Release 57 Instructions

[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked Player Guide and Known Issues.

Release 57 of Shroud of the Avatar goes live this Thursday, August 30, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

Release 57 is the second release in which we focused on the current iteration of our Top 10 Priorities (from Q3 2018 post). We continued to make great progress on Systems and User Interface Polish with a specific focus on improving Quality of Life. We also continue to fix huge numbers of bugs.

Quality of Life Improvements: This was the main focus of Release 57. Our goal here was to improve moment to moment and daily gameplay. Siege skipping, Control Point skipping, Global banks, removed NPC slowdowns, double XP as the new normal, reduced Roving encounter awareness and other similar changes should all make very noticeable improvements to every Avatars play experience by removing continual inconveniences and slow-downs.

User Interface Polish: To support the above improvements we made several changes to the UI to improve daily use. For example, we added a “Vendor” button to all vendor NPC types (trainers, merchants, bankers) that gives Avatars immediate access to their function. We also added status indicators to the health and focus bars. Additionally, we made a more compact loot window, polished the auto-selection of ingredients at crafting tables, and implemented a host of other UI improvements.

Player Made Dungeon Preview: Player Made Dungeons are previewing in Release 57 with 5 dungeon entrances and 5 static example dungeons! Players can place these examples on their property to get a feel for how the real system will work when it launches in Q4.

Decoration Dyeing: We now have technology and user interface support to allow the use of dyes to change the colors of decorations including banners, beds, couches, sofas, and more! For now, only a few items can be dyed but we will be expanding the numbers of items as quickly as possible.

Bug Fixing: We dedicated a significant portion of the release to working solely on fixing bugs and reducing our overall bug count. We addressed over 100 issues with over 70 of them highlighted in these notes including fixes to various scenes (typos, stuck spots, etc.), crafting fixes, combat fixes, and various user interface fixes.

I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to the players who tested the items listed below on our QA server. They found many bugs and also provided editorial feedback on this post so that it is easy to read and actually matches what is in the game.

Before offering feedback and/or reporting a bug, we kindly ask that you read this whole message and the linked Player Guide and Known Issues to get up to date on the current game state. To keep up to date, please check out the Patch Notes.

By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and effort can be focused on new “unanswered” questions and addressing critical issues that impact each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is also working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. Be sure to check the schedule for player-run events (via the player-run websites: NBNN Community Calendar & Avatars Circle). You can also get the latest official events on the Main Website.

Without further ado, here is a list of what you can expect to see in Release 57.

Key:

• Plain Text: The original plan for the Release deliverables from the Q3 2018 Schedule Update. We intentionally preserve the original text so that our backers can compare plan versus actuals.
• Italics: Detailed notes of what was actually delivered.
• Strikethrough: These are items that did not make the release (but are still planned).

