Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Another amazing game release has arrived, Avatars! Head to Mistrendur and enter the Obsidian Panopticon, a brand new adventure scene added for Episode 2 Access holders! Also, The Rise adventure scene has been expanded significantly. Players will discover amazing new challenges whilst delving deeper into this sinister labyrinth! Artifact changes and balance have begun, and crafted gear items have received their initial round of improvements in an ongoing series of changes to increase the appeal of crafted gear! So many fixes and UI improvements are live, Avatars! 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
- Obsidian Panopticon Revealed!
- Release 89 Patch Notes!
- Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!
- Support the Family of CatherineRose!
- Crown Store: Stargazer Lilies, Stacked Construction Timbers, Darkstarr Items & More!
- May Login Reward: Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies!
- R89 Subscriber Login Rewards: Xenossian Armor Leggings, Jewelry Box 3-Pack, Lily Vases!
- Streamer Rewards Program
- Bug Brigade & Testing Directives
- Upcoming Release Dates
Community Updates
- Community Events & Resources
- Project to Support: Shard RPG
- Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla
- Project to Support: Dragonfight
- Project to Support: Avatar Express
- Resources: Players Helping Players
The Obsidian Panopticon Revealed!
Ready your weapons, and gather your spell components, Avatars! The Obsidian Panopticon has been discovered deep within the icy reaches of Mistrendur upon the easternmost island of Slangehodde. Available to Episode 2 Access holders, this ancient prison controlled by the Obsidian Elves of Mistrendur contains unspeakable dangers. Will you and your companions attempt to brave this newly-discovered location?
“Ruthless elves who still worship the Obsidian Eye dominate the eastern region of Mistrendur. Most of those who oppose them are slaughtered without mercy, but a ‘lucky’ few find themselves imprisoned in the elves’ Obsidian Panopticon. Hanging within a bleak, frigid canyon and surrounded by a frozen wasteland, the panopticon offers inmates only one way to escape: death.”
The Obsidian Panopticon is another fantastic addition to the ever-growing library of available Episode 2 content. As the year unfolds, more and more locations will be revealed, and more Episode 2 story elements and quests will be added to the game. In the coming weeks, additional loot items will become available in this new scene, to include new recipes for Imbued Gems which attach to crafted gear gem sockets.
We hope you enjoy this new adventure scene. So much more new content is on the horizon, so stay tuned!
Release 89 Patch Notes!
Below are a list of updates that are live as of Release 89 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! In our tick-tock development cycle, this is a new content, improvement and bug fixes month (a tock), with a slew of additional improvements and bug fixes inbound for R90. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 89!
Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Consumable Changes:
- New durability standards have been applied to all newly created gear, whether it be an upgraded artifact or a purely crafted gear item. These new standards are a result of adding in the 50 durability formerly offered with exceptional crafts directly into the base durability values of each item.
- Artifacts now feature slightly lower durability standards than crafted gear and will degrade about 10% more quickly.
- Any newly crafted item, newly looted item, or newly combined artifact will feature the durability and durability damage multipliers as indicated below:
- Artifacts:
- Helm – 130
- Chest – 200
- Gloves – 130
- Legs – 175
- Boots – 130
- Belt – 150
- Back – 150
- Ring – 130
- Necklace – 130
- 1H Melee – 150
- 2H Melee – 220
- Bows/Crossbow – 200
- Shield – 150
- Off-Hand – 150
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Plate – 2.7
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Chain – 1.8
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Leather – 1.3
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Others – 0.9
- Crafted Gear:
- Helm – 145
- Chest – 220
- Gloves – 145
- Legs – 200
- Boots – 145
- Belt – 165
- Back – 165
- Ring – 145
- Necklace – 145
- 1H Melee – 165
- 2H Melee – 240
- Bows/Crossbow – 220
- Shield – 165
- Off-Hand – 165
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Plate – 3
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Chain – 2
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Leather – 1.5
- Durability Damage Multiplier, Others – 1
- Bone Armor:
- Helm – 150
- Chest – 250
- Gloves – 150
- Legs – 210
- Boots – 150
- Artifacts:
- Exceptional crafting results now provide the following bonuses instead of +50 durability:
- Weapons with critical/exceptional success now receive +2.5% (1-Handed) or +5% (2-Handed) bonus to Weapon Durability Effectiveness.
- Armor and miscellaneous gear items with critical/exceptional success now receive +1% bonus to Armor Durability Effectiveness.
- Shields with critical/exceptional success now receive +5% bonus to Shield Durability Effectiveness.
- Adjustments were made to base stats of crafted weapons to provide more uniformity across weapons within the same category. Also, crafted items received various stat increases to to become more competitive with artifact weaponry. In an upcoming continuation of balance work for artifacts to be revealed in R90 and R91, many artifact weaponry base values will diminish slightly.
