Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- Play Release 40 Now!
- Q2 2017 Schedule Update
- Free Trial Test 2: April 6 – 10
- The Making of Verdantis Mines (update)
- Shroud in the News: MMORPG.com & IGN Unfiltered
- Novia Renamed to TRAMMUCCA
- R39 Lot Deed Raffle Winners
- Pattern Packs Weekend Flash Sale
- Tech Talk Tuesday
- Community Livestream: Kas Ruins – First Look
- Upcoming Events
- Community Resources – Players Helping Players
- Recommended Projects to Back
Play Release 40 Now!
Release 40 successfully launched yesterday, March 30, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:
- Obsidian Cabalists
- Obsidian Cabalist Artifact Weapons
- Obsidian Cabalist Artifact Armor
- Weapons as Decorations
- Improvements to the New User Experience
- SotA Map Integration
- New Weapons
- New Shields
- New Decorations
- New Recipes
- New Patterns
- Rhun Ruins Unclone
- Serpent’s Spine Mines Unclone
- Town Sieges affecting POTs
- User Interface Polish
- More Decks Allowed
- Moving Decorated Houses
- Spring Telethon & Easter Content
- AMD Incompatiblity Fix
- R39 Lot Deed Raffle Winners
…and much more
Check out the Release 40 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 this Release!
If you have not backed the game yet, go to www.shroudoftheavatar.com and click the “Play Now” button. Game Early Access is also available on Steam Early Access.
Release 40 Player Instructions
Q2 2017 Schedule Update
[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]
Greetings Avatars,
As we have stated previously, we intend to publish quarterly schedule updates for our monthly releases. Even though the goals outlined in these schedules are likely to change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to periodically provide you with an updated roadmap.
Our priority continues to be to deliver new content to our backers each and every month so that you can give us feedback that will help us iteratively improve Shroud of the Avatar. This collaborative process continues to benefit the game, and often results in sweeping changes such as the upcoming addition of the Outskirts scenes. As you have seen in previous releases, the flexibility inherent to this process means that we sometimes push things out, but we also often pull new things in.
New User Experience (NUE): A large priority for the second quarter is going to be improving the new user experience. For several years now, our backers have been providing us feedback that the first few hours of our game have several major issues. Those issues include too many loading screens, scenes that are too small, overloading the user with too many options, and starting towns that include player housing/vendors. As we shift our focus to improving the New User Experience, and as we are able to measure new player progress during events such as our recent free trial, we realize that we must address these issues sooner rather than later.
As we announced during the Spring Telethon, one of our solutions to these issues is to add three new maps to the game that we are calling “Outskirts.” These scenes will be very close to the three starting scenes, and players will go directly there after finishing those starting scenes. Outskirts will be very large scenes, similar in scope to some of the recently added big scenes like Blood Bay. Each Outskirt scene will have a small outpost that will include some shopkeepers, trainers, crafting stations, and a few quest givers (and no player housing!). The scenes will also include plenty of adventuring areas (forests, ruins, bandit camps, etc.). The large scale of the Outskirts, as well as the variety of experiences and services that they provide, will allow new players to base themselves in a single scene for adventuring and resupply for their first couple of hours of gameplay without needing to go through multiple loading screens or needing to use the Overworld.
In addition to Outskirts, we plan to improve the new user experience by delaying more advanced features until later in the game (which we began doing in Release 40). We also plan to implement Contextual Help, Improved Tutorial Systems, and a Polished Skill Training Interface.
Polish: In addition to the focus on the first few hours of gameplay, Q2 will include a lot of work on polishing the overall experience of playing Shroud of the Avatar. A large focus of this work will be on performance and stability, which is why you may see fewer new features than in previous quarters as you scan the list below. However, we will be adding some new features that are aimed at polishing the game. These include Mail, Looking for Group, and a Raid System. Additionally, continual passes will be made each release to address overall balance issues, especially in the first few hours of game play.
Story Complete: Our goal is to complete the story by Release 44 (July), so story efforts in Q2 will be focused on bringing the Paths of Truth and Courage to a playable and polished state. We also plan to unveil the game’s Finale. Since the story will be complete in R44, we plan to allow all players to make a one-time-only reset of the story status for their character (so they can start fresh with their current character) in Release 44 (July).
