What makes DUST special IS that a player with 50 million SP can still have a use for a militia Dropsuit. That ALL of those 2,000+ suits/items you have are actually useful and donGÇÖt become obsolete once you reach the next GÇ£level.GÇ¥ High SP players can squeeze higher meta modules into that militia suit and create great ISK efficient fits with it. ItGÇÖs incredibly gratifying to kill someone wearing a very expensive suit using a cheap one. The asymmetrical nature of DUST 514 is what makes the game compelling.

And no, looking at your old suits stacked up in your quarters doesnGÇÖt fix this. The inevitable result is to introduce an expansion with suit D that everyone works towards, and then gets bored with: i.e. the gear treadmill. People get exhausted with this kind of system and eventually move on to another game. All MMOGÇÖs with this approach to progression have declined in users over time. The only one that hasnGÇÖt is EVE, and it doesnGÇÖt use this approach. It is foolish to ignore this point.

The proposed system makes it difficult to change directions if youGÇÖre deeply invested in something you donGÇÖt like. Under the system proposed you donGÇÖt unlock certain weapons until much deeper in the tree. As balancing nerfs/buffs come out (and theyGÇÖre unavoidable in a game of this nature) itGÇÖs going to make adjusting your character much more difficult.

In the current system, you can quickly start a different weapon and move on, while waiting for your weapon of choice to get fixed. I think your proposed progression system will create a lot of unnecessary friction and frustration by limiting playerGÇÖs freedom for the questionable benefit of accessibility (which can be better addressed via the UI and tutorials).

You can have depth AND accessibility if you build the right UIs and invest the resources into making an amazing, story-based gameplay tutorial. EVEGÇÖs ISIS, and Mastery systems are excellent examples of how this can be done.

I suspect that your proposed system may very well draw in more players, at least initially, but it will suffer the same fate as other MMOGÇÖs using more traditional skill progression systems, and players will get bored and burn out.

Thanks for the post CCP Z, however this is not a discussion, this is you motivating your ideas towards the community.

Spectral-¦s Rant #1: Why Common/Uncommon/Rare is not good enough
https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2158804#post2158804

Spectral-¦s Rant #2: Accessible skill tree without dumbing it down
https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2158807#post2158807

Thanks for the post CCP Z, however this is not a discussion, this is you motivating your ideas towards the community.

Spectral-¦s Rant #1: Why Common/Uncommon/Rare is not good enough
https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2158804#post2158804

Spectral-¦s Rant #2: Accessible skill tree without dumbing it down
https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2158807#post2158807

Hey, I didn't link you here just so you could link back to your other threads

This will become a discussion when you start discussing things. I think CCP Z has done a great job for a first post here and a lot of new info has come out. Get involved, Spectral Clone!

I will be engaged for sure. Nobody here wants a new CoD/WoW MMOFPS in New Eden. I-¦m not saying this to be evil towards CCP Z or anyone at CCP.

Also, I recommend keeping this discussion to that of a "high-level". Discussing specific attributes (such as the exact PG/CPU values of certain things) is probably too granular at this point. CCP Z is currently working on re-vamping the entire Skill Tree and overall progression within Project Legion.

Back on topic guys...

I really like the idea you have for the removal of the 5 level node system...but how will you implement passive skills and bonuses?

For example, each variant of the Plasma Rifle will have its own node, but will there be extra nodes elsewhere for upgrading the reload/dispersion/ammo capacity? What about passive skills like electronics/engineering that increase dropsuit cpu/pg? Will they now be separate nodes for each extra bonus, or do you have something else in mind?

Also, I recommend keeping this discussion to that of a "high-level". Discussing specific attributes (such as the exact PG/CPU values of certain things) is probably too granular at this point. CCP Z is currently working on re-vamping the entire Skill Tree and overall progression within Project Legion.

This will remain the case in Legion, for different reasons:
You will have different contracts offered to you depending on your Dropsuit Meta Level. Basically, if you have 3 fittings with a 120, 200 and 350 Metalevel, you will have access to 3 different brackets where people will have the same Metalevel range as you. So, no Dropsuit will be obsolete. You will have access to non-match made battles, so basically you can pick any Dropsuit you want.

Also, why do you answer only the questions that fit into your vision, and not others?

Is this taught to you when you start working in CCP?

We will offer a Respec Option (which does not exist in DUST 514). More information will come down the line as the projectGÇÖs development progresses.

What?

This accusatory tone is probably not the best way to go about having your questions answered. Don't make me unlike the like I gave you in the PC gaming thread.

Ask a constructive question and it will hopefully be answered eventually. CCP Z answered some specific questions brought to him by CCP Frame based on specific feedback from forum users - there is no reason why your questions will not be answered in time as well.

I mean, who jeeps in proto?

I don't think that quite addresses the concern the player posted, unless I'm misreading your comment.

The value of Militia suits (and to a greater extent, BPOs) is twofold; one, they allow me to grind ISK for more expensive suits, which is, and I appreciate this, something you're trying to do away with.

But the second is the fact that no matter how hard I try I'm not going to go ISK negative in my sub-10k suit. That opens up quite a few tactical ploys that aren't effective in more expensive suits, like the infamous Jihad Jeep (I mean, who jeeps in proto?) or other actively suicidal ploys, often involving heavy suits and HMGs or light frames, shotguns and REs.

I'm worried that matchmaking based on suit meta level will take away some of the tactical diversity DUST offers.



As a personal anecdote to illustrate what I mean, I'm currently skilling up Caldari Scout. I should have enough SP for level 3 when I get home, but in the meantime I've been using the STD suit. The suit is 6500ISK, and it makes a profit in every single match, and it's effective; I've kept a KDR of about 2 throughout most of my matches, discarding outliers, which is a small amount less than my normal KDR of 2.5-3.
But the price of the suit allows me to have terrible, terrible games in the pursuit of entertainment; one match I had yesterday I went 18/17. Much of the other team in that match (like, more than half) was in prototype scout suits that much, and I'd estimate about half my kills were ADV/PRO suits. It's a very satisfying feeling when I come to the killboard at the end of the game and know that I destroyed more than five times the amount of ISK I lost, even with respect to my enormous deaths total.