- All existing artifacts that have tiers (Common through Legendary only) already present in player inventories and storage, are now considered “Legacy” artifacts. Their tooltip descriptions indicate instructions on how these items can be utilized going forward.
- Legacy artifact tooltip descriptions are as follows: “This is a legacy version of this artifact, but it can still be equipped as is. To use this artifact in upgrade recipes, it must be salvaged to receive a low durability variant of the newer artifact version. That low durability variant can be used in upgrade recipes, and it can also be salvaged for Ancient Essences.”
- The reason there are new versions of the same artifact (as well as all crafted gear items), is because if 50 durability was added to gear items already present in the game which had previously received an old exceptional bonus would receive an EXTRA 50 durability. And since artifacts are used in recipes to upgrade, to allow the crafting system to recognize matching artifacts for upgrade recipes, first the old Legacy artifacts must be converted to the new versions so the recipes can recognize that matching artifacts were in fact provided to the crafting table.
- Old versions of Epic artifacts were not added to this Legacy salvage concept since they are not utilized in upgrade recipes. They will still salvage into essences as expected.
- Non-tiered artifacts such as Cabalist Hoods and Cabalist Weaponry, as well as items such as the Torch of Jerik, still feature the same salvage results as before and have yet been tiered. So if players wish to hold off salvaging these a bit longer, you’ll soon be able to combine them or salvage for components, but no new salvage results for these items were added.
- Artifact upgrade recipes now require Ancient Essences. Common to Uncommon requires 1. Uncommon to Rare requires 2. Rare to Legendary requires 4. Legendary to Epic requires 6.
- Rare, Legendary, and Epic Artifacts now yield fewer essences when salvaged.
- Artifact Balance (Initial):
- Attunement values for Rings of Attunement have all been reduced, yet they’ve received an extra 30 durability due to the new standardized durability values.
- The Attunement bonuses for the Ring of the Deep Woods have been realigned, and the penalty resistance reductions have been adjusted to mirror the bonuses within the opposite schools of magic.
- Vexlyn’s Ember of Conflagration now has a reduced attunement bonus, the Intelligence bonus is now scaled with tier, the fizzle reduction has been normalized with wands, and the penalties have been reduced.
- Thunder Branch now has a reduced attunement bonus, the intelligence bonus is now scaled with tier, the fizzle reduction has been normalized with wands, the Earth Attunement penalty has been reduced, and a Magic Glyph Focus Cost penalty (identical to the newly reduced Vexlyn’s Wand penalty) has been added.
- Wand of Static Discharge and Wand of Undying Embers have had their penalties removed. The Fire Speed Bonus has been removed from the Wand of Undying Embers.
- 9 Off-Hand items have been balanced to feature attunement and summon improvements only, though the Ankh of Sacrifice has retained its focus regeneration since there is no life summon ability available. Attunement amounts for all 9 Off-Hand items have been reduced.
- The Ankh of Sacrifice and the Ankh of Wala have been converted to Off-Hand items and now only function in left hand slot. Both received large reductions in attunement bonuses to balance with their Off-Hand brethren and to prep for upcoming skill tree balance work.
- Acara Shield’s Air Stun Effectiveness now scales with tier.
- Mundane items such as Rusty Spatulas, Beakers, Flasks, Jars, Ceramic Bowls, Paintings, Maps etc. can now be salvaged:
- Quartz Chunk has been renamed to Quartz and added to many glass item salvage results. Quartz will be utilized in upcoming new recipes.
- All mundane items now feature a tooltip description to indicate the uses for the item. An example would be, “This item can be sold, used as a decoration, or salvaged at a carpentry station for wood scraps, canvas fabric, or various other items.”
- Mundane loot items have all received slightly increased gold values in case players still wish to sell these items, regardless of the salvage improvements.
- Some mundane items available on NPC merchants have either been removed from merchants or have had their purchase prices increased to discourage mass purchase/salvaging of NPC merchant items.
- A new crafting material known as “Bone Powder” has been added to the game which will be utilized in many upcoming recipe additions to the game. Bone Powder is obtained by salvaging various bones which drop as loot.
- Many mundane items have had their names changed to better describe their appearance, to help differentiate them with other mundane items, and to provide more flexibility in how these items can be utilized for salvage or upcoming improvements to their purpose. An example of this would be, “Green Spice Jar” was renamed to “Jar of Green Powder” which affords more flexibility in salvage results since “powder” is less specific than “spice.”
- Many mundane items missing from loot have been added to lower tier loot tables.
- Several additional mundane items never before available to players have been added to lower tier loot tables.
