Communinet Signal #18

Greetings Sleepers.

This issue is packed full of community shares and info from the last week, including a community run pinball event and the new in-game tattoos that you voted on during the Anniversary Stream. This is one you won’t want to miss, so let’s get into it! 

Happy First Anniversary! 

We were delighted to celebrate our very first anniversary of the release of Dune: Awakening. And what better way to celebrate than with a limited-time event featuring free rewards, progression boosts, and community-focused fun? Over the course of four weeks, you can unlock a series of cosmetic rewards while benefiting from multiple Progression Boost Weekends! Check out our blog post on details for the weekend boosts and cosmetic items. 

Developer Stream 

We also celebrated with a developer stream where we shared community highlights, updates, and more. If you missed it, here’s a quick rundown below! You can find the full VoD here on Twitch or YouTube. 

New In-Game Tattoos 

Our talented Character Concept Artist, Karoline Brenno, then went to work live on stream, crafting three incredible design concepts based on chat’s vote for the theme (with Shai-Hulud coming out on top). We then had one final vote on which chat liked the best. We are happy to reveal that we will be including both of the top voted tattoo designs in game (options 1 and 3)! Here are the final renders. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on when they are available. 

Player Stories 

We asked you to share some of your best memories and stories in our Reddit and Discord thread. While we weren’t able to share all of them, many were featured on screen. Make sure to visit those links to read more but here are a couple! 

In the first few weeks, I was in Aluminum tier and headed back to my base. I stopped by the wreck in the Vermillius Gap for some microflora fiber. A new player, still in a scavenger stillsuit came running up and hit me. When I didn’t immediately retaliate, you could tell he was having the realization I was a player and not an NPC. He immediately ran in the other direction. Little interactions like this in Hagga were always a great time. – AlphaElite1 

During the first month, made some friends on my server, the first one that managed to build an assault ornithopter flew by and picked us up, and we were flying around. one person accidentally fell/jumped out. we swung around to get them, and had a worm start coming towards us. we tried to pull up, but the worm got all of us. it sucked, but was hilarious. – Benigndarkness 

My favorite thing about Dune: Awakening has been the community and all the AMAZING people myself and Mr. Cuddles have met! We have laughed, cried, and banded together with so many people from around the world that we never would have met otherwise. I still remember the Deep Desert when I first crossed into it. It would make me so anxious and the exhilaration that came from the wonder and mystery if I was going to survive against other players or not. I still get that feeling to this day when it’s busy. – Mrs. Cuddles 

My favorite thing about dune is definitely the community. Meeting new people with the same passion has been great and hopefully that may continue with a possibility of crossplay in the future to play with my console only friends. I’ll also never forget that first time crossing the starter area to Vermilius Gap and my heart going 90 being chased by the worm. – Cam 

Q&A 

We also had an almost hour-long segment answering many questions we collected during both the stream, and through the Reddit thread we posted a few days before. We strongly suggest you watch the full section to get all your questions answered, as the devs go in depth on many of them as well. But here are a couple of what we went over. 

Question	Answer
Is there content planned before Sept 22nd for PC?	We will release Patch 1.4.10 before September, along with any planned community events or weekend boosts. We also have 5 new Landsraad missions in a patch coming soon! Since we want content parity across all platforms for the September console release, we will not be able to update the PC version with new content after submitting the build for certification to Xbox and Sony. It is a lengthy process.
Are there any plans to improve the PvP aspect of the game?	Yes. We have plans to improve things in PvP and have some designs in the backlog. Any changes we do for PvP must also be valid in PvE; one should not exclude the other. We are looking at melee and ranged combat, abilities, vehicles, and how they all unify together. We will do our absolute best to ensure a great experience for as many people as possible.
What are your thoughts on the current balance of the game and the augment/grade system? Will any balance changes be made to cull powercreep issues?	There are discussions happening about this internally. In terms of balance, we are reviewing and adjusting every piece of progression, including itemization, personal character power, and, in some cases, the ability to utilize the game’s mechanics, for where the game is at.
Are there any plans to rework or rebalance the personal rewards and decrees for the Landsraad?	We definitely want to look at and expand upon Landsraad decrees. This has actually been discussed internally recently. Personal rewards, on the other hand, are not at the top of our radar right now, but that does not mean we will never do it in the future.
For players who have already reached the current endgame (full Grade 5 gear, optimized augments, max Specializations, etc.), what do you envision as the long-term aspirational gameplay loop of Dune: Awakening?	We will continue to add features to the game, that’s a given. We can’t discuss specifics yet, but you can expect new ability trees that reinforce different combat styles, new specializations, and more. There will also be entirely new gameplay loops that tie into all the different feature loops.
Any chance to add roaming patrols or bandits in the Deep Desert or Hagga Basin?	It’s never been the top priority so far. Where we’ll get to them is when we’ll have a bit more time to sit back and look at where it’s important for the game.
Will there be more events like the one with the crashed ships and missiles that shot them down? I’d love to see an event with a solar eclipse on Arrakis.	We are definitely looking at doing more of these types of events. Joel has some cool ideas he is working on!
Will there be goals/activities implemented into both the PVP DD and PVE DD to enhance that location and allow solo/guilds to drive to new goals in that region?	The short answer is yes, we will do more stuff in the Deep Desert in the future.

