Exploring the criticisms of Titanfall 2 - Please vote on all "questions"

From what I've seen and read of the game, it does look like a step back. The Titan/Pilot synergy is a lot less present since it's harder to actually get one and you don't get a guaranteed one anymore after a certain amount of time passed (I thought this was fine in Titanfall 1 where good players would get Titans way faster and more frequent anyway). The battery mechanic seems cool though to nudge people to rodeo a lot more. But it seems they listened a little bit too well to the no-Titan-complainers from TF1.

One of the maps you could play on seems too open with not a lot of walls to chain your running on. One of the cool things about TF1 is that you had multiple 100% wallruns routes through the maps. Might be just an unlucky pick in this test though (the TF1 beta had Fracture as one of the maps which is one of the worst wallrun maps in TF1).

I think the first Titanfall nailed the base mechanics and balance to a point where TF2 should only have a little bit more weapon and Titan variety and burn cards removed, so seeing so many changes worries me.

But I've to see for myself with the PC version. The console version of TF1 looks a lot slower and less appealing compared to the PC version IMO, so it might be the case here as well.

BUT THE WORST THING: 3rd person animations! The seamless 1st person animations for entering/exiting a Titan and such were the best!

i played a ton of tf1, i think i stopped at g7 or g8. I don't like this game at all. The game doesn't feel good and it is not fun to me.

Haven't played it as I don't have a console, been watching instead, so obviously take my opinion bearing that in mind. Titanfall 1 has to be the closest game to CoD that I've really gotten into. It's so far the first MP-FPS I've prestiged in.

I'm surprised at just how many missteps have been taken with Titanfall 2. Things could be just seen as a mistake if maybe one or two odd changes was made, but here you have a significant number of very questionable design decisions that all seem to go against what people wanted out of Titanfall 2.

The slow pilots, the sped-up TTK, and the significant reduction of the influence of Titans (despite the players being, you know, 'pilots' and the name of the game being Titanfall) by both neutering the amount of Titans that can be out on the field via the timer being taken out and making them far more vulnerable (along with ripping out different loadouts for Titans) all speak of a very deliberate attempt to get away from the original Titanfall and the mechanics that made it so great. Even the elimination of 1st person animations for Titan entry seems like an oversight, albeit a very minor one (I just loved those entry animations, don't judge me).

Maybe they will release a PC demo/trial/beta/whatever, and I'll pick it up and it will all just click. That being said, if they do not change the game and do not offer a free attempt to play the game on PC so there would be at least the possibility of me changing my mind on the redone mechanics of the game, it is longer the day one buy it was going to be for me, and maybe I'll just never get it.

Edit: Also, playing original Titanfall is very close to a non-option for me unfortunately. Australian AND on PC.

At first it still felt like Titanfall but after playing more it feels like they made the game for the complainers who didnt buy the first game instead of the loyal small fanbase they had. It's still fun but I don't get the same thrill that I got from the first game. On the bright side, I think I'm gonna fire up some Titanfall 1 this week in between Deus Ex time

I didn't get a ton of time to mess around with it this weekend, I'll need to play more next weekend. That said, perhaps I should apologise to the Titanfall fanbase as it feels like a lot of these changes were made for someone like me.

I loved the movement in the original Titanfall, but didn't really like anything to do with the Titans. So having them be a much less frequent occurrence here is great - though it's probably worth noting that you'll almost certainly see them more often as players get better at the game. I do think, given their rarity, that they could perhaps be a mite stronger - in fact, I'd be happier with the Titans feeling like genuinely rare but important pieces of equipment that could swing an entire battle in the right hands, rather than just being a dime a dozen.

As for the time to kill, it feels like it's in about the right place to me. I tend to favour a slightly faster TTK in my multiplayer FPS - and it feels like it fits this game as movement around the map is such a key part of the gameplay, so being able to get the drop on opponents is important. Even with a longer TTK, a good player probably shouldn't get turned on anyway, so that's always felt like people just wanting an advantage against those who perhaps don't have the snappiest reactions.