- Salvaging mundane items that are stolen yield slightly lower primary results, and a have a much smaller chance to provide special rare results. For instance, a stolen Green Cloth Bolt will provide 1-2 fabric scrap as it’s primary result, with a much less chance to provide items like threads and actual bolts of cloth, while the looted version provides 1-3 fabric scrap as its primary result and has a considerably higher chance to provide special salvaging results.
- Gold and Silver Goblets now provide many more gold and silver scraps. Stolen versions of these goblets provide significantly less gold and silver scraps, but they are still worthwhile to steal if you happen to pass by one.
- A small number of mundane items, primarily mugs, cups, and goblets, have been reassigned to mundane item salvage tables. This means these items now have a small chance to also provide interesting rare results when salvaged.
- Small Ball of Clay has been added to the game and drops from salvage results for ceramic/pottery type items. A recipe will soon be added to the game which will allow these balls of clay to be combined into clay blocks. Additional uses for clay will be added to the game in future.
- Many maps have been removed from bookseller merchants, but Imps now have a very significant chance to drop all maps. These are the maps that were recently added to crafting recipes to create framed versions. These maps now also have salvage options for wood pulp, with more interesting salvage results to come in the future.
- Here is a list of all the mundane items that were addressed in this round of salvage love:
- Beaker
- Beaker Tongs
- Black Striped Cloth Spool
- Blue Cloth Spool
- Boiler Glass
- Bowl of Black Powder
- Bowl of Orange Powder
- Bowl of Red Powder
- Bowl of Yellow Powder
- Brown Cylindrical Jug
- Brown Rounded Jug
- Bucket
- Candle in Bulb Base
- Ceramic Cup
- Ceramic Goblet
- Ceramic Mug
- Ceramic Pitcher
- Ceramic Plate
- Chamberstick Candle
- Clear Pyramid Bottle
- Condenser
- Conical Flask
- Diamond Cloth Bolt
- Digging Shovel
- Dirty Cutting Board
- Dirty Rolling Pin
- Dirty Wooden Spoon
- Dotted Cloth Spool
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Jawbone
- Dragon Leg Bone
- Dragon Rib
- Dragonbone Throne
- Empty Ceramic Jug
- Empty Ruined Sack
- Empty Test Tube Rack
- Filled Beaker
- Filled Boiler Glass
- Filled Condenser
- Filled Flask
- Filled Glass Bottle With Stand
- Filled Pyramid Bottle
- Filled Round Bottle
- Filled Small Square Bottle
- Filled Test Tube
- Filled Test Tube Rack
- Flat Shovel
- Flimsy Hoe
- Green Cloth Bolt
- Green Striped Cloth Spool
- Jar of Green Powder
- Jar of Orange Powder
- Jar of Red Powder
- Jar of White Powder
- Large Ceramic Bowl
- Large Flat Shovel
- Large Pewter Bowl
- Large Square Bottle
- Maps (All 26 versions)
- Mosaic of the Avatar
- Oil Lamp Burner
- Painting (Butcher Shop)
- Painting (Ladies in Waiting)
- Painting (Lakeside Sunrise)
- Painting (Pastoral Village)
- Painting (Portrait of a Gentleman)
- Painting (Portrait of a Lady)
- Pewter Cup
- Pewter Jug
- Pewter Mug
- Pewter Pitcher
- Pewter Plate
- Pitchfork
- Plow
- Portrait of Envy Angel
- Pristine Skeleton Rib Cage
- Pyramid Bottle
- Rectangular Bottle
- Red Cloth Bolt
- Round Bottle
- Round Flask
- Rusty Bowl
- Rusty Deep Pan
- Rusty Fork
- Rusty Kettle
- Rusty Knife
- Rusty Ladle
- Rusty Mug
- Rusty Pan
- Rusty Plate
- Rusty Spatula
- Rusty Spoon
- Scale
- Scythe
- Short Ceramic Vase
- Skeleton Hib Bone
- Small Clear Square Bottle
- Small Knife
- Small Odd Skull
- Small Round Flask
- Small Square Bottle
- Small Square Jar (Green)
- Small Square Jar (Red)
- Small Square Jar (White)
- Small Square Jar (Yellow)
- Square Jar (Black)
- Square Jar (Blue)
- Square Jar (Brown)
- Square Jar (Yellow)
- Square Shovel
- Striped Cloth Bolt
- Tabletop Candelabra
- Tall Ceramic Vase
- Test Tube
- Test Tube With Cork
- Trowel
- Wood Bowl
- Wood Plate
- Wood Serving Bowl
- Wood Serving Plate
- Wooden Mug
- Yoke
- Planting and watering only consumes a bucket of water 10% of the time.
- Crafted belts can now be enchanted and masterworked.
- Jar of Yeast Culture has been renamed to Yeast.
- Animal Bones have been removed from NPC merchants.
