Suckapuncha

Doh... PC Master Race also PS4

What platform y'all playing on?

I will definitely be playing this.

From the first demo to this last one, they definitely fixed some of the really bad stuff. This last weekend's demo was based on a 6 week old development build, so the final build will also have some corrections and differences. As jofus pointed out in that huge list. This demo, I played a little over 20 hours to get a feel for any repetitive issues and to get used to the different sensitivity settings. In that time, I experienced no infinite loading screens. I also had a total of 1 game crash, 5 disconnects, and several "Connection to server has been lost" pop-ups, which just went away when I hit OK, but didn't disconnect me. I don't know what that was about. So from my experience, they made some real progress in the connection issue area. I did experience the quest item bug where someone with a quest item would DC, and then you couldn't finish the mission. That was super annoying, but I guess I got lucky because it only happened to my group 3 or 4 times the whole weekend. And on Sunday, it happened, but the item re-appeared in its original spot so someone else picked it up and we could still finish. I also was getting hit through cover from several of the AI. Like the game I was seeing wasn't in sync with the AI on the servers. Several times I would get targeted by a sniper, and I would cover behind a rock or wall, and I would still take the full hit. Unless the snipers of the AI can penetrate any surface completely (which the player snipers do not), then there was a sync issue between what I was seeing and what was being relayed to the server. In a few places during open exploration, I did notice that some enemies would still disappear after you opened fire on them. It was not nearly as frequent as the first demo, but it still happened from time to time. It did not happen during any of the world events I played, nor did any of the world events just reset randomly. So that was good. I was able to complete the campaign missions several times without any issues. They all played through normally, and I was able to complete the objective and turn them in, and move onto the next mission. I will say that the first time I tried to join a mission, it match made me to a group that had half dropped, the only person left was one guy and he was at the end boss. So my first game play was literally being dropped in on a boss fight with one other newb, and like 50 adds. I got killed immediately, and then revived and killed and revived several times until we finally killed the boss. Since I spawned in at the end of the mission, I got no loot from that one, but I did get some XP. Every other time I joined match making, I started at the beginning of the mission. Also the in game VOIP worked fine for me throughout the demo. I also got a few of my friends online and we were able to get a private group going, despite private being disabled in the demo. We just had 4 in our group so no one else could join. The grouping worked fine, and we didn't have any issues when playing with 4 of us. However, the interface when creating a group seemed buggy and is not intuitive. You can send invites easy enough, but a couple of my friends would hit accept, and then not join our group, even though it said they were with us. So we had to take turns having each person invite the other 3 until we were all on one team. And each time someone accepts the invite, or you change any level setting (like difficulty) everyone has to go back to the Squad menu and "Ready" up again. So that was kind of lame. But once you know, it isn't really that bad, I just think they could have done a better job with that. The last day, I played the Stronghold over and over trying to loot as much as I could. I reached the level 15 cap pretty easily the first day, but it took running the Stronghold on "Hard" several times to get all Rare, Power 19 loot outfitted, which was the highest available in the demo. What I learned from this is that if the bosses in other strongholds are like this one, then they will be pretty tough to kill, but they all have specific weaknesses. This boss had 4 sacs, two on each side, that you could shoot at and pop after enough damage. After you popped the sacs, it left 4 open wounds on its body which would do critical damage if you shot it there. So while the bosses in the stronghold will probably take work to kill, you can identify their weak spots to make it much easier. And you get loot for completing each stage of the Stronghold, and from random drops. The loot I got for stage completion seemed to have a good mix each time of Common, Uncommon, and Rare. So if the drop rates stay the same, then you get decent loot each time you play through. From what I saw, there was a good amount of diversity in loot drops. There were many different skills and components that would be specific to, or more fitting for each of the Javelins. I would imagine there will probably be even more in the final release, so I think you will have good customization choices for how you want to outfit your Javelin. The weapon types I collected in the demo were: Assault Rifles Light Machine Guns Marksman Rifles Sniper Rifles Auto-cannons Shotguns Pistols Each Javelin also has two skill slots, which have Javelin specific skill drops you get from playing. I can't list all the different skills I saw, but there were a lot. Each Javelin also has component slots, up to 5 of them, so you can fit components like Shield Modifiers, Armor Modifiers, Increased Ammo Capacity, Increased Damage Output, etc. There were also several of these I got from looting. I'm not going to go into the Javelins because I already posted a vid explaining the differences above, and I think it does a good job. My personal preference was the Storm. Overall, I had a good time playing the demo. The game play was smooth, the guns felt good and were very different to use, which I like. I hate when all weapons feel the same. There was good diversity in the weapons, skills, and components. The cosmetic customization options were pretty extensive, if that's your thing. And visually, the game is nothing less than stunning. I mean it is one of the best looking games I have played in a long time. At its heart, it is a looter shooter, and I would say it lives up to that description. So if you like flying through vast, beautiful worlds, shooting and exploding things, and then outfitting yourself to get even more awesome, then you'll probably enjoy it. My main concern is end game content. It is being continually developed, but I just fear that if you get geared out and there is no reason to try to grind any higher gear, then I'm not sure what the point would be. but I figure it will take a while to get there, so hopefully I will know by then.