To repeat what I said in the Q1 post:
“We believe that we have reached the final 20% of development before Commercial Release, at which point we will transition out of Early Access. The next two quarters will be the most exciting and challenging times for the project so far. This will be when we get the final features and content in the game and make the last important balance changes. The changes will be fast and furious, and they may occasionally be hard to understand when you become accustomed to the way things were before. Please trust that we firmly believe that every change we make is best for the long term health of the project.”
As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers.
RELEASE 41, April 27, 2017
- Story: We will begin polishing the Path of Truth with the Dungeon of Artifice coming online for the first time. We will also polish visuals of the final sequence with the Titan Grannus in the Path of Courage. The incidental NPCs and side quests along the Path of Courage will also be worked on in locations like Estgard and Harvest. Verdantis Mines and the Kas Ruins scenes will both be uncloned. The Fall, a new PvP dungeon underneath Blood Bay, will appear in the game. Solace Bridge Outskirts, a new scene that players start in after the Battle of Solace Bridge will come online for the first time.
- Performance: Significant focus will be made on performance this release with emphasis on stability, framerate, memory, and load times.
- Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. Additionally Shields, Tools, and Helmets will become place-able as decorations.
- Combat: We will continue our polish pass on all the visual effects related to combat as well as make major improvements to the new user experience with combat.
- Character: The Titan Grannus will get his own unique art for the first time. Wounded variations of our guards and soldiers will appear in game. We will also be polishing the medieval peasants.
- Contextual Help: A contextual help system will come online that allows players to hover over content (interface elements, items, etc.) in the game and get information about it.
- Game Balance: Major efforts will be devoted towards game balance.
- Crafting: More recipes and more patterns in gear that is dropped from enemies.
RELEASE 42, May 25, 2017
- Story: We will do final polish on the Path of Truth including incidental NPCs and side quests in areas like Xenos and Etceter. We will polish visuals of the final sequence with Titan Boreas in the Path of Truth. Highvale Outskirts, a new scene that players start in after the Battle of Highvale Village, will come online for the first time.
- Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
- Combat: We will continue our polish pass on all the visual effects related to combat.
- Character: The Titans Sequanna and Boreas, as well as Arabella, will get their own unique visuals. We will also do some polish work on Player Customization.
- Crafting: More recipes and more patterns in gear that is dropped from enemies.
- Raid System: Tools will come online for large groups, and groups of groups, to go on adventures together.
- Looking For Group: A tool to help players find a group to adventure with will appear in the game.
RELEASE 43, June 29, 2017
- Story: Polish will begin on the Finale of the plot including work on the Destiny Pool and the Oracle Chamber. Blood River Outskirts, a new scene that players start in after Blood River Massacre, will come online for the first time.
- Character: The Oracle herself will appear for the first time in the game as will the Shroud of the Avatar. We will be doing polish work on various creatures in the game, such as the Troll. We will also begin creating Viking-inspired clothing for the NPCs in the Norgard and Verdantis areas of Novia to better define that region, including outfits for Royalty, Guards, Citizens, and Merchants.
- Performance: Significant focus will be made on performance this release with emphasis on stability, framerate and load times.
- Bug Fixes and Game Balance: Much of this release will be spent on fixing bugs and balancing game systems.
- Mail: Players will be able to send mail to each other through an in-game interface.
- Offline Combat and Economy Balance: A pass will be made through the game to adjust combat balance for play in offline mode with companions. Additionally, the economy in offline mode will be tuned to be better balanced for single-player. For instance, NPC merchants will buy player-crafted items at a profit to the player. Also, pledge and Add-On Store items will be available from NPC merchants for purchase with in-game gold.
- Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. Additionally the ability to rent rooms in a player home will start to become available to homeowners.
We continue to be incredibly thankful for the support we receive from this amazing community. While the funding you provide makes all of this possible, it pales in comparison with the faith you have in us, the feedback you provide us, and the content you are making for everyone to enjoy. We are humbly grateful, and we cannot wait to see you again in New Britannia!
Before I go, I wanted to include an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our ongoing schedule:
As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done, and at times, even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public normally has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback.
Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so.
Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be, and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. After each release we will review the results and reevaluate the plan including the duration of availability of each release.
It is important to repeat that all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change.
Sincerely,
Starr Long
Executive Producer
Shroud of the Avatar
Free Trial Test 2: April 6 – 10
We are excited to announce our second test of our Free Trial system April 6 – 10. If you know anyone who would like to try the game for free, then send them to the download page. These tests are invaluable for us in order to improve the New User Experience and the Free Trial System itself.
Free Trial access allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play.
- Free Trial Current Time Period: April 6-10, 2017
- The term (Visitor) is appended to their character name
- Cannot give items to other players via Trade
- Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
- No ownership of property nor use of lot signs
- Cannot interact with public chests
- Cannot move/interact with items on a plot even if they are given permissions
- Cannot flag as Open PVP
- Cannot gain nor do they create any ransom items when they kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
- Character data may be deleted after Free Trial period is over if character is not upgraded to a paid account
- Items purchased in the Add On Store cannot be accessed after the Free Trial Period is over unless you purchase Game Access
- Cannot play in Offline Mode
The Making of Verdantis Mines (update)
Verdantis Mines are in the northern tip of the Mariah Mountains in the Verdantis region which can be found in the northwest of Novia. The elves of the region have been mining these mountains for many years and recently they broke through to an ancient underground city full of rich ore nodes and other treasures. Unfortunately it is also full of undead and in its deepest places Fire and Earth Elementals.
Verdantis Mines started as a clone of Graff Gem Mines but is being completely rebuilt and will hopefully go live in Release 41 or 42.
[A Dev+ Forum Post by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf]
The scene is close to being finished, and I have a few more screenshots to share. Its probably worth mentioning that I turned on most of the lanterns in the scene to help illuminate it for these screenshots, however in-game, only a handful of lanterns will be lit.
The Ancient City (as seen from the bridge)
Shroud in the News: MMORPG.com & IGN Unfiltered
MMORPG.COM: Red Thomas got a sneak peek at our Q2 schedule update last week and wrote a preview article for MMORPG.com entitled “Shooting Solo“.
Shroud of the Avatar has been making major strides towards completing much of the vision backers funded four years ago, this April. While the online and multiplayer of the game has been critical to the financial success of the project, plenty of people backed the project anticipating a more solo experience. Development over the next quarter should go a long way towards delivering on that expectation.
I recently spent a day in Austin talking with the team and getting the scoop on what their plans were for the next few months. A lot of the last quarter was spent working on the economy, improving character models, expanding the diversity of weapons and armor in the game, and putting more story into the game.
The next quarter will see the rest of the story from the three lines put into place, and a good amount of content polish. Economy polish will also continue, with specific focus on making the offline economy more viable. Shroud will also be getting some major help in the new player experience, with new scenes and concepts specifically implemented to introduce new players to the game.
IGN Unfiltered: Ryan McCaffrey the host of IGN Unfiltered did a long interview with Richard “Lord British” Garriott and they posted it in three parts as well as a few excerpts like “What It’s Like to Poop in Space”. Alex Osborn covers each of the highlights in a few mini-articles to complement the videos.
Interview Part 1: Ultima creator Richard Garriott discusses his journey to outer space, his love of haunted houses, pulling pranks, pooping in space, and more!
Highlight 1: Space Poop: In addition to creating the beloved role-playing series Ultima, Richard “Lord British” Garriott has been to outer space and discussed the unpleasant experience of pooping in zero gravity many miles away from Earth. On the latest episode of our interview show IGN Unfiltered, Garriott noted that while books have been written how to go to the bathroom in space, they’ve always detailed the way you’re trained to go in space, and no one as far as he knows tells the “actual story of how troubling it is to go to the bathroom in space.”
Interview Part 2: Richard Garriott discusses how early success made him an “asshole” and when the police told him he could shoot a home intruder with an Uzi.