RELEASE 57, August 30, 2018

• Story: We will continue polishing the starting scenes for balance and guidance. Additional work will continue on Tier adjustments to better balance scene difficulty. We will also add a few new sidequests.
  • Control Points Voluntary Entry: Control Points can now be crossed over on the Overworld without forcing players to enter the scene. This is part of an overall effort to reduce the number of scene loads in each play session. The following scenes are affected by this change and can now be entered voluntarily, just like any other adventure scene:
    • Brightbone Pass
    • Eastreach Gap
    • Nightshade Pass
    • Sanctus Spine
    • Superstition Canyon
    • Vauban Pass
    • Vertas Pass
  • Town Sieges Voluntary Entry: Town Sieges can now be bypassed by all level of players, allowing direct access to the besieged town. This is part of an overall effort to reduce the number of scene loads in each play session. Sieges can now be entered voluntarily from the Overworld, just like any other adventure scene. Note when leaving towns you automatically bypass sieges (no option is given to enter them).
  • NPC Movement Slow Down Removed: NPCs will no longer slow down your character when you move through them when you are in non-combat mode. We made this change to improve general quality of life and because players were just working around this by running through towns in combat mode.
  • Roving Encounters Awareness Reduction: We have reduced the awareness ranges of all patrolling NPCs on the overworld so it should be easier now to evade them.
  • Side Quests: (SPOILERS)
    • Hospital Gown: Hammond the Healer in Westend will give you a Hospital Gown if you will just find a specific Amanita Spore for him. It can’t be that hard can it? I mean surely these patients lying here aren’t previous questors?
    • Jealous Boyfriend: Viggo in the city of Mud is jealous of another man who has been sweet talking his girlfriend. Accept Viggo’s task to intimidate the other man and learn the /palmpunch emote.
    • Lost Vale Crystal Ball: Anyone who has successfully completed the “Relive the Siege of Opalis,” “Relive Rescue of Grand Artificer,” or “Relive the Fall of the Epitaph” tasks of the Forlorn Skeleton’s quest can mention “Lost Vale” or “Crystal Ball” to Anais to obtain a one-time gift, a Lost Vale Crystal Ball decoration item. This item has a special quality which can let players know when the Lost Vale is available.
    • Ring My Bell: Inkeri calls to the orphans in Estgard with her bell, letting them know that her home is a safe space for them. She’ll teach Outlanders the new /ringbell emote.
  • Scene Polish: (SPOILERS)
  • • Blackblade Pass: The “lava room” will sometimes spawn burned skeletons.
    • Blood River Outskirts: Both Alberic and Eilliana now wave sparkly hands even before you pick up their first tasks to better aid new players find these quest givers.
    • Brittany Alleys: Removed the wooden fence and wagon that were in front of the Castle player lot.
    • Crooked Shank: We slightly reduced the density of elves within the caves to more accurately reflect the Tier 2 labeling of this scene.
    • Hallowed Plains: Now officially listed as Tier 4+, the high-threat skeleton fortress in this scene will sometimes spawn burned skeletons, including one that is Tier 10!
    • “I Don’t Talk to Outlanders!”: Generic NPCs with no names now claim to not want to share their names with outlanders. For example, this applies to most NPCs in Brittany Estates, Westend, and any still-cloned NPC Town.
    • Lost Vale: We have increased the frequency of the availability of the Lost Vale to every 11 hours. To assist Avatars with knowing when the Vale is open we have added a crystal ball that provides this information (see Side Quests section above).
    • Mud: We replaced the buildings in the center of town that had the blue “Perennial Coast” roofs with more standard versions. The 3-story crafting building has been replaced with the common crafting pavillion.
    • Norgard Fens: We added a conversation to the child next to the horse in the swamp.
    • Outskirts: We added a cloak and a set of dyes as a reward near the end of each quest sequence in the Outskirts maps. The colors are related to the colors associated with the virtues. Highvale Outskirts (Courage): Gray, Red, Orange, Purple. Solace Bridge Outskirts (Love): Gray, Yellow, Green, Orange. Blood River Outskirts (Truth): Gray, Blue, Green, Purple.
    • NPC Schedules: In Release 55, we adjusted the times for when the display names of periods of the day appeared. This affected the schedules of NPCs but we had not adjusted them to match the new day/night schedule until now, Release 57.
    • Quel Passage: Burned skeletons can appear in the large caverns within this locked-off passage.
    • Quel Shardfall: The homestead and crypt will sometimes spawn burned skeletons.
    • Rainy Weather Visual Polish: We improved the lighting, fog, shadows, and other visual parameters associated with rainy weather so that this weather type looks better and more comparable to the other global visual improvements we made in Release 56.
    • Shandy Chapman: We added a few more consumables to this merchant who wanders the roads of Perennial Coast of Novia.
    • South Midmaer Way: We added ambient environment sounds and separate Point of Interest music for the Satyr bazaar and underground puzzle room.
    • Tenebris Harbor: Burned skeletons will sometimes spawn in burned buildings.
    • Upper Tears: This scene is now properly labeled as Tier 4+.
• Performance: Performance work will mainly focus on improving frame rate and reducing hitching during gameplay. Work will also continue to be done on load time reduction on the few outstanding scenes that are not meeting our 15 second load time target.
