Anthem patch 1.0.4 brings new features, improvements and balances

After the huge backlash by its fans, Anthem has decided to elevate the player’s experience by releasing a big patch. BioWare is already introduced with all of that and decided to make things right by releasing a brand new 1.0.4 patch that is set to add new features but also enhance the gameplay.

This update is set to increase the difficulty but also enlarge the gameplay content. Therefore, BioWare has decided to include Legendary Missions that are remakes of the story missions. The Legendary Missions will be available only once per day, but it doesn’t rule out the replayability. Thus, it will allow players to grind their gear by doing something different than the same old supposed content.

Furthermore, Anthem will add rewards for playing. Named Elysian Caches, they are caches supposedly holding nice goods and can be acquired only by Elysian Keys. Elysian keys can be earned by doing daily activities such as challenges. The Elysian Caches appear at the end of each Stronghold after the defeat of the last boss. Elysian Caches will include vanity items, but also crafting materials.

By opening one Elysian Cache you will get the chance to create a loot for each member of the Expedition. BioWare also removed the chance of receiving duplicate vanity items, which in the long-term will give the players a chance to gather them all.

The 1.0.4 update is extremely huge, containing lots of balance, improvements and bug fixes. It also punches a thought on why should Anthem players come back to the game. Honestly said, Anthem’s gameplay makes it look like a truly unique looter-shooter MMO. Even if the game couldn’t get a hold to its player base at the beginning, little tweaks like these can make huge changes.

Loot Changes:

• Chests now have a chance to drop additional items and crafting materials in Strongholds, Freeplay and Missions.

• Apex creatures now have a chance to drop additional loot, similar to the change made to chests. (Apex creatures include: Ursix, Titans, Furies and Escari/Luminaries)

• On GM1 difficulty and higher, Stronghold bosses will now drop more loot with a chance at additional masterwork and legendary items.

Nvidia Highlights:

• Added support for Nvidia Highlights to capture screenshots and game clips automatically:

  • Visiting and viewing overlooks

  • Defeating certain large creatures.

  • Performing multi-kills

  • Defeating legendary creatures

  • Discovering the Tombs of the Legionnaires

  • Performing combos

  • When the player is downed by enemies.

  • Defeating bosses

PC Settings:

• Added Field of View sliders for various cameras in-game:

  • Ground FOV: Adjusts the field of view of the camera during on foot gameplay.

  • Zoomed FOV: Adjusts the field of view of the camera while your weapon is zoomed.

  • Flight FOV: Adjusts the field of view of the camera during flight.

  • Swim FOV: Adjusts the field of view of the camera while underwater.

  • Pilot FOV: Adjusts the field of view of the camera when out of your javelin.

AFK Timer:

• Reduced the AFK auto-kick timer from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.

Nvidia DLSS Support:

• Support for Deep Learning Super-Sampling is now available on Nvidia RTX-based video cards.

Performance:

• Improved performance on gameplay effects that were updating or running often to reduce performance strain.

  • Example effects include things like:

    • UI

    • Weather

    • Time of Day

    • Level Art with Animated Props

The Forge:

• The Forge can now be accessed via the main menu while you’re in Ft. Tarsis or the Launch Bay.

• There is no longer a loading screen when entering the Forge.

BUGS & ISSUES (FIXES)

Freeplay:

• Fixed an issue where a second pilot could enter the Tombs of the Legionnaires quest before acquiring the quest.

• Fixed an issue where performance could potentially drop in rescue sentinel world events with outlaws.

Strongholds:

• Heart of Rage: Fixed party gather that was sending players back to the previous arena.

• Heart of Rage: Fixes to fog walls blocking access to enemies.

• Heart of Rage: Removed fog walls that could prevent the player from progressing.

• Heart of Rage: Fixed issue where late joining players would spawn in lava and in a downed state.

• Temple of the Scar: Fixed issues with fog walls could prevent the player from progressing.

• Tyrant Mine: Door leading underground opens when first player arrives now instead of waiting for all players to arrive.

• Tyrant Mine: Fixed an exploit where you could double loot from the Swarm Tyrant.

• General: Fixed an issue where strongholds were disappearing from the map, so they could not be selected.

