Update of the Avatar #178 – 2016.05.27: Play R30 Now, Hospitaller Stations, R30 Postmortem Invite, Gold COTO, Tax Free POT Lot Bundles, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Play Release 30 Now!
• Hospitaller Refueling Stations
• Release 30 Postmortem Invite
• Brittany Alleys
• Name Reservation
• New Cloth Tunic, Polished Cloth Doublet, & Viking Helm
• New Tropical Island PoT Template & PoT Templates Page
• MMORPG Previews: Release 30’s Big Changes
• Gold Crowns of the Obsidians
• Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Deeds (Bundles Only)
• Viking Row House Tax Free Player Owned Lot Bundles
• 61 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1
• Community Resources – Players Helping Players
• In-game Community Events
• Upcoming Events
• Backer Shipping Addresses
• Recommended Projects to Back

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Play Release 30 Now!

Release 30 successfully launched yesterday, May 26, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

• New scenes including Valhold and Brittany Fields
• Courage Storyline First Playable
• Targeting Interface Polish
• Masterworks for Smithing, Carpentry, and Tailoring
• Companions & Save Games for Offline Mode
• New Female Avatar
• Spring Telethon Rewards
• Performance Optimizations
• …and much more

Check out the Release 30 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new content.

We need all your help with testing the new patches, putting more stress on our multiplayer servers, and testing the new game content, so please join us in playing Release 30!

If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. The basic Adventurer level pledge is also available on Steam Early Access.

Release 30 Player Instructions

Release 30 Known Issues

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Hospitaller Refueling Stations

Hospitallers are volunteer players that help new players (or veteran players) that are seeking guidance, or just friendly conversation (in-game or out). Hospitallers can be spotted in game by their purple “Hospitaller” title, and hospitaller signs designate locations where players can find guide books and other useful materials.

One such Hospitaller station has been established by community member, SeleneNoctua, in the town of Westend (map). In addition to stocking helpful materials for new players, she also stocked materials for other Hospitallers to replenish their supplies with. SeleneNoctua recently shared the following information about the new site with her fellow Hospitallers:

So, playing on the Virtue Houses idea that Spoon and Elgarion came up with, I have set up a trial “House” in Westend. We are also building a full crafting pavilion with expert stations; there is also a park and a community garden of 3 greenhouses.

From the entrance of the town, the Hospitaller House is pretty easy to see.

Inside there is a public chest that is pretty much a free grab. There is a note that says if the chest is abused (filled with junk or emptied repeatedly by the same person), the offender will be banned from the lot. I have placed some resources, scrap, potions, crafting tools, etc. Also, there is a bookcase to act as the future home of recipe books and other helpful books created by players.

In the back, there is a private chest for Hospitaller use for items we want to hand out individually. I have placed some recall and teleport scrolls, as well as a few items. Anything you guys think I should add to this, please let me know.

I’ve added all the Hospitallers that I knew the in-game names for to the house as kindred. If you happen to be helping new players in the area, feel free to drop by and use whatever is useful to you. If I missed anyone, just PM me in the forums or in game and I’ll add you.

If you are interested in becoming a Hospitaller, or contacting a Hospitaller, then go to SotAHelp.org for additional information.

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Release 30 Postmortem Invite

Join us Wednesday, June 1st at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 30 and looking ahead to Release 31, as well as starting to talk about the impeding R32!

In an exciting twist to the normal flow of the livestream, the new community manager, Mathew “Berek” Anderson, is set to spice things up by not only taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance in the OP comments section, but will be on the livestream in the office with Starr and Chris!*

We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the livestream. All you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. Be sure to join us throughout the livestream for multiple chances to win cool Shroud of the Avatar swag!

Watch here at 3pm CST on Wednesday, June 1st:

*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to this release’s 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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Brittany Alleys

NOTE: Brittany Alleys is scheduled to go live in Release 31.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard “RrMatey” Matey]

Hey there! Back again for another scene update. I was tasked with Brittany Alleys, which is another neighborhood of the Brittany kingdom. This section of land is dedicated to having an urban environment that has a bunch of player houses / plots, so we have more chances to increase our Brittany Citizen population. This is a place for immigrants to live and work. Factories are here to provide jobs and a harbor for exporting goods. I was inspired by New York City and London.

Have a gander at the progress so far.