I do agree that the maps they have in the beta aren't great, however - and that's a big deal. MW3 was one of the most mechanically sound entries in the CoD series IMO, but its maps were largely pretty terrible, and it really brought the entire game down. BF4 is great, but I feel less compelled to play it than I did with BF3 because I just don't like several of the maps. So hopefully that's something they can tweak over time.

I'll be honest, I really liked what I played but I've never played the original Titanfall. I can't say I was very good, but stomping around in a titan was always a whole lot of fun. Wished you didn't die quite as fast though. Can anyone who played the first game a lot explain if and what they've changed?

I never played the first Titanfall and was looking forward to this, but I dunno, I really thought I would like it more. From the videos I saw, the movement looks very fluid and fast, but playing the game it feels kinda slow. I would say somewhere between the plodding pace of a BF and the frantic movement of COD. Maybe because I'm so used to the latter, that it just feels that way. I don't particularly care for the way the guns feel either. I tried an assault rifle, a sniper, and a LMG. The assault rifle felt the best, but maybe it's just one of those things you get used to by playing more. The way the titans are awarded seems fine to me. I'm just average at these type of games and I earned one easily enough. I have no reference to the first game but the titans seem to get taken down pretty fast. I'm going to play more, but my initial impression was a little bit of disappointment, maybe only because I had high expectations coming into it.

Someone found a developer interview from the release of Titanfall 1 that does a great job of showcasing the 180 these developers have had on so many of their design philosophies. Some quotes:

- "It doesn't matter how good you are. It's not gonna be 'I kill 3 people/I kill 6 people, so I get a Titan' and the lesser skilled players don't".

- "Having the AI in the environment as 'food' to help speed up Titan build time".

- "Pilots always working towards a new Titan. It doesn't matter what you're doing, your Titan timer is always happening".

- "The regenerating shield was the last thing we figured out in Titan combat to really make it work. Before that, your Titan would get damaged to 10% health and it would be worthless. Adding the shield and letting that regen made them more viable".

- "Pilot and Titans should be equally viable (...) We did not spend 80% of our time on either Pilots or Titans and then 20% of our time on the other".

I filled it out and im one of the ones who are disappointed. I understand the game needed changes to keep the life going longer than 1, but i dont feel anything they changed helped that. Cod is cod, be your own thing i think overwatch proves you dont need to be a duty clone to have a healthy shelf life. The speed at which you die is terrible, there are very few mobs so the game feels empty, takes forever to get a titan and then it goes down before you can get in, parkour feels useless, map designs feel better suited for traditional cod, and honestly the shooting doesnt feel as good either. The beta did get me back on titanfall 1, the pc only had 500 people playing though lol.

I generally liked what I saw, with a few reservations.

First, the positives. I enjoyed some genuinely badass moments while I was playing. From opening up with the laser core, to grappling hook combos, to stealing batteries in order to repair allied Titans in the middle of a fight. I also like the ability/ability/ultimate structure, it works in Destiny and Overwatch, and it works here too. And I like the mobility. In theory, it turns out, more than practice.

The other side of the coin is, well, it could be better. I think the full-auto weapons are too dominant right now, time-to-kill is too low, and the maps don't appear to be made with mobility in mind. I think all of these things add to the narrative that this game has an severe case of Call of Duty envy, even though I disagree.

But my biggest issue with the game so far, is the rodeo. Considering how potent it is, it's very easy to do, and it ruins the Titan part of the game when it can be destroyed by one or two highly mobile pilots with grappling hooks. More than anything, I think this turns what should've been a highlight of the game into something unnecessarily frustrating.

Played a ton of Titanfall 1 (still do every few weeks) and while there were a number of things I'm unsure about the Test Alpha (Damage / Heath seems unbalanced for both Pilot & Titan and the new rodeo system for example) It didn't feel like there's anything that cant be tweaked on the fly before released. All in all had a good time with the limited maps & unlocks and am OK with the way its shaping up and will probably be picking this up when its out. The game playing public are always skeptical and uneasy with new spins on the games they enjoy but generally I get over them after a few hours, much like most new maps in DLC. I guess we just have to wait and see on the day but i remain hopeful.

