Here’s a summary of how aggro will work in the next content patch. This update will be deployed to the Public Test Server in the coming days.

The aggro changes were previously discussed in an 

. Rather than reposting the full breakdown here, you can read the original thread for additional context and detailed explanations.

Below is a quick visual guide showing what you can expect from the updated aggro behavior.

Starting with the basics: NPCs use different ranges for vision, hearing, and assist behavior. Vision and hearing require a line of sight to the target. Assist requires line of sight to the NPC ally calling for help.

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Hearing now needs line of sight. An NPC hearing a noise on the other side of a wall used to be enough to pull it, in some cases, causing them to route through the entire dungeon to get to you. The NPC has to actually be able to see who made the noise now, or else they won’t pay it any attention.

Bystander NPCs no longer block detection. If a guard is standing in front of an archer, the archer can now see and hear past their ally instead of being shielded by their hitbox.

2. Direct Aggro from damage or harmful effects

If a player damages an NPC or applies another aggro-generating effect, that NPC gains Direct Aggro against that player. This does not require line of sight. 

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If an NPC is not already engaged in combat, it can gain Direct Aggro against the first player it notices through vision or hearing. 

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Healing or applying beneficial effects to a player who already has Direct Aggro can also cause the NPC to gain Direct Aggro against the support player. 

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NPCs with Direct Aggro can call nearby allies to assist them. An NPC only responds if it is social with the caller, within Assist Range, and has line of sight to the calling NPC. 

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No more accidental dungeon-floor chain pulls. Pulling one NPC used to be able to ripple across an entire floor.

Allies leave the assist network the moment their friend disengages. When an NPC starts walking home, it stops being part of its buddies' "available helpers" list straight away. You won't be dragged back into a fight you've already won by a late call from a leashing NPC.

An NPC that joined through Assist Aggro can be promoted to Direct Aggro if the player damages it, enters its vision range, or enters its hearing range. Once promoted, that NPC can also call for an assist.

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NPCs already engaged in combat do not generate new vision or hearing aggro. A player can pass near an ongoing fight without being pulled in, as long as they do not damage enemies or support players already in combat. 

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If a player stops generating aggro toward an NPC, aggro starts to decay after a short time. Decay happens faster based on how far the NPC is from home and how far the player is from the NPC. If aggro decays all the way down to zero, the NPC disengages and proceeds to walk back to their home location.

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After disengaging, NPCs won’t re-aggro immediately based on vision, hearing or assist for a couple of seconds. While they’re walking home, they can still be aggroed through any normal means.

Once disengaged, NPCs don't silently "remember" you at extreme range. Once an NPC gives up on a target, its aggro is completely reset.

NPCs that genuinely can't reach you will give up. If an NPC spends a sustained period unable to reach a player who is dealing it damage, it will disengage and walk home, with a longer cooldown before it can re-engage.

Aggro decay pauses while the NPC is actively fighting, either when the player generates aggro against the NPC or when the NPC successfully attacks the player. 

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Aggro no longer drops while the NPC is attacking you. Previously, the decay timer only paused when *you* hit *them*. Now, any outgoing attack from the NPC, including ranged shots and casts, keeps the fight active.

In this example, the player shoots NPC A. NPC A gains Direct Aggro and calls for assist. NPC B responds because it is within Assist Range and has line of sight to NPC A. Other nearby NPCs do not respond if they are out of range or do not meet the assist requirements. 

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As the fight develops, NPC B can be promoted from Assist Aggro to Direct Aggro once the player enters its vision range. Once promoted, NPC B can begin calling for assist as well. 

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Taunts interrupt the NPC on the next swing. Taunted NPCs used to be able to finish their current attack cycle before turning, so you'd eat one "free" hit on the previous target. They now turn to the taunter immediately.

Mez and stun actually stop casters. Some caster NPCs (most visibly Zebian Overseers and Zebian Doctors) could keep selecting and starting spells right through a mez. Mez now cancels whatever the NPC is doing the moment it lands and blocks new abilities for its full duration.

Ambush properly clears hate. Going invisible drops you from every NPC currently fighting you, not just the one or two you damaged. Whatever was about to happen is canceled along with it, so an archer mid-draw won't release on you after you vanish, and a caster mid-cast won't finish the spell.

Patrolling NPCs would sometimes teleport home at the smallest complication in pathing. They path forth more smartly and bravely than before.

