Update of the Avatar #128 – 2015.06.05: Etceter Crag Mines, Gustball, R18 Deck Building by Envyco, R18 Postmortem, Job Openings, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Etceter Crag Mines
• Are You Ready for some Gustball!
• Envyco Gaming: R18 Deck Building Tutorial
• Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 18 Postmortem
• World Builder/Level Designer and VFX Artist Job Openings
• In-game Community Weekend Events
• The Bard’s Tale IV Kickstarter
• 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

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Etceter Crag Mines

In preparation for Release 19, Scottie Jones has been crafting the Etceter Crag Mines with Rick Holtrop contributing gameplay elements. Here’s a bit of the story of those mines:

Long ago, when Etceter was nothing more than a collection of prospector shacks and tents hugging the coast of the Bay of Storms at the mouth of the Barren River, the Etceter Crag Mines were being dug deep into the nearby mountainous hills known as the Crags. At first the miners were sure their fortunes were made. The deeper they dug, the richer the veins of gold ore seemed to be.

When they came upon the underground pool with its fresh mineral waterfall and the subterranean river to the sea, they saw this as an incomparable blessing! Now they could easily trade gold directly with the passing ships plying the ocean-routes back toward their home, without even bothering to leave their lucrative mines.

But the stories say they became too greedy, and they braved the trembling depths of the world too deeply. Perhaps the view of distant volcanic islands should have warned them of the dangers they were about to unearth. After a horrifying tragedy the mine was abandoned, with terrible tales of holes opened up into Hell itself, and fiery demons emerging to slay all in their path. The lower levels of the mine were supposedly sealed in an enormous cave-in, with barely half the terrified miners emerging to tell the tale.

These days, only bandits and brigands make use of the upper levels of the abandoned mines, and even they refuse to delve too deep.

Those who have the guts to speak with them will hear tales of rumbling deep within the earth, whispering voices, and the hideous spectres of the dead haunting the deeper recesses of the dark tunnels. Of course, these may merely be stories they tell to insure that the curious stay clear. Perhaps there are still golden treasures to be found deep within the rocky bowels of the mountains

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Are You Ready for some Gustball!

With the launch of PaxLair in Release 17 last month, community member Bambino orchestrated a rather unique event entitled “Gustball”. As described by Bambino in his initial Release 17 Events forum post:

The essence of Gustball: Two teams are pitted against each other in sporting event not dissimilar from soccer, football, and basketball. The object of the game is to Gust a “Gustball” (an avatar named “The Ball”) around the field and into your opponent’s goal; the team that scores the most goals within two halves wins the match. In the event of a tie, the game is extended and the very next goal decides the winner. Each half will last 10 minutes. Teams will either wear a white cloak or green cloak, depending on what team they are on. The Gustball will wear a red cloak.

Here is a screenshot shared on the forums by Soleidad of that first Gustball event held in the PaxLair Arena Basement:

The whole notion of using an avatar as “The Ball” was hilarious! Great fun was had by all and this turned into a very popular recurring event. Congratulations, and many thanks, to Bambino for dreaming up such a unique sporting event!

With the launch of Release 18, this past Sunday’s Gustball event was held in a specially designed Gustball Arena in the new player town of Vengeance. Check out this video broadcast from NBNN:

Players started brainstorming ideas for what could make the event even more fun, and more integrated into SotA. Lots of great ideas where shared and one that we decided we could squeeze into Release 19 was an actual Gustball (relieving an avatar from having to play the role of “The Ball”):

However, until Release 19 launches later this month, I’m afraid one of you avatars will just have to keep volunteering to be “The Ball”! Bambino has posted details in the Release 18 Events Forum about more Gustball scheduled for this Sunday, June 7th, at 3pm CST, so just “/zone The Ball” for location.

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Envyco Gaming: R18 Deck Building Tutorial

A couple of months ago, community member E N V Y created a YouTube gaming channel entitled Envyco Gaming. As reported on his www.sotaguild.net website:

I have recently created a new gaming channel on YouTube. My plan will be to create videos of SotA throughout the Alpha and Beta process showing the changes in each release along with tips on levelling, skill building, deck building as well as how to make gold.

He posted his latest video, “R18 Deck Building” in the SotA General Forums, which is an excellent tutorial on the new combat deck building changes introduced in Release 18. So check out the video and why E N V Y is “…over the moon with it!”

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Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Thou hast been invited to the Release 18 Postmortem!

Please join us Thursday, June 11th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our next Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 18 and looking ahead to Release 19. And, of course, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance in the OP comments section.*

We will be giving some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. As always, the link to the hangout will be posted here directly before the hangout begins.

*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 18 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief.

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World Builder/Level Designer and VFX Artist Job Openings

We currently have openings for junior-level to senior-level World Builder/Level Designers for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are:

• Minimum 2 years industry experience for junior-level (preferably on a shipped game)
• Unity3D proficiency
• Scripting ability
• Experience building, texturing, and decorating natural, terrain based exterior environments
• An artistic eye for detail, with strong scene compositional skills

We also have an opening for VFX artist with the following “ideal” qualifications:

• Minimum 3 years experience as VFX artist for games
• Unity3D proficiency
• FX scripting and ability to create custom FX shaders
• Artistic and technical particle effect skills

If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on the ground-breaking Shroud of the Avatar, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including actual game play, videos footage, and document form (images, maps, and event descriptions).

