Advice from Division players for players of BioWare's Anthem

About me and The Division:

I've played >1200 hrs of The Division, mainly PvE, leveled 4 characters (actually 6) to lvl 30, occasionaly set a foot in the Dark Zone (PvP),
and even got one toon to lvl 99, even killed some rogues, got sick of cheaters and the ugly PvP-mechanics there (chicken dance) and got
disappointed how much Massive did about cheaters (i. e. nothing). Bought all DLCs so far, enjoyed only survival, got bored of the rest soon.

So, what could players learn for Anthem from The Division, assuming Anthem will be similar:

- play with friends (doh!), MMOs are much more worthwile when you are playing with peeps who know what they are doing
- bring time, grinding in the Division takes lot of it
- expect lot of shooting and less storytelling

What could Bioware learn from The Division, assuming Anthem will be similar:

- if there's PvP in it, deal with cheaters ONCE AND FOR ALL, players will appreciate it
- if there's PvP make sure your engine doesn't support players to abuse some strange mechanics (chicken dance)
- if there's PvP make sure you balance it, so most of the players may have fun with different loadouts (i know, there will always be a META, but please make PvP fun)
- don't frustrate your playerbase with too much pointless RNG (that's a good one, eh?)
- make sure to make lag a next to nothing factor in order to have a fun experience for the players
- respond reasonably tho suggestions and hints from the playerbase on your own forums (ooops, that was another good one, i guess)
- make sure raids/missions/whateveryoucallit are fun to play and not too repetitive
- increasing "difficulty" by merely creating bullet-sponges is no fun, it's boring
- make a reasonable offer to solo-players (i don't get it why people want to play solo in a co-op game, but there is a load of people demanding solo-content)
- bring a good and plausible story
- make ultrarares/exoticy/whateveryoucallit items and weapons worth their name. There is almost nothing more frustrating than getting another shitty "exotic" KneePads after 45 Minutes of legendary "Signal Lost".
- test test test test test test test! Looking at you, 1.6.1
- be sure to fix obvious bugs in an appropriate time. Looking at you, revive bugs.
- NPCs headshotting players from the other side of the map with a shotgun are no fun

there are actually some positive aspects that may be worth considering in my book:

- PTS are a good thing if you listen to your playerbase afterwards
- shooting in The Division feels fun
- many game modes may keep a game fresh
- the crafting system is quite good, but make sure it's not pointless and players can actually craft something useful/better than they already have
- graphics are beautiful
- the gear-set system is quite fun
- leveling to 30 was fun

wiil possibly add more if i get around to it.

The division was made by Ubisoft who really surprises me with some great titles but their games are plagued by rushed releases, weird mechanics, cut mechanics, and sacrifice in quality. I really enjoyed playing the division with my destiny crew, but it quickly became a bore and its flaws outweighed its strengths.

Where I think Anthem will be closer to the division in terms of open world gameplay and seemless strike type missions and exploration, I'm hoping for "Destiny" style quality in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Also, don't go expecting this game to be a masterpiece. I will be pleasantly surprised if it is. This type of game like destiny or the division is still in its infant phase which also makes it really exciting to see other games like Anthem and hope it improves the formula....mostly with better story telling

Heh, I would guess...

Be gud; start early; get into a premade; farm hard; quit early.

This being a suit game, they can do pretty much equal 1vs1 PvP, by putting everyone in the same suit (or suits) for the bashes and keeping the arena participants as segregated as possible before and after match, hiding the names, etc, so the experience is clinically-clean. Of course the proponents of gear based/special skills unlocks & measuring contests PvP won't like it.

you can even do objective based teams if suits are non-modified, but that involves interactions, so immediately opens the can of worms with farming and destroying everyone's desire to even try when premmies are staking the pvp.

I've also been thinking that this could be incongruous with the tone their going for, an "Anthem" being about people joined in common cause and all.

Admittedly, the idea of players launching artillery barrages across the map at one another is kinda cool.

By all means, if they have PvP, I think it should be structured like Destiny, a mode separate from the open world in dedicated arenas. I think that works better and I think the Destiny devs had a good point about wanting players in the open world to see each other as allies.

Assuming there are other players in the open world.

Will that be an issue if there's no pvp to Anthem? I hope there's no pvp (not because I dislike pvp, I play a ton of ovp games).