  • Applied Effects on Ranged Weapons: Applied effects like Poison Weapon and Ignite Weapon were causing significant game pauses (hitching) with Ranged Weapons on Auto-Attack. These effects have been optimized so this should no longer happen.
  • Locate Vendor Items Optimization: In the bank, we no longer reload all the vendor items if you send some to the bank, we simply remove them from the list. Previously when you looked at your items on vendors across Novia, and clicked  “Send item to bank,” it caused the entire list (potentially 1000+ items) to refresh before being usable again.
  • Target Selection: A significant slowdown that only showed up in crowded situations, was fixed.
• Bug Fixing: Time will be allocated to a general sweep through all systems, features, and content to reduce overall bug counts.
  • Berserk: The berserk skill will now only give bonuses as long as a bludgeon weapon is equipped.
  • Charge Skill: We fixed the bug that was causing this skill to only do 1 point of damage and the bug that was preventing it from stunning.
  • Charged Attack Key vs. Interactives: We fixed an issue that caused the Attack hotkey (not mouse button) to be ignored while the mouse was hovering over an interactive item (corpse, door, etc).
  • Combos Stuck: Fixed an issue where skills would get stuck charging when initiating a combo.
  • Crossbow Idle Loop: We fixed an issue where the idle loop for crossbows was causing a shoulder twitch.
  • Dig In: We fixed an issue where this skill would sometimes cause aggro on allied NPCs in places like towns and sieges.
  • Dye Preview and Temp Dyeing: We fixed an issue where dyeing an item in your inventory would sometimes temporarily apply it to your equipped item via the preview window.
  • Enemies with Empty Hands: We fixed an issue where some enemies that were supposed to have weapons equipped (bows) were appearing empty handed in scenes like Understorm Gold Mine.
  • Heraldry Boots: We fixed several issues where the Heraldry boots were scaled incorrectly and the material colors did not properly match.
  • Ignite Weapon on Wands: We fixed an issue where the VFX for Ignite Weapon was not showing on Wands.
  • Interactive Items in Mail: All mail items (including recipes) are now moved to inventory when double-clicked.
  • Knight’s Grace: We fixed the description so that it now properly indicates that it removes slow and bleed effects.
  • Lich Health Bars: We fixed an issue that was causing the health bars on all liches to be placed too high above them.
  • Looting Bodies Underwater: We fixed an issue that was blocking looting bodies that had fallen underwater if you were playing in locked cursor mode.
  • Lord British Cloak: The “mysterious effect” of the random dropping object is now properly reported in combat logs.
  • Naked Deck Swap: We fixed an issue where sometimes swapping decks would strip your character of all equipment!
  • Offhand Items: Offhand items, like the Lord Marshal Drinking Horn, should no longer remain visible when swimming and crafting.
  • Ornate Shogun Lightstring: This item had been incorrectly flagged as indoor which was causing some issues when players tried to place it inside and it stuck through walls and such. It is now properly flagged as outdoor.
  • Other Players’ Movement Visuals: We fixed several issues with the visuals of other players’ movement and jumping that would make them appear to slide, skip, double jump, jitter, etc. Overall other players’ movement should appear much smoother now.
  • Parried Ignite Ranged Weapon: We fixed an issue where NPCs could parry ranged weapons if the Ignite Weapon skill was used.
  • Poison Weapon: We fixed an issue that caused consumable poisons to list “Melee Weapon” as a requirement, even though these poisons can now be applied to ranged weapons.
  • POT Tree Removers Option: Fixed an issue where the checkbox in “Show POT Tree Removers” was not clickable.
  • Public Vendors “Buy” Fix: Public Vendors did not have the “buy” keyword in their conversations. This has been fixed.
  • Purchase Orders and No Trade Items: We removed “No Trade” items from the list of Purchase Order items in Player Vendors (they could not be added anyway and just increased the list size).
  • Re-equip Deck Hotkey: We fixed a bug where the hotkey to re-equip your current deck was not also re-equipping the associated equipment.
  • Roll Value Setting: We fixed an issue where setting roll value settings in party loot was clicking through the interface to whatever was behind it.
  • Spellbinder Stance: We fixed an issue where Focus Specialization was not giving an in-combat focus regeneration bonus.
  • Unicorn Poison: Fixed an issue where this poison was removing all effects instead of just one as intended.
  • Unstable Power Elixir of the Obsidians: We fixed an incorrect tooltip about dexterity (listed intelligence twice) and fixed a typo about “glowing.”
  • Unsummonable Tamed Pets: We fixed an issue where it was possible to get a tamed pet into an un-summonable state by summoning an elemental right after it died.
  • Untargeted Arrows: We fixed an issue where untargeted arrows would shoot into the sky or floor versus straight ahead.
  • Windows Remaining Pinned: We fixed an issue that caused some windows (social for example) to remain pinned when they were closed, such that they were still pinned when they were reopened.
  • Scene Fixes: We went through many scenes in the game fixing major and minor bugs including conversations, quest markers clearing, stuck spots, floating assets, missing assets, bad NPC patrols, inaccessible ore nodes, missing collision, audio issues, falling through the world, tree issues, etc. The list includes:
    • Aerie
    • Ardoris
    • Battle of Highvale
    • Blood River Forest
    • Blood River Outskirts
    • Brightbone Pass
    • Brisach Maple Forest
    • Brittany Central
    • Brittany Estates
    • Crooked Shank
    • Desolis
    • Dog Roving Encounters
    • East Vauban Foothills
