Avatar’s Update #333: R66 On QA, Last Week for Login Rewards, New Skills Livestream Today

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

News Announcements

Community Updates

Release 66 On QA (Live next Thur)

An early version of R66 is on the QA server. R66 is full of new content and fixes, some of which is now on the QA server for early testing. An early version of the R66 Instructions is also available for review. We could really use everyone’s help to test all of this amazing content before it goes live next Thursday May 30!

9 New Warding Skills
5 New Taming Skills
New Top Tier Tameable Creatures
Tameable Baby Dragons
Artifact Combining
Luminous Atavist Returns
Clockwork Dragon Trophy Recipe
Leaderboards
New User Experience Polish
New Emotes
R60, R62 , and R63 Livestream Items
Performance Improvements
More Bug Fixes
and more!

Please join us in testing on the QA server (instructions are posted each release in the bug forums) so we can make each release the best it can be. By helping us test prior to the release we can insure there are less bugs, more stability, and more balance.

Participating qualifies you for the Testing Incentives Program! We will reward you for your efforts because we do understand that time spent on QA is time lost on advancing your character on live. Each release we will randomly reward the following rewards (one prize per player):

500 Gold Crowns (4 prizes)
Ant Farm (4 prizes)
Antennae (4 prizes)
Bug Cloak (4 prizes)
Set of Bug Paintings (4 prizes)
Bug Sprayer with emote (1 prize)
Insect Leg Table (1 prize)
Corpion Chair (1 prize)

In order to qualify you must meet the following requirements:

Install the QA version of the game
Login and play on QA for at least 4 hours per release
Report at least 1 bug in the QA section of the forums
Note that players will only be submitted for the lottery once per QA cycle. Continued bug reporting will not count toward additional submissions into the lottery.

Thanks Avatars!

Final Week for May Login Rewards

It is the last week to get your May Login rewards!

As a special limited time promotion we are rewarding all players who login by the end of May with two rewards! The first reward is a miniature greyhound pet, inspired by the lovable “Mojito” (pet of Chris “Atos” Spears). The second reward is a 3-story Wood & Plaster Row Home which is an extra floor upgrade from the default home that comes with the free row lot that all players receive.

To receive the rewards, simply login to the game before the end of May and check your rewards icon!

New Skills & Taming Skills Livestream Today

Another content packed weekly Community Livestream is today, Friday May 24 at 4 PM CT on Twitch!

This week Chris “Atos” Spears is going to talk about and show off some of the 14 new skills he is adding for Release 66 including a bunch of new Taming skills!

Sun Warding
Moon Warding
Air Warding
Earth Warding
Life Warding
Death Warding
Water Warding
Fire Warding
Magic Warding
Pet Speed Training
Pet Hide Toughness Training
Pet Strength Training
Pet Attack Precision Training
Pet Taunting Training

You can also earn Release 65 Hero Team themed stretch goals by making a purchase anytime during Release 65 or by participating in the Rewards program!

ACHIEVED! $15K: Replenishing Box of Green Growth Potions
ACHIEVED! $30K: Set of Six Glowing Cube Decorations
ACHIEVED! $45K: Red Full Face Mask with Forehead Jewel
$60K: Hammer with wrist strap and lightning effects & Winged Helm
$75K: Round Shield with Star & Matching Leather Helm
$90K: Dragonfly Wings & Plate Helm with Antenna (includes Aether Vibration Device)
$105K: Golden Jeweled Gauntlet
$125K: Red & Gold Clockwork Armor with Full Face Covering Helm (includes Aether Vibration Device)

NOTE: This has NOTHING to do with a certain culminating cinematic event about heroes happening right now…

As usual we will be giving out prizes at 4:15 and 4:45! To be eligible all you need to do is either make any purchase in the store or log into the game and type “No i in team” in the chat window (no purchase necessary).

Watch on Twitch this Friday at 4 PM CDT

Are You a Livestreamer?

