The first rule of FPS is very simple: If there is an overpowered weapon or piece of equipment? USE IT. Case in point the Tactical AR. It is currently making its rounds as the current flavor of the month weapon. The worse part of the dominant weapon phenomenon is that it feeds into the copycat nature of online players. In no time everyone uses the weapon as a means to simply keep up, killing weapon variety entirely. Now its supporters will do anything to hold onto its current power level, but the facts are these: Its currently a weapon with extremely high damage, rate of fire, range all while having outstanding hip fire [which is mind boggling with it being a scoped weapon]. In a nutshell its perfect.

We tested it in Ambush on a character with a little over 500K SP and zero points in sharpshooter. We used the sight initially but after realizing we didnt need to, we were able to easily dominate CQC and engage long range targets with the scope when the opportunity presented itself.


It simply can't have all four of the major weapon advantages [range, close quarters, fire rate and damage]. No weapon can in a shooter where balance is important. The worst part is that its designed as a single shot weapon, so in reality while its fire rate should be lower than the Breach's 400 rpm, somehow its fire rate is a mind blowing almost 800 rpm! CCP has done a wonderful job adding various elements to separate the weapons, but they just have to use them more. Look at the Thales sniper rifle, while many point to its damage, the thing that truly sets it apart is it unparalleled zoom. The Assault Rifle is superior to the Militia AR because its clip size is larger, The Duvolle AR has more range and accuracy its counterparts.

While we were shocked by the Tac AR damage increase [both models currently do over 70 dmg] we agree that it should be a high damage weapon. In previous builds it simply didnt have enough bite to be effective. It also now has less recoil, a great sight because it is a medium long range weapon and now easily hits targets at over 80m, far outranging the normal ARs. All this combined with hipfire accuracy that is uncanny, which is crazy because you certainly wouldnt allow a sniper rifle accuracy without scoping up. Keep in mind the Tactical AR is only a notch below the sniper as a ranged weapon. We get the hint the devs knew how powerful the weapon was as its no longer available in the militia class and is now exclusive to the advanced tier of weapons only.

Its pretty obvious what has to happen here is a considerable lowering of fire rate and a severe reduction in hip fire accuracy. We support weapon tweaks rather than totally nerf hammers and there's really no need to cripple this weapon, just a better defining of its role. Lower the fire rate to 350 rpm and it can no longer be exploited. We have to point out, however that this fire rate must be hard coded into the game. While we dont think modded controllers are as rampant as some claim, the tactical AR without a fixed fire rate is perfect exploit for those that use them.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help promote and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com

A source inside CRONOS sent us information regarding a merger between CRONOS and The Orion Empire for conquest within the Molden Heath region.



Imagine the implications of a galactic power with a membership that size. Analysts have verified both SI and Betamax, founding members of CRONOS, have many of the most highly graded mercs in the galaxy. The intel reads:

I wish to pass on reliable info from inside sources that the Orion Empire and Cronos alliances are planning a coalition in order to become the largest single entity across the Dust514 universe. They are going to be working together across the Molden Heath region to effectively lock down large areas of planetary conquest.

    

     Well, it was a long wait and it's finally over... and as the dust settles (HA!)  it's become painfully apparent that the stuff I posted last year has come true: the game is too hard, the community can't handle it and the devs won't be sticking with their original team oriented, hardcore mentality. 514 has become that which it claimed it would never be: SpaceCOD.






It was funny watching these "hardcore" players spend their time using the highest level gear in pube rooms for months on end. Sticking with the militia gear was always an underdog move, but for the good players, it wasn't the gear that mattered. That became pretty obvious when the enemy needed at minimum 4 players in protoad gear to take down a couple guys with militia suits and rifles. 1 on 1... the protoads got jackhammered. The theory was that they NEEDED the gear to stay competitive. And with the new nerfs the theory has proven true: the only way the sub average gamer can stay in the game is if the devs get rid of the mid range gun game entirely, which they did, leading the game to become a twitch based cod emulator. oh wait, cod with shields. Removing the medium range gunplay turns the game into CQC and since they broke the aiming, now you're looking at pure codstyle gameplay. Sad to see such a turn but then again, this community has been sucking on the cod teets for so long they wouldn't know anything else. Case in point, all the protoad gear "hardcore" clans who claim the game is dope now. It's funny because those ARE the codbois but the only people who don't see it (or maybe they are just in denial...  probably just stupid) are the one and the same. Classic. Then again, if you take away the protoad gear, they will find out they aren't as dope as they thought they were. Best to just leave it as is. If you chase away all the casuals wearing clan tags, you'll be left with casuals with no clan tags. That would be about 800 people. Not so massive.



Next, let's talk about the server population counter:
it was at 7k on the day the new build went live. After that, it went down to 5k. From there, it hovered between 2500 and about 5k.
But wait, didn't CCP say there were over 2 million character accounts created for 514? if so, wouldn't that mean at least 10k players, minimum?
So what do they do?
Aha... take one from the old "mag" playbook: Fake the numbers!!
See now if there was a "sort by 514" or "sort by EvE" function, then it wouldn't be a such a shallow move. But there isn't and what they are trying to do is the same things those incompetent morons at zipper tried to do, deceive the community about the actual player count. When asked, zipper claimed the numbers on the server weren't the total numbers because we weren't seeing "all the servers". which turned out to be blatant bullshit.
So CCP is now lumping in the EvE players with the 514 players and trying to make that the "player count". What it seems to me is that they don't want new players logging in and seeing a huge, mmo, fps, planetary shooter with less of a population then some Midwestern high schools.

They claimed they were adding ping rating to the game: well they did... kinda.
they added the SERVER ping to the Faction Warfare tab.
As they were told, this is entirely useless. Unless the ping rating is attached to each player on the LEADERBOARD page, it's a waste of code. Even if you do join a FW server, you can't see the ping rating once you are in the game. So even if it's green, once you join, all bets are off. If the player ping rating was instituted, which it should have been standard in ALL fps games since BF2MC, then there would be a way to weed out who is and who isn't lagging the community. Sadly, the need for Timmy 2bit and his dial up service need to get "fair treatment" when it comes to gaming. So lag to 514 is what "quality" is to EA... "it's in the game".


Skill tree: was fine the way it was. Seriously, it was worth the effort, it wasn't that hard to understand (unless you are a moron who can't read or do basic math.. oh, wait. never mind) It was worth the effort and took effort. It wasn't grinding, but since the community consists of milk fed soft serve pussies, it "felt" like grinding enough to have to remove any hint of it. Any now... what a mess. Lower the skill requirement, get rid of nested prepreqs, remove core elements... there, now it's fixed, says the clueless coder. Talk about taking what was quality and watering it down to ez mode. Nice job, you done it!


Lag: game still lags. lags bad. at some points, it lags completely out. saw this 3 matches in a row. everyone starts running in place, just as the game gets good and... well wouldn't ya know! back to the merc room. ah well, to be expected at this point I guess. Maybe 514 stands for the ms of lag the game has built in?

Terrain mesh is a disaster: running up a 3 foot hill... stuck. in mid air, stuck. 3 foot hill, really? This is what hems up the avatar? oh wait... what's this, this is new: running across an open field and hit a wall. no really, invisible wall. back up, try again. nothing. stop back up and go around. wtf? invisible walls in the middle of an open field? i guess that's one way of balancing game play. And sticky... whenever you bump into something, a box, a wall (non invisible), whatever... you stick to it. it's like everything is covered in some weird syrup that causes objects to adhere to each other.
But hey... at least they gave us grass!

Controller sensitivity = a bit of a mess. under 50 is too low, over 60 is too high. aim assist is bizarre. But then again, with no mid range gun game, who cares. it's all shotguns and mass drivers at 5 paces. Gotta keep those codbois happy.

Squad size: They actually did something right here, kinda. 6 man squads is a great thing. Well it's nice. But in reality all it means is even more pubstomping by those "hardcore protoad clans". But, then again, with 2 more folks in your squad, that's 2 less douche bag AFKers or even worse, those useless "sniper pussies" who hide anywhere but where the work is. So in the end it's probably better to have protoad noobsmash then to have teams of afkers and shipdit snipers sucking up server space. can't really tell which is worse.


Even though it's not here, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about Planetary:
This should be funny. From what I can gather, there will be a set time when players can attack other players planets. And once it's done, you have to wait another 23 hours to attack another. Sounds a lot like the old swimming pool days: "Adult swim only, please, adult swim only".
I predict that on the 14th, many a player will be fired up and ready to roll. Problem is, there is a huge difference between those that "can" and those that "are able". Between the cost and the window times, i think what was perceived as a sandbox mmo type of thing is gonna dwindle down into "well if we can't do planetary and we are sick of pubstomping, lets just go clan battle for a couple million". and that will be that. if clan battles are going to fill up the downtime, which it appears there will be a lot of , then this game will be pretty boring pretty fast. With only 5k players on, of which maybe half are clans... the writing is on the wall. Planetary from the outset was the element that made this FPS into more of an MMO. if there is no sandbox element to it or if it is one of those training wheels/handholding things, the type of thing you can do, but only when the devs let you, then this thing is gonna go down fast. too much sitting around waiting. hey, if I'm wrong, I'll admit it, but from what has been gleaned so far, it seem this is the way it's headed. My expectation based on the new build will be that the PC on the 14th is gonna be a bit of a let down.


New players:
anyone joining this game on the 14th or later is intergalatically screwed. Can't do a stat reset now, can ya CCP? Painted yourselves into a corner on that one. Keep the stats the way they are and new players are gonna come and go like a revolving door. Reset the stats and all the codbois... er sorry, "hardcore protoad clans" will leave because then they won't have that upper hand they need to keep their self esteem up. catch 22... leave it alone and it's messed up. Reset it and it's messed up. Damn man... you guys messed up! never shoulda let ANY of the beta stats carry over. Look at it this way: if you are devving a game and that game is a quality game, then there would be no need to coerce players to keep playing it. if it's a great game, they will play it anyway. Only a sub par game would need to let the beta testers keep their stats. How else can you stop the drain on your player retention? And for those players who claim otherwise, please. It's a frigging game. You either play it or you don't. But it's not your job so you don't deserve any special consideration just because you beta tested it. Hell, some of you were dumb enough to spend money on a beta. YOU paid to play a beta. Classic. But your sense of entitlement to your stats is gonna cost you player count in the long run. Hope it's worth it.


I spent a couple hours trying to find the first dev interview from WAAAAY back in the day. It was very specific about what 514 was going to be. Can't find it. Not sure if they took it down or it's just so old it's buried, but if i could find that thing, I'd copy paste it in an attempt to get the devs to realize how far away they have moved from the original idea. Maybe it's Sony with their over watch and their "casual gamer" standards. Maybe not. Either way, this thing is nowhere near what it was hyped to be when it first hit the scene.



