After a few delays, the first act of Anthem's post-launch content plan released in August. And while BioWare says Cataclysm resulted in an appreciable "increase in player engagement," the developer has announced that Anthem won't be getting the planned second and third acts in the update structure, and will instead receive seasonal events with new challenges and chases.
"We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it. Those systems require a more thorough review and re-working versus quick fixes. We’ve got a team working on that now, and early results are promising. In order to address these long-range plans, we are moving away from the Acts structure for updates. Instead, we have additional seasonal updates planned for this year that we think players will enjoy. These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you’ve seen, and are built around some fun themes we’re bringing to the game," says BioWare Head of Live Service Chad Robertson in a developer blog.
The entirety of the announcement blog is particularly vague, choosing to promise the studio's commitment to improving Anthem long term instead of addressing any specific issues. Robertson says BioWare will continue to listen to the Anthem community and implement changes based on player feedback.
Robertson also went over a few of the changes made to Cataclysm based on input from players, including balancing fixes, new reward crates, load screen text explaining Cataclysm mechanics, Final Score Banners that show score gains for higher-difficulty runs, and "adjustments for minor-to-major crystal economy."
Not that you asked, but here's a list of our biggest gripes with Anthem.
