Titanfall

[jman]

Well done buddy.. I'll get there in a bit.. think I went through quite a few levels yesterday in only a few games.. mainly because I was on-fire for most of them

Currently I've been using the Compact SMG in about 95% of all my games.. I tried out the Hemlock and found it to be too clunky - but I should probably try some of the other weapons out to unlock the challenges faster.

I'm using the Mag Launcher for the anti-titan weapon, but I've just unlocked the Charge Rifle - so will probably change to that, even if it does give your position away a bit more than the others.

As for my Titan, I'm on the Atlas model with the Chaingun, which again I've used in about 95% of my games.. it seems the best by far - the triple threat grenades are useful on the maps with a lot of buildings though.

[Late]

I used the CAR smg for quite a while after unlocking it, but went back to the R101C carbine in the end.
Mainly use the Triple Threat on my Atlus, and the Mag Launcher as my anti-titan weapon. I'm torn on the Triple Threat. It's great against ground troops but not so canny against mechs.

Had one game last night where I absolutely lorded it over everyone. Got a titan very early in the match (I think I used an 80 second reduction, plus I got some early kills) and I was still in it until the end of the match - though it was looking rather battered! I ended up with 12 kills and 1 death - and that one death was completely stupid and unnecessary*.
Unfortunately we lost. Meh - such is life when you forgo the objectives and spend all of your time in a giant mechanical death bringer. 



*Did a nuclear ejection when the drop ship arrived, went sky high, aimed at the ship on my way down and went straight through it. It was hovering above a cliff marking the edge of the playing area. You know how the rest goes

[jman]

I read earlier that when you regenerate all the challenges you previously unlocked get reset - is that true late.. that seems a bit lame to be honest if each generation requires a set of challenges that must be done within them.

[Late]

Yeah, the challenges are all reset. I'm quite glad they are, tbh. You get loads of xp and burn cards for completing them, and you've completed all the ones for your favourite equipment by the time you get anywhere near level 50.
It'd take forever for me to get to level 50 again if I couldn't rely on all that bonus xp and the burn cards.

[jman]

Don't know why I got so confused.. ok I didn't complete any of the campaigns fully... but last night I did win all the Militia campaign missions.. so I know I only have 2 IMC campaign missions to win to complete that one too.. to be honest, I quite like playing the campaign as its a mixture of attrition and hardpoint.. which are my 2 favourite gametypes.. There is an achievement to play 50 campaign matches anyway.. so I'm sure I'll of won all the campaign missions before I hit that..

I've changed titan class to the Ogre now.. I think I prefer better shields to better movement.. but a bit undecided if I like the extra doom time or the big punch, you do get a LOT of extra doom time with that perk.  Other than that, my preferred loadout is still with the chaingun, the particle wall and the missiles where you can paint targets, plus I use the nuclear ejection perk - although I might change that - people are getting used to not being blown up by it now.. and I have killed myself a few times when ejecting indoors lol... might have a look at the other options tonight.

[Late]

Yeah, Nuclear ejection is a bit too easy to spot. I'm sticking with it for now at least, as the nuclear blast can cause a lot of damage if done near the dropship during the epilogue, killing a couple of titans and a couple of pilots, or destroying the dropship itself, depending on which side you're on - plus going sky high during the epilogue can help you cover distance or get past a cluster of titans.
In normal gameplay I find you're more likely to catch someone in a nuclear blast if you can get behind them or if you trigger it before the machine is doomed.

I like the titan ordnance where you paint targets, but having it with the Triple Threat is a bad combination. I like the Triple Threat so binned the ordnance.

Only managed to get three games yesterday evening, which took me from rank 1 to about 8, so that's going relatively smoothly from early impressions - but once I unlocked custom classes I equipped the EVA shotgun and became a bit crap. I'll persevere with it though. I should imagine I'll get better with it after some practice.

It helps that you keep your burn cards when you prestige. Make sure you keep about 20 useful ones when you get to level 50, assuming you're planning on prestiging. When you find yourself back at level 1, with no custom classes and only basic equipment it's a godsend to be able to bring out an amped carbine or smg, or call a titan in the first seconds of a match. (You get 3 titan burn cards when you hit level 50 - one of each class.)

[jman]

Level 47 now.. the last 10 levels do require considerably more xp to level up in.. I've started using different weapons to get more challenge points per game and had a few flawless games last night (zero deaths) which helped a lot.

Done my 50 campaign games.. won every game with the IMC and Militia too - so I'll be going back to playing straight attrition/domination games from now on.. finding myself using 2 different pilot/titan builds now depending on the map/gametype - not much difference in the builds but electric smoke is very handy on hardpoint maps where the hardpoint is inside a building a titan can fit in - its also suited well to the Ogre who cant move very quickly.

Theres a few maps I'm starting to like more than the others now.. Airbase, Angel City and Lagoon probably being my top 3 picks.

[Late]

Save a few burn cards, to use after you prestige. You'll probably find you're not earning as many lately, as they're often rewards for challenges and you've completed a lot of the challenges for your favourite weapons.