Oh yeah, one last thing:
MAG DEVS:
There have been a couple rumors swirling around that CCP hired some of the folks from mag to work on 514. If this is not true, well then rumors are rumors, so meh.

if it IS true:

Fire the MAG devs ASAP!!! Hand em their checks and kick em off the property!!! The folks from mag shouldn't even be allowed to do concept art or even make photocopies of concept art for 514!! Between their inability to listen to the community and their just plain stupid decisions, anyone involved in the mag fiasco should be legally barred from ever designing another game. I will say this though: if you guys DID hire the mag devs, that explains a LOT of why 514 is going down the toilet. Those guys ruined mag... please don't let em ruin 514. You guys seem to be doing a fine job of that on your own, without any help from Zpr_IncompetentDev or the rest.

Had high hopes for 514.
Reality set in.
Now we're just dealing with the afterbirth.
Anybody gotta bucket and a mop?


Peace
Bassmeant

5.14 was the day! After over a year in beta CCP finally took the top off and launched the second window into the New Eden galaxy. We couldn't be more excited. PC took off like a rocket as all of the districts were seized within 10 minutes. Don't think EVE players didnt take notice.

Attacks were plenty and the next two days will be full of warfare and spent ISK. Be sure to enjoy it. We will update as much a we can in real time via our Twitter Account if you don't follow us already? You need to.

We also wrote a Metacritic Review. If you enjoy your experiences in Dust 514 you should as well. Its important to support worthy products by giving good feedback about them. Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/75lmeds

Be well, Mercs.

We like the way Dust 514 refuses to support cheap gameplay. Beginning snipers, for example, are support players. Any discussion about snipers in Dust will be filled with tears by snipers used to 'easy' mechanics for the lack of one shot kills and the scope sway in this title. The game demands that you be an actual skilled sniper and not simply a person trying to quick scope, or interact as little as possible away from the battle to boost your KDR. The reload times, limited ammo, movement penalties and fire rates on other high damage weapons show this same pattern. Plasma Launchers, Flaylock Pistols, Forge Guns and thankfully now even Mass Drivers are balanced so they will not reward players with the cheap kills so often seen in FPS.

We were delighted to see how CCP engaged the community when Cloaking Device discussion started. The devs wanted to know what elements we wanted to see. Many players were fearful of traits of Cloaks they had seen in past games and wanted to make sure the campaign against cheap mechanics was still in place. We applaud this. So with all of this consistency, its baffling to consider how poorly current LAVs [now affectionately known as Murder Taxis] have been balanced.




When the latest patch update notes one segment related to vehicles gave us pause: 

Militia LAVs - 60% more hp
Std & Scout LAVs - 50% more hp
Charybdis Logistics LAV - 70% more hp
Limbus Logistics LAV - 40% more hp

Why? Because we saw cheap gameplay mechanics incoming. Anytime Logistics LAVs rival militia HAVs in total health it won't end well. Early on in beta most reasonable players addressed the issue of an LAV impact being a one hit kill [especially since HAV impacts are not lethal]. In a game where the clone soldiers have shields, armor and can survive a headshot from a sniper rifle that utilizes RAIL tech this is odd. But the arguments of how 'fun' and 'lulzy' it was prevailed. Our problem has always been the same. There are no one shot kills in Dust. Your target is only dead after you exceed their total health. Sadly even slow LAV impacts zero out both shields and armor instantly. Then there is the issue of free LAVs. We addressed this months ago right after closed beta. The prospect of 'free' goes against everything that is New Eden. While giving mercs instant access to vehicles is fine. But each should have a cost associated just like everything else, subtract the cost after the battle if necessary. The real problem now, is that LAVs are now one of the biggest threats to infantry in gameplay. They drive around the battlefield instantly killing mercs they impact with [regardless of speed] and reduce gameplay to comical levels. Is this what we want Dust to become? Mocked and laughed at as a sick version of Clown Cars in Space? The forums is flooded with threads about how resistant LAVs are to leveled up AV weaponry. What gives here? Now it takes three advanced level grenades to destroy a free LAV? Please tell me you see the problem here.

Link 1
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We hope something is done and soon. This type of cheap gameplay can't continue if Dust is to be taken seriously. New Eden is known for its organization, economics, politics, intrigue and betrayal. This window into the EVE Universe can't be laughworthy if its to be associated with one of the most highly regarded IPs in gaming. LAV impacts should have a fixed damage that is directly tied to their speed. And if any vehicle should have lethal impacts it is the HAV. Autokills are a no-no. Also, the total health of LAVs should also return to the previous levels.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help push and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com,

Grezkevuploaded his dropsuit selection from the terminal at his locker. He chose his favorite Mass Driver and then double checked his grenades and sidearm choices. A moment later he felt the Mobile Command Center hit its intertia dampeners. He lurched forward slightly and then secured his nanite injector his right hip.

He could hear nervous banter from some of the other members of theRed Guards. Their mercenary corporation had taken heavy losses in the Tartatven campaign. The area was one of the bloodiest most contested regions in New Eden and morale among the mercs was low.



A second later, alarm claxons went off as he and other members of his corp rushed toward the Op Center. What the hell was going on? Was the warbage about to crash? As he dashed around the corner into the War Room he noticed four mercs outfitted in full dropsuit and armed with plasma rifles. They had weapons trained on the tram entrance into the room. "Hey, you aren't supposed to have weapons in here.." He realized the foolishness of his statement an instant before the men opened fire and rounds mercilessly tore into his dropsuit and pounded him against the wall behind him. His body lost all sensation and control as he felt himself sliding to the floor helplessly. As his vision went dark he whispered a desperate warning over the tacnet. "We're compromised....the MCC is breached.."




The past several days has seen the covert operations section of Betamax Corporation activate several 'Sleeper' teams within other corporations and infiltrate them to counter attacks on their territory. Reports are piling in about an attack on a Red Guard outpost that resulted in the massacre of the entire group. Intel suggests that a Betamax deep cover team was able to infiltrate the facility and ambush the Red Guard while they waited to deploy.

Increased comms traffic in the region suggests the Red Guard and their alliance are furious over the lapse in security http://tinyurl.com/kc7q6j6 As always, we'll continue to cover this story and provide more information as it becomes available.

Recent intel suggests the mercenary group known as the PFBHZ has crumbled. Many of the details are shrouded in mystery but it appears that a rash of PC losses has sapped the groups confidence and splintered the membership. Some of the details are as follows: A lack of performance has caused the CEO to step down, a skill level division between two core groups that merged [PFB and the BHZ] caused a schism down the center, a leadership void allowed the corp wallet to be looted and now the corp famous for their toppling of The Imperfects and leaving the Open Trials as the highest rated mercenary corporation..Is a rudderless ship.

GNN will continue to mine our sources for details and get quotes from those involved. More details will be provided as soon as they are available.

In the hallowed annals of warfare history, the battle of Thermopylae is revered by many because of the audacity of the Spartans. Three hundred of them died attempting to take on insurmountable odds, by holding a position against the near endless Persian Army. For three days the Spartans held a narrow pass against what was allegedly an army of 1M. Similarly, a week ago in New Eden, Hellstorm mercs found themselves badly outnumbered by Betamax operatives and many clones were lost, but they were able to triumph.

Few would argue that wars take resources. One look at veteran EVE corporations will show you that they have more money than they could spend in ten lifetimes. Finances should work to the advantage of those that have them, in a number of ways. We see making ISK important to Dust battlefields as another way to pay homage to the longtime EVE Corporations, by recognizing their embarrassing amounts of riches when it comes to the funding of war. At the same time, Dust should offer alternatives to the legacy issue where the power blocs have what is effectively limitless income. It would be nice to see an EVE to Dust tax rate high enough to easily have them operating at a loss if they feel the need to throw money at ground conflicts frivolously. Let the ISK flow we say.


We love the idea of Planetary Conquest, but we can't tell you how disappointed we were to find out some aspects of it. The first thing that really disappointed us was the 16 vs 16 style of play in PC. Dust 514 portrays itself as a shooter with large scale combat. But with 32 total mercs in its crown jewel mode? Three years ago a shooter [MAG] did 256 players in a single match. EVE has thousands of ships in some engagements, there is tons of work to be done in regards to making the game massive. Isn't this New Eden where resources and preparation matter? Why so small a number on the battlefield? The most damaging aspect to the game that exists as we see it, are mechanics that punish groups like PRO, STB and Zion for amassing large entities.

The 16 vs 16 PC structure caters completely to the 'Slayer' gamer type and isn't massive at all. It completely lowers the advantage of large groups by making their numbers irrelevant and caters to the smaller more KDR focused groups almost exclusively. Most Dust players aren't of the elite variety, the vast majority range from average to solid and sometimes good players. We're fine if each playstyle is supported by giving us more options regarding the match size, but only focusing on one type of gamer and ignoring the planner, support, command style players and the bottom 80% of the playerbase is not good.

Why arent there a multitude of district sizes with production or value based on size? Allowing 24, 64, 128 and perhaps even 256 per side. Now is this easy? No, but its necessary. We understand CCP wants to ensure a game that performs in terms of latency and framerate but its just as important that gameplay cater to all shapes and sizes. The highest level of gameplay shouldn't be tiny or cater to one gamestyle almost completely.

Also, why should Dust 514 have archaic Gentlemen's War limitations when EVE does not? No force or mechanics exist that force 'fairness' or even numbers onto a battle in EVE. If the enemy brings twice as many ships to an engagement, you will either overcome their advantage with skill and tactics or be destroyed. Also, why can the enemy see the clone movement and numbers on our districts? The size of an enemy force and their assets is among the most valuable intelligence in warfare, why give it away for free? Isn't this what spying, scouts and other methods of information gathering are for? Perhaps even PVE or single death modes where a Scout recons an enemy district and then provides clone counts and maps of the target locale. It just seems that the guesswork and uncertainty that could make PC more anticipated is not being utilized. Its much more exciting when corporations bring a predetermined amount of assets to an engagement, blind to the size of their opponent, and then deal with the benefits or consequences of their decisions.

PC also dangles districts as the carrot but never makes them tangible or truly feel like they belong to the corporations. Although exploring districts they own isnt available to players yet, shouldn't there atleast be detailed overhead maps provided? Give players map access and perhaps even allowing multiple levels of zoom like the previous starmap had, is important. This will allow them to become familiar with the territory they own and could even elevate the level of tactics when they defend their land.

As you can tell, we really like the the idea of a PVE mode where corps could hire/send small forces or single scouts in to discretely provide a map of the district or intel on enemy forces if their mission is successful. Valuable intel on a planet could force an attacking CEO to reconsider if the defenses are setup too well. An accurate map could also let them draw up an effective plan of attack. Nova Knife mentioned drones as functional PVE assets that corporations could use to protect their planets only a few days ago. This could add another layer of gameplay where a PVE mechanic could protect our districts and alert of us intruders like scouts or saboteurs. Anything is better than knowing exactly what the enemy is bringing to the fight and killing guesswork as a rule. Giving mercs the ability to be more informed about their potential targets is a good thing. Foolish is the man who knows only himself and nothing of the enemy.

