Finally, to CCP: Eventually such shoddy treatment of your players is going to catch up to you.

Saberwing and Logibro can do all the damage control they want, but the simple fact of the matter is, we were misled for months about progression of this game, being encouraged to buy aurum with the promises of new content and long-term progression in the same format. Now we know better.

Maybe you guys really are competent programmers and the PS3 really was the only issue. I doubt it, but letGÇÖs say thatGÇÖs true. That is completely unrelated and does not excuse how you treated a very loyal group of players.

Moreover, to do this, and then be faced with obvious disapproval by your customers, and say essentially nothing for 48 hours, is pathetic, and reeks of incompetence, contempt, or both.

Even still, days later, the following things that, honestly, almost any well run business would have done by now to demonstrate a commitment to customers, have not happened:

1)An actual apology - Saberwings short and bland one, buried in a thread, is insufficient, and heGÇÖs not even the one who should be doing it. Rouge has said nothing even remotely contrite to date.

2)Concrete explanations of how our concerns will be addressed and why this happened. The responses to our concerns have been nebulous at best, and late GǪ I mean, why not mention right away characters would be transferred over if that was your plan? That would have cooled a lot of the rage. The fact that you didnGÇÖt makes me suspect you are backpedaling on the original plan, which is a bad one anyway, predicating all this on a game thatGÇÖs not even greenlit by the CEO!

3)Some type of good-faith offer to refund, at the very least, the last month or two of aurum sales. Changing plans and using your own intellectual property as best you see fit is one thing. But misleading customers into paying for something they are not actually getting is another. Is it a classic bait and switch? Maybe not, but I can make an argument that hyping boosters and the origin pack just days before FanFest, is very very close. No amount of backpedaling, dubious promises about Legion features and character transfer can erase that one!

You do those three things, CCP, and you will restore most of our faith in you (however misplaced) and may get me back as a customer. Otherwise, IGÇÖm not interested in supporting you as a company any longer.

Good day to you, sirs!

The problem is that they aren't MOVING THE GAME to a new platform as promised, they're creating a NEW GAME on the new platform and abandoning the old one.

This... This is just stupid.

It's not like this is the first time a change in course from CCP has caused rage and drama, and it sure as &$^% won't be the last. What's sad is that it could have been different this time.

As a community, we're all on the same page with CCP about what Dust is lacking. Many of us also agree that the PS3 has started it's long slow slide to oblivion, and that investing massive resources into it is a waste. You could also probably get most of us to admit that the current Dust player base isn't big enough to justify serious ongoing investment.

Where things have gone wrong is CCP falling for one of the oldest logical fallacies in Software Engineering. When dealing with a large project that is not working, with no obvious or easy fixes, the answer that always feels easiest is to tear it down and start over.

It's also almost always the wrong answer.

Dust is broken. But it's still making money. People are playing it, and they're still paying to play it. CCP should take a page from Square Enix's successful reboot of FFXIV. For those unfamiliar, there are some real parallels between the first FFXIV's failure and Dust's current situation.

Instead of trying to keep Dust limping along on PS3 while trying to develop an entirely new game on PC, CCP should strongly consider putting Dust on life support now. Keep a couple of devs for critical balance and bug fixes, and give the community some tasty discounts to keep them paying and playing.

Use the freed-up devs to expedite a port of the then feature-frozen Dust from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. Build for both PC and PS4 (as well as the XBone if MS is willing to play ball) simultaneously. It will take longer on the QA end, but if Epic has done their job properly with UE 4, the same code should run on both platforms. Doing both at once makes the Console/PC decision much less expensive in both money and time than porting later. Resist the temptation to do anything but get Dust running on the new systems.

Once Dust is playable on PS4 and PC, give PS3 Dust a Matrix Online style send-off. Instead of making people worry about their investments of time and Aurum and how they might transfer into a new game, make the PC and PS4 ports use the same character data.

Then start refactoring in all the Project Legion goodness, respeccing and resetting as needed - just like EVE's evolution.

