This was my gut response, too, but then I was confronted by someone who said they don’t want to control the mech if it’s not theirs. Like, not only is it company property, but canonically, someone else is piloting, and the player controlling it is technically a fourth wall break. Perspective shift and all that.

True true. In general, I would rather play as the same character throughout the entirety of a game. It breaks the immersion a bit when there is a perspective change like that. I suppose, in that case, I would prefer to play support from the ground.