Get this exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Livestreamer Program!

5/24 Crown Shop Updates

Greetings Avatars,

The Crown Shop has some great updates this week including the following:

Expanded Sales: In celebration of R66 being on QA we are having an expanded number of items on sale over the next several days leading up to R66 going live! From Friday May 24 at 1 PM to Tuesday May 28 at 1 PM there will be 27 items on sale per day (24 hours) in the in-game Crown Shop (instead of just the usual 9 items). Be sure to login every day and flip through all the pages of sales to find all the bargains!
The Vault: A new set of Vault items are now available until Thursday, June 6 at 10:30 AM Central Time. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for two weeks, and then the next, etc.Virtue Dirndl Outfit
- Aeronaut Wearable Pack
- Pallas’s Cat
- Flame Stained Glass Table Lamp 3 Pack
- Hot Air Balloon
- Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Balcony Village Home
- Druid Town Home
- Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Front Porch Town Home
- Shogun Five-Story City Home

Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles

As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of the Portalarium Offices, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold!

Complete List of Rewards:

UPDATED: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land!
Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle
NEW: Unique Lord of the Isle Home (to be revealed later)
UPDATED: PLUS Choice of any 1 House currently available in the store
Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice
Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot)
NEW: Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (to be revealed later)
1400 Crowns
999 Bank Slots
Pick 12 Prosperity Tools
2 Unique in-game items (to be revealed later)
Early Access to Episode 2
Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team
1 hour one on one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference)
One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8
In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version)
Tour of Portalarium Offices
Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, & Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC.

NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD.

NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Portalarium for Tour & Dinner.

Saltwater Fishing Contest & Various Other Livestreams (YouTube)

The Saltwater Fishing Contest last week was a blast! Here are the final standings

Runners Up (2): Fishing Sign + Desktop Fish Trophy
- Alley Oop: Large Bluefin Tuna 3.2
- Sawtooth: Swordfish 3.1
3rd Prize: Ornate Water Platform + Bronze Fish Trophy
- Cleo: Large Bluefin Tuna 3.3
2nd Prize: Watermill Village House (digital) + Silver Fish Trophy
- Hex: Small Tiger Shark 3.5
1st Prize: Player Owned Town Village Water Lot Property Deed (digital) + Gold Fish Trophy
- Nubby eErwiggles: Tiger Shark 4.2

As a special treat Chris “Atos” Spears made custom fish themed trophies like he made for the deco contest!

Here is the livestream from our YouTube channel in case you missed it:

Atos and others have also been livestreaming most days and you can check those out on our YouTube channel (complete with “Mojito the dog” cam). Note that if you subscribe to the channel you will be notified when he goes live. Here are a few highlights:

Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Gold Crowns, AND receive rare stretch-goal items from our monthly livestreams! This program automatically enrolls you in the monthly livestreams (counts as the $5 minimum purchase) along with other perks.

For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Automatic Participation in the Monthly Livestream Stretchgoals (counts as the $5 minimum purchase)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
Pick any Dye 12 Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including:
- Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity
- Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance
- Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills
- Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills
- Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage
- Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills

Upcoming Events Calendar

Be sure to check out the Forums Recurring Events section for other events!

May 30, 2019 – Release 66
June 1, 2019 – Release 66 Dance Party
June 7, 2019 – Release 66 Livestream
June 27, 2019 – Release 67
July 25, 2019 – Release 68
Aug 29, 2019 – Release 69

Meretz: Win an Ancient Columned City Home

Win an Ancient Columned City Home & earn free SotA in-game items daily!

Whether you move a little or a lot, as a Meretz user you rack up valuable Meretz Points (MPs). The more MPs you have, the more stuff you can buy!

Think: in-game SotA goodies, Sweepstakes entries, Relics by Rild giveaways, and tons more. With Meretz, we launch several sweepstakes every month. This month, we’re giving away the Ancient Columned City Home! You can also enter to win a Relics By Rild $50 Gift Card and other cool prizes. AND, use your MPs every day for in-game items like potions and emotes.

