BioWare's Anthem Catch-All

KozmoOchez wrote:

Since we were talking about Strongholds. Don't be this guy:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/0M16FPm.png)

This was on hard difficulty too. This kid was level 9 btw... {SNIP}

Are Strongholds a set difficulty? I was under the impression from previous posts that difficulty could be selected per player and things scaled per player.

I did try Tyrant Mine on hard earlier and it seemed really rough at first. Afterward I noticed I was the highest level player and two players were levels 14 and 16 (i.e. a lot lower).

What level are you to not have all of the weapons with at least an uncommon (white) blueprint?. I just got to level 30 today and I have two weapons with Epic blueprints and a couple more with blue. Any weapon that I've cared to use is at least at green.

Also, Epics still have value after level 30. You don't have to be decked out in all masterwork stuff. Ability blueprints are tied to the facton levels btw. I think at rank 3 is where are the purple ones are. All of mine are still rank 2. I've also never been strapped for crafting materials. A solid 30min run of Freeplay can get you lots of them, including masterwork stuff without shooting a single shot. Fly around and pick up the materials and open chests. I was getting epic materials and loot even when I ran freeplay on easy to get 6 world events done for the daily, which was very surprising. Seems like if I get into a spot where I need to grind for materials that it won't be too difficult to do.

In game, venom darts is not marked by the dotted circle of a primer. It also is not marked with a throwing star icon of a detonator. Don't get me wrong, it does a lot of damage but I've never drawn a combo from it that I know of. Whereas with the seeker missile or mace and inferno grenade I can pull off a combo at will.

For the storm, my favorite was the ice power that flung icicles when channeled and the fire power that dropped little meteors when channeled. The ice power is a primer and the fire power is a detonator. (which is I think what Balthezor is running with)

I haven't done a lot of Freeplay for a while. Now that I'm higher level I guess epic material for weapons should drop more easily. I was going to do the 6 world event quest later so I'll see what I can pick up while doing that.

Since I've pretty much just been using whatever weapons drop for me, I'm not sure I've ever crafted anything uncommon. I seem to have uncommon blueprints for some things, but not the Guardian marksman. I guess I'm not sure where these come from.

StrayTanooki wrote:

I don't have a way to work toward a final build or specific items I want.

Welcome to a looter and to the grind!

KozmoOchez wrote:

Since we were talking about Strongholds. Don't be this guy:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/0M16FPm.png)

This was on hard difficulty too. This kid was level 9 btw... I don't think your power level can be 3 at level 9 unless you unequip everything and use all the level 1 weapons on purpose. I think the kid may have been trying to troll us too. He would immediately fly ahead all the time forcing us to fast travel while we were trying to gather resources or pick up drops after the battle areas. Then, while in those battle areas, they stood really far away with a shield and a sniper not getting objectives and constantly dying. Once we finally got to the boss, we let him die and didn't bother picking him up again.

The objective descriptions in this game aren't that hard, and being away from the other three players while dying constantly is clearly not how you should play.

That power 3 thing is a display bug. One of my friend also got affected by it, he was displayed as power 3 even though he was lvl 16 with all the current gear.

Balthezor wrote:

Anyone have a nice Storm build? Mine right now is Ice Storm plus Fire Orb to detonate.

Dude, you've got it actually. If I remember the name of the abilities correctly.

IMO the best ability combo is the AoE ice thingy on Q and the AoE fire thingy on E. I can never remember the names. It's not the entire build though, since a lot depends on what kind of components you've selected and there is a bazillion of them.

I wonder if they tinker with drop rate when people move up the difficulty ladder. When I first switched to GM1, I was getting 4 masterwork items per stronghold and it was awesome. After 2-3 games though, I am averaging 1-2 MW items now in my last 5 or so GM1 games. It's kind of disappointing.

BTW GM1 was shockingly hard at first but you get used to it (with some help from GM1 gear). It's fun.

After about 5 hours or so of play, my opinion.

Game mechanics in combat are a ton of fun.

Despite how much the game *wants* you to participate with a squad, quite honestly I feel the missions are best tackled alone. For me at least, trying to play missions with a squad is at best stressful and at worst, confusing. Most of my squad members are well ahead of me, taking out enemies and triggering story points before I can get there, it's a constant exercise in catching up. Story cues don't make as much sense if you're not with the rest of the squad observing what they are observing. The "open-world, roam-anywhere" aspect of the game gets in the way of the story hear - ironically I think it would be better if the mission areas were more linear and pushed you along a la Mass Effect 2 and 3.