Missions:

• Finding Old Friends: Fixed waypoint markers if player proceeds without collecting the relics.

• Imposter: Removed fog wall where players can get trapped.

• See in the Dark: Fixed performance on Xbox One X when getting close to the echo lock.

• Matthias mission: Fixed pathfinding for Elementals that could get stuck behind a chest.

• Fixed issue with cinematic freezing during the third Dax mission.

• What Freelancers Do: Fixed ammo depots popping into the world.

• Clarified objective text on how players can collect Corium.

• Incursion: fixed a number of voice over issues.

• Fixed a number of loot exploits in Matthias Legendary Contracts.

General:

• Respawn timer no longer resets after a revive attempt by another player is interrupted.

• Fort Tarsis: Fixed an issue where the camera went under the terrain when getting a legendary contract from Matthias.

• Fort Tarsis: Fixed an issue where Commander Vule could appear in two locations at once.

• Fort Tarsis: Reduced the length of time NPCs glance away from player during conversations to stay more focused on the player.

• Low health warning now correctly states “Low Armor”

• Fixed grammatical issue in The Legion of Dawn library entry.

• The First Cypher journal entry has been moved to the Cyphers section.

• Audio: Cancelled audio when the player cancels out of launching an expedition.

Gear/Abilities:

• Fixed text for several Masterwork items that caused incorrect % values for ultimate charge, the functionality has not changed :

  • Ranger Frag Grenade (Last Argument)

  • Interceptor Venom Spray (Viper’s Bite)

• Fixed text in the Forge where statistic bars for gear was showing as “Status” when it should say “Effect”:

  • Acid Effect

  • Ice Effect

  • Fire Effect

  • Electric Effect

• Fixed an issue where the Spark beam visual effect would not be present when turning away from the player using it.

• Fixed Masterwork Gear so that they now progress the Uncommon, Rare and Epic challenges of that Gear.

Javelin Components:

• The Mark of Ruin and Amulet of Winter Storm Masterwork components should now correctly be applying their respective bonuses, have their corrected text and icons, and should be functional.

• Fixed an issue with the Mark of Clarity Storm component showing a 0 sec cooldown, now correctly shows 1 second.

• Fixed text for Interceptor Double-Edged Inscription component to be more clear on effects:

  • “Increases all damage dealt by X% of base and reduces damage resistance by X%.”

• Fixed text for several Masterwork items that caused incorrect % values for ultimate charge, the functionality has not changed :

  • Badge of Devastation (Masterwork Ranger Component)

  • Emblem of Destruction (Masterwork Colossus Component)

• Fixed an issue where the Ablative Shielding (Masterwork Colossus Component) was not correctly granting the additional armor and shields noted in the text. This is updated on the player stats, but may not be resolved for the UI stat bars for the component.

Weapons:

• Fixed statistic bar for weapons in Forge UI where “Magazine Size” was incorrectly labeled “Clip Size”.

• Fixed an error where the Thunderbolt of Yvenia’s lightning damage wasn’t scaling correctly for the Storm javelin.

• Fixed text for Artinia’s Gambit (Masterwork Relentless LMG) to be more informative of effect:

  • Upgraded Relentless: Best balanced gun in this class. Detonates a combo explosion on primed targets in the area upon reloading

Javelins:

• Adjusted an error with secondary player damage scaling (combos, status effects, ultimates, melee) where unequipped item slots were not identified correctly for damage scaling.

• Fixed an issue where ultimate charge (20 charge) wasn’t correctly being awarded to players when reviving a downed teammate.

• Fixed an issue where “Weakpoint Hit” triggers were unintentionally counted when hitting enemy shields.

• Fixed an issue where the amount of armor segments displayed on the player HUD was incorrect when compared to their actual armor values. This is only the UI half of the reported “health bug” problem.

• Fixed an issue where players could load into an expedition without having all of their inscription bonuses properly loaded. This would result in various problems (less shields, health, max ammo, etc) on the Javelin. We believe this should resolve the non-UI aspect of the reported “health bug” problem as this should now correctly load javelin health/shields.

• Fixed a problem where a player could be more easily killed through shields and armor when first entering the game for the first time on a new client build.

