The Thumpers of Firefall were just so cool. It's hard to really compare them to anything. They're built mostly from scrap, launched from a literally dump across the map, grind all your resources taking tons of damage from enemies, and are still resilient enough to rocket boost away back home (unless they crash and accidentally take out a small country town along the way). You could also nail someone with one if they weren't paying attention.
The THMPR is just different. It's cool we'll get to see it fight Kaiju, a little redundant because it's stealing my kill but I appreciate the help. Picking up your own resources is still a bit iffy, but it does keep you on your feet and close to the action at all times. It has to be picked up by a dropship, but that's MY dropship. And that's class.
Having different THMPR encounters could be cool. I don't see how we're suppose to get all these resources back home on our back. And one pilot can't fill up a space truck, so maybe they'll be a lore-friendly way we mine resources, with giant mecha or drill grinder things, and those are points we defend and space truck back and forth from.
Speaking of the drill, maybe we'll see other skins and attachments in game to bring back more of a Firefall appeal. Rounded carbide drills. Blue chroma. Some tiki. Perhaps we could add a turret to it, or a little resource collection drone. Later on down the line.