Highlight 2: EA Shot Down Ultima Online Pitch 3 Times: From “bastard stepchild” to worldwide phenomenon. Electronic Arts needed a whole lot of convincing before Ultima creator Richard “Lord British” Garriott was given the green light to make Ultima Online. On the latest episode of our interview show IGN Unfiltered, Garriott shared the story behind the creation of Ultima Online. He and his team wanted to make a multiplayer Ultima game—which they referred to internally as “Multima”—for quite some time, but waited until the market was ready for such a product. When the internet started to take off, Garriott and Starr Long decided now was the time to finally pitch their “Multima” idea to EA. As part of the publisher’s proposal process, Garriott said the project’s lifetime sales estimate needed to justify the costs required to make the game, “but the way to determine that is with comparables,” of which there were none at the time. The closest comparison they could find had 15,000 sales. So, taking into consideration the appeal of the Ultima brand, they doubled that to 30 thousand, which still wasn’t nearly enough to green light the project.
Interview Part 3: Ultima creator Richard Garriott discusses the challenges and triumphs of the industry-changing Ultima Online MMORPG, plus his vision of the genre’s future.
Highlight 3: Ultima Creator on the Future of the RPG Genre: Better tech doesn’t necessarily result in deeper games. Richard “Lord British” Garriott, the creator of the Ultima series, recently shared his thoughts on the future of the role-playing genre and how increasing CPU power will continue to result in games that aren’t very deep. When asked on the latest episode of our interview show IGN Unfiltered where he thinks the RPG genre is heading in the next five or ten years, Garriott replied by discussing where he thinks all genres are headed. “One of my pessimisms about the gaming industry is a problem that is created by the success of the increase in CPU power due to Moore’s Law,” he said.
Novia Renamed to TRAMMUCCA
For many years now players have been debating having PVP and non PVP areas be mixed together on the map. They have also debated having a PVP system where players can flag PVP and be in areas that are not PVP. There have also been demands for making PVP more like the original Ultima Online and include full loot. Many players on both sides want to play fully undisturbed by the other kind of players. PVP players want to play only with PVP players and Non-PVP players want to only play with other Non-PVP players.
After much consideration, we have taken all of that feedback and have decided to rename Novia to TRAMMUCCA (see if you can guess where we got that name). The land will be split approximately in half. The northwest will be all Open PVP and Full Loot and the southwest will be completely Non-PVP (not even flagging nor Dueling allowed). As part of this we are going to wipe all land claims starting at 11:59 PM April 1 and we will start a new landrush following similar rules and sequence as before (see here for the original order of lot claiming). New Bundles will be added to the lot claiming sequence so lot claiming will now take 2 months instead of 1 month. The new lot selection sequence will be posted at 10:30 AM April 1. Please note it is critical that you NOT unclaim before the automatic unclaiming goes into effect or your order will not be correct.
Additionally we have gotten a lot of requests for a global chat so we tonight we are adding full global chat without moderation. We feel that this makes the need for forums obsolete so we are shutting down our forums immediately.
Watch our livestream of the announcement…
April 1st Update: For those of you too young to remember this April Fool’s prank (yes this is a joke) was based on the infamous split of Ultima Online into two worlds: Felucca and Trammel in the Renaissance Expansion.
Again this was an April Fool’s joke. We will NOT be doing a land wipe, nor another landrush, nor will we be dividing the land between PVP, and non-PVP. Just wanted that to be crystal clear :).
R39 Lot Deed Raffle Winners
The latest Lot Deed Raffle was drawn with deeds awarded to the following lucky winners. There were two raffles, one for each lot type:
Place Anywhere Deeds: 10 Total
- Row: 5
- Village: 3
- Town: 1
- City: 1
Player Owned Town Deeds: 20 Total
- Row: 10
- Village: 6
- Town: 2
- City: 2
Raffle tickets grant the holder a chance to win deeds of any size (Row, Village, Town, or City). Raffles will be held monthly (total deed numbers will vary each month). Place-Anywhere Deed raffle tickets are more expensive but will have fewer deeds in each raffle than POT raffle tickets, which are more affordable and will have many more deeds in each raffle. This means your chances to win a POT deed are much greater.
This is the latest raffle where we limited winners to one deed per raffle type. Winners can claim their deed(s) simply by logging into the game and claiming rewards at any bank. A reminder that you may have received multiple deeds to claim if you received tickets for a guild or other group:
Release 40 Lot Deed Raffle has begun! Details in the forums.
