Reviewers issue challenge to CCP

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, 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 a roadmap on what to focus on.

Quickgloves on the offensive vs Imperfects

 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.

Add The Logi Frames

 '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.

Resource Based Warfare

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.

PFBHz finished?

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.

Delta Force takes grisly trophy

At approximately 12:20 yesterday morning, the frozen body of Imperfects CEO KANE SPERO was found floating above the planet of Hrober 5. Spero’s ship and pod were both destroyed just 2 hours earlier by Orion Empire pilot LoneWolf Gargoil.

Betamax Striketeam Infiltrates Red Guards

Grezkev uploaded 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 the Red 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.

Vehicle Tuning: LAV

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.

Dust 514 Launches!

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.

Downfall... or One foot on the banana peel, one foot in the grave!

    

     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.

Mega Alliance Merger?

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

Weapon Tuning: The Tactical AR

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.

Suit Tuning: The Logi

Does the Logi Suit need some tuning? Many say yes. Before anything else classes must first have the ability to perform the functions they were intended to do. Take the assault for instance: It has solid range, protection, movement and can carry an assortment of equipment. The recon suit has unreal movement and it has shields that make stick and move style tactics possible. The heavy is a slow moving, slow turning tank with high DPS. There are certain traits CCP has hard coded into the game through stats. The recon suit is limited by its low protection and while the Assault is solid in all areas, it is master of none. It is very strong in mid-range engagements but it can't deliver damage like the Heavy in the short area and is neither as protected or as fast as its counterparts.

So what are the Logis strengths? It too is balanced but favors more of a support role. While it can certainly kill targets, its protection doesnt allow it the raw front line protection of the Heavy or Assault but it makes up for this by providing ammo, healing and other indirect methods to assist the mercs under its watch. Would we allow the Heavy to dart around the battlefield like a recon? Can a scout lay down suppressing fire with an HMG? Could an assault player soak up damage like a Heavy? No, CCP has taken the steps to allow customization, but within certain limits that stay true to the function of each class. The question presents itself then, if the Logi can use its PG/CPU to be the ultimate DPS or tank with movement, what exactly are the Heavy and Assault suit for? Recently, Chankk Saotome of SYN offered up a post that shocked many and started some necessary balance discussion.

Uprising Hits & Misses

'How could you nerf my dropsuit-weapon-vehicle??' We wonder if the devs ignore post like these as most intelligent people do. Posts where people cry about how theyve been wronged because their favorite weapon was nerfed and how it must be CCPs intent to screw them over [specifically of course] always fall on deaf ears to us. The devs have to consider the whole library and big picture rather than a single weapon when they make changes. Take the Minmatar HMG for a moment: Consider for a moment that if all holds true to EVE canon, the Minmatar HMG will probably be third in pure damage to the Gallente and Amarr variants. This could have been an impetus for lowering the HMG damage. Because it has to be slotted correctly when compared to the others and they dont want to be forced to give us a Gallente proto HMG that does 26 damage per round.

We're just extrapolating here but we think you get the point. The devs have also mentioned that they use metrics, and not a vocal minority, or some silly knee jerk reaction when tuning the game. This is great to know, as data is more trustworthy than players with a clear bias for or against a certain weapon or piece of equipment. Imagine how difficult it is to tune the Heavy suit, tune it too harshly and it can't fulfill its role, too easily and its unstoppable. Its always been our assertion that you cannot tune weaponry with the unskilled user in mind, because then the skilled user breaks the game. You must also tune with the exploiter in mind. Most have noticed the influx of Tactical ARs with this update. We're happy to see it become a viable weapon again, but CCP has to keep an eye on the Modded Controller Contingent who have always sought to abuse this weapon. It may be a good idea to hard code its fire rate into the game to prevent it from becoming a long range, high damage, high ROF weapon that has no peer. But enough about that, in this piece we look at Uprising, what things stand out, need tweaking and what is absent. Keep reading for the details.

Cerebral Wolf Executed!

No one knows if the Goonswarm has acquired the tech to permakill previously immortal clone soldiers, or whether there is a surviving clone of the infamous former Immobile Infantry CEO skulking around in the shadows somewhere. What we do know is that GSF CEO The Mittani ordered the execution of the man known as Cerebral Wolf two days ago as a result of him botching his planetbound duties.

Talking Community Issues with the CPM

On the heels of their PC Victory [getting PC set back to launch day] forum poster Prius Vecht recently posed a variety of hot topic questions to members of the CPM. We recognize the value of seeing what their point of view is as these are the individuals tasked with helping chart the path of the game in its first year. They must not only represent the community to the devs but must assist in the decisions that will improve the game.

Some may even run for the CPM next year, if so its pretty important for the community to know their views on things like the AFK Phenomenon, The Mass Driver, Friendly Fire and even Breach Weapons. These could be the very platforms they run on in the future. We've collected answers so far from Iron Wolf Saber and Cazaderon. Hopefully Hanz Jagerblitzen, Kane Spero, Nova Knife and Jenza will chime in at some point. Read below for their answers.