I will be leaving dust for a while.

There are numerous frustrations I have with it, and its no longer worth it (my time).
There are numerous small things that could make the game much better, and instead there is developer focus on bringing in new content without a real understanding of what makes gameplay better.

1 Bad match making that drops full squads against random mercs. No apparent grading of skill on each side, sometimes very bad matching
2 Simple terrain fixes are not being done that could let you run up a hill smoothly, and not get stuck on a 6 inch step. Basic stuff youd know if you played a map, especially ran around an empty one as a dev
3 Bullets hitting you around corners and dying while well in cover.
4 Oceania server going down for the duration of the weekend / prime Oceania play time zone
5 Very short time to kill. Made worse by any network lag at all. In general, makes for low new player uptake.
6 Tank spam made possible by the low cost of tanks and the low levels of effective AV
7 Continual erosion of the usefulness of a sniper, (thats my thing) with over the last few updates, increased armour plates with lower speed penalties, increased lag, increased suit speeds from modules changes resulting in not being able to contribute effectively except at pub level
8 Not starting a match at the same time as the opponent, allowing them to setup. Sometimes 1-2 minutes late.
9 Not seeing the map before you begin, so you can plan as a squad
10 Not knowing who you are up against before being dropped in
11 Balance issues with Red line rail tank sniping and Low level AV =ineffective) at handling a skilled Assault Drop ship pilot.
12 ISK economy broken and allowed to continue by developers (long term Corp behaviour exploited by district locking and ISK farming to its fullest) = corps who gear up at PC level in every match
13 Broken scanners (when you can see someone with your eyes and they dont scan, on top of the ones you dont see)

So what does work?
Rail rifles work great, so do core locus grenades and scramblers with controller mods.
Uplinks and hives and rep tool works. LAVs and explosives work well too. After 500 hours of dropshipping, Assault dropships are awesome - at the top end of the game, if you dont have one you loose.

And squading up for the challenge.

Its been fun squading with you all, thankyou to the corps that have taken me in and taught me stuff, for the comradeship, the battles and the fun.

I'll see what 1.8 does to the game when it drops, but Im not very hopeful on any of the above.