What we're suggesting to the FPS crowd may seem groundbreaking, perhaps even scary, but isnt that what New Eden is about at its core? Pushing the envelope and laying waste to convention? This galaxy is an environment dominated by veteran corporations known for their wealth. As such, these resources should be the primary advantage when it comes to warfare. Lets throw away 'fair' and the 24 vs 24 mentality of equal antagonists and protagonists and instead think more in terms of 'max available'. Giving players ways to spend ISK is paramount. While there will obviously be a player cap, CCP should only limit the amount of mercs, assets and clones a corporation can bring to bear by what they can afford and district size. War has costs and ISK should be the only limitation, to an extent.

We'll spell out what we mean in a general sense. Say What the French intends on taking a district from a corp like GIANT on a Size 1 district GIANT owns. If Size 1 districts have a player cap of say, 32 players per side, 16 mercs and 150 clones could be available for the standard 80M clone pack [not accounting for distance traveled and clones lost of course] But extra mercs and clones can be added by the attacking or defending force at a cost of say, 2M ISK per merc while an additional 25 clones costs 5M ISK. Say the WTF platoon leader brings 29 mercs and 300 clones to the fight [an extra 56M ISK] while GIANT has 16 mercs and 150 clones. [zero extra cost] in this way corporations can customize the size of the forces they are willing to dedicate to a battle. Here is where huge, hour-long wars of attrition can be born. Especially by allowing more players on the larger districts. Battles where you can have up to 256 mercs available? [if you can afford it] We can only imagine.

Dust 514 becomes nothing ever seen before in a shooter if we allow armies to decide how many boots they bring to an engagement and make other elements are up to the players. There is no better customization than choice. Corps might even get the option of a cavalry [reinforcements to prolong a battle] in reserve if they predeclare it before the battle starts [here again, at high ISK cost: 100M] and reach a certain threshold [10,000 WP for a small district, for example] lets give ISK value and purpose by turning Dust into a money sink for both Dust and EVE corps and make winning and losing something very costly, isnt that why we have this fancy economy? We love the Salvage ideas CCP Nullabor and CCP Foxfour have addressed, and we know it will take time but we would really like to see MCC commanders from Dust or EVE who can oversee, drop in assets, larger battles, the dynamic and customizable battlefields and homefield advantages we were promised. Maybe even options for Sneak Attack [a shorter, 12 hr reinforcement timer perhaps?] Open Battles that anyone can join unrestricted by Reinforcement Timer, and Retreat or Surrender options like ContraBanJoe made famous in MAG to bring the experience full circle. Some aspects of PC arent fully fleshed out yet and that works to the detriment of the people who are ready for the depth of it.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help promote and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com

 'I am shocked and appalled. Did they just xerox the assault frame, paint it yellow and call it the Gallente Logi? I hope the art team is as pissed as I am. I feel cheated! Tell me this is getting fixed down the road and the different racial versions of the Logi and a true Minmatar Assault are getting added.' -Prius Vecht

DISCLAIMER: While we accept that gameplay and balance are priority, visual elements are important. The specific styles of each race are one of the things that helps Dust avoid the blandness of most shooters. The decision was made recently to save time before launch and to use the same designs of for all medium frame suits. We understand that back end connection and core gameplay issues have precedence, but Dust struggles right now in its variety. Lets see the specific Logi frames for each race [in addition to a true Minmatar Assault frame] added to the games library.




There are four default classes in Dust 514, and it has always been such. The quick, and lightly armored recon, the more balanced assault, the jack-of-all-trades, support focused Logi and the slow but powerful Heavy type. Each is represented very well by CCP's wonderful art team. Even moreso, each of these core types are separated by the different racial types. The efficient and angular Caldari, the organic, bulbous Gallente, the unconventional, utility styled Minmatar and the grand and design conscious Amarr. These varieties do so much for the game and we almost found ourselves anticipating what certain variants would look like.

It was awesome during Fanfest to see each races representation of the four classes. First revealed was the Minmatar Scout,  the fastest suit in the game. It maintained the Minmatar style of a band of resourceful former slaves relying on speed, cunning and substandard equipment. Next, the Amarr Assault was revealed and it stayed true to its roots but looking Ceremonial and regal with its Imperial Guard-like design. Last was the Gallente Assault, and it didnt disappoint. The Gallente favor organic style design and the assault variant maintained this. We were excited to see the new Logi suits until we learned about the combining of the medium Assault and Logi frames for each race. We were heartbroken to find out that we wouldnt have the pleasure of seeing a true representation of the Minmatar Assault, or a Gallente, Amarr and Caldari Logi.

Which leads us to believe that the decision not to allow the art team to design a specific logi suit for each race was heavily influenced by the 5.14 deadline. The release delay and beta length all but prove the fact that Dusts production seems to have had an issue keeping its deadlines. We're not being overly critical of CCP, because this is an issue in virtually every industry. We have no issue with it because like most gamers, while impatient, understand that rushed and poorly tested content causes more problems than it fixes.

For that reason we understand that certain things were cut out of the official release.We're sure it was a hard decision to not have all of the racial dropsuits, game modes and maps that CCP intended but the shorter deadline made it impossible, and it appears some things had to be left out. That said, we hope adding a unique Logi frame for each of the four races is still a priority for CCP because we are sure most Logi players are excited to see them.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help promote and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com

 Recently we sat down with the STB leader Quickgloves, regarding how he was able to defeat the Imperfects and assemble a Coalition of players to fight against the threat of the Negative Feedback Alliance and their allies.




'Apparently someone payed those scum to attack us. We assume it was ROFL or Outer Haven because we are winning in the war with them. IMPs attacked three times in an 8 hour period. Our forces were pushed back in the first engagement, but we repelled them badly when reinforcements arrived. They last engagement was close but we were forced to pull back. I assembled a great group of people from the [NCE] Northern Coalition Effort as well as some old STB friends [Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Chicago Cubs] we even got some old MAG Border Wars rivals from RND to help. IMPS immediate re-attacked us so we fight again tonight. They had anywhere from 3-4 tanks trying to take a letter they use elevation and they do not like losing. At STB, we feel we now have the Blueprint to beat the IMPs.'

You can see video of the last engagement here.
At the two minute mark of the engagement STB operatives reportedly witnessed The Imperfects using equipment unsanctioned by CONCORD [drop uplinks based on singularity technology that can be used to materialize within matter] hopefully CONCORD see this video and fines them. Researchers have confirmed this tech could have Xera Effect level consequences and is forbidden by law. Reportedly multiple clones were lost by the Imperfects due to being fused within matter.

As of press time Quickgloves has begun recruiting other corporations to eliminate The Imperfects threat and has promised riches to any that choose to side with the NCE.We'll continue to provide more information about this story as it becomes available.

The Gametrailers review trashed Dust 514, giving it a 44 out of 100 and saying it wasn't worth your time. IGN wasnt much kinder, saying the game was a disappointment and lacked a solid foundation, and rating the game a 5.8. While we dont agree with either completely, both reviews brought up aspects of the game that need improving in a very short time period. In our opinion, CCP can use these subpar reviews as fuel and as roadmap on what to focus on.


What the negative reviewers are saying is pretty clear: 'No quarter will be given based on the potential of what you are trying to accomplish. Iteration and constant updates sound really, really nice, but right now we think your game just isn't very good. The big part that most of the reviewers missed, is that Dust isnt some title that will charge you $59.99 for a bad product and will charge you additional for content that they should have added to begin with. Dust is something they've never seen before in that all regular updates are free and the game as it exists is simply a foundation that they will build upon.

Now we could be 'drinking the koolaid' here because we know every game company tries to sell you on things they could potentially do. The thing that makes us believe is we've been a witness to their regular and timely support and rebalancing of the Dust. CCP has engaged the community at an unheard of level and their consumer friendly business model makes it so you only pay for content you decide has value. They have all the incentive in the world to make good on their promises, why? Because if the content isnt regular and worth spending money on, no one continue putting money into the game. Players can still play the full game without spending a dime and can even go on hiatus until the content they want arrives while still gaining progressing.

So what are the things that need fixing? Most importantly how do you separate what mechanics are actually bad from the horribly dated mechanics that FPS fans are simply used to? We're big fans of Dust, but still we'll try to make an impartial assessment of issues that need addressing.

Framerate -This is a performance area that has to improve. We know this, players know this, CCP know this.

Lag - We wont beat a dead horse here, sufficeth to say that three years ago a shooter had 256 players on a battlefield with largely no lag. Challenge Accepted, CCP?

EVE Connection - Orbital strikes are fine. You want to know whats better? EVE players transporting mercenaries, shared third person social areas for PC and Console players, more abilities from space that affect ground battles, choosing MCC commanders from EVE or PS3, A shared economy, Player market, Player generated contracts, Orbital strikes limited by cool down, planetary weapons and penetration gameplay. These are all aspects that need to be added so that the dream of cooperative gameplay is truly realized.

PVE - MMOs provide sandboxes that support all types of playstyles. Some players prefer to compete against the environment. This is a good thing, especially if their actions still have an effect on New Eden. These are especially unique if some are open and can be joined by other entities. Imagine an assassination contract where one group is protecting the mark while the other tries to kill him. We've mentioned several contract types that could benefit from this. Assassination, Extraction, Escort, Salvage and even Bounties.

Communication - Dust isn't a game you can play alone and expect to succeed. So where is its command structure and tiered chat system? Its 'every soldier is of equal rank' philosophy fails horribly as lack of coordination results in a high level of clusterfuck. The chat system is almost as bad, it either leaves players cut off from the larger group, or gives us the chaos of everyone talking at once. Chat badly needs command tiers, compartmentalization and special privileges [like giving the platoon leader the ability to address everyone at once if necessary]Too many games are reduced to an organized group doing what it takes to win, while hoping against all odds blueberries will as well. While not adding the ability to talk to enemies is understandable, not adding proximity chat for allies is a fail of epic proportions. As MAG showed players three years ago, allowing team communication in a shooter isnt an option, its a necessity.

User Friendly - There are a number of ways Dust can be more intuitive. Climbing ladders for one should trigger automatically, and Vaulting over obstacles similar to BF3 has been mentioned, it needs to be added as well. Wouldn't the War Room provide a perfect place for the PL to outline his strategy before a battle or are we still believers in tactics by osmosis? Moreover, shouldn't the War Room map work by now? Where are the chat timestamps and why aren't weapon ranges in the marketplace? Where are the points for destroying enemy assets? The Orbital strike indicator still needs red or yellow font to make it more noticeable. There still aren't any rewards for counter hacking. We noticed the other day that when we look down at the tacmap it doesnt allow identification of friendly personnel by call sign. This needs to be rectified so the maps intel can be a benefit to the PL and MCC Cmdr. Let's see the ability to paint targets added ASAP. Nanite injectors fill such a key role that they have to work 100% of the time. Where is the icon that tells us if a person in a game or not? Why can't we follow our corpmates into matches yet? What about the ability to abandon or sell a PC district?

