Titanfall 2 begins its second Tech Test, adjusts gameplay

Titanfall 2, the sequel to Respawn Entertainment’s hit 2014 first person shooter, has just begun its second Tech Test. While I really enjoyed the first one, there was still room for improvement. Plenty of gamers who enjoyed the first game in the series were also fairly disappointed, and for good reason. Titans were no longer constantly falling from the skies, and when they did, they felt weak (among other issues). This weekend’s Tech Test is the final one (which runs until the 28th), and it has a lot of small changes here and there to address some complaints.

Steven DeRose, Titanfall 2’s multiplayer game designer, took to the game’s blog to explain some of the changes – both the ones made since the original Titanfall, and the ones from the first Tech Test of its sequel. It’s a pretty interesting look into how designing a multiplayer game works, and the changes are definitely welcome ones. You can check out the list of changes below.

• Air speed and wall running speed is now faster.
• Players should once again accumulate and retain more speed when chaining wallruns.
• Pilots will once again acquire a small passive amount of Titan meter every few seconds.
• Titan dashes will recharge faster.
• We’ll be showcasing more maps over the next couple weeks on our website, including more traditional Titanfall maps.
• We’re going to bring in the fade distance for enemy outlines so they don’t reveal pilots at extreme distances.

DeRose also confirmed that some of the issues with the first Tech Test stem from what’s being saved for launch.

Another factor is that 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.

It’s not clear if all of the listed changes are included in the second Tech Test, although an update was pushed out earlier today. The update isn’t even 70MB in size, though, but some changes are definitely present. Titans are now far more common in multiplayer matches, and the game feels much faster already.

Aside from balancing changes, the second Tech Test also adds some new content. Week two adds the cloak tactical ability, a map called Forwardbase Kodai, and three new guns.

Titanfall 2 will release on October 28th of this year for both PC and Xbox One. If you’d like to pre-order the Xbox One version of the game, you can find it on Amazon here, and the Xbox Store here.

What do you think about the changes? Let us know in the comments below!