- The Belt of Control has received an improved tooltip description.
- The Fine Oak Furniture Set can now be placed upon castle walls and blocks or other decorations which allow it.
- Ancient Xenossian Plate Chest Armor is no longer tagged as “medium” armor. It has been changed to “heavy” as intended so heavy armor skills will function in conjunction while wearing it.
- The Cherry Blossom Dress pattern can now be applied to chest slot items, and it can now be placed as POT decoration.
- Uncommon Staff of Xen now properly indicates the tier in the display name.
- Rare Spurred Boots no longer provide a double focus bonus and properly apply 70 focus.
- Legendary Spurred Boots now properly provide the Mounted Sprint Speed bonus like the other tiers.
- Uncommon Spider Silk Belt now indicates the tier in the display name for this artifact.
- The female Shogun chest armor has been adjusted around neck/upper chest to mitigate stretching.
- Closed a gap in the neck on female Shogun and Dark Shogun chest armor pieces.
- Fixed an LOD issue with Saddle & Bags with Stand.
- All hot tubs can now be placed as POT decorations.
- Improved the store entry descriptions for string lights to indicate they will most likely need to be scaled down in size to fit in row-sized homes.
- Spring Fountain with Floating Candles once again has candles that light up.
- Renamed dungeon transition pieces for Stone Dungeon to Ancient Stone so the blueprint, the recipe, and the item match in nomenclature.
- Tooltip descriptions were added to all seeds to aid players with determining watering and harvest times.
- Crafting Stations and Printing Presses can now be placed upon other items such as castle walls.
- The Faerie Belt is now properly flagged as a premium non-artifact item.
- Mounts can now be used from the inventory even if locked.
User Interface Changes:
- The town lot listings window can now be assigned a hotkey and can be opened without visiting the town crier.
- The town lot listing window now features a column for house name (right-click your home’s icon in Property Manager to rename) and also indicates if the lot has a basement and dungeon placed. Displaying the custom names for homes should allow players to better advertise what is featured on their lot when other players view the lot listing window.
- The journal now features search functionality to filter for active and completed tasks. Also, sound and display issues have been fixed for the journal.
- The recipe book now features search functionality to filter for recipes.
- The quest turn-in interface now automatically filters for the quest item required.
- The /quit command now opens the quit menu.
- A large number of in-game maps have been improved.
- The non-combat bar can now have hotkeys assigned for in-combat use.
- The Deco Palette can now have a hotkey assigned.
- Culling of interior decorations in player houses can now be controlled more effectively in the options menu to aid with performance improvement.
- By holding a new hotkey, Ctrl-W, players will see which planting beds require watering.
- The Party User Interface has been significantly optimized.
- The Quest Task List UI has been lowered slightly to no longer interfere with the display of pet buffs.
- Buffs for party members will no longer show unless they are targeted. This should offer a modest performance improvement in busy party combat situations
Player Economy, Rewards & Loot Changes:
- All loot tables have been updated to ensure any creature, quest, or bundle providing an artifact, provides the new versions of the artifacts with updated durability.
- Shadow Bears and Shadow Wolves now have a small chance to drop the artifact spirit helm for their species.
- The Helm of the Wolf Spirit now only drops from high tier wolves, with the Destroyers having the most chance.
- The Helm of the Bear Spirit now only drops from high tier bears, with the Destroyers having the most chance.
- The Helm of the Stag Spirit now only drops on T10 stags such as the Noble Stag in Tanglemire.
- Destroyer boars no longer drop the Bear, Wolf, or Stag Spirit Helms, but they have a significantly higher chance to drop the non-species specific taming artifacts.
- Ghost Corpion loot in mass spawn areas has been reduced, but single spawn Ghost Corpion loot has been improved.
- Many Episode 2 creatures have received experience reward reductions.
- Major repairs now require 250 Crowns of the Obsidian instead of 100. This change was to encourage players to replace armor more commonly and to use the Major Repair feature less often.
- Fishing bait recovery now features a soft cap. Gains beyond a certain level will still yield some benefits but will never reach 100%.
- Public vendors now allow 50 items per player.
Combat, Skills & Balance Changes:
- The shield tree has a new passive skill, Ranged Defense. This skill will make shields significantly more effective against non-magical ranged attacks.
- Experience attenuation no longer applies to characters below adventure level 110.
- Combat block and parry are no longer capped at 75 and instead scale more slowly above that value.
- Most taming skills will advance more slowly, though they will not require more experience to level.
- Torpid Torment will now be used by many higher level enemy casters.
- The base skill in the subterfuge tree, Distract, will now start at level 40.
- A large variety of creatures now feature increased crowd control resistances.
- More creatures are now considered “hovering” which enables more resistance or even immunity to certain types of crowd control.
