Would like to note that I don't see any dust 514 advertisments on any website on a computer that had its cookies scrubbed and one I havent been to a dust 514 website before.

Not sure what advertising algorithms google uses to advert dust or eve but once I do they become overwhelming majority of the side ads.

ok
i saw something that really disturbed me

"I really can't believe that anyone on the DEV team would look at the game as it is currently and think it was ready for distribution"

The game is FTP

JESUS
why are people still complaining about the game like ccp said its done and like they know how long it takes to make a game and have a half decent beta test

it's not like there sitting around doing nothing here
they are working and you keep pushing them

do you want there end product to be a crappy half finished piece of junk due to the fact you keep pushing them ?
just drop the case or stop playing until the game has gone through its so called full release at the moment they shouldn't have to make any promises

or meet any demands
you don't have to pay them so you are not necessarily a consumer
but you are supporting them

you will have to wait
and if ccp knows what there doing they will not rush anything for a (quick fix)
without thinking things through

nerfing buffing changing stuff can and most of the time do cause other problems

in one game
(nerf this gun it works to well against this unit type)
the class that uses that game becomes less effective and then the unit type it countered becomes more powerful against a unit type not even considers before hand

a lot of planing and thinking is going into this game give it some time

DUST was built for CARBON; which is CCP's own in house game engine. To justify the engine development costs they planned to use CARBON in all three of their titles (EVE Online, DUST 514, World of Darkness). However WoD got severely downsized, EVE Online went back to focusing on Spaceships and DUST 514 had a "sudden" engine change. I have a theory that Sony is the reason behind all this.

My guess is that CARBON, in its current state, is incompatible with the PS4. Here's what I've got:

- CCP decided they wanted to make an MMOFPS (DUST 514). So they built CARBON.

- Once CARBON was completed, several years ago, they began the bulk of DUST 514 development using it. They also bought White Wolf and began building the World of Darkness MMO using CARBON.

- CCP completed the majority of DUST features (like deployable structures, aerofighters, building interiors, layered objectives, more complete warbarge, etc) on CARBON in early 2012 and began internal testing.

- CCP planned for DUST (using CARBON) to enter closed Beta stage after E3 2012. They entered into server contracts to setup the battle hubs, began advertising, acquired any needed licenses, etc.

- CCP released CARBON to EVE Online via Walking in Stations.

- Sometime between the above and E3 2012 Sony released to developers that the PS4 would not be backwards compatible with the PS3. This f***ed CARBON as it was built with technology now rendered incompatible. They could either release the game only on PS3 and try desperately to rewrite CARBON in time for PS4 or port to a new engine. Sticking with CARBON would mean that they'd have to have two engines in house and they'd have to sprint to convert CARBON to PS4 before Q4 2013. That's expensive, risky, and could halt development of DUST 514 until after the new engine was made putting them severely behind estimated financials.

- After cursing Sony out extensively they chose to port to Unreal 3. This allowed them to continue DUST development on U3 while updating CARBON for PS4 on the side. It also gave the ability of a PS4 release using Unreal 4 if CARBON was not finished being upgraded.

- Due to CARBON rewrite World of Darkness gets severely downsized and EVE Online "refocuses" on spaceships.

- E3 2012 came around and they showcased the Unreal 3 powered DUST we have today.

- Since they already had signed multiple server contracts for the Battlehubs, had invested advertising, and had other testing resources they released DUST 514 to closed Beta after E3 with a limited Unreal 3 build.

- 3 months ago they went to Open Beta because they needed to test Unreal 3 compatibility with Tranquility. (They already know CARBON works, it runs on EVE now for walking in stations). They stated that they weren't exactly ready for Open Beta at that point, but enforcing the NDA on the EVE side would have been impossible so they had to go Open Beta.

- They are currently in mad sprints to port the remaining features from CARBON to U3 so they can release. In the meantime, to cover these unforeseen development costs they are advertising AUR purchases during BETA. (25 developers = ~$200,000 per month) and (10,000 Merc Packs a month = $200,000). Even if they don't get 10,000 packs a month some of the costs are mitigated.

Summary
I am assuming that they are farther along on things than we can see. Everything is probably working in house on CARBON and they're just doing a mad dash to finish ports of everything to Unreal 3. I'm guessing that the next build will be released around Fanfest and will give a full release date for either Q3 or Q4 2013.

Again, this is all assumptions I have made. I am a software development contractor in the Oil / Gas / Energy Industry so I've seen my fair share of crazy timelines, setbacks, and sprints. The above make sense and is reasonable. CCP uses Agile development, so it fits their release structure thus far. It also makes sense why they seem so out of touch with whats happening in game for us. They're used to CARBON, that's what they've been developing for, and porting from CARBON to U3 is the most critical thing right now. More critical than damage mods, or HMG imbalance, or any of the infinite little issues we're whining about on the forums. Once everything is ported over and working they'll move into balance mode.

Does it suck in the interim, yes, but if my assumption is correct then it isn't really their fault. Other than that they assumed the PS4 would support CARBON in its current form and it doesn't. Though Sony seems to have pissed off many developers with its lack of backwards compatibility - so CCP isn't alone.