Progression in private mode is slower and challenge is a little steeper, but honestly, should I care?

Freeplay (which is public only) - that is a ton of fun, probably because I'm not quite as worried about the story beats, and I can embrace the open world much more fully.

Hedinn wrote:
KozmoOchez wrote:

Since we were talking about Strongholds. Don't be this guy:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/0M16FPm.png)

This was on hard difficulty too. This kid was level 9 btw... I don't think your power level can be 3 at level 9 unless you unequip everything and use all the level 1 weapons on purpose. I think the kid may have been trying to troll us too. He would immediately fly ahead all the time forcing us to fast travel while we were trying to gather resources or pick up drops after the battle areas. Then, while in those battle areas, they stood really far away with a shield and a sniper not getting objectives and constantly dying. Once we finally got to the boss, we let him die and didn't bother picking him up again.

The objective descriptions in this game aren't that hard, and being away from the other three players while dying constantly is clearly not how you should play.

That power 3 thing is a display bug. One of my friend also got affected by it, he was displayed as power 3 even though he was lvl 16 with all the current gear.

Yep, I’ve seen it a few times with friends.

So some insight on late game and Crafting Masterworks.

You don't really use Crafting to get better items or items you don't have late. However, what it lets you do when you do find a weapon you like it gives you chances to craft more to try and get better stat rolls. Stat rolls late game are "Huge".

Pretty much once you have nearly or all Epic items you are ready for GM1.
Difference in GM1 and GM2 is having more masterwork items and good rolls on them to have a complete build for yourself. Then GM2 - GM3 is having a team with builds that work off each other. A lot of the higher groups currently are running Interceptor/Storms with 100% Primer builds. They have the best AOE primers. They then run at least 1 Ranger with a Combo build and detonators (Ranger can get highest combo %). Colossus they use to tank a bit and as second detonator. Although the fastest group I saw just ran 2 storm 2 ranger. I have seen plenty of groups use Interceptor/colossus on GM3 though.

I can see seems like a pretty big grind for the GM1 - GM2 part. Which is good/bad depending on person. If there were more strong holds I'd be enjoying the grind more.

I myself always seem to display as power 3 even though I'm clearly not. It's very weird/annoying.

Edit: if it's a reference to my player skill it could actually be correct

Hedinn wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Anyone have a nice Storm build? Mine right now is Ice Storm plus Fire Orb to detonate.

Dude, you've got it actually. If I remember the name of the abilities correctly.

IMO the best ability combo is the AoE ice thingy on Q and the AoE fire thingy on E. I can never remember the names. It's not the entire build though, since a lot depends on what kind of components you've selected and there is a bazillion of them.

There are many builds that all work depending on your play style. I do like the Ice Storm with a Burning Orb since it makes you effective in a solo situation. But once you get to the harder difficulties with some Masterwork items, having a storm that uses Flame Burst to take take down shields quick can be very valuable. I have one that after three consecutive hits, it applies acid damage. I can shutdown any shielded enemy in GM1 in two hits.

Some explanation for those stats in the items.

Gear Icon – These inscriptions apply only to the one gear piece.

Critical +% Damage – Increase the damage from critical attacks
Combo +% Aura Effect – Increases the damage that Interceptor Aura pulses for
Gear + Speed – Reduces the cooldown of all skills
Physical +% Damage – Increases the damage of non-elemental attacks
Weapon +% Fire Rate – Increase the fire rate of weapon
Weapon -% Reload Time – Reduces the time it takes to reload
Weapon +% Mag Size – Increase the size of the magazine for weapon
Weapon +% Blast Damage – Increase the Blast damage of weapon
Javelin Icon – These inscriptions apply to your all of your gear.