• Fixed an issue where swapping weapons at the start of the Storm Ultimate would give you a full heal without using the Ultimate charge.

Creatures:

• Fixed an issue where the lightning effect and abilities would leave a shader effect on the Korox creature unintentionally.

• Fixed an issue where defeated creatures would sometimes go back into idle ragdoll positions unintentionally.

• Additional reduction and tuning to health of The Monitor boss fight in the Heart of Rage stronghold

Inscriptions:

• Corrected several inscriptions where the magazine size was referred to as “clip”. Fixed to say “magazine” or “mag” (e.g. +X% Weap Mag Size”).

• The hip fire inscription bonus will no longer be applied to Sniper Rifles.

• The “Support +X% Luck” inscription has had its text changed to “+X% Luck”.

• The Weapon Reload stat inscription was not correctly applying to player weapons and has been corrected

• Fixed text on Blast Damage inscription so that it no longer includes “Weap” in the text to more clearly convey that it applies to all blast damage not just to weapons.

• The text for Shield Refresh and Shield Delay inscriptions were incorrectly swapped on items and have been corrected. These inscriptions will now reflect the intended effect:

  • Shield Delay: Increases the speed at which your shield recharges

  • Shield Refresh: Reduces the time between when your shield breaks and when it starts regenerating

• The “+X% Pistol Ammo” inscription has been updated and now specifically references the Heavy Pistol “+X% Hvy Pistol Ammo”.

Other:

• Fixed a number of issues that could cause the game to crash

• Players can now “Junk” items much faster in their vault.

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly interaction points now directly link the player to the Cortex entry

• Fixed a number of issues that would cause players to be unable to interact with objects or players.

• Match consumables now sort by rarity then alphabetically

• Quickplay instances will no longer be allowed to spawn into missions older than 15 minutes.

• Fixed an issue where a small number of players could not craft items and would continue to receive Common (white) and Uncommon (green) drops after hitting level 30.

OTHER FEATURES:

Masterwork Changes:

• Doubled the rate at which Masterwork gear with multiple charges regain charges:

  • Ranger – Venom Darts (Tactical Onslaught)

  • Colossus – Rail Gun (Garred’s Hammer)

  • Interceptor – Cluster Mine (Bitter Harvest)

  • Storm – Ice Storm (Winter’s Wrath)

  • Storm – Ball Lightning (Seal of the Open Mind)

• Fixed several exploits related to Masterwork and Legendary drops that were allowing unintended drop-rates when player was downed.

• Added a new audio effect for when a Masterwork / Legendary item drops in-game.

COLOSSUS

• Colossus Components:

  • Ablative Shielding:

    • Increased buff to 40% for 10 seconds (was 20% for 5 seconds).

  • Grand Entrance:

    • Improved ability to reliably trigger on heavy impacts and air melee slams.

  • Reinforced Hull:

    • Increased buff to 33% (was 20%) and removed cooldown.

  • Shock Treatment:

    • Was: Hitting enemies with Ordnance Launcher abilities temporarily lowers thruster-heat buildup by 30% for 5 seconds.

    • Now: Taking damage increases all damage by 8% for 10 seconds, stacking to 10.

  • Stalwart’s Badge:

    • Was: On shield break increases all ability damage by 40% for 5 seconds.

    • Now: When hit with a status effect, increase all gear damage by 40% for 10 seconds.

  • Synchronized Frame:

    • Changed to hitting an enemy from defeating an enemy.

• Colossus Gear:

  • Fist of the Crucible:

    • Was: Victor’s Advantage: Defeating an enemy increases Flamethrower damage by 30% for 10s seconds, stacking to 5.

    • Now: Striker’s Advantage: Hitting an enemy increases Flamethrower damage by 12% for 10 seconds, stacking to 10.

  • Best Defense:

    • Increased base damage by 25%.

  • Black Powder:

    • Increased base damage by 25% cooldown reduced to 1 second (was 4 seconds).

  • Solvent Green:

    • Increased base damage by 40%.

  • Titan’s Hail:

    • Was: Upgraded Burst Mortar: Special shells burst across wide area. Burst Mortar can now trigger explosive combos.