My opinion is that of someone that never played the first Titanfall. I'll admit that I had a lot of fun playing it, while simultaneously finding out I am in no rush to buy the game at all. The Titans seem a tad fragile, especially against a really agile pilot. I think time to kill is decent, but most of the guns don't feel particularly good to use. Bounty seems like an ok game mode.

I think I just have a hard time seeing where Titanfall is positioned and what need it ultimately serves. If I want combat with vehicles I think Battlefield in general offers a much broader variety and a bigger battlefield. If I want a faster more arcade focused shooter on smaller maps there's always going to be Call of Duty. I just don't think what Titanfall 2 offers is better enough to be an alternative and I don't think I have time (or a use for) another multiplayer shooter that isn't different enough.

I'm more worried about the single player being unnecessarily cloying/manipulative with the way they are portraying Titans. I'm already imagining horrendous The Iron Giant-type of crap. Should Titans have feelings? The answer is no.

I guess I'm lucky that I never played the first game because I had a lot of fun with the technical test of the second one. Controls felt right, the action was constant and everything just moved without needless downtime. I do think Titans are a bit too squishy and it seems like unless you have the electric smoke equipped then it's nearly impossible to guard yourself against grappling pilots. Once I've been grappled I don't seem to have any options at all which seems ..almost broken? Unless I'm missing something.

I watched the video where complaints against the sequel were raised based upon the xperiences with the original and none of them really bothered me. I think the Rate at which you earn Titans is fine. To me this is a ground game with Titans being a fun side gimmick; they should make them harder to kill and even harder to earn - a "titanfall" should be something special in my opinion.

I guess I haven't experienced what most people are talking about here. I would say titans are slightly harder to kill than in the first game but not by much because of the amount of weapons they have. I really like the battery system. Teammates can help you! And it makes you play a little more risky jumping out of your titan to heal it. I love how the grappling hook requires a bit of skill to swing properly. The swing feels great.

But I've had no problem getting the titans. I don't know how to say this without sounding like a douche but I'm not bad at the game. I wonder if the experience is doubly bad if you aren't a great player. That would turn a lot of people off and they shouldn't be punished just because they didn't get all the kills. But I know you can get the titans fastest by killing the npcs. I really like Bounty because Titanfall matches were always too short for my liking and bounty is longer and the objective is more loose than others. A lot of risk/reward going on.

My only gripe is that the first assault rifle is still the best gun in the game by far. They nerfed the accuracy at range with it but its still miles ahead of any other gun. Looking at you Double Take. That firing speed... I haven't unlocked the grenade launcher, shotgun, or second smg though. Overall, I've had a really good experience with Titanfall 2 Tech Test.

I purposely avoided reading anything about the Tech Test over the weekend until I finished my write-up (over here if anyone's interested), but I can't say I'm surprised at the vitriol. Titanfall 2 is a different game compared to the first, and I suspect that there will be a large contingent of people sticking to the original because of it. That being said, I enjoyed my time with the Tech Test but hope they make some tweaks between now and October.

I never got to play the first one but I thought this was actually pretty promising even if I think it needs some theoretically doable tweaks.

I thought the progression felt decent and I was able to play around with with several loadouts out of the limited set and do some interesting combinations of abilities and gear.

Personally I'd like it better if they dialed up the health such that time-to-die for both titan vs titan and pilot vs pilot was a bit higher. Titan vs pilot I think the Titans need to be fairly lethal especially if you have to balance against pilots with grapples constantly yanking your batteries.

I think the grappling hook option is cool but it really makes for hard balancing. Personally I got to the point where I was picking stim more often than the grappling hook and situationally coming out better for it but I don't think that's going to be the preference for a lot of players. For what it does it seems too powerful too early on and contributes to the Titans feeling really squishy. I will say I got to a point with the grapple where I was able to use it to for basically doing some Tribes style skiing on the wide open areas by attaching to the ground, hitting jump at the right time, then repeating.

I have some problems with the maps for bounty. Feel like the opposition can camp the bounty turn-in spots a bit too easily. Now it's pretty easy to counter that especially if you have the spider mine things but there were times where I felt like I was leaving fights early to run back, clear out, and baby sit our deposit spot. Not hard but not fun either verses staying in the main fight.

