I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that the new AR gunshots sound like a drum hit from an old Casio keyboard, and that's all I can think about when I can actually hear them.

Situational awareness in Dust is one of its major shortcomings, which makes Dust compare very unfavorably to modern FPSs. Any sound designer knows that sound is something people don't pay much conscious attention to, but it can make or break a game. Currently situational awareness in Dust is poor due to lack of proper sound cues, and it makes for poor immersion.

While today's patch improved AR sounds, I still get dropped sounds. AR still sounds like a toy gun, though. We had a drop ship shooting at us in a Skirmish, and I didn't even hear the Blaster. But sound design in an FPS goes beyond how guns sound.

List of items to improve situational awareness, in order of importance:

• You must hear when you are getting shot at at all times, and it must be louder than it is currently. The red indicator is not enough. Exception silenced weapons (hopefully coming in a later expansion).
• When you are getting shot at should scale better with distance. Getting shot in the face with a shotgun should have much more oomph than a scrambler pistol from twenty meters.
• True 5.1 surround sound. In most FPSs these days I don't have to even look at the screen to know where to point my gun to fight back. Not sure if there's supposed to be surround sound in Dust atm, but it's not working if it's there.
• Foot steps, jumps, reloads, deaths (falling), and other action by enemies and friendlies should have cues - Heavies should sound heavy and be heard from longer ranges than Scouts. Sprinting, running and walking should have distinct volume levels. Added option for skills or mods later on to limit noise generation.
• Better reporting of hacked objectives. Now it is unclear whether my team was unsuccesful in a hack or is completing a hack, or the enemy - or maybe I'm just an idiot
• You should hear when someone gets hit, ie. when a projectile hits armor, or wall.
• You should hear the pop of the primer on a grenade when the fuse is lit. Also, you should hear a grenade drop on the ground or bounce off a wall
• You should hear the general audio from around you
• Proximity chat - already been promised

Also, any and all of the above might be drowned by louder sounds. They should also contribute to the entire sound stage, so that that firefight 200m away can be heard if you sit still.

Here's how this plays in the game: you (Scout) and your teammate (Assault) are approaching A. You hear running footsteps from your right behind a building, but see nothing on the radar - must be an enemy scout sporting profile dampeners who has spotted your teammate on his radar. Just as you are about to warn your teammate on voicecomm, you hear shotgun shots from the direction of the footsteps. Your teammate's armor is getting pounded on your left - then he drops to the ground, dead.

You sneak around the building, and see the scout standing still - probably issuing orders to his squadmates to defend A. You approach him slowly from behind, take out your Nova Knives, and whisper "behind youuuu." You see the scout jump in shock thanks to proximity chat. Then you *snick* *snick* him to pieces.

You hear three sets of hasty steps approaching in the distance, one of them heavy. You drop an uplink, and start fusing a grenade...