Dune: Awakening's Chapter 3 update includes a 'completely revamped Landsraad system,' a new 'specialization experience system,' and eight new overland maps to visit

Funcom has begun revealing details of the Chapter 3 update coming soon to survival MMO Dune: Awakening, and it sounds like a pretty substantial one. Speaking with game director Joel Bylos last week, he told me the update is aimed at giving endgame players more to do, and will include a 'completely revamped Landsraad system,' a new 'specialization experience system,' plus eight new locations to visit on the overland map, plus a handful of new testing stations. Sounds spicy.

Before you envision yourself building new bases at far flung locations, the new maps are not "anywhere near the size of like the Hagga Basin," Bylos said. "They're smaller one-kilometer-by-one-kilometer maps in size, and they contain very specific activities."

Building bases isn't one of those activities, but players will be able to complete "combat missions, sabotage missions, crafting missions, harvesting missions, and exploration missions," said Bylos. "And you choose one of those five mission types from the Landsraad board, and then you go to whichever map it points you to on the Overland."

This folds into a new Landsraad specialization system included in the update, where players can earn XP in those different fields and use them to climb "specialization trees." The example he gave of a new mission type sounds different from the type of things we've done in Dune: Awakening before.

"There's a location called the Smugglers Run. And the Smugglers Run is like a race map," he said. "So you go there, you place out your sandbike, and then you try to beat this timed course to get through Smugglers Run as quickly as possible. And then you earn from doing that. You earn exploration experience points. And then you spend those exploration experience points in the exploration specialization, which allows you to then speed up how fast you can use vehicles, and things like that."

Each of the new specializations have "100 levels that you can spend in any of these five trees. So it's 500 levels total, which is quite a lot," Bylos said. "And then you invest points into each of them, and it unlocks new traits for your character."

Those traits could include things like increasing your piloting skill so vehicles consume less fuel, or earning greater yields while harvesting, or doing more damage when headshotting—depending on where you spend your points. "It allows you to develop your character down certain paths based on the activities you like in the game," he said.

There's more in the update, including an augmentation system where players will be able to use a new crafting machine to produce mods for their weapons and armor. Those augments can be obtained by defeating bosses, which are also new: "a detailed boss system with different phases for the bosses, health bars, things like that," Bylos said. There are also five new repeatable testing stations in the update, with "escalating difficulty for additional rewards."

Whew. All that goes a long way to showing why Chapter 3 is the biggest update Dune: Awakening so far. Alongside the free update, there's a paid DLC with dozens of new building pieces and several new armor sets. Have a look at the trailer.

Dune: Awakening — Chapter 3 Announcement Trailer - YouTube

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