CCP Games prides themselves on listening to their community. Sometimes they listen to the wrong portion of the community (IMO) but they have consistently delivered content that is user driven and reflects at least a portion of their community's desires for game improvement and growth. The area that, as a new player, you have yet to explore is the Planetary Conquest aspect of Dust 514. It provides much bigger payouts as well as salvage of items used in battle. The winners of these matches receive a planetary district which produces passive income in the form of clones sold automatically when the clone vats are full or manually to genoloution, the entity responsible for the sale of merc packs (150 clones) for the use of conquering the districts. In the PC battles we have the ability to call in Orbital Bombardments from pilots in Eve Online and generally have our best player's in the battles. This is mainly for players who have been around for awhile and have several million skill points acquired and specced into specialty suits and gear. This is what I like to play Dust for.
Many of us have been active on the forums discussing how to make the start of a mercenary career in Dust easier and more user friendly. We have already seen some player driven improvements with the Battle Academy and are looking forward to many new features sure to come. If you are a Dust merc and have some idea on what can be done to make the start of the game better, please join us on the forums and make your opinions and voice heard. We are responsible for directing the development team towards the solutions and pointing out the problems. Many of us have been playing since Closed Beta, which began more than a year ago so it really is unfair when we shoot you in the head while you drop grenades at your feet, blowing yourselves up but we want you to get better at Dust and be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our corps to move forward together through battle and blood to conquer districts and battle alliances and other corps seeking to dominate the battlefield.
Welcome to New Eden
The Free Agent: Episode 6 - Dust 514
FPS meets MMO, all on the PS3, in Episode 6 of the Free Agent
Okay so what's free got to do with it?
I'm glad you asked. Here's what CCP has to say about it on their website:
"DUST 514 brings a vibrant economy to the world of console shooters, featuring a player-driven online market and two types of in-game currency. ISK, earned through gameplay, can be spent on advanced armor, weapons, vehicles, consumables, and more. Aurum, available at the PSN Store, is used to buy visual upgrades and variant items directly from CCP.
DUST 514 is not a pay-to-win game. Players purchasing items with Aurum will not have an unfair advantage over those who only spend ISK."
Pretty much every free-to-play game out there makes the claim that they are NOT pay-to-win, but oftentimes that's far from the truth. But from what I have seen so far, this actually seems to be true.
But there is a seemingly unique feature to Dust 514, whereby, if you die, you actually lose all the gear you have equipped, and re-spawn as a clone of your former self. This means that you need to constantly resupply your arsenal of backup dropsuits and fittings (the exception being your entry level, substandard "Militia" gear).
It's actually sort of an intriguing take on the mass death that occurs in an FPS game and I think I've decided that I like their approach. But it does have unfortunately side effect of incurring ongoing resupply costs. It's not a huge deal as you seem to earn a fairly steady stream of ISK just by playing the game.
But for those who find it to be an unwanted annoyance, you can always purchase a "blueprint version" of all your favorite weapons and fittings, that essentially have unlimited use, regardless of deaths. But for the Free Agent, that's simply not an option, as these blueprint items cost Aurum, that pesky resource available to only the likes of our old arch enemy Mr. Spendypants.
What else can Mr. Spendypants get that we can't? Well there are some pre-packaged options such as the Mercenary, Veteran and Elite Pack available to those willing to shell out real money for Aurum. Though, in the long run I don't think these represent a hidden pay-to-win scheme.
Of course there is always the temptation to spend Aurum in order to get something just a little bit faster than spending the free currency ISK. Case in point being that I found myself to be utterly inept with the precision aiming of the clumsy entry level sniper rifles. I've always been firm believer in accuracy by volume so I really wanted to get my hands on a Heavy Machine Gun.
But much to my dismay I discovered that this requires a fair amount of investment in Skill points and ISK. This translates into a very real time cost, as one of the ways you accrue Skill Points is passively over time (much like in Eve). I would be lying if I didn't at least check into how Aurum could have gotten me into my Heavy Machine Gun sooner. But have no fear, I stayed true to my roots and resisted the urge to spend.
This is getting long; let’s wrap it up Free Agent
Okay so we had a rough start, but it seems like it improved right? And for once it seems like we have a free-to-play title that hasn't been overly monetized. But is it enough to outweigh how downright painful the first few hours were?
Negative first impressions usually ruin a game for me, but the more I play Dust 514, the more I realize there is a game here with immense depth and huge potential to revolutionize the MMO gaming industry. And if nothing else there exists a level of character customization and sense of scope that could put many traditional MMOs to shame. For those willing to dig a little deeper, I think you may find the claim of Dust 514 being the first true MMOFPS may in fact be legit.
But therein lies the problem. The only reason I gave Dust 514 a second chance is because I literally had to in order to write this article. For the average gamer, if their first few hours of play are anywhere near as dismal as mine, they will simply move on to some other free to play game and toss Dust 514 aside like a failed experiment.
And then there’re those baby squirrel gamers I was talking about earlier. I fear that Dust 514 is designed with too much longevity in mind for this subset of console FPS gamers. They may find that the early hours, days and even weeks of game play, just don't hold their attention.
It's a shame really. Hopefully CCP can figure out a way to smooth out the early stages of its game and hook people a little easier. Otherwise the vast potential of this 'first true MMOFPS' may be wasted on a smaller player base than it deserves. Certainly they can't expect it to succeed as something that their existing Eve customers play in their free time, as I'm told such a thing doesn't really exist.
I'd love to hear what others have to think. Were your first impressions of Dust 514 vastly different than my own? Is the Free Agent just a total console FPS noob who can't handle PvP? Let me know in the comments below or flame me on Twitter @Caergan.
Having tasted free-to-play console FPS, I have decided to turn back to my PC roots and revisit an older game with a decidedly slower pace. Stronghold Kingdoms is an MMO strategy game that I have dabbled with in the past, before my days as the Free Agent. Since accepting this posting, I've often thought of returning to take a second look at it though the discerning lens of free-to-play. Now is that time.
See you next time on the Free Agent.
Robert "Caergan" Gray