    • Elad’s Lighthouse
    • Estgard
    • Etceter
    • Etceter Crag Mines
    • Hidden Vale Overworld
    • Kingsport
    • Kobold Expeditionary Camp
    • Malice
    • Middle Downs
    • Mud
    • Naryad Moors
    • Norgard Fens
    • North Drachvald Spur
    • North Fetid Swamp
    • Northwest Blackblade Mountains
    • Novia Overworld
    • Owl’s Head
    • POT Templates with Docks
    • Resolute
    • Shores of Malice
    • Solace Bridge Outskirts
    • Soltown
    • Soltown Sewers
    • South Midmaer Way
    • Spite
    • The Obsidian Trial
    • The Rise
    • Upper Tears
    • Verdantis Foothills
    • Vertas
    • Vertas Pass
    • Westend
  • House, Furniture, & Equipment Decoration Fixes: Fixed various issues with homes, furniture, and equipment decorations including places where decorations could not be placed, where stairs could not be climbed without jumping, where furniture could not be used, gear that could not be placed as deco, etc. The list includes:
  • • 1-Story Village Mine Basement
    • 2-Story Storefront Row Home
    • Adobe Domes
    • Ancient Staff of Anarchy (glow restored)
    • Blue Cylinder
    • Common Chair
    • Frosted Glass Floor Lamp
    • Heavy Rustic Chairs
    • Norgard High Back Chair
    • Plow
    • Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket
    • Shooter Wax Cylinders
    • Shovel
    • Slightly Used Geisterseelen
    • Viking 4-story Row Home
    • Village Stone 5-story Basement
    • Yoke
• Crafting & Economy: We will continue to add more loot, recipes, patterns, components, and artifacts to the game.
  • Double XP All the Time: After many months of Double XP promotions we have analyzed the data and we have made the decision to make this the new standard for experience point earning rate at all times!
  • Boss Loot Improvements: We have made a slight improvement to boss loot so that you are guaranteed to always get something from fighting a boss. In R58 and Q4 we will be making more global changes as well as a more focused effort on mid and high level loot improvements.
  • Virtue and Companion Gear: We originally flagged the Virtue and Companion Gear as quest items (or no trade) which meant that they could not be used as decorations, could not be traded, and could not be used in the crafting system. This means that beyond a very short period where the stats for these items were meaningful to the player this gear was not useful and was not part of the player economy. We have fixed this in this release. All Virtue and Companion Gear items now provide a normal pattern on salvage (except Fiona’s Lute), can now be traded, and used as decorations! Note that these patterns are flagged to drop at 100%!
  • Brewing Merchants: Merchants that specialize in inventory related to brewing have begun appearing all over Novia. They can be found in six locations:
    • Brittany Wharfs Cooking Shop (Brittany Ale)
    • Broochash Tavern (Drach Bock)
    • Harvest Tavern (Harvest Wheat)
    • Solania General Store (Perennial Red Wine)
    • Northwood Tavern (Paladis White Wine)
    • Desolis Inn (Whiskeys)
  • Florists: Merchants that specialize in inventory related to flowers have begun moving in all over Novia. Note that the new color specific rose flower arrangements and bouquets can only be found on these merchants. They can be found in four places:
    • Kingsport
    • Brittany Alleys
    • Brookside
    • Westend
  • Blue Roses: A new color variation has been added to roses: Blue! Blue Rose Bushes can be grown and harvested for roses via the Agriculture system just like other roses.
  • Individual Color Rose Recipes: Previously there was only a recipe for a mixed color bouquet and/or arrangement of roses. Now there are recipes for every color of rose we have!
  • Auto Selection Polish for Crafted Items: We have refined the process of how items are filtered and auto selected when you double click on the Socketing, Masterwork, and Enchanting recipes in your recipe book.
    • Socketing: Items that are already socketed will not be selected.
    • Masterwork: Items that already have the max number of Masterwork effects will not be selected.
    • Enchanting: Items that already have the max number of Enchantment effects will not be selected.
  • Watering Status Tooltip: Plants in their various growth and watered stages in the Agriculture system now have tooltip that says their watered state (“Watered” vs “Needs water”).
  • Recipes Stackable: Recipes can now be stacked!
  • Recipes Values: We have set the value on all recipes based on their difficulty. Values range from 5 to 100 gold.
  • Sale Number Increase to 256: Players can now sell up to 256 items at a time to an NPC merchant (was previously limited to 50 items).
  • Cinnamon Bark Purchase Orders: This rare component can now be added to purchase orders on Player Vendors.
  • Offline Mode Decoration Prices: At the suggestion of players we have reduced the price of decorations on the decoration merchant in offline mode. This will allow a cheap source of starter decorations for players.
  • New Recipes & Patterns:
    • Blue Rose Flower Arrangement (Florists, see above)
    • Orange Rose Flower Arrangement (Florists, see above)
    • Pink Rose Flower Arrangement (Florists, see above)
    • Red Rose Flower Arrangement (Florists, see above)
    • Yellow Rose Flower Arrangement (Florists, see above)
    • Blue Rose Bouquet (Florists, see above)
    • Orange Rose Bouquet (Florists, see above)
    • Pink Rose Bouquet (Florists, see above)
    • Red Rose Bouquet (Florists, see above)
    • Yellow Rose Bouquet (Florists, see above)
    • Reshape Dungeon Entrance Recipe
    • Tomb Dungeon Entrance Recipe including example 50-Point Dungeon (Blacksmithing merchants and Decoration merchant in Brittany)
    • Standing Stone (Smelting Recipe, Drachvald Decoration Merchants)
    • Engraved Standing Stone (Smelting Recipe, Drachvald Decoration Merchants)
