[quote]....and arguably a better game than Destiny 1 was. [/quote] Jesus Christ no. Not even close.

I've played both games. Actually yes.....very much so. The only thing that's wrong with Anthem right now is that its loot system is broken...and the BioWare (to their credit openly acknowledges that its broken). Everything else is well-designed for a game that was as rushed to market as it was. The only thing that was good about Destiny 1 was its game play loop....and its sandbox. Everything else about the game was a badly-designed and broken mess. (Loot Cave, anyone?) People just overlooked the game's problems because playing it FELT so good. ...and Bungie has been leaning that "feel good game play" like a CRUTCH now for almost 4 years. For years of poor management and institutional in-fighting that has severely damaged Destiny 2...and the franchise as a whole.

Anthems top tier loot is depressingly boring, and it has no activity that even holds a candle to Destinys Raids. The only thing it does undeniably better is its campaign. Apart from that? No, sorry, Iron Man Diablo falls short of D1 Vanilla.

Anthem isn't Destiny....and that's the issue. People came to the game...and expected it to play like Destiny. ...and almost NOTHING about the game was designed to emulate Destiny. The game was designed to play like mixture of Diablo 3 and The Division 2. 1. The goal of the game isn't "loot pursuit"....its MIN-MAXING. IOW, you aren't chasing Gjallarhorns or God rolls that are objectively better than anything else i the game. You are chasing specfic rolls of particular items that maximize the efficiency of your javelin and your personal play style. 2. The end-game is different than Destiny. The end-game is like Borderlands 2 or Diablo 3....where you loop BACK THROUGH THE ENTIRE GAME...at a higher difficulty setting....and for better rewards. SO THE ENTIRE GAME **IS** THE END GAME. As opposed to Destiny where you race through the game...and then 90% of it is rendered irrelevant....and you just repetitively grind a small number of "end-game" activities. 3. Disagree....once again. Played both games....and as you can see I have a LOT of experience playing these kinds of games. Most of the criticism of Anthem---outside of its stability problems---game from people who either didn't bother to play the game. Or people like you (no personal disrespect) who came to the game with unrealistic expectations of what the game "should" have been....and therefore failed to really interact with or appreciate what was actualy there. They wanted a shooter....and they got what was more of a superhero game. They wanted the game to be structured like Destiny.....and it was structured like Diablo 3. They wanted a game of chasing mind-blowing pinnacle loot....and they got a min-maxing game. The only difference betwween where Anthem is now...and where The Division 2 is right now..... ...is The Division 2's LOOT system works....and The Division 2 gave you a new enemy to fight so that you were distracted from the fact you were looping through the game again at higher difficulties...WHILE you were min-maxing and build-making. Yet The Division 2 is getting praised....and Anthem is being a called a "garbage game". Curious......when they have more in common than they are different.

[quote]Anthem isn't Destiny....and that's the issue. People came to the game...and expected it to play like Destiny. ...and almost NOTHING about the game was designed to emulate Destiny. The game was designed to play like mixture of Diablo 3 and The Division 2. 1. The goal of the game isn't "loot pursuit"....its MIN-MAXING. IOW, you aren't chasing Gjallarhorns or God rolls that are objectively better than anything else i the game. You are chasing specfic rolls of particular items that maximize the efficiency of your javelin and your personal play style. 2. The end-game is different than Destiny. The end-game is like Borderlands 2 or Diablo 3....where you loop BACK THROUGH THE ENTIRE GAME...at a higher difficulty setting....and for better rewards. SO THE ENTIRE GAME **IS** THE END GAME. As opposed to Destiny where you race through the game...and then 90% of it is rendered irrelevant....and you just repetitively grind a small number of "end-game" activities. 3. Disagree....once again. Played both games....and as you can see I have a LOT of experience playing these kinds of games. Most of the criticism of Anthem---outside of its stability problems---game from people who either didn't bother to play the game. Or people like you (no personal disrespect) who came to the game with unrealistic expectations of what the game "should" have been....and therefore failed to really interact with or appreciate what was actualy there. They wanted a shooter....and they got what was more of a superhero game. They wanted the game to be structured like Destiny.....and it was structured like Diablo 3. They wanted a game of chasing mind-blowing pinnacle loot....and they got a min-maxing game. The only difference betwween where Anthem is now...and where The Division 2 is right now..... ...is The Division 2's LOOT system works....and The Division 2 gave you a new enemy to fight so that you were distracted from the fact you were looping through the game again at higher difficulties...WHILE you were min-maxing and build-making. Yet The Division 2 is getting praised....and Anthem is being a called a "garbage game". Curious......when they have more in common than they are different.[/quote] 1. Actually, you ARE chasing god rolls. But heres the thing, the thing that Borderlands, Diablo etc all do better - [b]high end gear is interesting.[/b] In Anthem? Its the same shit you've been using but with bigger numbers and that [i]bores me to tears.[/i] 2. Last I checked, once you beat the campaign theres no going back and replaying it in its entirety a la Borderlands - its the same 4 Strongholds (formerly 3) and Legendary Contracts aka a Radiant Quest system out in Patrol. Thats diabolical, even Division 1 in its infancy offered more variety than that! As for what I thought Anthem would be? It was exactly that but the Gear was painfully unvaried, the endgame loop was pitiful. However when the story advances, Cataclysms come in and they inject some much needed gear variety into the game, I might reinstall it.