    • Now: Upgraded Burst Mortar: Special shells burst across wide area. Creates a large physical explosion for each enemy hit.

INTERCEPTOR

• Interceptor Components:

  • Survival Algorithm:

    • Increased to 40% for 10 seconds (from 20% for 10 seconds).

  • Talisman of Power:

    • Increased to 60% for 10 seconds (from 50% for 5 seconds).

  • Conductive Lattice:

    • Was: Performing a small melee hit-streak (3) detonates an electric explosion.

    • Now: Melee hits detonate an electric explosion, can occur once every 2 seconds.

  • Vengeance Matrix:

    • Was: All damage is increased by 25% for 5 seconds when suit health declines.

    • Now: On low armor, damage taken is reduced by 50% for 10 seconds.

  • Way of Salvage:

    • Increased to 40% for 10 seconds (from 40% for 5 seconds).

  • Way of the Swift:

    • Increased to 60% for 10 seconds (from 50% for 5 seconds).

  • Way of the Bold:

    • Increased to 40% armor restored (from 20%).

  • Way of Integration:

    • Increase to 30% for 10 seconds (from 30% for 5 seconds)

• Interceptor Gear:

  • Cariff’s Talon:

    • Increased base kick damage by 200%, removed cooldown, increased to 50% armor restored.

  • Raneri’s Charge:

    • Increased base damage by 25%, removed cooldown.

  • Serpent’s Veil:

    • Increased base damage by 35%, changed to trigger on melee hit (from on melee kills).

  • Shadow Claw:

    • Was: Wraith Strike instantly recharges with a small kill-streak (2).

    • Now: Launches two wraith projections that seek enemies.

  • Absolute Zero:

    • Removed requirement of being above target, increased explosions damage.

RANGER

• Ranger Components

  • Tactical Advantage

    • Was: Increase engine heat threshold (max stamina) by 35%. Weak point hits lower thruster-heat buildup by 10% for 5 seconds

    • Now: Increase engine heat threshold (max stamina) by 50%. Weak point hits lower thruster-heat buildup by 80% for 10 seconds

  • Badge of Devastation

    • Was: Increases assault launcher by 15%. Performing a large hit-streak (10) will instantly add 1% Ultimate charge.

    • Now: Increases assault launcher by 30%.Performing a large hit-streak (10) will instantly add 3% Ultimate charge.

  • Victor’s Resolve

    • Was: Increases blast damage by 50% and decreases impact damage by 20%. Performing a small multi kill (3) instantly restores 25% armor.

    • Now: Increases blast damage by 50% and decreases impact damage by 20%. Performing a small multi hit (2) instantly restores 25% armor

  • Second Wind (was Defensive Bulwark)

    • Was: Increases all gun damage by 25%. On low health, increases gun damage by 25% for 10 seconds.

    • Now: Increases all gun damage by 25%. On low health, increases gun damage by 60% for 10 seconds.

  • Elemental Ops

    • Was: Increases fire damage and max heat capacity by 20%, and fire resistance by 20%. Increases elemental effects applied to enemies by 20%.

    • Now: Increases fire damage and max heat capacity by 50%, and fire resistance by 50%. On a hit streak (5), applies acid to the target.

  • Combined Arms

    • Was: Increases grenade damage by 5%. Defeating an enemy with assault launcher gear increases grenade gear damage by 60% for 5 seconds.

    • Now: Increases grenade damage by 30%. Hitting an enemy with assault launcher gear increases grenade gear damage by 60% for 10 seconds.

  • Airborne Advantage

    • Was: Increases impact damage by 35% and decreases blast damage by 35%. Hovering increases all resistances by 10%.

    • Now: Increases impact damage by 50% and decreases blast damage by 20%. Hovering increases all resistances by 25%.

  • Tip of the Spear

    • Was: Increases combo damage by 50%. Performing a combo restores 40% armor to nearby allies.

    • Now: Increases combo damage by 60%. Performing a combo restores 40% armor to nearby allies.

  • General’s Favor

    • Was: Increases Assault Launcher recharge by 35%. Defeating an enemy with melee increases grenade damage by 50% for 10 seconds.

