New Anthem Update Adds the Sunken Cell Stronghold, New Missions, and Much More

BioWare continues to make improvements to their looter shooter Anthem inline with player feedback. Though new content was always in the cards, specific adjustments in the open-world online game have been a direct reflection of what gamers wanted to see in the world of Anthems and sick Javelin suits. Their latest update comes bearing a brand new stronghold, new contracts, new missions, and so much more! 

The Sunken Cell stronghold is now live – enter the stronghold with your fellow Freelancers to put an end to the Dominion’s deadly plans.

Read the full patch notes here: https://t.co/A2Q9JfoBWa pic.twitter.com/dGf7NCQgjv

— Anthem (@anthemgame) April 23, 2019

So what’s new? 

• The Sunken Cell stronghold is now available to all players who have completed the main story (critical path).
• Added the ability to select contracts from the start of expedition screen rather than going to the individual contract boards in Fort Tarsis or in the Launch Bay.
• Added the ability to launch a new mission from the end of expedition screen without having to return to Fort Tarsis or the Launch Bay.
• Added the ability to access the Forge during Missions, Strongholds and Freeplay. You can now change your gear without having to return to Fort Tarsis or the Launch Bay!

The team also added new Universal Masterwork Components, as seen below: 

• Extended Sniper Magazine: Adds specialized storage for enhanced sniper rifle ammunition. Increases damage by 30% of base damage. Increases maximum magazine size of sniper rifles by a large amount.
• Rapid Hollow Points: Adds specialized ammo storage for machine pistols and autocannons. Increases damage by 30%. Increases weak point damage of machine pistols and autocannons.
• Extended Special Arms Magazine: Adds specialized ammo storage for heavy pistols and grenade launchers. Increases damage by 30%. Increases maximum magazine size of heavy pistols and grenade launchers by a large amount.

A few challenge objective bugs were also addressed as well as various notification issues that were known from the most recent update prior to the arrival of the new stronghold. 

Masterwork weapons also saw a few buffs as well in addition to class changes for the four Javelin suit types regarding gear. A lot of improvements status effects and combos have also been put into affect, which can all be seen right here. 

Since the title had a bit of a rocky launch regarding bugs, here are the errors and glitches that have also been addressed:  

Creatures

• Fixed additional issues where the Titan fireball projectile attack was hitting players when they successfully dodged/evaded.
• Fixed an issue where the Titan would not always use all of its available attacks.

Javelins

• Adjusted environmental lightning strikes to not target javelins directly as frequently.
• Fixed an issue where the predicted gear score was inaccurate if you were selecting to equip a higher tier component than was currently equipped.
• Fixed a bug where the Colossus shield wouldn’t appear when deployed to other players in the squad.
• Resolved several issues where status effects remained on the player far longer than the actual effect (e.g. the Frozen status effect appearing on the javelin after the effect has ended).
• Fixed a bug where the Storm’s shield did not get the intended 20% damage resistance increase while hovering.
• Fixed a bug where the Interceptor Ultimate attack would not chain when holding the fire button instead of holding the melee button.

Gear

• Bulwark Point now properly gets duration increases from utility duration bonus inscriptions.
• Fixed a bug where Interceptor melee gear was not going on cooldown when used in air.
• Fixed an issue where explosive projectiles were not affecting destructible combat objects (e.g. scar bunkers).
• Fixed a problem where the Storm’s Seal of the Open Mind Masterwork would incorrectly allow a player to fire 3 charges when the UI only showed 2 available.
• Fixed a bug where gear recharge progress could be lost if you used a charge while additional charges were being restored.

Components

• Fixed an error where the Masterwork Colossus Stock Augment had a lower base % increase than its non-Masterwork counterparts. (Increased from 5% to 35%).
• Fixed the Ranger Grenadier Component text to properly display the stat value %.
• Fixed a problem with the Special Arms Ammo component not properly increasing grenade launcher damage.

Status Effects / Combos

• Fixed some instances where multiple players contributing to a single status effect would see incorrect floating values
• Fixed an issue where you could receive a status effect from a creature attack while invulnerable.

