There's another new patch available for Dune: Awakening, and more tweaks to improve the endgame experience for players who'd prefer to spend time in PvE activities, including the ability to farm Tier 6 resources and a better chance of getting Unique drops in PvE loot in Deep Desert.
Previously, Funcom launched Dune: Awakening's extended the PvE zone of the Deep Desert from about 10% of the map to 50%. It followed an AMA in which the studio told players frustrated by the endgame experience that it was "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert. Some had branded the endgame "toxic" due to griefing even after the ability for players to squish each other with their Ornithopter was supposedly patched out. Later, griefers intentionally landed their Ornis on other players' own thopters to prevent them from farming.
Dune: Awakening's last big update, 1.1.10.00, introduced a long list of changes, and while it didn't specifically deal with end-game issues that time, it did make some QoL improvements. But this time, there's a whole section of the patch notes dedicated to the Deep Desert, end-game, and Landsraad.
The ability to find more T6 resources in PvE areas of the Deep Desert is particularly noteworthy, as even with the rebalancing of PvE and PvP zones, it was still pretty tricky to routinely find T6 minerals without delving into heavy PvP areas. This should make it easier for players needing resources to find what they want without putting their virtual lives on the line.
It's not all bad for PvP fans, either. One of the changes includes a delay for leaving a PvP security zone from five to 30 seconds to prevent border camping and allow players to better protect their areas.
Here's the full list…
Dune: Awakening Patch Notes 1.1.15.0
Deep Desert, End Game, and Landsraad
- Tier 6 resources can now be collected across wider areas in the PvE part of the Deep Desert.
- We added an element of randomization to the respawn timer of unique loot containers in the Deep Desert.
- The plastanium tier crafting components were split up to drop based on the content location: Imperial Testing Stations, Caves, or Shipwrecks, with each of them dropping their own selection of components. Fallen Shipwrecks and Buried Treasure can drop components from any location.
- Added a chance of a different selection of Uniques drop in PvE loot in Deep Desert.
- The spawn rate of medium fields increased from 5 back to 8, and of the small spice fields increased from 22 to 30.
- The delay for leaving a PvP security zone increased from 5 to 30 seconds to prevent border camping and allow PvP players to protect their area.
- Changed Landsraad tasks to allow for Kill and Delivery Contribution to happen after the task has been completed but awarding only personal contribution. (i.e., which faction won and how many guild votes were awarded are unaffected by contributions made after the task was completed by one faction).
Other:
- Improved game stability.
- Reduced the cases where the sandworm can push vehicles under terrain.
- Added a new audio alert for the PvP zone change.
FIXES
- Fixed an issue where the Harkonnen faction recruitment contract “Do you have what it takes?” could sometimes get stuck and couldn’t be completed if you exited the dialogue with Maxim Kazmir before selecting the line “It says here that you’re looking for recruits“ to complete the contract.
- Fixed an issue where contract rewards dropped on the ground if your inventory was full, which could lead to situations where you would miss them. Now rewards can only be claimed when there is enough space in your inventory.
- Fixed an issue where vehicle modules wouldn’t highlight properly after the player had applied a customization variant.
- Fixed an issue where the positioning of a pentashield surface could overlap with an existing pentashield surface.
- Fixed an exploit that would allow building a vehicle with items from another player's inventory.
If all that's got you interested but you're not sure where to start, make sure to check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We've also got Dune: Awakening resource guides that'll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis.
Dune: Awakening has enjoyed a superb launch, with a 'very positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of going live on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO had clocked up over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform, and hit a new high earlier this month of 189,333 players. And it's already clocked up over 1 million players, too, making it Funcom's fastest-selling game ever, and securing a Great 8/10 in our review.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