I think when it comes to entering the titan they should have an option to toggle whether you get the third person or first person view. Not sure how feasible that is at this point.

Barring horrible release reviews I'll probably be picking this up fairly early in its life but, yeah, it needs some tweaks.

@humanity: The best defense against hostile pilots close to your Titan (if you don't have the smoke) I found was to exit the Titan and try to shoot them off. It's not a perfect solution, nor is it an in-Titan solution, but it works.

I never played the first Titanfall. So I'm only mildly interested in the sequel. I played a few games, couldn't play much with my friends, because it would kick me out of our party group each time a game ended.

I found the game to be too chaotic, there's so much clutter and debris around the map, too many grunts litter the area, that it makes it difficult sometimes to tell if one is a brain dead grunt or an actual player. Also the two maps were very sniper friendly. A good sniper could wipe the map of almost anyone, so that was annoying. There were times where my titan would nearly blow up as soon as I got into it. The animation of entering your titan is too long, enemy titans would just shoot me to hell as I was going through its overly intricate animation cycle. Each time I was secluded in an empty portion of the map, and yet the enemy titans knew I was there and shot me to hell anyway.

Overall, It's a good game, with some frustrating aspects. I'll stick with Overwatch though.

@pezen: I mean if that's your only option then that's terrible. You should at least be able to use some shake move that requires the pilot to execute some controller motion or be thrown off.

Aren't they invincible when doing the rodeo animation though? At least it seemed that way.

There is some changes that need be made but i enjoyed it. I played a lot of the first Titanfall and found it a better game really.

I'll still end up getting this but they really didn't need to make some these changes.....

@humanity: I completely agree. Overall the pilots seem to get a few too many tools over Titans. Titans seem mostly threatening in theory.

@oursin_360: Are they? Hm, I have killed pilots that were on my Titan but perhaps they die post rodeo animation. But that would be pretty stupid considering that would take away the use of the electric smoke as defense. If they only die after they have already hurt you, Titans seem even more fragile than I thought.

This isn't meant to be a "I'm hot shit" post, to get that out of the way.

I was pretty good at Titanfall. I knew going in on PS4 that I would probably have an unfair advantage over the majority of other players.

This was, well, accurate.

That said, it also meant I was really caught off guard when things didn't go as planned. I felt robbed, and while I am cool with losing, something about a Titan getting dropped as fast as they are now feels wrong. I don't know if the "Doomed" status is even happening anymore. I think I saw the caution tape health bar stay on screen for more than a split second once.

I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with the battery other than making myself a bigger target, and getting enemy pilots off my Titan seems like more of a chore than it has ever been, though I imagine this is more due to me not being familiar with the new designs of them and the pilots.

Generally, Titan combat used to feel like, well, big fucking robots beating the shit out of each other. Even when I was the fastest one available (you know ,the good one), skating past rockets and slamming my fist into the cockpit of another Titan, everything felt chunky. I got some of that chunky feel, but the sensation of being in a TITAN wasn't as strong as it was before.

Really enjoyed the first Titanfall and played it for quite a bit. I'm fine with a lot of the changes. The low TTK isn't really that bad since it was just as low as the first game, especially pre R-101c nerf. The rodeo changes don't bother me much. For once, it actually gives a reason for allied pilots to hop on the back of a friendly titan to deposit a battery. The only things that I disagreed with was the elimination of titan shields and Scorch's kit. I understand that batteries are an important part of teamplay and help reinforce the concept but without regenerating shields, titans feel too frail. This goes especially for Scorch, whose lack of mobility really hampers it despite the health it has. Its kit also doesn't do it favors either: its abilities truly shine if you have a positional advantage but in most situations it seems Ion straight up beats it because most of its abilities are direct-fire. Ogre is my favorite titan from the first game, but Scorch is kind of a let-down in comparison.

I largely enjoyed what I played of the technical test despite my disagreement with some of the changes. Bounty Hunter is fun and the pilot gameplay from the first game still remains in this one with some neat changes. Still going to pick this game up at launch.

