DUST Search - Increasing Planet Variety in Molden Heath

Soraya Xel wrote:

I'd argue doing the contents of this document is more important and higher priority than anything and everything you listed. My document also takes a lot less development time. CCP needs to capitalize on what makes their game unique NOW.

And planet variety will actually help with the balance issue. Because certain suits, sure, may be overpowered on a certain planet, but heavily underpowered on another planet. That sort of design needs to be put in now, so that future developments are balanced around that.

Vegetation and water is nice, but a lot of work, and only really affecting temperate planets and oceanic planets down the road. Barren, ice, and lava planets could all be done with existing tech, and wouldn't use those features at all. We can always add more terrains and sockets, but that is a lot of dev work to add only some enhanced variety. Adding the dimension of different planet types adds to and enhances the gameplay variety across ALL terrains and ALL sockets simultaneously, while still being a far smaller development effort.


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Vell0cet Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 322	Posted - 2013.09.25 16:13:00 - [1] - Quote Soraya Xel wrote: I still feel this would be one of the most important ways to add uniqueness to DUST and set it apart from other shooters. Gravity, planet types, etc. need to be varied! And they will be. But they have a very long ways to go yet. First they need to get temperate/barren gameplay up to par, which includes all racial dropsuits, all missing racial vehicles, all missing vehicle and suit roles (Fighters, MAVs, speeders, etc), all of the major racial structures/complexes, vegitation implemented, water implemented and balanced with how it will affect vehicles and dropsuits. They need to design, build, implement and balance some form of PvE. CCP also has to add all of the interactions with EVE and balance that out such as unifying the market between games. Also they need to be porting this game to the PS4. Once all that stuff is done, then I can see CCP starting to expand to other planet types, and possibly fighting on ships or structures in space. That stuff will be so incredible, and it will solidify DUST as the best FPS ever made, but we're a LONG way from that point right now.
Vell0cet Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 326	Posted - 2013.09.25 17:29:00 - [2] - Quote Soraya Xel wrote: I'd argue doing the contents of this document is more important and higher priority than anything and everything you listed. My document also takes a lot less development time. CCP needs to capitalize on what makes their game unique NOW. And planet variety will actually help with the balance issue. Because certain suits, sure, may be overpowered on a certain planet, but heavily underpowered on another planet. That sort of design needs to be put in now, so that future developments are balanced around that. Vegetation and water is nice, but a lot of work, and only really affecting temperate planets and oceanic planets down the road. Barren, ice, and lava planets could all be done with existing tech, and wouldn't use those features at all. We can always add more terrains and sockets, but that is a lot of dev work to add only some enhanced variety. Adding the dimension of different planet types adds to and enhances the gameplay variety across ALL terrains and ALL sockets simultaneously, while still being a far smaller development effort. I think most of the community would disagree with your priorities. DUST needs to hit the point where it is a solid game with the foundation in place on terrestrial and barren planets so reviewers and new players can download it and feel like they're playing a polished FPS that isn't missing core content. If it can hit this point it will begin to build traction in the market and will be able to sustain itself and future development. The stuff you want is very cool, but it will have to wait for future expansions. Quote: Also, PvE will never be important on the manner that's worth delaying things that affect PvP. New Eden is for PvP. Everything in EVE is the result of PvE. With a few minor exceptions, every ship is built by a player with resources that's been mined from an asteroid and possibly a moon. Modules too. The ISK is produced from running missions, or bounties on rats. The heart of New Eden is its economy. It's what drives everything else. For DUST to play a meaningful role in New Eden, it will need to participate in the economy.
Vell0cet Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 326	Posted - 2013.09.25 17:47:00 - [3] - Quote Soraya Xel wrote: Vell0cet wrote: DUST needs to hit the point where it is a solid game with the foundation in place on terrestrial and barren planets so reviewers and new players can download it and feel like they're playing a polished FPS that isn't missing core content. If it can hit this point it will begin to build traction in the market and will be able to sustain itself and future development. The stuff you want is very cool, but it will have to wait for future expansions. The game is very solid, the problem is that it is not unique. CCP can't match a game with ten times the budget in terms of "being a better shooter". But it can be a more unique shooter. If CCP doesn't focus in this direction, it'll never get future expansions. It's core content is the variety it can provide that other FPSes can't. No arguments on economy. But economy... is PvP. DUST is already very unique. The skill system design, the fact that choices have permanent consequences, the fact that blowing up someone's tank just pissed them off in a way that can't be experienced in other games where vehicles are free. The ability to customize your suits and vehicles, having to weigh many multiple variables (including cost) to design suits for the right situations. This stuff doesn't exist in other games.
Vell0cet Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 328	Posted - 2013.09.25 19:10:00 - [4] - Quote Soraya Xel wrote: Vell0cet, that's not enough. Skill system is meh, it's more of a gate to prevent newer players from doing what they want. Because after a year or two, you can do whatever you want anyways. Customizable suits and vehicles only get you so far when the gameplay is so predictable. I fully expect the skill tree to grow much deeper over time, but it's a decent foundation to build from. As the link with EVE becomes stronger, the gameplay will become deeper as well. With added vehicles and suits combat will become even more strategic, and players can specialize in the roles they want. I would love to skill into Amarr scouts, and I know there are a lot of heavies out there who want to skill into a different race. I also want to skill into vehicles at some point but there aren't any Amarr options, so I've been focusing my SP in other areas.