Avatar’s Update #297: Collector’s Boxes Shipping Phase 2 & Weekend Music Sale

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

News Announcements

Community Updates

Collector’s Boxes Shipping Phase 2 (and printed book update)

As of three weeks ago almost 4000 Collector’s Boxes shipped out to eligible backers (Explorer level and above) who supported us during the initial Kickstarter campaign or through our website prior to January 4, 2016! The good news is that these have been arriving as planned! The not so good news is about 700+ of you have yet to receive your boxes. We expect all of these initial 4000 boxes, or what we have been calling internally, Phase 1, to arrive no later than September 21, 2018.

There are several reasons for these remaining 700+ boxes not yet being shipped. Please review the following to make sure none of them apply to you BEFORE contacting us about your missing box:

  1. Shipping Address Not Confirmed By User: The shipping address provided was not confirmed by the user. This was an extra step that all users had to take after entering a shipping address. Several users missed this step because it was not communicated as well as it could have been.
  2. Shipping Address Unable To Be Confirmed: Some addresses when entered by users were unable to be confirmed by the system. There was a message to the user about this but some users simply ignored this message or clicked past it. If you are using Microsoft Edge, please try to confirm your address using a different browser, as we have been having issues with forms on our website not submitting on MS Edge.
  3. Shipping Addresses Getting “Un-Confirmed”: The system is sometimes causing user addresses to become “un-confirmed” when a purchase is made or some other account change occurs. This sends users to issue 1 identified above. We are working on trying to resolve this issue.
  4. Shipping Address Incomplete: Some users provided an address and the address was marked confirmed but it was incomplete (missing apartment number for example).
  5. Shipping Address Not Provided: Some users never provided a shipping address at all.
  6. International Shipping Payment Not Provided: Some users never provided international shipping payment for addresses outside the United States.
  7. Cutoff Dates Missed: We provided a cutoff date where a shipping address and international shipping payment needed to be provided. If you missed that date your Collector’s Box may not have been in the Phase 1 Shipment.

If you have met all of the above requirements (address confirmation, shipping payment) and you still do not have your box by September 21, 2018 then please contact support@portalarium.com before October 19, 2018 and we will do our best to get you your Collector’s Box in our Phase 2 shipment which we hope to begin shipping in Q4 of 2018.

Please note we cannot guarantee fulfillment to anyone who does not meet the above requirements (address confirmation, shipping payment) before October 19, 2018 or contacts us after that date.

Printed Book: As many of you have noted at the Patron (and above) pledge level one of the rewards is a printed version of the prequel novel “Blade of the Avatar” (aka “Sword of Midras”). Our original plan was to get copies of the book from the book publisher for distribution but we could not work out an equitable deal with them and we were not happy with how they laid out the illustrations in the book. Instead of using the beautiful Denis Loubet illustrations at the beginning of each chapter (as they were designed), they instead put them all lumped together at the beginning of each section of the book. So we have chosen to print the book ourselves and ship them to you directly (or indirectly in the case of the signed versions). This will take some extra time and we will provide an update as soon as we have more information.

Player Made Books LivestreamAnother content packed weekly Community Livestream is today (Friday September 14) at 4 PM CDT on Twitch!

This week we are going to talk about Player Made Books! Joaquin “Wizardsmoke” Del Canto and Scott “Scottie” Jones will be showing you how to make and publish a player made book as well as how to make copies of it using the Printing Press. We will also show off other player customized writing items and uses for them like notes with mail, Bulletin Boards with Flyers, and more!

Remember every Friday of the release all purchases from noon to midnight count towards the Release 57 Stretch Goals which are dungeon themed in honor of the upcoming Player Made Dungeon feature which is previewing in Release 57 and going live in Q4! We have already hit four of them! See below for more details.

As usual we will be giving out prizes at 4:15 and 4:45! To be eligible all you need to do is either make any purchase in the store or log into the game and type “Roll the dice” in the chat window (no purchase necessary).

Watch on Twitch today (Friday) at 4 PM CDT!

Release 57 Livestream: Dungeon Themed (current progress)

The Release 57 Livestream was last Friday September 7! We had deep dives about Fishing (which is expanding in upcoming releases) and Player Made Dungeons which are previewing in Release 57 and will go live as soon as Q4! We answered questions, had twelve hours of sales, and handed out tons of prizes! It was also the first appearance of Sharkstarr and Winfield of Paxlair joined us for the fishing livestream.

Additionally we managed to hit two more of our dungeon themed stretch goals! Remember every Friday of the release all purchases from noon to midnight count towards the Release 57 Stretch Goals which are dungeon themed in honor of the upcoming Player Made Dungeon feature!

  • ACHIEVED $10K: /rolldice
  • ACHIEVED $25K: Flame Trap Decorations (non-harmful)
  • ACHIEVED $35K: Candle Helm
  • ACHIEVED $50K: Spike Trap & Arrow Trap Decorations (non-harmful)
  • $65K: Unique Dungeon Entrance Eternal Pattern
  • $80K: Torture Set: Torture Chair, Torture Table, Rack
  • $90K: Key Themed Weapon Set: Sword, Mace, Polearm
  • $100K: Unique Dungeon Room Blueprint

If you missed the livestream it is now available on YouTube! You can watch it on our channel, along with many of our past livestreams.

Fishing Deep Dive with Winfield, Darkstarr, Sharkstarr, and Bzus (right to left):

Sharkstarr menaces Darkstarr, Lord British, and Atos (and triggers the secret prize phrase!):

Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Gold Crowns, AND receive rare stretch-goal items from our monthly livestreams! This program automatically enrolls you in the monthly livestreams (counts as the $5 minimum purchase) along with other perks.

