Dune Awakening: Rampant Griefing Mars Player Experience

Dune: Awakening griefers are at it again, devising new and inventive ways to ruin other players' experiences. Once more, their tactics revolve around Ornithopters.

Last week, Funcom released the Public Test Client for Dune: Awakening and expanded the PvE zone in the Deep Desert from roughly 10% to 50% of the map. This followed an AMA where the developers acknowledged player frustrations with the endgame and mentioned they were "formulating a plan" to enhance PvP in the Deep Desert. Previously, players had criticized the endgame as "toxic" due to griefing, even after the ability for players to crush each other with their Ornithopters was reportedly removed.

Despite Funcom's efforts, some players have found another way to harass others by landing their Ornithopters on unsuspecting players—this time to block them from farming resources.

"All the griefers are now coming to Hagga to farm spice. They're using the same thumper and Ornithopter landing technique they perfected in [Deep Desert], but now they're applying it to farm all the minor nodes in Hagga," wrote one frustrated player over the weekend.

"This game faces some major challenges ahead. Griefers are waging an all-out war against everyone else on their server, and there's no way for solo players to unite and stop it. As a Dune fan, I don't believe planting a thumper only to have four Ornithopters land on you is part of the lore."

u/RandoFinder later updated their post to add: "I kept my Ornithopter at 730 km for 30 minutes until a spice blow occurred, and as soon as I moved, four Ornithopters were chasing me. Seriously, you all are pathetic. This happened in Hagga. Other players even threatened to doxx me in Hagga chat when I confronted them. I've been in WoW general chat and other toxic environments, but Dune general chat is the worst I've ever seen."

"It should go without saying that PvP is PvP, and killing other players in a PvP zone is completely legitimate and expected," responded another player. "However, trapping someone by exploiting game mechanics meant to prevent similar griefing—like pinning players with Ornithopters that can't be destroyed or escaped in a PvE zone—is griefing. Griefing should be explicitly and implicitly prohibited. If you're in a PvE zone, you shouldn't have to worry about players killing you through mechanic abuse."

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At the time of writing, Funcom has not publicly addressed the issue.

Dune: Awakening has had an excellent launch, earning a 'Very Positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of its release on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO reached over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform and set a new peak earlier this month with 189,333 players. It has also surpassed 1 million players, making it Funcom's fastest-selling game to date and securing a Great 8/10 in our review.

If this has piqued your interest but you're unsure where to begin, check out all the Dune: Awakening classes available, and follow our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step story guide. We also offer Dune: Awakening resource guides to help you locate iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to aid your survival on Arrakis.