The cosmetics will also be obtainable in-game.

Monetization/MTX
We will have purchase-able vanity but you will see what you get before you buy
No loot boxes
No pay for power
You can also earn your vanity items

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

You can earn cosmetics through gameplay as well. https://t.co/Twoe105t4K

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

You will have Javelin customization & personalization
This means you will use gear collected in the world (and crafted) to change the way that your Javelin plays
Also collect and unlock cosmetic items to change the way you look (armor packs & paint jobs)https://t.co/qCf20CfYkJ

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

#2 - ROBUST MATCHMAKING

You won't feel "left out" if your squad/friends aren't online. ANTHEM will feature a matchmaking system that will find a group for you. Alternatively, you can broadcast that your group is in need of more people and available freelancers will seamlessly join you. This is all done via the game's map.

There is also a mentoring system, which offers achievement unlocks for high level players who are matched with lower level players and help them out!

All content will have matchmaking https://t.co/1KSo4Td78l

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

If you are at the same place in the story, you will get full credit.

If you do a mission you have already done to help out a friend, we will have special rewards for mentoring.https://t.co/vrhS8TNcyS

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

#3 - CRAFTING

There is crafting in ANTHEM. Hurray! An element often overlooked in recent online games, so I'm personally very excited to see how it'll work, since there is no trading between players.

A feature a lot of ex-mmorpg gamers are looking for in newer games but is usually pretty lackluster.
Hopefully ANTHEM will feature an extensive crafting system, with bonuses that min-maxers will go after, therefore making it an integral part of the game's experience!

There is crafting

There are top tier gear and weapons that have special properties

Gear is designed to be a long chase giving you a lot of goals

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 10, 2018

#4 DEDICATED SERVERS

Dedicated servers is a must for online games. They ensure each node is taking care of handling players' requests and at the same time has enough computational power to run the much required anti-cheat programs to make sure each player is behaving.

Not only that though! Mike Gamble revealed that the "Shaper Storms" and other world events can be synchronized for everyone on the same server. He proudly mentioned that the developers have complete control over elements like that!

Sounds awesome to me!

Dedicated servers for everything outside of the single player hubs https://t.co/YIqvT4zaXr

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

You can play story missions by yourself.
You will still be on a dedicated server. https://t.co/7QNVCMR3Qe

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 11, 2018

#5 LORE (IN THE GAME)

ANTHEM has a feature that lets you roam the zones and look for items to interact with, which in turn, will give you a short piece of the game's lore! The info came from the recent gameplay demo, when a player interacted with a glowing runestone on a wall and it triggered a lore piece named "Arcanist Resonance"!

Not only that, but the game is designed with the story being the main focus and not a multiplayer game with a story "tacked on to the side of it"! (An actual quote from Casey Hudson, Bioware's GM)

We have the name of the main antagonist, called "The Dominion", which is a group of people working towards turning the Anthem of Creation into one of the world’s most powerful weapons.

There are other enemy factions like the Scars, who seem humanoid, use modified exosuits with huge spikes on them and speak an illegible language. They also seem fond of creating weapons of mass destruction! In the 2018 gameplay footage, they had created an acid bomb of some sort.

Another name that came up during the ANTHEM press conference and interviews was "The Sentinels" alongside with the "Free people of Fort Tarsis".

So, there is a deep story behind the game and Mike Gamble said in an interview that "there is no good and bad side, there's only shades of grey".

I'm personally looking forward to see how the world of ANTHEM is woven together by the team of writers!

I hope you guys agree with me!