Yea, it is surprisingly fast paced. I am dominating anyone and everyone while on foot, but I seem to be lacking when it comes to Titans.
After playing for a while, wanted to re-bring this back up:
Yeah but in reality it dilutes the competitive nature of MP if you have a 2 to 1 ratio of bots to human controlled players on a team and the bots are basically just there to rack up easy kills. They defended the high number of bots by claiming they would have solid AI and make battles feel huge and epic. It is like 2/3 combat training and 1/3 MP. Maybe I am alone on island here but it will take away from the frantic pace of MP to have 24 "mindless" players running around.
Your right about the AI being bleh~ and having little no no purpose. Your right in the AI bots outnumbering the actual pilots (players) by what seems like 5:1.
But I still stand that they aren't supposed to be a threat. They really are meant to be farmed by both sides. If anything, I realized another factor after playing and then watching TotalBiscuits thoughts on the beta.
They are also there to fulfill a 'Power Fantasy'. Mecha anime isn't really my thing, but I believe that Pilots are seen as legendary and extremely valuable assets that may be similar to the UNSC Marines seeing a Spartan jump into battle in front of them. I have caught some audio/sayings from the friendly AI as I shot the enemy AI such as:
"Hey, is that a pilot?" "Check it out, its a pilot!"
Anyhow, how does this tie to anime... I mentioned anime because I recall pilots possessing superb abilities compared to the average human in reflexes, thought process and such. In an anime, some pilots would even flaunt their skills in front of soldiers since they were too cocky at times.
But yes, they are meant to be farmed and fulfill a power fantasy.
Without the AI Bots, you would have these mech battles without feeling powered up and it becomes nothing but armor.