Glass Bowtie
Kirkinen Risk Control
Caldari State
33
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Posted - 2016.12.31 16:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
NextDark Knight wrote:Now plug the damn server back in so I can use up whats left of that 10 year contract!!!
We are still participating in said contract right now. CCP never said anything about Dust exclusively taking place in-game. Sure, there are a lot fewer Dropships on the forums, and calling in an Orbital seems damn near impossible, but these forums right here are and always have been the highest tier of Dust gameplay.
Just ask some of the more tenured names (lore nerds) floating around the forums/Discord. They were some of the first to play Dust. They left almost immediately. When Dust was in the meat of its lifespan they were nowhere to be found. And as the wheels fell off they came back to be the loudest CCP rarara-ers around, with a larger piece of CCP's ear than anyone who actually played regularly.
Picking up a weapon and engaging in combat was the most foolish, unproductive way to play (and/or support) Dust. The real way to play was (and still is) here on these forums.
The alternative method is to join EVE, tout how boring and by the books EVEs end game has become, and preach false/misleading support for Dust/Nova as a shooter that can make a 13 year old spreadsheets in space game not boring anymore.
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Glass Bowtie
Kirkinen Risk Control
Caldari State
33
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Posted - 2017.01.01 00:04:00 -
[2] - Quote
7th Son 7 wrote:Glass Bowtie wrote:We are still participating in said contract right now. CCP never said anything about Dust exclusively taking place in-game. Sure, there are a lot fewer Dropships on the forums, and calling in an Orbital seems damn near impossible, but these forums right here are and always have been the highest tier of Dust gameplay. Without players and revenue games die. CCP cares first and foremost about players/revenue and not forum warriors first. I disagree basically with everything you said except that CCP listened to players too much sometimes .
Well I'm glad you disagree with that top part, obviously it was a joke.
Aside from that it's been my firm opinion that Dust was created as a tool for EVE and when EVE said no thanks, Dust was written off. I'm also of the opinion that those parts of EVE that said no thanks to Dust continued to hold sway with members of CCP, even as the actual player base as well as the CPM was completely ignored.
I also don't buy the line that it was simply a playerbase/financial issue. While the playerbase was never massive, it was for a time utterly dedicated. The whole FF14/Legion fiasco, as well as the silly patches surrounding this time did quite a number on that dedication unfortunately. And with the flight of that dedication went a large amount of money. I know between myself and maybe 5 or 6 other Corp mates we spent a few thousand dollars. It's impossible to say, but I think the player base was there in enough numbers, and with enough dedication, to switch to a sub system.
I'm not saying subscriptions would have saved Dust, it was dead well before FF14 and even pretty far back into 2013, but I don't think the financial/player number argument is a legitimate one, at the very least not on their own.
Of course, these are simply opinions, and I'm just as hurt as anyone else that the 10 year plan turned out to be a massive kick in the balls.
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Glass Bowtie
Kirkinen Risk Control
Caldari State
33
|
Posted - 2017.01.01 16:44:00 -
[3] - Quote
I would say Dust died well before CCP spoke of PS4 in any way. They introduced Legion in May of 2014, and they spoke of exciting new announcements at FF14 in January of that year. So you can figure they knew Dust was done at least in the last few months of 2013, more than likely they knew this at the halfway point of 2013, maybe sooner.
And the Aurum and packs. Good lord in high heaven did they push Aurum and packs in the months leading up to FF14. 10 year road maps, exciting new announcements, special deals on the microtransactions, these were the lines literally right up to the day of FF14.
Of course I understand that Dust on PS3 was becoming less viable by the day, and it had to end at some point. I remember all the comm issues, waiting for battles that never connected, bodies of clones shooting across the screen like a bullet going warp 15 (that was my favorite glitch), matches lagging out, vehicles either not getting dropped by the....RDV was it?, or getting dropped from 10,000 feet up (another fun glitch).
However December or January of 2013/2014 was the time (or one of the times) of insanely overpowered vehicles, followed in February or March of 2014 by the ridiculous overhauling of the scanning game, along with the introduction of the Combat Rifle and Rail Rifle. I would say the reactivation of Aim Assist in the last quarter of 2013 hurt the player base as well, along with the circular buff/nerf cycle in the latter half of 2013.
And SoonTM.
None of those issues killed Dust on its own, but taken all together with the Legion announcement and of course the player base dropped off. There's not much point in discussing this topic past May 2014 and into the Nova times because we were told Dust was on its way out at FanFest. No surprises after that.
I wasn't here from the beginning, but player numbers felt more than stable during most of my time, which would mean they were under an acceptable level as far back as late 2012, if not sooner.
And I don't know if it's correlation or causation, but the great KB/M DS3 forum wars line up in a very interesting way in the time line of Dust. Obviously KB/M support was included for EVE people, and obviously the intensity of said forum wars dwindled as the original target player base left the game. The war over this topic was about finished after the halfway point of 2013, and this is when it seems likely that Dust was officially dead to CCP and Legion became the focus.
I'm not saying the KB/M topic killed Dust, but I think it shows who the target audience for Dust originally was. Let's be honest, there is no reason for KB/M support on a PS3 shooter. Left unmodified the KB/M wold obviously dominate and, understandably, modified KB/M input is unacceptable for a shooter. It should have been left out from the start. Unfortunately that would have ignored a large portion (if not the entire portion) of CCPs target playerbase. Capsuleers.
In the grand scheme of things the end game for clones on the ground was simply to be another tool in the kit for the pilots in space, which I don't necessarily take offense to. They had the working economy, they had the responsibility of systems defense, they were our only real connection to Tranquility if the form of OB strikes. They did all the heavy lifting, we were simply there to help sway the tides of battle. But when EVE pulled out of Dust, the vacuum was filled by us, the slobbering packs of mongoloid console gamers. I can assure you EVE had absolutely zero interest in letting us affect (effect? I can never remember) Tranquility on our own.
Again this isn't the deciding factor for the death of Dust, but I think there was a massive loss of interest on CCPs part pretty early on when they could have simply shifted to a different target audience. **cough cough MAG cough cough**.
Anyway, there is obviously a boat load of speculation in all this, but simply saying the player base was dropping and that's why Dust died the way it did (I know it was on its way out one way or another) ignores the fact that CCP time and again shot themselves in the foot. Had they handled things differently they might have quite the IP on there hands right now as they attempt to sell the company (or whatever is going on). Speculation of course.
And I won't even discuss the financial stuff because CCP flat out sucks when it comes to the financial aspect, I think we can all agree on that.
As for Nova, meh. Really doesn't look like it's gonna happen. CCP may not even know that for themselves at this point, but I'm no longer considering a computer purchase. For me, personally, everything that Nova will not have (at least in the beginning) is everything that makes me want to play an FPS. I'm not saying I don't want Nova to succeed (if it comes out) but I'm simply not the target audience for what they've been talking about. I can understand they want to get the basics down before reaching for the stars, but we aren't talking about building a fusion reactor, we are talking about doing something that has been done a million times before, making an online FPS that functions on a basic level. Nothing about what Nova could be in the beginning makes it stand out from other FPS games, at least to me.
There's a lot of rambling above, but I guess my TL:DR I'd say playerbase/finances alone are not why Dust died the way it did. They obviously played a major part, but I think everyone needs to look at why those issues came about. CCP more than anyone. And I don't say that in a negative way, just in an "it's always good to learn from your mistakes" kind of way.
One last note since I seem to have to deal with this every time I post it: FF14 refers to FanFest 2014, not Final Fantasy 14. I refuse to acknowledge the stupid, cartoonish title given to the pilfering of the wallets of the playerbase. |