Developer Deep Dive 

With the release of the Water Wars DLC, we introduced cosmetics surrounding the Water Shippers. So we wanted to show off some beautiful concept art we have of some outfits! 

For the Water Shippers outfit designs, we wanted to have clear delineation between the layers they used. Using quilting & then heated wrapped piping to indicate they are from a cold biome whilst adding plate pieces to indicate their amount of armor. 
 
Senior Lead Concept Artist, Josh ‘Badger’ Atack, created the first caped version to set the direction for the rest. We then played with a variety of color schemes to ensure they clearly read as a separate faction. 

Community Corner 

A cute birthday picture by Aredpandah. 

The previous Communinet Signals have clearly continued to inspire many of you to share your creations and events. And it also continues to be our greatest pleasure to share them with the rest of the community. Let’s take a look! 

Events 

We’ve previously been highlighting some fantastic events that the community has been putting on, and we are happy to highlight another one. You may have seen death races and aerial combat, but what about pinball or skee-ball? 

Sleepers on Odin have created a giant plinko build; get in a treadwheel, drop down into the chute, and see what prize you might get! Check out the full video on how it works! Want to get in on the fun? 

This Sunday, June 21st they’ll be hosting pinball with bikes and treadwheels as well as skeeball. Even if you miss this one, they host events every week so there are plenty of chances to join. 

Reach out to silentmutiny or Rubianna Eveningstar on Discord to learn more! Or join their Discord server. 

Fanart 

Another colorful scene you might see in a typical day on Arrakis created on paper by evilshaihulud on Discord! 

 A beautiful quick paint study of spooky8657’s character. 

Buildings 

An adorable picnic location by u/DaughterOfDune on Reddit. 

Once again, u/Arthemis_Bright continues to build some incredible bases! This time they’ve made a Water Shippers Spaceport. Check out the rest here! 

A guild hangar shared by Cavollir on Discord. Find more pictures on Discord here! 

An impressive sandcrawler base by Manbearpig8295 on Discord. You can find it on Selene, Tharwa. 

Zonder’s Badlands Bastion: A jawdropping fortress by Zonder on Harmony. They’ve put together a full tour in this Imgur album, complete with captions and even design references. You won’t want to miss this! 

A cozy rooftop bar over the hangar by ping5122 on Discord. 

U/Rezrarick has created Mechapeda using Water Shippers pieces! It’s more spacious on the inside than you’d expect, and you can walk along the entire length. More pictures here! 

A “super scary and detailed statue” by u/FUMBLING_TITAN. You’ll want to see the full video on Reddit for those…details. 

A citadel above the canyon, Be-boph al-Ulah, is a monumental stronghold carved into the cliffs of Arrakis by u/Murph_Newton. Check out the rest on Reddit here! 

A fantastic recreation of Optimus Prime by Angelspike1204 on Discord. 

Your chances of seeing a shark on Arrakis are no longer zero, as u/QiapixMoonChild and their partner have created a terrifying shark base. 

Shademora has a speciality in creating bases with skulls. Check them all out on Discord here! 

A massive bunker in the rift with plenty of space for machines and vehicles by u/Flenari. See more pictures in all of its glory on Reddit. 

An amazing crab base by Alaskankare on Discord. 

A tall and beautiful base by u/Far_Attention_856. More pictures on Reddit here! 

Screenshots 

By seriousam_7 on Discord. 

By netrunner_107 on BlueSky. 

By yamada_goat on Discord. 

By tekay79 on Discord. 

More amazing wallpapers by DeLindsay that you can use for your phone. 

By SirChuckleswad on Discord. 

By UntacticalFluff on Discord. 

Closing Words 

Thank you, friends, for making this first anniversary so memorable! The event is still ongoing, so make sure to take advantage of the boosted weekends while you can. We’ll be taking a short break with the Communinet Signals, but we’ll be back at it in August as we ramp up for console release, single-player mode, and all the other exciting things we’ve announced. See you then!