[quote]1. Actually, you ARE chasing god rolls. But heres the thing, the thing that Borderlands, Diablo etc all do better - high end gear is interesting. In Anthem? Its the same shit you've been using but with bigger numbers and that bores me to tears.[/quote] Technically yes....but what those "god rolls" are...are much more individual (build specific) than they are in Destiny. [quote] Last I checked, once you beat the campaign theres no going back and replaying it in its entirety a la Borderlands - its the same 4 Strongholds (formerly 3) and Legendary Contracts aka a Radiant Quest system out in Patrol. Thats diabolical, even Division 1 in its infancy offered more variety than that!s[/quote] Anthem handles it slightly differently. Its more like Diablo 3 than Borderlands specifically. You don't go back and replay through the campaign in its entirety. You go back and replay through the entire game and pick through want aspects of it you want to play But---make no mistake---the whole game comes with you as you level up. The issue is that you have lots of Destiny players---and other shooter game players---who have little experience with a game structured this way.....and don't understand how to interact with it. [quote]As for what I thought Anthem would be? It was exactly that but the Gear was painfully unvaried, the endgame loop was pitiful. However when the story advances, Cataclysms come in and they inject some much needed gear variety into the game, I might reinstall it.[/quote] Disagree. Operator error. The game has a LOT to do when understand how the gear works...and you understand how the end-game works....and interact wtih it as it was DESIGNED to be played. If all you do is grind the same one or two strongholds over and over again.....yep. That's goin to get painfully repettive. But if you play Contracts one day....strongholds the next. Freeplay the day after that...and now the game also has Legendary missions. You can play for WEEKS and not interact with the game in the same way twice.

[quote]Technically yes....but what those "god rolls" are...are much more individual (build specific) than they are in Destiny.[/quote] Doesnt change the fact that top tier gear is the same as bottom tier gear, but with higher numbers. And that makes it incredibly dull. [quote]Anthem handles it slightly differently. Its more like Diablo 3 than Borderlands specifically. You don't go back and replay through the campaign in its entirety. You go back and replay through the entire game and pick through want aspects of it you want to play But---make no mistake---the whole game comes with you as you level up. The issue is that you have lots of Destiny players---and other shooter game players---who have little experience with a game structured this way.....and don't understand how to interact with it.[/quote] I understood fully how to interact with it, and I shall elaborate on this below.... [quote]Disagree. Operator error. The game has a LOT to do when understand how the gear works...and you understand how the end-game works....and interact wtih it as it was DESIGNED to be played. If all you do is grind the same one or two strongholds over and over again.....yep. That's goin to get painfully repettive. But if you play Contracts one day....strongholds the next. Freeplay the day after that...and now the game also has Legendary missions. You can play for WEEKS and not interact with the game in the same way twice.[/quote] So you have Contracts - Radiant Quests on Patrol Strongholds - Strikes Legendary Missions - Heroic Daily Missions Freeplay - Patrol Yeah, thats pretty dire IMO. Even if you COULD do OP reruns of the Campaign like you do in Borderlands, the Campaign was so short as to mean that would lose its shine very fast. I know what kind of a game Anthem is - its just horribly, chronically short of what makes those games fun. Great framework, but lacking vital components. As for how it compares to D1, objectively? D1s endgame loop is as above, like for like with Anthems, but D1 had Vault of Glass. Anthem just doesnt have anything like that.

[quote]Doesnt change the fact that top tier gear is the same as bottom tier gear, but with higher numbers. And that makes it incredibly dull.[/quote] No they aren't the same. Top tier gear for a particular build plays VERY differently than gear that isn't. [quote]Yeah, thats pretty dire IMO.[/quote] Hardly. Because that is a range of activities that is FAR greater in number than the vast majority of loot based games have at launch. More importantly ALL of those activities are/were end-game relevant. That is all of them dropped gear that was capable of progressing your character. Which is BETTER than even the current state of Destiny 2. For example. The strike play list STOPS being end-game relevant once you complete the weekly Milestone. Unless you get lucky and get a Prime Engram to drop....all you get is basically trash that drops at soft-cap. Bottomline. All I'm hearing is someone who doesn't understand the difference between what are matters of presonal gaming PREFERENCE and what are matters of good game DESIGN. Just because you don't LIKE a game, doesn't mean its a "bad game". There is a LAUNDRY list of good games that I don't play because I don't ENJOY playing them for various reasons. In fact, I DON'T LIKE PLAYING BORDERLANDS. I'm a game play purist...and I find the shooting mechanics dated....and their feel mushy and unsatisfying. But they are still GOOD games....and can be a lot of fun to people aren't as picky and snobbish as I am about play mechanics. Same for Monster Hunter World....another good game...but one I couldn't get into the game play loop of. Mainly because the combat felt very lifeless and detached....to ME.