Titanfall PC and Xbox One patch analysis

I gave you the notes, now here are my thoughts on them. There wasn’t much to fume about in the changes here, beyond maybe point value changes in objective game modes. So while there might be an overabundance of “I’m happy about this/that/the other thing” in these notes, as more patches come through, I’m sure Respawn will likely make derisive choices. Then we can have fun yelling at them here and other places.

The Update with Analysis

3/21/2014 Server Changelog

Balancing adjustments and general changes

1. The damage indicator from Electric Smoke is now much more noticeable: This change is a good one, especially considering the smoke’s effectiveness and the prevalence of Satchel Charging titans to kill ejecting pilots.
2. Search Drones will now show up in Classic Modes of Angel City: Not anything special, but it does add some additional flavor to the somewhat bland classic game modes. If nothing else, they’re just one more distraction in the endless sea of AI distractions.
3. Arc grenade/mine effects no longer draw on friendly Pilots and Titans: Now here’s something I can  get behind. In more competitive based games, friendly fire is a great way to force good aim and player communication. But in something like Titanfall, or public TF2, where fun is the main and sometimes only goal, friendly ordinance and effects should be just that: friendly.
4. Lowered the point value of defensive actions in Hardpoint mode and CTF: I agree with this change. 500 points is a bit much, though because of the increased risk invovled, they shouldn’t change it much more than they have. Something like a hardpoint capture is worth more than a kill because you’re effectively on the radar. But if you’re on the HUD constantly too, capturing the objective should be worth something substantial. Hardpoint I’m less a fan of, as while it is possible to rack up huge amounts of points defending one flag and never moving, there’s still objective play happening, and the camper isn’t just sitting in the middle of nowhere being annoying. He’s earning points for his team, albeit in a not-so-useful way.
5. Increased the score limit in Attrition: Another good change. While on the one hand I like instant action gamemodes and quick matches, for the sheer amount of chaos and fun that Titanfall can offer, you want to extend even a TDM mode a little longer.
6. Flag Return points reduced: CTF as a game mode needed a point change, but I don’t think return points needed that big a nerf. It’s proper objective play, so equality with capture value should be their goal.
7. Flag Carrier killed points reduced: As with the other CTF changes, I’m okay with a slight reduction, but if it happens again, I’ll be a little salty.
8. Explosives detonated by Dead Man’s Trigger are now slightly delayed: I can’t speak too much to this change, as I’ve not had much issue with Dead Man’s Trigger, but my extensive embarrassing playtime in Modern Warfare 3 and experience with Dead Man’s Hand make it seem a good idea. Especially if people have been using it to troll, which would surprise me not at all.
9. Explosives detonated by Dead Man’s Trigger now play a warning sound before exploding: This second change gives me pause, just as hearing about Dead Man’s Trigger itself does. In my playtime, like I say, I’ve not had too many problems with the kit, but if they’re not only extending detonation time but adding a fricking sound to the thing, there must have been a much more much larger issue at work.
10. Slightly decreased the damage of the Smart Pistol when not locked onto a Pilot: If you’ve caught my subtle jabs at the smart pistol, you’ll know I don’t particularly care for the thing. And while I stand by my thought that it doesn’t have a place in Titanfall, I’m glad it’s getting nerfed. Personally, I think they should slightly increase the lock-on time both with and without Enhanced Targeting, and with ET equipped, I want the lock on distance reduced as well.
11. Slightly decreased the hip-fire accuracy of the Smart Pistol: In my experience, the hip-fire on the smart pistol is horrid, especially given the fact that you’d be better off locking at distance where it’d be useful. I will say though I’m glad the change went through, as smart pistol cheese is bad enough without serviceable hip-fire.
12. Certain Burn Cards could be exploited to give multiple uses: Bug suck, and when you can duplicate Refurb [Titan] burn cards to have infinite, round-start titan access, there’s a serious problem with the balance of the match. While I’m unhappy that this made it into the final release, that it’s probably fixed in the very first patch gives me hope for future fixes on Titanfall.
13. Evac Dropships are now more responsive to Pilots entering them: I’m on board for this one. While I don’t think you should be able to board the ship from the top or the non-open-door side, there have been a few times where I should have been escaping only to find myself insta-gibbed by some errant pilot.
14. Hacking a Mega Turret will now restore it’s health to full: The turrets aren’t a big deal at full or no health, so this change only makes them a viable objective and I’m all for that.
15. Cluster Missiles damage reduced against Evac Dropships: If an entire team of titans takes on a dropship, it’s going to die. I don’t know if one cluster missile is enough to really dent the overshield that much, but if the shield drops, I say let the thing explode.