- More skills respect creature “hovering” to including Disabling Shot, Hamstring, Knockdown, Leg Sweep, and Trip.
- Many Episode 2 creatures have been reduced in power.
- Ghosts have gained several new abilities and also will move faster as they get closer to death.
- Spiders now have several ranged attacks and their webs now scale in strength with their level.
- Night Vision now has improved visuals.
- Draw Speed now features a soft cap.
- The Root spell can now dispel Shield of Air.
- Voice Training now has a unique icon.
- Obsidian Trials has been temporarily set to a Adventure Level and skill cap of 100.
World, Quests, and Miscellaneous Changes:
- The Rise Expanded: A new mysterious addition to The Rise has appeared. Little is known of the new area. Time to explore, adventurers!
- Guild and Player-Owned Town (POT) messages of the day now last for 1 year.
- Certain houses, such as glass storefront homes or pavilions, are not affected by interior decoration culling.
- As a performance improvement, tooltips no longer attempt to refresh each frame if the mouse has not been moved.
- Jaanaford: The “secret cow” now has a unique name and doesn’t have the same one as the cow in Owl’s Head.
- Brittany Estates: Added a mailbox to the south bank.
- Crypt of the Avatar: Improved how Eris recognizes when the player has the “Report from the Council of Might” in her responses.
- Soltown: Improved how Bentley’s “Return Key to Bentley” task archives itself.
- Crooked Shank: Improved how the journal tasks archive while investigating the mystery of Crooked Shank.
- Soltown: Geof now has a compass marker for when a player is bringing him an iron blade. Geof’s journal entry for an iron blade has been improved.
- Mistrendur: Added access to the Obsidian Panopticon.
- Solace Bridge Outskirts: Adjusted some props to allow for better access to a quest-related ghost.
- Soltown: Updated some of Jeanne’s responses about her missing necklace.
- Novia: Added a quest marker to the Northwest Blackblade Mountains entry for Avatars seeking the Bunker C Jelly in Bunker C.
- Mysterious Swamp: Updated the path grid to better accommodate the giant monkey automatons.
- Novia: Added highlighting for the Macsen quest to the Longfall Woods compass marker.
- Blood River Outskirts: Updated logic, journals, and compass markers for Gus the automaton’s “Corruption Junction” anti-druid quest.
- Blood River Outskirts: Stag spawns have been improved.
- Brittany Fields: Added a washer woman to a small house near the water.
- Etceter: Added a compass marker at the Bank of Etceter.
- Lamech’s Bazaar and South Midmaer Way: 3 ankhs were added to the airship.
- Etceter: The housing decorations merchant should no longer rush to close the bank door when it’s left open.
- Ferig’s Battle Camp: Improved Lord Ferig’s logic to help advance the “Free Sir Patrick” / “Speak with Lord Ferig” follow-up task.
- Solace Bridge Outskirts: Updated the compass marker data for Kinsey to ensure that the “Kinsey Needs Your Help” marker stops appearing at the proper time.
- Lord British’s Castle: Moved several spawn points for NPCs that were reported spawning within walls.
- Soltown: Improved logic in Abigail’s responses when talking about Charlotte. Also, improved Abigail’s recollection of the events at the start of the Battle of Solace Bridge.
- Blackblade Foothills: Fixed an issue where NPCs couldn’t fully walk across two bridges.
- Ardoris: Fixed typos in the keywords of Fiona FitzOwen.
- Braemar: Changed the “Bank and Town Crier” compass marker to “Town Crier” and gave the bank it’s own compass marker.
- Ardoris: Fixed an issue where several bottles were z-fighting with a table surface.
- Troll’s Bridge: Removed the special “random encounter” message when entering this scene and when the friendly NPCs that sometimes arrive after defeating the trolls.
- Blood River Outskirts: Avatars that learn the name of Zosimus will still see his trainer title.
- Spite: Shimzu now properly rewards Avatars who offer him a burial coffin before getting his quest to get one.
- Noreach: Added additional “safety” feature to Sigrunn’s tasks to speak to other NPCs, to help ensure they clear properly.
- South Drachvald Spur now features an in-game map.
- Added Player Memorial Obelisk to Brittany Graveyard.
- Gravestones in Brittany Graveyard are now less blurry.
- An NPC building roof in Kingsport should no longer distort with camera movement.
- The mount animation no longer plays twice when dismounting.
- Player Vendors that have become “stale” will no longer sit down.
- Necropolis Barrens: Fixed an issue that blocked some players from completing Davropos’s daily “dead body” turn-in.
- Necropolis Barrens: Players who already have a “dead body” when talking to Davropos about dead bodies for the first time will now get a reward if they accept his quest at that time.