Inspiration Board

Rough Concept Map

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Name Reservation

Starting with Release 29, we began maintaining a record of character names for all pledge levels of Immortal Adventurers and above. When you log into the game for Release 32 after the Final Wipe, you will have the option to use the last saved name you used during Releases 29 – 31 or choose a new name. Please note that we only record the most recent name. If you have any issues with this process during Release 32, please submit a support ticket to support@portalarium.com.

Please note that this replaces the previous Pledge Reward of “Last Name” in the Immortal Adventurer Pledge.

Get your last name early! Experience in battle leads to Notoriety, but unlike ordinary adventurers, Immortal Adventurers will have the right to select and display both a first and last name right from the get-go!

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New Cloth Tunic, Polished Cloth Doublet & Viking Helm

As part of our rework of the Avatars, we are steadily progressing through many of the clothing and armor items to improve their visual quality. We periodically update the progress of this effort. NOTE: The Cloth Tunic will go live in Release 31.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Fletcher “Skullmuncher34” Kinnear]

Hey all!
Here’s an update on some of the clothes for the next release: Updated Cloth Doublet, a new dye-able tunic, and a Viking Helm

Tunic
by fletcherkinnear
on Sketchfab

Cloth Doublet
by fletcherkinnear
on Sketchfab

Viking Helm
by fletcherkinnear
on Sketchfab

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New Tropical Island PoT Template and PoT Templates Page

In Release 30, we created a new island template covered in palm trees and surrounded by sandy beaches. 

We have also created a new web page that shows all the current Player Owned Town Templates so that town owners can view all their options. Previously, these images were only visible either in update or in the PoT submission form.

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MMORPG Previews: Release 30’s Big Changes

Red Thomas over at MMORPG.com wrote another Release preview article: 

We’re only a couple releases away from the final wipe for Shroud of the Avatar, and that means the team is now working with a hard-stop time constraint. In actuality, the Agile development philosophy that they’d adopted at the beginning of their development and monthly release schedules are probably the best possible preparation for the run-up to final wipe they could have asked for. That said, throwing in last-minute major changes to major systems like targeting tend to toss the scariness factor off the scale.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the fallout around the decision to make that dramatic design shift and how it impacted some of the changes we’ll see in Release 30. We’ll then get into what I’m most excited about, which is some potentially controversial updates to the crafting system, and we’ll also talk a bit about what their choices suggest about the health of the game.

Targeting Elephants

There is no doubt that the move to modal targeting was a critical design decision, and I’ve made no secret of my doubts about the timing. Do I think the idea behind the new system is superior? Absolutely and without question. My concerns are strictly related to the timing of such a massive change, and those questions are not without merit. This last month has gone a long way towards demonstrating the validity of my concerns, but the next release looks to provide comfort in equal measure.

Looking in the SotA forums, there was a significant level of consternation in the first couple weeks of the new targeting system going live. You could probably debate whether the negativity was the result of actual problems, or just general irritation at having to learn a new system. The fact that the complaints started to fall off rather quickly might suggest the latter, but I don’t think that’s the case.

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Gold Crowns of the Obsidians

[From a Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

We introduced Crowns of the Obsidians (COTOs) as rare items back in Release 28.  COTOs drop from almost any activity, with higher occurrences on higher level creatures and resource nodes. They come in several different metal types, and each type can be exchanged for specific types of items. In Release 29, we introduced Potions of the Obsidians that could be purchased with COTOs, and these grant various temporary boosts to things like carry capacity or gathering speed. In Release 30, we added the ability for COTOs to restore Maximum Durability to items and also added Crown Merchants to the game, which allow you to exchange the various COTO types for Obisidian Potions or Gold COTOs. Gold Crowns of the Obsidians are unique in that they can be sold to any merchant in game for gold and now, starting today, they can also be purchased directly from our website or through Add On Store Bundles like the new Viking 2-Story Row Home Bundle (see below).

As you have probably surmised, Gold Crowns function as a premium currency for Shroud of the Avatar. As we expire all our pledges and move towards a commercial launch, hopefully near the end of this year, we must also move to a commercial model of monetization. As promised, we are not going to be adding a subscription nor are we planning to make the game free to play. However, as an online game, we must have a steady stream of income (in addition to base game sales) in order to pay for support of the game including monthly updates, bandwidth, servers, community support, etc. Our analysis shows us that Add On Store item sales will not be sufficient. When we have been asked for examples in the past of models we wish to emulate or that we admire, we always point to Guild Wars as an example of a Pay to Play with an Add On Store as the closest archetype to what we hope to achieve. Selling Gold Crowns and allowing those Crowns to be exchangeable in game for Gold currency and potions with game benefits (like repairing of maximum durability) is something we believe is a good and fair balance of revenue while still maintaining play-ability and player economy. We are working hard to ensure that the purchased items from Crowns are all matters of convenience, not power. For example, the Obsidian Potions do things like small increases to carry weight, slightly longer sprint times, or slightly reduced gear wear. It is of course worth remembering that since Crowns can be earned in game, no player will ever be required to purchase them, making them purely a time saver and convenience.

