Over the weekend BioWare’s loot shooter received a new set of challenges called “The Oncoming Storm.” The appear to be a precursor to the game’s big upcoming Cataclysm event which will introduce a new limited time mode, but players have already run into some difficulty trying to complete them, with bugs and crashes slowing their progress.
“The Oncoming Storm” consists of three parts, all of which take place in the game’s freeplay mode. The first revolves around destroying a new set of crystals that have started appearing around the world.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/07/a-mysterious-storm-is-brewing-on-anthems-horizon-after-weeks-of-nothing/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/ztv57k5s3hqvcr3vfwwd.jpg” title=”A Mysterious Storm Is Brewing On Anthem’s Horizon After Weeks Of Nothing” excerpt=”BioWare hasn’t announced when Anthem’s upcoming Cataclysm event will begin in earnest, but recent clues have players hopeful the game’s next phase is imminent.”]
The second requires you to complete three seperate “Crystal World Events,” activities that randomly pop up and reward you with a crystal once finished. And to complete the third you just need to kill crystallised enemies which effectively just Scar fighters with crystals on their backs. Getting all of this done rewards you with Coin, one of Anthem’s in-game currencies that can be spent on armour and materials, just like all of the game’s other Challenges, as well as some new decals specific to the activity to customise your Javelin with.
The Challenges are nothing to write home about, and not a reason to jump back into the game by any stretch, but they at least give people who have continued playing something new to do beyond running the same Stronghold mission on loop and complaining about the loot drops at the end.
When BioWare first showed off how parts of Cataclysm would work in late May, the studio said that it would be preceded by a two-week build-up period in which the world would slowly change and small things, presumably like these new Challenges, would get added. “The Oncoming Storm” Challenge descriptions briefly went live in the game early last week.
More recently a storm has appeared off in the distance on the northern part of the map. While the Cataclysm mission itself has been live on a public test server for PC players to try out for weeks now, the full event, including new story missions, now seems likely headed to the full game in early August. Back when the game first came out, Cataclysm was scheduled to arrive some time in May.
But even the introduction of these small new Challenges hasn’t gone off completely without a hitch. Several players in the game’s subreddit have reported the game has been crashing more than usual while they’re in freeplay. The Challenge that requires killing crystallised enemies also appears to be bugged at the moment. The game only seems to count those killed with melee attacks or gunfire, as opposed to Javelin gear or ultimates.
It’s still not too difficult to get the 60 kills necessary to satisfy that part of the Challenge, but it does add another small frustration onto an already big pile.
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