Dust 514

[Insanecyclone]

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[Cantih]

lol, dev fighting.
Tanker not massacring the infantry, no points captured.
The titan footage also isn't from this weekend.

Still, it's a sexy trailer. And footage of the new plasma weapons.

[Sol-Blackguy]

You might get some luck with these though http://dust514.com/news/blog/2013/03...s-your-friend/

I hope this winds up being something already built into the scout suits. After playing around with them, I can say that class has little to nothing going for it. Someone farting in your general direction will kill a scout, the movement speed nerf hit them the hardest since scouts were supposed to be the anti-heavy and able to strafe circles around them, scanning and signatures are still broken, sniping is out of the question since the upper tier rifles have the highest CPU/PG requirements out of all the weapons, their running speed is only a minor percentage faster than an assault, Type-II, B-Series and VK-0 Logis can do the hacking and running job better while having more slots, and scout suits are even more expensive than assaults right now. Anyone who mains this suit class has my undying respect, because it's like playing Dust 514 on hard mode.

As for right after spawning, the spots are randomish (unless it's an uplink or CRU) so it's not strictly spawn camping, but it depends on your base's cover. There are a few in rotation that are really unfavorable, and it only gets worse with certain maps. Except for Skim Junction (the long horizontal map with the three point base in the center), if you have enough light weapon sharpshooter proficiency it's possible to snipe people IN their redline base from YOUR redline base. Unless you've got a sniper that can match that range, you're just going to have everyone run at once and hope there's too many targets to cover.
(If you're in Manus Peak, and I'm on the south side team, and there's no tower block at B, you're pretty much fucked. I can get coverage on your bases in the first twenty seconds of a match and keep anyone from reaching A. I can get 30/0 if the opposing team is particularly unskilled.)

People like you are the reason why I hate Manus Peak

lol, dev fighting.
Tanker not massacring the infantry, no points captured.
The titan footage also isn't from this weekend.

Still, it's a sexy trailer. And footage of the new plasma weapons.

Yeah, I was watching the whole time asking "how the hell did they get enough WP to even get an orbital strike?" The new suit (Gallente Assault?) and the scrambler rifle look pretty badass. But at this point, I could care less about new toys to play with until they fix the already broken ones. Imagine someone using a triple complex damage stacked gauss or scrambler rifle. *shudder*

[Cantih]

Heads up, there is another Gallente/Caldari event going on NOW in the Mercenary tabs, only goes for a few more hours. Last chance to get the reward suits (or more if you already have some.)

Also, news is coming out
https://forums.dust514.com/default.a...314#post647314

I can confirm that the May 6th date is accurate for the new build.

Just need to get through all of April, then we get the new update. (And it may be that 5/14 is the date beta "ends", unless FoxFour is trolling. I give it 50/50 at the moment.)

[Kaisha]

Is the reward random, or for those that score high? Did a couple runs, performed horribly due to low skillspec, and got nothing.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Is the reward random, or for those that score high? Did a couple runs, performed horribly due to low skillspec, and got nothing.

You usually get the rewards some time after the following downtime. I just got my dropsuits from the last event today.
But the real reward is the higher drop rate on officer gear you only get as salvage. During the last event run, I got 30 officer rifles, some prototype suits from every class and even a couple of prototype LAVs.

[Sol-Blackguy]

New Human Endurance event starting April 3. I was already thinking about specing into scout, but this might seal the deal.

Introducing the Human Endurance Event

Ever find yourself short on battle supplies and wished you had a few extra blueprints to keep you in the fight? Then here’s your chance to stock up on some war material for your hard work!

Starting on April 3, we are introducing a brand new event to help our mercs stay in the fight. Here are the details:

During the first week of April from Wednesday to Sunday login to DUST, play a few matches each day and win in-game items!
Each day’s event will have 3 different ranks of mission requirements. The more you play, the better the rewards.

• Rank 1 requirement: play at least one match to win in-game items.
• Rank 2 requirement: play at least three matches to win in-game items.
• Rank 3 requirement: play at least five matches to win in-game items.

See below for details on the mission rewards for each day of the week!

Mission rewards - Week of April 3-7
Rank 1

Rank 1 mission rewards (play 1 match each day to qualify).

• Wednesday: 5 copies of standard Shotgun blueprints.
• Thursday: 5 copies of standard Submachine Gun blueprints.
• Friday: 5 copies of standard Sniper Rifle blueprints.
• Saturday: 5 copies of standard Scout Type-I dropsuit blueprints.
• Sunday: 10 copies of Enhanced Kinetic Catalyzer blueprints.

Rank 2

Rank 2 mission rewards (play 3 matches each day to qualify).

