Eve players are patting on themselves to much, for a niche game among it's genre and non existent on the minds of FPS players. "we will bring thousands of fps players to eve" I laughed when he said that. not likely. Dust is niche. but it still is a fps. You can have everything else but without it being a great FPS, the only ones left playing will be eve players. which is kinda what we seeing now with game not holding zero retention.

Most mainstream FPS players won't stick with a game more than a couple months anyways, so why would they stick with a game that requires a far longer commitment to reap significant reward? It's an MMOFPS, it needs to appeal to people who want more than just a random twitch shooter.

Time to fire Hilmar. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

FPS gamers must be consistently appeased with a new game every 3-6 months. I am not saying new content, I mean these guys need a new Modern Warfare or Battlefield every season. They will play the newest thing for a few months and then move on to the newest game. Hilmar is saying this is the fanbase they want to build on with DUST. He wants to build on a fanbase of players that typically burn themselves out on the newest game then jump onto a new one months later. DUST will die.

The link is not going away. Imo, CCP is only in this game for the link. We will have the link we imagined and more.

But first things first: playability, enjoyment, stability, credibility for the core game. We're going to get a lot of surprising stuffs this year - this same time in 2015 when we look back at where we are now it will be fairly crazy just how much the game has changed.

These recent patches have done a lot of backend housecleaning and preparation and we are about the reap the rewards that come from putting your house in order.

These sorts of threads and the OP show how completely out of touch the Dust playerbase and developers are with what the mainstream FPS crowd actually want.

1) FPS gamers do NOT need to be appeased, people still play Counterstrike, Quake and Unreal, the only reason they shift from CoD X to CoD X+1 is that Infinity Ward release a new game and they move to track the rest of the player base because large playerbase = better matches. If they had stopped at the first CoD Modern Warfare and never made another game, everyone would still be playing that.

2) FPS gamers insist on balance and fairness. 100% of all competitive advantage comes from gunskills, not time. Quasi-MMO skill points and ISK and grinding for tiered combat power are an immediate turnoff to most of the FPS market.

3) Map design is equal in importance to weapon and vehicle design. Dust maps have no FPS principles imbedded in them.

I could go on ...

I think its far more important for us to establish a far better 'first 5 minutes' and that can be easily achieved 'without direct link'.

Most mainstream FPS players won't stick with a game more than a couple months anyways, so why would they stick with a game that requires a far longer commitment to reap significant reward? It's an MMOFPS, it needs to appeal to people who want more than just a random twitch shooter.

In terms of the link and the core game if Dusts wants to succeed it can't be either the link or the core game. It needs to be both in parallel. The core game has to be fun and plug into the link in a meaningful way.

CCP can't go into the future blind to any future vision of how Dust and Eve interact. It can't be done through half-finished systems that have failed because they are missing chunks that were supposed to make them work (glares at planetary conquest).

Yes, Dust has to be a game that hooks you from the beginning, but if CCP doesn't set clear and obtainable goals for what Dust is going to be to greater New Eden moving forward then Dust is destined to decline into irrelevancy. In a crowded shooter market, Dust's main resource that it can plug into to differentiate itself is the living and breathing New Eden universe. No one can copy that at this point.

Honestly, there is no point to NOT have Dust plug into Eve in a very tangible way. Frankly, if Eve were to die so to would Dust anyways.

In terms of the link and the core game if Dusts wants to succeed it can't be either the link or the core game. It needs to be both in parallel. The core game has to be fun and plug into the link in a meaningful way.

CCP can't go into the future blind to any future vision of how Dust and Eve interact. It can't be done through half-finished systems that have failed because they are missing chunks that were supposed to make them work (glares at planetary conquest).

Yes, Dust has to be a game that hooks you from the beginning, but if CCP doesn't set clear and obtainable goals for what Dust is going to be to greater New Eden moving forward then Dust is destined to decline into irrelevancy. In a crowded shooter market, Dust's main resource that it can plug into to differentiate itself is the living and breathing New Eden universe. No one can copy that at this point.

Honestly, there is no point to NOT have Dust plug into Eve in a very tangible way. Frankly, if Eve were to die so to would Dust anyways.

Needs to be more like eve and less like cod.

And that is still true also. But lately, because of Destiny and Star Citizen and many others, i've found my thoughts straying down the path of: 'Ok, we can't beat New Eden at it's own game, but how well could we fake it so that the player experience felt almost as deep? Because we know how to beat CCP at fun factor and quality implementation.'

It's extremely unwise. Because DUST will never compete with Battlefield or Call of Duty as a "great shooter". It can be a "good shooter", but it'll probably never be "great". The part where it's going to grab players' attention and hold it, is the MMO aspects and the EVE link.

Every single person I've ever heard express any interest in this game and maybe trying it, was interested because of the universe it's in. But Hilmar has a very large ego, and thinks he is going to compete. Hopefully, DUST's new EP has a more realistic view and a better idea of what's really going to hold this game together, and that's a unique identity and playstyle you can't get from other FPS games.

^^ damm if i could have written anything it would have been that maybe in a bit more crude and unpleasent way

It's extremely unwise. Because DUST will never compete with Battlefield or Call of Duty as a "great shooter". It can be a "good shooter", but it'll probably never be "great". The part where it's going to grab players' attention and hold it, is the MMO aspects and the EVE link.

Every single person I've ever heard express any interest in this game and maybe trying it, was interested because of the universe it's in. But Hilmar has a very large ego, and thinks he is going to compete. Hopefully, DUST's new EP has a more realistic view and a better idea of what's really going to hold this game together, and that's a unique identity and playstyle you can't get from other FPS games.

Back to the OP;

I riddle you guys this;

what good is a link? if your game is crashing, cant support voice, lags to hell, looks like crap, and has no idea of balance?

Link at the end of the day is a gimmick and unless given full attention it deserves that can only come on the heels of an awesome shooter; will be nothing more than a lame gimmick.

If we can get the game stable, and growing, and appreciated and then we do the link, the link will benifit more from it.

Needs to be more like eve and less like cod.

Time to fire Hilmar. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.