Update of the Avatar #125 – 2015.05.15: Water.org Charity Drive, R17 Postmortem, PoT Submission Form, Pledge Stats, New Asset Pack, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Make A Difference – Water.org Charity Drive by Rize Up Gaming
• Hangout of the Avatar: Release 17 Postmortem
• Player Owned Town Submission Form (BETA) Now Available
• Shroud of the Avatar SoundCloud Playlist
• The New Britannia Theater Troupe Presents: Aurum Berries
• Pledge Stats Update
• New Asset Pack: Full Founders Armor Set Updated
• In-game Community Weekend Events
• Blade of the Avatar Pledge Reward and Add-Ons Expire May 31
• Receiving Pledge Rewards and Add-On Items
• Changes to Store Credit Conversions
• Steam Access Keys Available for All Backers
• How to Cancel Monthly Layaway Payment Plans
• Upcoming Events

---

Make A Difference – Water.org Charity Drive by RizeUpGaming

Rize Up Gaming (www.twitch.tv/rizeupgaming) is a company, founded in September 2012, with the intentions of curbing bullying, sexism, gender discrimination, and hate speech on all gaming platforms. Their goal is to promote fun gaming without negativity. Rize Up Gaming uses a staff of streamers to keep their channel running and to fundraise for many different charities throughout the year.

This month’s fundraiser is for Water.org, an organization that brings water to those who cannot get clean, safe water. Rize Up Gaming will be running this marathon from 7PM CDT on May 21st until 2AM CDT on May 25th with a goal of $1500 USD. On May 23rd, starting from 2PM CDT until 10PM CDT, Rize Up Gaming will be streaming Shroud of the Avatar community events and conversing with members of the community throughout the event. If you would like to donate directly to the event, you may do so on this page: http://give.water.org/f/RizeUpGaming/

Additionally, as part of Portalarium’s founding purpose to promote good will and make a positive difference in the world, we’ve added our first “Make a Difference” charity items to the Add-On Store. For each of these items you purchase, Portalarium will donate 50% of its share of the purchase price to the designated charity. By purchasing these items, you are helping to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. These first items are dedicated to Water.org, a nonprofit organization that has transformed hundreds of communities in Africa, South Asia, and Central America by providing access to safe water and sanitation. Learn more here: water.org

In keeping with the water theme, our first Make A Difference charity items include:

Wishing Well – Water.org Charity

Not only does this magical Wishing Well look stylish in your yard, but when you throw coins in it there is a random chance that you will receive something in return! And as an added bonus, wearing the Water Magic Cloak increases your chance to receive an item from the Wishing Well.

Water Magic Cloak – Water.org Charity

Not only do you look stylish wearing this Water Magic Cloak, but it also increases the duration of the /rain emote and increases your chance to receive an item from the Wishing Well.

Rain Emote – Water.org Charity

This emote allows the player to summon a rain cloud that rains for a short time. And as an added bonus, wearing the Water Magic Cloak increases the duration of the /rain emote.

Water Package – Water.org Charity

Buy all three of the water.org charity items and get a bundle discount! Includes the Wishing Well, Water Magic Cloak, and Rain Emote!

---

Hangout of the Avatar: Release 17 Postmortem

We had a great Hangout of the Avatar yesterday, with Richard, Starr, and Chris chatting about Release 17 and looking ahead to Release 18. And, of course, FireLotus was fielding lots of juicy questions live from the chat-room and also in advance from the OP comments section.

Several members of our community were presented with awards during the hangout, including:

