The_Darkness said:
How exactly do you expect me to 'learn and get good at playing it'? If I go up against experienced players, I am guaranteed to die. Usually very quickly. That doesn't get me any experience whatsoever, and I will stay 'not-good'.
You won't be going against experienced players constantly. Usually 90% of the players in a match will be of low levels. Most likely not much more experienced than you.
If I use the Smart Pistol, I can focus on learning how to move around the map (important in any multiplayer FPS, and especially important in Titanfall). I can target the AI grunts, which will give me a chance at staying in the game long enough to actually learn something. And it will allow me to actually contribute in team battles - even if I'm only doing so by exclusively targeting the enemy AI.
And you would learn faster using a normal weapon. Seriously, the Smart Pistol isn't even good for killing grunts. You would kill as many grunts with it as with a normal rifle. On the other hand, however, you get used to not having to aim, therefore making you WORSE.
As has been pointed out, weapons other than the Smart Pistol are actually more deadly in the hands of an experienced player - which gives me an incentive to learn how to use them once I have actually found my feet in the game. Once I'm decent at handling the less gimicky weapons against the AI, I'll probably be at a stage where I can begin to try my luck against other players.
If you already played other FPSs, you should have any problem, unless you forgot everything about them. The grunt AI is way worse (probably on purpose); and again, most of the players won't be part of MLG. And it's not like it takes THAT long to learn how to play a friggin FPS. So no, the Smart Pistol won't help you a little bit in this matter. If you are bad, it won't make you better. If you are good, it WILL make you worse.
This isn't 'casualizing' the game for an 'inexperienced fanbase'. This is providing them with a way to play that doesn't feel like running into a brick wall over and over and over again until your nose bleeds and you give up on playing the game.
Sorry if I laugh, but this is fucking ridiculous. Multiplayer FPSs have existed for decades, and not even once was a "Smart Pistol" needed (at least not for learning how to play - aim assist in consoles is another matter altogether). Everyone learned with normal weapons, no one complained. It didn't feel like "running into a brick wall", at all.
So unless the newbie gamers that will be playing Titanfall are completely stupid(and I prefer to think they aren't), they would be fine without it.