The game has improved in some areas since the original closed beta, and in other ways it has catapulted backwards. In the end, I'd say it was a wash overall in terms of progress, and that the current build is probably the least enjoyable build yet for me personally.

As far as customer service is concerned, I've been burnt by CCP a few too many times with their false promises and bait & switch tactics on their real world currency goods to give them anything other than a big fat F-. The only reason I haven't started playing Eve: Online has been their overall terrible customer service here in Dust 514.

The other thing is what it lostfrom that builds before.

Use the current stage of rage about patch notes and use that to judge what this place would be like if they didn't talk about future visions or things they want to push out.

No progress?

Things may be borked up with the weapons or what ever your current problems are but the game has gotten better and things have been added and some of those things were player ideas or came from feedback from the players.

5 minutes minimum just to log on.
5 minutes to load contacts just to make a squad.
Resets every third game and 5 more minutes to log on.
More suits
More weapons
More maps
PC
FW
Corps
ISK transfers
Fitting glitches that needed resets that took 5 minutes to log on.
Horribly crippling lag in every game mode.
Horrible hit direction.
The sounds are different but overall better.
Bland but looks better.
Better visual effects.
Better UI
Squad Finder
Better leader boards
Over all better performance

Those are just the things I can think of and yes some are borked up and yes there are some vehicles or maps missing but overall we have made progress. To think otherwise is an appeal to tradition. You may not be happy with the progress or agree with what was released or how but you cannot honestly say that there has been no progress.

As for CCP and their customer service, they do listen and do what they can to use our suggestions and feedback. CCP does reply to tickets and deal with them appropriately. Don't let frustration with how you think the game should be developed cloud what has happened and the progress we have made. Call me whatever you like but progress has been made and the progress made was player influenced feedback through the CPM and from CCP reading the forums.

They have a great idea and intent, but **** execution.
It's like those products on infomercials; great idea, right price, made in China with second rate materials and no care for quality.

They've got a lot of work to do.

But, overall, they seem to be getting a little bit closer to the right path. Just a little bit.

Agreed. Facing the right direction. Now if they could take two steps forward and one back instead of the opposite. There is nothing more frustrating than see someone themselves in the foot after being told the firearm is loaded.

Im just interested in one thing.
How our community see the CCP globaly, their progress, achievments through DUST 514.
And their care for customer.

By my side of view i really admire their visionary work on concepts/ideas and their customer service.
What i hate is no responce by devs, their secrecy and overal feel "like they don care"/"they are lost"/"they dont listen to us".

From a friends perspective on why he doesn't play as much anymore

"Dust just isn't progressing at the scale I had hoped. Stagnant game-breaking issues that I used to joke about now just frustrate me because they've gone so long without being fixed.

The issues that have been keeping me away:

--"New" content-is often just bullshit copy-paste of previous content. (Example: Commando Suits -- which are just heavy suits with some values changed and a paint job... If CCP's style is going to be like that, then there should be TONS of new content rolling out constantly. It doesn't take more than a couple hours to paint a skin and change some numeric values in an excel spreadsheet, and it certainly doesn't constitute a "major update"

--Dwindling playerbase/New player experience - I've attempted to recruit so many old BF players to Dust over the year or so I've been playing. The new player experience is absolute **** and none of my friends (read: Zero out of about fifteen) have stuck with it for more than a week or two. This is a microcosm for the entire Dust experience which leaves new players hanging out to dry after only one or two games in academy. No tutorial, no PVE and an extremely short academy = horrible New player experience & stagnating playerbase.

--Bugs/****** Coding - This is what happens when you outsource your coders. One of the best examples with a long history is the RDV code for vehicle deployments. I've been playing about a year and the vehicle deployment code has been re-written (or more likely, tweaked) dozens of times. Every time they get it wrong. Sometimes it gets a little bit better, sometimes it gets a little bit worse. The end result is that after a year of trying to fix something, they have been unable to do so. This, and other similar examples, make me incredibly apprehensive about investing time in this game in hope of a "long-term" plan.

--Janky Gameplay & Other Games - For how simple Dust 514 is, it should run flawlessly on a PS3. Simple textures, box-shaped low-poly buildings, etc. This game should be soaring at 60+ FPS even with 16 on 16. Instead we see massive framerate issues, server lag spikes and a near necessity to equip your PS3 with a SSD to support the game. As an example, check out BF3 gameplay or Crysis gameplay - Both of these are much more visually impressive, yet run much smoother than Dust. I attribute this to a spider-web of bad code that may get you from Point A to Point B, but you're going to have to hit R,F,L,M and Q on your way there.... The reality is that without a ground-up rebuild with a better coding team and on a better engine, I don't see Dust competing with other options. Let's be honest, the Unreal engine is garbage."

You are kidding about the customer service right? They sometimes take forever, and generally they refer to their policy on most things, so you are out of anything that could be considered satisfactory in many areas. They don't want people to know any facts, even if directly asked, which means they can play with the numbers any way they want on a lot of stuff; in other words we are at their mercy.

As far as their "visionary work on concepts/ideas" I do like the concept of what they told us in the beginning, but a lot of it is nowhere in sight. Their progress is slow, which is ok by me, as I would rather them get the bugs fixed before they add new stuff - which they don't really do, but I have come to except this. There achievements I would rate a B-, or maybe even as low as a C. The reason for this is that I purchase things, then they change them - be it ISK or AUR. Even though they have given refunds (on some things) when changes are done, I still think that the OP-ness of new things, then the nerfing of them can sometimes be frustrating; but again, I have to except it if I want to play the game, and I do like playing, even though there are many aspects that can be frustrating.