As part of this introduction, we have added Gold Crowns to all Pledges. The amount of Crowns added to each pledge is based on the size of the pledge and is as follows:

• First Responder, Second Responder, Pioneer, Adventurer: 2
• Immortal Adventurer: 3
• Founder: 4
• Royal Artisan: 5
• Virtual Collector: 6
• Explorer, Explorer – All Digital: 7
• Collector: 8
• Patron: 12
• Ancestor: 15
• Navigator: 20
• Developer: 25
• Citizen: 30
• Edelmann, Edelmann – All Digital: 31
• Knight: 35
• Knight Marshal: 40
• Lord: 45
• Lord Marshal: 50
• Baron, Baron 2, Baron 3: 65
• Duke: 90
• Lord of the Manor, Lord of the Manor 2: 200

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Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Deeds (Bundles Only)

With the launch of the new Add On Store Bundles, we are pleased to include Tax Free versions of the Player Owned Town Lot Deeds that we introduced in Update #172. These deeds can only be used inside Player Owned Towns and they can only be purchased through bundles, not individually. This is to mirror what we did with regular Tax Free Lot Deeds (which could only be purchased through pledges). We will carefully monitor sales of these as compared to placed lot markers in Player Owned Towns to make sure we do not oversell them. This week, we are introducing Row Lots but we plan to sell bundles with Village, Town, and City Lots soon.

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Viking Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundles

Our first bundles to include both the new Tax Free Player Player Owned Town Lot Deeds and Gold Crowns of the Obsidians are the Viking Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundles that includes a variety of Viking themed items.

Viking 2-Story Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundle

• Digital Download of SotA: Episode 1 (includes Early Access)
• Tax Free Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed
• 2-Story Viking Row House
• Viking Helm
• Viking Fur Cloak
• Viking Chest
• Pet Bloodraven (a blackish red variant of the raven)
• 4 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians
• Pick 2 Prosperity Tools
• Pick 2 Obsidian Potions
• Aether Vibration Amplifier Console
• 100 Bank Slots

Viking 3-Story Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundle

• Digital Download of SotA: Episode 1 (includes Early Access)
• Tax Free Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed
• 3-Story Viking Row House
• 1-Story Row Basement
• Viking Helm
• Viking Fur Cloak
• Viking Chest
• Pet Bloodraven (a blackish red variant of the raven)
• 6 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians
• Pick 4 Prosperity Tools
• Pick 4 Obsidian Potions
• Aether Vibration Amplifier Console
• 110 Bank Slots
• 3 Pack Potted Blue Spruce Trees
• Ornate Skull Candle

Viking 4-Story Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundle

• Digital Download of SotA: Episode 1 (includes Early Access)
• Tax Free Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed
• 4-Story Viking Row House
• 2-Story Row Basement
• Viking Helm
• Viking Fur Cloak
• Viking Chest
• Pet Bloodraven (a blackish red variant of the raven)
• 8 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians
• Pick 6 Prosperity Tools
• Pick 6 Obsidian Potions
• Aether Vibration Amplifier Console
• 120 Bank Slots
• 3 Pack Potted Blue Spruce Trees
• Ornate Skull Candle
• Ornate Metal Phonograph
• Dev+ Access

Look for more Bundles in the Viking line soon, including a Village Home, a Village Keep, a Town Keep, and a City Great Hall.

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61 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

As we march toward the Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone, we are having a Summer 2016 Expiration Event split into Two Parts!

