Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Release 30 Postmortem
• Brittany Wharfs
• Brittany Alleys
• Gold Crowns of the Obsidians Clarifications
• Revamped Founder Leather Armor, Benefactor Cloth Tunic & Founder Cloth Tunic
• Richard Garriott is Certifiable (on Twitter)
• Unity Onsite
• Austin Unity Developer Meetup: Worldbuilding with Finn & Esteben
• Updates to POT Pages
• Keep Stone Arena Basement
• Clarification on New Game Access Bundles
• Viking 4-Story Row House & Viking Wearable Bundles
• 54 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1
• Upcoming Events
• Community Activities
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 30 Postmortem

Our first Postmortem with our new Community Manager, Berek, at the helm went great! Richard, Starr, Chris, Scott, Gina, and Matt chatted about Release 30 and provided a sneak peek at Release 31. A greadt deal of time was spent on the durability changes and the Gold Crowns of the Obsidians, and Berek fielded lots of questions and feedback from the original post and live in the chat-room; including the new Discord chat server! We gave out lots of prizes including store credits, an ISS challenge coin from Richard’s trip to space, 2 Shroud of the Avatar T-shirts, and even some new Viking items! Darkstarr even modeled his garb for the HOBLOTH 3 event going on down the road at Castleton. Chris then followed up with an AMA in Discord, where he answered a ton of questions that were later posted to the forums here.

And a good time with the community and great feedback were not the only things the team took away from the hangout. One of the things this Post Mortem helped us realize was that many of the questions posted were repeated requests for information about when certain features are going to be coming online. We noted that, though many of those questions could be answered by reading the Final Wipe & Lot Selection post, the information was not as easily accessible as it could be. So, we pulled the basic Road Map out of that post, updated it, and made it it’s own post.

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Play Release 30 Now!
• Hospitaller Refueling Stations
• Release 30 Postmortem Invite
• Brittany Alleys
• Name Reservation
• New Cloth Tunic, Polished Cloth Doublet, & Viking Helm
• New Tropical Island PoT Template & PoT Templates Page
• MMORPG Previews: Release 30’s Big Changes
• Gold Crowns of the Obsidians
• Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Deeds (Bundles Only)
• Viking Row House Tax Free Player Owned Lot Bundles
• 61 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

Play Release 30 Now!

Read more…

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Greetings Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 30 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, May 26, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

The pace of change as we approach Final Wipe and Lot Selection continues to accelerate as we make our final few, but quite impactful changes and additions to Shroud of the Avatar. Release 30 is full of these important changes, and includes large additions to the story, reworkings of the crafting system, and refinements of the new targeting mechanics we introduced in R29.

The statue of Grannus in front of the crumbling Valhold Castle

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Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• New Female Avatar
• Kiln Cistern (a work in progress)
• Final Duke Tour & Round-table
• New Community Manager: Berek
• Spring Telethon Rewards
• Shroud of the Avatar Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Volumes 2 & 3
• Ornate Iron Wall Light 3-Pack
• 68 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

New Female Avatar

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Kevin “Uglyfist” Wells]

Hello again everyone. First, I want to give many thanks to the community for the flattering and constructive feedback from my last post about the male avatar update. It was a great experience and totally made the work feel worth it with all the positive feedback.

It’s player character polish debut time again, and I’m very excited to say that the female avatar has been updated. Much like the male avatar update, I started from scratch and built and integrated the character over a two-release period.

With this update, the idea was to take what we had, and without completely changing the aesthetic, remake the art in a way that improves the quality but doesn’t completely change the look and feel with which players are already so familiar. Basically, the goal was to keep the female avatar looking as she was before, but with more polish and bit of a push toward an athletic look.

Also, as with the male avatar update, I have to give thanks to Matt Schmitz and Fletcher Kinnear for helping me get this new character working well with animations and all the many equippables.

I hope you guys love it and I can’t wait to hear back from everybody.

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• **** UPDATE: Summer 2016 Expirations ****
• The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
• The Making of Brittany Fields
• Elad’s Lighthouse
• Revamped Headgear
• The Bear, the Bare, and the Maiden, Faire (a Community Event)
• Balloon PoT Connections
• Silver Serpent Pendant Available in a Variety of Metals
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

**** UPDATE: Summer 2016 Expirations ****

In order to give our backers the opportunity to upgrade their pledges once they’ve experienced the game post-wipe (see Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone), we have decided to split the Summer 2016 Expiration Event into Two Parts!

