Biomassed: Who are you? Who do you play DUST 514 with, and what style of play do you enjoy?
Talos Vagheitan: Talos Vagheitan. I play a lot of Caldari FacWar, and when it’s not started up yet, I’ll hop in random squads in the squad finder. Unfortunately, most of the RL people I know who I’ve got to play this game have all got frustrated and quit, which is why one of my main motivations would be to help improve NPE. No matter how good this game gets, it won’t matter if nobody plays.
I love the logistics class. I always choose support roles in games. My other love in this game is dropships, seeing a video of the dropships was one of the reasons I downloaded Dust in the first place! Probably to do with my real world aviation interests.
The only roles I haven’t really played much would be heavies, tanks, and sniping. I run pretty much everything else.
Biomassed: Tell us a bit about the “real you”. Who is the man (or woman) behind the merc?
Talos Vagheitan: From Canada, 26 years young. Commercial pilot on helicopters and single-engine airplanes. Been playing shooters since I was a wee tot in the early 90’s. Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, and almost everything since. Safe to say I know shooters! I’ve always had more fun in game editors than actually playing the games though.
Biomassed: Why did you decide to run for the CPM this year?
Talos Vagheitan: The reason I’d like to run is because of how much potential I see in DUST. I think the shooter market (as well as gaming as a whole) is declining in terms of quality. I really want DUST to be a success, and if I can help in any way then I’d be happy to be a part of that. I also believe I can do a good job with it, representing the views of the community.
Biomassed: What are the strengths you think you can bring to the CPM? What is your biggest weakness you’ll need to contend with?
Talos Vagheitan: Strengths: For starters I am completely unbiased towards any playstyle. I want everything in this game to be equally viable and necessary for a complete team. This means I’d show no favoritism to any particular group. The fact that I run almost everything also helps with this. When someone starts playing this game and asks “what’s the best thing to run?”, I want the correct answer to be “Depends what your playstyle is”.
I’m also stubbornly optimistic, which I think is something we need more of, considering the contagious “End is Near!” theme which plagues the forums from time to time.
My experience with this game has given me a very solid perspective. I struggled at first in a mediocre corp for a long time, getting routinely stomped in PC, and trying to stay ISK positive in pubs. I went completely broke at one point.
I was eventually picked up by ‘Ancient Exiles’. And went on to rule PC as the top corp in the game.
Because of this I can say I’ve seen the very top and very bottom of this game.
Biomassed: What do you feel is the role of the CPM?
Talos Vagheitan: The role of the CPM is to act as the community’s ambassador to CCP. When you open a direct line of communication to your entire playerbase you can get a lot of opinions. It’s the CPM’s job to interpret the actual consensus viewpoints to CCP.
Something I feel is also important is to differentiate between quiet majority consensus, and the louder minority, which I feel I can do.
Finally, to help determine appropriate compromise when the community is firmly divided.
Biomassed: How do you feel about the previous CPM? What was done well, and what could have been done better?
Talos Vagheitan: To be honest, I didn’t follow the actions of the previous CPM very closely. Last year I was pretty busy, and didn’t play DUST as much as I do now.
I can say though that I really like the direction this game has gone since last year. So in that regard they must have done something right.
Biomassed: What are your thoughts on communication between the players and CCP? The CPM and CCP? The CPM and the players?
Talos Vagheitan: It’s very impressive that CCP is this involved with the players so directly. It really shows to me that CCP cares about the product, which motivates me even more to help.
However as I mention above, in an open forum-style discussion you’re going to get a lot of conflicting viewpoints. For this reason I see why the CPM is necessary. It would be easy to hop on the forums at any given time and get the wrong idea of what the community actually wants.
Biomassed: Where do you hope to see the game by the end of your term?
Talos Vagheitan: At this stage of DUST, a port is on everyone’s mind. The game can’t survive forever on PS3. I would like to see DUST polished and improved to the point where a port is viable. By the end of my term, I would like DUST to be either ported to modern technology, or in a very good position to be ported.
DUST was originally planned to be cross-platform between Xbox 360 and PS3. Legal issues with Microsoft prevented that. My ideal scenario would be for the original plan to come through in the current gen era on both PS4 and Xbox One, although I would gladly settle with a PS4-exclusive port. I believe DUST belongs on consoles. I feel it’s necessary to reach a completely different playerbase than EVE.
Biomassed: If DUST is able to be ported to another platform, which platform would you prefer, and why?
Talos Vagheitan: As mentioned above, the ideal scenario would be for the original DUST 514 plan: Cross-platform on PlayStation and Xbox. However, I would gladly settle for PS4 exclusive. I don’t think PC would be best.
Biomassed: How can players reach out to you if they have further questions for you?
Talos Vagheitan: In game is best! Or on the forums. Or if critical, my personal Gmail: TylerWaage@
Cheers!
