Valheim's midsummer update makes maypoles buildable and bosses bolder
A boss has never run from me, but they won't run from you either now
Valheim's big hearth and home update may have gotten pushed back to autumn, but the early access Viking 'em up is still getting other patches in the meantime. A new midsummer update has brought a handful of tweaks to enemy behavior and has made the rare maypole buildable for a limited time. That's me up there, unable to resist the call of the word "temporary", standing next to my hastily erected maypole.
In today's update notes, Iron Gate say "it's midsummer here in Sweden, so we celebrate by temporarily making the Maypole buildable".
Maypoles already existed in Valheim, which was actually news to me. They're relatively rare, appparently, and can sometimes appear in abandoned villages in the Meadows biome. I'd never stumbled across one. Well, now you can build one for yourself for the low cost of ten wood, four dandelions, and four thisle. Low, that is, unless your pals had also pilfered all your thistle for potions.
After you've commemorated the season, Iron gate say they've also made several enemy AI tweaks, which seem to largely make creatures more aggressive. Here are some select enemy behavior changes to watch out for:
- Monster AI tweaks (More aggressively attacking structures when unable to attack the player among other things)
- Taught Greydwarfs to throw better
- Long forgotten Blob event enabled
- AI flee behaviour tweaks (Bosses don’t run from you anymore)
Bosses attempting to run from a fight is another thing I'd never personally encountered. I suppose I just don't look that frightening. You can catch the remaining changelog details in Iron Gate's patch notes.
Iron Gate made the decision to push Valheim's hearth & home upate back to the autumn after the sudden popularity of the game at launch pulled them into more urgent bug fixes than they'd anticipated. They have highlighted some of the new bits planned for that update such as plantable onions, new foods, new building pieces, and a rework for the food system.