I didn’t check my email until the Project survey was closed so I’m sad I missed it.
I was a hard core player in Dust 514, started when it opened and rode it literally until it was taken off line, getting a killing shot when it was disconnected for the last time.
I seen it when it had vehicle support, which is what I specialized in, when the shake up happened and Rattati took over and stripped the vehicles abilities, i seen it significantly change, and go from an unique CCP product to a more generic shooter structure where tanks where nurfed, and tanks couldn’t shoot more then an assault rifle range and nova knives (knife side arm) could effectively take down tanks.
The project was heavily influenced by a very small portion of the game base in the structure they had which caused serious issues with the game play and balance.
That was focused on the 1% of whining players instead of the over all picture of game players in Dust 515.
CCP needed to tell whiners, when you run across a tank, use a team to kill it. When LAV’s where running down the street, get off the roads. When a heavy had a HMG, take cover, instead, it was nurfed so an HMG hit less then a side arm (mini-guns had less power then an officers side arm, think about that)
The aircraft where the vehicle that was untouchable, as ground to air missile’s could not catch them (out run in speed and distance, a middle, How is it that it flys at 15-45 mph, really?), and specific ground game was focused on instead of the sandbox character development that it was at launch. Why oh why, did you have to strip it down to a sandbox Call of duty?
With that said, it was still THEE best shooter out there because of the customization load-outs, and flexibility, size of maps, movement and game systems, like with eve ship customizations. If the team focused on mirroring the eve ship structure to the shooter, where capital ships can’t be 1 shotted by a small frigate, which is basically how Dust ended. Don’t drag that into Project Nova!
With proper leadership (not to crap on Rattati, because I’m not, he did what he could) the issue with Dust shouldn’t have been balance all things against the lowest common denominator.
it should have been balance class against class. Like drop suits as a class, vehicles as a class, aircraft as a class. A guy with a knife should not be able to kill a tank In Less then three seconds for instance. Stripping vehicle dinamics and the significant change to run-n-gun dynamics to make it more like COD, or like battlefield probable was the wrong direction for Dust. As it’s not COD “call of duty”
CCP originated Dust 514 as its own unique system and play mechanics and the 10% of “free to play” players complained it wasn’t call of duty or Battle field, and what I saw, was that Dust’s unique play style was stripped and cleared to mimic something that it didn’t need to follow.
Where side arms where more powerful then primary battle rifles, and primary artilery pieces couldn’t fire further then you could throw a pumpkin, (literally, my friends and I checked distances in closed matches) when real artillery (tank units) could fire for miles Dust tanks in the end couldn’t hit a sniper because the range was so short due to people complaining that “a tank killed me because I was standing still on a building sniping others and that’s not right.” Unlike in the real WWII when a tank would drop a bell tower to take out a sniper, gee, guess Germany should have won cuz that’s unfair.
the accuracy of the vehicle weapon systems suddenly became so inaccurate that you could not hit things because rounds flung off to the sides because the 10% complained that they couldn’t stand toe to toe with a tank and kill it with an assault rifle because they died too fast. (Different situations call for different tactics, just like in real life) seriously though, even 1600’s muskets with no rifling were that inaccurate. And I seriously mean they were not that inaccurate.
We Dust players got a feeling they didn’t want any vehicles except for aircraft. Because a LAV would explode if you accidentally tapped, and I mean at 2 mph tapped, a friendly tank, instantly killing all passengers.
We adapted and did what they wanted and for the most part abandoned the vehicles. I swapped over to troop support instead of vehicle support, and I did it pretty good. And others did too. Then they complained troops were being supported and they could not one shot like in battlefield or COD and that got nurfed.
I don’t think you will get the “wrong and bad feed back” with Project nova because you don’t have the pre-teen, free to play, feedback you got on PS4,
just think of your adult players who focus on the brutality of CCP products. The reality of war, and the need for critical logistical and tactical thinking during game play, just like with Eve online.
