Official Anthem Open Demo Thread 2/1-2/3

Starting a topic specific to the Anthem Demo beginning tomorrow at 11 AM Central. Use this thread to post effective builds, tips and anything else on this subject.

For those who don't know - Anthem is an upcoming Looter-Shooter from EA, Developed by Bioware as their first entry into the online Looter Shooter genre. Bioware is best known for their epic RPGs namely Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age.

The game has typical action rpg looter mechanics with customizable equipment to augment skills, many weapon choices and power level based progression. The "hook" with Anthem is the vertical nature of the game world and combat. Every "Javelin" suit has flight jets that can be used at any time and factor in greatly in traveling and combat at all times.

Details
- You can download the client for free now
- The Demo will run 2/1 11am until 2/3 8pm CST
- You start at level 10 and the level cap is 15
- Highest level loot is Rare pwr level 19 (Blue Rarity)
- There are a few story missions and a "Stronghold" mission which is a bit longer than a story mission with some decent mechanics and a big boss fight at the end of a few stages within the mission. Not unlike a strike in Destiny.
- You can ply in Easy, Normal or Hard mode. Hard mode has enemies beefed up 300% to damage and health. Best loot in the demo comes from hard mode. After launch, "Grandmaster"levels 1,2,3 will ratchet the difficulty up and give better loot.
- There are currently a few bugs in the game in regards to loading and connecting. If your loading bar is stuck at 95% while trying to get into an expedition (mission), manually close out the game, relaunch it and it should prompt you to jump back into the session you were trying to enter. This bug is annoying as frick and widespread. Hoping they have a server side fix for it because it does not look like the game will be patched client side for the demo. ** EDIT - Looks like there was a client side patch today - maybe this fixes it**
- The game you will be playing this weekend is a 8 weeks old build and it is not fully optimized nor does it represent the final build of the game. Things get a little clunky, skills sometimes don't activate correctly and the AI is tuned down a bit all in an effort to make sure performance stays up. You still get a basic feel for the game however.
-You will have access to ranger Javelin to start and either 1 or 3 other choices. They unlocked all of the suits for us in the VIP demo, not sure if the open demo guys will get that. So make your first unlock count in case you don't get another. Javelin descriptions below.

Javelins
These are your "classes" which are represented by these combat armor suits you can jump into before an expedition. They all have 2 weapons, 1 melee attack, 2 combat gear skills, 1 support gear skill slot and "component" slots for passive bonuses, which you will unlock 2 of in the demo (6 is at max level).

This means you will have 7 slots to customize your build in the demo, 11 at launch.

Combat is based on guns, skills and "Combos" where one skill "primes" the target with and elemental effect such as ice, fire, acid or electricity and the other "detonates" the primed skill causing bonus damage and a unique effect on that damage depending on which Javelin you are piloting.

Ranger:
This suit is your balanced starting suit. Having decent damage, gun skills, movement, defense and support capabilities, it is a jack of all trades. Upon a skill combo detonation, it applies bonus critical damage to that target only. Ranger is your "boss killer" medium ranged fighter. Soldier class would be the most apt description.

Storm:
Storm is the ranged skill based damage dealer powerhouse. Elemental skills and wide area AOE skills make it a damage dynamo. Has the second lowest defense but can hover above combat longer than any other Javelin, allowing for a mitigation of damage. This is also the best "Sniper" class. Mage would be the classic RPG class it is closest to, but it also offers crowd control and debuffing with elemental effects. Upon detonating a combo, the elemental effects spread to nearby enemies.

Colossus:
Colossus is your beefcake up close damage dealer / tank type suit. He has no rechargeable passive shields, but in return he gets a deployable front side 180 degree shield to actively block damage AND by far the largest base health pool of any of the javelins. He is slower and cant hover nearly as long as any of the others but his survivability and AOE damage in close combat makes him the heartiest of all the suits. Warrior / Tank is the best description for him. Upon detonating a combo, a large AOE explosion happens, dealing extra damage to all nearby enemies.

Interceptor
The fastest, but most fragile of all the suits, the Interceptor specializes in close range melee hit and run tactics and debuffing enemies. This is your "Rogue" class. No stealth, but getting in, doing high melee damage and getting out is the key. He also has a support skill that applies a resistance debuff to enemies increasing the damage they take. Upon detonating a combo, he gains a debuff aura that applies the elemental status of the combo detonation to any enemy he coms close to. It is the strongest application possible and will prime even the heartiest of enemies, allowing for more detonations by teammates.

Currently, there is NO PVP. Bioware says they might add it in a later expansion, but for now they are focused on making a balanced and fun PVE experience with a great story that many games of this genre lack.

There you have it. Anthem is a fun game so far. I am hopeful it becomes as big as Destiny and can last for years.