Some developers of Dune: Awakening hosted an AMA on Reddit, and fans are having a very mixed response to it. The main takeaway to note is the Deep Desert is staying a PvP free-for-all, but there is more PvE material in the works.
"We don't want to exclude solo, casual, or small groups," writes executive producer Scott Junior. However, "The Deep Desert will always be PvP, but we will be adding additional content to the game for PvE players, and other ways to progress your gear and base beyond what is available in Hagga Basin."
Currently, players are frustrated at how much endgame progression is linked to the resources you can gather there. Naturally, for players who want to enjoy the game without running into griefers, this is a problem. As a GTA Online player, I can relate to this pain, and I'm glad the devs have already addressed an Ornithopter ramming issue.
Senior game director Viljar Sommerbakk stresses "You don't HAVE to engage in PvP, but you run the risk of meeting hostile players. There are currently no plans to change this for the Deep Desert."
Like Ark: Survival Evolved, your base persists in-game even when you're not online. Currently, it disappears if you don't play for 25 days, and Sommerbakk writes "We are not planning to change how this works currently," so make sure you check in from time to time. You can read the full AMA right here.
One player seems confident in the future of Dune: Awakening. They reassure people that it will get "more of pretty much everything," from PvP to PvE, and remind everyone that this game is only a week old. As with most live-service games, there are teething issues and the end-game isn't to everyone's liking just yet.
I'm not sure it'll ever be possible to please everyone unless there's a way to completely split the PvE and PvP, but that goes against what the developers themselves want for the game. "We don't consider Dune a PvP game. It's a survival MMO with PvP as part of the experience."
Another isn't so convinced though. They list a series of issues. "Most people play the endgame naked with a water bottle. So why have gear in the first place?" they ask. They're also disappointed with the lack of factional objectives in PvP, and generally just see it as something where people "Just talk shit and gank noobs."
Community manager Ignasi Miró Sastre, also known as Iggy, did say "we want to also publish some sort of roadmap/plans for the future post at some point once the craziness of launch has died down," so hopefully that will make everyone happier.
In the meantime, check out the best MMORPGs you can play today.