    • Book Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern (Add-On Store)
    • Mirror Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern (Add-On Store)
    • Stone Archway Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern (Add-On Store)
    • Rift Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern (Add-On Store)
    • Dark Elven Kinsman Buckler Eternal Pattern (Add-On Store)
    • Dark Elven Kinsman Buckler Pattern (Add-On Store)
  • New Components & Artifacts Delayed: We focused our efforts on bug fixing and polish and therefore no new components nor artifacts were added this release.
• User Interface Polish: Polish on the overall visual look of the interface will continue. We will also work on improving the Looking for Group interface.
  • Global Banks: Banks are now global. Any bank location, including “Remote Banking Devices”, can access all items deposited in banks, regardless of where the item was originally deposited.  
  • Health & Focus Bar Polish: We have updated the Health and Focus status bars so that they better show changes in status. Positive changes to health are shown as green. Negative changes to health are shown as yellow. Positive changes to focus are shown as cyan. Negative changes to focus are shown as gray-blue.
  • “Hide Helmet” Option: Players can now choose to hide their equipped helmet.
  • “Vendor” Button: To aid access to the functions of various NPCs we have added a new button to their conversation interface. Merchants, vendors, trainers, and bankers have this new button to bring up their respective special menus.
  • Compact Loot Window: We created a much more compact user interface window for loot that takes up less screen space, allowing more screen space to show the world around the player. It also uses larger icons for the items making it easier to identify items quickly.
  • Chat Active & Pinned: We now have the chat window enabled and pinned in Online Modes by Default so that new players will see chat messages more readily.
  • Zone Column for Guilds: Guild Members now display the zone they are in, even if they are not on your Friends List.
  • “Last Online” for Guilds: Guild Members now display “Last Online” timestamp information, even if they are not on your Friends List.
  • Learned Items in NPC Chat: Emotes, pet emotes, and titles now appear in the NPC chat window if obtained during npc conversation.
  • Ransom Warning at Logout: When logging out, players now receive a warning if they have a ransom pending.
  • Supply Bundle Contents in Groups: Supply bundles and other expanding items will now show contents gained to nearby group members.
  • Party Leader Icon on List: The Party Leader icon is now shown on the on screen list of party members. Previously it was only shown in the Social window.
  • Conversation Closes Vendor Interfaces: Starting a conversation with an NPC that has a “vendor” interface (bank/merchant/trainer/vendor) will now automatically close those other interfaces.
  • In-Game Crown Purchase Prototype: There is now a Crown Purchase window in the game. Please note that this is currently a prototype that consists of links to the 5 different crown packages on the web store, and lists the quantities of crowns and current prices for each package. Note that you cannot actually purchase crowns in the game yet, but that is the goal for future versions of this interface. All of the places in the game that previously sent you to the web store now open this interface instead. The exceptions to this are the links in the front-end (main menu and login screen), as well as offline mode. In these cases, the links still lead to the web store as they did before.
  • Siege PVP Message: When presented with a Siege confirmation for a PVP scene it now notates that it is a PVP town under siege.
  • Gold Trade Logging: We added chat logging to when someone modifies the gold amount in the trade window. Previously only items were logged.
  • Looking For Group and UI Visual Polish Delayed: We chose to focus our efforts on Quality of Life improvements, bug fixing, and other user interface polish tasks therefore delaying polish work on the Looking for Group interface and UI visual updates.
• Combat: We will continue iterations on the Obsidian Trials with more rulesets, win/loss conditions and currency rewards.
  • Burned Skeletons: The newest creature to enter the armies of the undead are Burned Skeletons who are immune to fire but susceptible to water magic. You can find them in Tenebris Harbor, Quel Shardfall, Blackblade Pass, Quel Passage, and Hallowed Plains. You might recognize these creatures as the animated versions of the prop skeletons we made for the Adobe Dome decorations for the R54 Sky Navy Livestream.
  • High Level Bears: We have adjusted the highest level bears in the highest level scenes (Tier 6+) for challenge and taming purposes. These bears had some duplicate names and when tamed would appear as lower level bears. This has all been addressed and new bears have been introduced. Note the Ancient Obsidian Bear has been replaced in this process. New Tier 6+ bear naming is as follows:
    • Ferocious Brown Bear
    • Bear Patriarch
    • Ferocious Bear Patriarch
    • Obsidian Bear
    • Large Obsidian Bear
    • Ferocious Obsidian Bear
    • Obsidian Destroyer
  • Summoned Pet Balance: Elemental pets, Daemon pets, and Phoenix pets all had their damage updated to scale with power similar to how tamed creatures and undead pets work. This will mean a dramatic increase in their damage output. Additionally, the defensive abilities of these summoned pets received a balance pass and should be more powerful and appropriate.
  • Aggro Improvements: A pass was made to balance the aggro of all skills in the game as well as the aggro generated from damage. A number of big issues were uncovered and addressed during this pass. The result should be that tanks should be able to maintain aggro in most cases. As part of the balance pass, in addition to the normalization, Heavy Armor and Shield skills all received significant bumps in aggro generation.