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27, 2016, we are expiring the homes and basements from the Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2 pledges. We are also expiring new Player Owned Towns (upgrades of existing POTs will continue to be available). All other rewards (including tax free property deeds) that are currently available in the remaining pledges will continue to be available. The final wipe of all game data will also occur at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th. To commemorate this momentous milestone, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 1, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Wipe at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, we are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2. To commemorate the final expiration of all remaining pledges, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 2, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Pledge Expirations at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

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Community Resources – Players Helping Players

The official SotA Player Created Resources Forum is the place to find 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. Here are a few samples:

• Hospitallers
  • Hospitallers are volunteer players that help new players (or veteran players) that are seeking guidance, or just friendly conversation (in-game or out). While in-game, new (or veteran) players can signal to other players they would like help, or newcomer guidance, by pressing Keypad “-” and setting their title to “Outlander“. Helping players can display their “Hospitaller” title to signal they are available to help other players.
• SotAHelp.org
  • SotAHelp.org is a player support site run by a team of volunteers, or Hospitallers, dedicated to improving the new player experience within Shroud of the Avatar. Can’t find a Hospitaller in-game? Then go to SotaHelp.Org where you can ask questions offline or schedule an in-game meetup. Multiple languages supported. Join us for our weekly in-game meetings (Sundays at 11am CT, TeamSpeak 3 Server: Pax et Veritas, 43.245.163.15:10099, Discord Chat Channel).
• Avatars’ Circle
  • Avatars’ Circle is one of the first Shroud of the Avatar resource sites created by by the SotA community, not only providing links to other popular SotA resource sites, but also home to the first SotA community events calendar!
• SotA Wiki
  • A premier source of information for all of New Britannia! This site is being actively updated, so if there isn’t something you need, let them know!
• Avatars’ Radio
  • Rocking your socks off from the town of Radio City with the Terrestrial and New Britannian bards together under one roof through the power of the Moon Towers. Check out their daily program of amazing DJs.
• SotAMap.com
  • This amazing map allows you to pan the camera out for a global view of the map of New Britannia, or incrementally zoom in until you make out the finest details of the Overworld map of Novia and The Hidden Vale. And more of the town maps are being added every month!
• New Britannia News Network (NBNN)
  • NBNN is New Britannia’s premier video streaming news network. This community effort mobilizes streamers into a global endeavor of promotion for the greater Shroud of the Avatar community. Whether it be the latest news or a revealing interview, NBNN never fails to surprise!
• Role-Players of the Avatar (RPOTA)
  • Role-Players of the Avatar is a social environment where you will find a creative outlet for story writing and adventure creation. We are a community which feeds your desire to be someone else… a crazed barbarian, a cunning scoundrel, maybe a quirky wizard or perhaps a mysterious assassin.
• Crafting Resources
  • SotACrafter.com: This is an amazing site that simply gets RIGHT to the point. Need a recipe? Simply use the drop-down menu and voila! Instant recipes to peruse.
  • SotACraft.com: This is a one-stop-shop for crafting recipes and instructions. Beautifully laid out with images for each recipe, sorted by category!

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In-game Community Events

Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Special thanks to community member SpookyJenny (aka Jenny Phoenixfyre in-game) for her help in compiling the schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar:

Recurring Events

• RPOTA Monthly $170 Writing Contest
  • Here ye! Here ye! Biographers, Historians, Diplomats, Journalists, Story Writers, Quest Designers and Videographers! RPOTA is in dire need of your amazing talents! Role-Players of the Avatar is hosting a monthly contest to award those most famous with their quill or camera! (details)
• The Unreliable Travel Guide
  • The Unreliable Travel Guide, created at the SotA Writing Round Table, is not an event, but a collection of hilarious short stories published by two drunken layabouts who have nothing better to do than try to derive a dishonest income from newly arrived avatars. (details)
• Avatars Radio (Daily Programming)
  • Welcome New Britannians to Avatars Radio – Radio of the Avatars. Rocking your socks off from the town of Radio City with the Terrestrial and New Britannian bards together under one roof through the power of the Moon Towers.  Check out their daily program of amazing DJs:  http://avatarsradio.info/schedule.php
• NBNN Lunch with Laz & Jack (Weekdays, 12pm CDT)
  • Join NBNN every weekday for Lunch With Laz & Jack. They will be covering the daily goings on in SOTA. Calendar updates, Relevant issues happening in the days news. Come chat with us about upcoming events and general information. http://nbnn.info
• Order of Vengeance Guild Meeting (Mondays, 9pm CDT)
  • Held at the Guild Hall in Vengeance
• PaxLair Town Manager Hour (Tuesdays, 2:00pm CDT)
  • Join PaxLair’s Town Manager, Sean Silverfoot, to ask questions about PaxLair, being a Citizen, holding a lot and any other questions concerning PaxLair or any of it’s boroughs: Dragons Watch, Tenakill, Lockbrier, Island of Wonders, Knowhere, Sea Nymph Grotto & Serentiy Isle. (map)
• EVL Monster Mash Dungeon Crawl (Tuesdays & Saturdays, 7pm CDT)
  • Every Virtue is Lasting will be holding a dungeon crawl every Tuesday (for advanced players) and Saturdays (for newer, less experienced players) to provide fun and experience for our members and guests. All are welcome! The meeting point for Tuesdays is in Owls Head (map) at the center of town near the trainer (Zenie is your teleportation Avatar and dungeon master), and for Saturdays it is in Soltown (map; Shady Death is your teleportation Avatar and dungeon master) (details)
• EVL Virtue League PVP Tournament (Wednesdays, 7pm CDT)
  • Looking to break into the PVP scene but don’t want to be placed against established god-like players? We have you covered with two divisions, one for the newer, less experienced player, and one for the cream of the crop who have something to prove! (Chaos Caverns underground at Virtue Oasis on the Hidden Vale; details)
• Stryker Sparhawk’s Happy Hour Wednesdays (Wednesdays, 8pm CDT)
  • Stryker will travel to one of the local Novia taverns for an hour to open a bar tab for drinks in hopes of sharing stories, news, critique of the arts, music, dancing, and otherwise unplanned mayhem. Teleport to Stryker Sparhawk (details)

