First off I will open with that the announcement of dust's closure doesn't come as much of a surprise to me. None the less has left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I still have to thank CCP, the community and all the friends (and enemies) I have made through this game, friendships that I knew, even then, that would last well after dust finishes.

I was fascinated with dust from the very first trailer way back when and was lucky enough to get into the Mordu's private trials. From the first day playing this game, I knew that it was going to be a massive time sink for me, I did not know just how much of a time sink!

When all is said and done, dust is a fun game. A great game really! What pulls it down is that it has so much more potential to be SO MUCH BETTER if CCP was just a little more daring. When I first joined, there were rumors flying all over about how things like warbarges would work, how we would interact with EVE players... Hundreds of, probably unrealistic, expectations that were never met.

When Dolan sent me an email saying he wanted me to join the War council (later to be known as CPM0), I was so excited. The chance to influence the game I loved was just a dream come true, a belief I hold even now with all the frustrations! During that time, my life was almost entirely dominated with dust related stuff and it was with many thanks to CCP I was able to go to Fanfest twice which was an experience unto itself.

Leaving the CPM was an interesting time for me. During the time that CPM1 came into office, there were a lot of exciting and interesting things going on surrounding Legion. A lot more than was shown at Fanfest. It was also an interesting time in my lift as shortly after leaving, I was about to move to Japan for at least a year. I left fully expecting that around Christmas time or so, I should buy myself a decent gaming laptop to play legion because at the time I was sure that by then, the legion beta/alpha would be open.

But Christmas came and went... Then summer came and went... Then I came home from Japan and nothing had really changed. Actually that's not really true, things had changed, but for the worse in the background. A lot of the issues that I thought CPM0 had worked out with CCP regarding communication with CPM had come back and had gotten only worse.

And now there is this. Here we sit at the end of dust's lifeline and the possibility of a new game to replace it. So now I speak to CCP directly;

This is a chance. A golden oppertunety. Please please please learn from your mistakes and don't go full dark during this development process. I don't want this new game to go the way of world of darkness. Get a CPM4 or a team of trusted players who can help you in this venture and listen to them. Part of me is excited to see what is next but part of me is terrified that the end of dust will mean the end of any kind of FPS ground based game set in the world of new Eden.

Make this work, CCP. Rekindle my faith and create a great game, make it everything dust should have been.

Either way, thank you for the last 4-5 years. It's been a wild ride!