GNN: Corporate spy spots Infantry jump equipment

This is the rendition of the supposed Infantry Jump equipment found attached to a tech development file. Its source and authenticity are being investigated.

A file provided to us by a trusted information hunter indicates that an unknown high tech research group has been testing a piece of infantry equipment that makes the user capable of instantly teleporting, or "jumping" from one spot to the next after charging. It is speculated that the device will allow the user to jump over 100 meters in any direction where aimed; even straight up into the air. There is also a considerable cooldown after the jumps.

GNN: Viziam corporation testing a plasma flamethrower

This image supposedly captured from a hologram recording playback at a Vyziam testing center shows explosive plasma discharge from what appears to be the plasma flamethrower.

The Amarr heavy dropsuit is currently the only dropsuit powerful enough for wielding a heavy weapon, however the Amarr forces have yet to develop their own heavy weapon to take advantage of their suit's unique capabilities. Sources within the Amarr Empire indicate he Viziam corporation has put their R&D team on the job of developing an anti-infantry heavy weapon that will rival the power of the HMG.

Dust Fiction: For This Immortal

Gaining access to the compound had been simple enough. Using his stealth camouflage he had been able to avoid the patrols, and hacking the security systems was not a problem. Captain Samuel was one of the best infiltrators the Pro Hic Immortalis Corporation had. The mission was not very complicated. Gain access to the facility to confirm the location of the target to be assassinated. It was a one way mission with no evidence to be left behind. Once inside, Sam was able to hack a security drone as it floated by and link into the internal security feeds and communications. The target was in the middle of a transmission. 
 “... beginning to spread. The effects will begin to manifest within a week.” said the target. 
“You have done well Naberius, you will... your transmission has been hacked. You have an intruder.” said the voice. Sam could not determine the origin. 
Sam sent a transmission to the fleet commander in orbit. “The target is confirmed. I’ve been found though. The target was in communication with someone I could not track.” Disconnecting his link, Sam began to head for the room the target was in as as alarm began to sound. It was too late for anyone in the facility.

GNN: Wiyrkomi APC Blueprints Stolen?

Sources are reporting that days ago a Caldari Wiyrkomi Corporation R&D Installation was recently hit by a merc striketeam in an apparent act of corporate theft. While no major damage was done, it appears blueprints for a Caldari Troop APC were stolen and are now in the hands of the perpetrators. These design specs have considerable worth on the open market and are expected to filter throughout New Eden at some point. While State Executor Tibus Heth has been noted for his hatred of mercenary clone soldiers, it seems Caldari Corporations are doing their best to outfit them.

We'll continue to follow this story and provide more information as it becomes available.

Caldari APC - Medium Attack Vehicle

6, 8 and 12 seated versions
2000 Base Shields
2000 Base Armor
Small Turrets only
124,000 ISK

Glimpse: Operation 22.2

"I really hate when marks beg or try to make deals. Bastards always offer to pay twice your contract..disappear or some other bullshit story. Maybe that works with some contractors but i'm trying to complete a contract, not have one taken out on my ass. They'll promise you all sorts of stuff, but will put a round into your head if you turn your back for a second. I never listen though, it just makes me kill them faster, really. Just so I don't have to hear all the Goddamn begging and crying and other stuff. I don't judge these marks actions. But all the same, someone paid good money for them to die. Pleading with me is worthless. You're just a job, deal with it."

--Cometus

Weapon Tuning: The Mass Driver

The next weapon we take a look at is another in dire need of tuning. The Mass Drivers first incarnation was woefully inept, and so it certainly needed to be tuned upwards. But the current version has been tuned too powerfully, and now gameplay has been gifted with what FPS veterans affectionately refer to as a 'noob tube'. It is now a high fire rate, high DPS weapon with a low accuracy requirement, and it also has something no other weapon in the game has: Suppression Effect. User skill will never be even, but with that said, weapons must be tuned with the skilled user in mind. Devs must consider the person who can wield a weapon and land 8 of 10 shots, not the one who cant hit the broad side of a barn. Because the skilled user breaks the game with a poorly balanced weapon.

