Electronic Arts says it “learned some valuable things” from the Titanfall 2 multiplayer tech test that recently wrapped up on Xbox One and PS4, and is making a number of changes to the game as a result. Some of those changes will appear in the second tech test weekend, while others won't be seen until the game is fully released.
First on the list is pilot mobility, which was changed to address what EA saw as a problem in the original Titanfall. “We identified two major issues we wanted to solve in Titanfall 2. The first is that a lack of player predictability would often cause players to be shot from the back or sides. While flanking is an important part of gameplay death often felt random instead of skillful,” multiplayer game designer Steven DeRose explained. “The second issue is that close range firefights were overly chaotic due to erratic player movement. So, changes to pilot mobility stemmed from a desire to improve our gunplay, and not a desire to slow down movement.”
DeRose said air and wall-running speeds will be sped up, and players will accumulate and retain more speed when chaining wallruns. “Additionally, we’re testing scaling back some of the dampening factors that were limiting bunny-hopping as we don’t want these restrictions to impact normal traversal,” he added.
The Titan Meter is also being changed and will acquire a “small passive amount” every few seconds, rather than being entirely dependent upon successfully completed objectives, and the Titans themselves will be tweaked as well. But DeRose pointed out that the tech test did not include all Titan models, so while the damage many weapons inflict will be reduced, and Titan dashes will recharge faster, he also cautioned against making too many judgments about gameplay balance based on the test.
“The balance of Titan gameplay in the Tech Test build is heavily affected by the limited amount of content we released in the build. For example, some Titans that aren’t in the Tech Test have strong defensive abilities, certain Titan kits provide defensive upgrades, and even Pilots have a boost that can improve Titan defenses,” he wrote. The test also didn't include the fastest Titans, although he added that “we have heard your feedback that Ion and Scorch feel too slow.”
The same holds true for maps: The Homestead map in the first test “changes things up by creating islands of Pilot gameplay where long-range weapons can be effective,” but the Forward Base Kodai map that will be on tap this coming weekend will offer a different sort of experience.
“As you can see, your feedback is already being heard and impacting the final game, and we’ll be posting the updates for weekend two in our forums later this week,” DeRose wrote. “I also encourage you to read Jon “Slothy” Shiring’s blog on feedback we’ve received from the tech test in regards to server stability.”
Unfortunately, reading about it is as close as we're going to come to it: The Titanfall 2 multiplayer beta is only for consoles. You can watch the trailer here, though. It's set to go into full launch on October 28.
