After one dev said "The Deep Desert will always be PvP" just last week, Dune: Awakening's creative director Joel Bylos now says there will be PvE-only sections added "soon."
Dune: Awakening's endgame has been a contentious topic for pretty much the entirety of the game's short life. I'm equal parts impressed and horrified that so many of you have even gotten to that stage already.
A lot of the endgame gear is gated behind resources that can only be found in the PvP Deep Desert. Senior game director Viljar Sommerbakk said "You don't HAVE to engage in PvP" when you're in the Deep Desert, but when griefers can just ram you with an Ornithopter, it's unavoidable.
Following substantial critical feedback, the devs are walking back their original vision.
"Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert.," writes Bylos in a new message posted to the game's website. "But as Stephen King says, 'Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.' One of my hands is overflowing right now and sadly not with wishes."
To rectify this, "Starting soon, some areas of the Deep Desert will now be flagged as 'Partial Warfare (PvE)' areas where players will be able to explore testing stations and harvest T6 resources without the threat of conflict they may not want."
Bylos notes that "We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert – an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe." But ultimately, "Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in."
You'd think people would be happy, but you really can't please everyone. In the Dune: Awakening Discord, players are divided. "This completely undercuts the original vision of high-risk, high-reward gameplay that made the Deep Desert feel dangerous, meaningful, and rewarding," writes one player.
In the meantime, check out the best online games you can play.