+% Damage – Increases the damage output of everything
+% Force – Reduces the amount of damage it takes to stagger enemies
+% Harvest Bonus – Increase the amount of items that you get from harvesting flora/minerals
+% Pickup Radius – Increase the distance you will pickup items that are dropped
+% Thruster Life – Increases how long you can fly before overheating
+% Thruster Speed – Increase how fast your jets cool down
[Element] +% Damage – Increases damage of all skills of this element
[Element] +% Effect – Increase the status effect/duration of this element
[Element] +% Resist – Reduces damage taken from attacks of that element
[Keybind] +%Damage – Increases damage of that skill
[Keybind] +Speed – Reduces the cooldown of that skill
[Weapon Type] +% Ammo – Increase max ammo for that type
[Weapon Type] +% Damage – Increase the damage of all weapons of that type
Ammo +% Drop Rate – Increase the drop chance of ammo upon kill/damage
Ammo +% Pickup Amount – Increase how much ammo you get when picking up an ammo drop
Armor +% Max – Increases your green bar
Combo +% Damage – Increase the damage from using a detonator on a primed target
Combo + Targets – Detonating primed enemies chains to additional enemies
Effect +% – Increases how quickly statuses build up to prime an enemy
Elemental +% Dmg – Increases the damage from all elemental attacks
Gear +%Damage – Increases the damage of the skill on this gear piece
Gear +% Charges – Increases the number of charges that this skill has
Melee +% Damage – Increase the damage of melee attacks and skills
Overheat +% Delay – Reduces the time it takes to start recovering from overheating
Physical +% Resist – Reduces damage from non-elemental attacks
Repair +% Drop Rate – Increases the drop chance of healing kits upon kill/damage
Repair +% Amount – Increases how much healing kits will heal you
Shield +% Delay – Reduces the time it takes to start recovering your shield
Shield +-% Refresh – How quickly your shield recharges once it starts recovering
Shield +% Max – Increase your blue bar
Storm Combo Augment – Increases the number of combo chains by 2
Supply +% Drop Rate – Increases the drop chance of gear/weapons/components upon kill/damage
Support +% Luck – Increase the chance of better quality loot
Support +% Speed – Reduces the cooldown of your support skill
Ultimate +% Damage – Increases the damage caused by your Ultimate
Ultimate +% Speed – Increase the rate at which you build your ultimate meter back up
Weapon +% Damage – Increases weapon damage
Weapon +% Clip – Increases the magazine size of all weapons
Weapon +% Ammo – Increases the max ammo for all weapons

Anyone else run into an issue where the game won't let you use your ultimate, just keeps saying "cannot use abilities while on cooldown". Even though you can see the bar is maxed

KozmoOchez wrote:

Anyone else run into an issue where the game won't let you use your ultimate, just keeps saying "cannot use abilities while on cooldown". Even though you can see the bar is maxed

there's a bug when you go into freeplay or a mission the ult bar will start at 100%. Obviously you've not charged it up yet. Very annoying.

So the in game shop. There are really only 2 skins for sale per 3 days?

escher77 wrote:

So some insight on late game and Crafting Masterworks.

You don't really use Crafting to get better items or items you don't have late. However, what it lets you do when you do find a weapon you like it gives you chances to craft more to try and get better stat rolls. Stat rolls late game are "Huge".

Pretty much once you have nearly or all Epic items you are ready for GM1.
Difference in GM1 and GM2 is having more masterwork items and good rolls on them to have a complete build for yourself. Then GM2 - GM3 is having a team with builds that work off each other. A lot of the higher groups currently are running Interceptor/Storms with 100% Primer builds. They have the best AOE primers. They then run at least 1 Ranger with a Combo build and detonators (Ranger can get highest combo %). Colossus they use to tank a bit and as second detonator. Although the fastest group I saw just ran 2 storm 2 ranger. I have seen plenty of groups use Interceptor/colossus on GM3 though.

I can see seems like a pretty big grind for the GM1 - GM2 part. Which is good/bad depending on person. If there were more strong holds I'd be enjoying the grind more.

Interesting to hear Interceptor is used in some of these higher difficulties. After doing some strongholds on hard yesterday, I was starting to wonder--I was certainly finding it less fun at least because it was so dangerous to get close to anything. Enemies were so tanky and things hit so hard, squeaking shots just by the edges of cover (even curving them around...).

That left me just sniping and I needed to switch to more ranged abilities. Heavy shields were a serious problem to get through.

StrayTanooki wrote:

Interesting to hear Interceptor is used in some of these higher difficulties. After doing some strongholds on hard yesterday, I was starting to wonder--I was certainly finding it less fun at least because it was so dangerous to get close to anything. Enemies were so tanky and things hit so hard, squeaking shots just by the edges of cover (even curving them around...).

That left me just sniping and I needed to switch to more ranged abilities. Heavy shields were a serious problem to get through.

With the Interceptor the trick is to ALWAYS be moving. Within hard mode i almost never used a weapon until i got a masterwork shotgun. Only then used it to finish off shields so i could prime. You also have to be cognizant of the health packs laying around and if you notice your health dropping disengage so you can fill back up. With your dashes you're able to move away and back so quick that enemies rarely have time to recharge their shields.