• Sean Saltzer received a ONBE for his role in coordinating large-scale monthly QA playtests and providing valuable feedback to the development team each and every Release.
• The Syndicate was recognized with a Royal Warrant for their role in participating in monthly QA playtests which provide us with extensive feedback on vital game systems in the form of a 20+ page report each release, including a well prioritized Executive Summary. Even though they avoid the spotlight (some of you may not have even known they were here), they are superstars to us!
• The Phoenix Republic was recognized with a Royal Warrant for their continued support of in-game, player hosted events. They regularly host events, they founded the Novian Academy with its growing number of player-taught courses, and they assist other groups who wish to organize an event (providing everything from venues to a great barkeep)! On top of all that, WrathPhoenix, the leader and founder of The Phoenix Republic almost single-handedly orchestrated the extensive twitch streaming campaign for Release 17 and the launch of PaxLair.
• Britannia Mining Company was issued a Royal Warrant in recognition of their support of in-game, player hosted events. From beach parties and crafting events to all-out brawls, the BMC hosts multiple events each month and has also created the sotaevents.com community calendar to spotlight all player events.
• Matthew Bernard (Matterio) was awarded with an ONBE for the creation of the SotA Community App for iOS/Android, an invaluable resource for the SotA community that makes it possible to connect with what’s happening in Shroud of the Avatar even when you’re on the go! The SotA Community App is available for free at Apple iTunes and Google Play.

Several cool prizes were also randomly given out to those attending the hangout, including:

• $10 Store Credits to community members Keirna, Xavier, Adnor14, and Lontra1972
• SotA Shot Glass to Kaydrah
• SotA Pint Glass to Logain
• SotA Coin to Womby
• LB/Darkstarr Coin to redfish
• Razer Deathadder Mouse to Themo Lock

Several of these items are available at Relics by Rild, including the shot glass, pint glass, and LB/Darkstarr coin.

---

Player Owned Town Submission Form (BETA) Now Available

The Beta version of the Player Owned Town Submission Web Form is now live on the SotA website. If you are a PoT owner you can link to the submission form by clicking on the name of your town on your SotA Account page. We only have one template available at this time, but more will be added as they come available. We ask that all PoT owners please start entering their town design criteria. We will be reviewing uploaded images to help guide our template creation process, so get your design layout images uploaded just as soon as you have them available. Please report any bugs you may find with the PoT form to: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/pot-submission-form-bugs.26114/

Here is a snippet of the current version of the submission form:

---

Shroud of the Avatar SoundCloud Playlist

Now you can enjoy the Shroud of the Avatar music anytime you like with this SoundCloud playlist that we recently made available! Almost all of this music was crowdsourced from the community and coordinated with the help of The Bards of Poets’ Circle.

---

The New Britannia Theater Troupe Presents: Aurum Berries

On May 3, 2015, The New Britannia Theatre Troupe Proudly presented the play “Aurum Berries,” the first performance ever held in the newly established player owned town of PaxLair.  “Aurum Berries” was written and composed by Womby of the Cavers.

In case you weren’t able to attend the live play, or would just like to experience it again, The Mad Hermit captured the event on video for us all! Join Asclepius, Baldrith, Adnor, and Womby as they once again bring the stage alive with their fantastic stage acting!

---

Pledge Stats Update

From a Dev+ Forum Post by Dallas Snell:

There were some requests during yesterday’s Hangout of the Avatar for an update of the latest Pledge stats (last report was in February). I’m including this data in today’s project update, but wanted to give our Dev+ backers a bit of a sneak peek.

This first chart shows the change in pledge counts from May 2014 to Feb 2015 to May 2015. The data does not include Steam Early Access, Guilt Pledges, or unassigned pledges. No big changes from Feb, but there were slight increases across most of the tiers. Largest percentage increase was probably the Dukes (increased 27% from 84 to 107)

[Note: LotM were over-reported by 3 in the May report due to erroneously counting some test accounts…actual number was 31; Edelmann pledges were combined with Citizen pledges in these charts. It is almost equal numbers of each]

This chart shows the change in pledge revenue per tier from May 2014 to February 2015 to May 2015:

This chart shows the current pledge data with the pledge counts as vertical bars and the dollar value of each pledge tier as a gold line. The Knight tier continues to lead in terms of pledge revenue.

Pledges with property (Ancestor+) represent 10% of all backers (up 1% from Feb report) and 63% of all pledge revenue (up 2% from Feb report). Pledges without property represent 90% of all backers and 37% of pledge revenue.

