Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Adventurers, ready your weapons! Shroud of the Avatar has just placed the Well of Aldur onto QA for player testing! Expect this new adventure scene to go fully live on Release 86. Sales, sales, and even more sales events are live! Don’t miss out! Also, more information has been revealed about the new collectible framed maps! And be sure to check out all the new bone decorations — so many to choose from and to discover! These exciting updates and more are outlined below for Release 85! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
News Announcements
Community Updates
Well of Aldur Update!
New Britannians! Soon, a mystical and mysterious adventure scene will be coming to players of Shroud of the Avatar. “The Well of Aldur” is a scene for Episode 2 Access holders which will feature a variety of activities to challenge even the most stalwart of Avatars! Many finishing touches still need to be done, but the images shown are a great example of the work in progress. World builders List Rostov and Sannio are both hard at work to complete this wondrously ethereal adventure scene, with a full launch expected for Release 86 on January 28th. Sannio has shared a small teaser for what to expect:
“High above the mountain peaks of Mistrendur floats the crumbling remains of a civilization whose origins are lost to time. Only the greatest adventurers will decipher the secrets, survive the threats, and discover the true nature of the Well of Aldur.”
Players can expect a variety of challenges such as a jump puzzle with a reward upon reaching its end. Also, a boss fight with new mechanics will become available to players, as well as new unique loot for the scene. As of today for Release 85, players will be able to reach “The Well of Aldur” for testing purposes on the QA server. If interested, message an online developer for teleportation to the scene. Please report all related bugs and feedback items on the QA bug reporting/feedback section of the forums. Stay tuned for more information as the scene develops. Happy adventures, Avatars!
Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!
The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, December 18th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1 hour livestream!
To enter the prize drawings, type “let it snow” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website add-on store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT!
Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales!
In celebration of the upcoming holidays, various sales will begin on Thursday morning and extend from December 17th to January 4th. The following sales will be available:
- Crowns 20% Off!
- Crown Store Deeds 25% Off!
- Deed Upgrades 25% Off!
- Crown Store Homes 25% Off!
- Episode 2 Access Discounted to $14!
- 2-Hour Flash Sales!
To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. And be sure to watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! Happy shopping, Avatars!
Decorative Framed Maps!
Upon Release 84, two new decorative framed maps were immediately available to players of Shroud of the Avatar, but during R84 the remaining 24 framed maps became available! These framed maps can be crafted by players, but the recipes can be significantly challenging to locate and are scattered widely throughout New Britannia in various monster loot tables. Well, no worries. Caravaggios Wolf is here to help!
[SPOILERS] Caravaggios Wolf is a prominent art dealer NPC in Ardoris, who is located in an art store just on the edges of the main market square. If a player prompts Caravaggios with the phrase “framed maps” phrase, Caravaggios will provide his knowledge of these recipes and even provide a book which was written by one of his colleagues. This book has very helpful information as to the location for each of these recipes.
If players would like to see a variety of these framed maps in-game, be sure to pop on by Cypher Black’s art museum in the Player-Owned Town of Whyte Roc. Nearly a half of these crafted framed maps are already on display, many of which have been donated by community members supporting the museum. More collections such as this will be coming in the future, so keep your eyes open, Avatars!
New Bone Decorations!
As of Release 85, a wide range of bone type decorations will be featured as loot, crafted items, or even upcoming store items. Some of these bone decorations already served as crafting components, but now they can also be placed as decorations! Here’s a quick summary of where to find all these recently added or upcoming decorations for all you bone collectors out there!
In the above image, the following bones are shown:
- Dragon Claw (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons)
- Dragon Leg Bone (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons)
- Dragon Rib (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons)
- Dragon Jaw (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons)
- Dragon Skull (Crafted – Recipe Drops from Chest Mimics and Barrel Mimics, uses any non-clockwork dragon head)
The massive Reinforced Dragon Skull decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 22nd!
The Dragon Bones 2 decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 15th, and can be placed on player property as well as a Player-Owned Town (POT). The original POT Dragon Bones decoration, which is significantly different, has been renamed to Dragon Bones 1. Expect changes to that decoration item in the future allowing it to be placed on player property as well.
This creepy Skull Pile decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 1st!
The recently added Bone Pile decorations (3 versions) are a wonderful touch for any player-created dungeon scene, and the recipes to craft these are in Xenos.
