While it's great they're addressing it, the movement (although I felt it was slower) was the least of my issues. All of this:
So, based on these changes (and without seeing them in action), my list of complaints is brought to this:
- No AI Grunts in any mode other than Bounty Hunt (and even then they are very limited)
- No Attrition
- Pared down Titan loadout customization
- Burn cards are gone
- Maps aren't conducive to extended chaining (the rest of the maps could prove me wrong, so I'll wait until release to finalize judgement)
- No Titan auto-shield regen
- Wallhanging is a perk for some reason
- Having to choose between a sidearm and an anti-titan weapon
This is a good step, but I'm still not convinced to pick it up at launch, still planning on Redboxing it before I make the decision.
is what kills the game for me and then some.
- No AI grunts makes the game feel less exciting. Titanfall 1 had such a great sense of feeling like a battlefield and a good part of the was due to the bots. Even though they're in Bounty Hunt, they're relegated to certain parts of the map when the bounty is up on them. Hardpoint was just boring without them too. In the first game there was incentive to go out and go for the other Hardpoints as the AI could even get there and help take it. Now, what's the point?
- The Titans are less personal and still weaker. Can't change their abilities or even voices. With the first game, if you saw an Ogre Titan, that didn't mean you knew what it's abilities were until you started fighting it. Now when you see an Ion Titan, you know exactly what it can do and without auto-shields, your Titan feels too weak.
- I liked Attrition and Burn Cards. Really wish those stayed.
- Their comments on the maps still don't convince me when they also talked about the design around them changing to lanes instead of complex areas. I'll wait and see how more of them look but eh.
- Wallhanging being a perk makes no sense still and I've heard the reasoning. Neither I nor any of my friends got stuck randomly.
- Having to choose between a secondary and an Anti-Titan weapon is just stupid. You can be easily screwed by this one choice.
- Once again, I'll bring up the Presentation as well. The AI goes with this too but going back to Titanfall 1 after this test really showed how much more alive that game felt. There's chatter between the grunts and the soldiers of whatever side you're on in the match. Someone will bring a video feed up updating you on your Titan or something, the AI running around in general and just being active. Even the way you call your Titan and the way it falls from the sky above, with that sound, crashing down and speaking to you with whatever VO you gave it. I felt none of that during the test and that is a big part of what disappointed me so.
I'll try it again this weekend and keep an eye on it until it releases but I'm becoming more and more convinced this isn't going to be the sequel I wanted and might just skip it. At least wait and see what a handful of patches will do but there's so much I'm not a fan of that is part of the overall design of the game that I doubt they can change it all.