    • Now: Increases Grenade recharge by 40%. Hitting an enemy with melee increases grenade damage by 45% for 10 seconds.

  • Vanguard’s Badge

    • Was: Increases melee damage by 30% and electric effects by 30%. Performing a melee kill restores 20% shields.

    • Now: Increases melee damage by 40% and electric effects by 40%. Performing a melee hit restores 40% shields.

• Ranger Gear

  • Argo’s Mace:

    • Increased base damage by 25%

  • Avenger’s Boon:

    • Increased melee damage by 210% for 20s (was 110% for 20s)

  • Cold Blooded:

    • Changed to On Hit increase melee damage by 235% for 10s (was 135% for 10s when freezing enemies).

  • Ember’s Lance:

    • Increased explosion damage.

  • Explosive Blaze:

    • Changed to On Hit and removed cooldown (was on igniting enemies).

  • Grand Opening:

    • Was: Upgraded Seeker Grenade: Splits into seeking submunitions. Ambusher’s Fury: Defeating enemies from above grants 75% increased weapon damage for 20 seconds.
      Now: Upgraded Seeker Grenade: Splits into seeking submunitions. Striker’s Fury: Hitting enemies grants 60% increased weapon damage for 20 seconds.

  • Recurring Vengeance:

    • Was: Upgraded Seeking Missile – Combo Effect: Impact. After defeating an enemy, regain 100% charge, can occur once every 7.5 seconds.

    • Now: Upgraded Seeking Missile – Combo Effect: Impact. Detonating a combo grants 100% charge.

  • The Gambit:

    • Increased damaged of ice explosions

STORM

• Storm Components

  • Amulet of Winter:

    • Increased to 30% damage for 20 seconds (was 20% for 20 seconds).

  • Mark of Clarity:

    • Increased to 40% armor restored with no cooldown (was 20% with 10 second cooldown).

  • Mark of Ruin

    • Was: Increases fire damage and fire effect. While blast seal recharges, focus seal damage increases by 40% for 20 seconds.

    • Now: Increases fire damage and fire effect. After applying a status effect, increases fire damage by 50% for 10 seconds.

  • Mark of Wrath:

    • Was: Increases gear damage and lowers gear recharge rate. While focus seal recharges, blast seal damage increases by 50% for 5 seconds.

    • Now: Increases gear damage and lowers gear recharge rate. Detonating a combo causes large electrical explosions.

  • Token of Daring

    • Was: Increases elemental damage and decreases physical damage. A shield break increases seal damage by 20% for 20 seconds.

    • Now: Increases elemental damage and decreases physical damage. On shield break, instantly recharge all gear.

  • Token of the Master:

    • Increased to 60% for 10 seconds (was 60% for 5 seconds).

  • Token of the Pupil

    • Increased to 60% for 10 seconds (was 60% for 5 seconds).

  • Tome of Precision

    • Was: Increases electric damage and electric effect. Sniper rifle weak point kills increase electric damage by 60% for 5 seconds.

    • Now: Increases electric damage and electric effect. Defeating an enemy increases elemental damage by 40% for 10 seconds.

  • Vanguard’s Token

    • Increased to 40% for 10 seconds (was 10% for 20 seconds).

• Storm Gear

  • Hailstorm’s Renewal

    • Removed requirement of being above target, increased base damage by 25%.

  • Seal of the Open Mind

    • Removed requirement of being above target, now permanently has 2 charges.

  • Venomous Blaze

    • Increased base damage by 50%. Changed from every 3rd hit to every 3rd consecutive hit.

  • Winter’s Wrath

    • Increased base number of charges and recharge rate.

  • Ten Thousand Suns

    • Was: Upgraded Burning Orb – Combo Effect: Chain. Striker’s Wrath: After hitting an enemy, gain 5% increased damage for 5 seconds stacking to 20.

    • Now: Upgraded Burning Orb – Combo Effect: Chain. Striker’s Wrath: After hitting an enemy, gain 10% increased damage for 10 seconds stacking to 10.

  • Black Ice

    • Changed to hitting an enemy freezes nearby creatures (was defeating an enemy). Note: Must sustain the beam on a single creature for the duration of the ability.

