Dune: Awakening's PvP Desert Dilemma Sparks Player Demand for PvE Servers

The vast, unforgiving sands of Arrakis in Dune: Awakening are meant to be a place of danger and opportunity. But for many players, the greatest threat isn't the spice blow or the lurking Shai-Hulud—it's other players in seemingly indestructible ornithopters. 😩 The endgame experience in the Deep Desert, the primary source for high-tier Tier 6 materials, has become a point of major contention within the community. What was envisioned as a tense survival landscape has, for some, devolved into what players describe as a "flight simulator with views of nothing but sand," dominated by aerial ambushes and group zergs that make solo or PvE-focused play nearly impossible.

The Core Conflict: Survival or Aerial Annihilation?

The debate cuts to the heart of the survival genre's eternal split. On one side are PvP enthusiasts who thrive on the unpredictable, player-driven conflict. On the other are PvE fans who want to engage with the world's environmental challenges and lore without constant fear of being stomped from above. In Dune: Awakening, this clash is magnified by the game's mechanics. The Deep Desert's open vistas offer little cover, making players on foot easy targets for ornithopter pilots—a tactic colloquially known as "goomba stomping." Funcom has acknowledged the issue, stating they have "people working on fixing" it to make on-foot combat more viable. But for many, a balance patch isn't enough; they want a fundamental choice.

The PvE Server Proposal: A Popular Refuge

The most repeated suggestion on forums and Reddit is simple: implement dedicated PvE servers. Players like u/PhynixGaming have laid out detailed proposals. In this vision, the player-versus-player chaos of the Deep Desert would be replaced by challenging public events. Imagine a "spice explosion" event where players and guilds race to harvest and deposit the most spice into an NPC container within a time limit, with the winners earning a double reward. The iconic sandworms, Shai-Hulud, would remain a universal environmental threat, preserving the feeling of danger from the planet itself rather than from other players.

For players who have had their fill of forced conflict, this option is a lifeline. "I had my taste of the Deep Desert yesterday and I am happy to NOT RETURN for Tier 6 materials," one player stated bluntly. Another, u/No_Mud_6881, shared a common experience: attempting to gather titanium only to be "zerged by a group of 10." Their conclusion was final: "I have not been back since... the game for me is effectively over." This sentiment highlights a real risk—that players who don't enjoy PvP are hitting a content wall that effectively ends their engagement.

The Other Side of the Dune: Arguments Against Splitting

Not everyone is on board with the idea of separate servers. Some argue it fractures the player base and goes against the developers' intended vision for a unified, dangerous world. u/QBall1442 contends that the endgame is intrinsically "designed around Landsraad and Deep Desert" PvP dynamics. Others, like u/StrikingValuable3686, question the point, noting that the desert is already sparse and that simply removing PvP wouldn't add new PvE content—it might just make the area feel empty. Their perspective is that the tension and risk of player conflict are the content in these zones.

A Community at a Crossroads

The discussion reveals a fundamental design challenge for Dune: Awakening in 2026. The table below breaks down the key player perspectives:

Player Perspective	Core Argument	Desired Solution
PvE-Focused Player	Forced PvP ruins the immersive, solo/small-group survival experience and blocks progression.	Dedicated PvE servers with event-based endgame content. 🏜️
PvP-Enthusiast Player	Player conflict is the core of endgame danger and excitement; splitting servers dilutes the experience.	Improve balance (e.g., ornithopter counters) but keep a unified, risky world. ⚔️
Developer Vision (Inferred)	To create a faithful, tense Dune experience where human conflict is as dangerous as the environment.	Tweak mechanics to empower ground play while preserving world PvP stakes.

Looking to the Future: Can the Desert Forge a Compromise?

As Funcom works on fixes, the community's loud call for optional PvE servers won't quiet down. It's a classic case of a game trying to serve two masters. The solution may not be a simple either/or. Potential middle grounds could include:

• Cyclical PvP Events: Designate times or zones where PvP is active, similar to sandworm migrations.

• Enhanced PvE Threats: Make the environment so brutally challenging in the Deep Desert that it requires cooperation, indirectly reducing random ganking.

• Robust Anti-Griefing Tools: Systems that severely penalize repeated killing of much weaker or solo players.

For now, PvE-minded survivors are left with a tough choice: brave the ornithopter-patrolled skies for essential materials, or limit their ambitions to the safer, but more resource-scarce, areas of the map. The fate of their journey on Arrakis may well depend on whether Funcom decides the true spice of life in Dune: Awakening is conflict with the elements, or conflict with each other. The community waits, hoping the developers' vision can expand to include both paths through the sand.