These changes are intended to make PvE aggro more predictable, readable, and fair. The goal is not to make encounters trivial, but to make it clearer why enemies engage, assist, drop aggro, or stay in combat.

When testing on PTS, please let us know if anything still feels confusing, inconsistent, or unfair, especially around walls, stairs, ramps, ledges, balconies, adjacent rooms, vertical spaces, or unusual NPC pathing.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed feedback in the original thread. Your examples helped shape this work.

Aggro System Fixes and Changes

 Hello Paxians, Here’s a summary of how aggro will work in the next content patch. This update will be deployed to the Public Test Server in the comin...

Several fixes related to NPC spawning issues, where NPCs would only spawn once and not respawn in the same location when not killed. (As before, NPCs like animals and wandering humanoids will move to a new spawn location when killed, which may be near or further away in the same zone.)

Fixed a new issue that caused NPCs to accumulate over time, requiring daily zone server restarts.

Fixed two separate issues causing Zone server crashes.

Fixed issues that could lead to the unexpected destruction of building pieces, including cases where building decay could incorrectly destroy connected structures that should not be affected.

Fixed an issue where the map would load slower than expected, regardless of graphics settings.

Fixed an issue where sunlight was incorrectly visible inside enclosed buildings that have no windows or openings

Fixed some Discord-related client crashes

Fixed an issue causing performance degradation over time

Fixed an issue that caused rare server crashes

Fixed an issue that caused building pieces to be destroyed inadvertently since the last update

Fixed a (second) issue with windmills potentially affecting game performance

Spring Update - All the Hotfixes [Updated on May 11]

 Bugfix -  May 11 Several fixes related to NPC spawning issues, where NPCs would only spawn once and not respawn in the same location when not killed....

We’ve seen your feedback regarding the recent lack of communication, and you’re right, it’s been quieter than it should have been. So, let’s take a moment to walk you through what we’ve been working on over the past few weeks.

Following the Spring update, a significant portion of the team shifted its focus to 

. Some of you encountered issues, notably around 

, and addressing those required more time and resources than initially expected. These kinds of problems aren’t always quick fixes, but they’re critical to ensuring the game remains stable and reliable.

At the same time, we’ve also been working on something less visible, but just as important: upgrading the game engine. Pax Dei has recently been moved to 

, up from the 5.4 version currently running on the live game. 

This kind of upgrade brings long-term benefits, but it also requires a lot of careful work. Each change to the engine can introduce new issues or require us to revisit and optimize existing systems. It’s not always the most visible progress, but it’s essential to improving the game’s overall stability and performance.

That said, we’re already seeing encouraging results. This upgrade includes the latest 

DLSS 4 (with up to 4× frame generation) and AMD’s FSR 4

, with both upscaling and frame generation now supported in Pax Dei across the two technologies. 

We’ve also continued refining our recent graphics optimizations, and in internal testing, the game is now running on GPUs with as little as 6 GB of memory.

on aggro behavior and dungeon improvements

, which should be included in the next content update. These changes aim to make encounters feel more consistent, more engaging, and overall more enjoyable.

Meanwhile, our art team has been busy creating new assets, including an upcoming 

. We’re looking forward to sharing more polished visuals soon, but for now, consider this a small preview of what’s on the way.

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And yes… some of you have already spotted them in the files. As we mentioned in the 

birds are coming - and not just for the decorum. 

We’re not quite ready to talk about it yet, but let’s just say the world of Pax Dei might feel a little more alive in the near future.

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We know this kind of work, engine upgrades, bug fixing, system improvements, and so on, isn’t always the most visible, and it can feel like progress is slow from the outside. But it’s all part of the necessary groundwork to make sure what comes next is stronger, more stable, and worth your time.

We’ll try to do a better job of keeping you updated as we go. Thanks for your patience and continued support.

What we’ve been working on, April 2026

 Hello Paxians, We’ve seen your feedback regarding the recent lack of communication, and you’re right, it’s been quieter than it should have been. So,...

After two weeks of successfully testing the new content update on our test shard, Arcadia, we’re excited to announce that the spring content update has been deployed to all live shards. 

