CCP Has Learned One Thing From DUST514 At Least

Its safe to say that DUST 514 was not the huge success CCP wanted it to be and I think a portion of that has to do with the title being a Playstation 3 exclusive release. I'm sure there were reasons (inexperience with server scaling/instancing to a large number of concurrent players, etc) but at the end of the day it put a hard cap on the number of dedicated players willing to invest long term in a crowded FPS marketplace, especially considering that the players most likely to make a long term investment were long term EVE players like me who are primarily PC owners and not necessarily PS3 owners. My disappointment that DUST never made it to PC was significant as I enjoy occasional casual FPS gameplay as in Call of Duty and Overwatch.

I also had interest in trying EVE Valkyrie which was a PC title but required a VR headset which I could not afford at this time. But recently when it was announced that in the Warzone expansion coming Sep 26th that people could play the game without a VR headset.

This is welcome news and shows that CCP has learned something from DUST's failure to catch on: lowering the barrier to entry will give more people a chance to try your product. I, for one, plan to try the game out and see if my old man reflexes are good enough to do something in the game to make playing it worthwhile.

Now, if only we could get some news on Project Nova ...

One Universe

From the CCP Presents Keynote we heard that CCP have a vision of not only having DUST/Legion interact with the EVE universe, and perhaps even Valkyrie doing the same eventually, but introducing the concept of a single account and logon for all three games (with a bit of enabling lore about new clone technology developed by Mordu to allow jumping from capsuleer to Duster to Valkyrie pilot).

What this means in practice is that my main character, Kirith Kodachi, could be a capsuleer fighting around a planet, and then switch games to be a Valkyrie pilot in the same battle, and then switch to be a Dust merc on the planet below fighting for a defense battery to fire upon the same opponents I was originally fighting in space.

This concept is not unique and is already being pursued by Wargaming.net, makers of the successful. World of Tanks (and less stellar World of Warplanes and upcoming World of Warships).With WoT and WoWp you already have single linked Wargaming.net account and so that I have the same name in both games, and WoWs will be the same. However, they are still a long way from any typed of linked gameplay between the games, and no word if they will ever have meaningful links for their in game economies (such as they are).

So let's turn this thought process on EVE. There is already links between EVE and DUST, albeit insignificant most of the time (but not all, see the tale of the Battle of Heydieles last December) but still their economies remain detached, I suspect for fear of rich EVE players disrupting any balance in DUST.

However, it will be a lot harder to keep the economies separate with a "One Universe" login as players in EVE will expect to be able to leverage their vast wealth in their DUST adventures and not have to start from scratch; after all, an EVE character name is more than just a screen name, it becomes an identity and has some weight attached to it. After all, as I wrote in To Be or Not To Be:

I don't have to roleplay a character fighting a war with thousands of allies against thousands of enemies in a battle to control resources and living space because I AM fighting a war with thousands of allies against thousands of enemies in a battle to control resources and living space.

In other words, being Kirith Kodachi in the EVE universe means something more than just a killboard stat and if I were to jump into DUST or Valkyrie with that character, I would expect some of the advantages I built up in EVE to assist me in some meaningful fashion. After all, can you imagine someone like The Mittani or Chribba just being basic noobs no one cares about in DUST if they were to start playing? These identities have weight and meaning in a single universe.

Of course, the trick will be balancing any connection of economies between the mutliple games such that having a pre-existing EVE capsuleer life will not grant overwhelming advantage in a DUST or Valkyrie session to the point where only EVE-born can play and compete. In the real world, countries accomplish this with taxes and local laws prohibiting undue influence of larger and more affluent economies from dominating local businesses and politics. The same can apply in a EVE to DUST/Valkyrie connection although I'm aware of the difficulties given the vast wealth of our local space communists and individual industry conglomerates.

And the connection should go both ways. A DUST-born player who becomes rich and powerful in DUST should be able to transfer that wealth into her start as a capsuleer should she become intrigued with space politics and empire building. I can picture a DUST merc making oodles of money as part of a team that fights for an EVE alliance to attack planets, and then turning around and putting that money into ISK for their first ships that they use to fight for that same alliance in space. Or maybe she will decide to settle down and build things instead.

