News - Anthem: Matchmaking in Raids
Hello everyone,
Here's a bit of news that caught my attention a few days ago. Anthem - the upcoming triple A juggernaut game from Electronic Arts) will not only have raids, those raids will have matchmaking! But, apparently, not to everyone's taste as the social media (and some game reporters) came out against what they consider a disastrous move by EA.
Now look, I like to troll EA as much as the next one and yes, in principle, raids (as we know them) are some of the hardest activities to complete in a game. They require lots of communication, coordination but also puzzle solving and timing to complete. However I feel, when people talk about raids in "life-style" games, they're referring specifically to Destiny (Bungie) raids, has they are the most challenging that we know.
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| Destiny's Wrath of The Machine Raid is still, to this day, one of the most challenging activities in any looter shooter. |
But here's the thing, raids did not start with Destiny. There were raids in World of Warcraft (Blizzard), and there are still raids in most MMO games, and most of them don't require the level of challenge that Bungie has on their raids.
In The Division (Ubisoft) we have similar activities to raids called Incursions. Now, while I can't compare their level of complexity, I can compare them as both having a specific mechanic that the team has to know in order to complete them. And guess what? They have matchmaking!
My feeling is this, Anthem isn't even out yet! We have no idea if the game is going to be complex or fairly simple. If most mechanics we find in the raid are similar to those encountered in the campaign, one can assume that the raid could be fairly simple being the challenge factor gear or speed. If that's the case than matchmaking wouldn't necessarily be an issue right?
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| Still too little is known about Raids in Anthem. Will they be four man raids or more? Will they have puzzles or simply one humongous boss?! Still to soon to tell! |
If after the game's released people feel the raids are either to simple, or the matchmaking doesn't work, EA can always resort to other means to please their community. LFG is one solution (something that most Destiny players were already asking in D1) or simply have clans to support on those activities.
All in all I feel some folks are making a big deal out of nothing. Me?... I'm keeping my reservations (after all it's EA we're talking about) until I see the final game. And remember, matchmaking is an option not a requirement!
Cheers!
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