I can agree with what OP said however their customer service is crap their unwillingness to listen to their player base is beyond disgusting. And their over all ability to maintain and keep balanced game play seems at this point absolutely impossible. In short im surprised CCP is still in business and im wondering if this is how they run Eve Online. If so then there are more suckers in the world than i originally thought

You miss understand CCP cmdrwang the dev that doesn't have to listen to us (his words) is in charge of events in dust. His only charge is to get people to log in and nothing more. there is very little ccp can offer in regards to rewards in dust and this is of their own doing.

More win for ccp

CCP has to pay Sony to release hotfixes/patches over PSN. There was talks of a special deal with Sony due to DUST's unique development cycle but I'm not sure of the result. CCP tends to go a little overboard anyway as they have frequently done in EVE and having to pay Sony just makes it worse.

That's a shame and bad policy from Sony. There shouldn't be any barrier for a content provider to update their games. Games and gamers will suffer for it. Sony probably doesn't care - if someone gets frustrated with one game, they'll buy another. More money for Sony.

even if thats the case where they would have to pay sony for the hotfix... Just think of all the aurum purchases that have ceased because we dont know where this game will head(me for one stop purchasing boosters) and all the potential revenue from new people starting this game and quitting because of game breaking glitches, bugs, weapons

even if thats the case where they would have to pay sony for the hotfix... Just think of all the aurum purchases that have ceased because we dont know where this game will head(me for one stop purchasing boosters) and all the potential revenue from new people starting this game and quitting because of game breaking glitches, bugs, weapons

I have disposable income... Even some 50 dollar PSN cards sitting here... If this was Chromosome? or before the Terrible Aim Assist and Matchmaking patch of 1.4? i would spend those on DUST without a second thought.. looking to support the product.

After the lazy patch of 1.4 with absolute TERRIBLE matchmaking and TERRIBLE AA bandaid that ruined so much of what made DUST enjoyable from the moment to moment..

I just would rather hold onto my dollars as protest... It's sad, I bought boosters full time until 1.4 came around... then the last time i did was the Omega booster October sale... and after 1.5 i lost complete faith and won't put a dollar into the game until they address the Core mechanic issues.

Horrific Frame rate drops and dips. No consistency in Frame rate what so ever.

Horrific matchmaking process.

Horrific Hit detection.

Horrific Server/client updating...

Horrific Collision Mechanics.. Getting stuck on terrain 2 years later... still?... seriously?

Horrific map creation... The maps in DUST are bad. Roads dead end out of no where... Ladders lead to nowhere important.. No multi level playability without a dropship.. No spots for snipers.. No separation of mechanized and infantry based units.. Maps start with a clear side having an advantage over another tactically and in proximity to objectives. Almost no multi role playability considered what so ever in map creation...

Physics that most developers would sneer at...

That's a pretty long list of massive core fundamental things to running a FPS game... And DUST has big issues with them all and not the talent or resources it seems to address it.

From a friends perspective on why he doesn't play as much anymore

"Dust just isn't progressing at the scale I had hoped. Stagnant game-breaking issues that I used to joke about now just frustrate me because they've gone so long without being fixed.

The issues that have been keeping me away:

--"New" content-is often just bullshit copy-paste of previous content. (Example: Commando Suits -- which are just heavy suits with some values changed and a paint job... If CCP's style is going to be like that, then there should be TONS of new content rolling out constantly. It doesn't take more than a couple hours to paint a skin and change some numeric values in an excel spreadsheet, and it certainly doesn't constitute a "major update"

--Dwindling playerbase/New player experience - I've attempted to recruit so many old BF players to Dust over the year or so I've been playing. The new player experience is absolute **** and none of my friends (read: Zero out of about fifteen) have stuck with it for more than a week or two. This is a microcosm for the entire Dust experience which leaves new players hanging out to dry after only one or two games in academy. No tutorial, no PVE and an extremely short academy = horrible New player experience & stagnating playerbase.

--Bugs/****** Coding - This is what happens when you outsource your coders. One of the best examples with a long history is the RDV code for vehicle deployments. I've been playing about a year and the vehicle deployment code has been re-written (or more likely, tweaked) dozens of times. Every time they get it wrong. Sometimes it gets a little bit better, sometimes it gets a little bit worse. The end result is that after a year of trying to fix something, they have been unable to do so. This, and other similar examples, make me incredibly apprehensive about investing time in this game in hope of a "long-term" plan.

--Janky Gameplay & Other Games - For how simple Dust 514 is, it should run flawlessly on a PS3. Simple textures, box-shaped low-poly buildings, etc. This game should be soaring at 60+ FPS even with 16 on 16. Instead we see massive framerate issues, server lag spikes and a near necessity to equip your PS3 with a SSD to support the game. As an example, check out BF3 gameplay or Crysis gameplay - Both of these are much more visually impressive, yet run much smoother than Dust. I attribute this to a spider-web of bad code that may get you from Point A to Point B, but you're going to have to hit R,F,L,M and Q on your way there.... The reality is that without a ground-up rebuild with a better coding team and on a better engine, I don't see Dust competing with other options. Let's be honest, the Unreal engine is garbage."