Hope this is not too divergent from the OP, but arena matches between groups of players (not necessarily corporations) with agreed upon terms (reward, match type, map, etc.) and that allows betting from others. Discuss. I am interested in hearing what you guys think.

Hope I don't need to say this, but I am: This is just something I would love to see, not something we are doing. I just want to get your guys opinion and feedback on it.

Hope this is not too divergent from the OP, but arena matches between groups of players (not necessarily corporations) with agreed upon terms (reward, match type, map, etc.) and that allows betting from others. Discuss. I am interested in hearing what you guys think.

Hope I don't need to say this, but I am: This is just something I would love to see, not something we are doing. I just want to get your guys opinion and feedback on it.

Open world just isn't possible on a console FPS, just forget about it its never going to happen no matter how much you wish for it.

Dust 514 is getting its own battle arena mode where more classical game modes would be found.

The best part is you can set up a betting system on it and its probably going to have specially tuned maps instead of the random generated ones.

Open world and Exploration to come later though.

None of those games are MMOs, the ones that do have multiplayer don't have 16 vs 16 on their open worlds, and in many cases during the single player, parts of the world aren't loaded so it actually runs at a playable speed, not something you could do with multiple players in an open world.

As much as I can understand a lot of the feeling for centering around PvP content, I feel there is a need to instigate a little counter perspective rather than just agreeing.

It is well and good that PvP is the center focus and anima of this game, we are also disregarding the ability to make this game something more. As I and others have gone over a few times in discussion: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=49714&find=unread there is a very sound number of reasons why PvE content is both good and quite necessary in a persistent MMO.

Rather going into some of the blatantly obvious notions such as time-player gaps and Full matches, let us consider as a premise that one of the most intensive PvP experiences coming from Eve Online is on the backdrop of PvE content and simpler gameplay. If I had to play strict PvP in an open world, there would be little else than the best fighters and the rest. I've met many of them and they are both good and well-funded. However, in Eve this is largely due to a dependence on others (as far as territory, rent, and resources go). Players who are exceptionally good a PvP only become so as a direct product of those who are more interested in other things such as PI, Mining, or trading. Likewise, the special equipment and tech is found almost exclusively from PvE content and turned around either for a profit or for personal use.

This is the nature of both an MMO and an economy. Taking this towards Dust, there is an impasse. Are we an independent game with it's own economy, players, and empires? Or are we simply a PvP-based game that is largely dependent on a fixed market with only the hope of being traded over to another game's (Eve Online) players for profit? If the later is true, than many things about this game will become rather fixed and quite possibly stale. As in every similar game, there will be the best at PvP and consequentially all else by this nature. Likewise, there will be much less dynamics than Eve, more akin to other FPS's and Clan dramas. However, this is not necessarily bad if we are to follow in suit as many other FPS games as we be something that still stands out in a larger picture. We can still remain very innovative as we allow more features such as boarding (being a pirate) or massive warfare in Conquest mode (Out in Null-Sec) or even arena and live events. But we will remain slaves to that system with very little control over our own destiny.

It is my hope that this is not quite the endgame for Dust 514.

<3 Punk

None of those games are MMOs, the ones that do have multiplayer don't have 16 vs 16 on their open worlds, and in many cases during the single player, parts of the world aren't loaded so it actually runs at a playable speed, not something you could do with multiple players in an open world.

Oh stop it. You know as well as I do that it years away. Expectation management, you has none.

There was also an argument that if the planet exploration is set up, then most likely you won't find other players. But that actually might be the beauty of it. To think about it, in all MMOs nowadays you are just one among the others; you do the same quests, explore the same locations, etc. There is really nothing heroic and unique and discovering something that has been discovered long before you, even if it grants you personal satisfaction.

In Dust (optimistic ideas follow), if every single planet holds something valuable to explore, not counting the beforementioned stations and ships, I think every player will have a chance of finding something really unique. It could be a new piece of Sleeper tech, or a blueprint of a Terran weapon, or an altar that is crucially tied up to the history of New Eden. I, personally, would do anything to participate in this sort of exploration, exploration where your discoveries are truly leaving an impact on the entire world and its economy.

DCUO might be an MMO but its not open world none of those games are they just have big maps, if your idea of open world is 1 large randomly generated map for each planet then i guess thats possible until a large amount of players try to enter the same world and the servers completely crap themselves.

Indeed, I would love to be a part of a game that offered truly unique experiences. Ones where only the players who there got the bragging rights to it, similar to the "I Was There" ads for EVE. Stories that could be like: My team and I were hired to kill Tibus Heth, let me tell you what happened..."

Hope this is not too divergent from the OP, but arena matches between groups of players (not necessarily corporations) with agreed upon terms (reward, match type, map, etc.) and that allows betting from others. Discuss. I am interested in hearing what you guys think.

Hope I don't need to say this, but I am: This is just something I would love to see, not something we are doing. I just want to get your guys opinion and feedback on it.

I dunno, you already have planetside for that. And what that game devolves into is a big zerg of one team running around capping bases, fighting small groups and rolling over them, while a big zerg of another team does the same, and the zergs never clash. Its boring.

The problem with a "virtual battlefield" is that war isnt fun. Its not fun to sit around at a base for hours waiting for a potential attack that never comes. And winning is always the path of least resistance, so fair, even, fun fights will mainly be avoided while massive, lopsided, boring slaughters will happen left and right.

DUST will mantain the fun of knowing you helped take that base, or helped shift that war effort, or took out that 20 million ISK tank and turned the tied of the battle, but will funnel it into fun, even matches where teams actually fight instead of taking bases where nobody is defending.

open world for conquest and arena for dueling.

I see each battle in Dust 514 being like a system in EVE. Persistent battlefields, but not "open world".

Perhaps sitting around waiting for an "attack" can be circumvented by an alert 15 mins of more in advance of an attack on a base. A contract is taken, an alert posted, and the two factions have an opportunity to mobilize forces to the soon-to-be-contested location.

Separately, in regards to the lopsided battles... Yes, I support them outright. I know this opinion won't be popular, but I don't think "small corps" should be catered to. They don't stand a chance in conquest and hopefully CCP could provide another niche for them to fill. Every FPS in existence centers on relatively small player counts. I'd be interested in a game where battles are decided just as much if not more beforehand in the warbarge than on the actual battlefield.

The maps aren't randomly generated, they've already been generated. Each planet has a unique topography, so whatever a planet looks like from space in EVE, that's what it will look like on the surface as well. And really large maps are really all an Open World/Sandbox is. We're just asking (and hoping) for the chance to explore them, and the New Eden universe outside of PVP. And FYI, EVE/Dust both run off a single server called Tranquillity. If it can handle 2000+ ships fighting over a single planet and not crash, I think it can handle a few hundred Mercs scattered across one planet and be just fine.

ugh I wish eve players would stop assuming that everyone else in dust doesn't know what eve is, i've been playing it for years, It CAN'T handle 2000 ships mate, they have to do time dilation, I dare say that 2000 mercs firing ARs and strafing back and forth will produce more server problems than 1000 clients pressing F1 at target 000231, in grind 0005 at so and so gate/moon.

Don't get me wrong I'd love to play in an open world, but people getting their hopes up and expecting all this open world PVE vs drones stuff are really jumping the gun and are just going to end up bitter and disappointed, atm this game barely seems to be handling the larger maps with 16 vs 16.