I think we'll be pretty alone on this but I too was annoyed with having to relearn all the basics of menu navigation for Dust.

My gripe with the menu navigation systems is that its inconsistent; some places you can navigate using d-pad and some places only that left stick works. And for example configuring keyboard bindings you use right trick to scroll up/down on the list.

I want to state up front that this an opinion of a total newbie... But, I think it might have at least some value, because every player will be a newbie at some point and probably get the same frustration I am getting. I haven't even actually made it to a battle yet...

The menu system is beyond awkward. This is a PS3 game... 99% of all PS3 menu systems use the following conventions:
X/cross - Select or approve
O/circle - Back or cancel
To edit a text field - Highlight with a stick, hit X, edit, hit X when done.

The menus in D514 seem to be made by twelve different people who've never met. To edit something, I have to hit square. To confirm something I hit the circle (most of the time). To cancel something, I hit X (most of the time). When in my "room", circle is used to open something... like the market place. But, then to get out of the market place, I hit circle again. This is inconsistent within it's own framework and is mostly backwards from the years of gaming that's been drilled into us.

Even if you ignore the cross/circle swapping, using circle to get into a menu and then using circle to get out of a menu is inconsistent and confusing. If a new player has to concentrate and read every option to get from one menu choice to another, they're probably going to start the actual game play with a really bad impression before they even get to fire a shot.

Note: Yes, I used the search function on the forum and was 7 pages deep before I decided there wasn't a huge thread on this already. Feel free to post a link if there is a thread for this already.

I totally agree & I think as this going to be a 'free' game things need to be as stream lined & user friendly as possible. The more minor irritations there are with the user experience the more likely people are to get frustrated & delete it. People won't be paying for it so if they get and initial bad impression there is not much incentive to struggle on with it, its no loss to them, they can just delete it & forget about it. I think minor points like this are important, I really think the skill system needs a major re-think for the same reason, as does having the equipment/weapon switching on the same button on the control pad. I think navigating the game has got to be a easy & self evident for people as possible.

I'm excited for this game, it appeals to me a lot so I'm the sort of person who would struggle on with it. I'm sure many casual users wouldn't if they experience too many minor frustrations, at first impression stage they might think its badly designed & bad design can breed resentment.

By the next build, customizable controls should be added so the controls could suit mostly everyone.

As far as changing the universal commands, the controls and button scheme have been like this since the 1st beta release and it doesn't seem like it's going to change.