They're most definitely not. I've shot off pilots on titans in the past. I do agree that Titans only appear threatening in theory while in reality you can quickly zip around them and take one down unless there is someone else to intervene. They should have like an energy bubble that you're able to pop up in order to repel pilots that are attempting to grapple onto your hull or to shake them off at least.

Either way I got a taste for some arcade shooting and Titanfall 1 is on a steep discount on Origin right now so I bought it. We'll see how it compares!

In completely unrelated news Syndicate was also on a huge sale - I picked up both games for less than $10 and that is an awesome game.

For background, I've put over 200 hours into the first Titanfall and reached gen 10 in the game.

I'm going to reserve judgement until after next weekend because they have been making changes fast. The optimist in me hopes that they still have the modes from the original. When you look at the options from the game mode menu, it is reasonable to think that there will be game modes with AI in them that aren't just bounty. Having the grunts/spectres running around allowed for bad players to have a good time.

What stood out the most to me was how less chaotic the game is. My favorite part of Titanfall 1 was how crazy the game got. I was constantly moving. There was no reason to sit out and camp out a spot. Titanfall 2 seems to have slowed the game down and I'm not sure it is for the better.

Hopefully Respawn continues to make great changes by next weekend.

I went in to the first weekend reading all the early negative opinions of the test tech and was surprised with how much I loved the tech test. I did play Titanfall 1 a ton and really enjoyed that game. Movement in this doesn't feel too far off from the first and by last night with assist from the grappling hook I was chaining together runs that were like one's I had in the first game. I really think Respawn has something working well with Bounty Hunter, loved how the first DZ was always placed in the center between the two teams and caused for some great chaotic starts. Definitely could tell by the end people were working out different strategy's for that first DZ; sit back and farm the AI or push up and flank and try get some enemy pilots.

I feel like that's a pretty weird way of describing those quotes.

Addressing those quotes in order:

1. Lesser skilled players still get titans by killing the low-health AI guys in the bounty mode. It would be hard not to get a Titan unless you were contributing nothing whatsoever to your team. Don't know how it worked in hardpoint other than it was supposedly fixed a day into the test. I don't enjoy roleplaying fish in a barrel, however, so I always avoid capture point modes in shooters as much as possible.

2. Again, this is absolutely the case in the bounty mode. If the complaint is that there should be more modes where the AI guys exist, that seems fair, but unless the developers have said otherwise, I'd already assumed there would be.

3. Quoting a description of a game mechanic and then calling its change a "180 on design philosophy" seems pretty ridiculous to me. By that logic, any change they made to the game should be described as a "180."

Maybe that quote makes more sense in context, but that seems like a goofy quote when posted by itself.

4. A 180 would suggest they replaced the shield with nothing. Instead, now you need to use batteries to replenish health and give your titan a shield which in turn makes your titan more viable.

5. I'm honestly not sure which aspect this is criticizing. On one hand, I see complaints that people don't get their titans quickly enough, suggesting that they'd prefer to be using them more often (which I'd think would further suggest everyone sees the benefit of being in one vs. not). On the other, I see people in this very same thread complaining that titans don't last long enough (i.e., that thing that's stronger than pilots should be even stronger against pilots).

My two cents about Titanfall 2 so far: the low time to kill plus lag can be pretty frustrating, especially when it leads to you dying 1.5-2 seconds after running behind a wall that should theoretically be protecting you. I don't know what will be in the final game, but a greater variety of options for customizing your pilot and titans would be nice, and I don't just mean cosmetically. But while I'm on that subject, I think picking your tactical option or whatever it's called (grappling hook, hologram, etc.) being tied to what your pilot looks like is pretty lame

I've seen others complain about weapon balance and the two maps we've seen, and while I don't disagree, they aren't a big enough problem by themselves to stop me from being willing to wait and see what's included in the final product.

Stuff like "titans don't last long enough" rings a little hollow for me because you rack up crazy high points playing Bounty Hunt while you're in those things, and I think the game is less fun when there isn't a balance between titans and the pilots trying to stop them on the field. Generally, the only times where my titan was quickly destroyed were when I was on one occasion in the middle of the map being annihilated from all sides, or I was taking on 3 of the other team's titans at a time. My point being that it was a rarity, not the norm, and when it did happen, it didn't seem unreasonable.