Speaking of manufacturing, with a tighter integration I can envision DUST mercs leveraging EVE industrial corporations to mass produce the weapons and modules they need for their supply depots in their campaigns on the planets, requiring transport through enemy capsuleer infested space lanes to the system where the fighting will erupt on the ground.

In other words, a tighter integration with mobility or wealth and players in both directions between DUST and EVE can mitigate some of the dangers of EVE's wealthy playerbase and DUST's developing economy.

This is all highly speculative and any form of this kind of integration is years down the road, but it can be a very tempting goal to aim towards. Imagine, if you will, a completely integrated sci-fi universe where you can fight with blasters in a space station, dogfight in space in one man fighters, and then slip into a capital ship for an epic clash over a strategic orbital strongpoint all in one session. A universe where they are no rails, boundries, or safety nets and everything is player made and play destroyed. Where you can be everything and do anything.

That's a universe I want to play in.

We Are Legion

One of the big announcements from EVE Fanfest was that DUST514 was being ported and rebuilt and rebranded as Project Legion of the PC.

So time for a bit of history with Bill and because this is my blog, you have to read it. Or, I suppose you could leave, but your loss if you do.

Back when I was in university, Doom and Doom 2 were the big hits around the dorm. I played that game obsessively, even having nightmares about it, I was that enthralled. However, as much as I enjoyed the game, I was not a brilliant player. I inched my way through using tricks, caution, and lots of reloads from save files.

Hand eye coordination was never my thing.

We eventually lugged our PCs into one person's room and connected them with serial cables (it was like the Dark Ages, people!) and managed to get multiple players in a deathmatch, I found myself struggling. The next year when Quake came out and multiplayer was THE way to play, I found myself acting as cannon fodder for the other players. Embarrassed I told them and myself the lie that "twitch" games were not my thing and I only liked to play slow turned based games, and proceeded for the next 15 years to pretend that there was no such thing as a first person shooter genre.

The lies we tell ourselves can be reinforced over time, or chipped away. The myth I built around myself that I was clumsy and uncoordinated was reinforced at first but I as grew older and matured I started to break it down and discovered through sports like tennis and Jiujitsu that while I may not have an inclination for physical abilities, with practice I could overcome my innate inability and actually become proficient at these types of things.

EVE, of all things, was the penultimate blow that nearly broke that lie I had built up from that initial failure in Doom many years ago. By playing EVE and deciding on a PvP lifestyle, I found that despite near crippling panic and eye to mouse coordination I could be a passable PvP player in EVE.

About two years ago my friends at work started playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare during lunch breaks. I was encouraged to join in but I declined at first, old denials about being terrible at First Person Shooters coming to the fore out of reflex. But I had grown a lot in the decade and a bit prior and the peer pressure was significant... so I joined in. And yeah, I was bad. VERY BAD. I decided on a screen name of TerriBill I was so bad.

But as bad as I was, I loved it. I loved it so much I started playing online with strangers, another huge hurdle for different reasons we won't go into today. And there against players who lived and breathed first person shooters I was even worse! Hilariously worse! But I was able to laugh at myself and keep at it and slowly but surely I got better.

Last year at work the group upgraded to CoD: MW2 and then MW3. I played online with MW3 and continued to improve to the point where in most matches I'm solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of kills and in a few matches even near the top. And at work, I an no longer TerriBill as I have one of the best Kill/Death ratios when playing with those noobs. ;-)

All of this was to say that I was very disappointed when I found out DUST 514 was Playstation 3 only back when it was coming out. I wanted to give it a try but lacked the funds to drop on a PS3 with no other compelling reasons to do so. When I heard about Project Legion that was bringing DUST to PC I was ecstatic. I'm so looking forward to being bad at a new FPS game and slowly getting better.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the "One Universe" approach that CCP is copying from Wargaming.net.