This content update adds quite a few new features, among which are:

Hide helmet option and sheathable weapons

Changes to failed craft and material recovery,

Take-all and Quick-stack buttons for all containers. Take-all is also available for processing crafters,

More graphical settings (lower and higher options available)

Resources rebalancing (more insight about how and why in this 

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Spring Content Update is Live

 Hello Paxians, After two weeks of successfully testing the new content update on our test shard, Arcadia, we’re excited to announce that the spring c...

Here are the full release notes of the Spring update patch. This new content and fixes were first deployed on 

” action to containers. Moves items from your 

inventory into the container if the container already contains that item

, making it faster to stack and organize resources.

. Attempts to move as many items as possible into your inventory from a container (starting from the bottom slots) and collects all completed items from processing crafters.

, allowing consensual PvP combat anywhere in the world without the risks associated with full PvP. Dueling is intended as a safe sparring system where players can practice combat, test builds, settle rivalries, or organize community events.

You can challenge another player in two ways:

. Once accepted, the duel begins after a 

. Pending duel requests can be cancelled using /cancelduel.

When a player receives fatal damage, the duel ends, and the losing player is restored to 

Either player moves beyond the 60-meter range.

Environmental hazards such as falling, burning, drowning, or poisoning can still kill players. If this happens during a duel, the duel ends in a draw.

Other players may heal or buff duelists during a duel. This allows players to practice combat scenarios that include support roles.

Clan members and party members can duel each other even when PvP flagged, as long as they remain friendly or allied.

Based on community feedback, additional controls and clarity have been added:

 can now be enabled via slash command or settings.

Improved cancellation messaging to better explain why a duel ended.

does not grant XP, loot, or system rewards

. The system is designed as a training and social feature, not as a competitive progression system.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback while this feature was being developed. Your comments helped us refine several aspects of the system, including consent controls and messaging clarity. If you're interested in the full discussion and the feedback that shaped this feature, you can read it in the 

InDev - Feedback on Upcoming Dueling System.

We will continue to monitor feedback as players begin using the system and make adjustments as needed.

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Added a new legend to the player map for both the biomes and the icons.

Added toggle functionality for each of the icon types to give the player full authority on what to show on the map.

Both the zoom-out and zoom-in levels have been increased. 

[Edit: we changed the zoom-in during PTS phase]

The compass will show the toggled indicators/icons.

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The Heartlands market search has been expanded to make it easier to find items.

Search for items by name using the market search field,

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As we all know, building in Pax Dei is the crown jewel of the game. We’re amazed by the community's creativity, and it’s common for a dev to share images of yet another amazing creation with the rest of the team. When the game launched, we were thrilled to offer creative freedom to each of you that enabled all of this, but at the same time, slightly nervous about the implications of allowing such power to be wielded by all of you. What ended up happening was the obvious - as the skill of the builders grew, so did the amount of content in each of the Home Valleys. And getting the game to perform with that amount of content is… not trivial. Game engines are typically optimised for so-called static content - objects that the developers are placing into levels, which get packaged into the data files that ship with the game. What Pax Dei does is completely the opposite, where the community is allowed to author huge amounts of dynamic content - the building pieces that are placed into the valleys in real time, with each valley being built in a unique fashion.

Having this perform well on a typical gaming PC - with MMO networking - is an amazingly hard challenge. We’ve historically added multiple layers of optimisation to the game to address building performance, ranging from instanced mesh arrays to advanced clustering of building content to optimise rendering datasets.

This release introduces a new advanced physics streaming solution for buildings, enabling much better performance in densely built valleys than before. The change has enabled us to significantly adjust the streaming distance settings. In our testing, we’re able to achieve higher frame rates than before and see buildings at much greater distances.

Spring Update, Release Notes

 Hello Paxians, Here are the full release notes of the Spring update patch. This new content and fixes were first deployed on  Arcadia ,   It is now l...

LatestNews

Aggro System Fixes and Changes

Spring Update - All the Hotfixes [Updated on May 11]

What we’ve been working on, April 2026

Aggro System Fixes and Changes

Spring Update - All the Hotfixes [Updated on May 11]

What we’ve been working on, April 2026

Spring Content Update is Live

Spring Update, Release Notes

Patch Notes & Known Issues - Spring Update

Patch Notes – Verse 5.1.2 Hotfix 1, Build Version 44.16.8191

Patch Notes - Verse 5 - Patch 1.2

Future of Pax Dei - A Letter From the Team

Upcoming Crafting XP changes - AMA