Anthem Day One Patch Notes Reveal Incoming Bug Fixes, Gameplay Tweaks

Anthem is set to receive a doozy of a day one patch, as the patch notes made available by EA and Bioware show.

Released on Feb. 20, the patch notes detail the many aspects of Anthem that will be patched before the game’s worldwide release on Feb. 22.

This includes quality of life fixes like decreased load times on older disc drives and more lenient restrictions on mechanics like gathering one’s party, as well as fixes for bigger glitches like infinite load screens and frequent disconnection errors.

All of the fixes are set to take effect on launch day, and as such players currently playing the Early Access version of Anthem will have to bear with the game’s current bugs until its worldwide release.

The full patch notes can be viewed down below.

High level fixes

• Decreased loading times for older disk drives
• Fixed many infinite loading screens
• Fixed multiple challenges not tracking properly
• A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash
• Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers

General Fixes and Improvements

• Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.
• The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations
• At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on “Recording Victories” or “Skipping All”.
• Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin
• During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed
• Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels
• Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes
• Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board
• Some enemies have had their shield values decreased
• Loot now properly drops for players who are downed
• The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved
• Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen
• Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly
• Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn
• Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance
• After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously
• Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
• Corrected an issue during the Mission “Bad Deal” where outlaws won’t spawn, blocking progress
• The start of expedition screen has been improved
• Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events
• Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present
• Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield
• Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations
• Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the “Finding Old Friends” mission while the cinematic is playing
• Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay
• Increased the damage of the electric status effect
• Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations
• The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended
• Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans
• Fixed loading animations on Marksmen Rifles
• Players can now access the Vault from the Forge
• Swimming into jellyfish underwater no longer leaves a visual effect stuck on players.
• Idle animations will no longer sync up over time in the Launch Bay
• Haluk is no longer dual-wielding canes in the epilogue scene
• Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
• Fixed an issue that could cause players in the launch bay to have identical emotes and be unable to use them
• Interceptor melee ability animations will no longer stretch out in certain situations
• Corrected an issue where the default Ranger appearance doesn’t preview in the forge in some situations
• All animations now play as intended in the Forge
• Players can now enter the Tomb of Gwanes while in a party
• The default Javelin wear state has been changed from “Dirty” to “Old”
• Sentinel Loyalty 2 text no longer incorrectly states that it will lead to a larger vault
• Picking up ammo from the ground now properly gives you 30% of that ammo back into both the current magazine and the maximum spare ammo
• Fixed a bug where some global (Javelin Icon) inscription bonuses were not being properly applied to the Javelin and other gear/weapons.
• Fixed some issues that could cause the Armor Pip count on the UI to break and not display properly

Strongholds

• Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss
• Temple of Scar – Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room
• Temple of Scar – Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall
• Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team
• Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit
• The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations
• Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations
• Implemented more safeguards to stop players from going AFK in Strongholds

Challenges

• Only Masterwork items can now be used to progress Masterwork challenges as intended
• Corrected an issue where some Challenges track progress simultaneously instead of incrementally, as intended. (ex: Blast Missile I and then Blast Missile II instead of both incrementing at the same time