  • Samael: When Samael accompanies the player through the dungeon of Malice, he now casts the spell Banish Undead against the hordes of Undead. Previously, he was incorrectly using Drain Life.
  • Dark Elven Kinsman Buckler Patterns: This Add-On Store shield now has an Eternal Pattern that can be salvaged and applied to other shields. There is also now a pattern pack available for purchase.
  • Obsidian Trials Disk Teleporters: While we actually delivered all our goals for the Obsidian Trials in Release 56, we did make a tweak in R57 to the Disk Teleporters so they now deactivate on use and only allow a single user through.
  • Polearm Balance: Pole arms received a small balance pass this release aimed at slightly reducing their max hit amount. The base critical damage multiplier for all polearms was reduced by roughly 10%.
  • Crushing Blow: This bludgeon skill now hits 2 targets (for real this time, not like last time we said it).
  • Disorderly Displacement: This Chaos Magic spell now has a unique icon.
  • Break Effect Immunity: We have expanded the immunity you get from stuns, mezzes, and knocks (that prevents chain stuns) to also get applied when you break those effects.
  • Smelling Salts: The stun that applies when changing PVP status on joining a PVP group (to prevent PVP flagging exploits) can no longer be removed with Smelling Salts.
  • Aetheric Feedback: The critical time window for this spell has been increased.
  • Healing Grace: For those who are Life Specialized, the cast time of healing grace has been decreased.
  • Magic Tree Specialization: Specializing in a school will now give a negative resistance to the opposing school instead of negative attunement.
  • Vile Crossbow:  Now includes a 50% poison effectiveness debuff.
• Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns (POTs) that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
  • Decoration Dyeing: We now have technology and user interface support to allow the use of dyes to change the colors of decorations including banners, beds, couches, sofas, and more! In support of this new system we have added some mega dye packs to the Add On Store that offer a complete selection of the dyes at a discounted price.
  • Dyeable Decorations: We have begun updating our game assets to accept dyes. This will take time as each asset has to be modified individually. Our plan is to maintain a careful balance between craftable items and store items in this effort. For now we are focusing on cloth items but we plan to expand to leather and possibly wood as well. The following items have been updated in Release 57 to support dyes:
    • Short Banner (craftable)
    • Long Banner (craftable)
    • Free Standing Long Banner (craftable)
    • Free Standing Short Banner (craftable)
    • Heraldry Short Banner
    • Heraldry Long Banner
    • Heraldry Standing Long Banner
    • Heraldry Standing Short Banner
    • Canvas Upholstered Barrel Sofa (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Loveseat (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Long Couch (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Wooden Trim Loveseat (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Armchair (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Barrel Chair (craftable)
    • Canvas Upholstered Chair (craftable)
    • Fine Red Upholstered Barrel Sofa
    • Fine Red Upholstered Loveseat
    • Fine Red Upholstered Long Couch
    • Fine Red Upholstered Wooden Trim Loveseat
    • Fine Red Upholstered Armchair
    • Fine Red Upholstered Barrel Chair
    • Fine Red Upholstered Chair
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Barrel Sofa
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Loveseat
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Long Couch
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Wooden Trim Loveseat
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Armchair
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Barrel Chair
    • Fine White & Gold Upholstered Chair
  • Standing Stones (craftable): There are now two craftable standing stones. The smelting recipes for these are available on decoration merchants in the Drachvald region (Brookside & Graff Island).
  • “Full Water” Lots: POT owners now have the option to place special “Full Water” lot markers completely offshore. These markers create lots similar to the Keep and Castle Island lots when “No Land” is selected and provide a small dock area in the water to connect water homes to (Ships, Lighthouses, etc.). These markers come in Village, Town, and City sizes. Currently the only option to access these lots is either swimming or teleportation via scrolls.
  • Puzzle Box: The puzzle box pledge reward (Virtual Collector+) now has the promised puzzle feature. There is a mastermind like puzzle to solve and once solved the box can be opened and a random selection of items is delivered once per day.
  • Ornate Pipe Organ: Kobolds have been busy making a new musical instrument that channels air to make music: Pipe Organs! You can also use this to haunt an opera. You can purchase this Ornate version from the Add-On Store and in a future release we will be adding a craftable version.
  • Telescopes Polish: We have polished the view and features when using the telescope and spyglass objects. We have restricted movement left and right, adjusted the Depth of Field, increased the near clip plane, and added zoom controls via the mouse wheel. We also fixed an issue that allowed you to be looking through the decoration while you were moving it around.
  • “Shooter” Wax Cylinders: The wax cylinders for Shooter Jennings newest album “Shooter” now properly display their custom red, black and white wax colors.
