Avatar’s Update #398: The Well of Aldur Sneak Peek! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a small sneak peek at an upcoming new scene known as “The Well of Aldur!” 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

The Well of Aldur Sneak Peek!

New Britannians! Rumors of a mystical and mysterious locale are spreading throughout the lands. “The Well of Aldur” is an upcoming new adventure scene for Episode 2 Access holders which will feature a variety of activities to challenge even the most stalwart of Avatars! Still very early in design, the image above is a small example of the wondrously ethereal ambience which this new scene will exhibit.

“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.”

Amongst other challenges, players can expect a jump puzzle to tackle with a reward upon reaching its end. More objectives will be available at this locale, so stay tuned for more previews of this astonishing new scene as it continues to develop!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, September 11th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “a September to remember” 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!

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, September 17th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

  • Brass Mini Automaton Decoration Pet
  • Magic Sigil Cloak
  • Ornate Norgard Axe
  • Ornate Tansu Chest
  • Elven Keep Village Home
  • Ornate Viking Short Sword
  • Dragon Polearm
  • Candle Helmet
  • Oracle Eye Throne

Latest Store Additions: Ornate Round Setees, Golden Oracle Guardian Statue & More!

A new furniture style has been introduced and added to the Crown Store — round setees! Each setee allows for 4 occupants and is a must have for anyone with a reading room in their house! The setees feature two dye layers and a decoration surface behind the occupant’s head. The pictured lamp does not come with the setees, but is there to demonstrate the decoration surface provided. Also, a giant Golden Oracle Guardian Statue has been added to the store and two new plants are available to enhance your gardens!

  • Ornate Red Floral Round Setee
  • Ornate White & Gold Round Setee
  • Golden Oracle Guardian Statue
  • Potted Giant Banana Tree
  • Potted Elderberry Plant

Also, we’re scouring the realm for items that have long been missing from the store. Many items are being loaded into the Vault and will rotate in periodically which are announced each week as they go live, but here’s a small number of additional items becoming permanently available on the Crown Store:

  • Glowing Jewel Cube 3-Packs (Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow)
  • Display Camera

September Login Reward: Dyeable Fishing Rod!

Anglers rejoice! September’s login reward is an indestructible dyeable fishing rod! Featuring both primary and secondary dye layers, anglers will really be able to show off their style whilst casting a line into the waters of New Britannia! Simply log in during the month of September, and this dyeable fishing rod will become available in the Rewards Window.

Release 81 Reward Program Login Reward Items: Lord British & Farming Items!

Avatars! Rewards Program login reward items for Release 81 are Lord British and farming themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 81 to receive these login items:

  • Lord British Plate Leggings
  • Large Haystack
  • Small Haystack
  • Strawbox
  • Box Hay Bale 5-Pack
  • Hay Pile
  • Hay Drying Rack
  • Hay Cart

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

  • 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
  • Monthly Login Reward Items (~ 3 per month)
  • 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

The Bug Brigade Rides Again!

The Bug Brigade was established to assist the community and the development team to work together to improve the game. Since then the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the player-base, and for that reason the program has been revamped and is being relaunched.

The program is now open to all players in good standing and bug rewards are back! They will awarded be on a progression basis monthly with only a minimal requirement to be filled to qualify.

We are bringing the bug forums current and will make every effort to have triage and intake for each validated bug. To assist in doing this we have asked Alley Oop, Justyn, and Tazar to take on a moderator role within the bug and feedback forums. Please congratulate them the next time you see them in the game or on the forums!

The Bug Brigade will be open to all. If you feel the game is your home, sign up and assist us in making it a better place to live! To sign up, read the post “Bug Brigade Rides Again!” in the main Bug/Feedback forums for both the Live or Player Test areas in the official forums. If you have trouble finding them, please ask a Hospitaller, or one of the Moderators via PM in the forums or in Discord.

Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams

Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel (complete with “Mojito the dog” cam). Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!!




Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at our other social media venues:

Are You a Livestreamer?

Soon, the Streaming Reward Program will be returning. As the details are getting reworked, we’ll reveal more information. Traditional streaming rewards included an exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Streaming Program! Expect the camera reward to return! More goodies will come to your way as the program fully develops. Thank you for streaming Shroud of the Avatar!

