The Planetside 2 Whiteboard

The PS2 Whiteboard is quite simply, THE BLUEPRINT. Console players are eagerly anticipating the massive battles only Auraxis can offer. Castoffs from MAG and Dust 514 are understandably excited about joining the PS2 community as its the only game remotely close to providing the scale they are looking for.

New Eden Hiatus

While our blog will continue to monitor and cover EVE: Legion and New Eden, due to the mass exodus Dust has undergone due to its slowed development, we've decided to shift our blog to the considerable community now forming from Dust 514 and MAG castoffs in anticipation of Planetside for the PS4.

The Dust Hall of Fame

Love them or hate them they are the most dynamic individuals in Dust's short history. As the core community and luminaries leave and the game draws to a close, we felt it was our duty to highlight New Eden's most influential planetside mercenaries and powerbrokers. Without further ado:  Your ten Dust Hall of Fame members.

Ashes to Ashes...

"There's been a change of plans, Dust Bunnies."

Like many members of the community our blog writers were both shocked and disappointed to learn that Dust 514 development was being slowed to a crawl. For more balance we decided a piece with two perspectives would be best so that more than one voice could be heard.

We The Fanbase [by Matobar]

 Forum poster Matobar of Onslaught Inc. recently posted an essay that gets right to the core of why so many Dust 514 fans are furious with CCP. He perfectly illustrates the frustration, betrayal and anger that longtime fans of the 'groundpounder window' into New Eden are feeling at this stage. Keep reading for a really great read.

Interview: Hayden Dingman of PCWorld

In a move that few saw coming, CCP used the Dust 514 Keynote at this year's fanfest to advise the gaming community of two things 1) that Project Legion was its new version of their ground-based MMOFPS and that it was being developed for PC and 2) Dust development was essentially over and the game's support would slow to a crawl [although for some reason they seem hesitant to admit it] it could have something to do with the prospect of no more sales of AUR items, but who knows.

It might seem odd because although we disagree [wholeheartedly and passionately] with the way this was done, we agree it was a decision that had to be made. For a myriad of reasons Dust couldn't succeed on the PS3 and had to transition to a better platform. We get that part, but 1) why delay this announcement when the decision was made months ago? and 2) why continue to take money from and mislead the community with promises of Soon™ and ask for patience when players were essentially paying for a glorified beta and nothing close to the vision they were sold on.

CCP Rouge interview with PC World [copy/paste]

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

 Dust 514 is dead. Long live Dust.

Okay, not really. Dust 514, CCP's "first-person-shooter-tied-into-EVE-Online-through-some-kind-of-magic" still exists and will exist for the foreseeable future. They're not shutting down the servers anytime soon, and in fact every CCP developer I've spoken to at Fanfest has reiterated the company's commitment to Dust 514 players.

But as a PlayStation 3 exclusive there's no doubt its days are numbered—and no doubt that Dust 514 didn't really pan out as well as either CCP or EVE players hoped.
So why not start anew?

NPE Template: Iron Wolf Saber

Though he is sometimes handled roughly on the Dust 514 community forums due to his activity level [he posts regularly] Iron Wolf Saber not so long ago made as critical a contribution to the development of Dust as any CPM has ever made. He detailed a step by step, idiot proof method of exactly how the NPE should be designed. Rarely has any player CPM or otherwise, contributed this much detail into resolving a core weakness inherent in this title.

One Way Trip by Vesper AEon

Bryce Arrankan scrolled through the list of job offers on his datapad, idly dismissing most of them without even reading them. It wasn’t a particularly long list, his group’s existence wasn’t known to the general public, but Arrankan rarely did business with people who messaged him without a prior introduction. When he was finished culling he found he had six offers, all from previous employers or people those employers had recommended to him. Reaching out he picked up a steaming mug of kaff and sipped at it as he scanned the six offers.

Dust Fiction: Threats by Vesper AEon

An ambitious CEO bent on changing the rules of warfare, A brilliant scientist talented enough to develop a revolutionary process. A corporation unaware of the powerful forces forming to obstruct them: Threats by Vesper AEon.