My point is for Project Nova. DO NOT strip the CCP uniqueness out of what Dust 514 was originally launched with to mimic something that already dominates the FPS arena in a suck manner.
stand loud and proud and hold fast with what Dust 514 was at launch. You don’t have to listen to the jr high kids that complain that “it’s not fair that I can’t kill a tank with a nova knife” BS, and stay true to the real brutality of warfare. The brutality of real war. Different situations call for different tactics.
If you nurf down Project nova so that “balance” means all weapons are a one shot kill and side arms have greater range then primary assault weapons, then I can tell you your project will fail before it’s even launched.
The Right tool for the right job, and everything should have a counter to it by escalation, bringing a gun to a knife fight and a tank to a gun fight, like when Dust 514 originally launched. (Not when it was pulled off line) or by superior team tactics, “pin and flank” not by nurfing weapons and boosting side arms or making it so that you can 1 shot a heavy with a basic side arm. Or making an assault rifle equal with a tank.
The cosmetic and BPO system (at the end) was fantastic. Being able to modify and swap BPO drop suits was brilliant!, added a lot of flexibility and really opens up game play, freaking awesome on that one.
Not giving into the pre-teen whining is critical though. Dust originally launched with the Eve-online PvP brutality, the logistical and tactical critical thinking structure and ended with simplistic World of Warcraft vanilla simplicity (very wrong direction for it, simply to satisfy the free to play whiners who couldn’t think past a box of Mac-n-cheese for dinner.)
Like the real world saying goes. Amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics. And Dust 514 had logistics built into it. Whom ever was on the original launch team should be the ones to should talk with, not the guys who took it off line.
Dust 514 had the economic system build in, Battlefield and COD do not. Mimicking those two which is specifically designed on unlocks vs economics will cause your project to fail.
Get back to original CCP concepts that are tried and true, economics, logistics, and tactics, in a brutal PvP format.
Don’t even think of listening to the guys that say balance is unfair, think of how Eve is balanced, mass, size, logistics and damage modules.
If people can’t figure out how to team F’k a mini gun (HMG) then they deserve to get mowed down. No reason in the deep black of space that a side arm should do more damage then a basic HMG. Why nurf it, instead post how you need to flank and operate tactically instead of nurfing an HMG down to a side arm status.
In regards to economics. The debate over linking with Eve’s isk, was a long hard argument with everyone. The top 1% complained that it would totally melt down Dust 514 to allow Eve corporations to bankroll Dust players, and they were right in that the 1% would lose all domination over the play field with there proto-stomping tactics that no one else could afford. However, and this is a big however,
Allowing Eve Corp’s in on the payroll, it would have changed the landscape where the “PC matches” not personal computer folks, would be real neck deep battles to the last man standing instead of red-lined one sided fights. Red lined is where you couldn’t get out of your start locations.
Though it would have opened up the battle field so that it wasn’t 1% vs the 99% it would have opened up game play where corporate sponsorship was everything and loyalty meant something. Because of the isk difference in Dust Vs Eve was significant, I don’t think it would have destroyed Dust. But it would have made combat much more brutal in the field because more then 3% of the players could have been running prototypes making things more level vs nurfing the hell out of everything. Do not fear linking Evecorps to the battle field. Like with Eve online, allow loyalty to be purchased by the rich. This a thing for CCP products, why shield Dust/Project nova from this? Keep it brutal in PvP. Do not treat it with silk gloves.
With all that said.
By keeping it on PC, your feedback is going to be vastly different, though I would love it if it went to PS4/Xbox (Xbox now allows cross platform now, ps4 vs Xbox, where at original launch of Dust 514, xbox would not allow that, which was the original intention of Dust 514), but for gods sake do not make it Free to play, you get the bottom feeders of FPS in when you do that, who drag everything down to their level. Charge $60 for it to filter out the whiners and get the serious players in on the fights. Though I did love the in game purchase model you had, it was reasonable and not like the EA money grab BS. The fact that things you purchased could be bounced around and fitted on different suits made the BPO system solid. Good job on that change.
Thanks for listening to my rants. Not angry, just really miss Dust 514.
I truly do wish you the best success with Project Nova CCP, But next time let all the community have a voice and not just the richest players in the game, you may find the dynamics is vastly different with the 90% vs the 2-10%
75MPH Landshark/BPO Scrub.