Gear and Weapons

• After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang
• Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear
• Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly
• Players can no longer salvage equipped items
• Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren’t intended for
• Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions
• The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip
• Suit-wide specific weapon ammo bonuses coming from infusions are now correctly applied
• A Network Error Message no longer appears when opening an item chest in the second tutorial
• Colossus shoulder gear will now share the appearance of the rest of the javelin as intended
• Deadeye has increased spare ammo 10 -> 20
• Cloudburst has had increased damage 16.3 -> 21
• Torrent has had increased damage 22.2 -> 28.6
• Lightning Strike’s pre-visualization will now accurately depict that the explosion snaps to the ground.
• (Ranger) Inferno Grenade base damage 130 -> 175
• (Interceptor) Cryo Glaive base damage 20 -> 50
• (Storm) Living Flame base damage 50 -> 60
• (Storm) Glacial Beam base damage 150 -> 120
• (Storm) Arc Burst secondary damage 100 -> 150
• (Ranger) Pulse Blast base damage 225 -> 300, and now deals extra damage to Shields (previously did extra damage to Armored).
• (Ranger) Blast Missile now properly scales up in damage as the item level increases
• (Interceptor) Melee attacks now have some minor resistance penetration
• Large Area of Effect abilities will better register multi-kill activities for challenges and medals
• Spark Dash functionality has been significantly improved when the target enemy is at a different height (above/below) the Interceptor.
• Several gear pieces that had missing primer or detonator icons have been fixed.
  • Interceptor
    • Tempest Strike – Detonator Icon
    • Spark Dash – Detonator Icon
    • Venom Spray – Primer Icon
    • Detonating Strike – Primer Icon
  • Colossus
    • Lightning Coil – Detonator Icon
    • Shock Coil – Primer Icon
    • Flamethrower – Primer Icon
• Several improvements have been made to ensure gear use on PC prioritizes turning the Javelin towards the reticle when used rather than casting in front of the Javelin’s current direction.

Javelins

• The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon
• The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up
• Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm’s ultimate attack to be used more times than intended
• The Colossus exo can now shield and revive at the same time
• Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component
• Ranger melee now has a cooldown when striking in the air
• The Target Beacon ability now correctly seeks targets
• Spark Dash and Venom Spray now target based on player cursor instead of character facing. This should also improve the travel path of Spark Dash.
• The Colossus will no longer be knocked out of the sky in some situations when the attack was blocked by their shield

Combos + Status Effects

• Combo indicator icons above creatures now are correctly removed when detonated.
• When a Storm detonates an electric status effect the chained electric effect now correctly deals damage.
• Combo damage now penetrates resistances

Crafting

• Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork
• A number of javelin components that had different icons for their recipes and the actual items are now the same
• The Battle Cry gear recipe now has the correct description
• Fixed Spark Beam gear having the wrong description when being crafted
• Crafting recipes are now sorted alphabetically
• The items in the crafting store are now sorted by type to be clearer

Controls

• Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made

UI

• Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed
• The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player
• Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often
• Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One
• Motion blur can now correctly be turned off
• The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly
• An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD
• The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations
• A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player’s vault is at the cap of 250 items
• On the “Repair the Strider” step of “A Cry for Help” the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools
• Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear
• Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn’t
• Toggling the HDR option now properly prompts the Apply Changes button
• Player banners should now display correctly
• Camera shake slider has been added to settings menu
• Players may now track 10 challenges instead of 5
• An option to adjust screen boundaries on consoles has been added
• Changing a player banner through the banner menu now properly saves the selection
• Health, cooldowns, and key bindings now light up on supported keyboards
• Players will now receive more clear messaging when a squad is disbanded or are kicked from a squad
• Squad leaders will no longer always show as ready
• The icon for players in a downed state will no longer appear in cutscenes
• Cypher Annotations will now appear for more than one player if they are looking at it simultaneously
• Removed mentions of respawning on the player UI when they die in a restricted respawn area
• The Player Banner now updates immediately when updated from the squad screen
• Fixed a number of situations where a combo will trigger but no combo floating text appears
• Pressing esc to pass a notification screen no longer opens up the in-game menu
• Quick chat messages will no longer appear from an ignored player
• Removed a message from the mailbox which incorrectly stated that messages will be removed after 3 days
• A number of inscription icons have been updated to properly reflect whether they are Javelin specific or not
• Corrected an issue where players could not change loadout names on PC
• Players no longer need to exit and re-enter the forge for loadout names to update
• The on-screen VOIP indicator which shows a player speaking will no longer be active if that player is muted

Anthem is set for release on Feb. 22 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. For more on the game, check out our breakdown of the voice actors with more prominent roles in the game’s voice cast.

[Source: EA]