Respawn Owns This

This is a matter of opinion. I completely disagree. Yes, the titans don't last as long, but there are a lot of other differences as well.
1) Titan Speed - all titans are slower, Legion makes Ogre seem like a speed demon and I wanted to get out and push Ogre, because it drove me crazy how slow it was.
2) Regenerating Shields - I know you mentioned that for not lasting as long, but it also completely eliminates the strategy I loved, which was sticking and moving. You could attack, pull back and at least recover your shields. It's not even worth pulling back now, because there's nothing to recover.
3) Customizable Titan Loadouts - To me, it means everything to pick precisely the tools I want to use in combination with each other rather than have preset loadouts jammed down my throat. It is rediculous that now you can customize how your titan looks, but you can't customize the important things you need to go into battle with.
4) Rodeo Mechanic - As a pilot you were a clear and present danger to a titan, because if he didn't deal with you, you could take him down in one rodeo. Now you would have to jump on a fresh titan probably at least 5 times in a row to kill him.
5) Situational Awareness - You could tell where everyone was better. You could tell when you were being attacked, from what direction, and in many cases even what kind of weapon it was that was hitting you. And the weapon to pilot health ratio was better. In most cases, you could take some damage and react. In TF2, you don't even know you are being attacked and BOOM, white shock flash and you are dead, where it feels like you are being 1-shot killed by almost any pilot or titan weapon in the game.
6) Ground Speed - I know this isn't a big deal to those who know how to slide hop, but if you don't, no matter how much speed you have from wallrunning or whatever, as soon as you touch the ground it is like slamming on the breaks and makes you a sitting duck, where in TF1 you would maintain your momentum when you hit the ground. That makes all the difference in the world.
7) Smaller Choke-Pointed Maps - Probably the best example of this is Amped Hardpoint, which is what I prefer to play exclusively. First, these maps are MUCH smaller, and especially if you have Stim on, you could pretty much whizz across the map from A to C, which makes it easier for the opposing team to cover the entire map. Plus, on top of that, almost every map is designed that you almost have to go through B to get from A to C or vice versa, where TF1 maps were designed in a more triangular fashion (think Fracture, Boneyard, etc.).
8) The Balance - the balance is thrown off more by one team getting Boosts faster for "good play" and then in turn getting their titans faster for more "good play". This really throws things out of whack, where in TF1 eveyone had Burn Cards instead of Boosts and everyone got their titans in the same amount of time.
9) FPS Clans - You can say whatever you want, but it seems like COD or FPS players in general like TF2 more than they did TF1. It makes sense that they would, because almost everything I mentioned above was designed to attract them. It is a slower game (titan-wise and non slide hoppers) in a smaller area with choke points, which also rewards kill streaks. Having this FPS clan magnet throws off the entire balance even more than the just non-existent matchmaking you had in TF1.

So, no, I'm sorry, in my opinion they do not play very similar at all. There is almost nothing in life I find more joy in than playing TF1. I almost have to force myself to try to give TF2 a shot, especially since I only want to play Amped Hardpoint and it is dead on the PC already, but even if I do get to play, with the FPS clans throwing things off and that annoying BOOM, which shock flash thing, and feeling like I'm in a cardboard box that will last 2 seconds instead of in a titan, after about 2 or 3 games of just shaking my head at all of the horrible unnecessary design decisions in my face, there is just no enjoyment there. Two completely different games that do not play similar at all.

 

I'm very glad you brought this up Omega and I am not arguing with you per se here, but there has been something bugging me about this. First of all, I was never one who felt TF1 was lacking for not having a Single Player Campaign, so I never complained about that and honestly, I think it was rediculous for those who did. And, if you really listen to what Vince says in that video between the 2:15 and 3:35 points, he actually makes the perfect case for why you shouldn't waste your resources on a Single Player Campaign. He actually says, "We don't have to waste time on the Campaign that people are going to breeze through in 5 hours if they play it at all and then go play hundreds of hours on the multiplayer." EXACTLY!!!

So, because they did waste time on that in TF2, the multiplayer suffered.

However, I would make an argument that the multiplayer suffered for another even bigger reason. Not only were their resources more limited on the multiplayer, because they were creating a single player, but then they went in and unnecessarily changed almost every aspect of the multiplayer. You could have pretty much left the core of the TF1 multiplayer as is, kept the 3 original titans and added some new ones, but all with customizable loadouts, regenerating shields and same rodeo mechanics and timers. You could have added some new pilot and titan weapons, tactical abiliities, ordinances, etc. You could have kept Burn Cards and just added new ones. You could have left the interface (minimap, loadout section, stats) pretty close to what they were. You could have maybe made the pilots, titans and weapons look slightly different (a little more modern or something, but not too much work). Basically though, a lot of the core stuff could have stayed as is. This would have allowed you, even though you were creating the Single Player Campaign, to mainly focus your resources on having the big, beautifully designed maps as you had in TF1. There were just so many unnecessary changes that took time away from creating a lot more maps and from creating actual good maps.

 

Enjoying this, are you?

 

Yes, thank you for saying this, because I believe that is right on the money.

 

Again, thank you, because that is exactly how I feel.

 

These are great discussions to have.

Customizable titans - I think you can do this, but you have to do it this way. Leave the TF2 titans as is (not customizable). Bring the TF1 titans into the game as they were (fully customizable). That way you can have both and you could add new titans of each type (preset loadouts or customizable). I NEED (not want but NEED) to take my Stryder with Dash Core, Electric Smoke, Cluster Missiles, 40MM, Auto-Eject and Nuke Eject and knock Ronin and his attitude on his backside where he belongs. I think the beauty of doing this would be to let the players decide and have a vote. I think if you brought the TF1 titans in and allowed them to go up against the TF2 titans, then we could have a debate about, which is the better way to go or to leave both and let everyone be able to pick what they like.

Rodeo Mechanic - You bring up a great point about the animations and the having more control of cancelling the rodeo or dismounting. In either game, TF1 or TF2, I don't like the whole animation thing locking you in, including entering/exiting your titan. I know I'm getting in, you know I'm getting in, just put me the hell in it instantly, we don't need to watch a mini movie while you are are letting my damn titan take damage during the movie. Rediculous! Also, same with the rodeo, let me jump on, press a button to rip the cover off, but then it's off immediately (no little movie). Now I can start blowing his brains out. I think your ideas are excellent though, that you should be able to control the direction of your dismount in either game. Also, in either game, if you had the option of shooting in the head or throwing a grenade in would be an excellent idea. My vote would be to get rid of the gay battery crap, put regenerating shields back, and put the old rodeo system back (minus animations, with dismount directional control, and with the option to shoot or throw grenade in the head).