Wait, is there something wrong with running solo?

Because I'm pretty sure it's the guys that run full-proto in 6 person squads that **** up match making or the sad little fucks that are too pathetic to win a Faction Warfare match on their own to they queue synchronize deployment that are killing DUST faster than any individuals doing stupid or pointless **** like going AFK.

No, I'm saying that 4-person squads are more balanced for a 16 v 16 match. I love running with more of my friends, but it's just impossible to balance in pub matches.

I bet a lot of times you see those guys running amok and you think they are solo players, but the quality of skill from player to player is just that low now a days. Beta had more hard-core FPS players, you feel the lack of skill from a group and are blaming those that don't squad up.

Thor, its a frickin pub match. Do you really think people will care MORE now that the game is dying? Especially when you guys come in with 6-12 members and 2 or 3 tanks/ads? I dont understand the mentallity of people stomping pub matches, then crying about lack of competition... maybe tone down the proto and vehicle spam and you'll find decent matches..

Thor, its a frickin pub match. Do you really think people will care MORE now that the game is dying? Especially when you guys come in with 6-12 members and 2 or 3 tanks/ads? I dont understand the mentallity of people stomping pub matches, then crying about lack of competition... maybe tone down the proto and vehicle spam and you'll find decent matches..

I play solo. :<

Wow you sound annoying. You really think it's solo players that make bad matches? Only bad matches I've ever experienced are a result of 6 man squads intent on stomping. I run solo all the time because running a squad is easy mode. How about you tell your squad to run only standard gear (or better yet hop out of your easy mode scouts/heavies and use starter fits) and see if match quality improves before blaming solo players.

Solo players are killing this game? What the **** are you stupid. The full squads of proto stompers are the reason that people check the board anyways. If we didnt have all of these tryhards that have NO skill and come on and use their proto to completely ******* destroy the full team of randoms maybe people would try. I play solo alot because i dont work well with others. If im soloing and i see a full squad of any GTA corp of course im not going to try. Because i know if i kill them once theyll try as hard as ******* possible to kill me. So yeah of course the solo players that dont/cant run proto and dont talk in team chat are the ones that are killing dust. Until squads are put against squads of equal skill the big corps like ml are the ones that are killing this game.

I can agree with this totally .

I just shake my head when I see players using prototype suits , now weapons I just don't care about and maybe I should but when I see the whole set up ... playing against people who are running straight MLT the whole match and their kill feed repeats militia weapons , this is what I have a problem with .

I just don't believe that anyone should wear proto in a pub match , now FW I could care less but like you said , when they sync in pubs , 6 person squads knowing that there faced against militia players and they still run proto , I believe that's a far bigger problem then solo players .

As far as AFKing , maybe they just don't want to play against the same proto squads while fielding militia , so I use to get upset at that but now I understand . Why let yourself be cannon fodder ? That's just flat out stupid .

As far as solo players go , I play solo but I understand the concept of team and I see players on that same team , that would let their team mate die in a gun fight ... I mean three and four players just sitting there watching someone get killed just because their not in their squad , now what's worst than that ..??.. when it's suppose to be a team game with squad elements but the team is bigger than a squad .

I totally agree with you Cass .

I see it everyday and it's a bigger problem than what the OP considers .

What if they added in a WP system in for helping your team mates/squad mates.

for example: Savior +10WP (Intervened and saved a friendly merc from certain death)
Squad savior + 20wp (Intervened and saved a squad member from certain death)

this would maybe make helping the doomed bloob worthwhile, and also promote the idea of squads.

This of course would be after new WP milestone rewards are added, so that we are not just working for an orbital strike.(radar boosts, radar jammers, comms mutes, installation call in etc etc etc)

Or entire squads who snipe form rooftops.. meanwhile no objectives are gettign tackled, they aren't covering me when I do.

These are the same squads you see rolling around mother ducck style with her ducklings.. all militia gear, looking like bots their movement is so ridiculous. They amble so slowly and get wiped the **** out regularly. it's just dumb.

I find most matches during the afternoon are chock full of that type of "team play" and it is impossible to get away from it. Trying to get into a FW match takes 15 minutes or more sometimes.. **** that. I usually just give up.


The player base is getting more and more anemic.

I had a lot to say but then i realized ccp just needs to make a mode for squad only and a mode for solo players only. The syncing will happen but it's not gonna be enough to ruin the whole mode. That way solo players can enjoy themselves as usual and squaded "needtowineverymatch" players can bash their proto gears against each other and frolic in matches fill with proto scouts and heavies. I myself am not suited for a squad as i horse around too much, (snipe, spend the whole match hunting 1 player, ect) God knows i love horsing around.