After you prestige try to wait until you're level 7 (I think it's 7 - might be 6 or 8 though) before you use those burn cards. Won't take long to get there - you'll be level 7 after only 2 or 3 games.
I say wait until then because that's when challenges etc. become unlocked - and you'll find it easy to complete loads of challenges and win loads of xp if you have those cards available. In particular you might want to keep a couple of "Amped EVA8" shotgun cards handy, as that's the weapon most folk are using when they're generation 2 (as you need to get loads of kills with the shotgun if you want to prestige again). It's not the trickiest of requirements. I'd guess I'm less than half-way to the next prestige but I've already got all the shotgun kills I need, so I only need to get to level 50 now - and I can switch to the R101 carbine.

Haven't had the chance to play much this past week or so. Been one of those weeks.
I'm still mainly using the one pilot set up and one titan set up (though I'll sometimes switch to my alternative pilot for the first spawn of the match, giving me stim instead of cloak), and am mainly sticking to Hardpoint Domination.
I'm not happy with the update they made on Saturday, though. Amongst other changes, they've massively reduced the rewards for defending hardpoints. Now you get 25 points every 10 seconds or so, whereas it used to be 75 points. You're now better off not defending. Which is stupid, in a game mode that's supposed to be about capturing and holding defensive points. You're better off either dashing around to capture another hardpoint, or backing off a bit to allow the enemy to capture them, then retake them. That latter option is quite ridiculous, tbh. You also need to stand a bit closer to the terminal to defend it, on some maps - so if you're at the other side of the room keeping an eye on it you might not get defence points any more.

A full list of all the balance changes etc. can be seen here

[jman]

Bugger.. got up to level 49 and then the titanfall servers went down    Tried a few games of Last Titan Standing and its just bullshit.. you get lumped on a team with no idea what they are doing.. you get absolutely annihilated.. 

I'm always at maximum capacity in terms of burn cards late.. even if I use all 3 in a game.. I always seem to end up winning 3 or 4.. the lowest I've had from around 10-50 is about 24 cards..just cant get rid of them!

I heard about the domination xp point change.. at the end of the day, its not about earning xp.. more about winning the game..  so personally I don't mind, but I'm guessing people are getting narked off with the campers just sitting there and racking up the points when they don't kill anyone.. if you ain't killing.. then that ain't defending!  Its similar to attrition.. I was playing with a half decent player today, yet he concentrated on killing minions rather than the pilot.. I dont mind.. as long as he is helping our team win the game.. but he shouldn't get more xp than me, especially when I'm killing more pilots and titans and dying less than him - they should really nerf the attrition points you get for killing spectres/military grunts.. I know its the same for everyone but you can't tell me it takes the same amount of skill to kill 5 minions than it does to take down a titan on your own.

They should really add a King of the Hill mode where the hill moves.. that would be epic!

[jman]

Think I'm one win away from 50 attrition wins now.. doing the shotgun quest for gen 2 is a bit boring.. the shotgun is pretty much useless on most maps.. I'm still managing to do quite well in most games though - got my highest pilot kill count last night - 15.  Died twice.. both times from a titan being dropped on my titan.. so fucking annoying that

[Late]

I got squished by a titanfall for the first time, last night. Made me laugh, but I imagine it'd be annoying after a while!
I've got quite a few kills by dropping them on other folk.

Prestiged a second time last night. This time round I'm having to get kills with an SMG and Rail Gun. I don't much like either weapon, but the challenges should be fairly easy.

On one of the later prestiges you need to kill a certain number of people with a certain gun just as they're ejecting from titans. That one will be a major pain in the arse.

[Late]

FINALLY won both campaigns. I'm not exaggerating when I say I must've played Militia level 7 at least 15 times before getting a win. Time after time after time I got stuck with a load of low level players against >gen5s. Frustrating!

[jman]

lol

I got the 50 hardpoint wins the other day... so I made a start on Last Titan Standing and Pilot Hunter... but still like Attrition better than any other mode.

Checked out the overview of my stats the other day.. I was something like 158 games played with a 69% win ratio with 120 times in the top 3

[Late]

Played 258, won 117, MVP 61, top 3 154.
Played :
Pilot hunter 0%
Hardpoint domination 81%
Attrition 18%
Capture The Flag 0%
Last Titan Standing 0%
I've had one game of pilot hunter, and half a game each of CTF and LTS.
Lifetime average against players 0.9 k/d
Currently Gen 3 level 36.

[jman]

I hit 3rd gen last night.. last few levels really do take ages..

Will have to take a screenshot of my overall stats.. but I know I'm on around a 1.4% lifetime K/D ratio against players.  Every single game of LTS last night I was MVP.. incredible how shit some players are.. I was 1 v 3 titans at one point and still managed to win the round for us..  Yet we lost the actual game.. because in the final round.. we had 2 titans and they had 1 titan left (who was hiding).. instead of staying with me.. our other titan decided to zoom across the map (stryder) looking for the titan and I couldn't keep up with him (ogre).. he found the titan.. but then died in the last couple of seconds.. and they won the game because the hiding titan had more health than me (mine was about 2/3rds full)

People who hide their titan until the end really piss me off aswell.. what's the bloody point?