Palworld: How To Get A Pal To Do The Task You Want

While it may be obvious that Palworld is popular, given its 2+ million player fanbase just a few days after its initial release, that doesn't mean the game is perfect. It released as an Early Access game, and it shows as the game has a lot of small (and sometimes large) bugs that, while easily ignorable, do start to stack up.

Mining for Stone and Stone material in Palworld

Palworld: Best Materials To Farm In The Early Game

In the early goings of Palword, players should prioritize the following materials to get a proper headstart.

One of the more frustrating things in Palworld are the Pals themselves, funnily enough. The Pals that are assigned to your base or the base of your guild are automatically programmed to find tasks that match their Work Suitability. However, this doesn't always mean that the Pal with Level 3 Handiwork is gonna come help when you're building something, and that can be irritating. So, let's go over the ways, if any, that players can sort of guarantee that a specific Pal does what they want.

Throw The Pal At The Task

The Standard Method

Let's start off with the most obvious and most commonly used method, literally tossing the Pal at the task you want them to perform. To do this, simply walk up to a Pal that has been assigned to a base and press the Interact input to pick them up (may bug out if they're currently performing a task, but once they're done they should be interactable). With them in your hand, run over to the workbench, furnace, or whatever interactable has the task you want them to work on.

Then, simply press the Interact input again to throw them at the task, making sure that they land at least on the workbench or land near it. If done properly (and it doesn't bug out) the Pal in question should land, get a 'I've got it!' lightbulb over their head, and start on the task you've assigned them. However, just because this is how it's meant to work, doesn't mean it always works the way its intended. There are plenty of times when players try this and the game keeps telling them that there's 'No work available in immediate vicinity. Switching to Automatic Work Mode'. In these instances, there are a few other tricks they could try.

Make Sure They're Happy

Check If They're Hungry Or Suffering From Anything

A lot of the time the reason a Pal doesn't actually get started on a task you've assigned them is simply because you interrupted them on the way to the Food Box. When Pals are hungry, they eat, and no task is going to interrupt their food time, usually. So, in this situation, you can either allow them to run to the Food Box and eat, or you can go to the Palbox, assign the Pal in question to your inventory, stuff them full of whatever food you have on hand, then assign them back to the base.

Also be vigilant in checking to see if they're sanity is low, if they're feeling neglected, if they're suffering from depression, and so on. A lot of these ailments will require medicine, so it's good to keep a stock of all the curatives on hand if possible. Once you've filled them up with food and checked their health, the Pal should start working on any Tasks their assigned.

Do A Factory Reset

Put Them In Your Party Or Put Them In The Palbox & Then Back In The Base

If neither of the above solutions work, it may be time for a 'factory reset' of the Pal, in a sense. Again, this game has a lot of small bugs in it, and sometimes a solution for said bug might not always be apparent.

In this situtation, there are three things worth trying that may reset the AI of the Pal and get them working again, putting them in your party to do the task, dropping their Pal Sphere on the ground and picking it back up, or putting them in the Palbox and then assigning them back to the base.

Method	Explanation
Put the Pal in your Party	When a Pal is in your party and is sent out near a task, their AI seems to be a lot better about picking up which nearby task is the one their trainer intended. So, if you want a Wixen, for example, to help you craft something at a workbench and it's not being accomodating, put it in your party. Then, send it out near the workbench in question and it should work a bit better.
Drop their Pal Sphere on the ground	The most 'hard reset' of hard resets for a Pal. In your Party Menu, simply hover over the Pal in question and hit whatever input it says at the bottom of the party list for 'Drop' (it's 'R' for PC players). This will drop their Pal Sphere on the ground nearby, pick it up and try to see if they're a bit better about performing the task in question. Not the most reliable solution, but it's the equivalent of a 'turn it off and turn it on again' type of solution.
Un-Assign & Re-Assign them to the Home Base	A bit softer of a reset than dropping their Sphere on the ground, this method just means that you'll go into the Palbox, put the Pal in question into the Palbox or into your Party, and then instantly re-assign them to the Base. Again, not a cure all solution but one that tends to reset a Pal that's acting a bit strange.

Last Resort Solution: Lock 'Em In

A Dark Solution That Matches The Dark Tone Of Palworld

As a last resort, you may just have to 'lock' the Pal in the room the task is in until they figure out that's the one they're supposed to be working on. It feels pretty well, dark, to 'reccomend' this, but basically just set the exit door to the room to being password protected, and typically the Pal won't be able to leave.

This doesn't mean that sometimes they won't glitch through the wall anyway, but in our experience this method has helped even the most stubborn of Pals work on the task in question.