We loved spending time on Arrakis earlier this year in Dune: Awakening, but we did run into some issues with the endgame. However, the team at Funcom has been very proactive in addressing community concerns, spending much of July focused on bugs, cheats, and exploits. With Gamescom just around the corner, Dune: Awakening shared a new roadmap detailing future free updates and DLCs. Funcom will talk more about the Chapter 2 Free Update and the Lost Harvest DLC during Gamescom, both of which will launch in parallel. The developer made it clear, though, that September’s updates are not focused on the endgame, because they were planned before launch.
As for upcoming quality-of-life improvements, players will be able to rename vehicles, storage containers, and other placeables, plus enjoy more reliable ornithopter rockets. We’ll also finally be able to swap seats in a vehicle via a hotkey. More detailed changes on the horizon include improved player logging (so we can see who is taking what from base chests) and a vehicle salvaging system so players can recover lost vehicles. The game is also adjusting the volume of cobalt paste and adding more slots to the Assault Ornithopter’s inventory. We’ll also get a new cargo container for the Carrier Ornithopter. Bigger changes we’re looking forward to include instanced Deep Desert loot and offline notifications for important events, so we remember to pay taxes and keep our bases powered while we wait for the next major update.
Those who care more about endgame will have to wait until Chapter 3 for significant updates to the current system. Dune: Awakening will continue to use the Landsraad as its endgame activity driver, and with Chapter 3, faction progression will be tied to the Landsraad. Players can also expect a greater variety of activities across the world to increase their faction rank. These activities will become contract-based rather than delivery-based to address the game’s current stockpiling issue. Once Landsraad activities are fleshed out, Funcom will transition the Deep Desert back to its original vision: a sandbox where players compete for control of the spice.
