This message isn't really intended for the public to scrutinize and reply to; its intended audience is the development team. If you have feedback which is relevant to what I say here feel free to add in; however, please keep your points relevant and to wit.

Lack of Stability / Fear of System Damage

I can't count on both my hands the number of times that my PS3 hard-locked playing DUST. I'm certain that terminating power to the console is not a safe thing to do and that continued hard shutdowns can only harm my system in the long run. In addition, it's frustrating to say the least that I have to exit the game completely in the event of a soft-lock. It is my opinion that the first issues to be fixed in a beta are stability / crash issues and this has simply not happened.

Lack of Developer Feedback on Testing

When I started playing in the Beta I was assured by the press statements that the Beta would have high levels of developer interaction with the testers so that our opinions could directly influence the game. I have, to date, produced four high quality reports on features in the game I felt should be different and received ZERO feedback on them from ANY member of the development staff. You have failed to uphold your promise here.

It brings me joy to see the LAV up to date in Codex after my thorough report, but I think this has more to do with the large volume of data gathered in precursor with the free LAVs than it does with my report.

Lack of Differentiation

Yes, I'm playing in the EVE universe. Yes, the things I do are supposed to have lasting impact. No, they currently don't.

I understand that this beta is designed to test more of the combat aspects of DUST and less the planetary management side of things; but it just doesn't feel like the things I do in the game directly affect my character or the battlefield. I can't destroy static terrain, I can't alter the battlefield, I can't jam enemy radar, I can't lay traps for tanks... the list goes on and on.

Skill points may seem like the answer to the "MMOFPSRPG HOW" question, but I don't think it is the right way. How does shooting people with a sniper rifle further my proficiency in driving a LAV? The only way to earn SP in EVE is with TIME, which makes sense. Maybe COD's gun-level system might work better here where kills with a class of weapon get you experience in that class of weapon... you know, something more in-line with SWG's pre-combat fix experience system.

Lack of Diversity

At current I have two game-modes: Team Death Match and Capture Control. That's it. Just two. In any given game-mode one of two things will happen:

1. A team will have a proficient vehicle pilot. Everyone will try and kill this person and die to the infantry who are shooting them.
2. A large group of people will ignore the objective of the game. In TDM this means that they will play as lone-wolves and die to two or three man teams. In C&C this means that people will over commit to capturing a point over and over again instead of using flexible deployment.

All the guns in a class (ARs, SMGs, Shotguns) feel the same. I don't feel like any one gun functions different from its counterparts. Go shoot a M16 and then shoot an AK-47 or an AR15, you will feel the difference. Space pew-pew guns should be just as different, if not more-so, than normal earth dakka-dakka guns.

Lack of Consistency

Scouts have a low sig-radius but show up just as readily as a heavy suit. No incentive is offered to killing mobile deployment utilities (nanohives / drop uplinks) while incentive is offered for killing vehicle deployments (tanks / dropships / LAVs). Swarm Rockets function less like highly advanced rockets and more like supercharged suicide bullets with an explosion. Grenades explode and do splash damage to infantry but man-portable missiles do not. Flux grenades completely fry vehicle shields but don't disable turrets / movement. AV grenades seek tanks but AP grenades do not. Mass Drivers do not shoot grenades... why not?

This list of things doesn't seem exhaustive and that's because it isn't. These are the things that come OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD. I'm sure if I dug deeper I could come up with many more.

Communications

Why can't we use the D-Pad: Left to bring up a quick communications panel with things like

• Need Fire Support
• Requesting Reinforcements
• Deploying Drop-Uplink
• Providing Assistance
• En Route
• Cover Me!

Also: communications that aren't voice have to be accessed via Select!? This is atrocious.

No Lasers... AKA Not the Future

This is the future. Where are my lasers? Where are my antiparticle cannons? Where are my micoscale nuclear devices? Where are my portable shield batteries? Where is my walking tank? Where is my bionic enhancement for non-armored infantry? Where are the elements of design / gameplay that suggest this is the distant future?

Under-utilization of Engineering and Electronics Skills

I feel like there should be some kind of... you know... engineering class or equipment which lets me build things. Maybe erecting bunkers or walls... automated turrets... radar stations... you know, stuff like that. Instead we get skills that do nothing but increase stats which are, at best, not used at all. Scan Radius? Why upgrade it when everyone shows up the same? This is a potential untapped goldmine and it's a shame to see it go to waste.

Summary and Conclusion

You can TL;DR this if you want. You can troll if you want. You can flame if you want... I really don't care. Remember, this post isn't aimed at you but at development. These are the reasons that I quit. I'm willing to bet that more than a few players have quit because of issues similar or derivatives. Good luck tuning your game. I will return later to see if anything's changed. -N