An experiment at the expense of every PS3 consumer that participated. This is exactly what this "game" was. Now, I know a few of you may proclaim; "Hey, it's not like CCP forced them to make any in game purchases!" That statement is true.
However, it is my opinion that the audience was lead to believe; that there would be a future to this project. Technically, this is true; project legion is the future of Dust 514. That's not to say that the Dust 514 demo was handled in a proper manner. The whole 514 demo went about in a terrible fashion; one that may have terrible repercussions for it's successor. Also, made the who player base seem like a bunch of play testers.
Issue #1: The Dust 514 community was never really aware of the status of this game. Everything seemed fine up until fanfest; naturally so. Releasing such information at a prior date; would have affected the sale of aurum, and clone packs. As such; no forewarning was given to the community. That in turn lead the community to believe that the 514 demo; would remain a top priority for CCP.
Issue #2: Transparency. A word that was thrown at CCP developers; in an attempt to gain just that. There was a time in which the community had thought that they were given transparency from the dev's. Fanfest proved otherwise.
Issue #3: Laser focused. Anyone who was part of the Dust 514 demo; knows of these two words. They now seem like a blatant effort to keep whatever sales were being made.
Issue #4: Cash grab. That's what the Dust 514 demo seemed like to most people. It may be a signal of other problems. Example? CCP may be looking for its next income source. They have failed twice.
Issue #5: Ignorant Eve Pilots. Read number four. The EVE cash cow can only last for so long. CCP has been reaching left, and right; in an attempt to gain more income. You can only sustain them for so long. New projects are a good thing, but if they continue in eliminating every project they invest into; what will become of CCP themselves?
All in all; the whole thing was a mess. CCP should of been more vocal with what was going to happen with the Dust 514 demo. It would of helped curb the extreme backlash.