Scale - Battles in a galaxy the scale of New Eden simply can't be settled in matches of 16v16 or even 24v24. We're ok with Dusts average graphics for the same reason we were fine with them in MAG. Because of the size of the environments and battles. Allowing smaller corps to make a dent in PC by giving them the option of smaller 16v16 battles is a great idea. But lets see expansion,  larger ones should support 64v64, 128v128 and perhaps even 256v256.

Corporations - As these entities are the lifeblood of Dust they have to be better supported. Corp Training Rooms, Taxes, Armories, Bulletin Boards,Varied Roles and much more. Lets not look back in 6 months and have to provide excuses to corps regarding why they can't perform basic actions.

Game Mode Variety - This is where Dust could and should shine. Like mentioned above, with its lore, it should have among the most unique and varied modes in gaming. We mentioned just a few above. Lore also tells us that the best way to separate this is by contract type. This will allow players to enjoy a specific type of experience and almost customize how they play the game. Taking it even further, there is a large percentage of gamers that enjoy the finality and high stakes of single death modes rather than respawn. Dust would do well to try and fill this niche as well.

Tutorial - It comes down to this. Dust is simply too complex a game to not include a PVE Tutorial that goes over controls, skill points, battlefield assets and vehicles. Give bonus SP as an incentive.

Tiers -  Nothing is more important to an MMO than tiers that allow players to decide what depth they want to experience. The game's complexity and the blistering review by casual reviewers like IGN and Gametrailers will all but guarantee a bare minimum of casual fans will stick with this title. As such, its time for CCP to hitch their wagon to the hardcore group that will support this game and FPS fans who want more than emptiness of games like CoD and Battlefield. Its time to let Instant Battles be the shallow end and incentivize mid and higher tiers with more game mode variety, higher ISK rewards, Friendly Fire, better salvage and a much larger disparity between the victorious and the defeated.

Open New Eden - Making Dust a true Open World MMO might not be possible, but using several 'open world' mechanics might be a good idea and would make the game feel more 'real' instead of just a wait in our Merc Quarters in between battles. Third person social areas will help lots here [visit Jita anyone?] as would the ability to visit districts our corps own or practice in Corp Training Rooms. The ability to wait in a weapon-filled corp ready room between battles? Why not?

Tactical Assault Rifle - The fixes to this weapon have already been discussed, bravo CCP. Do yourselves a favor and lower and hardcode this weapons fire rate. Shame on those of you with self esteem low enough to use modded controllers in a videogame. You know who you are.

Logi Assaults - Another issue needing quick resolution. Why would anyone choose assault when the Logi can simply do everything better? Lets bring the days where Logis can ignore their intended role and stack damage mods to an end. Since the Logi niche is now the only suit with multiple equipment slots they simply have no need for excess Hi and Low slots to fulfill their role. They should have one less Hi and Low slot than an assault of the same class. Still, since this suit sacrifices protection and needs to move around the battlefield, shouldn't it be more mobile than anything save the recon? We say yes.

LAVs - Its embarrassing for a game that portrays itself as a tactical shooter to have a free Clown Car Minigame included. The LAV buff was one of the worst design decisions this game has ever made. Shouldnt FREE LAVs explode from even the 1st tier AV grenade given that we have to spend SP on it? We say yes. Even worse, the 10mph instakill mechanics of LAVs is joke worthy and one of the cheaper gameplay mechanics we have seen in an FPS. Moreover, should anything be free in a game with a persistent economy? Allow mercs to call in stock LAVs but bill them afterwards, we say.

Guesswork - There are simply too many instances where intel are 'given out' where they should instead be earned. Why can the enemy see how many clones a district has in PC? Why are uplinks visible from over 100m away? Why not instead give us ways to obtain this information [PVE single-death Scout missions or hi-level spies] or use in game assets [like Active Scanners to reveal uplinks] so that cunning and skill is rewarded instead of giving out information on a whim. Giving attackers the ability to obtain detailed maps of areas they are considering attacking could open up a whole new industry for scouts and information brokers.

In closing, Dust has areas that need improvment but complaints complaints about things like the grind in Dust are unwarranted. In a game with this much persistence slow progression is almost necessary. The graphics are fine for a game of the scale CCP is promising. But know this CCP, if games of 24v24 are your pinnacle there is much visual work to be done.

Had a bit more structure.

Imagine for a moment the Templars and their allies spawning on one side of a large map [with an urban environment in the center] and those hunting them spawned on the other. The job of the Templars and their allies? To escape via one of three extraction points on the map where a Bolas lands after the extract point is hacked and a signal sent to summon it.

The job of the hunters would be to eliminate the Templars. The kicker? The Templars each have but a single life [after dead they can only spectate] and when all are eliminated or evacuated the match ends. If 60% of the Templar escape, the extraction team is victorious, If not? The Hunters win.

With structure like this, it could add more variety to the experience and wouldnt simply be Ambush or Skirmish with Templars thrown in. Its a solid game, but Dust 514 suffers from a bit of 'sameness' and 'blandness' of experience and spicing things up could excite the playerbase.

'A true SVER Blood breeds greatness. They are infused within our ranks with a sense of self-worth. We are the brethren of brotherhood. We are the LOYAL. We are the PROUD. We are the final few that choose to stand against the mighty. We are the few that will not yield. We will not back down.

WE WILL NOT SURRENDER.'

-Emergency Transmission from STB Leader Quickgloves from an undisclosed location on SVER Prime.

Is there a coordinated attack coming on Cronos? Is Kane Spero the mastermind? Was EON strong armed by Negative Feedback? What is STBs role? You be the judge.