Worth noting that I did almost exclusively use Scorch since it had the higher in-game health rating, so maybe the other one could use a boost. I'm not saying the balance can't be tweaked a little bit, but I'm more or less satisfied with the options available to pilots for taking down titans, and the options for titans to ward off the pilots' harassment.

So I've now played a few games of the original Titanfall on PC and I gotta say so far I prefer Titanfall 2 a whole lot more. The maps that I played thus far didn't feel all that great and players appeared to be really.. small? I had a real hard time distinguishing enemy pilots from AI grunts - from afar it's just a red glow on the helmet as far as I can tell. Movement felt largerly the same except there was no slide.

I did like that the game seemed to have a little more weight to some of it but then I missed the speed and mobility I perceived in the sequel.

One thing that I definitely did like more in the original is the transition into a Titan. Keeping them in first person feels a lot cooler and is a lot less disorienting than the weird cut to third person they chose for the sequel. It's the same complaint I had for Deus Ex Human Revolution where the melee kills would cut to a third person view when I would vastly prefer they remain in first person - something that I'm saddened to hear was not changed in Mankind Divided.

I can see where the complaint about not earning Titans fast enough is coming from now, and I greatly prefer the way it is in Titanfall 2. From the few matches I played of the original Titans are raining from the sky constantly. Halfway through the match it's just a constant influx of Titans everywhere you look, and I like the ground game more, but thats just me.

I think the real best defense is to play with a friend or two, and then to literally watch each other's backs. Speaking of which.

I'm really hoping it's just the maps and modes that are making the game feel as different as it is, and the real game will include options for modes that feel like all-out war zones, just like the first game. I'm also hoping that the new map this weekend is a good one, and makes much better use of wall running.

I'm still a bit on the fence, but I really want to like this game, and I'm very happy that they announced all map and mode DLC will be free. I want to support games that do that sort of thing.

@spaceinsomniac: I feel like Respawn has heard loud and clear the complaints. Seeing as how they fixed the time it takes to get a titan so fast, I think it is reasonable to think that they show improvements next weekend.

The problem is that I don't know if my issues can fixed or it's just because they changed their design philosophies in the sequel.

There sure have been a lot of questions on this website today pursuing valuable consumer data, if I was a crazy tinfoil hat type...

"I didn't play Titanfall 1 because it wasn't on PS4, and I haven't played the technical test because it's an online competitive multiplayer first person shooter."

I don't know. Another big problem I kept running into was the fact that the game refused to replace players once they left. I had multiple games where 8 vs 8 turned into 7 vs 3, or 5 vs 5 turned into 5 vs 2. That doesn't make for a good time, especially on maps this large.

Yep, it's all part of my long con. Sign up on the forums in the first week of the site launch, and then we play the waiting game. Speaking of that data, though, it seems that while the criticism isn't coming from a vocal minority, people might be a lot more divided on the changes than either group would care to admit.

@spaceinsomniac: I went back and played some Titanfall 1 today. It is still so good. What a shame that technical test was. I imagine the developers at Respawn are going nuts right now with all of the negative feedback they got.

respawn feeling like they can never win, i suppose. it's a sequel, the first didnt set the world on fire despite having a smaller rabid fanbase. they,need to change things up and get more people into the fold to help longevity (and obviously sales). i also feel suspicious the hate it because of a more cynical internet nowadays and hating things that are different/new. if you wanted the same exact game play titanfall 1, maybe? i guess what people want is the same game, just more.

sorry for being contrary, i suppose. it just feels like everyone's too ready to hate. i liked the first one a whole lot, but probably didnt play enough to really see and be upset with all the changes.

i'm happy respawn is listening to criticisms though. they seem to care about doing good for the player, at any rate.

@ripelivejam: I still think Titanfall 2 is a good game based on what I played. It just doesn't seem to be as good as the original. The changes might have made the game less fun, but there is still a lot we haven't seen yet. It's why it is hard to have a verdict on it with only seeing a fraction of the game.

