Hildir's Quest Valheim - Release date and what we currently know

While there's no set date for the Ashlands update in Valheim just yet, don't hold your breath. The last big update, Mistlands, took a year to finish, so we're probably looking at late 2023 or even early 2024 before we can dive into the Ashlands. So, get ready for a bit of a wait if you're excited to check out this new part of Valheim and order your server here.

New news from the developers! Hildir's has been released on the Public Test Branch! (PTB)

https://valheim.com/news/patch-0-217-4-hildir-s-request-public-test/

The detailed patch notes are show below:
New Content:

• New NPC: Hildir the merchant
• New location: Hildir’s camp
• New location: Smouldering tomb (classic dungeon)
• New location: Howling cavern (classic dungeon)
• New location: Sealed tower (open dungeon)
• 3 new mini bosses
• World modifiers button added to start game screen with many customization/difficulty options (select a preset or design your own)
• 8 different Fireworks added (Including Thunderstone and Black Core thrown in the fire)
• New item: Sparkler
• New clothing: 10 hats & headscarves
• New clothing: 14 dresses and tunics
• Black forge extension: Vice Grip
• Magetable extension: Unfading Candle
• New material: Barber kit
• New furniture: Barber station
• New material: Iron pit
• New furniture: Firepit
• 8 new hairstyles
• 5 new beard styles
• 4 new music tracks

Fixes & Improvements:

• Hair and beards are now visible when equipping helmets
• Haldor animations updated
• All fire effects have been overhauled
• Smoke balls created by fires now have random rotation and no longer pop in when spawned
• Added Hugin hints informing the player that traders can be found in the game
• Spawn command can now specify fields
• Fixed a bug which caused level up algorithm to be a bit off depending on when you die
• Reduced lag spike when selecting worlds in the Select World menu by reusing existing world list elements, rather than destroying all and instancing all new ones
• Widened the Manage Saves Menu and show the time of the timestamp
• Retrieve timestamp from file name rather than file metadata if present in the file name. This means moving a file to/from cloud no longer affects the sorting order of files with timestamps in their names
• Fixed oversight that saved unnecessary characters (such as spaces) in an IP address to the server list if the IP address could be parsed successfully
• Chat doesn’t open on Ping anymore
• Resolved chat blocking input for other UI (such as map)
• Fixed issue where minimap pin input field for PC version was getting invisible
• Join code is now hidden when HUD’s visibility is toggled off
• Fixed a bug that had water in caves be affected by wind
• Fixed a bug that could cause the server list to stop working
• Fixed a bug on Xbox where ticks wouldn’t attach correctly
• Opening console now blocks hotbar navigation
• Offline players can now send map pings on Xbox and MS store version
• Fixed missing special characters on signs
• Fixed Xbox bug which could cause the player to jump while selecting a building piece
• Menu usage is now blocked when HUD is hidden

Quality of Life:

• Quick stack button and Shift-E to quickly place all items already in a container from your inventory
• You can now manually choose snapping point with Q & E for precision building
• Intro sequence can now be skipped from the pause menu and the game can be paused while in the intro
• Workbench and Forge now get slightly increased build range when upgraded
• Crafting benches’ build range is now cylindrical instead of spherical
• Added another controller scheme, and the ability to hide HUD when using a controller and on Xbox

Misc:

• God mode will now allow damage down to 1 health rather than taking no damage
• New console command "tombstone" which create tombstones
• New itemset ‘base’ and command can specify a number to override all items with that level (i.e. “itemset meadows 4” will give level 4 meadows items)
• New console commands: (tombstone - creates tombstones; resetworldkeys - Resets all world modifiers to default; setworldpreset - Sets world modifiers to a named preset; setworldmodifier - Sets a world modifier value)

A recent tweet from Jonathan Smårs shows a small snippet of what is coming:

• World Modifiers
• Lots of quality of life fixes
• Hot viking clothing, hair & beards
• Who is Hildir!?!
  ..and lots more!

What we already know that is coming:

• A quest (probably).
• Mini-bosses.
• A Barber Station. (as shown in this tweet)
• New location: Hildir’s Camp.
• Additional “new and mysterious places scattered across the world”.
• New NPC: Hildir.
• New hair and clothing for your character.
• A “stack all” option for items in chests.
• An option to manually snap build pieces (allowing more creative freedom).

Predicting when this update is released - We're predicting that Hildir's Quest will release sometime in June 2023 or Early July 2023

A question we get asked a lot when a Valheim update releases is, will I need to start a new world?

Typically you don't have to as new content is generated into areas you've not explored yet, if you have explored a large portion of the world then you may want to consider starting a new world.