• Wednesday: 5 copies of CRG-3 Shotgun blueprints.
• Thursday: 5 copies of M512-A Submachine gun blueprints.
• Friday: 5 copies of NT-511 Sniper Rifle blueprints.
• Saturday: 5 copies of Scout A-Series dropsuit blueprints.
• Sunday: 20 copies of Enhanced Kinetic Catalyzer blueprints.

Rank 3

Rank 3 mission rewards (play 5 matches each day to qualify

• Wednesday: 10 copies of CRG-3 Shotgun blueprints.
• Thursday: 10 copies of M512-A Submachine gun blueprints.
• Friday: 10 copies of NT-511 Sniper Rifle blueprints.
• Saturday: 5 copies of Scout B-Series dropsuit blueprints.
• Sunday: 35 copies of Enhanced Kinetic Catalyzer blueprints.

-Edit-
Found out from the Dust forums the rewards are going to be similar to the BPC suit builds we've been getting lately. Basically, they have a set usage and will probably show up in the AUR storefront so your mileage my vary.

Also, just found this little gem while browsing the forums. Another guy willing to take on what he referred to as "blob warfare" where enemy squads stay tightly packed to overwhelm you. Plus he's doing this as a shotgun scout in an A-Series which is pretty insane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhiKFnZeaRU

[BadKarma]

This game needs to come out on pc -.-

[Groovebox]

This game needs to come out on pc -.-

Yeah it does. I've played it a bit on the PS3 and the graphics are just so awful... maybe they'll get better with patches, but man it just feels so dated.

[Waraji]

maybe they'll get better with patches

lol

[Sol-Blackguy]

Seems like ever since the definite release date for the new build, everyone is talking about a possible SP respec. At first, I was in severe doubt, but with all the things to consider with added dropsuit classes like medium assault, racial suits, pilot suits and more weapons, this might be a realistic possibility. Broke down and counted all the skills I would love to "unlearn" after playing around with them and came to the conclusion that I could probably have my core skills capped, get into an A/B-Series Logistics, one weapon maxed with maxed proficiency, another maxed, and have sufficient levels into hacking, scanning, and demolitions. Guess I'm getting sucked into the hype too.

Also, got into a PUP skirmish against Subdreddit today. For a pair of random squads and some no-names from an infamous corp I won't be naming on my side, we put up a good fight. Managed to even go toe to toe with Lowratehitman twice. Of course he kicked my ass on both occasions, but I sure as hell made him work for it. Not bad considering he has a ~2,000,000 SP advantage and I didn't have enough CPU to equip my Exo Mass Driver. In the end, it took a prototype logi dropship ferrying redberries around the field to beat my side. Definitely one of my all time favorite battles so far.

[Cantih]

I haven't put a single SP into dropsuits, I've been slumming it in my skinweave set of suits the past three months. Well, I have three in command, but that was to unlock the movement skills more than the scan profile, so no great loss that that bonus will go.

It's probably going to stay that way until they put out info on any new skill trees and new suit stats.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Anyone else notice the large influx of Logibros rocking upper tier SMGs and Flux Grenades? I'm a fan of unconventional weapons, so I might do some experimentation. Since got my Type-II Logi suit, I've been running the militia shotgun for shits and giggles. My friends laugh, but with the extra high/low slots, equipment, and the surprising amount of stamina/regen, you can rush people, bunny hopping and collect headshots like a bricked out scout. Having dropsuit command maxed seems to help too since half of my targets barely see it coming. Still need to see what's going on with the SMG Logi fad, feels like I'm missing out on something.

[Cantih]

There was a DUST/EVE link Q&A stream today, but it was mainly "it would be nice to do that, in the long run".

More interesting is the official podcast that just came out
http://dust514.com/beta/news/2013/04...ast-episode-1/

1. New character creation thinger. Maybe not the full EVE Carbon system, but better than what we have currently.
2. The skill system is going to be revamped, changes in skill effects, skill relations, new skills, etc. The UI is also going to be changed from the list system we have.
3. The big thing is there will be a full SP refund. You'll keep all SP, but you'll be basically be able to re-spec.
4. There should be a devblog soon with all the skill changes, AND a full infodump on equipment stats and reqs. But something mentioned was that category weapon skills (Light, Heavy, Sharpshooter, Reload, etc.) will be changed to more weapon specific batches.

If you're thinking of trying the game, don't wait for the update, the SP you get now you can use after the refund. Even if you don't play and miss the active SP, it's still a month's worth of passive SP, nearly a million, but less each day. Remember if you create a character through this link https://dust514.com/recruit/qssjbN/ you'll get a Assault Rifle BPO, and a 7 day active skill booster.

If you do plan on playing, now's the month to do it.