Dust Fiction: Colossus' Deceit

Region: Paragon Soul
System: G-M4GK
Planet VI, Moon II
Litatia Immortalis Headquarters

An Imperfect Look at Dust's Future on the PS4

With the rumored announcement of the PS4 less than an hour away, what is in the future for Dust 514? If you look in the right places all of the signs are there that Dust 514 could be one of the PS4's premiere launch titles.

A More Immersive Experience

There are a lot of features that can be added to make Dust 514 more immersive. This blog will outline changes and additions that can improve The immersion of Dust. Gameplay takes priority, but keep in mind immersion is the whole point of first person perspective. When games are 'experienced' instead of being played, they have the opportunity to become much more than just entertainment. EVE's 'I Was There' campaign is almost entirely based on remembering interactions that felt real, and at the core, that's all immersion is.

Weapon Tuning: The Nova Knife

If only the Nova Knife looked this epic 'in game'..

In the first of our series looking at weapons, we take a look at a weapon sorely needing tuning: The Nova Knife. First off, we agree with the strategy here. A weapon like the Nova Knife must be carefully tuned. If not, we run into overpowering them like Replication era Swarm Launchers [Oh, the horror..] or reducing the game to Jedi Light Saber 514 like MAG was reduced to. The Nova Knife is an extremely situational weapon and users must understand this. Now if youre the kind of elite level sneaky player that can run around cloaked and unseen should you be rewarded with nova knife kills? We say yes. But not the automatic one hit kill variety we see in games like BF3. Dust is a much deeper game where the math must also add up. For a one hit kill the damage must exceed the targets total health, and the nova knife must adhere to these same rules. The first thing we must accept, is that while user skill will never be equal, the nova knife is not even a close range tool. It is essentially a wetwork style weapon where the user must make physical contact. As such, it will always be at a disadvantage when facing soldiers with guns. Still, it currently has none of the lethality its description suggests.

Glimpse: Good Morning Feythabolis.1

"Most mercenary groups specialize in a certain type of contract. Ours is escort and protection detail and make no mistake, we are the best at it. Now don't take my word for it, feel free to check our fucking Employment History and you'll see why our rates are the highest in New Eden. We don't lose packages, PERIOD. When people that intend you harm, pirates, corporate thieves and saboteurs see our logos they turn tail. That's a fact. We get your valuables from point A to point B with no foolishness in between. So let's talk business. When can we expect your ISK transfer?"

- Titan Protection Corporation CEO, Javan Golin

Are Live Combat Trials Underway?

What was just rumor and conjecture last week appears to be rooted in fact. A number of reports are piling in about the existence of secret Live Mercenary Combat trials. Apparently, the four nations use of Immortal soldiers has caught the attention of powerful entities in EVE. Info broker Matticus Astra has confirmed that the past week has seen large scale destruction and massive loss of clones and other assets at a classified location. Evidently, EVE corporations have funded these live combat exercises as a means to gauge the effectiveness of some of the elite mercenary corporations, and it seems the corps are taking full advantage of the free advertising and opportunity to show off their wares. It also appears that New Eden corps are offering an enormous ISK reward to the bands of mercenaries that can prove themselves in these live exercises. Sources also claim that corps like Zion TCD and Southern Legion are trying to settle scores from Mordu's Trials and avenge past virtual defeats on the real battlefield. http://tinyurl.com/b9nk57g

As always, we'll continue to monitor this story and provide more information as it becomes available.

We're Recruiting!

 That's right,the Dusters Blog is looking for a few good men and women. We're looking for four new contributors. Ever thought about working with us? What we do is pretty simple, among other things we post game info, report in-game news, speculate about Dust 514, introduce you to the people who play and post fan suggestions and impressions on our blog. We'd even like to publish some more great user fiction similar to the 'Standed' series and our very own 'War Gods' pieces. Interested? Great. Send us an email at magww@live.com expressing your interest and we'll 'see what you got'. Please keep in mind that what we do we do for fun, and its on a volunteer basis. Our writers also have the freedom to write at their leisure. But we promise not to fire you when the big bucks start rolling in :)

