5 Things We Want to See From Palworld PvP

Our Palworld PVP Wishlist (2024 Roadmap)

On January 23rd, Pocketpair revealed that future updates to Palworld’s PVP were on the way.

Not only was it included in the list of additions, but it was featured at the top of the list and twice in total with an additional mention of a Pal Arena.

If you’re a fan of PVP this is great news as it appears this will be a solid priority for the game’s full version.

[The Future of Palworld]
We would like to share with you our roadmap for Palworld.
Sales have far exceeded the development team's expectations, and we are currently experiencing many problems due to excessive access congestion, among other challenges.
We will prioritize… pic.twitter.com/UKD2HFRaG4

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 24, 2024

1. 1v1 Arena

Having a 1v1 arena mode where it’s just one player and their pals vs another player and their pals is the addition I want most.

In addition to being able to show off your combat skills (aiming, dodging, and so on) there’s also a lot of skill expression in how you build your team.

If you’ve ever played or watched competitive Pokemon, you know how there are always mind games involved with when to switch out your monsters to gain an advantage.

Playstyles can be defined by what pal elements players like to use, with Electric and Ice offering crowd control or Dark maximizing damage against players since humans are Normal-typed.

There are also mind games to the team building meta, for example, you might think that Fire would be the strongest since it’s the only element that’s strong against two elements (Grass and Ice).

However, a smart player would be sure to bring a Water type to counter them, and so on.

It’s a unique niche that Palworld can offer that no other game can out there (if there is one that combines shooter + monster battles, please tell me).

2. Guild vs Guild Battles

With guilds already in place for Palworld, having a guild vs guild PvP mode seems like a natural inclusion for its future.

Right now, the number of maximum players allowed in a guild is 20, could you imagine 20 vs 20 battles?

It honestly might not be feasible from a technical standpoint, especially when you consider that each player will have a pal out (potentially more if they have something like a Daedream Necklace).

So maybe they’d have to be reduced to something like 10 vs 10 if it’s a controlled arena environment, but there’s also the matter of open world battles that use the whole server.

It’s bound to be messy, chaotic, and janky but would love to see it in some form.

3. Mario Kart Style Races

This might sound stupid, but hear me out. In addition to straight-up battles to the death, Palworld also has some potential for PvP in the vein of Mario Kart.

Think about it, you already have a wide range of different mounts with abilities, along with the player’s weaponry.

There are different biomes and interesting terrain to define interesting tracks and paths.

You’ll have to make decisions related to resource management like Stamina, cooldowns, and the lives of your pals if it’s a race where you can use multiple mounts.

There’s also the breeding aspect where racers can optimize their pals for speed and other traits.

Mods could be created to define the boundaries of the course and to help track the number of laps made by the players.

It’s a weird little niche but the possibilities are there!

4. Customizability and Flexibility

No matter what type of PVP there is, it would be great to have customization options.

Things like the number of players, bred pals or vanilla pals, limitations on levels, and so on can help keep PVP for as many players as possible.

Palworld launched its early access with a solid amount of customization options for servers so there should be a good chance that its PvP mode(s) should have a similar level of customizability.

Another key feature would be allowing players to not only do PVP in their server but also bring their character and pal lineup to another for flexibility.

That way, dedicated PVP servers or servers purely for tournaments can have a place in the game’s ecosystem.

5. Competitive Scene

If the Palworld PvP is fun and accessible, a competitive scene is bound to pop up!

After all, games in the shooter and monster-tamer genres have had success as esports.

For example, even though the majority of the game’s audience is casual, the Pokemon VGC tournament gets hundreds of thousands of views,

A big advantage that Palworld has is that there are no other games out there that have a combination of gameplay aspects, so it can create its own unique niche.

Since its release, it’s been in the top 5 of Twitch’s most-viewed games, so it’s also proven to be a fun game to watch.

We’ll see if that success translates to spectating PvP but there’s a large enough skill ceiling that it can create exciting moments.