There's also a more detailed dev blog for the Human Endurance Event
http://dust514.com/news/blog/2013/04...-for-dust-514/

The main thing is rewards are NOT cumulative. So if you want 5 Scout A-series not 5 Scout B-Series, you'll have to stop at 3 matches on Saturday. Also, on days you want the rank 3, you may also want to play more matches, because if you accumulate 100 matches over the month during the event period, you'll get an extra bonus item from the new expansion. And it's not just this week now, next week is Heavy loot, then Logi, and most importantly the fourth week is vehicles. If the vehicles include any top tier dropships/HAVs, that is a VERY big ISK savings. If you play only one week, that's the one to do it.

Oh, and there are some Mercenary tab battles going on right now. No post about them, so dunno if there's a reward, or even what the story point is.

[Sol-Blackguy]

You had me at SP refund...
-EDIT-
Be careful going up against players that all have Djinni as their surename. Several of them are blatant hackers, running scouts with 1000+HP, infinite stamina and Duvolle shotguns that can kill you from assault rifle range.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Preview of the new skill tree in Uprising:

Spoiler: show

As expected, the massive overlap on skills will be a thing of the past. Soon, just to be efficient, consistent killers, we'll need to bear down and commit to even narrower options. No more dropsuit armor skills carrying over to vehicle armor, sharpshooting working for assault rifles and lasers. Looks like just about every weapon/equipment/module is going to be split up into different categories. Most likely, I'll still continue logistics with a focus on mass drivers and demolition, but I'm wondering if there's going to be changes to the redline sniper and glass cannon mod stacker community at large. Or, will there be a large turnout of cloaked scouts, HAV, LAV, or Dropships? Discuss!

[Kaisha]

Looks to be for the better. The existing skill tree is a bit overwhelming until you spend a good hour checking out every option/pre-requisites, just to see what tickles your playstyle fancy.

[Sol-Blackguy]

...aaand it's official:
Dust 514: Skill System Changes in Uprising Update

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8379/8...e074c73a_c.jpg
Mercs!

On May 5th, we will have an extended DT on TQ in order to bring you the latest “DUST 514” Uprising update. As part of the update, we are making major changes to the skill progression system and we will outline the changes and possible impact to players in the list below. This is very important step to the new skill system implementation, as explained by CCP Praetorian in both Merc Cast - Episode 1, and his Skill Progression System Dev Blog.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8543/8...e706b8b6_c.jpg

We have learned a great deal throughout last year, both from the perspective of what works and what does not with regards to the progression system itself and more importantly how you are using the items to advance through the game. As we started re-aligning the progression tree we realized that trying to map the new skills, bonuses and requirements to your existing items was not only complicated on the technical side, but also likely unfair to you, in that you may have committed to a certain play style, and with the new layout and skills you may find yourself regretting some of your prior choices. We have thus decided that it is far better to respec not only the skills but items as well. In short, you will get your SP's back and the ISK and AUR value of any item that is removed from your inventory. Below are more details on how this works.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8113/8...a751d750_c.jpg

Simpler. Deeper.

We have removed secondary and tertiary skill requirement from all skills. This means that while skills may have multiple parent skills in a linear succession, they will not have multiple direct prerequisite skills. We are also introducing a brand new node based view of the skill tree, and you are able to upgrade a skill multiple levels at a time provided you have the skill points to do so. This is a major improvement from the old eve style list. We are keeping the eve style list in there, for the nostalgia and for those that simply like lists.

How?

Your character(s) will be reimbursed all skill points that they have earned and used to date, for redistribution under the new schema.

Note that the respec only applies to your current skills, and items that you have in your inventory. The refund value of ISK and AUR items will be based on the market value at the time of the respect.

CCP Praetorian

[Cantih]

There's going to be a more in depth post later, probably after fanfest though. (eeeeee, one week left until fanfest)
It's nice to know that the list menu will be kept in as an option though.

I wonder what items are gonna get yoinked though.

Also, there's going to be a reddit AMA with devs tomorrow on /r/DUST514. https://forums.dust514.com/default.a...397#post697397
Go get your questions in if you have an account

[Cantih]

The members for the initial CPM (DUST version of EVE's CSM) have been announced.
http://dust514.com/news/blog/2013/04...-management-1/

The schedule for Fanfest is up. I dunno if all four stages will be broadcast, last year only two were, but here's the DUST panel schedules you should be able to catch SD livestreaming (or on Youtube a week or two later).

EDIT: Here's the stream schedule
EDIT: https://forums.eveonline.com/default...72#post2904672

(Times GMT)
Thursday
6-8 PM - DUST 514 Keynote (the big DUST announcements)
8-9 PM - DUST 514 Reflecting the Universe (Map Generation)

Friday
Noon-1PM - DUST 514 Planetary Conquest in Low-Sec (What it says on the tin)
1-2PM - DUST 514 Advancing the Core (Development Roadmap)

Saturday
X1-2 PM - DUST 514 Progression and Gear (New skills, and equipment of all sorts. + Q&A)X Not broadcast QQ
5-7 PM - CCP Presents! (Catchall, really big announcements, and probably a new cinematic trailer)