Author Archives: Berek

Berek

About Berek

Senior Community Manager for Shroud of the Avatar.

Community of the Avatar – The Rise of The Fall

Community of the Avatar

Watch your step and your stamina, Avatars! We’re going to be carefully making our way through the treacherous PvP dungeon known as The Fall on tomorrow’s community livestream. World builders Dan & Travis will be joining us to show off the scene.

No one is quite sure who from the world’s historical residents originally built this mysterious dungeon beneath Blood Bay, but it is filled with an incredible array of dangers and rewards. The Fall gets its name from the giant vertical open space that defines the middle of dungeon with crisscrossing bridges and elevators. It is also an Open PVP area, so enter at your own risk…

The Fall is due to rise in next week’s Release 41 game update!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask your questions about The Fall and other livestream shenanigans.


Community Spotlight: Port Phoenix – Player Owned Town

This week’s Player Owned Town spotlight has me, ‘Berek’ as I go by in the community, travelling by boat to visit the popular town of Port Phoenix on the Isle of Elysium. I received a direct invitation from Count Kazyn Phoenixfyre, who I met while admittedly getting a bit lost exploring the nearby Elysian Plains.

I arrived late in the evening on the docks and was immediately taken by the calm, quiet beauty of the townscape. With little energy for the evening, we made are way to the Once and Future Inn for a room for myself and a hot meal. Kazyn helped me get checked in and then departed until we planned to meet after I got some needed rest.

Read more…


The First Outskirts Scene – Solace Bridge Outskirts

From last week’s Update of the Avatar #222:

For several years now our backers have been providing us feedback that the first few hours of our game have several major issues. Those issues include too many loading screens, scenes that are too small, and starting towns that include player housing / vendors. As we shift our focus to improving the New User Experience (NUE), and as we are able to measure new player progress through events like our recent free trial, we realize that we must address these issues sooner versus later.

As we announced during the Spring Telethon, our solution to this is to add three new maps to the game that we are calling “Outskirts”. These scenes will be very close to the three starting scenes and players will go directly there after finishing those starting scenes. Outskirts will be very large scenes, similar in scope to some of our recent big scenes like Blood Bay. This will allow them to be large enough that players can base themselves in a single scene for adventuring, resupply for their first couple of hours without having to go through multiple scene loads, or having to use the Overworld. Each scene will have a small outpost that will include some shopkeepers, trainers, crafting stations, and a few quest givers (and no player housing!). The scenes will also include plenty of adventuring areas (forests, ruins, bandit camps, etc.).

Our first Outskirts scene is Solace Bridge Outskirts. It is downriver from Solace Bridge where the Solace River meets the ocean. The small army that was defeated at Solace Bridge has retreated here and sent on the villager refugees to Soltown. They have made camp in a ruined tower overlooking the swampy shoreline. However they are not getting to rest in their retreat for a nearby bandit camp is preying on them, stealing supplies. Plus across the river lie the ruins of an ancient village infested with the very undead they just retreated from!

Farmland Area Read more…


Autism Awareness Month – Make a Difference Sale

The month of April recognizes Autism Awareness. For the rest of the month, we are putting all Autism Awareness Charity items in the Make a Difference store on sale at 20% off. For each item purchased, Portalarium will donate up to 50% of the cost. Donations are equally split between the National Autism Association and the National Autistic Society.

As part of Portalarium’s founding purpose to promote good will and make a positive difference in the world, we’ve provided these charity items as a channel through which our community of backers can contribute to causes they support. Since we opened the Make A Difference Store, our amazing community has purchased over $12,500 of these Autism Awareness items. By purchasing these items, you make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.

We started by creating a Puzzle Tree 6-Pack in the format of our other tree packs, available in the Make A Difference Store now. The pack includes:

  • 2 one-story tall trees
  • 2 two-story tall trees
  • 1 three-story tall tree
  • 1 four-story tall tree

SotA_PuzzleTree_Speedtree_closup

Read more…


Community of the Avatar – The Making of Verdantis Mines

Community of the Avatar

Join us this Friday at 4pm CT for another Community of the Avatar livestream!

Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf (World Builder/Level Designer on the team) is back to show you live the Making of Verdantis Mines, a new uncloned scene he’s working on.

Verdantis Mines are in the northern tip of the Mariah Mountains in the Verdantis region which can be found in the northwest of Novia. The elves of the region have been mining these mountains for many years and recently they broke through to an ancient underground city full of rich ore nodes and other treasures. It is also full of undead and in its deepest places Fire and Earth Elementals.