Use EVE Lore to give Dust Variety

In our last major piece we discussed how the monotony of Skirmish and Ambush could hurt Dust 514 by not offering enough variety in regard to game modes. To a certain extent the game has already become somewhat bland since our Open Beta goal is to grind to the SP cap in Skirmish or Ambush and then log off. While we realize this isnt the retail version, seeing the same maps, objectives and overall goals with slight variations can quickly become mundane. The good news is few IPs have the endless supply of lore that EVE and Dust can draw from. The key is giving us a variety of game structures to choose from. With both PVE and PVP options, the opportunities for varied content seem endless. While the content for Dust 514 is being generated constantly, the beginning was outlined in the book Templar One by Tony Gonzalez. One look at the way immortal clones and quantum entanglement is used to explain the respawn mechanic shows how important staying true to the lore is to the folks at CCP.

Imperfects Ambush PFB Convoy

The Empire strikes back. In a brutal surprise attack that overwhelmed PFB Corporation, the infamous mercenaries known as The Imperfects struck and shot down a convoy ship and in the ensuing battle no clone was left alive. Rumors persist that the convoy was in the process of transferring experimental Xera Effect weaponry for the Minmatar Republic. The Minmatar are said to be furious over the loss of the assets, while PFB leadership searches for answers regarding how the IMPs learned of the operation. Minutes after the operation Info Broker, Matticus Astra left a cryptic comment in local "Everyone and everything is for sale, you simply have to know the price." Coincidence?

A few grainy photos taken by witnesses revealed the carnage. Photo1 Photo2

We'll continue to follow this story for details. Have any info or insider information on what took place? contact us at magww@live.com, or as you so often do, just break the story in the comments :)

STB steals 50M ISK from SYN in Corp Robbery

In one of the galaxys largest successful heists in recent memory, STB ambushed a SYN outpost and made off with an estimated 50M in ISK. Early reports also point to 11 HAVs being among the lost assets as well. We'll reach out to spokesmen for both groups and provide updated information as soon as it comes available. Security footage from some of the attack was captured here.

Prepare Yourselves: Info Broker Matticus Astra

How many of your secrets does he know?

Almost a year ago we made a contact from one of the smaller alliances that would prove to be most fruitful. A longtime New Eden resident who even ran an ad in our merchant section. His name? Matticus Astra, his profession? Information Broker. Recently he entered into an agreement with GNN for exclusive and inside information on everything in the galaxy. According to him, he possesses one of the extensive information networks in New Eden, and he is willing to share information with us when he sees fit. In our first piece he shared info about a massive plot forming, a naughty CCP employee and how longtime EVE corporations squashed the talk of Dust CSM representation. Keep reading for the details!

Wayward Mercs?

 Multiple sources have recently reported on a rash of incidents where mercenaries have been caught scamming their employers for ISK. Hours ago, news broke of a recorded incident where a member of the mercenary corp known as The Imperfects was recorded refusing to deploy for an paid operation and later collecting currency for services rendered. You can see the video here.

What happened to the Hivemind?

 According to sources the man known The Hivemind has seemingly vanished from the galaxy. Has he met some untimely fate or could he be in hiding? No one seems to know for sure. Earlier we talked with Quickgloves of STB and he advised us that before they left the seemingly crumbling EV Alliance, the few members remaining agreed on an absentia vote to replace the missing alliance leader.

We'll continue to follow this story for details as soon as they become available. Do you have any info on this story? Interested on becoming a member of our staff? Be sure to email us at magww@live.com

More Solutions for the Hard-to-Kill

Did someone just bring a knife to a Tank Fight?

Recently, there has been a large outcry regarding the balance of Heavy Armor and other hard to kill unconventional assets on the battlefield, like tanks. We feel like Heavies are fine [save a tad too much damage at 40m+ or so] The real issue is that we need more assets and equipment that are designed to take down heavies, vehicles and address their weaknesses. The real beauty of Dust 514 lies in its customization and ability to attack a problem with multiple solutions.

While countless threads have correctly pointed out how most players  unfamiliar with this game's mechanics try to take on the hard to kill head on and fail miserably, we also think its important to provide more options for engaging assets or personnel that require concentrated fire or equipment dedicated to their destruction.