Weapons

• Fixed a problem where the Legion of Dawn rifle disappears from the forge while in the Launch Bay
• Fixed a bug where ammo pick-ups weren’t restoring any ammo in the current magazine for the Devastator Sniper Rifle.
• Fixed the Striker’s Balance weapon so that the weapon accuracy and projectile trajectory should be corrected when the bonus is applied.
• Corrected Torrent Autocannon description text to match current functionality.
• Fixed a bug where Avenging Herald was incorrectly applying its bonus damage to secondary weapons while holstered. This bonus is now only active when Avenging Herald is the active weapon.
• All Devastator Sniper Rifle weakpoint hit multipliers have been corrected to a 1.75 multiplier.

Text Descriptions

• Updated “Critical Damage” to “Weakpoint Damage” in any text descriptions.
• Updated “Impact Dmg” to “Kinetic Dmg” in any text descriptions.
• Updated “Impact Resist” to “Kinetic Resist” in any text descriptions.
• Corrected formatting on the inscription values for Overheat Delay Recovery, Thruster Delay Recovery, and Weap Reload Speed so they no longer have multiple +/- values.
• Removed text from the Masterwork Flamethrower which indicated that it was a detonator when it is not.

Fort Tarsis

• Removed the duplicate second pistol from Argentum Tran’s Sidearm case after completing the Freelancer Reputation Rewards – Level 3.
• Elysian Key marker over daily challenges no longer disappears on returning to Fort Tarsis.
• Fixed an issue where Yarrow’s final conversation could play too early in some scenarios.
• Removed Dax from the background of a conversation where you are told she went out to get some tea.
• Fixed an issue where Commander Vule left the frame during a conversation with Brin and the player.
• Fixed an issue where Jarek Arnel’s arm clipped badly into the wall.
• Resolved an issue where you were told that your squad was waiting on you to ready up, when it wasn’t true.
• Resolved an issue where Faye wasn’t shown in a cinematic scene that she is speaking in with Haluk.
• Fixed various spelling and grammatical errors in the journal and library entries.

Freeplay

• Fixed an issue where targeted creatures in freeplay would lose their target icon if you flew too far away from the arena and returned.
• Fixed an issue where sentinels disappeared from the Sentinel Support World Event, making it impossible to complete the event.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t progress in the Tombs of the Legionnaires quest if one member of your squad had not unlocked that quest yet.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t interact with and enter the Tomb of Artinia when you had completed the requirements to unlock it.
• Picking up some collectible archives were limited to the player that interacted with them.  Now all players within 100m of the player collecting the archive will automatically collect the archive as well.
• Fixed an issue where turrets could spawn too far away from the world event location.
• Fixed an issue where being downed in the Arcanist Korox Study world event would not reset properly when you came back.

Strongholds

• Downed players are now automatically revived when the stronghold boss is defeated.
• Temple of the Scar: Fixed an issue where the fog wall visual effect remained, even though it didn’t actually prevent the player from progressing.
• Temple of the Scar: Fixed an issue where the player could escape the world near the waterfall.
• Tyrant Mine: Prevented turrets from spawning in the second area before players were led there and the rest of the enemies had spawned in to fix an exploit.
• Heart of Rage: Fixed an issue where enemies could be trapped behind a fog wall, preventing the player from progressing.

Critical Path and Legendary Missions

• Heart of Rage: Fixed an issue where killing the titan without entering the arena would cause you to respawn backwards, making it impossible to advance and complete the mission.
• Legendary Incursion: Fixed an issue where the plot wouldn’t advance after listening to the recording.
• Legendary Missions: Fixed an issue where the final chest would never appear at the end of the mission if you were too far away from the chest.
• Legendary Fortress of Dawn: Fixed an issue for the second trial where the plot would break if one player was slow to load in and the other player ran ahead.
• Legendary Freelancer Down: Fixed an issue where the plot wouldn’t progress until all members of the squad had reached the specified point.  
• Legendary Finding Old Friends:  Fixed an issue where enemies could be stuck behind a fog wall, preventing the plot from progressing.
• Fixed an issue where the notification of Legendary Missions being unlocked after completing the critical path was not displaying.
• Legendary Lost Arcanist: Fixed an issue where the Escari was teleporting around too frequently.
• Legendary Freelancer Down: Fixed a respawn point that was very far away from the objective.
• Contract – Freelancer Work: Fixed an issue where the step to protect the Arcanists wasn’t working correctly when joining through Quick Play.