PvE
Another thing to implement into Dust 514 to help it standalone is making great PvE content, a good story can make the difference between being just like every other game that focuses more on pushing out multiplayer as its only real feature. New Eden has a lot of lore to tap into and make a truly gripping campaign/story, and the campaign doesn't even have to really take place within the same setting as the PvP content. It provides the opportunity to tell a truly gripping tale rivaling that of Halo, Gears of War, and maybe even Mass Effect. At minimum you can pull a story from each races back story, even more if you pull from some of the other fiction.
Then you can have PvE content within the PvP MMO setting which might have you exploring abandoned stations, extermination rogue drone infestations, clearing out drug dens, etc... build a better loot system and allow for at least a Dust player driven market (so I can sell loot I don't want or can't use). Maybe even some level of exploration of planets in an open world environment would be amazing, I could salvage some rare crasher sleeper husk all the while watching my motion tracker to make sure I'm alone. There is a lot of potential here and that is putting it lightly.

Weapon Customization

Now this is one of the topics I enjoy the most due to what kind of technology New Eden has to offer, in one of my earlier posts I mentioned stripping the features already existing on the Heads up Display. Turning the ammo tracker, minimap/ motion tracker, and the hip fire crosshairs into modules either on the suit or on your weapons.

Some of the weapons in Dust appear to have scope variations, varying mag sizes, and weapon calibers (within the same weapon type). I may even go so far as to say they have a rail system, which implies that they were designed with the intention of allowing for further customization. I would suggest that a possible way to improve on the tech levels on weapons might dictate how many possible attachments you can fit to your weapon.

Some examples of these attachments:

Short range sights, medium and long range scopes, canted iron sights, and night vision sight for example

Laser and infrared attachments (these would either act as a cross hair substitute or re enable them)

Directional motion detector, this would link to your motion tracker/ minimap and display enemy caught with the scanners cone of influence (both on your minimap and that of friendlies in the immediate area)

Under-barrel weapon/equipment attachments

Then we can look at weapon modifications that would alter the weapons stats and attributes, if you play battlefield for a bit you can see a great number of cool types of modifications:

Suppressor, which can contribute to covert operations

Barrel Modifications that can alter accuracy or range

A variety of ammo types

These are just a few examples of how to make the game a little more fun and interesting.

First and foremost I just want to establish a correction. The Minmatar had not been discovered while the Amarr were at war with the Udorian city states on Athra and that was almost 25,000 years before any of the events we take part in, including the advent of Cloned Technology, and was set in a time when the Amarr were only just discovering gun powder.

Prior to the Amarrian Space Age no Minmatar had ever set foot on Assimia, a major continent of the now Amarr Prime.

However yes I understand its a "Once Upon a Time" Mission though to do it right would require a huge amount of resources that Rattati doesn't have.

However more modern events designated as historical simulations with varied outcomes like the "Black Eagle" failed apprehension of Roden, Minmatar invasion of the Empire, Pike's Landing, and perhaps even Caldari Prime could work well to establish some historical events assuming context is provided before or during the mission/battle.

Beyond that I think PvE is going to be mainly looked at as a Drone vs Us scenario where we clear the area of X enemies who are set to a difficulty depending on mission tier or sec status for ISK and salvage.