- Necropolis Barrens: Fixed an issue where Davropos would give the wrong journal entry when offering the “dead bodies” quest for the first time.
- Well of Aldur: Fixed an issue with two transcribed letters which featured duplicate content. Both now have unique content.
- Braemar: Updated Bridget Helvig’s responses to help ensure she only gives out her banner reward once.
- Well of Aldur: Fixed a stuck spot that was between two fallen pillars.
- Owl’s Head: Created a new version of Farmhouse Ale (same basic stats as generic ale) and connected this new version Farmhouse Ale to Morton’s “quest” to obtain a drink.
- Object loading has been modified to improve loading performance of decorations in player towns.
- Spectral Mines: Added “piles of gore” to the Arch Lapin cave to provide additional means for players to obtain the bones required for the Arch Lapin quest.
- Highvale Outskirts: Fixed an issue where a large boulder was blocking access to some tunnels.
Player-Owned Town Changes:
- Lightbringer Isle: Upgraded to Gigalopolis.
- Merri’s Hideaway: Changed biome to Island 01 and moved to near Xenos in Novia.
- Mossrest: Added new Hamlet along the road south of Etceter.
- Nauvoo: Added new City near Solace Bridge Outskirts.
- Nivenshire: Upgraded to Municipality.
- Wakoku: Upgraded to Crossroads Village.
Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!
The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, April 30th 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 “live life in full bloom” 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!
Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!!
Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShroudoftheAvatar/
- Catnip Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/catnipgames
- Shroud of the Avatar Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudofAvatar
- Shroud of the Avatar Discord: https://discord.gg/GuBXakQ
Support the Family of CatherineRose!
Avatars! CatherineRose, a beloved member of our community, is going through troubling challenges as one of her family members is battling cancer. If you are able to, please lend their family support during these trying times. Even if you are not able to provide monetary assistance, providing well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers go a long way towards helping a family through such hardships.
An auction run by the Aerie Fund is underway! Interested players can bid upon a Lord of the Isle Bundle in this forum thread. For more information about the auction fundraiser, please also see this thread. All proceeds will go towards the GoFundMe fundraiser supporting Wendy Barry’s fight with cancer.
Also, Thradia with The Avatar Express, has posted information on the forums about portions of this fundraiser. Please see this forum thread for more details.
Crown Store: Stargazer Lilies, Stacked Construction Timbers, Darkstarr Items & More!
Many new and returning store items are coming your way in the month ahead! Keep an eye out each week as the following items become available in the Crown Store. Available today on April 29th, two varieties of Stargazer Lilies have been added to the store! Also, the Darkstarr armor set has returned to the store and will remain as a regularly featured item. The Burned Skeleton 4-Pack has also become a regularly featured store item:
- Vase of Pink Stargazer Lilies
- Vase of Purple Stargazer Lilies
- Darkstarr Black Chainmail Armor Set
- Darkstarr Coronated Black Chainmail Helm
- Burned Skeleton 4-Pack
Becoming available on May 7th, a new Stacked Construction Timbers decoration has been added, and 3 prior rewards are now regularly featured items on the store:
- Stacked Construction Timbers
- Hustler Hat
- Obsidian Fur Collared Cloak
- Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier
Becoming available on May 14th, these 4 prior rewards are now regularly featured items on the store:
- Mighty Winged Helm
- Skull Mask
- Flaming Top Hat
- Island Backpack
Becoming available on May 21st, these 11 prior rewards are now regularly feature items on the store:
- Executioner’s Hood
- Ladybug Backpack
- Bass Fish Mask
- Trout Fish Mask
- Tuna Fish Mask
- Blanket Horse Mask
- Brown Horse Mask
- Buckskin Horse Mask
- Palomino Horse Mask
- White Horse Mask
- Light Unicorn Mask
Many items have also been added to the Vault rotation. These items were previously stretch goal items, telethon rewards, login rewards, or subscriber login rewards. Also, many prior Darkstarr seasonal items have been added to the routine Vault rotation to offer more availability to players throughout the year, and all May the 4th items are now part of the regular Vault rotation or regularly featured items in the store. Players can expect these items to appear in the Vault periodically in the future, many of which will appear shortly:
- Black Sky Navy Helmet
- Electric Halberd
- Blue Electric Sword
- Adobe Dome Set
- Golden Jeweled Gauntlet
- Gossamer Virtue Cloak
- Snowflake Cloak
- Virtue Fur Hat
- Fancy Riding Outfit
- Darkstarr Dagger
- Darkstarr Morningstar
- Darkstarr Spear
- Darkstarr Sword
- Darkstarr Wand
- Darkstarr Staff
- Darkstarr Two-Handed Sword
- Darkstarr Crossbow
- Darkstarr Chaos Shield
The Spring Equinox celebration continues! These rare spring items will remain on the store until May 3rd and will appear in the Vault or in the Spring Equinox section of the store:
- Bunny Ears & Slippers Set
- Decorative Dyeable Egg Pack
- Flower Crown
- Flower Emote
- Flowerleap Emote
- Lepus Mask 2017
- Lepus Mask 2018
- Rabbit Tailed Bodice Ensemble
- Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2016
- Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2017
- Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2018
- Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2019
- Silver & Gold Lepus Mask
- Spring Fountain w/ Floating Candles
- White Lepus Mask
Happy belated birthday, Darkstarr! The season of the Lord of Chaos is upon us once again, Avatars! These items will be available in the Crown Store until May 31st:
- Darkstarr Basement Entrance Eternal Pattern
- Darkstarr Fur Collared Cloak
- Darkstarr Shield
- Darkstarr Shield Pattern Pack
- Lord British vs. Darkstarr Battle Banner
- Darkstarr Clock Tower
- Darkstarr Clock Tower (Reverse Colors)
- Darkstarr Pavers
- Darkstarr Chaos Throne
- Darkstarr Chaos Throne (Reverse Colors)
- Mosh Emote
To see a full listing of all the items which rotate through the Vault, we have prepared a forum post showing all items which could appear throughout the year!