Verdantis Mines started as a clone of Graff Gem Mines but is being completely rebuilt and will hopefully go live in Release 41 or 42.

Ask your questions (up to 3 in one post please) in the Comments section below, or wait until the livestream and post them in chat! Also be on Discord chat to win some great in-game prizes we’ll be giving away!

The fun begins live on Twitch this Friday!


Free Trial Test #2 Begins Today!

We are excited to open up our second test of the Free Trial System! This latest trial begins now and will end on April 10. If you know anyone who would try the game for free, please send them to the Download Page. These tests are invaluable for us in order to improve the New User Experience (NUE) and the Free Trial System itself.

Free Trial access during the game’s current Early Access period allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play:

  • Free Trial Current Time Period: April 6-10, 2017
  • The term (Visitor) is appended to your Character Name
  • Cannot give items to other players via Trade
  • Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
  • No ownership of property nor use of lot signs
  • Cannot interact with public chests
  • Cannot move/interact with items on a plot even if they are given permissions
  • Cannot flag as Open PVP
  • Cannot gain nor do they create any ransom items when they kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
  • Character data may be deleted after Free Trial period is over if character is not upgraded to a paid account
  • Items purchased in the Add On Store cannot be accessed after the Free Trial Period is over unless you purchase Game Access
  • Cannot play in Offline Mode

You can still explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia! If you wish to continue playing after the free trial concludes, you can obtain an Early Access account here.

For those in the Free Trial, we would love your feedback! We have opened up of our Release 40 Feedback Forums. If you have a constructive comment about this release that will help the game to improve, please post it there. You can also say hello in the New Player Forum!

Have fun, and thanks for trying out Shroud of the Avatar in Early Access!


Announcing the Summer Telethon 2017 Part 1!

Avatars! Get ready to soak up the summer sun with us. Today, we’re announcing the Summer Telethon 2017 Part 1! Telethons are livestreamed on Twitch and include a complete schedule of developer Deep Dives, answers to your gameplay questions, community activities, prize giveaways, sales on items, and more! See what’s all included below…

Summer “Hot Air” Expirations Sale Begins!

Read more…


Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 40 Postmortem

We have been extremely happy with the community’s reaction to Release 40 so far, and want to hear more of your valuable feedback! Join us Tuesday, April 11th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 UTC) on Twitch for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar. We will be answering your questions and looking ahead at what’s on the development schedule in Q2 2017!

Once you get a chance to check out Release 40, post your questions in the comments section below. Only one post submission per player allowed, and keep questions to 3 or less. This will allow us to get to as many questions as possible.

As always, we will be giving out rare artifacts of immense power and glory. For a chance to win an artifact, or to speak your voice on the latest game changes, be in Discord chat during the livestream. There will be multiple chances to win throughout the broadcast!

Follow @ShroudofAvatar to keep updated as the postmortem approaches!


Community of the Avatar – Exploring Kas Ruins

Community of the Avatar

Join us this Friday at 4pm CT for another Community of the Avatar livestream!

Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar (World Builder/Level Designer on the team) is back to show you Kas Ruins, another scene he’s working on. Kas Ruins started out as a clone of Opalis Ruins, an open PvP scene.

The Kas Ruins are one of the six ruined cities found in Novia that date back to the period in Novian history in which the Obsidian Order rose to power. (As described in the Sword of Midras prequel novel by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott). The exact history of some of these cities has been lost to time, but it is rumored that some of them may have been abandoned even before the rise of the Obsidians. Kas is the site of the ruins of an ancient Paladin fort high atop a mountainside. At the foot of the mountain is an abandoned village with a small graveyard. The entire area has become overrun by the undead.

Ask your questions (up to 3 in one post please) in the Comments section below for Esteben! During the livestream, also join us on Discord chat to win prizes and ask any other questions you have.

The fun begins live on Twitch this Friday!


Community Spotlight: Owl Sky City – Player Owned Town

Owl Sky City is a player owned metropolis located right next door to Owl’s Head. It is a non-PvP city with a variety of arenas for high skilled duelers of many sorts! Owl Sky City is great for both new players and veterans, and has some great scenic spots for visitors.

Owl Sky City is well-known for having the cheapest prices for spell, crafting, and repair kits. There are vendors selling the most rare and unique of items in all of the Hidden Vale. The local folk are currently expanding player vending at strategic locations.

The OWL guild also resides here, where they have been active since 2014. The guild is friendly to new players, but are known to hunt mid and high level players as well… those wearing PVP flag of course :).

Read more…