I had a chance to try PvP for the first time with some East Coast and Midwest friends. It was a blast!
I only have NG+ parts, so I can attest that a good fighting ship can be built without having the whole set of parts unlocked. I used a midweight with Gridwalker boosters and good refresh, allowing for some long flights and aerial hijinks.
HD-033M VERRILL
07-061 MIND ALPHA
AR-012 MELANDER C3
LG-013 MELANDER C3
BC-0200 GRIDWALKER
FCS-G2/P05
VP-20C
MA-J-200 RANSETSU-RF
VP-66LR
VVC-70PM
BML-G2/P03MLT-06
The G2/P05 FCS struggles with long range targeting, just the stats say it should. I'm not sure it's the best solution here, but this kit uses every last kilogram of available weight, so there's no room to change it out for anything heavier (and only heavier ones would really work, really only the IB-C03F: WLT 001 at that).
Tons of fun. It didn't feel like the old days of Armored Core, though the experience definitely calls back to that.
Balance still seems up in the air, and given that the first patch openly stated that PvP balancing is still in the oven, much is likely to change. Either way, AC human VS is alive and well, and the netcode felt really solid too (a welcome change from prior editions).