As someone else mentioned earlier in this thread, certificates are a valid option.

Certificates could be sets of skills that, if you don't quite understand the skill tree, would allow for a much simpler guideline by which to train skills. Combine this with something akin to ISIS and you have a recipe for simplicity itself.

But I'd still have to send another mail to explain the certificates....

If new players can't even understand something so simple, you probably have bigger problems than that.

If new players can't even understand something so simple, you probably have bigger problems than that.

It's certain at this point that one of the very few things that kept Dust alive was the complexity it offered. What killed it was the lack of understanding that complexity. There were absolutely NO TOOLS in place to aid the player in better understanding the progression system let alone understand the myriad of complex mechanics that were not immediately apparent.

No, I'm not talking about the 3rd party tools. I'm talking about in-game tools. 3rd party tools are great but there is no way for the new player to know for certain that those tools exist unless they visit the forums which brings me to my next point.

According to Dennie Fleetfoot (since he often gets in touch with CCP) it seems that the vast majority of the players that exist in the game don't really visit the forums... at all. If I recall correctly it was like somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-85% of the player base. That's a huge chunk of the players that don't read the forums at all. That means:

1. They won't know of any of the 3rd party tools available to them right now at this moment.
2. They won't know of any of the incoming changes that are happening to Dust which means they also don't know that Dust is now on the back burner of development as a result of Project Legion.

This is why Dennie switched gears and focused mainly on sending out in-game mails to the D-Uni members compared to posting on the forums. This way, especially considering that Dust University is among some of the largest corps out there at the moment, the information about anything happening to Dust can be disseminated to a much wider audience effectively to those who never frequent the forums. Now if you happen to be one of those people who go out of their way to ignore EVERY piece of mail sent to you, then obviously there is no hope in informing you.

Z's system isn't self exploratory-it removes the need for explanation by forcing you down a path to a role rather than explaining the roles before you choose. Limiting options and the ability to make your own role from the beginning =/= explaining anything better...it's just giving you less ways to skrew up.

I'm getting tired of this.

We played DUST 514 because it was different from other FPS games, not because it was the same.

Not sure why CCP seems so keen on removing some of the things that kept DUST 514 alive.

So you can imagine my reservations as to the assertions of others, that the current system is fine or just needs a bit of a tweak.... when I have to send out that much information to new players to explain it all!!

(an idea often proposed by the scrubby FOTM chasers).

This is a bit of a tangent, but people who chase the optimal way to play are actually the opposite of scrubs. FOTM wouldn't be such an issue if balance was given a higher priority.

I have seen no proof whatsoever that a lack of understanding the skill system plagued the majority of players. I believe they simply quit because the game was horrible and, by default, never got a chance to learn the skill system as a result.

Whatever exit survey Z conducted was likely tainted.

I have seen no proof whatsoever that a lack of understanding the skill system plagued the majority of players. I believe they simply quit because the game was horrible and, by default, never got a chance to learn the skill system as a result.

Whatever exit survey Z conducted was likely tainted.

So you can imagine my reservations as to the assertions of others, that the current system is fine or just needs a bit of a tweak.... when I have to send out that much information to new players to explain it all!!

Perhaps they aren't scubs then if they figured out an optimal way. But as you and me have seen first hand in Dust, a lot of those FOTM chasers end up being detrimental to the game as they often draw the attention of the "nerf-it" crowd who then often demand unwarranted nerfs to something that might not even be overpowered.

Perhaps they aren't scubs then if they figured out an optimal way. But as you and me have seen first hand in Dust, a lot of those FOTM chasers end up being detrimental to the game as they often draw the attention of the "nerf-it" crowd who then often demand unwarranted nerfs to something that might not even be overpowered.

I stopped counting over 2 years ago how many FOTMs we went through and how many times people asked for nerfs. Here is at least 5 I can remember from the top of my head.

1. Dropships Dropping (literally)
2. Dumb-Fire Swarms
3. The Rail Rifle
4. Cloaky Shottie
5. Redline Rail Tanks