Does Anthem have a story and RPG-elements?

In my view:

• The story is decent, though short, but with room to grow as the game gets added to.
• You develop your Javelin's rather than your character.
• You can made decisions over some NPC plotlines, though they don't affect the main story arc.
• I think the characters are good, though again, there is room to grow them more as the game gets added to.

Since you already bought the game, then you might as well try it out for a couple hours and see. I would just try not to go in with any expectations based on Bioware's other games, or based on what you've heard. I enjoyed it, mostly because I didn't really compare it to anything else and didn't go in with any expectations at all.

It does have story, and the ending is left open ended for further expansion. The game isn't an RPG and the story is linear and not as long, but it does have interesting characters and NPCs to talk to at the Fort. You do get to pick the gender and choose a preset face for your character, which you will see during cut scenes (as long as you wear the default helmet), but everything else in the Fort is first person perspective, and the missions are all inside of the Javelin. Instead of a character creator, there is Forge for customization of your Javelin. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Mastery System was supposed to be a skill tree that they would like to add at some point? But I'm not sure the status of that or when it's expected. The flying and combat is very fun, and the world is very pretty to fly around in. There is a journal/codex (cortex it's called here), with bits of lore scattered around to find. If you like lore stuff and world building, it's worth reading through.

I haven't played Anthem since the open beta.

However, in my humble opinion, Torchlight II has a better story, and more loot options. Fuck, I think I'm gonna play that right now.

I wouldn't worry too much about that at all. For the kind of story it is, you won't miss it (and I say that as someone who loves Bioware romances). It doesn't really make any sense for it to be there, given the time line it covers. Some of the dialog is kind of flirty though anyways. The dialogue is not a wheel and you just get two choices,  but the choices do differ and it does impact the conversations. 

Torchlight and Technomancer ? You seem to have good taste ;-)

I sort of disagree with the mindset that BioWare is “abandoning” the RPG genre. Back in 2012 some developers decided to try doing something different, though it’s now apparent they didn’t know what that should be. I know we tend to think of a monolithic “BioWare, the RPG Developer”, but it’s composed of people who have wide ranging interests and creative desires. It’s like a band that switches genres to explore new ideas, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It also doesn’t mean that BioWare won’t make RPGs in the future.

No it does not.

I say that as someone who has 100%-ed repeatedly all the Dragon Age, Mass Effect, KOTOR and Jade Empire games, imperfect as they were.

Please do NOT hope for DA4. They've already stated they're going the Anthem path as for game design (i.e. game as a service aaaaand... multiplayer).

As for your OP, Anthem has a shortlived story, but they will add plenty of content later on. The real gold is in the characters of the story, and the characters in fort tarsis (as per "Bioware").