May Login Reward: Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies!
Log in during the month of May, and you’ll receive a Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies! Other color varieties of this vase will also become available as Subscriber Login Reward items or new Crown Store items, but those versions will be smaller in size. Happy Mother’s Day!
Release 89 Subscriber Login Rewards: Xenossian Armor Leggings, Jewelry Box 3-Pack, Lily Vases!
Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 89 are simply fantastic this round — you don’t want to miss out on these! Reward Program members must login during Release 89 to receive these login items:
- Ancient Xenossian Armor Leggings
- Fancy Jewelry Box 3-Pack
- Vase of Yellow Lilies
- Vase of Orange Lilies
- Vase of White Lilies
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 (about 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
- 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
- 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
- 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
- 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
Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program!
Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I!
Phase I:
Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply.
- Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar.
- Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual.
Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come).
Rules:
- To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application.
- To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program.
- Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program.
Items of Note:
- SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
- Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them!
Bug Brigade & Testing Directives!
The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, 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 players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched.
The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.
As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels!
In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action!
The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives.
Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team!
Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows:
- Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter”
- Single Ant Cloak
- Lady Bug Backpack
- Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids”
- Ant Farm
- Insect Leg Table
- Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles”
- Bug Painting B
- Bug Sprayer
- Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths”
- Butterfly Chair
- Corpion Chair (Pictured Below)
- Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies”
- Hacked Oracle Flyer
- Giant Blue Butterfly Pet
- Butterfly Mask
- Dragonfly pet
- Fairy Wings
- Monarch Butterfly Pet
- Dragonfly Wings
- Hacked Oracle Crawler
- Blue Butterfly VFX
- Orange Fireflies VFX
- Orange Butterfly VFX
If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.
Upcoming Release Dates
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. The upcoming 2021 Release Schedule is as follows:
- Release 89 (Content) – Apr 29
- Release 90 (Polish) – May 27
- Release 91 (Content) – Jun 24
Community Updates & Resources
Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums:
Catnip Games Contests:
- Catnip Games Monthly Fishing Tourney: Greetings Anglers! The monthly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! Join in on the fun! SO many prizes available for the anglers of New Britannia!
- Catnip Games Monthly Screenshot/Video Contest: Avatars! For those of you skilled with the camera or screenshot key binding, a monthly screenshot and video contest is underway which features a large number of valuable prizes. The focus will be for players to submit creative or informative screenshots and videos of content introduced to the game during the latest 3 monthly releases.
- Catnip Games Monthly Treasure Hunting Contest: Want to go hunting for rare items? Want to see if you can beat other players in this quest for treasure? Well join in on the monthly treasure hunting contest, Avatars!
Special Announcements:
- Black Sails Says Goodbye to Boris Mondragon: The role-players and story writers of the Black Sails saga invite you all to bid farewell to their leader, Boris Mondragon. Please stop by and share your thoughts.
- The New Britannia Theater Troupe Needs YOU: If you would like to join this band of merry story writers and voice actors, give Asclepius a reply on the forums or send him a PM. Already there is a very rich selection of past work written and performed by the troupe which is available in audio form here at the Caverns.net.
- Tartarus Entry Guide: Master narrator Asclepius leaves his library to adventure in Tartarus and reveals to players some tricks and hints to find your way around the seemingly never-ending maze. Please give his channel a view and a follow, and give Asclepius a thank you for this highly helpful video!
- Torque Streams with Piachu: A wonderful video has been posted by Torque featuring gameplay with Piachu — please give them a thank you and a like!
