Dune Awakening: Plans to Improve Endgame and PvP

The creative director of Dune: Awakening, Joel Bylos, detailed Funcom's plans to enhance the endgame and extreme PvP (Player versus Player) of the survival MMORPG. In an interview with IGN, Bylos acknowledged that these aspects need refinement, but reiterated the team's confidence in the game's core concept, especially in the experience of the "deep desert." The game, which is in early access, has been receiving community feedback on the need for more depth and challenges in its final stages.

Funcom has shown commitment to listening to players in order to evolve the title. The foundation of Dune: Awakening is built in a vast open world in Arrakis, with survival and conflict elements that harken back to Frank Herbert's original work.

Bylos explained that the biggest challenge is creating a meaningful endgame for a survival game, a genre that often struggles to maintain long-term engagement after the initial building and exploration phase. Funcom aims to go beyond the basic cycle of resource gathering and crafting, introducing systems that reward persistence and mastery.

"We still believe in the core concept of the deep desert," stated Bylos, emphasizing the intention to maintain the brutality and scale of the Dune universe. The plans include:

• New guild structures: To foster collaboration and rivalry among groups.
• Enhancement of the Conflict and Consequences system: Making PvP interactions more impactful and strategic.
• New high-level objectives: That incentivize players to explore more dangerous areas and compete for scarce resources.
   

The goal is for extreme PvP in the "deep desert" to become the pinnacle of the experience, where players risk a lot to obtain the most valuable rewards, requiring delicate balancing to avoid frustration.

Funcom has a history with MMOs like Age of Conan and Secret World Legends, and the experience gained from these titles will be crucial in calibrating the systems of Dune: Awakening. Funcom's transparency about the challenges of the endgame is a good sign, and the community hopes that the promises will come to fruition so that Dune: Awakening can solidify its place among prominent survival MMORPGs.