PvE Areas #

PvE zones in Dune: Awakening focus on survival, exploration, and cooperative play, allowing players to build and progress without forced PvP.

Hagga Basin (Starting Zone) #

• Purpose: Main PvE survival zone for base-building and learning core mechanics.
• POIs (Points of Interest):
  • Crashed Ship Events: Dynamic events with rare loot (spice, blueprints), requiring players to evade sandworms while scavenging.
  • Ancient Sietches: Abandoned Fremen settlements with hidden resources, lore, and quest triggers.
  • Ecology Labs: Instanced PvE “dungeons” with puzzles, hostile NPCs, and unique rewards.

Shield Wall (Deep Desert PvE Zone) #

• Location: A 24km PvE section within the Deep Desert.
• POIs:
  • Spice Fields: High-yield spice deposits guarded by sandworms.
  • Thumper Sites: Deploy thumpers to summon worms for disrupting enemy ops.
• Function: Allows PvE players to access endgame resources without forced PvP.

PvP Areas #

PvP zones are high-risk, high-reward regions for resource control and territory warfare.

Deep Desert (Primary PvP Zone) #

• Mechanics:
  • Open-world PvP with loot drops on death.
  • Coriolis Storm: Weekly reset erases temporary bases, reshuffles POIs, and generates new spice blooms.
  • Spice Control: Guilds fight over spice fields and strategic landmarks.
• POIs – Deep Desert Point of Interest Types:
  • Spice Blooms: Large, high-value spice harvesting sites that appear and disappear with the shifting sands. These are among the most contested POIs, often drawing guild battles and sandworm attacks.
  • Eco Labs (Science Labs): Dungeon-like POIs containing rare and limited-time schematics, unique resources, and sometimes story objectives. These are highly sought-after for guild progression and player trading.
  • Shipwrecks & Imperial Testing Stations: Non-instanced, high-risk locations with rare loot, blueprints, and PvP encounters. Shipwrecks may already be looted or fiercely contested when you arrive.
  • Control Points: “King of the Hill”-style objectives that grant Landsraad (guild political) rewards to groups who hold them for a set time.
  • Natural Landmarks:
    • Misrabar: Sacred Fremen rock formation with hidden outposts beneath.
    • Hagga Rift: A massive chasm requiring lighting and survival gear to explore.
    • Radiation Zones: Areas created by crashed ships or events, requiring special gear to survive.
  • Trading Posts: Scattered hubs for supplies, contracts, and player networking. These also serve as fast travel and respawn points.
  • Story Dungeons: Instanced missions or objectives tied to main story progression, sometimes found in the Deep Desert.

War of Assassins Zones #

• Temporary PvP Areas: Activated during spice blooms or faction contracts.
• Rules: Full-loot PvP; players are warned before entering.

Right of Salvage #

Guild Voting: Guilds in the Landsraad can vote to enable full-loot PvP across the Deep Desert for one week.

Joining Friends & Base Visibility #

In PvE Areas (e.g., Hagga Basin) #

• Joining Friends:
  • PvE zones are instanced (“sietches”), each holding ~40 players.
  • To join a friend, you must be on the same server and same sietch.
  • If on different sietches, meet in a social hub (Arrakeen/Harko Village), form a group, and travel together to the same sietch.
• Base Visibility:
  • Your base is visible to friends only if they are in your sietch and you grant them access via the sub-fief console (co-owner or associate rank).
  • If a friend is not in your sietch, your base will not be visible to them. You must be on the same instance for them to see or interact with your base.

In PvP Areas (Deep Desert) #

• Joining Friends:
  • The Deep Desert is a shared, persistent zone (no instancing), so friends on the same server can freely meet and play together.
• Base Visibility:
  • Bases in the Deep Desert are visible to all players in the zone, provided they are on the same server.

Server Infrastructure #

Dune: Awakening uses a hybrid server system for performance and persistence:

• Worlds: Persistent server clusters (shards) hosting thousands of players. Characters and bases are locked to their World.
• Instances:
  • Hagga Basin: Instanced PvE zones (~40–50 players each) for private bases.
  • Deep Desert: Seamless, persistent PvPvE zone for hundreds of players.
  • Social Hubs: Instanced non-combat areas (~100–200 players) for meeting and grouping.
• Overland Travel:
  • Seamless transitions via the Overland Map; no loading screens between zones.
  • Limited cross-server play: you can visit friends’ instances only if you’re on the same World.
• Dynamic Scaling:
  • Instance layering creates new sietches when zones fill up.
  • Deep Desert and POIs reset weekly for fresh content.

Server Summary Table #

Feature	PvE (Hagga Basin)	PvP (Deep Desert)
Instance Type	~40-player sietches	Shared persistent zone (100–500 players)
Joining Friends	Sync via social hubs/same sietch	Direct travel (no sync needed)
Base Visibility	Only within your sietch	Visible to all in the zone
Cross-Shard Access	Impossible (bases are shard-locked)	N/A (shared server-wide)