FIrst off, this is not a "I'm so hyped for Anthem thread!" I don't think Bioware and EA deserve the benefit of the doubt after Andromeda and Battlefront 2, and I'll patiently wait for the "beta" and reviews to make my decision on the game.
But after playing a lot of Destiny 2: Forsaken this fall and listening to the most recent Giant Bombcast talk about Blackout in Black Ops 4 (and how you unlock new operators for it), I've begun feeling an immense sense of relief that Anthem will just focus on the PvE experience. Don't get me wrong - I can hold my own in PvP in most games (I'm pretty decent at Gambit in Forsaken, at least good enough to progress in exotic quests without issue), but it's never my preferred activity.
For years, I've enjoyed Destiny because it's allowed me to play with some friends who may be more PvP focused as we both seek out new weapons and upgrades to our characters. But during that same time, it's been painfully obvious to see whenever Bungie has had to design around the fact that a gun can be used in both PvE and PvP. It ties their hands from doing truly cool stuff with weapons and abilities in PvE - remember the Vex Mythoclast? I have no idea if Bioware has been watching and learning from that situation, but I would hope they have and are ready to deliver some extremely fun weapons and abilities for us to try out with friends.
There's also a more selfish reason, and that's the fact that I just don't have the time to develop the knowledge and skills to be good at every multiplayer game anymore. I can focus on one, maybe two, but beyond that it's just not going to happen. With a game that will hopefully be story/PvE focused, I can just concentrate on playing progression content with friends, and scratching our competitive itch somewhere else that we're already engaging with.
All of this doesn't even mention the fact that we'll avoid the huge parade of complaints about weapon balance, nerfs, spawn locations, maps, and matchmaking issues that seem to follow every popular multiplayer title these days. I still don't know if this game will be any good, but I'm at least more interested in it than I might be otherwise.
But after playing a lot of Destiny 2: Forsaken this fall and listening to the most recent Giant Bombcast talk about Blackout in Black Ops 4 (and how you unlock new operators for it), I've begun feeling an immense sense of relief that Anthem will just focus on the PvE experience. Don't get me wrong - I can hold my own in PvP in most games (I'm pretty decent at Gambit in Forsaken, at least good enough to progress in exotic quests without issue), but it's never my preferred activity.
For years, I've enjoyed Destiny because it's allowed me to play with some friends who may be more PvP focused as we both seek out new weapons and upgrades to our characters. But during that same time, it's been painfully obvious to see whenever Bungie has had to design around the fact that a gun can be used in both PvE and PvP. It ties their hands from doing truly cool stuff with weapons and abilities in PvE - remember the Vex Mythoclast? I have no idea if Bioware has been watching and learning from that situation, but I would hope they have and are ready to deliver some extremely fun weapons and abilities for us to try out with friends.
There's also a more selfish reason, and that's the fact that I just don't have the time to develop the knowledge and skills to be good at every multiplayer game anymore. I can focus on one, maybe two, but beyond that it's just not going to happen. With a game that will hopefully be story/PvE focused, I can just concentrate on playing progression content with friends, and scratching our competitive itch somewhere else that we're already engaging with.
All of this doesn't even mention the fact that we'll avoid the huge parade of complaints about weapon balance, nerfs, spawn locations, maps, and matchmaking issues that seem to follow every popular multiplayer title these days. I still don't know if this game will be any good, but I'm at least more interested in it than I might be otherwise.