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27, 2016, we are expiring the homes and basements from the Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2 pledges. We are also expiring new Player Owned Towns (upgrades of existing POTs will continue to be available). All other rewards (including tax free property deeds) that are currently available in the remaining pledges will continue to be available. The final wipe of all game data will also occur at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th. To commemorate this momentous milestone, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 1, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Wipe at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, we are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2. To commemorate the final expiration of all remaining pledges, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 2, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Pledge Expirations at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• The Making of Valhold (Castle Interior)
• The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
• The Making of Brittany Fields
• Merchant Outfit Revamp + Fortified Cloth Gloves & Boots
• The Spring Festival of the Avatar Telethon Results
• Shroud In The News: Richard Garriott and Personal Rapid Transport
• Summer 2016 Expirations
• New Kobold Furniture, Pavers, Streelamps, and Gazebo
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

The Making of Valhold (Castle Interior)

This is the continuing update on the progress on Valhold. Valhold is scheduled to go live in Release 30.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard “RrMatey” Matey]

Hey guys, I have returned to Valhold after creating the Crypt of the Avatar scene. So the last thing that needs to be completed for Valhold is the interior of the palace. This section of the game is a solo instance and will change depending on the story points of the game. So here are some screenshots of the interior.

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Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Duel with the Devs During The Spring Festival of the Avatar Telethon!
• Final 3 Days for 15% Bonus & Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations!
• Play Release 29 Now!
• Brittany Video Walk-through
• Crypt of the Avatar
• Meet the Companions (Offline Feature)
• New Player Run Towns: Coastal and Interior Forests
• Shroud In The News: R29 and Richard Garriott at PAX East 2016
• Finn Staber at the Unity Roadshow
• Final Weekend for The Emperors’ and Empresses’ New Clothes
• New Furniture, Trees, In-Door Plants, and Torture Devices
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

The Spring Festival of the Avatar Telethon!

For the final day of the 15% Bonus and Spring Expiration Event we are holding a 10 hour Spring Festival of the Avatar Telethon, from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM Central Time (5:00 PM UTC to 03:00 AM UTC) on Monday, May 2nd. We decided to extend our Spring 2016 Bonus and Pledge Expirations from 10:30 AM until the end of the telethon at 10:00 PM CT.

Read more…

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Greetings Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 29 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, April 28, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

As we move ever closer to Final Wipe and Lot Selection, we are rapidly expanding the content and feature set of Shroud of the Avatar. We are also critically appraising our feature set and making sure each and every feature is as it should be for those critical events of Release 32. With those thoughts in mind, we looked at a few key aspects of the game related to housing, crafting, and targeting and made some important changes in Release 29. These changes were not easy, nor were they without controversy, but we believe they are changes that need to be made for the long term health of the project.

One of the main square’s called Quinn’s Peak in Brittany

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Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Male Cloth Armor Revamps
• Reconnecting with Underground Scenes
• The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
• Final Lord of the Manor Dinner and Tour
• Richard Garriott in “Streets by VICE: Austin (6th St.)”
• Leostorm’s Church of the Darkstarr
• New Home Decorations
• 10 Day Countdown for 15% Bonus & Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations!
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

Male Cloth Armor Revamps

As part of our rework of the Avatars we are steadily progressing through many of the clothing and armor items to improve their visual quality. We periodically update the progress of this effort.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Fletcher “Skullmuncher34” Kinnear]

Hey everybody! More revamps! This time I worked on cloth outfits.

Here is the Epic Cloth Chest Piece, Gauntlets, Leggings, and Boots:

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Making of Central Brittany
• Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 28 Postmortem
• Richard Garriott at Cartoons on the Bay (Venice, Italy)
• Richard Garriott at the Explorer’s Club
• New (Old) Player Homes
• New Boat Decorations
• Lot Deed Sale and Player Owned Town Lot Deeds
• SeleneNoctua’s Video Walkthrough of Skrekk
• The Gallery of Horrors
• Longfall’s R28 End of the World Party
• 17 Day Countdown for 15% Bonus & Spring 2016 Pledge Expirations
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

The Making of Brittany

This the continuing update on progress on Brittany. Central Brittany is scheduled to go live in Release 29.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

CITY OF BRITTANY LAYOUT

Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here to give you an update on the City of Brittany!

As Brittany approaches its final stages, I have compiled a map with all the current player lot locations and interesting locations you will find in the city. In designing Brittany I wanted every section of the city to feel unique, below you’ll see names of neighborhoods and streets that not only give an identity to the different sectors but I hope will help you guys, the players in establishing your homes and identifying with specific areas.

Read more…