Vrain Matari
ZionTCD
878
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Posted - 2013.09.11 12:53:00 -
[1] - Quote
Moejoe Omnipotent wrote:The out-of-gate reception will curse this brand forever and upcoming next-gen consoles will further weaken the already small playerebase. It's clear that CCP has struggled immensely in making good use of the PS3's limited capabilities and that their vision will never materialize on old last-gen hardware. It is far too late for this game to recover in its current position.
Start over on the PS4. Use the extra resources available to completely overhaul the gameplay. Rebrand the game and showcase it as a completely new experience (think FF14: A Realm Reborn). Run the beta alongside the current PS3 version for around 6-12 months. Once it's all set and done and people have had enough time to transition, go gold and cut the life-support on the PS3 version permanently.
Focus from here until the PS4 release should be on fixing the game and fixing the brand. Once you've revived good press and have given Dust a second chance at life, then you can rake in the $$$.
The PS3 version of DUST 514 serves as a tremendously valuable research platform for the integration with New Eden. The results of that union are fundamentally unpredictable, and unpleasant surprises discovered now on the PS3 can be avoided when the transition to PS4 happens.
The real asset here, imo, is the social capital that has been formed between the DUST and EVE communities. I'm not sure shutting that down and asking peeps to reinvest in New Eden later is a good idea. That's a hard one to prognosticate on.
A case can be made that we've almost got most of the core shooter mechanics out of the way - there's still a lot of room for improvement in the 'feel', but the core game is almost functional. With one more patch focusing on the core(the kb/m love, the vehicle part deux, the WP expansion and the squad support that's inbound with 1.5) we could end up with a serviceable bare-bones core experience.
Content in the form of weapons, gear and suits will continue to trickle in with each patch, maps will come in on a 3-monthly cycle(combinatorics really works for us here).
With the core out of the way CCP can focus on the meat: game modes and the integration with New Eden. That integration will happen faster than most peeps think, imo. And that's when this glommed mass of art assets, back room plumbing and game mechanics will achieve critical mass and start to glow from the inside out.
That tremendously complex process will not be without it's hiccups and meltdowns. I believe the argument for having much of that take place on the PS3 has a lot going for it. Additionally, it's easy to underestimate the long-term value of the social capital that DUST is already adding to New Eden. |
Vrain Matari
ZionTCD
879
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Posted - 2013.09.11 13:37:00 -
[2] - Quote
Rei Shepard wrote:Moejoe Omnipotent wrote:The out-of-gate reception will curse this brand forever and upcoming next-gen consoles will further weaken the already small playerebase. It's clear that CCP has struggled immensely in making good use of the PS3's limited capabilities and that their vision will never materialize on old last-gen hardware. It is far too late for this game to recover in its current position.
Start over on the PS4. Use the extra resources available to completely overhaul the gameplay. Rebrand the game and showcase it as a completely new experience (think FF14: A Realm Reborn). Run the beta alongside the current PS3 version for around 6-12 months. Once it's all set and done and people have had enough time to transition, go gold and cut the life-support on the PS3 version permanently.
Focus from here until the PS4 release should be on fixing the game and fixing the brand. Once you've revived good press and have given Dust a second chance at life, then you can rake in the $$$. Despite all its flaws Dust is still my favorite shooter even if i have to take 2 patches of retirement it will still be my main goto fps game, why ? Because there is nothing else like it, everything else is the same sh*t reharshed into new shiney **** with your 100 levels to redo. then in a year they will bring out a "new" version and you can again redo your 100 levels and so on and on. The best part is that on PS3 there are no Hackers.
+1.
Apologies fro going a bit off-topic, but this last point about no hackers deserves more attention. In a genuinely persistent universe, this counts for a hella lot. it really makes me wonder how DUST could ever move to PC. |
Vrain Matari
Mikramurka Shock Troop
Minmatar Republic
1699
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Posted - 2014.03.01 04:03:00 -
[3] - Quote
Vell0cet wrote:Moejoe Omnipotent wrote:Player count has flat-lined because mostly Eve players are left.
Dust has failed to appeal to its target audience. I think a lot of you have completely forgotten or have completely ignored what CCP's intentions were and who they were targeting with Dust. It wasn't most of you guys. That may be, but notice how the EVE elements are the only thing keeping this game going? If CCP removed all of the RPG, suit fitting, ISK vs. risk, and connections to EVE this game would be horrible. CCP can't compete with AAA shooters with insane budgets , code that goes years back and has been improved over many versions that have been vetted/tweaked/polished by years of play. That style of pick-up-and-play meaningless FPS gameplay is saturated and done better by studios who have been doing FPS games for a long time. I can guarantee the CoD team isn't spending their time working out basic hit-detection issues like CCP has been. For DUST to succeed, it needs to embrace its strengths, cater to RPG fans as a "thinking man's shooter." I can't stand other FPS games myself. It's spawn, kill, die, respawn, etc ad nausium. You don't get the rush of playing with something to loose, or the thrill of taking down someone who was wearing an expensive fit, or a costly vehicle. You don't get the thrill of planning out how to maximize your ISK-efficiency in your cheap suits, or maximize your firepower/surviability/utility in your expensive fits. I actually think this game will draw in a huge following once the core is worked out, the missing content is in place, the matchmaker is fixed and we get a compelling NPE that let's new players see the potential and depth the game has to offer instead of running around cluelessly with ARs in starter fits.
The target market for DUST is the legions of console FPS players.
The peeps currently sticking with DUST tends to be the pre-invested EVE crowd.
There's no dichotomy here, in the end DUST will have failed if it doesn't serve both markets, and serve them well. For the FPSer downloading the free shooter DUST has to be a decent free shooter - this is why we would be fools to ignore the core FPS aspects of the game. For the EVE-inspired players DUST has to be intimately connected to EVE so that New Eden can become the dynamic player-driven story that drives the high end gameplay in DUST.
And in between we need non-arbitrary gameplay and systems that are functionally embedded in New Eden and support the evolution of FPS players into fully-invested citizens of New Eden.
It's not either/or it's both, and since the pump that feeds the DUST engine is retaining new FPS players, the only sensible way to build the game, the only way that will work, is from the core FPS priorities up. EVE players cannot save this game, only console FPSers can give us what we need.
Imo if we want those players to buy into the frustration, grind and hard knocks(not talking about the state of DUST, talking about life in a brutal virtual universe) that are part and parcel of life in New Eden, we have to give them a quality experience, and that means a quality FPS experience. That doesn't mean we need to be like every other FPS out there, but it does mean that DUST pubs have to deliver good gameplay, feature good controls, and be grounded in good FPS fundamentals.
There is no other way.
I support SP rollover.
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