Bug Fixes

1. Titan could become stuck in the position he lands in: Two things about this change. First, it needs to be at the top of the list. If your game is called Titanfall and your players can’t use the titans, there’s something seriously amiss. Somehow I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of this bug, as something like this probably isn’t that easy to fix. That said, Respawn is a good team, and if anyone could fix this in one go, it’s them.
2. Auto-Titan wouldn’t stand up until you embarked into it: Like the above change, any errors in titan AI that aren’t a direct result of player action must be dealt with. I haven’t experienced either of these bugs to my knowledge, but that they existed and are now hopefully fixed is a good sign.
3. Several rare server issues restarting the game in to the lobby: On the one hand, I think a server browser is always preferable to a lobby system, but we have the hand we’ve been dealt, so fixes like these are necessary. If you’ve got a good team balance going and are going into one of the better maps, resetting the lobby to a crappy one is only frustrating and hurts future play sessions.
4. Pilot could end up out of bounds while rodeoing a Titan as it is destroyed: Out of bounds glitches are fun in single player games because they give you a funky view of the world. In multiplayer they’re either game breaking or life ending, and never the twain shall meet. I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of the OOB fix either, as no game I know of has ever removed them entirely.
5. Pilot could warp through certain locations when jumping off a Titan: I guess the real question about this one is, “What areas are we talking about?” If it’s what I think it is and people are getting to places they have no right to be and then shooting everything that moves, this is a good fix.
6. Rodeoing a Titan that has been doomed by your SMR could kill you: Now this one I’m of two minds about. On the one hand, if you doom a titan, there should be little reason to jump onto it. Rather, you should be looking for other such hulks to destroy. On the other, I understand there are certain challenges that require titan death at your own hands. And if the simple act of rodeoing kills you, there’s an issue, but I feel their reaching wit this one.
7. Players being able to enter some geometry in Smuggler’s Cove: If you played Modern Tubefail Warfare 2 and played the crap map Fuel before its patch, you remember the “rock glitch.” If the same sort of thing was happening on Cove, I’m happy they fixed it so soon.
8. Titanfall will now give proper kill credit when it kills a Pilot embarking into their Titan: Dropping titans on other titans is perhaps the holy grail of fun in Titanfall, as it defines the game’s title in more humorous ways than one. And if a player just so happens to be nearby when the collision occurs, there should be due reward.
9. Minions in Attrition now continue to spawn until the Epilogue begins: I had simply assumed they spawned no matter what, so I’m glad to see that, even though I was unaware of this issue, it’s fixed.
10. Player couldn’t hack a Mega Turret console: As I said above, I don’t think turrets are anything to worry about too much, but if you give the player an option to do something, doing it should yield the proper results.
11. Server would sometimes error when leeching a Spectre: No one likes a crash, and while sometimes fixing one crash breeds two more, hopefully this little edit to the code doesn’t break things down the line.
12. Hardpoints sometimes awarded defense score to players not near the Hardpoint: As opposed to the above fix about score, if a game rewards you for something you didn’t actually do, suddenly doing it means much less. So if a camper at the ass-end of the map is being given defense points, there’s no incentive for him to move, and that is an issue that I’m glad is addressed here.
13. Rare issue when ejecting from a Titan: Without the notes saying what the issue actually is, I can only say that I hope whatever was wrong is now fixed.
14. Server would sometimes error after a match while returning to the lobby: Again, crashes and freezes are annoying, but if they get in the way of your character’s advancement, that’s ten or more minutes of your life you’ve wasted. Unless you play Titanfall purely for the experience (not a bad thing in its own right), losing progress in the metagame can sometimes be a deal-breaker.
15. Double XP burn card sometimes not being applied properly: As with note 14, if you asked for double experience, were “given” double experience, and then robbed of it simply because the game didn’t like you, that’s a problem that’s hopefully been fixed here.