Wolfhound is a good bet but so is the Javelin. Also have to remember when they announced it would be controversial they also announced it would be "humaoid" so that narrows the list down. It also has to have 3 time wise variants or more.
Wolfhound is controversial because for a light it's big, it's heavy (at 35 tons) and it's slow. More of a brawling light but it'd be easily susceptible to higher tonnage mechs. But considering it was designed to directly counter the Panther it's unlikely we'll see it.
Javelin is controversial because it's mostly a missile boat. It'd be a chassis equivalent of the Oxide and we know how well that has done. Personally I think this would be a interesting choice if the missile systems are fixed.
Other contenders:
Urbanmech would be controversial because the engine systems will need a major revision to accommodate this thing. It's slow as hell and considered an underdog.
Firestarter would be controversial because it's a 35 tonner (already have 2), it's got ridiculous hard points and it isn't slow (similar to the Raven).
Thorn would be controversial due to it being 20 tons and the Locust while okay hasn't been doing very well. With the Locust and the Flea (eventually) there isn't a need for another 20 ton light.
Mercury is the same issue as the Thorn. It's likeliness is decreased when you factor it also has MASC like the Flea and we still haven't seen that annoyance. It's also "semi-humanoid".
Mongoose is 25 tons. It's role is already served by the Commando so there isn't a serious reason to add this into the game.
Hermes would be cool. Personally like the Raven I really like it as a scout mech. Variants don't offer much in the way of variety. Is one of the faster lights made but with MWO systems would never reach it's max speed (see Locust).
Hussar is unlikely because it's a semi-humanoid and it suffers from lack of weaponry/hard points. They'd have to do some significant hard point inflation to make it work.
It's also good to look at which of those chassis have per-existing "hero" versions. Since PGI tends to go for per-existing variants before making their own. Though sometimes this isn't the case (see Jester vs Butterbee). Looking through the different possibilities most likely we will see a custom hero on the 4th.
While I'd like to see the Hermes I'm going to go with the Javelin and second guess would be the Firestarter. Javelin would add more variety to the light line up in the long run assuming missiles are fixed.
Broad5ide, on 20 January 2014 - 09:46 AM, said:
THE REASON IT IS CONTROVERSIAL IS BECAUSE WE WONT SEE THE C-BILL VERSIONS FOR 2 MONTHS
Or they will do a "double" release and release both the light chassis and the Griffin/Wolverine at the same time.
Edited by Butane9000, 20 January 2014 - 09:54 AM.