I think classes should gain better WP when operating around an objective.

Logistics gain a small improvement when healing, restocking, reviving etc around objectives.
Heavy HMG, better WP when holding or breaching an objective, WP gained through both kills and damage dealt
Scouts intel points and hack points
Assualts 100WP for every second they don't run away from a heavy or a scout or a logi LOL

Always makes sense to me ingame to reward people not just for kills or assist but for real team work.

Solo players are a huge part of the community, and they're horribly disadvantaged compared to organized teams. Solo players also make up the bulk of newcomers to the game, people who haven't yet gotten sucked in and found their niche with a corp.

There are people out there that go solo & do more for their team than most of the crappy pre-made squads that plague the game... It's only because people are (for some reason) scared to fight against a bunch of people with the same corp name, that the match becomes dull and boring. Even full squads do absolute **** vs 2 or 3 people who actually know what they're doing.

People need to stop blaming different groups of players for the problems, quite clearly, caused by the game...

-Give an incentive to actually win the match.

-Fix the terrible maps.

-Do something about the easy-mode barrage spam (which they are trying, but I doubt will get right.)

-Give a decent amount of isk... Yes there used to be an idea of balancing your money with your battles, but that went out of whack when half the game got a **** ton of money from an error in development and the other half didn't... So now the only balance is to let everyone spam ****, then it's even.

My objectives in DUST, in order are:

Win, and have fun
If you can't have fun, win
If you cant win, have fun
If you cant win OR have fun.....
edit your fittings.

Where is an acceptable place to pull out Proto gear? I played the game for 2 years to be able to wear my best fits.....1 game a day? or 2?
Only pull it out if somebody else does? So I should tank my first death in a starter suit to "Get a feel" for what the enemy team is doing?
There are some really weird perspectives in the community I promise. It's cool because we are all here to play our own game I guess....

I personally feel like I do a bit better in my ADV gear because the tension of losing ISK (which I dont know why it's tense I have tons of ISK) makes me alter my playing, but I do like to whip out the easy mode here and there. The same reason I try to play as much of the match as I can NOT in my heavy suit, it does feel a bit cheap. However, everybody should be free to do what they feel, run what they want, and get whatever result they want. After all it's "just a game" right?

Edit: I also only squad with people I enjoy playing with, and when they aren't available I do run solo. I'm only available to play when I have the time, and I would rather not waste it trying to fill a squad with people I can count on to watch my ass, if I cant trust players for that Id just as soon not have any green dots deluding me.

I get bored pretty quickly in squad, unless its a small or really bad squad.
Don't understand how pubstompers get any entertainment out of the game.

No threat, no challenge, no fun, no glory.
Guaranteed a challenge running solo :-)

I don't think it's an issue of difficulty for the masses; I think it's more that few of these individuals (more apt description considering we're talking about folks who are by definition solo players) are inclined to invest the time and energy it takes to meta. This included owning/belonging to a corp, squadding, aspects of PC, forum participation, and statistics (like KDR, WP, etc.). Most individual players don't care an iota about any of that stuff. They just want to pew-pew.

I personally have no problem being teamed up with rando AFKers--actually, ending a match on the losing side with 20+ kills and a few deaths, against at team with a proto/PC corp squad, is always a huge ego boost. Maybe it's just me?

I would point out, too, that you could send messages to these players going AFK, offering to train them in teamwork and help them improve their own performance. Might be a better path to the Dust you say you want than posting plaintive comments on the forums.

Great OP.

I remember pub matches of old. Absolutely memorable. Me, young in New Eden and scrubby, fighting in some matches that felt absolutely epic, win or lose. People fought, back then in pubs and they fought hard. There would be close matches that came down to the wire, involving close watch of clones or MCC ticks. Guys giving it their all. Strangers from different corporations working together. It was great.

Then it all sort of dissipated. This is a bit before FF too. AFK increased. Folks would run to sniper fits whenever a lil blood trickled from their mouths. Mercenaries quitting and leaving the match.

It sucks man. It really does. Like you said, Dust is unlike anything I've played before. I didn't play MAG so Dust 514 was my first...let's say...mature FPS experience. I was a fiend man. Logging in day and day out.

It's just not the same no more. I know why and I understand it. But pubs are laughable. You can't post up scores of going 50 and 1 from a pub match and get respect, IMO. Maybe in the old days, where competitive players were all around. From those who mainly played PC and sometimes pubs to mercenaries aspiring to become better in pubs, using it as a training session to prepare for PC.

I'm sad how things turned out. And I'm disappointed in how pub players don't even play in pubs anymore. Now even playing competitively in pubs translate into protostomping or unfairness. No marbles.

The podium is yours, preach.