Inscriptions:

• As part of our effort to improve inscription ease of use all inscription values now have the +/- value at the beginning of the state line rather than after any text. For example:

  • “Supply +X% Drop Rate” will now read as “+X% Supply Drop Rate”.

  • This has been applied to all inscriptions.

Components:

• Ranger Basic Components:

  • Crossed Arms Basic Ranger component now increases blast damage by 35% and reduces impact damage by 15% (from 50% and 20%)

  • Thermal Regulator Basic Ranger component now increases fire damage and max heat capacity by 25% (was 20%).

  • Grenade Augment Basic Ranger component now increases grenade damage by 15% (was 5%).

  • Convergence Core Basic Ranger component now reduces blast damage by 15% (was 35%).

  • Grenadier Inscription Basic Ranger component now correctly reduces cooldown of Ranger Grenades and text is updated to reflect this.

  • Grenadier Inscription Basic Ranger component was reduced from 35% cooldown reduction to 30% cooldown reduction.

• Universal Components:

  • The Special Arms Ammo component now only affects heavy pistols and grenade launchers.

  • The Machine Pistol Ammo component now also affect autocannons and the name has been changed to Rapid Arms.

• Previously added Universal Components with patch 1.0.3:

  • Symbiotic Surge: Increases javelin armor by a large amount. Increases all damage by 50% for 10 seconds when picking up a repair pack.

  • Softened Blows: Increases javelin shields by a large amount. Increases damage resistance by 75% for 5 seconds when shields run out.

  • Thermal Cooling: Increases the javelin’s heat capacity to allow the javelin to fly more effectively. Reduces time you stay overheated significantly.

  • Rejuvenating Ammo: Increases reserve ammo for all equipped guns. Replenishes armor by 20% when picking up an ammo pack.

  • Emergency Power: An inscribed component that augments javelin Ultimate gear and increases damage. Ultimate meter refills instantly when armor is critically damaged. Can occur once every 120 seconds.

• Added Brand New Universal Masterwork Components with patch 1.0.4:

***(***NOTE: These unique MW Components only drop in Grandmaster 1, 2 & 3 difficulty levels)

• Bloodlust: An inscribed component that increases melee weapon damage. Increases melee damage by 75% for 10 seconds when killing an enemy by using melee.

• Acid Slugs: Adds specialized storage for enhanced shotgun ammunition and increases damage. Hitting (7) shotgun shots in a single burst applies acid on the target.

• Giant Slayer: Adds specialized storage for enhanced marksman rifle ammunition and increases damage. Increases weak point damage by 50% after a consecutive Marksman Rifle hit streak (5).

• Focused Freeze: Adds specialized storage for enhanced Light Machine Gun ammunition and increases damage. On a consecutive LMG hit-streak (10), shots freeze the target.

• Feedback Loop: Adds specialized storage for enhanced assault rifle ammunition and increases damage. Increases damage resistance by 50% for 10 seconds when firing the last shot in an assault rifle magazine.

Gear:

• Updated Interceptor Wraith Strike gear text to match new functionality: “Interceptor projects a ghost of itself that can warp up to X targets. Active Auras apply to all targets struck.”

Weapons:

• Reduced the weapon reload times by speeding up the reload animations for the Colossus Heavy Weapons (Autocannons and Grenade Launchers).

Javelins:

• Interceptor Melee can now execute multiple melee attacks with a single held input.

• Interceptor can now detonate combos even if they have an aura currently active. This allows the Interceptor to detonate the combo to do extra combo damage without having to wait for the aura to expire. In addition, detonating a combo will refresh the duration of the currently active aura (regardless of the primer that is detonated on the creature). For example, if you have an Ice Aura active and you detonate a creature primed with Acid it will refresh the duration of your Ice Aura.

• Increased the max stamina (thruster) meter for all Javelins by 20%.

• Reduced the base overheat duration for all Javelins by 20%.

• Fire Status effect on players no longer instantly overheats the Javelin but instead starts to quickly build up until overheating.

• Added new audio for thrusters failing to ignite when frozen by an enemy creature .

• Improved audio notification for when Javelin ultimate ability is ready.

• Added the ability to enter hover underwater.