And this final table shows the current number of Player Owned Towns that have been purchased to date:

 

---

New Asset Pack: Full Founders Armor Set Updated

From a Dev+ Forum Post by Chris Spears:

Finally had some free time so I wanted to pull together some armor sets. I’ll try to get a few more out over the next few weeks! Today is just the updated founder’s / royal founder’s set! Unity 5 only these days but the assets are just FBX and can be used in any most engines but might need a tiny bit of material work!

Enjoy!

Chris “Dippy Dragon” Spears

---

In-game Weekend Community Events

Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Here is the latest schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar:

Recurring Events

• PVP Event 30 Day Tournament
  • Order of Vengeance is proud to host the first month long tournament in Shroud of the Avatar  (PaxLair; details)
• R17-R18 Deco Contest – PUB CRAWL!
  • The theme for this contest is some kind of drinking establishment! Prizes to the top three winners!  (details)
• Daily Breakfast Club – 12am CST (London UK); 6am CST (Central US); 3pm CST (Sydney Australia)
  • Breakfast Clubs offer a time when people from around different time zones can gather. (Wody’s Pub, Paxlair)
• Shardfall Madness PVP – Everyone fights it out in a royal rumble (Fridays, 6pm CST; Verdantis Shardfall, Novia or  /zone harry underworld; details)

Saturday, May 16

• 9:00am CST PaxLair Working Hours
  • PaxLair town and community “working hours” are for anyone interested in PaxLair. (/zone Winfield)
• 11:00am CST Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service (PaxLair,; details)
• 12:00pm CST Welcome Quest R17.5
  • Welcome Quest showcases many of the Player-owned and Player-ran towns in New Britannia. (/zone Winfield; details)
• 3:00pm CST Lux Sanctuary’s Edelmannfest (Paxlair)
• 4:00pm CST Phoenix Republic Presents: Magic Sweeper Gameshow!
  • Come join the Phoenix Republic in this elimination style game show to win gold, deeds or other prizes. (PaxLair, /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre)
• 6:00pm CST PvP: Tournament (PaxLair, Violation’s Basement; /zone Violation; details)

Sunday, May 17

• 6:30am CST – Explore Novia with royalsexy (PaxLair Moon Tower, /zone royalsexy)
• 10:00am CST – Phoenix Republic Town Hall/Working Hours
  • A Gathering of members of the Phoenix Republic to cover important topic areas of the month. (PaxLair, /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Jack Knyfe)
• 1:30pm CST – 4B Maze Event (PaxLair, central lot by Moon Tower, /zone Sindariya Tyelma; details)
• 3:00pm CST Gustball
  • Two teams are pitted against each other by using Gust to a “gustball” (aka avatar) around the field and into your opponent’s goal. (PaxLair, /zone Bambino LudoVate; details)
• 5:00pm CST – BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration (details)
• 6:00pm CST – BMC First Blood at Grid-Iron (details)
• 7:00pm CST – PaxLair Meeting (PaxLair, /zone Winfield)
• 8:00pm CST – Fishing with Winfield (some lake or pond, /zone Winfield)
• 9:00pm CST – Beach Party by BMC (contact Wind Silvermoon for details)

Be sure and check out the Release 17 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.

---

Blade of the Avatar Pledge Reward and Add-Ons Expire May 31

In preparation for an upcoming publishing agreement with a major book publisher, the Blade of the Avatar novel, both digital and printed versions, are expiring on May 31, 2015. After that date, BotA will be removed from the Add-On Store and from the Pledge Rewards. All backers with pledges containing the BotA reward that pledged prior to the expiration date, or that purchased it from the Add-On Store, will still receive that reward when it comes available.

---

Receiving Pledge Rewards and Add-On Items

Go to any bank to claim your Add-On items and Pledge rewards. There is a banker NPC in every map where there is player housing because when you switch houses or unclaim a lot, all the decorations will go to your bank. In most locations the Town Crier is now also a banker.

Banks are local only. You can see your items in other bank locations (they appear in location tabs), but you can only access the items in the bank you are currently at. Pledge rewards are an exception to this and can be accessed from any location.

