Anthem started out as a great game with plenty of things to do: places to explore, enemies to take down, weapons to discover, a story of decent length, and endless possibility. Where it fell apart was immediately after the first patch where weapon and loot levels were adjusted. Suddenly it was difficult to find new weapons, and the ones you did have in your possession were no longer as powerful.
Then another patch, and weapons were too powerful, and the better loot moved to after-campaign missions.
Then another patch and the weapons evened out and the loot was given freely to everyone.
Then another patch and suddenly the lower weapons were boosted, and part of the loot disappeared.
Then another and another and another and now I have no idea just how powerful my weapons actually are.
The world features amazing scenery and small locales that get tired after the 10th hour or so when you've been everywhere and seen it all. Customization options for your Javelin are lackluster and gold must be grinded for days to have enough for a decal, a pack of armor, or even an emote. Weapons must also be grinded for in all areas with the best appearing at complete random (I got a Legendary pistol from Free Play). After the main campaign, the contracts become repetitive and, aside from strongholds, are one of the few things to do to keep you coming back for a little while.
It's not all hindered by BioWare's indecision though. The other saving grace is the action itself: there are plenty of fights to get in to in the overworld and each one can last several minutes. There's hundreds of lore items to find throughout the game that build on the depth of the world. NPC interactions in Fort Tarsis feel natural and the voice actors perform excellently (Sentinel Bren is adorable, fight me). Freeplay has world events that anyone can join in and break up the tedium of flying around looking for a group of enemies to fight.
I was an Anthem apologist for a long time, I only looked at the good parts of this game and tried to tell people to only focus on those, but those good parts only go so far and after each patch has further twisted the overall gameplay, I can no longer tell people to focus on just that.
Anthem isn't a bad game to play, it's a bad game to keep playing. Until BioWare releases an expansion the audience for this title shrinks daily, which is unfortunate because there is a massive amount of potential that would keep people coming back.