1) The Blueberries
Blueberries can make or break a win. Not necessarily on whether or not they're good at the game, but the drive they have to fight for the objective(s). While not a big deal in Ambush, other than the blue dots that like to farm points with Nanite Injectors (and you people deserve to die when the enemy finally gets you), it matters in Domination and Skirmish. I can't begin to describe the frustration I feel when I die fighting for the letter and see that, out of the 10 blue dots that are actually on my map, 6 of them are in the back "sniping" - because I sure as he'll wouldn't call what they do sniping. To my squad and I, that's worthless. The lack of help we receive from them is what costs us deaths, suits, and a loss. The AFKing needs to be somehow stopped, as well. All it takes is 1 pull of the trigger every minute to keep from being kicked. And that's still no help to my team. This isn't a problem that only I experience, either. I'll admit that I've own plenty of games because the other team gave up, and the poor few enemies that kept trying would die under a glorious hail of gunfire. So how does something like this get fixed? In my opinion, there should be more incentive to fight for the objective(s). Give increased point rewards for fighting in close proximity to an objective for everyone in the battle, not just for those squads that put a defend order on it. A big part of this community scoffs at Call of Duty, and to each their own. But that's something that Call of Duty does right. When playing Domination (which is like DUST's Skirmish) or Hardpoint or any other objective game mode, you get extra points for Attacker kills for getting kills in the vicinity of the objective and defender kills for killing from the vicinity of the objective. That's extra points for Orbitals. Who doesn't like that? That's more action around the objective and more help from the team. It's like Six Flags - "More kills, more fun."
2) The Sometimes Dreadful Maps
Some of these maps, I really like. They're fun and have something for everyone. But to me, what really kills a map is when they're too big. When I play a first person shooter, I want to be in the action. When my team takes a point and pushes enemies out of the area, it's time to go take another objective. But it's space, you know? Let's take a 5 minute run to the next objective to enjoy the scenery...or not. I know, I know. Maps need to be on the larger side to accommodate the snipers, too. But these maps are too big for the amount of players allowed on the battlefield. My suggestion? Increase the number of people on the battlefield, or decrease the size of the maps a little. Another option would be to put the objectives a little closer together. Another thing that comes along with the maps - on game modes that are more centered (Domination and Ambush), cut off a portion of the map. Spur on the fight by localizing the playable area. And as always, add more maps. And some color. And endless rocks are getting old. Give me a map with a tree. A bright blue tree with bright pink leaves. CCP, if you do that you would be my best friends and I would love you forever.
3) Tanks and AV Options (Right Now)
I have nothing against tanks overall. I agree that tanks should be difficult to kill. But with the tank buff and the anti-vehicle weapons nerf this past build, it feels near impossible to the average infantryman like myself. The swarm launchers aren't as effective anymore, forge guns are useful, but when a tank throws on hardeners, it's impossible to kill one. There's nearly no amount of firepower you can aim at on with a squad to take one out effectively, all while fighting for the objective. But a tank can be dealt with. The problem arises when you come up and fight against a team with four or five tanks, or more. There's no way to effectively combat those five tanks while fighting off the rest of the enemy team. "It's a tactic," they say. No it's not. It's stupid. A fix? Limit the amount of types of vehicles on the field. There's already a limit on the number of vehicles per team, but if you limit the number of tanks (and other vehicles) allowed per team, you don't have an unfair overpowering of already difficult-to-kill vehicles. What it also does is spur people to focus more on the infantry aspect of their character when they first start, since there is no guarantee of a vehicle in a pub match, which means they'll actually be playing the first-person-shooter part of the game. But hey, maybe I'm the only one that thinks tanks are a little overpowered right now. I don't think I am, though.
4) The Proto-Stompers
We all know who they are. They're the people who feel the need to use the best equipment possible all the time just to boost their stats and make enemy teams cry. It's a part of the game. But being on the receiving end, I've vowed to never do that to another team myself. It's very possible to do well in a match without the prototype weapons, dropsuits, modules and equipment, but when that's all the other team has, it's incredibly frustrating. And imagine being completely new to the game. You turn on the game for the first time, go through the "tutorial" of the Neocom (which still leaves you at the end thinkin "what the f**k is a Neocom), finish your three or four games in the academy and hop into your first real game against other players. And you get 2 kills with 16 deaths by people in black suits using guns that have five-word names. Why in the world would you want to continue playing that game? It's the harsh reality of CCP's world, but they're catering to FPS players, who tend to prefer their games to rely more on skill than on equipment. It just doesn't bring in new players. So I have an idea. In EVE, there are certain weapons that aren't usable in high-security space, such as bombs amongst other things. Why don't we do the same with prototype in DUST? Pub matches are "high-sec," factional warfare is "low-sec" and PC matches are "null-sec." This prevents prototype from being used in at least pub matches (the general games you hop into everytime you turn on the game), putting people on more of a same level equipment-wise, forcing skill, tactics and gun game to become important - the values of an FPS player. You also don't have newbies dying in two shots from a proto scrambler rifle, or coming up to a fight in which they can't even tear through half of the enemy's shields. That's a better new player experience and would probably retain a larger group of incoming players. What it also does is add an incentive for people to try and make their way into Planetary Conquest. If they want to use the cool stuff in the game, they need to be competitive. It spurs on the PC portion of the game, creating a lively competitive atmosphere instead of it just being the same corporations taking the same districts over and over again.
5) The Lack of Delivery of What We Thought DUST Would Be
When we first saw DUST at E3, we saw an amazing game with an amazing scope that is in the same world as, and coincides in real time with CCP's largely popular game EVE Online. There would be an open market within the game, as well as with EVE Online. All of this, along with other amazing things we thought we'd be playing when we turn on DUST. But there's no open market yet. There's barely any link between the two games, and DUST really doesn't matter at all to EVE right now. What happened to swaying the tides of war by being the boots on the ground? It's just disappointing to realize what the goal of this game was, and the potential that it could have. But we've had a beta, we're fully released, and we're still waiting. It's downhearting. I don't have a fix for this. But I urge CCP to start pulling through on these things that they said this game would be. The PS4 has released and they haven't transferred the game over to it (understandable, actually). But that doesn't stop the consumers from buying a PS4. And there's competition coming. New MMOFPS games are coming in games like The Division, Destiny, and the already largely popular free-to-play game called Planetside2. CCP, you have to give your players a reason to keep playing. I know y'all are patient and have long-term goals, but you need to start bringing this game to what you and your players want it so badly to be. Coming from an avid FPS player for years, these consumers will wait for fixes and updates that will make a game better, but they won't wait forever.
P.S. That bright blue tree with bright pink leaves would help. Just saying.
