The developers of Dune: Awakening are trying to address the current criticism from the community following the release of Chapter 2 and the DLC “Lost Harvest”. Some players have expressed themselves in such a way that the creative director of the team fled from the official Discord.
What is known about the flight? The developers of Dune: Awakening have, of course, noticed that the new content is strongly criticized by parts of the community. Creative Director Joel Bylos joined the official Discord to respond to the often negative feedback from players.
Less than 24 hours after the release of Chapter 2 and the DLC “Lost Harvest”, the lead developer surprisingly left the official community platform of Dune: Awakening. In a Reddit post discussing the “flight”, Bylos explained this measure as follows:
After a very hectic day yesterday, I logged on to Discord (around 11:30 PM my time, to provide context) to see how the mood was regarding the patch. It was… negative.
I made a couple of comments and was told to step down, shut up, and in a particularly nice message, to kill myself. I’m not saying this to gain sympathy, but to explain the context for my next action, which was as follows:
I stood up, turned off Discord, and walked away. Life is short. I will talk to the people when we can have rational conversations.
Joel Bylos on Reddit
In a follow-up comment, the developer added that he is aware that the community largely consists of decent, loving people who want to share their enthusiasm for Dune. However, this type of communication is the reality on the internet; nowadays, some only communicate in this loud, provocative manner.
Why is there such harsh criticism? Why the new content of Dune: Awakening frustrates many players has been analyzed in a comprehensive article. The main points:
- Many players had taken a break and are now frustrated because they have lost their bases, vehicles, and other possessions.
- Chapter 2 and the DLC are supposed to offer a wide range of innovations, so there is something for almost every player type. However, those hoping for important endgame adjustments will have to wait until 2026. Those who believed that the DLC – similar to the DLCs for Conan Exiles – would bring a new building style with numerous building parts were disappointed.
- Overall, many players – as with the first DLC – feel that the content does not justify the price (in this case: 12.99 euros).
More building components for the Dune Man are coming
How does Funcom generally respond to criticism? An official statement from the developers went live on the official website of the survival MMO a few hours ago, primarily addressing the criticism of the new building style of the “Dune Man”. It says:
We are aware that our communication regarding the content of the DLC was not clear enough. The DLC “Lost Harvest” includes a variety of content, with a focus on the new side story and the Treadwheel. However, the way the Dune Man building components were communicated led to the expectation that it would be a complete building set, rather than what we intended: four new parts to complement the base game building sets.
We understand the disappointment some of you have expressed, and to rectify this, we will work on developing additional Dune Man building components that we will make available to all owners of the DLC “Lost Harvest”. We plan to add about 15 more parts, and we want to make them available by the end of September or early October.
Funcom on duneawakening.com
The developers further state that it was never the plan – as claimed by players – to outsource more parts of the Dune Man style to Twitch Drops. The Twitch Drop campaigns always have their own in-game items. Additionally, the developers want to make all items that were temporarily available via Twitch Drops earnable in Dune: Awakening over time.
What this entire criticism regarding building components and disappearing bases overlooks: DLC and Chapter 2 have brought many more contents to the game servers, including the continuation of the main story, a longer side quest series, and exciting class gear. You can find all the details here: Dune: Awakening now has new armor sets for all classes that many of you should receive without even breaking a sweat