Friday, May 27

• 2pm CDT FireLotus Release Party
  • Come join us for the biggest party of Release 30! Enter from the Overland map and follow the canyon. Meet the vendor with directions to the party. You can also follow the streetlamps to the crossroads and take a balloon ride up the side of the mountain. See you there! Party details here.
• 7pm CDT Vengeance Madness PVP
  • This is an Open PvP event where everyone fights it out in a royal rumble to see who the ultimate death dealer is! An hour of PvP madness that you cannot miss. The person who ends up with the most kills will be the champion! This is an opportunity to test skills, templates, items, and strategy, but most of all to have fun! An hour full of madness you cannot miss out on! Whether you are a usual PvP’er or not… Anyone is welcome to come out and join us. Winners may win entries into the BMC-Grid Iron. (City of Vengeance; teleport to Bambino LudoVate; map).
• 7:30pm CDT Friday Night Astronomy
  • Interested in New Britannia Astronomy? Just enjoy gazing at the stars? Join us every week as we explore the night sky above New Britannia. (Player Town of Caer Dracwych, map; teleport to Bowen Bloodgood; details)

Saturday, May 28

• 7:00am CDT Wake Up New, Britannia!!! With Woftam and Selene
  • Woftam and Selene Noctua broadcast on AvatarsRadio from the Wake Up New Britannia Studio in Owlshead (right behind the crafting pavillion). Includes Interviews with the Community, Contests for in-game Gold, What’s new for the week in New Britannia, and your Best Bets for SotA weekend events! (details)
• 9:00am CDT PaxLair Working Hours
  • Come to PaxLair and see what’s happening! For two hours (more or less) we work together on projects, create ideas and have fun together. It’s sort of a weekly time to gather and do things together. Everyone in Novia is welcome! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield or Sean Silverfoot)
• 11:00am CDT Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service
  • High Priestess of Chaos, Amber Raine, and the Dean of the Novian Academy, Kazyn Phoenixfyre, welcome you to the Church of the Dark Star. A shared project, built upon equality, where all are welcome. Services range from what is Chaos and Order to how they affect different aspects of our life. The path you choose is yours. (Alternating locaions; details)
• 12:00pm CDT Welcome Quest 30
  • Welcome Quest showcases many of the Player-owned and Player-ran towns in New Britannia. Come for unique events in each town. We rotate towns between each Welcome Quest. We are visiting the town of Caer Dracwych (map) in the North Paladis area. (teleport to Greagoir; details)
• 6:00pm CDT Port Phoenix: Social Nights
  • Come out and join the republic in one of many potential events (chosen new each week). Each week we get together for everything from fishing, to music, to gustball to PVE duneoneering and adventuring. (Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre for details)
• 7:00pm CDT EVL Monster Mash Dungeon Crawl
  • Do you crave adventure and don’t want to battle alone? EVL has your back with our fun packed PVE nights hosted weekly! An EVL dungeon guide will assist newer less experienced players in their pursuit of adventure and glory! It meets in Soltown (map) and your teleportation avatar and guide for the evening will be Shady Death.
• 8:00pm CDT Overthrow Vengeance PVP Event
  • Come overthrow Vengeance! If there’s no fighting it’s because the PKers didn’t show… if there is only death it’s because the virtuous didn’t show to protect those of us who are still weak and unable to protect ourselves (Vengeance, map; details)