What’re you waiting for? Download Meretz TODAY!

Community Event: Midsommarblot (heavy RP)

[Forum Post by Helvig Ingvildsdottir]

Jay Nord, the Gothi of Norstead and Helvig Ingvildsdottir, Völva in Helboer, cordially invite you to their second annual Midsommarblot. The Blot is a ritual where we celebrate the seasons, sacrifice to the gods of our original homeland, and experience community. This is a heavy RP event. Everyone is welcome as long as they are not disruptive to others’ roleplay.

Event date: Saturday, June 29, 4pm NBT
Event locations: Norstead (Hammaburg) and Helboer (Kahli)

We will first do the more ritualized part of the celebration in Norstead. After blessing Norstead’s homes and acres we will then move to Helboer for a feast, music, dance, and games.

Details are going to follow. Questions are welcome.

Community Event: Welcome Quest Release 66

[Forum Post by Duke Gréagóir]

By Appointment to
His Majesty Lord British
Welcome Quest Makers

You are invited to join the Welcome Quest in Release 66.

This is a Player ran event – Portalarium (makers of Shroud of the Avatar) is not represented.

This is NOT a PVP event. Please don’t plan on PVPing at this event.
It will be held on Saturday , June 15th, 2019 starting at 12pm (noon) central time/New Britannian time and lasting an hour. It is in your in-game Events book.

Greagoir Pendragon will be active 30 minutes before the event and during the event. So you can teleport to Greagoir Pendragon if you wish.

We are traveling to the town of Fallin’ Green. Travel to Ardoris, and take the wagon inside of the entrance to Fallin’ Green.

You can also search for the town in the SOTA Map web site – https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/

Are you with us?

Purpose:

The Welcome Quest is a quest for all people to see many towns and establishments. It is created as a way for people to visit many player-ran locations. It involves each town and establishment to give the quest person some information and then instructions to go to the next location (a town or establishment) to do something. The path may be sequential from place to place or in parallel to multiple places at the same time. The goal is for towns and establishments to showcase their places, educate the people, and work with other player-ran towns/establishments. We do the Welcome Quest 4 items a year, one in each season.

We are proud to be the first player-ran quest in SotA! We do it for all of you.

More information is located at
http://sotawiki.net/sota/Community:Quests/Welcome_Quest#Welcome_Quests_in_Releases

Welcome Torch changes – testing and answers due to burnout

With Release 38, all torches changed physically. The durability started to decrease when the torch is held onto. This change also affected the Welcome Torch you receive from the Welcome Quest.

With Release 41 you now can repair your own Welcome Torches with a carpentry repair kit and a carpentry table.

Community Event: NBTT Presents — Daggers In The Dark – The Video!

[Forum Post by Asclepius]

Yes, we do have a video! This is the recording of our maiden performance, in the Sabra Rose Theater, in Rift’s End.

Hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to check out the Forums Recurring Events section for other events!

Project to Support – Avatars Radio

Avatars Radio is a community run and community funded radio station founded by community member Amber Okhan (formerly Amber Raine). They air plays, music, sermons, speeches, and they organize the monthly release dance parties. You can listen to Avatars Radio on their website or through one of the Aether Amplifiers inside Shroud of the Avatar. Consider helping this community endeavor by supporting their Patreon!

“This station was created with the love of our community and fellow citizens in Lord British – Richard Garriott’s new world of Shroud of the Avatar. Our dream desire is to serve and share (simply by airing) communities work through the moon towers. We have an open welcoming of all submissions from our community. Talented musicians (be it instrumental, vocal, or mixer), poets, designers of station identifications and other sound bytes, or perhaps you have the face and voice for radio and would like to try your turn behind the desk as a DJ? This station shall always welcome the creative works of the community weighed over that of earthly!”

Resources – Players Helping Players

The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website.

Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community.

Are You a Livestreamer?

Nysaliwow