[NOTE: there are some Add-On and Pledge reward items that have not been built yet so you may notice some of your items not showing up in your bank. If you delete your character, all equipped and inventory items, including pledge reward items, will be deleted and cannot be recovered until the next wipe]

Player Bank Upgrades

Your bank inventory size can easily be upgraded with in-game gold, with the price in gold increasing the larger your bank gets. For those that need/want really big banks faster, we’ve added a Bank Upgrade to the Add-On Store. Currently, each Bank Upgrade adds 10 more slots to your bank inventory, but that number is subject to change based on game balancing needs.

---

Changes to Store Credit Conversions

If you wish to convert any of your purchased Add-On items to Store Credit, you will need to do so before logging into Shroud of the Avatar.

The instant you log into the game all of your available Pledge reward items and available Add-On items will be flagged as “claimed” and deposited in your in-game bank. Once the Add-On items are “claimed” they cannot be converted to Store Credit until the next wipe (which is currently unpredictable). After you’ve logged into SotA, the “Convert to Credits” button on your account page will be deactivated for all those items available in the game, so if you had any plans to sell back some of your Add-On items, make sure you do it before you log into the game!

We intend to change the claiming process in an upcoming Release so that items are not automatically claimed when logging in, but will require you to actively claim them in your bank before they can be used.

If you purchase any new Add-On items, or upgrade your Pledge tier, those new items and upgraded rewards will automatically appear in your in-game bank the next time you log into the game (providing those items are available in the game).

---

Steam Access Keys Available for All SotA Backers

SotA successfully launched on Steam Early Access on November 24, and we’ve made Steam Access Keys available to all our backers as part of their basic pledge rewards! Once you’ve redeemed your Steam Access Key you’ll have the option of playing SotA either with the Steam client or the regular game client (or both).

Click here for instructions to redeem your Steam access key and installing the Steam SotA client…

If you play SotA on Steam you can collect the SotA Trading Cards! Collect a full set of SotA trading cards to earn SotA badges, profile backgrounds, and emoticons that help you customize your profile and show off your Shroud of the Avatar gameplay. Check out Steam’s trading card FAQ for more information.

---

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Our goal is to make Shroud of the Avatar the best game we can for you, our backers, and the best way we can do that is by growing our community of backers through the power of word-of-mouth marketing. That’s where we could use your help! With essentially no marketing budget, we rely on things like press coverage and friend-to-friend networking on platforms such as Facebook and Steam. Here’s how you can help us with your word-of-mouth efforts:

If You Like SotA then Like Us On Facebook

Facebook can be a powerful word-of-mouth marketing tool at very little cost, but only if we can reach a large enough network of Facebook users. You can help us to reach a larger Facebook audience simply by going to the Shroud of the Avatar Facebook page and clicking on the “Like” button. If every one of our 50k backers gave us a “Like” the marketing reach of our Facebook posts would be incredible!

If You Like SotA then Write Us a Positive Steam Review

One of the most important word-of-mouth tools on the massive Steam platform is their user reviews. Many Steam users rely on a game’s Steam reviews to help them decide if they want to play a game or not. If you feel positive about SotA, or feel positive about what SotA may become, even if you have concerns and issues, then please jump over to our Steam Store Page and give us a positive review (and feel free to include your concerns and issues in that review as well)!

---

How to Cancel Monthly Layaway Payment Plans and What In-Game Rewards to Expect

Remember that Pledge payment plans are not canceled automatically after reaching the desired pledge. You must manually cancel your monthly payment plan, which can be done at anytime on your SotA Account page. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause, but it is a result of how recurring billing functions with PayPal, Amazon, and Stripe (our credit card service).

If you are on a monthly payment plan, the rewards you receive in-game may not reflect the final pledge tier you are making payments toward, but will reflect the rewards for the current pledge tier that your cumulative monthly payments have reached (your current pledge tier is shown on your Account page on the SotA website).

---

Upcoming Events

2015.05.28 – Release 18
2015.06.16 – SotA at E3
2015.06.25 – Release 19
2015.07.25 – SotA at Classic Game Fest 2015