 
[5/29/2013 10:00:39 AM] Kane Spero: So you going all in with Cronos?
[5/29/2013 10:18:34 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ??
[5/29/2013 10:18:39 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": why everyone ask us that?
[5/29/2013 10:18:46 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we are in Unclaimed
[5/29/2013 10:18:51 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": an friendly with EoN
[5/29/2013 10:18:57 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": at war with ROFL an IMPS
[5/29/2013 10:21:15 AM] Kane Spero: Cronos launched the counter attack
[5/29/2013 10:21:21 AM] Kane Spero: Not STB
[5/29/2013 10:22:01 AM] Kane Spero: You may be at war with ROFL now, but it only serves to make the actual enemy stronger
[5/29/2013 10:23:10 AM] Kane Spero: We have hard choice to make this weekend QG. The future of PC depends on it.
[5/29/2013 10:25:29 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus":
IMPs tell me who signed the atatack order on STB
[5/29/2013 10:26:27 AM] Kane Spero: Your planet is a gateway. Since it wasn't being used to attack it needed to change hands.
[5/29/2013 10:26:33 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": Cronos attacked cause now your at there back door
[5/29/2013 10:26:52 AM] Kane Spero: A backdoor you never used.
[5/29/2013 10:26:53 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": Cronos left us alone as long as we left them alone now u close to them they attacked you
[5/29/2013 10:27:08 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we should meet on comms top talk then
[5/29/2013 10:27:14 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": tell me who order the hit on STB
[5/29/2013 10:28:01 AM] Kane Spero: Your planet is in the way of a campaign. It's as simple as that.
[5/29/2013 10:28:34 AM] Kane Spero: A NAP with CRONOS is war with the rest of Molden Heath
[5/29/2013 10:45:46 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so Imps attacked in order to try and effect Cronos
[5/29/2013 10:48:13 AM] Kane Spero: You can draw your own conclusions.
[5/29/2013 11:21:02 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lol your running circles around the fact, you attacked us cronos did not
[5/29/2013 11:21:19 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": if you wanted to secure the back door you could have come talked to me
[5/29/2013 11:21:24 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": like EoN did
[5/29/2013 11:21:35 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": the proper way to handle things diplomatically
[5/29/2013 11:21:45 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": instead of this forcing anonymity
[5/29/2013 11:26:53 AM] Kane Spero: Of course you aren't attacked by Cronos
[5/29/2013 11:27:05 AM] Kane Spero: You are in a NAP with them
[5/29/2013 11:54:18 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": they never bothered me i never bothered them ROFL and STB had agreements. We was leaving everything in the west alone and enjoying the east
[5/29/2013 12:00:24 PM] Kane Spero: Well, your options are lose SVER Prime or make war to the south with the rest of Molden Heath.
[5/29/2013 12:06:53 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ??
[5/29/2013 12:07:04 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we already are warring ROFL in the South
[5/29/2013 12:07:18 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we was fighting them before you even attacked us
[5/29/2013 12:21:55 PM] Kane Spero: I'm not talking about ROFL
[5/29/2013 12:34:05 PM] Kane Spero: We really only want 4 districts
[5/29/2013 12:34:48 PM] Kane Spero: We leave it at 4 and you guys help us go after Cronos.
[5/29/2013 12:40:23 PM] Kane Spero: This would be an official NAP with IMP. We would also give back the districts after the campaign. Otherwise we will launch a massive attack and clear you by this weekend.
[5/29/2013 12:43:49 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": im leaving i have to go to work the threatening side you try to puff is annoying me. Again you have a terrible way of negotiating. I have left everyone be but ROFL now you threaten me tell me i fight with you or die... hmm that sounds like hitler almost dont it.. how did that war end?
[5/29/2013 12:44:32 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": im off to work ttyl
[6/1/2013 10:05:53 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so what happend to only 4 distircts?
[6/1/2013 10:06:01 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": thought u made an offer?
[6/1/2013 10:26:12 PM] Kane Spero: 4 Districts if you launched attacks on Cronos. Instead you ran to Sha Kharn.
[6/1/2013 10:26:37 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": o i see so attack them or its my demise?
[6/1/2013 10:26:56 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ever thought of just coming to me an saying hey can i get these distircts to attack them
[6/1/2013 10:27:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": to attack Cronos*
[6/1/2013 10:27:02 PM] Kane Spero: If you aren't going to help then you're in the way.
[6/1/2013 10:27:12 PM] Kane Spero: We knew about your NAP
[6/1/2013 10:27:24 PM] Kane Spero: and the fact that you are in the same Eve-side coalition
[6/1/2013 10:28:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i agree if im in the way, my question is thus, is there a way that i can give you what you want location wise save myself an avoid having to fight Cronos, basically i avoid contact with your affliants an enjoy my time with ROFL an OSG u use the meildolf districts to your liking an we both live happy lives
[6/1/2013 10:28:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": again i have no NAP
[6/1/2013 10:28:25 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": they never attacked us an we never attacked them so no open conflict
[6/1/2013 10:28:27 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i will say this
[6/1/2013 10:28:46 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i have no personal quarrel with them which is why i never attacked
[6/1/2013 10:28:46 PM] Kane Spero: Except now we've got SI ringers showing up in some of your fights
[6/1/2013 10:29:00 PM] Kane Spero: Let me take your offer to the directorship
[6/1/2013 10:29:04 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": hired guns really? i had imps asking to ring for me to fight u guys
[6/1/2013 10:29:10 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i had EON players fighting you
[6/1/2013 10:29:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i had ROFL guys
[6/1/2013 10:29:18 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i had everyone fighting you
[6/1/2013 10:29:23 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": they work for isk
[6/1/2013 10:29:25 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we all do
[6/1/2013 10:29:42 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": agian
[6/1/2013 10:29:47 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i propose this
[6/1/2013 10:29:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": u use the district u have for your benefit
[6/1/2013 10:30:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": u see no nonsense from
[6/1/2013 10:30:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": me
[6/1/2013 10:30:09 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i dont attack u or any of your NAP people
[6/1/2013 10:30:21 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i play with ROFL an OSG an i leave the forums
[6/1/2013 10:30:46 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ps are the servers kicking u i cant log in
[6/1/2013 10:35:06 PM] Kane Spero: Let me check
[6/1/2013 10:35:34 PM] Kane Spero: Also, whatever happens between us. Always feel free to come to me about CPM stuff
[6/1/2013 10:35:42 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lolo...really
[6/1/2013 10:35:43 PM] Kane Spero: like feedback on how PC is going and shit
[6/1/2013 10:35:48 PM] Kane Spero: yeah man
[6/1/2013 10:35:51 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i think i just threw up a lil
[6/1/2013 10:35:54 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lol
[6/1/2013 10:35:56 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus":
[6/1/2013 10:36:12 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": this isnt personal between me an u its business in game i get that
[6/1/2013 10:36:28 PM] Kane Spero: Like I've said before. I don't care what's happening in game. You've always been good about wanting to help the Dust community.
[6/1/2013 10:36:33 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": dont get me wrong i openly hate the fuckups u employ but hey.. we all have are personal standards.
[6/1/2013 10:36:41 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": agreed
[6/1/2013 10:36:49 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": just keep them away from me at fanfest ok
[6/1/2013 10:37:01 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": when i get to drinking things may get ugly quick
[6/1/2013 10:37:07 PM] Kane Spero: lolol, kk
[6/1/2013 10:37:18 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": again though think about my proposal
[6/1/2013 10:37:28 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": mutually beneficial instead of all one sided
[6/1/2013 10:37:31 PM] Kane Spero: Yeah, I'll take it to the directorship
[6/1/2013 10:37:38 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": it breeds good faith in working together in the future
[6/1/2013 10:38:00 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": my prioirty is STB an Unclaimed nothing else
[6/1/2013 10:38:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": no that
[6/1/2013 10:38:06 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": know*
[6/1/2013 10:38:17 PM] Kane Spero: Roger that
[6/1/2013 10:38:52 PM] Kane Spero: Alright, just heard back that other people are having server issues logging in
[6/1/2013 10:39:05 PM] Kane Spero: You still having problems?
[6/1/2013 10:39:14 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": yeh
[6/1/2013 10:39:19 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": my whole corp dcd
[6/1/2013 10:39:24 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": only 1 in corp from 49
[6/1/2013 10:39:29 PM] Kane Spero: wtf
[6/1/2013 10:39:33 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": servers are down officially
[6/1/2013 10:39:46 PM] Kane Spero: I'm in game? wtf?
[6/1/2013 10:39:46 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": they overloaded at 7500 people an crashed
[6/1/2013 10:39:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lol
[6/1/2013 10:40:00 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ull dc at the end
[6/1/2013 10:40:11 PM] Kane Spero: oh, there it is
[6/1/2013 10:40:14 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lol
[6/1/2013 10:40:20 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": im baby jesus i told ya so
[6/1/2013 10:40:24 PM] Kane Spero:
[6/1/2013 10:40:36 PM] Kane Spero: shit let me get in touch with CCP
[6/1/2013 10:40:46 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": k
[6/1/2013 10:40:49 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": GL
[6/1/2013 10:40:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": pping me with intel if u get some
[6/1/2013 10:41:10 PM] Kane Spero: will do
[6/1/2013 10:41:20 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ty
[6/1/2013 10:41:24 PM] Kane Spero: How has your performance been in PC?
[6/1/2013 10:41:35 PM] Kane Spero: you getting the frames dropping issue?
[6/1/2013 10:41:49 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": o hell ya
[6/1/2013 10:41:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": especially against u an outer haven
[6/1/2013 10:42:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": the frame rate was horrendous
[6/1/2013 10:42:21 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we got like 30 people on standby in a chat to sub in an out when it happens
[6/1/2013 10:43:37 PM] Kane Spero: hmm.. you okay with being tapped for a test PC match with CCP if they run one again?
[6/1/2013 10:45:44 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": yeh
[6/1/2013 10:45:46 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": for sure
[6/1/2013 10:45:52 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we love publicity lol
[6/1/2013 10:45:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": good or bad
[6/1/2013 10:45:59 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": were STB
[6/1/2013 10:46:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": :)8
[11:09:25 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": servers down again
[11:10:43 AM] Kane Spero: Yeah
[11:10:51 AM] Kane Spero: Eve side as well
[11:40:40 AM | Edited 11:41:03 AM] Kane Spero: Alright the terms are you abandon Meildolf and our attacks against STB will cease.
[12:23:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so we give all of meildof to u we cant keep any?
[12:23:32 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": an if we do give them all up what does that guarantee me? when i take a new home that you dont do the same again?
[6:54:36 PM] Kane Spero: Yes, all of the districts. When we do district transfers we always have a cool off period.
[7:13:04 PM] Kane Spero: So, I heard the rap one of your guys put up. It was . . . interesting
[7:39:35 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": lol yeh i thought it was interesting as well lol
[7:39:50 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": will i be compensated for the districts ?
[7:40:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": or should i just continue fighting an forcing you to spend money?
[7:40:27 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": as it cost me nothing to defend but it cost u to attack
[7:52:39 PM] Kane Spero: Actually, we can attack you from our districts now. We get money every time we win a fight.
[7:56:50 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": not if your district gets locked you cannot
[7:57:06 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": you may think u own a upper hand with this, when in fact you entered an isk war
[7:57:25 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i non aggressively took meildolf. I had no agreements with anyone
[7:57:37 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": you an your associates became a target from Cronos
[7:57:48 PM] Kane Spero: That's fine if you don't agree will take your planet anyways.
[7:57:48 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": you got upset that others were not really in the same boat
[7:57:54 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": you recruited EoN through fear
[7:58:00 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": then you try to bully me
[7:58:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": well Kane
[7:58:15 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": If you had some sort of fair deal then yes we could agree on something
[7:58:23 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": but at this point you threaten and huff an puff
[7:58:26 PM] Kane Spero: The facts are you have an option to vacate that will allow us to work in the future.
[7:58:30 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so you can sink in money
[7:58:31 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": then
[7:58:42 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": here is my response then
[7:59:16 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i will continue fighting with ROFL, an enjoying the PC life i choose. You can continue to attack.
[7:59:29 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": if you pressure more then this i will retaliate by allying with your enemies
[7:59:37 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so push me further and yes i will ally with your reds
[7:59:45 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": currently my alliance is only with Unclaimed
[7:59:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": if I must make friends outside if that i will
[8:00:26 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": ps virgin destroyer sent me your convo with her
[8:00:37 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so be aware many people are planning on working against you first chance they get
[8:00:46 PM] Kane Spero: That's great
[8:00:49 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": you think you can rule by fear
[8:00:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": and in fact you only dig your grave
[8:01:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i am not afraid of the beta PC war
[8:01:06 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we have plenty of isk
[8:01:08 PM] Kane Spero: Nah, people can attack us
[8:01:10 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we loose meildolf fine
[8:01:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": chase me around pc fine
[8:01:14 PM] Kane Spero: that just give us content
[8:01:18 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we will fight and we will endure
[8:01:19 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we always do
[8:01:28 PM] Kane Spero: QG, you don't understand. We want to fight.
[8:01:35 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": no kane you dont get it
[8:01:39 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": u think ur untouchable
[8:01:45 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": this is a long term game
[8:01:55 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": an u will burn your cords fast with your actions
[8:01:59 PM] Kane Spero: Of course it's a long term game.
[8:02:07 PM] Kane Spero: PC is just a distraction.
[8:02:15 PM] Kane Spero: We already have our plans for Null.
[8:02:22 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": well then understand u had a chance to work this out diplomatically and fair yet you push and bully
[8:02:41 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": a bully in real life hayday is small term and short and that translates into meta gaming as well
[8:03:00 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i will be there to snuff the flame of imperfects from this game dont you worry
[8:03:07 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": keep an eye on your wallet kane
[8:03:10 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i am coming for it
[8:03:19 PM] *** Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus" blocked Kane Spero ***
[8:03:30 PM] Kane Spero: That fine. This is a game that should be about conflict.
[8:03:44 PM] Kane Spero: Not sitting on districts that were unearned collecting money.
 [6/2/2013 8:10:12 PM] Kane Spero: What you want as compensation for leaving the districts?
[6/2/2013 8:11:03 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": u can purchase them off of us if they are only for your campaing why not just buy them
[6/2/2013 8:11:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i can sell my clones an charge the ddiffernce
[6/2/2013 8:11:19 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so 300 clones is 30 million
[6/2/2013 8:11:37 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": u pay 50 an we sell the distirct
[6/2/2013 8:11:58 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": otheerwiese as i said i peacefully took those districts causiing no issues with anyone
[6/2/2013 8:12:03 PM] Kane Spero: 50 for each district then?
[6/2/2013 8:12:07 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i had my thing going an u felt that u need them
[6/2/2013 8:12:13 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so the attack to u is justified
[6/2/2013 8:12:15 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": fine
[6/2/2013 8:12:21 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i cannot argue a leaders chocie
[6/2/2013 8:12:31 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i can argue your course of action as unprofessional
[6/2/2013 8:12:41 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": yes 50 for each would be fine
[6/2/2013 8:13:07 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": then i can move you can have your war with Cronos
[6/2/2013 8:13:11 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": an we all live to see antoher day
[6/2/2013 8:13:47 PM] Kane Spero: QG, I like what you have done for the community. Despite what some may say I don't want STB all the way out of PC.
[6/2/2013 8:13:58 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": or we go the smae way we are, at one anothers throats with no chacne of diplomacny now or later casue we will have fought to the death of one side
[6/2/2013 8:14:16 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": o dont worry even the falling of SVER prime is not us out of PC
[6/2/2013 8:14:44 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": that is why i am offering a solution sale
[6/2/2013 8:14:52 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": we fought hard for the first few an lost most
[6/2/2013 8:14:55 PM] Kane Spero: Let, me talk it over. I'll get back with you an aswer in a couple hours.
[6/2/2013 8:15:02 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": now we wish to either cut losses or die trying
[6/2/2013 8:17:21 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": an understand that my assoicates all have access to these talks so no one thinks i am back stabbing anyone
[6/2/2013 8:17:47 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": i am an open leader an encourage transpanercy in my corp an alliance
[6/2/2013 8:18:02 PM] Kane Spero: That's fine
[6/2/2013 10:03:06 PM] Kane Spero: Alright, the deal is accepted. 50 million per district. The money gets transfered once all the districts are in hand. You need to have an alt apply to Spero Escrow Services to recieve payment. Once the servers are up of course -__-
[6/2/2013 10:23:28 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": k look for ze duke
[6/2/2013 10:24:01 PM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": now this means that u will not target further STB distircts ? or least come talk to me first
ps i hacve to jet ill tty tommorw
[6/2/2013 10:24:30 PM] Kane Spero: Make sure you have someone in place to do the transfer in case the servers come back up
[6/2/2013 10:25:11 PM] Kane Spero: ttyl
[9:00:17 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": im online now
[9:28:27 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": why would u an your guys be so stupid to lock all those distircts.. i mean wtf we just agreed that i would tranfers them over an noew they are all locked ..
[8:08:11 AM] Quickgloves aka "Baby Jesus": so tell me kain how do u expect to run a escrow service when you renege on a deal made an agreed upon in full contract terms. WE agreed i would sell the districts to you an you agreed yet you renege and fail at actually being able to live to your word. No honor in that an hopefully others will see your terrible business ability an avoid contact with such a shady character. IT goes to prove that even when you agree on something you are nothing more than trying to steal or snake. I am glad to know that we have a dishonest CPM rep that cannot even fulfill a simple transaction. Enjoy being on the rock you think u sit because i will be the one that knocks you off it.