Pictured above is the variety of additional bones, many of which were already available as crafting components but can now be placed as decorations:
- Skeleton Pelvic Bones (Loot – Drops from skeletons)
- Troll Pelvic Bones (Loot – Drops from trolls, renamed from Troll Hip Bone)
- Skeleton Bones (Loot – Drops from Skeletons)
- Dragon Neck Bone (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons)
- Pristine Rib Cage (Loot – Drops from skeletons)
We hope you all enjoy collecting and decorating with these new bone decorations. Expect more bone decorations to come in the future, and be on the lookout for additional recipes which drop as loot from creatures to utilize some of these bones for crafting!
Craftable Zombie Conversationalists!
The game of Shroud of the Avatar features a wide variety of Conversationalists. These decorative NPCs allow players to insert custom interactive conversations which other players can enjoy. Whether you’re sharing information about your vendors, town, guild, or even creating a custom storyline, these amazing items inspire creativity throughout the community and add a considerable bit of flair to any in-game town or property.
As more Conversationalists are added to the game, most of which are premium Crown Store items, there are additional crafted or looted Conversationalists coming with R85, with even more crafted and looted varieties coming just on the horizon! Just added for Release 85 are two new Zombie Conversationalist alchemy recipes, which can be looted from Ebon Dawn casters. Here’s a quick summary of non-premium Conversationalists, to include the ones which went live with R85, and the ones which will be coming to a recipe or a loot table near you!
Recently added crafted Conversationalists:
- Conversationalist, Beggar Male 1 (Crafted – Recipe sold in Xenos)
- Conversationalist, Beggar Female 1 (Crafted – Recipe sold in Xenos)
Conversationalists added with Release 85:
- Conversationalist, Putrid Zombie Male 1 (Crafted – Recipe drops from Ebon Dawn casters)
- Conversationalist, Putrid Zombie Female 1 (Crafted – Recipe drops from Ebon Dawn casters)
Crafted/Looted Conversationalists slated to arrive in the future:
- Conversationalist, Imp
- Conversationalist, Child Male
- Conversationalist, Child Female
- Conversationalist, Child Elf
- Conversationalist, Zombie Child Male 1
- Conversationalist, Zombie Child Female 1
- Conversationalist, Oracle Crawler
- Conversationalist, Oracle Flyer
- Conversationalist, Clockwork Monkey
- Conversationalist, Baby Dragon (All Colors)
We hope utilizing the Inkle Studios “Ink” conversation system has become a joyful endeavor within the game. Six additional Zombie Conversationalists will arrive to the Crown Store on January 8th. Expect many more Conversationalists to arrive in the future as this system continues to develop.
Supply Bundle Decorations!
For years, players of Shroud of the Avatar have been looting a variety of “Supply Bundles” which randomly drop from a large number of creature types throughout the game. Many players open these bundles immediately upon acquisition, but others have chosen to either save their findings or to place excess bundles onto their player vendors. Well, another option has arrived! Starting with Release 85, players can utilize Grey, Yellow, Blue and Orange bundles as decorations! Stack’em high! Flip’em on their sides! Resize them! Put other decorations on top of them! Most importantly, we hope you enjoy them.
Patterns & Cabalist Hoods!
Many players of Shroud of the Avatar have spent considerable effort and time acquiring impressive collections of Cabalist Hoods which are desired by players for their excellent stat bonuses. Until now, if a player wanted to receive these bonuses, they were forced to display the hood’s appearance or utilize the “Hide Helm” feature. Patterns could not be applied to these hoods or any artifacts for that matter, but no longer! Live today for Release 85, all 8 Cabalist Hoods will accept cloth head patterns. This new option will allow those hood wearers to vary their appearance significantly. The following hoods will receive this update:
Cabalist Avara Hood- Cabalist Corpus Hood
- Cabalist Dolus Hood
- Cabalist Fastus Hood
- Cabalist Indigno Hood
- Cabalist Nefario Hood
- Cabalist Nefas Hood
- Cabalist Temna Hood
In the near future, expect many more artifact varieties to receive pattern capabilities. We hope players enjoy this new flexibility for altering one’s appearance. So many more exciting new features and Quality of Life improvements are inbound, Avatars! So, stay tuned!
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