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 Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold!

Complete List of Rewards:

  • 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
  • Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above)
  • NEW – Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Megalopolis size just became available!)
  • Choice of 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)
  • Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later)
  • 140,000 Crowns
  • 1000 Bank Slots
  • Pick 12 Prosperity Tools
  • Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item)
  • Unique In-Game Emote (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 Lord British’s property
  • Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and 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, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD.

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

Upcoming Events Calendar

Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums:

2020 Release Schedule:

  • Release 82 – Sep 24
  • Release 83 – Oct 29
  • Release 84 – Nov 19
  • Release 85 – Dec 17

Meretz: Win a Topiary Keep Dragon Statue (No Trade)

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 and tons more. With Meretz, we launch several sweepstakes every month. This month, we’re giving away a Topiary Keep Dragon Statue (No Trade) to two lucky winners! AND, use your MPs every day for in-game items like potions and emotes.

What’re you waiting for? Download Meretz TODAY!

Community Event: Screenshot/Video Contest!

With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s time for all New Britannians to partake in the festivities! Labor Day is right around the corner and within the game world, the in-game calendar is about to hit 600 P.C. for a new year and new century!  To celebrate, it’s time for a screenshot/video contest!

Theme: Fireworks show! All screenshots and videos for this contest must be of a choreographed fireworks show launched from the Overworld map or from in-game towns and adventure scenes. Get your guild/team together to compete in this world wide fireworks competition!

Screenshot Requirements: 

  • Resolution: Minimum of 1920×1080, and always in 16:9 aspect ratio (cropping allowed).
  • Quality: Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed.
  • Time of Day: Nighttime shows only, no night vision please.
  • Hide the UI: Please toggle off the UI using the default key F9.

Video Requirements: 

  • Resolution: Minimum of 720p.
  • Quality: Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed.
  • Time of Day: Nighttime shows only, no night vision please.
  • Hide the UI: Please toggle off the UI using the default key F9.
  • Duration: 30 seconds minimum, 60 seconds maximum. Anything occurring after the 60 second mark will not be considered for judging.

Guild/Team Requirements:

  • Captain: Each guild/team must select a team captain.
  • 12 Players Max per Team: Each team, to include the team captain, can have a maximum of 12 players.

Submission Requirements: 

  • # of Entries Per Team: 1 screenshot and 1 video entry per guild/team maximum.
  • Submission Location: Submissions must be placed as a reply into the main thread for this contest on the official forums by the guild/team captain.
  • Post in Forums: In the submission post, the guild/team captain must post the screenshot as a viewable image and/or the embedded video.
  • Participant List: The captain must list out all participants of their team (max of 12 players) in their submission post. The participant list must include the proper spelling of each character. If proper spelling and character names are not provided, prize delivery will be negatively affected.
  • Deadline: All submissions must be posted by 6AM CT on Monday September 21st.
  • OPTIONAL: Please post these on our Twitter and/or Facebook pages to help spread the word about the contest.

Best Screenshot Prizes:

  • 1st Place: 10,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).
  • 2nd Place: 5,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).
  • 3rd Place: 2,500 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

Best Video Prizes:

  • 1st Place: 10,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).
  • 2nd Place: 5,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).
  • 3rd Place: 2,500 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

Prize Rules:

  • Crowns will be delivered to team captain only. The team captain will determine how to split the Crowns amongst their team.
  • Please ensure your team member list has accurate spellings of character names, or titles cannot be delivered.
  • Each team can win once in the screenshot and once in the video categories.
  • Players can only represent a single team.

The Catnip Games team members will pick the winners based on aesthetic and creative qualities of the screenshots and videos. Winners will be announced during the community livestream 1 to 2 weeks after the contest’s deadline! Good luck, Avatars!

Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney

Greetings Anglers! The weekly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! These contests run for 1 week intervals, Friday Noon to Friday Noon CT.  We’ll announce the winners every Friday during the livestream.

Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry.

Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 11th at Noon CT to Friday the 18th at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week:

  • Largest FETID WATER Fish (Town):
    • Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns
    • Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy
      • Caer Dracwych (Bowen Bloodgood)
      • New Britannian Market, Novia West of Brittany (Lord Andernut)
      • Rock Ridge, Mistrendur Middle Island (Redhammer)
    • Recommended: Please put a mailbox for your anglers to use by the water. For salt or fetid water contests, town owners can receive a loaner statue to convert the water type of their town to that of the contest, if required.
  • Largest Fish (PvP):
    • Rules: Must be caught in Kas Ruins
    • Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy
  • Largest Lava Fish:
    • Rules: Must be caught in Sunless Barrens
    • Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy
  • Participation Prizes:
    • Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations
    • Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy

Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone.

  • Current Crossovers:
    • Rock Ridge: The entries must be caught in Rock Ridge during this week’s fishing event! If you pulled a big one already it counts as long as it was pulled after noon on Friday September 11th 2020 and before noon on Friday September 18th 2020. See @Redhammer ‘s forum post for more info.

How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch.

Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Community Event: Birthday Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt in Immortal City is nearly upon us! Each participant will be given a book of clues. The clues will lead you to somewhere in Immortal City where you will need to pick up an item, and from there, the fun begins! 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes are available!

Where: Immortal City
When: Saturday, September 12th, 3PM to 9PM CT

Good luck to everyone and have fun! For more information about contest rules and prizes, please see the main forum thread about this topic on the official forums.

Community Event: The Prince of Brittany

Avatars! Matt “Gix” Schmitz at StudioGix.com has released a wonderfully entertaining music video about his time in New Britannia! Sit back and watch the humorous video “The Prince of Brittany” on YouTube. Also, if you’d like to see more from Gix (a.k.a. LavaGix), head on over to his twitch stream and give him a follow!

Community Event: TheAvatar.Express Needs You!

If you’re looking for a great way to get involved in the Shroud of the Avatar community, then look no further! The fine folks at TheAvatar.Express are looking for some new reporters. Avatars wishing to help with the following are highly desired:

  • Developer Stream Summaries
  • Twitter Reposting
  • In-Game Event Coverage
  • Events Calendar Management
  • New Features/Changes Tutorials
  • Interviews
  • Editorials
  • Any other game stuff you want to cover!

Also, the Avatar Express is going to be visiting POTs and writing one or two articles highlighting Shroud of the Avatar’s great community! If you are interested in having your town featured, please reply to this thread with your town’s name. You will be contacted to answer a few questions about the town and will be notified when the article is to be published!

To sign up as a reporter, visit https://theavatar.express/be-a-reporter. If you have any questions, feel free to start a private conversation with that_shawn_guy on the forums or shawnbutts #4362 on Discord. For more information, please also visit the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums.

Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla

Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming!

Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:


The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game:

  • More Enemies!
  • More Environments!
  • More Magic Spells!
  • RPG Quests!
  • Weapon Forging and Crafting!
  • Much, much more!

If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available!

Project to Support: Jar Wars


While you are delving into Virtual Reality (VR), be sure to check out this exciting and hilarious new game, Jar Wars! Our very own Darkstarr has been busy on some side projects, one of which is Jar Wars, a slapstick multiplayer game made just for VR enthusiasts. Battle your friends with wacky weapons and intriguing gadgets for total domination of the Moon! Available for free on Steam!

Project to Support: Dragon Fight

Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey:

  • Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you
  • Using a sword and a shield
  • Fire!
  • Nowhere to run!

This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam!

Project to Support: Crowfall

Be part of shaping the next great MMO by becoming a Crowfall Backer! Crowfall is the first and only online Throne War game. You can win. Join intense PvP battles that demand strategy, survival and a fierce competitive spirit. Reap the spoils of war as an Eternal Champion!

Claim virtual territory on behalf of your guild or faction. Capture mines, mills, and quarries to secure resources, build castles, and besiege your neighbors. Scavenge artifacts and relics from the Dying Worlds and install them in your temples to grant blessings to your vassals. Capture lost spirits to do your bidding — or bind them into your weapons to infuse them with sorcerous power!

Project to Support: Avatar Express

[Forum post by Vladamir Begemot]

I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site.

If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening.

You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no committment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like.

Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immidiate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game.

It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts!

So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us!

Resources: Players Helping Players

SotA_NewPlayerWelcome_Forum

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.