On boss fights it's hard to do actual damage to a boss except when you ult. So you have to make good use of the minions around you to charge up your ultimates as often as possible. Some of the later strongholds are annoying because the minions come in waves along with environmental dangers. By the time you take care of them you probably don't have enough in the tank to charge your ult up or their already cleared by rest of the team. Also since you're the quickest moving member on the team using your ult is also a great way to rez fallen mates. When you are ready to ult don't forget to use your debuff/buffs and your primes on the boss before activating. Then goto town.

At the GM levels i'm actually using a detonator and a primer. I got lucky and in my first run picked up the legendary dash spark. Along with other other MW gear i'm able to use it 3 times in a row if i kill a target with it. Primary reason i don't swap it out is that with one use i'm able to drop pretty much all shields in 1 charge on a target. So it makes clearing much easier. I also got lucky that my prime ability is MW and charges my ult by 700% when i use it. So i'm able to charge, prime, charge most shield targets and get a nice boost to my ult meter.

Balthezor wrote:

So the in game shop. There are really only 2 skins for sale per 3 days?

Yup...very underwhelming. So far I’ve only spent coin on some material.

[Keybind] +%Damage – Increases damage of that skill
[Keybind] +Speed – Reduces the cooldown of that skill

That is what I had suspected and the confirmation is welcome. It tends to be a bit confusing when you see:
[E] + 18% damage

Other than hopping onto Discord, which I will do at some point but my comms times are limited, what is everyone's recommendations for the transition to GM1 now that I'm pilot 30?

How long to keep farming Hard, and can non-weapon MW's drop at Hard?

My gear score is 401 and I have MW weapons in both slot, one of which is Avenging Herald.

Craft Sigils before Contracts and Strongholds, just Strongholds?

ranalin wrote:
StrayTanooki wrote:

Interesting to hear Interceptor is used in some of these higher difficulties. After doing some strongholds on hard yesterday, I was starting to wonder--I was certainly finding it less fun at least because it was so dangerous to get close to anything. Enemies were so tanky and things hit so hard, squeaking shots just by the edges of cover (even curving them around...).

That left me just sniping and I needed to switch to more ranged abilities. Heavy shields were a serious problem to get through.

With the Interceptor the trick is to ALWAYS be moving. Within hard mode i almost never used a weapon until i got a masterwork shotgun. Only then used it to finish off shields so i could prime. You also have to be cognizant of the health packs laying around and if you notice your health dropping disengage so you can fill back up. With your dashes you're able to move away and back so quick that enemies rarely have time to recharge their shields.

On boss fights it's hard to do actual damage to a boss except when you ult. So you have to make good use of the minions around you to charge up your ultimates as often as possible. Some of the later strongholds are annoying because the minions come in waves along with environmental dangers. By the time you take care of them you probably don't have enough in the tank to charge your ult up or their already cleared by rest of the team. Also since you're the quickest moving member on the team using your ult is also a great way to rez fallen mates. When you are ready to ult don't forget to use your debuff/buffs and your primes on the boss before activating. Then goto town.

At the GM levels i'm actually using a detonator and a primer. I got lucky and in my first run picked up the legendary dash spark. Along with other other MW gear i'm able to use it 3 times in a row if i kill a target with it. Primary reason i don't swap it out is that with one use i'm able to drop pretty much all shields in 1 charge on a target. So it makes clearing much easier. I also got lucky that my prime ability is MW and charges my ult by 700% when i use it. So i'm able to charge, prime, charge most shield targets and get a nice boost to my ult meter.

Definitely sounds like you have some better gear that would help, but I'm not yet 30 and ready for GM1 so I'm probably OK for where I am.

Yes, the stronghold that really made me start to question the fun I was having with interceptor was the Scar one--specifically the final boss tank with the fans. It just seemed like I could not get out of the line of fire, moving or not, even behind cover. With random groups, priming sometimes isn't taken advantage of as much as it could be.

I did naturally yesterday start to think about doing revives while my ultimate was up since there often wasn't much else to do. At first I thought it actually wasn't possible to rez when ulting, but turns out I've just had some bug with not being able to revive on a few occasions.

Is there a GWJ group that's been playing on PC? I would love some more origin friends that are playing to get those weekly rewards, and to have more people to team up with for strongholds.

My origin name is Lindurfmann. The icon I have is Garrus from Mass Effect.

Thanks all! =D

Balthezor wrote:

So the in game shop. There are really only 2 skins for sale per 3 days?

