A good analysis on current multiplayer value and worth in games, including player expectation is better said by a video that I've seen from TotalBiscuit. Also well worth a listen.
Dust has always had so much potential but little to stand up and say it has achieved. One thing that it has is the Dust 514 community, it is strong and committed.
CCP Rattati I hope will have a major input for any port/new game but not even he will have all the answers CCP needs. Above all for a port there has to be communication. Without it CCP will repeat the mistakes of the past if they do not listen to the current Dust 514 playerbase.
The current community can be a pillar a new game can stand on to be promoted well.
A port would see a lot of people leave no matter what the port moves onto.
Even if it were to a PS4 not all PS3 owners are going to get a PS4. I'm an Xbox 360 owner and I dont' have an Xbox One.
If the future of the new game/port is on PC then there is still the need to recognise Dust 514 players time and efforts from their PS3 days.
I think that it's very important to recognise the current playerbase but without communication from CCP it is hard to say what can actually be moved if at all.
- I'd like to ideally see everything as is moved over from my one room "hanger".
- If not then a conversion of items/suits/fits/skins into an equivalent item on the new/ported game.
- Alternatively to that there should be a system where items are given an isk value, BPO's given an Aurum value and then that ISK and Aurum are transferred over.
That all sounds doable but it gets messy when considering SP.
There is a lot of thought to be had on that front.. There is no easy quick fix. Not without more details. Will the new game/port even have SP. I hope it does as I like that aspect of the game.
If it does maybe players have their old SP amount returned to them slowly over time as an extra daily bonus.
My current main has just over 25 Million SP, if I was to get that back over a year I would get a daily amount of SP that is just shy of 70k. At least knowing that I was getting it back would take the edge off the subject for me.
A lot needs to be worked out and balance is going to be key.
Those that have bought into the game via Aurum should 100% have that reimbursed at the very least.
Only CCP communication can give answers on whats actually happening. Or heaven forbid if they actually ask for input on "What wold you think of" type of questions.
I have bitched a lot on my blog posts about the way CCP has treated the Mystery code holders of the Eve Second Decade box set.
I think CCP sees Dust in the same light as that boxset. CCP has a "working" product, they have taken the players money and can get more cash from players with it. But CCP don't need to change or do anything else.
This article from Polygon shows what CCP says publicly about Dust 514.
Here are the last two paragraphs of that article :
This is one of the most surprising things from Fanfest this year: CCP is happy with DUST 514, and the game is going well. I also asked about Project Legion, the sort of announced game from last year that CCP said may or may not become a product. I was told there was nothing to announce.
"We’re looking into a lot of options for what’s going to happen next for Dust," Pétursson said. "It’s too early to say anything to be honest. The game is now a profitable business for CCP, and that’s a good thing."
That article came before the Legion copyright was abandoned by CCP.
What is certain is that CCP are in some way "thinking about it" and that they are not pushed about it on any kind of timeline. That's it.
All other interviews are the same. As non committal as can be and as vague as possible. The usual CCP way.
A port for a game CCP is not talking about and is not really doing anything with means I have real fears and doubts about a "better" future for Dust.
That is where the community comes in and forces CCP's hand to make them take notice and speak about it. Communication via blogs, podcasts and forums is the only way to get a player base message to and from CCP. When there is enough widespread pressure. Lets hope things on that front ramp up. An Eve style summer of rage really is needed for a port but more than anything else a summer of rage is needed for communication. It all sounds like an uphill struggle. Where is the CPM. Hidden behind a wall of NDA. At least if they pushed for a public comment from CCP no matter how vague that comment would be, at least something would be better than nothing. Maybe they dont' want to say anything to move the applecart from it's knife edge.
I have no doubt that CCP can cut the Dust 514 cord and not give a damn about it or the players.
It is easier for me to foresee a plan where CCP takes one last hurrah for Dust 514 in an event where the empires in Eve no longer have a need for the Dust soldiers and take action to wipe them out in one fell swoop via an order 66 or a lysine action. With all the dust soldiers dead in one weekend the servers could be shut off and that would be that.
As long as Dust is 0.01 cent/penny in the black and not in the red they won't cut that cord or change Dust from it's current "maintenance" mode regarding development never mind a port.
Speak CCP Speak. I won't accept any old port in a storm.
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