Titanfall ditches separate CTF/Pilot Hunter modes: "not widely used; overlong wait times"

Chris Thursten questioned Titanfall's staying power in his review back in March, and that staying power is unlikely to be invigorated by Respawn's decision to remove the Capture the Flag and Pilot Hunter modes from the PC version of the game. Well, that's not entirely accurate - they've removed both modes as separate playlists, but they're still around in the Variety game mode, or if you decide to play a private match. The reason for their removal? They were "not widely used" in the PC version, causing "overlong wait times" for players who wanted to join. Removing said modes is one way to reduce wait times, I guess.

Here's Respawn's explanation in more depth, from a recent explanatory post on the Titanfall site:

"We have an amazing and large PC audience with the vast majority of users predominantly playing Attrition and Hardpoints game modes. CTF and Pilot Hunter have not been widely used modes on the PC version. Players trying to access these modes had overlong wait times to find other users and it was making for a poor experience. We want to make sure that not only is there compelling content in the playlists we offer, but that the experience of joining a match works well. We're tracking what playlists players are choosing, and we're going to continue to look at unpopular playlists and add new ones on both platforms."

'Not widely used' is of course not equal to 'zero', so there's bound to be some of you justifiably miffed that you can no longer play your chosen game modes competitively. Although Respawn state that they're "currently working on [...] new modes and updates" and will "still rotate Pilot Hunter and CTF in for future playlists as well as adding new riffs on game types that Respawn is currently working on", outright removing modes in a game many of you will already be close to exhausting content-wise seems like a crazy decision.

Would this have happened if Titanfall used a traditional server browser, rather than a console-style lobby/matchmaking system? It's hard to say. Numbers might still have been a problem, but at least players would be privy to that information, and could better arrange matches themselves.

While we begin the wait for new modes, at least we have three new maps to jetpack and titan-stomp around in (well, if you're willing to give Respawn/EA another $10), courtesy of the recently released Expedition DLC .

Thanks, NeoGAF .

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in FPS
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
Starfield's companion robot giving a thumbs-up
Former Bethesda dev who quit Starfield to go solo says it's 'much less stressful as an indie' without daily meetings or 'office politics': it's 'very refreshing to just care about the game'
A crew of prospectors in Wildgate, featuring a robot, a rabbit man, and a small aquatic creature in a combination mech/aquarium.
Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime's new company is putting Sea of Thieves-style shenanigans in space with a new crew-based shooter
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Neighbors Suburban Warfare screenshot a child aims a slingshot at a man from across a cul-de-sac.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again