 Quickgloves also had this to say: 'That's the full story outlining how the IMPS service is a fraud an a scam they have no honor or business ethics. They think they can bully the school yard an that may be so for now, but every dog has its day an I have been the punching bag from these guys ever since the dog days of MAG an 3C. 5 years STB has had its name an never waivered. Yet 3C died GC died <# murder service died an many others all while trying to slander assault or destroy me an all that is STB. Yet here we stand atop the leaderboards and still thriving in over 12 games 2 platforms. The IMPS to will fail to destroy us, just as they have for the past few years with different names they are all the same. They slander STB yet many of there top players have worn STB tags before. Look at all the old MAG videos or early Dust videos. they talk so low yet focus on pulling players from our ranks. They aim so hard to defeat me yet I rise again and again. People wonder how I got the nickname Baby Jesus. From just this. I have so many people that knock me down yet I rise an rise. I am taller, I am stronger an I am much smarter then all of them seem to believe. STB will always survive as long as there are people willing to fight for a true cause. Honor Loyalty an Brotherhood. A mans word is only good once. And Kane Spero showing that he cannot live to his word shows his true colors. It is a shame to know that in the CPM we have a man of no honor and no respect.

'This is not a rant but a statement to those that think they can overcome me. I will stand tall with my Brothers I will Defend my Brothers an I will AVENGE my Brothers. I have done so successfully for almost 5 years now. Sver Prime is a small loss in the large scale picture. It gives us a clear picture on what we need to do in the future. When it goes to 0.0 is when it all really matters. Until then its all practice. The isk is the only real drive for any corp to PC but being the way molden heath is right now with so many corps ignoring the real issue of IMPS because they are all so focused on Cronos PC is a massive isk sink. As always I will be here an intend to take more districts. the community can watch us grow an remember these days, heed my words. The imperfects will die before STB just as all the other elite clans that attacked us before have.'

This CPM post on the Dust forums http://tinyurl.com/khm6t9pis evidence that CCP may be finally focusing on a detailed and deep New Player Experience that matches that of the Dust 514 experience. We've gone on the record countless times [like here, here and even here] explaining the need for a functional NPE [t5he current one is embarrassingly shallow and asks too much learning by osmosis] that not only shows off the depth, lore and originality of this game, but also insures that players know how to be successful.


Its folly to expect players to turn off their consoles, leave the boundaries of the game and go to Youtube, a Users Manual or Wiki website to learn how to play Dust 514. In this day and age players simply won't do it and its unreasonable. We love Dust University and Bojos School but no developer should ever leave it up to the playerbase to train new players. Only social players or those open to learning benefit from this, you cripple anti-social and autonomous players when you do this. We wont beat a dead horse too much but to launch without a proper tutorial cripples the ability for this game to grow, and this decision was inexcusable. Titles should include a seamless experience where everything involved in learning how to prosper should be available to the new player.

Dust must also accept that some portions of its game are complex when compared to what FPS players are used to. As such, these things require detailed explanations. We frowned a bit when the game launch was shortened to 90 seconds. Not because we dont like efficiency, but because too much valuable information had to be left out. Here are the ways we feel like Dusts NPE must improve:

 1- Basic - Find the person who defaulted ptt ON and voice OFF and shoot them. Communication is necessary in Dust, and not making this aspect user friendly and default on is mind numbing. Add prox chat for allies so players without mics can communicate with their teammates instead of having to use their psychic abilities to figure out what their teammates want them to do. Please consider leaving new players in the Academy until they reach 2M skill points or 100,000 War Points.

2. Mandatory - The critical information in the Dust tutorial simply can't be skipped or cycled through. It is too important, provide selections that require user input for completion. Players should also understand that Instant Battles, Faction Warfare and PC provide different tiers of gameplay. It would also be nice if FW had even the slightest incentives [loyalty bonus, higher ISK payouts, bigger grouping, better salvage] to prevent it being simply 'instant battles with a different name.'

3. Participatory - While a PVE portion enhances this, the lack of one cant prevent a tutorial section where players go into a trainer and test nanite injectors, shooting, throwing AV, Flux and Locus grenades, movement, hacking, reloading crouching and going prone in a shooting range and against virtual targets. Lets also see driving, summoning vehicles, orbital strikes and squad orders added explained. Its essential that players have the ability to learn the most basic parts of the game in a test environment.

4. Optional - Familiarizing players with chat windows, the system operation options, why theyre in a default corp, how to send mail, add contacts and a breakdown of the augmentations.

5. Incentive - Rewards will always draw players. Use the 'carrot' method to draw them in with items for completing parts of the tutorial. Offer limited use items for completing each part of the tutorial. Perhaps even a small amount of bonus SP for full completion.

6. Detailed Explanations - Why is there no walkthrough of the Merc Quarters? How can a new player even begin without knowing how important SP is, how to complete and restock fittings, search the marketplace for info, compare gear or learn how the chat windows work? Not even an explanation of how to use voice chats or that SP selections are permanent and Respecs rare? This is facepalm worthy. Find the person who made this decision and headshot them with a scrambler pistol. Then fix it.

7. Lore - Dusts core shooter aspects may still be improving but New Edens depth, history and story far encompass anything in FPS. Shouldnt this be showcased? Why wouldn't character selection include all of the trailers in addition to the short racial histories contained in the Dust PS Home space? Explain to new players how the different races vary on the battlefield. Promote the deep backstory of EVE, dont hide it.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help push and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com

Dust is a game that defies and rejects many of the cheaper, dated and bad mechanics of FPS past [hopefully murder taxis will join the list of past mechanics very soon] At the same time its core FPS mechanics could use some upgrading. While we anticipate this and framerate being resolved, A very worthy recent thread on the forums by C Saunderstinyurl.com/kyg5bsf  recently remarked on the way contact grenades are hurting gameplay. The thread had overwhelming support [29 likes as of press time] so why are people so up in arms regarding them? In our opinion its because Dust has set a hard line against easy, cheap kill mechanics. When these elements exist they stick out like a sore thumb.




Its essentially law in Dust that easy-to-use weapons that dont require as much skill are lower damage. High-damage, OHK weapons are saddled with low fire rates, ammo counts, low splash or require large amounts of coordination to prevent exploits. One look at sniper rifles, railguns, forge guns and remote explosives confirms this. Often discussion about missing weapons mentions the Dust 514 equivalent of Claymores. While we were of the 'claymores should be a one hit kill' group months ago, we realize it was only because that was familiar and the way it had always been done in FPS. Lower skill requirement, AOE and fire-and-forget weapons like the swarm launcher should always do wounding damage rather than reward users with cheap kills [except to militia LAVs of course] So with this line of thinking shouldn't contact grenades do less damage than their timed counterparts as they require less skill? We say yes. As a result shouldnt we should see their damage in the 200-300 range? Yes again. Giving higher damage to the easier to use grenades is a very, very bad idea and goes against the core of Dust.

Now the HTFU crowd will be quick to chime in with their patented catch phrase, but as usual it fails hard. Many issues are simply poor mechanics and need fixing, not adaptation from the playerbase. Imagine how poor a game Dust would be if the HTFU contingent had their way when swarms were OHKs on infantry, Tanks were Godly, Heavies were near-indestructible and Tactical ARs were the best weapon at close range and at 100m. Not a pretty picture is it?

In the interest of avoiding more cheap mechanics, The Mass Driver, Plasma Launcher and Flaylock pistol need to be added to this list. Let's reward player aim instead of shooting at the feet of a person or in their vicinity and depending on splash for Accuracy by Proximity. We're certainly not saying remove these weapons but lower their splash damage considerably. Some relevant comments on the thread we mentioned really hit home:

CPM member Cazaderon remarked: I Did the exact same thread maybe 2-3 months ago and it had a massive success. but those nades are still in the game. IMO, they dont belong in Dust. Hell, they dont belong in any FPS as they encourage petty "aim at the ground" gameplay.

Reiki Jubo said: AOE weapons should be low ammo, low rof and low damage from splash as a rule just like the forge. want full damage? hit the actual person.

Bendtner92 said: Good luck with this. We've been telling CCP to get rid of them ever since they introduced them.

 Doc Noah said: Weapon has no place in this game, either it needs to be removed or reworked.

These are all excellent well thought out points of view. We hope CCP considers them. Lastly, one of our writers did point out one glaring issue that Dust needs to correct in regards to its Aiming. To many it feels weighted, and poor hit detection adds to the problem. The final straw is that on some weapons the sights are more 'guides' than actual indicators of where our rounds will hit. This is not good. Sights should be close to 100% hit indicators on stationary targets. Especially with weapons like the Missile and Plasma Launcher and Mass Driver. Add arc if you must but have the weapon crosshairs account for this. This is the future, right? Screwing with player aim is never a good idea as its confusing and inconsistent. Many FPS mechanics need changing and we're happy CCP recognizes this, but sights that relay to the user where the rounds will hit isnt one of them.

 We watched the Destiny gameplay reveal last night and wow, what a truly beautiful game. Bungie nailed its look, feel, even the little things like how the weapon was placed in first-person [so that it felt like you were truly holding it] or the great environments and even the birds. A game with this much detail isn't often massive, but what Destiny may lack in size it easily makes up for in visuals. Amazing how a game with so little lore already makes you almost feel its backstory. For all its lore, Dust does so little to capitalize on it or make the user care.

CCP has to be careful here. Bungie is effectively the rookie playing the same position as them who just took one back to the house.



Ive never played a Bungie game before but the emotes, the little things [like character details, great lighting, shadows, water effects and walking thorough brush] sold me instantly. It felt alive. And Bungie showed off a bit too didnt they? Taking the time to look at their environments, showing us the wonderful detail and verticality. It was awesome. Adding things like the persistent crosshair marker [to show you where hipfire will hit] along with functional red dot sights should provide great examples to CCP of how much their core game still needs to improve.