I didn't play a lot of Titanfall 1, so I suppose I'm not really tied to that first game like a lot of people. I don't necessarily mind that "higher skilled" players get their Titans faster, specifically in a game mode like Bounty. Mostly because jumping on other Titans and pulling out batteries and putting them in friendly ones seems to reward you with a ton of charge to your Titan meter. I think that if they highlight this fact more that would help, maybe it'll come with time with the game though.

I don't really like the movement in this. Wall running feels fine, but trying to jump up walls feels so incredibly slow and sluggish in general. I came into this expecting a much faster game and unless you're wall running constantly, I feel super slow. Maybe its just something I need more time with but attempting to jump into windows feels like a guess more than something I can do with consistency, so I spend a ton of time on the ground. I also think the Carbine is too strong, but thats not really here nor there. I haven't run into a ton of issues in the tech test, except for the fact that group matchmaking seems completely broken. Having to leave matchmaking after every match to group back up with friends is tedious and awful but I'm guessing its just the pre-alpha nature of the test.

In general I thought it was just alright. The Titans being more straight up "heroes" instead of loadouts makes them feel super bland after a few goes, but it also makes countering them a little easier in general too; after a while you know Scorch's abilities and how to better avoid them, same with Ion. I never found a weapon I liked better than the Carbine, which from what I've heard was fairly true of Titanfall 1 as well but maybe that was more due to the limited weapon variety. I can't say I'm super hopeful for a ton of weapons, given the fairly pitiful selection here though. In the end it just comes off as super middling, I guess? Not awful, not great.

I played a fair amount of Titanfall on Xbox One and generally enjoyed my time with it, although like many people I fell off eventually due to a lack of unlocks or other hooks. After playing the technical test of Titanfall 2 I thought it was alright. It played fine, bounty seemed like a neat mode and the grappling hook was cool but there were definitely a few things that irked me (all mentioned in this thread) and it definitely feels different, not as fast paced or as slick the first Titanfall.

Also had no idea there was such a backlash to the technical test, my opinion was kinda it seems ok but it sounds like a lot of people disliked it.

The beta today, with the movement changes, Titan's falling way faster, and so on was a big improvement over last weekend. I wasn't feeling it all before, but today was better... the modes and level design still need work though.

Well put. I finally played the tech test this weekend, and I came away a bit disappointed. I didn't have any issue with TTK or the titans, but I didn't much care for bounty mode, I thought the grappling hook kinda breaks the movement, and I miss the smart pistol. Bounty mode's main issue was the bounties themselves. There were a few times when I went on a good run and would rack up a bunch of cash, but given that if anyone killed you, you'd lose half your cash to them and would significantly hurt your team, I found myself basically hiding in a building after good runs waiting for the bank to open so as not to lose it. That's...not great. Making the banks open at all times or having some control room that allows you to temporarily shut down the banks for opponents might be ways to do that better. Titanfall 1 had something a bit similar with the turrets you could hack, and that was cool.

The grappling hook is far too effective. It feels neat in a way to be spiderman, but the novelty of that wears thin pretty quickly, and the mobility that was such a key part of the last game takes a backseat now. I loved in Titanfall 1 when I'd execute a good wall-run/double-jump to get where I wanted to go, and you could create some earned advantages if you were able to outmaneuver other players. Now you just point the grappling hook and get taken there. As such, it's a disadvantage to NOT have it. I played a game with and without it, and traversal was night/day difference. I got pretty damn good at getting around the maps in Titanfall 1, but here, the idea of double-jump, wall-run, double-jump to adjacent building, double-jump back to get atop some structure has been rendered woefully inefficient when you can just fire a grappling hook at it instead. In one of the matches in which I didn't play with it, at the "get to the choppah" post-match part, I managed to beat everyone there, to where I should have easily been able to just hop in, but the transport was out of reach of a double-jump, with me apparently needing to get atop the building behind me in a few seconds to jump off the roof into it. Now, with a grapple I could have just hopped in, but without it, I had to backtrack and got shot in the process of trying to get to the roof.