One-Time Events:
- The Omarian Crusade: The Player-Owned Town of Ironhall pushes its boundaries deeper into Norgard in this spectacular role-playing event! What say you, Avatars? Will you join in this effort or attempt to thwart their empire’s expansion?
- Mysteria Fishing Contest: Join the governor, stewards, and residents of Mysteria for a fishing contest on March 26th through April 30th! Lots of great prizes and fun!
- PaxLair Fishing Contest: Fish! Hail to the governors and stewards of PaxLair and their angler guests! Don’t miss out on their month-long fishing contest in PaxLair. Lots of prizes and fun await thee!
- Avatar Express Spotlight – Ironhall: Head on over to The Avatar Express to check out the latest town spotlight for Ironhall! Such a fantastic town and a fantastic read!
- Avatar Express Spotlight – Phoenix Haven: Don’t miss out on reading a recent and insightful spotlight for the wonderful Player-Owned Town of Phoenix Haven. Thank you Thradia and the journalists of The Avatar Express!
Recurring Events:
- Ironhall Royal Races: Thoryk Omara and friends are once again hold a mounted race tourney in the lands of Ironhall. Test your skills against other riders’ speed and cunning, or simply watch and drink ale!
- Mad Splatter Tea Party: The Mad Splatter Tea Party takes place every 2nd Sunday of the month, which is a tea party in Lily Byrd’s back garden in Jade Valley. This month’s episode will take place on Sunday, May 9th at 3PM CT. There are drinks and eats, there is sometimes music, there are often party games with prizes, and sometimes attendees just sit and talk about life in Novia. Get your role-playing hats on and come on over!
- Beran’s Reach New Player Welcome Event: New players seeking a town to live might want to give Beran’s Reach a gander. They’re offering nice welcome packages to those players who simply visit their town! Head on over and receive 10K Gold for your efforts by simply following a simple set of instructions to notify their leaders of your visit!
- Combat & Crafting Sunday School: Head on over to Immortal City every Sunday from 7PM to 9PM CT to learn the tricks of the trade in combat and crafting!
- 500 Crown Fishy Prize: If you’re ever worried there isn’t an active fishing contest going on, well worry no longer! Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “bagged” link provided to see the full explanation of the contest rules.
- RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe chat, trade chat, and the forums! Asmodi M’hul will routinely announces at least one pop up fishing contest every week for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun! Don’t miss out! From April 16-22, there’s even a special spin-off event in Blood Bay! Get your PvP fishin’ hats on!
- Lightbringer Isle Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Lightbringer Isle welcome you to the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Lightbringer Isle’s market being the perfect place to do so! Join us every Sunday at 2PM CT!
New Fan Fiction:
- Mingo’s White Raven Inn: Join Mingo and friends for an ongoing forum role-play session. Flex those creative muscles, Avatars!
- More Short Stories at TheCaverns.net: Asclepius has narrated another 4 short stories, Avatars! These works are all by Womby and Fetid SirDidy, which are titled: Souvenir, Journey to Kingsport, Creepy Dolly and Supper. Check these out as well as other fantastical fan fiction Podcasts at TheCaverns.Net!
- Arachnophilia: If you’re ready for creepy, here it is! Womby has written a wonderful creepy poem which hints at the existence of half-spider, half-man creatures! What’s creepier and crawlier than that?!
- Dying for a Drink: Womby is back, Avatars! And his quill is in hand and already hitting the parchment. Please take some time to enjoy the first post in his new thread in the Library forums.
- SotA Horror Fiction, The Home on Spectral Peaks: Fetid SirDidy already has another chapter available for the SotA Horror Fiction saga. Check out his latest!
New Community Resources:
- Videos by ThatOddFrenchGuy: Violet Ronso a.k.a. ThatOddFrenchGuy has started a directory of tutorial videos. Check out his latest video addition now!
- Dragon Slayer Leaderboard: Tirrag has created a fun website that tracks the players with the most kills for dragons! Be sure to give him a thank you for his hard work, and head on over to see the current dragon slayer leaders!
- SOTAPrices.com: Join Shawn in his latest endeavor to create a price hunting application and website for Shroud of the Avatar merchants and shoppers!
Community Calendars:
- Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
- SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better!
Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!
- One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
- Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
- Game Master (GM) Potion Request Procedures: Shroud of the Avatar has an amazing in-game consumable for player event holders — the Potion of Temporary GM Powers! Players wishing to enhance their in-game community event by having GM Powers at their disposal need to simply follow the procedures outlined in this forum thread.
- Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
- Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
- Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
- Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
- Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
- Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
- Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.
SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!
Project to Support: Shard RPG
Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad.
- Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals.
- Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character!
- Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah!
So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG!
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: 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: 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 commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like.
Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate 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
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.