If you’re a Palia player, you’re about to find yourself with a little bit of extra time on your hands today. That’s because servers went offline this morning in preparation for tomorrow’s Elderwood expansion and won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. That leaves you lots of time to read the patch notes, which are already up!
As we’ve previously previewed, Elderwood adds the game’s titular third adventure zone, with new quests, a continuation of the main storyline, a new villager, the artifacts and relics system, additions to character customization like makeup, a fishing rebalance, new decor, and new gatherables and craftables. The early game tutorial has also been completely revamped for new players. Oh yeah, and coincident with Elderwood is PS5 and Xbox X|S access, as those consoles finally join PC and Switch. This still doesn’t count as the official launch of the mini-MMO out of beta, but it’s going to feel like a fresh start with lots of new and returning faces all the same.
We spy some monetization updates too; not only is the store getting a facelift, but Singularity 6 is introducing a new starter pack and founder’s pack, as well as new buyable courier pet functionality, which essentially lets players send loot back to their housing plots without having to go themselves. S6 argues that the new pet type is a convenience that won’t unduly affect gameplay, in addition to a chance for the team to broaden its cash-shop offerings to more than just cosmetics (which, frankly, it could use).
“In short, expanding the shop lets all kinds of players support Palia however they can, creates bigger updates for everyone, and carefully opens the door to limited freebies that used to be strictly premium,” the team writes. And that starts with the 0.192 patch (after tomorrow’s patch), as the team is also adding an in-game method for unlocking the courier pet in Elderwood.
Finally, do note that there’s compensation en route for the long downtime: S6 is giving subbers two extra days of login bonuses. “[E]veryone with an active subscription will automatically receive 2 extra days of the Zeki Loyalty Club login bonus,” the studio said on Discord.
Servers should be back up around 1 p.m. EDT tomorrow, if Discord’s timing is right.