  • POT Overworld Boat Labels: All POT “…to Novia” teleporters now say “…to Overworld” instead.
  • R57 Lot Deed Raffle Winners: Tickets for the R57 Raffle were sold during R56, the winners of the raffle will be announced the day after R57 goes live. Deeds will be delivered shortly after that.
    • Place Anywhere Deeds (15):
      • Village: 8
      • Town: 5
      • City: 2
    • Player-Owned Town Deeds (30):
      • Village: 15
      • Town: 10
      • City: 5
  • R58 Lot Deed Raffle Tickets: R58 raffle tickets can be purchased during R57 with in game gold from home merchants. Each person can only win a single deed of each type (maximum of one place anywhere and one POT). The drawing will occur and winners will be announced in R57.
    • Place Anywhere Deeds (15):
      • Village: 8
      • Town: 5
      • City: 2
    • Player-Owned Town Deeds (30):
      • Village: 15
      • Town: 10
      • City: 5
  • New and Updated Dynamic POTs:
    • Aldenia: Added new Village to Hidden Vale.
    • Big Delta: New Crossroads Village (nested in Central Brittany).
    • Erak: Changed location. Changed biome to Forest 01b.
    • Jade Mountains: Changed owner. Changed to “Right” biome variant. Moved to near Storms Reach. Added interconnection with Storms Reach.
    • Mith Ly’atharin: New Hamlet (southwest of Vauban Pass).
    • Shadowwood Forest: Upgraded to Crossroads Village
    • Skalabrekka: New Crossroads Village (nested in Verat Chaos).
    • Titanforge: New Crossroads Village (west of Brittany Estates).
    • Wightwick: Removed interconnection with Siken.
• Player-Made Dungeons (Preview): In exciting news, we have been able to make faster progress on Player-Made Dungeons than expected due to how much it uses underlying systems like our basements. While we had originally planned this for an Episode 2 feature, we now believe we can have a version of the system up and running as soon as Q4 of this year without affecting our work on other systems like Fishing! To kick off the upcoming launch of this exciting player-made content, we have made available five dungeon entrances, along with five static example dungeons in Release 57. One dungeon entrance is craftable, four are purchasable from the Add-On Store. The included static example dungeons, complete with creatures and loot, will vary in point size and difficulty level and can be used until the player built dungeon feature goes live. When the player-made dungeons feature goes live in Q4 2018, the example dungeons will vanish and be replaced by an entry room but the player will receive the blueprints to all the pieces needed to rebuild the dungeon (some assembly required!). Player-made dungeons will be expandable and customizable with in-game craftable rooms and/or Add-On Store rooms. As a bonus, the Add-On Store Dungeons include a Unity asset pack of dungeon rooms and hallways that you can experiment with using Unity which is free for non-professionals to download! These entrances can be placed in addition to your basement.
  • Tomb Entrance plus 50-Point Dungeon (Craftable): This sarcophagus can be crafted to use as the entrance to your dungeon. It includes a 50-point example static dungeon, complete with creatures and loot, for low-level players that can be used until the player built dungeon feature goes live.
  • Ancient Tome Dungeon Entrance plus 50-Point Dungeon (Add-On Store Eternal Pattern): This Ancient Tome Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern will allow you to modify your basic craftable dungeon entrance to look like a magical book, much like the one that leads to the Compendium of Pain and Suffering. While compact in size the striking visual effects emanating from the book will be sure to draw attention. The included dungeon is a 50-point example static dungeon, complete with creatures and loot, for low level players that can be used until the player built dungeon feature goes live.
  • Magic Mirror Dungeon Entrance plus 75-Point Dungeon: This Magic Mirror Entrance Eternal Pattern will allow you to modify your basic craftable dungeon entrance to look like a Magic Mirror much like what is found in the Isle of Storms and New You Shops. This compact entrance easily fits indoors or outdoors. The included dungeon is a 75-point example static dungeon, complete with creatures and loot, aimed at mid-level players. When the player built dungeon feature goes live.
  • Ruined Stone Arch Dungeon Entrance plus 100-Point Dungeon (Add-On Store Eternal Pattern): This Ruined Stone Arch Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern will allow you to modify your basic craftable dungeon entrance to look like the stone arches that indicate the exits in many scenes. While placeable both indoors and outdoors this is a large entrance so be sure you have plenty of floorspace and high ceilings if you are planning on using this indoors! The included dungeon is a 100-point example static dungeon, complete with creatures and loot, aimed at high-level players.
  • Circle of Stones Rift Dungeon Entrance plus 125-Point Dungeon (Add-On Store Eternal Pattern): This Circle of Stones Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern will allow you to modify your basic craftable dungeon entrance to look like a circle of stones with a magical portal in the center (much like the Lunar Rifts). While placeable both indoors and outdoors this is a large entrance so be sure you have plenty of floorspace and high ceilings if you are planning on using this indoors! The included dungeon is a 125 point example static dungeon, complete with creatures and loot, aimed at end-game players. Do not expect to conquer this placeholder dungeon without help from some friends!
• Heraldry Eternal Pattern Numbers: To better support groups (guilds, POTs, associations, etc.) we have expanded the number of Eternal Patterns you receive with certain Heraldry items from the Add On Store. NOTE: This will be retroactive for previous purchases! Here are the updated numbers:
