The Queue: I’m still so sad about Anthem

I’m getting ready for Cyberpunk 2077‘s upcoming patch 2.3 and also August’s Ghosts of K’aresh and as is often the case this means I can’t stop thinking about Anthem. Playing Fallout 4 has gotten me to think about how close to good that game actually was, and how depressing its final fate ended up.

With BioWare essentially dead, I think it’s worth a look back at the game that really began the collapse. The decision to make a multiplayer looter shooter instead of a single player RPG, the ridiculous amount of crunch time and reliance on BioWare ‘magic’ that cost so many people in terms of burnout, and the weird slapped together live service elements.

And of course the notoriously unreliable servers on launch.

But, even though the entire flying armor system of the game basically came out of a desperate Hail Mary when an EA executive was coming and they had to make up something to show him at the last second, it was still really fun. I sincerely enjoyed playing it during the times where I was doing that.

Honestly, I wish Anthem had basically been a game where I could do all the stuff I do in Fallout 4. If we were going to rip off a game, why not give us a flying power armor game with collectible power armors and the ability to build huge temples to them?

The problem is, even if someone died due to their actions while watching birds, unless the bird directly attacked them in some way it would almost certainly not be reported as ’cause: watching birds’ but rather things like dehydration, exposure, blunt force trauma due to falling to one’s death, drowning and so on.

Supposedly there are statistically no deaths reported annually directly attributable to birding, according to Google. But I’m sure a few people have died while birding, it just wasn’t blamed on the act of watching birds in the cause of death.

I vacillate on this kind of thing. WoW subs haven’t gone up in price in years, they gotta make money somehow, it’s a cosmetic thing and nobody really needs it goes to war on a daily basis with they made a gatcha game that could cost you over a hundred USD to get a dino pet and things like you just described with the pet from the extended sub.

After a while it just gets exhausting to feel like I’m not a player or a member of a community but instead I’m a resource. I’m essentially livestock being milked by a company, no better than a herd of growth hormone fed cattle on an MegaFarm somewhere.

Should Blizzard be able to make money? Yes, of course. Do I resent feeling like I’m the thing they’re selling? Also yes.

I agree.

Still don’t see why they couldn’t just give you the retail version of the pet when you get a six month sub. Still feel like I’m being milked.

I’m so tired of microtransactions, y’all. I didn’t always feel this way, but I’m getting there.

I have a dream that they’ll establish canonically that some Orc woodcrafter ended up being considered an artistic genius in Quel’thalas and now, thanks to Blood Elf style-mavens, the Nightborne are super into the Orcish cover it in spikes aesthetic and now they’re bringing that look to Bel’ameth. Even the Night Elves, who pretend to hate it, are starting to get into it.

So I basically want High Fashion Orc Spike Furniture which is ridiculously, wildly overly spiky. Even Orcs can’t figure out how you can possibly sit on that thing. But the Elves are loving it.

Okay, that’s the Queue. All hail spiky Orc furniture.