Anthem's Microtransactions: Everything You Need to Know
The first week of microtransactions are currently available in Anthem, and if you don’t feel like earning them for free, they’ll set you back $30 USD. They can be earned in-game if you’d rather not pay to acquire them, but here’s what you can get today:
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61,000 coin or 850 shards - Epic Guardian Armor Pack for the Ranger 61,000 coin or 850 shards - Epic Dreadnought Armor Pack for the Colossus 18,000 coin or 400 shards - Epic Gum on Shoe Entrance Animation for the Colossus 12,000 coin or 300 shards - Uncommon Graphic: Midnight Shield Vinyl 12,000 coin or 300 shards - Rare Metal: Diamond Plate Texture 12,000 coin or 300 shards - Rare Fabric: Canvas Honeycomb Texture
While none of this seems overly concerning as it can all be earned, the crafting tab in the store did have me a bit more worried as it felt like buying progression, but BioWare’s Mike Gamble confirmed to IGN that these can only be earned through coin which you earn in-game, or by finding it in the wild. The community has also pointed out that there is still a masterwork and legendary tier of gear that could be added at some point - we reached out to EA and BioWare for comment.
Separately the Legion of Dawn items, unlocked by completing the tutorial and Prospero’s first mission give you some early game advantage, but as it’s only level 18 gear and the level cap is 30 you’ll replace it early on in progression.
So to break it down, how much can you spend in Anthem today? About $30, and you’ll unlock everything there is in the store at this time. The store does refresh on the 22nd of February, though, so we’ll report back should anything change. If you choose to spend money, the best value is the $39.99 pack as you’ll get around $6 worth of shards for free, but remember that you’ll be earning a lot of coin early on, including the 40,000 coins you receive at the beginning for free. We’re still evaluating the coin economy, but after completing the main campaign and side stories we earned around 120,000 coins which included the 40,000 given to all players at launch. Without a story to progress through, time will tell if this is repeatable week after week or if there are other ways to easily earn free funds.
For everything else Anthem, check out our level unlock guide, and the location of all the Cortex Item Locations in Fort Tarsis.
Destin Legarie is a Senior Features Producer at IGN. You can follow him onTwitter or watch him stream regularly on Twitch.