As indicated earlier this month, Anthem is at a bit of a crossroads in its life cycle, with BioWare acknowledging the game’s lacking state and promising a full game rework planned for sometime in the coming months. That said, the meantime is set to provide a regular output of updates and content until Anthem’s inevitable second coming arrives. With the game’s big 1-year anniversary coming up, the open-world title is now preparing a few fun perks to get players back in their exo-suits again.

Going live as the 1.7.0 game update, Anthem sees the start of the game’s anniversary celebration, adding a set of spiffy login bonuses for those who participate during the next month’s proceedings. Starting from today until March 24th (via EA), players can get free access to four javelin-specific “Empowered” wraps, the perks arriving alongside a new material called “Painted Metallic Flake.” All five are available in the Forge upon logging in with “no unlocks necessary.”

Thank you for one year, Freelancers!

We have an exclusive gift to show our appreciation for anyone who logs in for the next month. #StrongerTogether

Details here: https://t.co/qy1zH76D5m pic.twitter.com/iwRbeXZ1qv

— Anthem (@anthemgame) February 25, 2020

As for the game’s additions, the new Anthem update also marks the end of December’s Icetide event, returning the game’s jungle setting of Bastion from the winter wonderland of yesteryear. This round of content debuts a regular set of game modes and challenges, with each rotating in and out based on a daily, weekly and monthly schedule. In addition to the occasional celebration of so-called “mini-holidays,” players can also expect a regular rotation of armor sets, wraps, graphics, decals, and materials from the game’s store.

As this new patch is also designed to roll out the immediate future, the game’s community team took this opportunity to inform players of a semi-hiatus while the next phase of Anthem is finalized. “From here on out, we’re going to be a bit quieter,” a new EA blog post revealed. “Though, during the post-Icetide period, we’ll still be around and will provide Community Cortexes and the like when appropriate, but we’re otherwise going to be heads-down and working hard towards the future.”

It’s been our pleasure to be your Cyphers (AKA, your community team) all this time and we look forward to continuing this journey with you in the many days to come. But always remember… Strong alone. Stronger together.”

The full patch notes for Anthem 1.7.0 can be read in the list below. Stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to be informed as soon as it goes live.

If you enjoy this writer’s work, please consider supporting them by tossing a Ko-fi their way! Every little bit helps and aims to keep DFTG independent and free of bias. Thank you so much for your support! Eric Hall @ Ko-fi

Anthem 1.7.0 Game Update Notes

• Challenges:
  • Six concurrent, active Daily Challenges that rotate regularly through these categories:
    • Contracts / Legendary Contracts
    • World Events
    • Time Trials
    • Strongholds
    • Creature Kills
    • Gameplay Style
  • Rotating Weekly Meta Challenges:
    • Factions
    • Contracts / Legendary Contracts
    • Stronghold
  • Rotating Monthly Meta Challenges:
    • Bronze
    • Silver
    • Gold
  • Festive challenges while mini-holidays are active.
• Store Offerings:
  • A regular rotation of armor sets, wraps, graphics, decals, and materials previously available in the Featured Store.
• Content & Game Modes:
  • Seasonal gameplay modes and features have been included in the normal event rotations:
    • Cataclysm Conjunctions
    • Cataclysm Nexus
    • Season of Skulls Conjunctions
    • Season of Skulls Nexus
    • Icetide Time Trials
    • Icetide Weekly Strongholds
    • Legendary Crafting
  • Rotating weekly gameplay modes:
    • Sunken Cell Weekly Stronghold
    • Heart of Rage Weekly Stronghold
    • Tyrant Mine Weekly Stronghold
    • Temple of Scar Weekly Stronghold
    • Nexus
• Gameplay Inversions
  • We’ve created a rotating Gameplay Inversion schedule to coincide with the weekly rotating game modes. Inversions and gameplay modes are scheduled separately to create more combinations and support diversity in week-to-week content throughout the year.
• Coin & Currency awards
  • Coin and Crystals will be awarded for Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Challenges.
  • Crystals can be earned and spent at any time.
• Holidays:
  • Holidays are small events based on the yearly calendar that are primarily driven by unique challenges. These challenges will run for one to four weeks, depending on the holiday. Some of the larger holidays will include changes to the weekly gameplay mode or decorations in Fort Tarsis and the world.
  • When can you expect to see these events in the game?
    • We will be sharing details on these holiday events as they arrive throughout the year!
• Bug Fixes & Improvements
  • Fixed various crashes to improve stabilization.
  • Fixed various texture, audio, user interface, and environment issues.
  • Fixed an issue where the Badge of Devastation Ranger Component had an inconsistent icon.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented adjusting the wrist colour on the Frost Tusk Armor.
  • Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from changing their difficulty level after leaving a squad.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the names of the Iron Serpent and Iron Valley regions to sometimes appear reversed.
  • Fixed an issue where dying while carrying three echoes would sometimes respawn only two echoes.
  • Players should no longer be teleported back into the arena if they respawn while the Titan fight is still active.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Quickplay Stronghold option from unlocking after completing a weekly stronghold.
  • Fixed an issue that caused blue lights to appear around the Golden Grabbit when it’s defeated.
  • Description for Synchronized Frame now properly indicates that damage must be done with an Ordnance Launcher to trigger.
    • “Hitting an enemy with an ordnance launcher increases Heavy Launcher damage by 60% for 10 seconds.”
  • Javelin Madness should now correctly track and advance progress.
  • Fixed an issue that sometimes caused players to be stuck during the “Freelancer Down” mission.
  • Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the first player that reached the third step in Tyrant Mine to be teleported back to the party if they weren’t in the room yet.
  • When players force respawn, they should now correctly drop all carried mission objects.
  • Tip of the Spear should now correctly only heal players.
  • Using your support gear while it is on cooldown should not longer interrupt your other gear.