EVE Sitdown Part 2: TEST talks Dust 514

We had the opportunity to sit down with TEST recently and delve more into what Dust needs, is doing well and what EVE aspects they would like to see. Its not often we get to sit down with one of the most influential and respected alliances in New Eden. Here's what took place:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G5jZ-i36bisA3ceSO49zjA1hWmtQlnf5k5FOXo7d6-4/edit

EVE Sitdown Part 1: GOONS talk Dust's future

In the aftermath of some of the best discussion ever on the Dust forum [aka the thread that wont go away] Our blog recently had a sitdown with the infamous Goons and talked Dust, good times were had by all. Bombs were dropped. See our blog tomorrow for our sitdown with TEST.

Fiction - Warrior 9.2: Genesis

In the tradition of great works like Templar One, we decided to get back to more of our roots and share with you much of the great fiction by players like Denak Kalamari, Sir Ravenwing, Squagga, Galm Fae, True Adamance and Jacque Cayton. They have seen fit to familiarize themselves with New Edens history. We'll post their great works of fiction here and feature their continuing stories in episodic fashion. Enjoy the fiction, mercs. The continuing story of Warrior 9 by Galm Fae.

Warrior 9, Part 2: Genesis

GOONS & TEST: Where's the Sandbox in Dust 514?

A funny thing happened on the way to EVEs utter and complete non-concern for Dust 514. http://tinyurl.com/kf9hnm2

PC players got a brief taste of the 'Ground War Window' into New Eden and liked the view. Sadly, like many other would-like-to-be fans of the title, they kept looking for reasons to stick around but simply couldnt find any. Dust simply lacks any of the aspects that make EVE great. In one of the most meaningful threads we have seen on the forums, members of two of the largest alliances in EVE addressed many of the issues they have with the Dust 514 experience.

Fiction - Warrior 9.1: Genesis

In the tradition of great works like Templar One, we decided to get back to more of our roots and share with you much of the great fiction by players like Denak Kalamari, Sir Ravenwing, Squagga, Galm Fae, True Adamance and Jacque Cayton. They have seen fit to familiarize themselves with New Edens history. We'll post their great works of fiction here and feature their continuing stories in episodic fashion. Enjoy the fiction, mercs. Introducing: Warrior 9.1 by Galm Fae.

Warrior 9, Part 1: Genesis

Fiction - Drop Point.1

While Dust 514 moves towards a more finished and complete state, we dont want to be the blog team constantly bringing up fixes, missing elements and necessary additions to the game. In the tradition of great works like Templar One, we decided to get back to more of our roots and share with you much of the great fiction by players like Denak Kalamari, Sir Ravenwing, Squagga, Galm Fae, True Adamance and Jacque Cayton. They have seen fit to familiarize themselves with New Edens history. We'll post their great works of fiction here and feature their continuing stories in episodic fashion. Enjoy the fiction, mercs. Introducing: Drop Point by Prylar Vecht.

"I understand that sir, but right now we're pinned hard! Ground Commander Tamir Gelen screamed to the MCC Commander, "We need atleast two railgun placements ASAP!, We're in between a rock and a hard place here and the enemy is closing!" a second later the merc next to him raised his head from the rock quarry they were using as cover for a split second, and it immediately exploded with a sickening pop. Out of reflex, Tamir grabbed the nanite injector from his utility belt before wiping the messy mixture of brain matter and dropsuit armor from his visor. Resuscitating nanites weren't going to be of any use here. The situation was dire, and his squad was pinned down between a sniper from one side and a Rail Tank on the other. The three other squads under his command were too far away to assist and the amount of available clones they had was low. One of the soldiers near him inched closer and whispered knowingly "I think its Gemcutter out there." Tamir's heart sank. "Fuck."

Keeping the Sniper Relevant

Understanding the sniper in Dust 514 first requires unlearning everything you have experienced as a sniper in 99 percent of shooters. It was CCPs intention to turn the shooter upside down by replacing casual mechanics with tactical ones in what was first described as 'the most hardcore shooter ever' by the former EP. Most casual shooters that try to implement objective based gameplay find themselves polluted with what we call the 'toxic sniper' simply put, this is the player who is only concerned with his KDR and seeks out the most low risk, high reward gameplay he can find.

Suit Tuning: The Scout

With all of the exciting new dropsuit changes being introduced into Dust 514, the scout may be the most in need of some worthy additions. Most players were excited after seeing some of the proposed new changes to classes. While most of what we saw was great news, the new scout information seemed focused on the cloak. While we hope the cloak is a wonderful new piece of content [and balanced by not allowing firing or even aiming from a cloaked state, dont do it CCP!] it simply cant be relied on to make scouts a relevant class with a legitimate role to play on the battlefield.