They won't if they haven't by now.

I just hope CCP shifts focus back where it needs to be before I get taken in fully by Monster Hunter.

Wow goons proposing really good ideas for this game! Mind blown!

But yes I would love to see more persistant battles, I think we all would love the economy to become a real part of this game and I also agree that station capture could really be the thing that gets EVE pilots interested in us mercs down here.

I am surprised there has been no CCP response so far to this thread. I know they have these kind of ideas. I wish they would tell us if they are possible. Does CCP need more money?

Create a form of PLEX for DUST that offers benefits like extra passive SP, some extra cool skins and customisations etc... (MLEX - Merc licence extention). We could even crowd-source some money for actual milestones in development.

I am sure there is a lot of possibility in both money generation and game development. Will CCP go all the way with this game or are they content to sit back? That's what the player base really wants to know.

This is poor thinking. DUST and EVE are not separate games and separate universes. New Eden is the world, and each game is the window. DUST will have DUST things and EVE will have EVE things, but thinking of them as separate beasts is what makes one lose sight of what will make DUST unique and survive beyond years.

This here. This is the problem EVE players have, and the problem DUST players have, and the problem CCP developers have.

This is not DUST, and this is not EVE. It's New Eden.

One of my biggest frustrations is trying to explain how something works, and be told "This isn't EVE." But the reality is, we are all playing the same game, just from different viewpoints.

Mmm...Yes...Yes...

Say it all again to me,

But this time with your clothes off.

IMHO, CCP needs to finish and release all basic DUST racial gear ASAP (fanfest at the latest) to make the core game complete, and then focus on making DUST matter in New Eden.

Honestly, I sit somewhere around the point where I think EVE integration was more important than any suits beyond the Caldari Assault, Minmatar Logi, Amarr Heavy, and Gallente Scout we all know and love from Chromosome. ;) In many cases, I haven't found the existing racial differences being worth that much consideration in most cases. Though I think 1.8 will have a significant impact on that, and we'll probably see a lot fewer Caldari Assault suits appearing by default.

Also, bump.

From perspective of a (former) EVE player, who knows what really New Eden is, I might just agree with you. However, take into account that not all people who try DUST are former EVE players. A good portion of them probably never even heard of EVE, and have no idea what lies behind the shooter itself (that is, in theory). Such audience would probably first expect some content and variety in core shooter elements, and then if they find it appealing enough, decide to check just how deep the rabbit hole goes (once CCP digs it, of course).

I think your forgetting another chunk of the playerbase: people who have heard of/are interested by Eve but don't want to play it.

I've heard stories about all the crazy things that happen in Eve for years, and have always been fascinated by it. Every time I watched some gameplay videos or read a write up of some huge battle though, my reaction has been that it looks too much like work or is far too slow paced to keep my interest. As an actual SA goon I would have a foot in the door with one of the most powerful alliances in Eve, but it's not enough to make me want to play... I'm content to sit back and wait for the next article about 2000 people logged into a single battle and shooting at each other.

I was attracted to Dust because it was a way to get involved in New Eden's crazy MMO aspect, while playing a more conventional, faster paced game. I've stuck around for almost a year now because of the people I play with, and CCP's promise that one day Dust will actually make a difference in New Eden, which they have yet to deliver on.

I've said it before, CCP doesn't have the resources to make Dust the next Call of Duty or Battlefield; it will never compete with the big boys as a pure FPS. The MMO aspect is where it can stand out and make a real name for itself, because CCP has already made an MMO so interesting people who don't even play it have an interest in it's workings, politics and battles.

kiarbanor, while I understand your perspective, the issue is that, whether you realize it or not, an EVE tie is the most important element to players who have never even heard of EVE. The EVE connection will make the game a sandbox, what it was intended to be, and what it's marketed to be. The EVE connection stuff we're championing, and I'm basing almost every post I make on, is something that will benefit DUST as a game. DUST isn't meant to be "an FPS" and it has never been marketed as "an FPS". It's an MMOFPS where politics, intelligence, and business are as important, if not more important than actually gunplay. What you do off the battlefield should have always been just as important as what you do on it.

Game mechanics that are even, from your perspective, are a part of DUST gameplay, are technically related to the EVE link, by design. Which means the single, understaffed team responsible for EVE/DUST link (Team True Grit) is responsible for implementing them.

Do you realize that FacWar and Planetary Conquest as a whole are more or less baked in as True Grit's responsibility, and part of the EVE/DUST link? Without EVE/DUST link, neither game mode is more than a Skirmish match as far as the DUST developers are concerned.

EVE link affects this game at every level, and not just for people who have even heard of EVE. The sandbox components offered by an EVE link focus allow a far deeper gameplay experience for players who never have even heard of EVE.

I think you guys are both actually touching on what most of us are expressing in here.