Pattern Packs Weekend Flash Sale
We have added over 100 patterns to the game in Release 40! To celebrate we are putting all Pattern Packs on sale this weekend for 20% off.
Here is a complete list of the pattern packs that you will find on sale this weekend:
- Ornate Chainsword Pattern Pack (digital)
- Satin Bodice Bundle Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Kimono Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Floral Kimono Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Short Kilt Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Long Kilt Pattern Pack (digital)
- Fancy Riding Outfit Pattern Pack (digital)
- Flechier Tapestry Formal Suit Pattern Pack (digital)
- Wedding Dress Pattern Pack (digital)
- Wedding Tuxedo Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Marching Band Shirt & Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Black & Chrome Ornate Aeronaut Outfit Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Black Leather Aeronaut Helmet Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Tricorn Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Tophat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Bycocket Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Highwayman Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Plague Doctor Mask Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Plague Doctor Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Brown Bowler Hat Pattern Pack (digital)
- Lord British Shield Pattern Pack (digital)
- Darkstarr Shield Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Vile Halberd Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Dagger Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Basket Hilt Sword Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Elven Mage Staff Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ardoris Shogun Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ardoris Guard Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ardoris Priestess Outfit Pattern Pack (digital)
- Elven Elder Fighter Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Elven Elder Archer Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Elven Elder Mage Robe Pattern Pack (digital)
- Silver Clockwork Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Black Clockwork Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Steel Clockwork Armor Pattern Pack (digital)
- Viking Helm Pattern Pack (digital)
- Ornate Wealthy Merchant Outfit Pattern Pack (digital)
Tech Talk Tuesdays
Community member Violation Clauth reached out to our Technology Director Chris “Atos” Spears about doing a regular hangout where they dug into the the details of the “numbers”. Chris of course agreed and this wonderful thing happened. They hope to make it a semi-regular thing as their schedules allow. Enjoy!
[From a forum post by Violation Clauth]
Greetings!
I had this crazy idea of “how” things work… SotA Style. So, I reached out, and this happened.
Breakdown:
- Issue #1
- Introduction
- Loot Math
- Combat Math
- Unity Assets
- Polish / Performance
- Hangout teaser!
- Issue #2
- Aiming
- Dodge
- Network Packets vs Network Bandwidth vs FPS
- Attunements, Armor, and Resistances
- Skill Effectiveness
I’m giving 5-15 ideas to Chris and letting him pick. I’m going to look for the “likes” on everyone’s ideas. And the more likes you guys give each other the more likely I put it on the list for Chris. Then it’s up to him if he answers it or not.
Also, stay tuned, Hangout of the Avatars may be back soon!
Community Livestream: Kas Ruins – First Look
Get a first look at an upcoming scene with us from last week’s community livestream!
Upcoming Events
Apr 6 – 10, 2017 – Free Trial Test 2
Apr 11, 2017 – R40 Postmortem
Apr 27, 2017 – Release 41
May 25, 2017 – Release 42
June 29, 2017 – Release 43
July 27, 2017 – Release 44
Aug 10 – 14, 2017 – Syndcon (Austin)
Aug 31, 2017 – Release 45
Sept 1 – 4, 2017 – Dragon Con
Sept 22 – 23, 2017 – Ultima Online 20th Anniversary Party
Sept 28, 2017 – Release 46
Oct 13 – 15, 2017 – SotA Con 2017 (Austin)
Oct 26, 2017 – Release 47
Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.
Events of the Week – R40 Welcome Quest and Bookstore Grand Opening
R40 Welcome Quest – Apr. 1st @12pm (Noon) CT
By Royal Warrant, we present to you the Welcome Quest! You are invited to join the Welcome Quest in Release 40. It will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017 starting at 12pm (noon) central time/new britannian time and lasting an hour. It is added on the Avatar’s Circle community calendar for easy time zone conversion. Plus it is in your in-game Events book.
Grand Opening Dara Brae Bookstores – Apr. 1st @1:30pm CT
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! You are invited to the grand opening of the Dara Brae Bookstores. Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 1:30pm New Britannian Time / Central US – after the Welcome Quest. Travel to the island of Dara Brae (SW of Xenos in Elysium) to attend the first bookstore located in a Nature Reserve of Dara Brae and the first in Elysium.
First 100 attendees will receive a limited edition book – limited to 100 copies only.