Well, not really - When you are at the Forge, you and under the appearance tab - You can purchase new vinyls, new looks, new metals, new stances, and so on! Thats where the majority of your customization should be coming from.

Badferret wrote:

Other than hopping onto Discord, which I will do at some point but my comms times are limited, what is everyone's recommendations for the transition to GM1 now that I'm pilot 30?

How long to keep farming Hard, and can non-weapon MW's drop at Hard?

My gear score is 401 and I have MW weapons in both slot, one of which is Avenging Herald.

Craft Sigils before Contracts and Strongholds, just Strongholds?

A GWJ group and I ran GM1 freeplay and early game missions yesterday with two guys around 425, me at 385, and a newer guy somewhere under 300. Newer guy died a fair bit, but we went in as a complete squad to see if we could hack it and we actually did quite well.

At 400, you’re quite capable.

Mechakoopa wrote:

Is there a GWJ group that's been playing on PC? I would love some more origin friends that are playing to get those weekly rewards, and to have more people to team up with for strongholds.

My origin name is Lindurfmann. The icon I have is Garrus from Mass Effect.

Thanks all! =D

A fair number of us playing on PC. There was probably at least 4-10 of us playing at any given time all weekend. I would say there’s probably at least 20-30 of us total. Your best bet is to download Discord and join the GWJ server. We have several Anthem specific voice comm rooms setup there.

Once you get it setup, just join an Anthem room and ask if the group has space. Everyone is very welcoming,
friendly, and more than willing to run newer players through their missions.

That said, the game mechanics and matchmaking make it very easy and enjoyable to join random groups. Worst issue right now is random groups not using the in-game VOIP and sometimes taking a little while to realize you need a revive.

Badferret wrote:

Other than hopping onto Discord, which I will do at some point but my comms times are limited, what is everyone's recommendations for the transition to GM1 now that I'm pilot 30?

How long to keep farming Hard, and can non-weapon MW's drop at Hard?

My gear score is 401 and I have MW weapons in both slot, one of which is Avenging Herald.

Craft Sigils before Contracts and Strongholds, just Strongholds?

Don't worry, you are ready for GM1. AFAIK non-weapon MWs don't drop on Hard. It will be tough at first, just play conservatively and it will start improving as you get more MWs.

Now what about Legendary stuff? Have anyone had it dropped? Can it drop in GM1?

Hedinn wrote:
Badferret wrote:

Other than hopping onto Discord, which I will do at some point but my comms times are limited, what is everyone's recommendations for the transition to GM1 now that I'm pilot 30?

How long to keep farming Hard, and can non-weapon MW's drop at Hard?

My gear score is 401 and I have MW weapons in both slot, one of which is Avenging Herald.

Craft Sigils before Contracts and Strongholds, just Strongholds?

Don't worry, you are ready for GM1. AFAIK non-weapon MWs don't drop on Hard. It will be tough at first, just play conservatively and it will start improving as you get more MWs.

Now what about Legendary stuff? Have anyone had it dropped? Can it drop in GM1?

Yes I had two legendary drops in GM1 and a non weapon masterwork.

Hedinn wrote:
Badferret wrote:

Other than hopping onto Discord, which I will do at some point but my comms times are limited, what is everyone's recommendations for the transition to GM1 now that I'm pilot 30?

How long to keep farming Hard, and can non-weapon MW's drop at Hard?

My gear score is 401 and I have MW weapons in both slot, one of which is Avenging Herald.

Craft Sigils before Contracts and Strongholds, just Strongholds?

Don't worry, you are ready for GM1. AFAIK non-weapon MWs don't drop on Hard. It will be tough at first, just play conservatively and it will start improving as you get more MWs.

Now what about Legendary stuff? Have anyone had it dropped? Can it drop in GM1?

20+ hours at GM1 and 1 GM2 stronghold run and no legendaries. That’s with a +140% and a +120% luck build. As much as I have enjoyed and loved the game, I’m going to wait till they sort out loot and inscriptions because at the point I’m at in the game, I don’t have or want to be putting in 200+ hours per character to get a useful build for a GM2/3

They’re aware and working to fix non-viable inscriptions on things, I just hope they also go the Diablo 3 route and rain loot on you

A few questions...

Why are there two stores next to each other with the exact same stuff in it?

Are there any power recommendations for doing Strongholds at each difficulty?

Also, who thought it was a great idea to give server shutdown messages updates every minute?