Personally having played this game for a bit now I think CCP is shooting themselves in the foot with DUST 514 at the moment. Beta graphics and glitches aside, you have no clue how to transition this game to console. Console players have A.D.D. and the moment you jerk them off or lose their attention your game is going to collect DUST.

The learning curve is a bit big for a console game (I have played EVE for years and I understand it). A lot of players left EVE Online due to the way the training skills work and the level of the learning curve. DUST 514 takes the brutality one step further and will place a brand new Merc into battle situations where they can not possibly win by pitting them against Mercs with much higher SP and who are much better geared. Nothing like chewing through someone's shields and realizing you can't chew their armor up, while they take you out easily.

There is no high sec for new players to start out in. The action starts out brutal and unforgiving immediately. Without a system that at least "recommends" an arena to start in and gain SP and ISK, I'm afraid DUST 514 is going to go the way of EVE. It will start out with a lot of players willing to give it a try and end up with about 30k players from possible millions who would have enjoyed it.

Please take full heartedly into perspective that you as a company decided o sell out to Sony and make this a CONSOLE game and the brutality of EVE that we adults have come to love is not going to work there at all. The vast majority of Console players are under the age of 18 and you are catering again to an audience of 30+ who will take the time to learn.

The PS3 in retrospect has far far less multiplayer numbers than XBOX Live. You NEED to attract all of the fans of this game as early on as possible. You are competing with the COD series and Battlefield series and just about every other FPS game out there. I understand you may consider yourselves a "stand-alone" game because of the MMO experience, but you are kidding yourselves. The entire genre of FPS games has come a long way and you have a LOT to fill in with those shoes. Right now I just do not see DUST 514 as a hit or anything that is really going to bring new life back into EVE ONline. More than likely it will be the 30k players from Eve Online (the other 270k players are all alts) playing DUST without attracting too much more attention from FPS gamers.

Also I wanted to comment on the "Skirmish" mode. You need to remove the clone reinforcement pts from this mode completely. Let it remain a capture the flag style mode of play and not just an ambush game mode in disguise. Too many times I have either been on a team or opposed a team that lost their numbers and probably could have won because they had the majority of the silos. It really makes that mode frustrating. You should just rename it "Ambush 2" and not doll it up by making it seem like it is a Battlefield 2142 style Titan game.

As I go along I find more that I should discuss. The equipment system needs a complete tear down and overhaul. Do not consistently make Mercs pay for their equipment every single time they die. Make the equipment single infinite use and price based on Meta Level and SP to use just like in EVE. Vehicles on the other hand you should have to pay for each and every time they get destroyed. But leave the infantry alone. Make this game easier to get into and enjoy. If you wanted an EVE clone you should have kept this title PC.