BioWare outline goals for better loot in Anthem

As promised, BioWare are starting to publish updates as they rethink their not-so-well-received online sci-fi shooter Anthem. Today's update specifically talks about their goals for the loot system, which they want to be more reliable and respect a player's time. It doesn't sound like anything is set in stone yet, so this will definitely be a lengthy journey for Anthem as they previously estimated.

"A good player experience depends on the loot system being extensible and robust, and a lot can go wrong. A lot did go wrong," says studio director Christian Dailey. "We fell short here and we realized that building something new from the ground up was going to be required."

Most of today's update focuses on a bunch of high level concepts for the loot system rather than the details. Broadly speaking, BioWare want to increase the frequency of loot drops while also making the experience of finding it feel more exciting. They include a quick video clip of a defeated enemy spewing out several shiny items of different colors. They also want gear to be viable to play with more often. "No more useless items because they were missing must-have inscriptions," they say, citing make-or-break stats like "Increased weapon dmg by +225%".

As they mentioned when they gave their intention to publish updates about the rework, BioWare caution that even what they've shared today is work in progress material and that they "will continue to test and experiment over the coming months."

You can read the rest of the goals in BioWare's blog post.