The scene where lights revealed the previously pitch black environment was magical. And showed everyone what a true AAA title is supposed to look like. For the first time that I can recall, a title made Dust 514 look like a free game. It was hard to admit that to myself as a big fan of what CCP is trying to accomplish. But it had to be said nonetheless, we do the devs a disservice when we arent honest with them regarding their shortcomings. Blind fanboysim never helped anything.

Then PVE combat was on display, The Fallen were quick and looked intimidating. Combat was fast, framerate was excellent and even the weapon & power effects were great. Was I the only one who thought 'Thats what a nova knife should look like.' I doubt it. The first boss battle was also well done, and the killshot was amazing. It was also nice to see a revive mechanic that actually worked. Destiny showed us that loot, rare drops, persistence and customization arent things that are specific to any title. They are basic parts of any game claiming to be an MMOFPS.

The beginning of the public event was nothing short of breathtaking from the ground shaking to the darkening of the environment and ship 'warping in' to the blast wave that spewed dust everywhere. We've always assumed Dusts visuals were a result of being massive, but is 16v16 really that different from 16 vs the environment? We sure cant tell. Its fine if Dust wants to keep the level of its visuals but the game will have to become truly massive to make up for it. The Fallen Assault was an example of true immersion, and it made you felt like you were there. It felt real when the Fallen ship was overhead didnt it? The Devil Walker and its weapon effects were even better. We're not going to stop supporting CCP & Dust 514 anytime soon, but we hope they acknowledged the arrival of Destiny and are prepared to counter it by competing.

 Many have recently predicted the demise of Dust 514. We dont agree, but there are several obvious core issues that have yet to be addressed for a game that has [shockingly] had a retail launch. The problem is that many natives are growing restless. Player numbers are dropping and the CCP strategy of 2,5 and 10 year roadmaps that works well on PC, is failing horribly with console players. More concerning is the fact that the patience of many in the hardcore playerbase seems to have reached its limit. These players are CCP supporters but now are wondering whether the game is still a place for them, as a nasty crop of questionable-at-best casual mechanics has crept into the game. With no word from CCP, they have no clue whether shameful elements like the cartoony LAV issues [aptly named Mariokart 514] are issues they intend on fixing or working as intended.

Its certainly not doomsday as we havent even seen a major marketing push, but CCP needs to address these issues before they spiral out of control. A recent poll showed bugs, technical issues and poor FPS mechanics as players chief complaint. Many recent changes have also tuned weapons with the unskilled player in mind rather than the skilled one. This breaks the game and fails at the core because if the average skilled player can get 30 kills with a Flaylock, the skilled player can triple that. This is the reason noob tubes in any form is a bad idea. Right now the forums are a wasteland of negative threads and shitposting that would turn away any new player curious about the Dust 514 experience. Now is the time to communicate and resolve this, as it may be too late in the coming months.


Here are the outstanding issues we see that must be resolved:

 Dominant  Fits - Dust has an extraordinary level of customization but what good is any of it when combinations like the Proto Logi, Contact grenades, Godlock pistol and Balac-21 AR absolutely dominate everything else? This is made even worse by the fact that logi suits are intended to be support suits but poor design has made them the everyman, ultimate soldier with limitless health and space for every piece of equipment one needs on the battlefield. While other suit combinations are certainly available, anyone who wants to compete is essentially forced to use the 'One fit that rules them all.' Members of the CPM warned us about the flaylock pistol at Fanfest but now its poor design is painfully obvious. Contact grenades take us back to the debacle when all grenades had 2 second fuses. Even worse they act as arcady, close quarters one hit kills for those with the AUR or SP to possess them. Many have suggested a system where grenades have to be equipped for use instead of L1 and they may be on to something. Is the design team is schizophrenic? One look at how the shotgun is balanced shows us cheap kills and unbalanced weapons arent intended and that CCP 'gets it' [sniper rifles and forge guns fit this pattern as well] but the next its like all the noob tube elements of FPS' past [LAV Roadkill, MCC Sniping, Flaylock pistols] are on full display. The game needs to make a distinction so that hardcore players looking for more depth and a paradigm shift in FPS know whether this is the place for them or whether to move on.

Do the Math - Dust's depth is its strength. The customization is breathtaking. Sadly, some of the values and figures aren't well thought out. Why wear enhanced reactive plates when normal armor plates and an enhanced armor repairer are more effective and have a smaller CPU/PG cost? Is the Gastun's HMG an officer weapon? Then why does it have essentially the exact same stats as the Boundless save a single point damage upgrade? The Plasma Launchers needs to one shot most LAVs if its refire time is longer then the forge. If the Laser Rifle variants all have the same damage [this has to change, btw] shouldnt the higher tiers have much higher range and ammo? The devs cant make errors like these because all it does is create 'dead items' that will only take up space in the marketplace and that no one with half a brain will purchase.

Inconsistent Aim Mechanics - Poster Prius Vecht said this recently 'all weapons should operate like the AR, think about it guys. this engine sux its horrible at physics, hit detection and it wont even attempt destructible environments. A car going 5 mph can kill you and a fall from 2 feet can badly injure you if ur in the air long enough. why are they even attempting weapons with splash, arc and other advanced stuff when they cant even get point and shoot right?

even if all projectiles have no travel time it will be a better improvement over what we have now. Dust needs to have the most basic fps system because the engine is so bad. the problem is they are trying to add all these complex mechanics and the engine cant handle it.'

And he's right. The Dust 514 engine is dated and not very good at physics. The hit detection is poor at best. Take the vehicle RAIL turret as an example, try firing this weapon at an enemy for an example of how bad the gunplay is. Couple this with a system where weapons crosshairs are more 'guides' than accurate indicators of where rounds hit and you have a real issue. A game like BF3 can get away with adding bullet drop, weapon arc and other sophisticated mechanics as it has an engine that can handle it. Its in CCPs best interests to use the Keep It Simple mantra. Currently we have a system where inconsistency reigns and as gunplay is a core mechanic in Shooters, this cant happen. Dust needs a much more basic system where 'red' crosshairs on stationary targets indicate hits and should discontinue anything to do with arc, projectile travel time, bullet drop or anything more involved than aim, shoot and hit. When the engine is upgraded this can be revisited but we have to crawl before we can walk.

Eliminate Casual Mechanics - Dust 514 is too complex to be a mainstream game and reviewers like IGN, Gamespot and Gametrailers have destroyed any chance it had with the casual shooter audience. But if it continues to embrace poor casual mechanics it will lose its hardcore players as well, leaving it with nothing a la SOCOM. We recently witnessed the ability for players to snipe from MCC. This is appalling and needs fixing. We cant go into all the ways rewarding players with kills from their spawns is bad. The AFK phenomenon has gone on for too long and destroys the lore. Wouldnt auto-kicks and AWOL occurences on the perm files of mercs have resolved this? Dust 514 would seem to be the game with legitimate penalties for rage quitting with Deserter occurences on the permanent files of mercs but again the devs have to step up. The game must stay consistent with limiting high damage, low skill requirement weapons by balancing them with low range and ammo, movement penalties and slow fire rates similar to the Shotgun, Forge Gun and Sniper Rifle. Splash damage must also be lowered universally. Reward player aim, no weapon in the game [save grenades] should have splash damage that is even remotely close to its direct damage. Finally, the LAV issue is so comical, laughably bad and lore breaking that it threatens to destroy the game. Every time one of these cutting edge, Terminator level suits is instantly killed by a vehicle moving at 10mph [the argument can be made they should survive even full-speed impacts] because of the bad physics engine we cringe. That the engine renders LAV impacts instant kills but HAVs cannot grind you under their tracks renders us speechless.

Back End Issues - The constant disconnections, mic bugs, the shameful framerate and the lag. For a game with a max of 32 players Dust simply does not perform well. Planetary Conquest is more a game of which corp can better deal with the constant technical issues than anything else. Can anyone blame players for not supporting a game with this many technical hurdles? Look no further than the total failure of Brink to know how online players treat a game that doesnt perform well.

Tutorial - While every account cant always be active, Less than .5%  during peak time for a F2P game that has over 2M accounts is bad, that the peak numbers are dropping is more of a concern. The fact that people try the game and then never return is an indictment of the introduction and nonexistent tutorial. Even worse, veteran players are beyond frustrated with blueberry teammates that have no clue what they're doing. Proper tutorials educate new players. Had Dust 514 been a shooter like any other there would be no need for an indepth PVE walkthrough, but it is the most complex shooter on consoles. For months we harped on the total lack of a proper NPE and how it would affect players first impressions and retention. Now that prediction is coming to pass.

Matchmaking - Properly separating a playerbase of less than 10,000 is difficult. While we want to lower the instances of 'Proto Stomping' MAG is proof that proper matchmaking is only successful when you have enough players. Still, Dust needs more tiers and players need incentives not to seek out easy prey. Instant Battles should have by far the worst salvage and lowest ISK payout. Faction Warfare should be the median, NPC and Player Mercenary Contracts should have the highest payouts and best salvage and naturally the top players will gravitate here rather than farming noobs. Providing unique game modes with countless different objectives will provide the variety necessary to keep players engaged. Lastly, lets see a system where the Instant Battle Academy prevents veteran players from creating new characters just to troll rookie players. When one character leaves the academy the entire account should no longer be eligible.

Vary Winning and Losing - We touched on this months ago. Theres simply no reason to care about the shared team goal in Dust and by extension nothing outside of ourselves. Very little difference between winners and losers causes players to invest little in the game overall and put individual metrics like KDR before anything to do with the team goal. Arent we mercs that are hired to complete jobs? Outside of FW employers should compensate based on results. Losers should get 30% of the ISK that the victors get and zero salvage.

Command Structure - With the success of the command ladder in MAG, its staggering to see the lack of any kind of organizing element in Dust. There is no platoon leader and no overall shared team goal. Each squad is essentially a lone group with no ties to each other. Communication needs major overhaul as the only options are either the chaos of everyone talking on one channel or being totally cut off from other groups on squad chat. Theres also no ally proximity chat for those on the squad channel. We question the foresight of a system like this. Can you imagine larger games with 24, 32 or more players on one channel? Clusterfuck comes to mind. Recently the devs have hinted that the open comms are the culprit regarding some of the connection issues. We're hardly surprised, we can't think of a worse setup than the comm system Dust has currently. Not only is the compartmentalized chat MAG had more efficient, but apparently it wasted less bandwidth on voice as well.

PVE - The necessary variety this will add to the Dust experience can't come soon enough. The tutorial must contain an indepth PVE experience.

