The Anthem alliance system is a key component of Bioware’s upcoming title. There’s been a bit of confusion about what it is exactly, though, including what expeditions are and which rewards you earn from completing them. Find out everything there is to know about the Anthem alliance system by reading our guide.
Anthem alliance system | What it is and how it works
Put simply, the alliance system is a way for you and your friends to earn rewards by working together whether you’re online or offline. You read that right, even if you’re not actively playing at times, the Anthem alliance system allows you and up to five mates to pool your experience points (XP) together from every single expedition that you complete in the game.
If you’re playing online, that XP is placed into the system once an expedition has been completed. However, if you’re not online when your mates are and you fear missing out, you need not worry. Even when you can’t play, XP is still being added to the alliance system from your friends, so you still benefit from it too.
Think of it as a social XP pool. You still get XP from a personal point of view to level your character up, but there’s also a side pool of XP that is added to which everyone benefits from.
Anthem alliance system | Expeditions
Expeditions are the game’s main challenges, and they encapsulate everything you can do in Anthem. These include story-based missions, the lengthier quests called Strongholds, accepting contracts from NPCs within Anthem‘s world, and missions you come across during free play.
Each expedition will reward you with XP and, in turn, you will progress though what are known as Alliance Tiers. Each one has a set target of XP that you need to earn to advance to the next level. For each tier you hit, you will be rewarded with a certain amount of Anthem‘s in-game currency called Coin.
Anthem alliance system | What is Coin?
Coin is the main reward given to you and your friends at the end of every week. The amount of Coin you’ll be gifted is dependent on how much XP your crew accumulated during the past seven days.
You can use Coin to purchase a variety of different items in Anthem during downtime from expeditions. These range from upgrades for your Javelin suits, such as armor pieces and paint jobs, to different emotes and other visual aesthetics that help stand you out from the crowd.
For players whose friends play on different platforms to them, you shouldn’t worry about how much XP and Coin you could earn. Playing with strangers via the game’s matchmaking system will also earn you XP and Coin. It won’t be as much as you would get from playing with friends. What it does do, however, is let you earn rewards—albeit more slowly—that you may not get otherwise.
Anthem alliance system | Cheating the system
Bioware and EA are aware that there’s the potential for some players to try and cheat their way to greater amounts of XP and Coin. There was the possibility that some could make the most of the Anthem alliance system, and try to get a step up on the competition if they play with more friends than others.
However, Bioware has gone on record to state that this is why only you and up to five of your friends can benefit from the system. At the end of each week, only the top five friends that you’ve played with will benefit from the alliance system’s XP pool and amount of Coin. This means that people who have smaller friends’ lists than others won’t be at a disadvantage at earning less, which will hopefully result in a level playing field.
Anthem alliance system | What about Guilds?
Guilds are still coming to the game. Bioware has revealed that this part of the game won’t be available at launch, but will be patched in at a later date.
Guilds will allow players to form their own groups and always have friends to play with no matter who is available at any given time. Until this is added to Bioware’s game, the Anthem alliance system is your best bet to reap the rewards of completing expeditions.