However I just want to point out that Dust 514 is, in and of itself, part of New Eden.

So, when we all say that we are waiting for the day "Dust will actually make a difference in New Eden" really all this requires is for Dust to make a difference in Dust, which it currently doesn't do. There's no real clear impact of our actions, even within the confines of Dust's little corner of New Eden. Sure, PC technically has some benefits with the fact that the corps holding districts make extra ISK, but that's really all it is: extra ISK for pre-scheduled battles (and an abstracted representation of their holdings in the form of a little colored dot on a map that no one looks at).

If CCP can find ways in which the decisions and actions of Dust 514 players can be seen and felt by the people logging in and playing Dust 514 day to day, then we're starting to get somewhere. But, until Dust 514 players can effect the world in which Dust 514 players currently inhabit (even claiming that we inhabit a world at all is a stretch), it doesn't make sense for us to be worried about how we effect the world of the EVE player.

Furthermore, I think we can all spitball specific ideas about how to approach this all day, but in the end CCP are the developers. It's their vision and they'll do things the way they want to do them. I think our time, as players looking to give feedback, is best utilized making sure they don't lose track of the broader vision that they originally sold us on, and the vision that most of us are waiting to see realized. I don't care how they go about make the game feel more cohesive, or how they go about making it feel like we're all having an impact on a living and breathing universe populated by us, all we should care about is that CCP understands that this is something they have not achieved and that the player base thinks these things are of the utmost importance.

I think making good decisions for how to make the world of Dust 514 persistent and meaningful, and allowing dust mercs and corps to feel as if they are actually participating in an MMO-like environment will naturally dovetail with Eve: Online. If they focus on these goals with Dust 514, the connections that can be made to strengthen the connection between the two will be much more evident.

This is absolutely spot on 100% THE POINT of all this. More than anything Dust has to have a meaningful and validating sense of accomplishment within Dust. Furthermore all the playing at "Junior detective Gaming Designer" is fun, but in the end it's CCPs job. Our job here is to hold them accountable and give good feedback on their decisions. With our forum posts at least, and with our dollar votes at worst.

I definitely understand your opinion, Soraya, and I don't discredit any of the posts on here about the need to have the link between Dust and EvE more pronounced or comprehensive. But how do you sell the "simple not stupid" console gamer on a game without a true identity?

Your opinion is that you sell them on the link between Dust and EvE and the universe of New Eden (that is, a link that can potentially be there). That's fine. Others will say they need to tap into the Battlefield or Call of Duty market, especially with the Battlefield franchise in a state of incompetence.

Who has the money?

The main point is that if it doesn't have a true identity, the intended audience will flounder and fade. CCP needs to decide the direction they want to go and clearly define it to all those that are interested in reading or hearing about it. As of right now, it's a very poor FPS, and I don't see any MMO worth mentioning.

I, personally, just want them to focus on one aspect and get that 100% right, then move onto the other aspects. If that aspect is the connection between Dust and EvE, then for all that's holy, please get it done quick and done right.

I just crossed promote this thread in the forum

see here: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1831797#post1831797

It has become an inception of thread posting and bumping.

I don't think it's even fair to assume console players are "simple". Or looking for simple. Many console players have cried for a proper MMO on consoles for years.

CCP doesn't have much experience making a good FPS. I think all of us can agree they're doing, optimistically speaking, a halfway mediocre job. Meanwhile, both Battlefield and Call of Duty, for all their business follies, are still incredibly well-produced products.

CCP can't compete in the FPS market. It will never be able to be compared on the same spreadsheet as CoD and BF. But it can be a unique game that people play because it has no competitors. But CCP can create a great MMO. They have ten years of experience making a great MMO. And if people have a great MMO tied to a mediocre shooter, the shooting elements become more tolerable.

In EVE, combat is a large part of the game. But it's not the "majority" of the game either. So when very stupid things happen in combat, like a server node failure killing a bunch of our dreadnoughts, we put up with it, because the overall game is good. Right now, DUST is all combat. There's nothing outside the combat. And the combat is "not great". So the game, as a whole, is "not great".

I didn't say all console players are "simple." Plus, simple is not a bad word. It references those console players that don't want to work toward building a game with true depth; they just want a finished product. How do you convince this large group that they should invest in Dust? Or should they even be Dust's audience?

I can't tell you how many friends I convinced to give Dust a try--hard sell--but the large majority gave it one shot (if that) and never played it again. It was almost impossible to sell them on this game because it doesn't have a clear or solid foundation of identity; all it has is potential.

I don't agree with you that Dust can't compete with CoD or Battlefield, though. How many F2P FPSs are out there on PS3? None that I know of. You may not be able to compete with mechanics, graphics, or destructible environments, but it's a FREE FPS. No $60 needed. That's a pretty solid marketing slogan.