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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

• Player Town: Vengeance – Quests!
  • A Runic Scroll was found in Vengeance describing a quest for one and all (details).
• Happy Hour Wednesdays (Wednesdays, 8pm CST)
  • Otherwise known as “Spend Stryker’s Gold” – Stryker will open a bar tab at one of the local Novia taverns for an hour or so for drinks, stories, news, critique of the arts, dancing, and otherwise unplanned mayhem. Zone /Stryker Sparhawk or watch this thread for locations each week!
• NBNN Phrase That Pays Weekend R18 (Fri, May 29, 1pm CST – Mon, June 1, 12am CST)
  • NBNN is giving away $100 in store credit the weekend of May 28-30 to coincide with Release 18! There are 2 ways to win: during the live broadcasts or by registering for the general pool. (details)
• Novian Academy: Deans Working Hours (Fridays, 4:30pm CST)
  • New to the game? Have questions or comments? Dean Kazyn Phoenixfyre shall be in office to instruct any new students how to play or where to go in the game to get on your feet. (PaxLair, /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre)
• Novian Academy: Roleplay Courses by Luka Melehan (Fridays, 6:00pm CST)
  • Join Luka Melehan as she teaches an ongoing course on Roleplay! In this course, you can learn how to get accustomed to roleplaying in New Britannia and participte in future roleplay events.  (PaxLair, /zone Luka Melahan, details)
• Vengeance Tournaments
  • These tournaments will insure there is a PVP event EVERY NIGHT in Shroud of the Avatar  (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)
• Phoenix Republic Open Mic Night (Thursdays, 7pm CST)
  • Come hang out in Wody’s Bar. Have a story or a song, Maybe want to do some stand up? Every Thursday the audience will vote on the winner of the weekly prize (PaxLair, Wody’s Bar, /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Jack Knyfe)
• Beach Party by BMC (Fridays at 9pm CST)
  • Come join the BMC for dancing and fun at the Beach (/zone River Beauchamp or Wind Silverrmoon)
• Challenge Dungeon Run (Fridays at 7pm CST)
  • This is a self-host event, meet at the Braemar Cemetery and organize into groups to take on the infamous Chillblain’s Compendium of Pain & Suffering!

Saturday, June 6

• 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
  • Join Lady Amber Raine, High Priestess of the Church of the Dark Star along with Kazyn Phoenixfyre of the Church of the Sun, as they bring another thought provoking service.(PaxLair,; details)
• 2:00pm CST Port Phoenix Storytelling Event
  • Join Kazyn Phoenixfyre and others as we gather around and share stories, poems, songs and other verses. (/zone kazyn phoenixfyre)
• 5:00pm CST By Royal Warrant: Vengeance Tournament!
  • Join Order of Vengeance as they host a player vs player tournament! This will be either a 1v1, 3v3, or FFA tournament. The winner always gets a prize! (/zone Violation to join)

Sunday, June 7

• 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)
• 11:00am CST – The Caverns Party in the Sky
  • We will dance, chat, dine, and enjoy the amazing view. Everyone who attends will get a free backpack full of tasty treats. (Caverns Guild House in Owl’s Head /zone Vyrin, details)
• 1:00pm CST – 4B Maze Event – 1st Anniversay (PaxLair, central lot by Moon Tower)
  • No not 4B celebrates the anniversary, the maze itself does. R6 was the birth of the first maze in New Britannia.
• 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 The Ball; details)
• 5:00pm CST – BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration (details)
• 5:30pm CST – BMC First Blood at Grid-Iron (details)
  • The BMC is proud to present the nastiest, the foulest, the most feared arena in all of New Britannia! The Grid-Iron is equipped with a pit-style arena, locker rooms, a VIP round-table, betting & vendor booths, and all the blood-sport you can handle.
• 7:00pm CST – PaxLair Meeting (PaxLair, /zone Winfield)
  • Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions!
• 8:00pm CST – Fishing with Winfield (some lake or pond, /zone Winfield)
  • Come sit with Winfield on a log or rock to hear some fish tales or tell your own. Chat about anything from the moons to the earth worms. Spend a relaxing day in nature near a stream or lake — bring insect repellent or a sword.

Be sure and check out the Release 18 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.

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The Bard’s Tale IV Kickstarter

We know that many of you loved The Bard’s Tale games as much as we did, so we want to make sure you know about their Kickstarter campaign. As our long-time friend and colleague at inXile, Brian Fargo, commented:

As you may know, it marks the 30th anniversary of The Bard’s Tale, the game that started my career in game development in earnest. And now, we want to bring back The Bard’s Tale IV with the power of the crowd once again…The original game has a special place in my heart and fans have shown me time and again they still love the dungeon crawl genre and want more. With your help, I can finally make this long-awaited true sequel to the original The Bard’s Tale trilogy, bringing you that sense of discovery with challenging dungeons and devious puzzles that you loved and cursed all at once.

We’re very excited about the revival of the dungeon crawler genre that Bard’s Tale IV is helping to drive. As described by inXile, it is a single-player, party-based cRPG with dynamic phase-based combat, challenging puzzles and riddles, and a game set to beautiful Gaelic music, where the Bard’s songs and melodies affect gameplay.

Pretty cool stuff, right? If you’re as excited as we are to see one of the most amazing RPG series live again, then head over to inXile’s Bard’s Tale IV Kickstarter campaign and pledge your support!

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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)!

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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).

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Upcoming Events

2015.06.16 – SotA at E3 with Razer
2015.06.25 – Release 19
2015.07.25 – SotA at Classic Game Fest 2015
2015.07.30 – Release 20
2015.08.27 – Release 21
2015.08.28 – SotA at Syndcon
2015.09.04 – SotA at Dragon Con
2015.09.24 – Release 22
2015.10.29 – Release 23