All of our Dara Brae Supply and Books locations will also have the same books available in Brittany Alleys (at entrance to the right), Solania (at entrance to the left), and Greenfall, Hidden Vale (the Windmill you see from the entrance).
Community 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.
Recommended Projects to Back –
STARFIGHTER INC
Starfighter Inc. is a hard-science multiplayer space combat sim in development by a 20+ international team. They recently launched a Kickstarter to add more support and provide fans with exclusive content. With rigorous attention to scientific detail, this game is set in a plausible future 200 years from now. Players are mercenary pilots who fulfill contracts for corporations and other organizations that have settled into our solar system. A rich background narrative provides context for the events and battles the players are part of. The international team is led by industry veterans Jack Mamais (MechWarrior 2, Crytek), David Wessman (X-Wing and TIE Fighter series), and Rusel DeMaria (original X-Wing and TIE Fighter fiction) and was just awarded the Seal of Approval by the popular science site, Atomic Rockets, alongside Kerbal Space Program.
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.
A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account!
Checks map… …so Blood Bay is now strictly PVE?
Yippee!! Cottage Grove is now in full PvP mode. Hey, lucky for you, Womby, so is Dara Brae.
Pretty awesome huh?
From : http://www.ultimamuseum.com/?post_id=63&title=sotas-world-novia-now-known-as-trammucca
“Dara Brae is now in the PVP zone. Lord Greagoir Pendragon, ONBE (Duke of Dara Brae) has declared the Dara Brae will be the safe zone for all of PVP Novia this day forward while the land is TRAMMUCCA!”
Trammucca? So we now live in a world where a sizable land mass sounds like an off-brand coffee liquor?
Ugh.
Aprils fool, you fool!
Cute…real cute! Almost got me!
I hope this a April Fools Joke!
I bought into this game with the idea of freedom of playstyle choices meaning; I want to be able to choose single player online mode so I can play my way in a live world full of people and join them when I want to. I don’t want forced PVP, as I hate PVP playstyle in the first place. I don’t want to be forced to play in Off Line Mode Just so I can play my way without being harassed by PVP Gank Squads while trying to have the chance to obtain the same materials in Shardfall Areas as PVPer’s.
I don’t appreciate being forced to group with players just so I can survive the mobs and harvest the nodes in the game, as soloing these areas means certain death due to rapid re-spawning of them and by time you finish them off there back before you can harvest anything. There is really a need of companions or Hirelings in SPO mode because without them there is no possibility of SPO mode working in the 1st place. We should not be left out because of wanting to go solo!
Finally, many if us don’t mess with the forums as they have always been full of bullies and always will be. If you want to have a real feedback take census of what we want with a survey and send it to all backers and to folks who bought in since Kickstarter.
Thanks.
Ok, so I watched the vid and like I figured it was a joke.
Listen here, I still mean and feel strongly about what I wrote.
Thanks
I’m disappointed I didn’t get my trammenite title for $7500 in the add on store… Tremmuca4lyfe
Oh.. I fell for it. I was so happy. Argg.
lol
The dates in the “Free Trial 2” paragraph need to be updated as they still point to March:
Free Trial Current Time Period: March 3 – March 9, 2017
Refugees welcome!
I, the Governor of Gladsheim, declare the Town of Gladsheim on the Island of Norgard as an safe Harbour in the PvP Area.
The PvE Players which flees from the War can find here a peacefull Place.
I really was frightend of this April message … for just a moment
Trammuca…well same crap as Trammel in old days…it ruined the game!
If it ruined the game, then why will it be celebrating it’s 20th anniversary soon? I think what you meant was that it ruined the game for you. But not for the majority.
It is properly pronounced – TRAM-MUCCA. Two M’s
Hello,
you can find a translation of this Update of the Avatar #221 into german language here:
http://aureliusmorgenstern.blogspot.de/2017/04/update-of-avatar-221-ubersetzung.html
Hallo!
Ihr findet eine Übersetzung dieses Updates of the Avatar #221 in deutscher Sprache unter folgendem Link:
http://aureliusmorgenstern.blogspot.de/2017/04/update-of-avatar-221-ubersetzung.html
Viel Spaß / Have Fun
Aurelius Morgenstern