You may recall that Funcom recently reassured Dune: Awakening players in an AMA that it was already "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert, a zone players had long labeled "toxic" due to rampant griefing—even after patching out the ability to crush others with their Ornithopter.
In an honest letter, creative director Joel Bylos stated, "We want PvE players to enjoy the endgame and access its content," emphasizing, "Our goal isn’t to push PvE players into a PvP system they don’t care about."
"We still believe in the core idea of the Deep Desert—a constantly renewing zone that resets weekly, fueling a rewarding activity loop. The thrill of venturing out, eyes scanning the horizon, aware that you’re entering the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. We hoped players would unite in guilds to rise above the Deep Desert’s harshness."
Bylos acknowledged that the Deep Desert’s "extremely competitive nature" was compelling players to engage in PvP even when they preferred PvE, and as a result, "some areas" of the Deep Desert will now be marked as "Partial Warfare (PvE)," allowing players to gather rare resources without fear of ambush. The largest spice fields, shipwrecks, and Landsraad control points will remain "War of Assassins (PvP)" as "high reward, high risk" zones.And now, just two days later, Funcom is already testing some bold changes.
This comes as Dune: Awakening rolls out its Public Test Client, where players can try the latest patch and features in exchange for accepting that builds may contain bugs or instability. To enhance the endgame experience, the PvE zone near the shield wall has been expanded to include rows A, B, C, D, and half of E within the Deep Desert.
Compare that to the current balance, where only row A is PvE—this shift effectively converts half of the Deep Desert from PvP to PvE.
As PC Gamer notes, this doesn’t guarantee these changes will make it to the final game—test servers are meant for experimentation—but it does suggest Funcom is seriously rethinking the endgame experience.
Dune: Awakening has seen a stellar launch, with a "very positive" user review rating on Steam. Within hours of its June 10 release, Funcom’s survival MMO reached over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, and hit a new peak earlier this month with 189,333 players. It has already surpassed 1 million players total, becoming Funcom’s fastest-selling game ever.
We gave Dune: Awakening a Great 8/10 in our review, writing: "Dune: Awakening is an excellent survival MMO that captures Frank Herbert’s sci-fi world remarkably well—mostly to its advantage, sometimes to its detriment. The journey from dehydrated peasant to powerful warlord of Arrakis is a joy nearly every step of the way, and the story and worldbuilding filled this nerd with pure delight. Still, Awakening has work to do: its combat never fully finds its rhythm, and the endgame remains a chaotic mess not worth the effort."
If all this has piqued your interest but you’re unsure where to begin, explore all the Dune: Awakening classes available to you, and keep an eye on our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We’ve also put together Dune: Awakening resource guides to help you locate iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis.