IN CAPS SO THIS IS UNDERSTOOD.....

MOST OF US DON'T GIVE A **** ABOUT LEGION. WE ARE CONSOLE PLAYERS NOT PC PLAYERS.

If Legion becomes a reality, we won't be transitioning to pc for it. Now, you may not care because there are some eve players that will play it and a few others. But you will definitely lose the core group of guys who have been spending hundreds of dollars on dust and helping you guys with the fps design learning curve. Now, you may say, "fugg the console players, there are plenty of pc players that we can tap into"....but then be honest about it.

When it comes to DUST development I can tell you that we are currently looking at changes to Planetary Conquest, further iterating on item balance after Uprising 1.8 and some matchmaking improvements

In its current iteration, Dust 514 is a competitive, player-vs.-player, deathmatch-based affair. However, CCP Shanghai are working on cooperative, player-vs.-environment modes that they hope will encourage corporation-level play: "Survival" is a wave-based Horde mode, and "Infestation" will involve scouring any enemies trying to establish a toehold in corporation-controlled districts.

In both modes, groups of players will fight against drones, the so-called "rats" or "mobs" of Dust 514, to gather money and other resources. The idea is that these PvE modes will give players and corps new entry points into the robust in-game economy that ties Dust 514 and EVE Online together. Eventually, CCP plans to implement space elevators to carry those resources from the planetary surfaces of Dust to the orbiting fleets of EVE, linking the two games physically as well as thematically, economically, and structurally.
Other upcoming modes include GÇ£Penetration,GÇ¥ which will allow Dust mercenaries to raid and board EVEGÇÖs Titan-class warships, and GÇ£Gladiator,GÇ¥ a set of organized tournaments that will include in-game betting and streaming.

GÇ£GÇÿUprisingGÇÖ is not the end of the major, free updates. WeGÇÖve got quite a few more planned for the rest of 2013 and then out for two years, out for five years, out for ten years, just like EVE.GÇ¥

GÇ£This is the way that CCP does a game,GÇ¥ says Laurino. GÇ£WeGÇÖll never make a Dust 514-2, right?"

Regardless of character and asset transfers, if your not going to bring Legion to the PS4 in the future (IDC when as long as it doesnt interfeer with my dust gameplay) then dont bother with trying to make it look nice for dust payers.

Dust 514 is strictly a CONSOLE GAME, NOT A PC GAME, and anything pertaining to a PC release and no word on whats happening to console releases is straight up microsoft style bullshit. I will NOT join Legion if it doesn't end up on PS4 and nether will ALOT of your dust playerbase.

I have no intention of becoming a PC FPS player for any reason. Making Legion look like a PC only game was one of the worst mistakes youv ever made as a company. Your alienating your console players by saying "If you want to stay, switch to PC".

Character transfers are the least of concerns for those of us who have no intention of going to PC. Either MAKE plans for PS4 version of Legion or your can say goodby to alot of dust players when this hits.

Hi everyone. Me again.

...

Regardless of character and asset transfers, if your not going to bring Legion to the PS4 in the future (IDC when as long as it doesnt interfeer with my dust gameplay) then dont bother with trying to make it look nice for dust payers.

Dust 514 is strictly a CONSOLE GAME, NOT A PC GAME, and anything pertaining to a PC release and no word on whats happening to console releases is straight up microsoft style bullshit. I will NOT join Legion if it doesn't end up on PS4 and nether will ALOT of your dust playerbase.

I have no intention of becoming a PC FPS player for any reason. Making Legion look like a PC only game was one of the worst mistakes youv ever made as a company. Your alienating your console players by saying "If you want to stay, switch to PC".

Character transfers are the least of concerns for those of us who have no intention of going to PC. Either MAKE plans for PS4 version of Legion or your can say goodby to alot of dust players when this hits.

^ Sensible solution. CCP has no sense though, so yeah....

With only half of the hamsters than were previously assigned to Dust "development' (fixes and balancing); is it safe to assume that the speed and responsiveness we've come to expect from the DUST Dev team will suffer?