Another vid highlighting the differences in each javelin:

Pretty good vid from someone who has had a lot of access to Anthem.

I have a monitor I use for both. My PC can handle much better resolution at 165Hz, but a PS4 can only do 1080p at 60Hz. So if you want one to share, you need to settle on one by its purpose. Are you going to be doing anything on the MAC that needs 1440p, higher than 60Hz? If not, then get a 1080p, 60Hz monitor and save some money, your PS4 won't suffer. If you want a better viewing angles and responsiveness, then get a TN panel and save more money. If you want better color representation and sit right in front of the monitor, then look at an IPS panel. Either way, I agree 27" is a good size for productivity and gaming.

Destiny felt very slow to me, idk, like a dumbed down shooter. Also I didn't feel like the strikes were very engaging. And even though there were multiple weapons with different perks or stats, I didn't like the limited customization. And the raids just felt like rinse and repeat grinds. As mentioned above, you also have set classes in Destiny. In Anthem, the missions are similar to strikes, except they move much faster and the AI is way better imo. So they are more challenging and engaging. Your weapons are part of your javelin, so you can mix and match a lot of different options to really customize your character. But you also have character skill trees to build specialization. There were no raids when I played, so I can't compare that, could be the same. But like The Division, the aiming and fighting mechanics in this game felt much smoother and responsive. But the addition of the javelin makes the combat even more fun and sometimes strategic. And you break down weapons you don't want into components to craft other parts for other weapons. Each weapon also had its own skill tree so you could specialize in specific aspects of that particular weapon. And when I played, there was one main base where you went to do all of this and switch javelins, Tarsis. Also, it wasn't in the alpha, but the alpha forums had rumors of PvP areas being added later, like the Division dark zones. So it wouldn't be death match type PvP like Destiny. But more open world PvP in the designated areas. Of course, everything here is subject to change since it was only an alpha.

I played the closed alpha for this. It is similar to Destiny, but the gun play and exploration feel more like The Division. I am not a Destiny fan, and I really enjoyed the Anthem alpha. There are missions you can run solo or co-op, and then you can just free explore areas for loot etc. They didn't have all the areas open during the alpha but the ones they did have were nicely done and fun to play. The areas are pretty huge so you have plenty of room to fly and explore, but the missions are within a defined area. I did see where someone posted there is no limit to flying, but that isn't accurate. Your javelin will overheat if you fly too long. You can cool it off with water to fly longer, but it is not unlimited. You can also select different difficulties before entering an area, which increases or decreases your chances of getting rare loot drops. For an alpha, the game looked great and played really well. The areas and functions that were available were cool and I didn't have any major glitches while playing. Except the hands on your character were a little warped when getting into your javelin. From the short time I had with it, I will pick it up when it drops.

You don't want to do this if you are trying to keep him from toxic players. With this setup, in any public game everyone else in the game will hear all of the sound his mic picks up, including his game sounds and their own voices coming through his speakers. Most players find this extremely annoying and will immediately start cussing at him. Even if he mutes the assholes, everyone else in the game will mute him, so he will never be able to chat with anyone. If he is in party chat with his buddies, they will probably not do that, but it will be very hard for them to hear their game over his mic, and so they may not party up with him. I agree that if it is vital he be able to hear you while in game, get him a one ear setup. Although, this will limit his ability to locate enemies in games like Fortnite due to not having the surround sound, so he may feel frustrated if it is causing him to get killed. You could also just get him a full gaming headset, this would negate the negatives above, while also allowing you to observe him without him knowing, so you could hear if he is picking up any bad chat habits. You won't be able to hear the other players, but you will be able to hear his responses, and you can still tell him to mute any toxic players. If you need to speak with him, just tap his shoulder. Yeah it is more work, but you are a parent, so work is kinda part of the deal. The only other possibility I can think of would be if there is a wireless adapter that would let you pair two headsets at once. Then he could game with his, and you could put yours on to listen in whenever you wanted to see how the chat is. But I don't know if such a thing exists.

I have this on PC and PS4 if anyone wants to squad or duo Blackout. I'm also down to party in multiplayer.