A month after Palworld 1.0 - Here are things I don't like

It was my first time to spend a four week vacation with my current job. However my summer vacation didn't go as planned for what was supposed to be a trip overseas. So I spent it in the second best place -- at home in peace and quiet. 

My vacation had to be special because I was super burned out. I made a list of things to do but I tell you those four weeks zoomed away. And for the sake of this article, playing Palworld 1.0 was on my list.

There are many things I've liked about Palworld 1.0 after testing it for a month. 

But let's start with the few things that I don't like.

The stubborn Pal clipping

Pals sometimes clip under the foundation. I don't know if it's a big deal but clipping disrupt their base function. Sometimes they're also on top of structures.

I don't like the new crafting requirements for many items. 

For example, needing Flame Organs with Charcoal to produce Carbon Fibers. Or Sulfur and Charcoal to make gunpowder. There is also the the need for new components like hardwood and planks on some buildings. Some of the easily produced components during early access now has an extra needed material. 

Perhaps this was one the developers' reason to start afresh. But it also means that ranch farming has become much more relevant:

• Depresso or Caprity Noct to produce Venom Gland
• Foxcicle to produce Ice Organ
• Flambelle, Rooby, or Kelpsea Ignis to produce Flame Organ
• Sparkit to produce Electric Organ
• Kelpsea for Aquatic Pal Fluid
• Surfent for Leather
• Sootseer to produce Bone

I remember we had to hunt for leather and bone back in the earlier days of Palworld. No, honestly it was about buying them in bulk.

Crafting existing materials will need to be re-learned and memorized.

The revised enemy raid mechanic feels like a hassle. 

Enemy raids now last in waves. A Negotiator NPC first appears in your base with a marker on which base will be raided. You can pay the negotiator to 'cancel' the raid. But if you want to fight, you'd need to wait for five minutes. Or you can just frag the negotiator and let the mess begin.

When the raid occurs, the enemies may spawn in random points. So if you've joined two bases together, the enemies may spawn inside the neutral zone between those bases. And the attacks could seriously damage foundations, etc. When you try to meet them ahead, your equipment or Pals don't auto-aggro on the enemy despite your choice to make them aggressive. So you'll need to attack first but the enemies will tend to go past you and rush your base instead.

I also feel like the enemy waves are buffed for ordinary base Pals to handle. It depends on the base location. They may potentially clear out your base pals if you're away from your computer. But if they repel it, the enemy can actually deal some damage to your base or foundations. Also note that the difficulty of the raids are now based on a combination of your base pals and player progression instead of your base level. 

Raids are triggered when a player is in the base. So it's ironically annoying that I can't leave my computer when my character is in the base knowing that a raid may occur. Unless your base is located on a remote place like on top of a mountain or not accessible. Time to invest on perimeter fencing and defenses.

It's just a hassle to repair each nook and cranny that got damaged by all the fighting.

Clearing the enemy raids do net you some dog coins.

I don't like that we're still missing a visitor marker on the map. 

We get a message about a visitor has reached your base but we don't know which base. We need to have a similar marker about the base raid but make it for visitors. We're teleporting to every base to figure this out.

I don't like how we still can't name a base on the map. 

I'm still waiting for the chance to label the map with text or at least a tooltip. They have added guild markers which is great. But on multiplayer, adding a base name is simpler when telling your friends which base to go - rather than loosely describing which base on the map to go. "Like go on the base closest to that desolated church -- no no, the one close to the Syndicate tower!"

We can't type to search for a Pal in the Palbox. 

At least we can search a Pal by name on the Palpedia. But I think the Palbox would work different if the desired Pals are stored in different boxes. I can think of two solutions: 

1. Highlight the correct Pal on each box and blur the rest.

2. Show only the correct Pals and all instances with a tooltip on which box they're stored.

I don't like how Pals still need to make frequent trips to the feedbox. 

Granted that they're eating baked berries, and we need to provide better food. However I think Pals need to be able to stuff themselves before going back to work. 

The developers can add a trade-off that Pals will take a while eating because it's eating a lot of baked berries versus eating in a short time because it ate a high value food item.

I've been mentioning this issue for numerous times, so I think this is a design choice. Pals would eat until their hunger meter is past half-way and go back to work. It doesn't make sense that Pals don't take a priority to completely eat before going back to work. But it makes sense that they can take their time eating to be full and then go back to work. The logic feels is similar to filling up your party Pals with the same food. 

It also doesn't take anything away from interacting with your base Pals to feed them. We can still spot hungry Pals and then feed them before reaching the feedbox. It's about improving the automation on feeding.

Palworld 1.0  has been dramatically different from the early access. The amount of new content has been a treat for both early access and new players. One thing is for sure, it hasn't stopped being fun. And the fact is, Palworld has only begun.