I grabbed Borderlands 2 despite the high level of boredom I experienced with the first one. Surprisingly, this is a pretty solid singleplayer experience. Not much has really changed from the first one but they somehow made it more SP friendly. So far it's fun.
I only really play brawler mechs so I haven't really noticed it much. The thing that makes it annoying is that it all has to do with loadouts. Beyond that there's not much you can do. But Ithink these kinds of mechanics are needed. The combat is really fun, but it really needs that tactical gameplay to stay strong. But this open beta is a real beta. Stuff changes a lot.
Hop in a RVN-3L with the ECM module and see how tactics suddenly become important. The problem is that it's the same tactic every single match - scout enemy movements then withdraw back to your battle group or lance. Attack and/or TAG and/or counter other mechs as needed. Repeat until you die or other team is dead.
I understand that the Raven is a pretty limited build but it's a similar story with my Dragon: Strafe enemy mechs from a distance to annoy them as much as possible. Don't stop moving unless I want to die in a matter of seconds even though I'm in a heavy mech (wtf?) I'm sorry, but this kind of "strategy" isn't fun for me; it's just doing the same damn thing over and over again, hoping I can core the other guy's torso faster than he can core mine.
It doesn't always work out that way of course, but that's how the vast majority of 8-man matches work. I find 4-man groups to be a lot more fun because we can generally do what we want; the PUGs aren't going to follow our battleplan anyways. In those matches I try to play the way I want and I tend to do pretty well, but there's still nothing I can do to change the way things play out unless I spend millions of C-creds to rebuild or just buy a new mech outright. When it can take 100+ matches to come up with enough C-creds to buy an entry level brawler mech, not even counting upgrades like Double Heatsinks or an XL Engine, it just doesn't make sense to try anything new. If you pick the wrong mech for what you want to do you're completely screwed for another 100+ matches.
I understand now why every player buys an Atlas DDC as soon as they can afford one; it's the only mech on the list where you know exactly what you're getting and exactly what it's capable of (because everybody has one.)
This isn't even taking into account the balance issues with the Atlas DDC, or tonnage limits, etc. There's no point to field a balanced 8-man group because chances are very high you're gonna be up against two ECM'd scouts and six ECM'd Atlas DDCs. We played for three hours the other night and it happened almost every match. We had a high turnover rate that night because people kept getting tired of the impossible odds, and I don't blame them.
It's impossible to win against such a group unless you field the exact same group, at which point whoever has the biggest Alpha Strike is the only real factor. With an Atlas fighting another Atlas there's not even any skill involved; you're just pitting math against math. There's no fun in that at all.
In any case, unless the next patch drastically alters the way ECM works I can't see myself holding interest in this game for much longer. I am certainly not going to spend any money on it with the way things currently are. They should re-balance Conquest mode too; I always get more credits and experience in Assault even if I don't do well, and Assault matches tend to be over quicker.
Both games are probably combined 6 hours of gameplay so I can knock them out in a day or two.
Eh, I've already spent almost six hours on Spec Ops and I haven't even scratched the surface. I'm sure it's not going to be a lengthy campaign but I'm also sure it's more than six hours.