Sunday, May 29

• 8:30am CDT PaxLair Meeting
  • 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! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield; teamSpeak: 43.245.163.15:10099)
• 11:00am CDT Hospitaller Weekly Voice Meeting
  • Everyone is welcome to our player community’s weekly Hospitaller meeting. It is open to anyone and everyone, not just Hospitallers. We talk about many things and work hard to find ways to help new players. This meeting is one hour long and we have additional sidebars after the meeting. (Soltown, map; Discord Chat Channel, SotAHelp.org)
• 2:30pm CDT Gustball Training
  • Want to learn how to play Gustball? Need some tips on how to improve your deck or hone your skills on the field! Join Coach Sheamus McGuinness of EVLs for a 30 minute Gustball lesson and practice session just before the big game at 3pm (Owl’s head, map; or teleport to Sheamus McGuinness)
• 3:00pm CDT Gustball
  • The game of Gustball is a great community event, not dissimilar from soccer or football, where Avatars of all levels & skill can compete in a fun, friendly game that uses the Gust skill (1st level Air Magic spell) to blow a Gustball into your opponents goal. (/whisper or teleport to Sand, Sheamus McGuinness, or Bambino Ludovate, details)
• 4:00pm CDT EVL The Gauntlet
  • THE GAUNTLET is a combination of American Gladiators & American Ninja Warrior. This timed obstacle course is run by a single Avatar and the fastest time is the overall winner! The EVL Gladiators will do their very best to slow you down using a variety of magic spells along the course. A free event suitable for all levels of Avatars. Competitors can look forward to TOP PRIZES every month for the winner and runner up. Held in the underground town of Chaos Caverns, connected to Virtue Oasis (map; teleport to Sheamus McGuinness or EVL; details)
• 5:00pm CDT BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration
  • Register to compete in the BMC Gridiron and mingle with other participants and spectators before the big fight! (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details)
• 5:30pm CDT BMC Gladiator’s Grid-Iron
  • 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. (Blackrock Cove on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, map; see forum post for details)
• 7:00pm CDT PaxLair Meeting
  • 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! (PaxLair, map; or teleport to Winfield)
• 8:00pm CDT Fishing with 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.  (some fishing spot or pond, teleport to Winfield; details)

Be sure and check out the Release 30 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.

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Upcoming Events

2016.06.01 – The Hearth of Britannia: Legends of the Hearth III
2016.06.01 – Release 30 Postmortem Livestream
2016.06.30 – Release 31
2016.07.27 – Summer Telethon Part 1 + Pledge Homes / POT Expirations (Final Wipe at Midnight)
2016.07.28 – Release 32: Lot Selections
2016.08.22 – Summer Telethon Part 2 + Final Pledge Expirations Episode 1 (Pledge Expirations at Midnight)
2016.08.25 – Release 33
2016.08.26 – Syndcon 2016
2016.09.02 – DragonCon 2016
2016.09.21 – Austin Games Conference
2016.09.29 – Release 34

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Backer Shipping Addresses

In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image:

For country and regional tax assessment purposes, our tax accountants have requested that we start collecting a buyer’s physical/shipping address for all purchases, whether digital or physical. We’ve tried to streamline that process as much as possible, such that once you’ve entered a physical address we will pre-populate the address fields with your default address.

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Recommended Projects to Back

Here’s the latest from BrightLocker, the first crowd publishing platform for games. BrightLocker was launched by fellow ex-Originites Mark Rizzo and Ruben Cortez, members of the original Ultima Online Network Ops team from back in the day.

LightEaters has completed development and will launch on June 23rd! Between now and launch, we’re offering a unique opportunity for our fans to receive daily updates in a ‘retrospective’ of LightEaters’ development process. FOLLOW the game now to make sure you get all the latest updates!

Daily Updates will include:

• Build Notes from each day’s retrospective build, so you can read exactly what the dev team were working on each day
• Concept Presentations
• Art files, the building blocks of the game visuals
• Sound effect files

A huge thanks to everyone who participated in our second Semi-Final voting round last week. Round 3 is open, so get those votes in for your favorite video game ideas and submit an idea yourself – it could be chosen to be made into an actual game!

Speaking of voting, our very own Shroud community member enderandrew is also a Brightlocker community member and has been working on getting some of his ideas through the system and he posted about his experience in our forums. He didn’t make it through that voting cycle but he’s going to try again next cycle which opens up on June 5th so head over to Brightlocker and support your fellow Shroud community member!

Check out enderandrew talking about his game starting at 2:15 and then go vote on June 5th!