Poor Design - Why would anyone put easy to use contact grenades in this game? Dont you remember how bad it was when all grenades had a 2 second fuse? For balance it seems like lower skill requirement grenades would do less damage and have a smaller radius as well. One of the best suggestions we've seen recently came for Bendtner92, and we've seen it a lot recently. It may be time to use L2 to switch between grenades and equipment, and R2 to switch between weapons. L1 should allow us to paint enemy targets. Is it any wonder no one uses the Plasma Launcher for AV? It cant even one shot stock LAVs and its reload time makes a second shot basically impossible. Afraid it will become the latest noob tube? Lowers its efficiency vs infantry to 20% and the problem is solved. Unlimited ammo for tanks and vehicle turrets breaks the game, especially given the finite ammo amounts everywhere else. The Flaylock simply cannot be a more effective, less expensive version of the Mass Driver. Dust should have lengthy entering & exiting animations instead of the instant in and out of vehicles mechanics. Speaking of LAVs, the HP bonus was unnecessary and the speed and total HP must vary just like they do for dropsuits. We can see Scout LAVs having the speed of the current versions but stock LAVs must be slower. Logi LAVs having more protection is fine, but they should by far be the slowest. Why is there no incentive to use the active scanner? Shouldnt it reveal enemies and their equipment and reward those who use it with points if those targets are killed? There still isnt a way to paint targets and the current system lasts all of 5 seconds, perhaps L1 can resolve this as posted above. Dropship pilots and their style of play still isnt supported. If CCP wants a variety of players to enjoy Dust they must reward them with the ability to progress.  The system that reveals the position of drop uplinks needs fixing, reward savvy mercs for hiding their uplinks. Uplink detection should be limited to active scanners and the scan proximity of the dropsuit. Speaking of which, suit profile, dampening and scanning must have a more tangible effect on the game or it will continue to be ignored.

Massive Battles - While solving performance issues is a priority first. Dusts version of massive simply cant be 24 vs 24 player battles. If this is truly New Eden 64v64, 128v128 and even 256v256 must be the goal.

EVE/Dust Connection - The connection between the two games is a misnomer and doesnt have to be. A great discussion on the feedback forum echoed what we have always said regarding cool-downs for orbital strikes rather than War Points. Still, EVE players should provide more than simply orbital bombardment. Subtle perks like the ability to reveal enemies on the battlefield, disrupt enemy communications and deliver assets and vehicles. Maybe EVE players should provide a more consistent and faster transportation in New Eden. Where are the non-lethal EMP strikes? We cant think of players more ready to handle the RTS overview that the MCC Commander was supposed to have than EVE players. We should have the ability to choose either an EVE or Dust player to oversee our battles and assist the platoon leader. Lastly, we dont know what logistical hurdle would have to be leapt, but shared third person social areas would provide the link of communication that is still lacking between the two games.

Game Modes -We cant tell you how disappointed we were with the latest dev blog. Here we were assuming it would talk about some of the new game mode ideas being implemented but instead it went into a monologue about how difficult they were to create. With a game with as much lore as EVE, the variety of experience in Dust is embarrassing. Dust should have the most unique, creative and numerous game modes in FPS but stumbles along with Skirmish, Ambush and Domination? This is totally unacceptable as there have been wonderful gamemode suggestions for over a year with zero implementation.

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help push and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Haveanyideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com

1. Obviously, bring Skimish 1.0 back:


I am not alone in thinking that it should have never been removed in the first place, many share these views within the Dust community. There is good news that this mode will return to Dust, but however it doesn't seem to be a priority to CCP. The return of Skirmish 1.0 needs to be a priority. Skirmish 1.0 was one of the reasons I fell in love with Dust despite how terrible the closed beta was when I joined, and it made me believe that one day the game could eventually replace MAG. For those not familiar with the original Skirmish mode, it was an attack and defend mode similar to MAG's Sabotage, but reversed; instead of attackers trying to capture and hold some objectives to unlock a new objective to destroy, attackers had to destroy 2 objectives and then move on to capture and hold a series of objectives. The first set of objectives were defense relays which controlled various installations, and the second set of objectives were the defender's null cannons which the attackers had to disable long enough for their MCC to dock with the outpost.


2. Ambush (Extinguish):


Based on a post I read on the official Dust forums, a variation of Ambush where players are only allowed to spawn on CRUs, and a team loses when all their CRUs are taken by the enemy. This Ambush variation would be a fun hybrid of team-deathmatch and objective gameplay since the CRUs would effectively become objectives to steal from the enemy to extinguish their spawn points.


3. PVE:


At Fanfest 2012 CCP excited the Dust community with the announcement of a PVE mode against deadly rogue drones. They said it was suppose to be out by later that year, but I suppose things don't always go according to plan. They mentioned a mode where you explore the district and hunt own rogue drones to destroy their hive, and another survival mode. There is so much potential in PVE, drones are only just the beginning. We could take contracts to fight against the cyborg hivemind slaves of Sansha, we could fight pirates, and more.
As an MMO, Dust needs to have strong PVE options. PVE battle contract would add the most out of any new battle type since it would introduce a completely different way to play; cooperative instead of competitive, and it would allow new players a relatively safe environment to learn the game. This is why I believe a strong PVE mode is the most important game mode addition CCP can make right now, and it should be a serious priority, even more so than Skirmish 1.0.


4. PVPVE:


One of the fun ways to expand on PVE is to have another team to compete against in addition to the AI enemies. One example of such a mode that could work would be to have 2 teams fighting to take control of a district infested with rogue drones by hacking points around the map to take control of the industrial facilities on the district. The team that takes control of a certain amount of objectives first wins, but the drones can hack the objectives. Drones could be attracted to the sound of gunshots, which would not only lead to more intense battles, but also allow for players to fire their guns near an enemy-controlled location on purpose to attract drones.


5. Confrontation (3 stage battle):


This idea is slightly inspired by Killzone's Warzone mode. A game mode composed of 3 stages. Winning 2 out of 3 means victory. If a team won the first 2 stages, then the 3rd stage should be skipped. Here is my thread on the subject. Below is a list of the three stages, and how this will work:

• Stage 1 - Defense Relay: Neutral (no attacker/defender). Both teams fight over a defense relay which gives winning team control of the installations and outpost in the next stage. Holding the defense relay fills a bar, and the first team to fills their bar first wins the first stage. This is akin to Domination since there is only one neutral objective. There could also be variations where there more than one defense relay.
• Stage 2 - Oupost Control: Attack/defend. Defense relay winners become the defenders of the outpost, and their clone reserves increase by 100 because of the clone stored in the outpost. Attackers must breach the outpost and must plant charges to destroy the bulk clone storage sites (and decrease defender clones by 100) to win; 5 sites each containing 25 clones for example. Defenders can win by depleting the attacker clones. Losing stage 2 for defenders means the extra 100 clones is destroyed.
• Stage 3 - Ambush: Neutral. We all know how Ambush works. Ambush is the logical continuation of Outpost control; in Outpost Control both teams try to take out the other's clones, the attackers do it by blowing up clone storage sites, and the defenders do it by just killing the attackers. Once the clone storage sites are destroyed, it only makes sense that it would just be Ambush.

6. Clone Theft:


Since planetary conquest is based on eliminating enemy clone supply from a contested district, it would make sense to have a game mode centered around taking the supply of clones away from the defenders. Here is the thread on the subject. This mode wouldn't just be limited to planetary conquest (I would like to see them in NPC-contracted public battles as well), but it makes sense for it. Here is the idea for such a battle contract.

• The attacking team starts with however amount of clones they bring to the district when in planetary conquest. When in a NPC-contracted battle, the attackers will have 100 clones.
• The defending team has however many clones they have on the district. When in a NPC-contracted battle, defenders will have 200 clones.
• Attacking team must get past the the initial defenses which include turret installations supply depots, and CRUs. All these defenses are controlled by the defense relays (making defense relays the 1st objectives).
• Once the initial defenses are gone, the objective then becomes to hack a control center inside an outpost to open a hatch on the top of the outpost so the RDVs have access to the stored clone reserves (in the form of crates full of clones). The defenders can recapture the outpost again to shut the hatch.
• When the outpost hatch is open, the attacker's RDVs will fly to there, and capture crates of clones; each crate could be 25 clones (or some other number). Assuming the objective is held by the attackers, the RDV takes a crate once every 2 minutes.
• The victory condition for both teams is the depletion of the other's clone reserves, but basically the attackers get the option of stealing clones from the defenders to do it faster, which will be needed since defenders will likely have more clones.
• Clone crates stolen in planetary conquest will yield ISK equal to the value contained clones for the attackers if the attackers are successful. If the defenders win, then the clones stolen will return back to the defender's district.

7. Battles with 3+ team variations:


Much like MAG's Escalation DLC mode, and the squad deathmatch mode of the Battlefield series, having some battle contracts with more than 2 teams can really spice up gameplay. The obvious Applications of this are that it allows for Skirmish and Ambush variations with more than 2 teams, but this also allows for totally new game modes designed for 3 or more teams. The beauty of these sorts of games is that they allow for "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" sorts of emergent gameplay tactics.


8. EVE-Contracted battles:


These is perhaps the biggest of important type of battle contracts needed for this game to truly fit within New Eden, and for Dust and EVE to have a real connection. The original premise of Dust 514 was that Dust mercs could be hired by EVE players to wage war on their behalf over their valuable industrial locations. These battles could take place on planets, moons, space stations, and eve inside the starships of EVE players (as was mentioned as fanfest). Such battle contracts could play similarly to Skirmish 1.0 and should come in 3 flavors, depending on what the EVE player can afford:

• Sabotage: The cheapest of the options. In this sort of battle contract, the Dust mercs will be hired to sabotage a valuable target in EVE while another team is hired to defend it. This should deactivate the target long enough to provide the owners' enemies a chance to strike.
• Destroy: For a higher price, the Dust mercs can go even further and completely destroy the planetary or lunar industrial facility, space station, or starship.
• Steal: The most expensive of the contract options, the attackers are hired to steal and transfer control of the target for their employer. 

9. Single merc Infiltration mission:


Dust may be a team based game, but there can still be battle contracts that allow mercs to go in alone to have a solo experience once in a while. I propose an infiltration mode in which one mercenary infiltrates a drone colony, avoid detection, and eventually hack a core to detonate the colony. Stealth modules would be greatly beneficial in such a mode.

10. Sansha attack escort:


This could be either PVE, PVP, or PVPVE depending on if Sansha uses his cyborg slaves, or if he also hires mercs, but this could give Dust mercs an opportunity to escort and defend civilians from being captured and forced to join the slave hivemind. Imagine a mode where mercs arrive to escort VIPs [or hot drop in and secure them from captors] from a hotzone and get them to an escape point. The mercs could either spawn with the vips or have to secure them from their captors. Then they would have a choice of up to five points to extract them to on large maps.

I dream of a day when we Dust mercenaries spread throughout the EVE universe like a glorious virus, feared and hated. I want us infesting the vital structures of the universe's industry, making our impact felt across the stars, and deciding the fate of empires with our battles. Battles that will surpass all other shooters in both scale, complexity, and impact. May this dream one day become reality.

According to CCP LogicLoop, stages, and defense relays are currently broken since they built upon the original Skirmish 1.0 code to make the current Skirmish. It should also be noted that CCP LogicLoop is always pushing to make Skirmish 1.0 a priority. There are certain issues that would make 3+ team modes also be hard to perform. These suggestions are not nearly as easy to do as I may make them sound, but in the future hopefully they will be possible.