  • Heraldry Cloak Eternal Pattern: 4 (was 1)
  • Heraldry Beer Cask Eternal Pattern: 6 (was 1)
  • Heraldry Wine Cask Eternal Pattern: 6 (was 1)
  • Heraldry Spirits Cask Eternal Pattern: 6 (was 1)
  • Heraldry Storage Chest Eternal Pattern: 3 (was 1)
  • Heraldry Standing Banners Eternal Pattern: 3 of each (was 1 of each)
  • Heraldry Banner Eternal Pattern Set: 3 of each (was 1 of each)
• Physical Goods: There are three shipments and two versions of Shroud of the Avatar that are in physical boxes. The two boxed versions are the Retail Version and the Collector Version.
  • Collector Version: The Collector Version is the version that came with pledges that included physical goods through Kickstarter (or through our website prior to January 4, 2016). It contains exclusive items only available to backers and has a special sticker on the box demarcating it as the Collector Version. We are excited to announce that The Collector Version is now shipping to Backers and has already begun arriving at Backer’s homes!
  • Retail Version: The Retail Version is the version of the box that does not contain those exclusive items and does not have the Collector Version sticker. We will be using the Retail Version for promotions and to sell on Amazon. A small shipment of the Retail Version was shipped to Travian Games in order to help promote the game at Gamescom with a series of giveaways. A larger shipment of the Retail Version will be going to Amazon and should be available for purchase by mid to late September. We will post an update as soon as that version is available.
• Digital Versions of Physical Items: We have created corresponding digital versions of the exclusive physical items available to those who purchased eligible pledges through Kickstarter (or through our website prior to January 4, 2016). These items should now appear on your account page and include:
  • “Our Epic Origin”: This is a PDF booklet, which includes both the original “Akalabeth Adventure Module” and the “Story of Mondain”.
  • “Runic Text Guide”: This is a PDF file that also includes the “Quick Reference Card”.
  • “Soundtrack”: This is a compressed file of all the music files included on the DVD that comes in the box.
• Release 54 Livestream Items: The Release 54 Livestream(s) items were all Tropical and Polynesian themed in honor of the summer months. In Release 57 we were able to complete and deliver all of these items with the exception of the Leaf Backpack (which will go live in R58).
  • /rainbow
  • /wardance
  • /hula
  • Palapa
  • Polynesian Dress
  • Tropical Flower Crown
  • Polynesian Axe
  • Polynesian Spear
  • Large Tiki Heads with Flames
• Release 55 Livestream Items: The Release 55 Livestream(s) items were all Lord British themed in honor of his birthday which falls on July 4th. In honor of his birthday, the items either have the silver serpent or the full crest of Lord British on them. They are also themed around things that Lord British loves, like fireworks, space, and magic! In Release 57 we were able to complete and deliver all of these items with the exception of the Lord British Silver Serpent Wand (which will go live in R58).
  • Blue, Yellow, Red, Silver Aerial Combo Replenishing Box of Fireworks
  • Silver Serpent Crackle Aerial Combo Replenishing Box of Fireworks
  • Lord British Pavers
  • Lord British Round Table
  • Lord British Large Telescope
• Episode 2 Mount Stretch Goal Store: We have expanded the Episode 2 Mount Stretch Goal Store with Horse Masks. We have also completed the Red Barn player home. Additionally we transferred the Fancy Riding Outfit and Fancy Riding Outfit Pattern Pack this store resulting in an additional $5000 being added to the stretch goal fund. Purchasing these items will add funds to the Mounts stretch goal and if we hit the target goal we will add this feature to Episode 2!
  • Barn Two-Story (Village Home): What’s more iconic than a classic red barn? Now you can own one with the Barn Two-Story Village Home! This two-story village size home is perfect to house yourself and your horses.
  • Horse Masks: These masks can support any and all of your equine role-play! Six different styles to choose from guarantees your favorite is represented.
    • Black Horse Mask
    • Blanket Horse Mask
    • Brown Horse Mask
    • Buckskin Horse Mask
    • Palomino Horse Mask
    • White Horse Mask
• Audio:
  • Artifact Looted: There is now a unique sound effect when you loot an artifact. We also play the level up visual effect too. In a future release we will be adding a unique visual effect.
  • Pirate Galleon Home: We added a sound effect to the plank that can be raised and lowered from the upper deck.
  • Summon Ice Elemental: This spell now has sound effects.

Thank you so much for reading all the way here to the end! Release 57 should be an incredibly large step forward in general quality of life for all players. We hope that you can join us in spreading the word to the community at large at how much the game has improved and continues to improve with these kinds of changes.

There is even more to come! Release 58 and Q4 are going to be full of all kinds of exciting improvements and additions including Fishing Phase 2 (more about that in the R57 Livestream), Player Made Dungeons, more Quality of Life improvements (more bind points!), Castle Defense Scenarios, improvements to Grand Master Crafting, Crafting Specializations, Loot Improvements, New User Experience Polish, and a whole new look and flow for the Website!

As a reminder here are links to Player Instructions and Known Issues. Thank you again for your continued support. This is truly the most amazing community we have ever worked with, and we are proud to be on this journey with you.

Sincerely,

Starr Long
aka Darkstarr
Executive Producer