The game is at a watershed moment imo. With the advent of the high TTK now come and gone, I think what we're left with is Respawn calculating what will most likely be their last DLC and game balance adjustment while they start working on Titanfall 3.
If anything, the high TTK in the hands of 10.x+ tier players was more enjoyable; for those less than 10.x gen, not so much. I think based on the tweaks that we've experienced over the past couple of patches, we're marching towards the final adjustments being the following: (this is from a console perspective)
- Aim Assist nerf is coming; Case in point, the G2. Across the map snipe with little to no drop off in damage while auto-aim assist kicks in? Sure why not. I would image this is going to piss a lot of people off (think Hemlock).
- Phase shift is here to stay with two charges... don't see that one changing.
- Melee as much as we want it to change for "the better" will most likely get a dice roll style of no matter the the animation of either player, it will be based on chance. While this doesn't "fix" the issue, it does introduce a risk vs. reward. I don't see executions changing.
- Small changes to Rifles, Assault rifles and pistols with increases and decreases in damage ranges.
- Anti-Titan weapons will get a small buff:
-- I expect the Archer to get a shorter lock on timer
-- Thunderbolt will get a bump in damage with a higher area of affect at a most likely incremental speed bump
-- Charge Rifle most likely unchanged
-- MGL most likely unchanged damage wise, ammo count 1-2 round increase
The Titans themselves:
- Ion - I would expect a small change in Ion laser re-charge. (Shorter) while energy consumption stays the same.
- Scorch - Buff of one health bar and/or full shield upon starting out.
-- Change in Thermite; Buff to damage on crit (rewards those who aim well), buff to duration of thermite. Tempered plating most likely raised to 90-95% insulation.
--- One thing that is most likely not going to happen but I would love to see is for Scorch to be the only Titan to be able to rotate between abilities. (Think long range vs. short range for Legion on his shots). This would also create some interesting tactical battles as you could finally adjust your gameplay to the style of the match you're playing. The rub of course would be you only get to choose your abilities (Thermite Launcher, Flame Shield Buff, Firewall buff etc.) on load out a la your boost.
-- Northstar - Don't main this Titan much, most likely a small buff to defense abilities
-- Ronin - Doesn't really need any buff's to be honest, just about perfect.
-- Tone - Potentially small buffs to chained damage from homing shots / rockets, otherwise, most likely done balancing.
-- Legion - Again, don't main, but when I do play it, seems fairly balanced. Potentially some buffs to shield damage sponge.
-- Monarch - There isn't much to say as Monarch is the newest of the Titans. She has no defensive abilities of which maybe she gets small buffs to energy sap but not much beyond that.
The game has another 6-12 months left of play (for me at least) and Respawn has done a good job of engaging with the community. I really hope that EA doesn't F up the release of TF3 and supports the game the same way.
