WhileValheimhas already proven to be successful, there are a few limitations within its portal-based transport system.Valheimwas originally released through Early Access in February 2021, which has allowed developer Iron Gate AB to adjust the game’s systems and world as players explore. Despite a number of updates, one system inValheimthat has remained relatively unchanged is transporting.
For a relatively small investment, players can create portals and transport themselves acrossthe massive world ofValheim. However, moving raw metals and their smelted counterpoints through these portals remains impossible. This has left some players frustrated when making their way to new continents and biomes, so there are a few adjustments Iron Gate could make to leave the system better than ever.
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Removing the Portal’s Metal Restrictions
After defeatingValheim’s first boss Eikthyr, players gain an item needed to harvest Tin and Copper ore in the Black Forest biome. This flow lends itself to building forward bases in each new area that players can explore. Teleporting between these bases helps ease the burden of transporting materials needed to survive in this harsh Viking world. Unfortunately, when any of the game’s metals are in a player’s inventory, using portals becomes impossible, which makes transporting new metal ore back to a player’s original base more challenging - especially if the ore is found on a different island.
Removing this metal requirement would help limit trips across theOcean biome ofValheim, where challenging Serpents linger. Normally, transporting important metals in the cargo hold ofValheim’s ships can lead to devastating losses at sea. Being able to teleport metals and ores through portals would make for more straightforward harvesting. Players would be able to establish portals where they found the raw ore and connect them directly to their bases, making the game’s material gathering process less time intensive.
Potential Tiers of Portals in Valheim
Instead of altering the current restrictions of portals,the developers ofValheimcould instead add a tier system. As is the case with armor, the further into the game a player gets, the better equipment they can access. Currently, there is only one type of portal inValheim,unlocked when players acquire their first Greydwarf eye, Fine wood, and Surtling core. This means players open up the option to start using portals once they explore the Burial Chambers in the Black Forest biome.
This small requirement leaves room along the game’s current five-tier biome arc for other types of portals. To alleviate the frustration for later-game players, a second tier of portal could allow for the movement of Dragon Eggs and lower-tier metals at the cost of a significant amount of Silver from the fourth major biome, Mountain. The final tier of portal could allow for the transport of everything, but only be craftable with either Black metal (found in the game’s challenging Plains biome) orFlametal metal (currently without a use inValheim). This would represent an end-game tier of portal as a reward for defeating all five major bosses.
Scrapping Items for Materials
An easier fix than the previous two would be to allow players to deconstruct the items they make with different crafting benches. For the moment, once a piece of armor or weapon is crafted, it cannot be brought back to its core materials. Players can already travel through portals with items that are made of metal, so this would just require players to build with the ore they find and then deconstruct after teleporting.
The process of deconstructing already exists throughthe building aspect ofValheim. Building materials can be deconstructed with hammers for the exact same amount of materials that were used in their creation. For those looking to balance this out, the developer could even have deconstruction come at a material cost.
Any of these individual changes would help makeValheimmore reachablefor players not looking to grind as much for crafting materials. With the Mistlands update set to release at some point this year, Iron Gate could very well be working on one of these options.
Valheimis available now for PC and releases in early 2023 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
