Tone's ability against Pilots is fine if you compare with Ronin.
But when you look at every other Titan (outside of Smart Core... why is that even in the game...), there isn't a single primary that compares.
This is the issue. Nerfing Tone's primary shouldn't be a thing. The 40mm isn't even as great as it was in the original. It's fun because of its utility.
But if you combine that with these maps not giving Pilots the ability to move about or Ejection being low enough for the 40mm to Goose consistently... all combined with the fact that Arc Cannon, X0-16 and Quad Rockets are gone... it becomes not just the most fun Primary, but outright the best.
These new Titans all have interesting abilities to deal with Hardpoints or Banks etc. but even in those modes, it doesn't matter when it really just comes down to Titan combat.
What's the difficulty curve for learning to use Scorch properly? You can get better with Thermite, engage where you have the advantage... but at the end of the day the Fire Shield is his best tool (and Flame Core) and neither of them are things you can get "better" at using.
Tone on the other hand, if you master her weapons, the 40mm can hit "everything".
I think "most-balanced" is misleading. She's the only "complete" Titan.
Ronin imo is the closest, but his Sword Core having a worse melee against Doomed Titans is just outright silly.
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Speaking of Hardpoint. Remember when Pilots could hide inside C in Boneyard? That Titans weren't able to get around those little crates or w/e? Or when B was in a Pilot only enclosure with multiple exits?
I just feel like Pilots are completely secondary from Titans. With Titans being the only real "fuel" outside of vs. Pilot combat, you'd think they'd keep the David and Goliath design.
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So, earlier today I played against perhaps my strongest opponent. He was soloQing and carrying the enemy team. I think he ended up with 150+ and I got like 170+. For the first half of the game, we began to lose by over 100 because he was first to fall with Ronin.
When I got my Ronin, it was when he ran out of his Titan and I was able to help my team get a full stack of Titans against nothing. When this dude got his next Titan, I groaned when he switched to Tone. It was obvious why he did that.
Essentially, we only went after each other in the game (because either of us in a Titan without the other was the goal) but he started to panic and ran right into me. Bare in mind, Ronin doesn't take damage from Rodeos, right? He had MGL, Charge Rifle, even switched to Archer all in the same game.
It's a shame he didn't have the opportunity to fight some minions on the other side of the map to come in with a Titan. But then again, this was Homestead.
My team won by about 120+ points in the end. Activate Sword Core, and just block... It's going to be annoying when more people realise how powerful that is.