Problems continue to arise for Anthem and this time, it could be a major deal breaker. Anthem has been proud of the fact that matchmaking is possible for every activity, however that appears to be at risk as many players are now having problems when it comes to consistently matchmaking to get a full team for different activities under varying difficulties.
One possible reason is the game's decreasing playerbase. In an informal survey conducted on Reddit, 53% of users said that they have in fact stopped playing Anthem. This shrinking number of players, along with the limited range of content available and the corresponding farming efficiency of the content, are starting to cause problems. BioWare has also announced that it was delaying content releases in order to focus on fixing the game.
In terms of matchmaking, players have experienced being loaded into missions even without a full team especially under higher difficulties. This is indeed not a good sign given that under higher difficulties, the activities are generally scaled for full teams.
Anthem has six difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, Hard, and three Grandmaster ranks. Players can choose to increase the difficulty setting, and in return get better chances of rare gear dropping. In terms of gameplay, it is possible to play solo on Easy though Normal would need players to be more tactical. Under Hard difficulty, players need to team up if they want to be able to complete missions. As mentioned, BioWare had assured players that each activity will support matchmaking.
The Sunken Cell stronghold is now live – enter the stronghold with your fellow Freelancers to put an end to the Dominion’s deadly plans.
— Anthem (@anthemgame) April 23, 2019
Read the full patch notes here: https://t.co/A2Q9JfoBWa pic.twitter.com/dGf7NCQgjv
The problem is that BioWare's claim is no longer true. For example, while it was originally fine to play GM2 and GM3, many players prefer to go for GM1 instead. Take the recently released Sunken Cell Stronghold. Under GM3, a player would need around 30-40 minutes in order to defeat the final boss. However under GM1, players can go through the whole thing two to three times, including the boss, in the same time window.
Issues with matchmaking is nothing new. However for Anthem, it takes on a whole different meaning consider what the game and its players have gone through. As it stands, the game right now is limited to a single stronghold under a single difficulty. The best move right now for BioWare would be to slowly introduce updates that improve gameplay and hope that players return.