Worse, it takes away other features. With a choice now of cloak or grappling hook, choosing cloak will be a fool's errand. What's the point of trying to stalk another player if you don't have the same ease of traversal as he does? They can just grapple away from you at any given time. The hologram seems busted as well. I thought I might be able to do some Total Recall shit with it, but it either seems to run right next to you or not at all. I had a situation that should have worked out where a guy was able to put a few bullets in me from behind, but not enough to kill me. From where he was at, he lost me and couldn't see which way I headed, so I popped the hologram thinking I'd be able to fool him and flank him. The hologram spawned and just stayed stationary like it was a fucking action figure, so he just blew right by it and kept coming after me. Weak.

The game isn't the same without the Smart Pistol, either. Then again, I don't know how effective it would be in Titanfall 2 anyway, because a good Smart Pistol loadout basically required the cloak since getting three locks on a pilot takes so long. Even if the smart pistol wasn't a near-useless temporary perk as it seems they've made it now, the whole "chase" I loved would be nearly impossible in Titanfall 2 if you chose the cloak instead a grappling hook, so a stealth build is pretty much out in this game. Unfortunately, this makes the game more of a traditional FPS. The guns that are there feel nice and all, but I'm not here to play something similar to the CoDs and the like. As mems1224 mentioned above, it feels like they made changes to appeal to the masses and lost a lot of what made Titanfall great in the process.

There are some good things, though. I liked that the AI in the Bounty mode had some more variety and a few tank-y enemies that weren't all just fodder to be slaughtered. The game is runs really well and is a bit prettier than Titanfall 1. I enjoyed my time with the titans more than I did in Titanfall 1, in terms of both fighting them and using them. Also, this is sort of a weird thing, but the weapon sights are rad in this game. ADS can really suck if your sights obscure what you're trying to shoot at, so I really enjoyed the U-frame design for allowing more visibility while ADS. I can appreciate that they're trying to add some more options to the gameplay as well, even if those options are largely not for me personally.

I still may buy this game, but I'm less inclined to do so now. It's not an awful game or anything, but it's not really what I wanted out of Titanfall 2. Virtually the entire time I was playing, I was having some fun, but I was also wishing I was playing Titanfall 1 instead. The Xbox One community is thankfully still playing Titanfall 1, but I'm really concerned that when Titanfall 2 comes out, people will move over to that, burn out on the whole franchise, and cause both games to be dead. I'd be totally okay with them delaying this until Spring to address some feedback. IMO, they need to make the jump/double-jump boost more effective now to help make the grappling hook a preference for some instead of a requirement for all. And of course, I want my Smart Pistol (though I'm among few there, as most people seem to hate it based on it being OP when Titanfall 1 first came out, never knowing or caring to know that it became a completely fair weapon post-nerf). Overall, the game could use some more balance (an area where Titanfall 1 excelled).

I hope they get it closer to what made the original awesome, and if not, I hope it makes people appreciate the original more and/or go back to it.

I have a couple very specific conditions which create my criticisms.
1. I'm a PC player, which means that 1 hit kill sniper rifle is hands down the best gun in the game.
and
2. I like COD, i like the idea of Titans as more crazy can mean more fun, but Titan fights are drawn out by their armour, i know they have faster Titans in this one but at the moment the winner of Titan fights is the one who started dealing the damage first, or the one who wasn't already damaged. When you're on foot you have all the mobility, all the gadgets, the quicker more visceral infantry combat... like um... COD, and apparently it's not just me, when Pilot v Pilot was added to the first game it was very popular, and it has also already been popular in the sequel at pre-release events and in the beta. So it seems unless you can make the Titan stuff really really awesome, it's always going to be the slower less exciting part of the game, and in those moments i'll be wondering if i should be playing COD instead, where the maps are designed for infantry multiplayer.
On the plus side, the campaign looks like it could be a good time.

Having got a few games in over the weekend I was impressed by the game. I really liked the fact that in a titan you had a small measure of defense against a rodeo and I liked that the Titans didn't dominate the battlefield either. Gunplay felt just as good to me but definitely felt that the weapon balance was a bit up in the air for a couple of the weapons.

I really disliked Bounty Hunter. I felt the bank locations were to far away from the objectives to get to and didn't respawn fast enough. I mean it was a cool pay off of stayin gout in the field until you had a good chunk of money to go back the bank but any good team would have one or two people camping them just waiting for people to turn in.