For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

  • 9 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians every month
  • Automatic Participation in the Monthly Livestream Stretchgoals (counts as the $5 minimum purchase)
  • Exclusive Title every 3 months
    • 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
    • 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
    • 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
    • 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
  • Pick any Dye Pack every 6 months
  • Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including:
    • Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity
    • Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance
    • Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills
    • Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills
    • Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage
    • Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills

Weekend Flash Sale: Music

In Release 57 we added a new musical instrument that channels air to make music: Pipe Organs! To celebrate we are putting all musical items on sale this weekend, including the Countach items in our Breast Cancer Make a Difference store!

Follow the links to learn more about each item. Also, you’ll want to explore the game in detail for there are many more craftable items available!

Upcoming Events Calendar

Sept 14, 2018 – Weekly Livestream: Player Made Books
Sept 27, 2018 – Release 58
Oct 4 (Thur), 2018 – Release 58 Livestream
Oct 11-13, 2018 – SOTACON Austin 2018
Oct 25, 2018 – Release 59
Nov 2, 2018 – Release 59 Livestream
Nov 15, 2018 – Release 60
Nov 30 or Dec 7, 2018 – Release 60 Livestream
Dec 13, 2018 – Release 61
Dec 21 or Jan 4, 2018 – Release 61 Livestream

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.

Community Event: 4B – Where is Riya? – forum event


4B is back
At least a little bit. We still try catch up what we missed in the last months, so we start small with a little forum event called:Where is Riya?Yes, where am I? I’m hiding in a maze and your quest is to find me. I’m not lost there. A little bit down you find 4 mazes and I’m in one. To win you have to write me a pm and tell me in which maze and how I’m hiding in the maze.
You have to either tell me how you solved the riddle or tell me who got lost .. aehmm is hiding in the other mazes.
You have till end of R57.

Prizes:
1. crafted player made dungeon + 10k gold
2. vase with flowers + 5k gold
3. vase with flowers + 2,5k gold
4. – 20. vase with flowers
special dev prize: sweets for Christmas from Germany​

maze 1

maze 2
maze 3

maze 4

Community Event: Novia Market R57 Grandmastery Bundles

[Forum post by ldykllr]

NoMa Grandmastery Bundles (R57)

Every month we are offering four professional-grade bundles based on an Avatar’s roles in Novia:

  1. Adventurer’s Bundle – some of the highest grade gear available in the land, ready to take a novice adventurer to the journeyman level! This month we are featuring armor from Robyn Hood (@ldykllr)
  2. Crafter’s Bundle – Are you an aspiring Blacksmith? The Blacksmith’s Starter Kit comes complete with all the items you will need to get started!
  3. Taming Bundle – Have you thought about being a tamer? Since taming is getting some love (and tameable Wyvern’s coming R58), this bundle will help you get started!
  4. Consumeable Bundle – Have you heard the news? We can now start dying some furniture! Canvas furniture was first this release, so this bundle will give you all the craftable dyes and a set of furniture/banners to get you started!

These bundles will be raffled on September 28th (the day after R58 release). Tickets are on sale now and priced especially for beginners at 500gp each bundle. No matter how many tickets a character purchases, they will only get a single chance at winning that bundle – so purchase only one ticket per bundle!

We are hosting the ticket vendors and a display table of what each bundle entails at Market Square, at the south end of NoMa (if you check in with the town crier, it is the only City lot in town and under Governor Robyn Hood’s name). As you wander past all of our merchants, please do some window shopping and take a look at what all of our residents have to offer! The team putting together the inaugural Bundles are the same team who do our Weekend Promos, so please patronize our promos as well! [1], [2]

(Screenshots below to help you find your way).

Cheers,

Ben & Robyn

[1] https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f…ta-stone-to-aid-international-players.127516/

[2] https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f…ovia-market-this-weekend.120594/#post-1008462

Screenshots

Location of the Market Square in Novia MarketR57 Raffle Tickets

Meretz: Win a Gothic Village Inn

Win a Gothic Village Inn & earn free SotA in-game items daily!

Whether you move a little or a lot, as a Meretz user you rack up valuable Meretz Points (MPs).
The more MPs you have, the more stuff you can buy!
Think: in-game SotA goodies, Sweepstakes entries, Relics by Rild giveaways, and tons more.

With Meretz, we launch several sweepstakes every month.
This month, we’re giving away a Gothic Village Inn – valued at $100!
You can also enter to win a Relics By Rild $50 Gift Card, SOTACON Austin 2018 tickets, and other cool prizes.
AND, use your MPs every day for in-game items like potions and emotes.

What’re you waiting for? Download Meretz TODAY!

Meretz: Win a Pair of SOTACON 2018 Tickets!

SOTACON Austin 2018 is giving away a pair of tickets and t-shirts to SOTACON Austin 2018!

Enter daily to win! To enter, get the Meretz App: https://www.meretz.com/promo/sotaconaustin

Or watch Lunch with Laz & Jack Daily for additional entries, as well a chance to win a weekly prize of a Custom SOTACON t-shirt!

Project to Support –  SotA: New Beginnings Comic No. 2

Relics by Rild is producing Issue #2 of the official Shroud of the Avatar comic. Kickstarter is being used to fund printing & help pay the artist & writer.

SotA: New Beginnings is a graphic adventure set in New Britannia, the world of Lord British’s revolutionary new game, Shroud of the Avatar™. It tells the story of Arianna and Christopher, a young couple who have fled their own cruel world through a magic portal. Separated on their arrival, we follow their journey as they attempt to make sense of this new world and find each other once more.

This issue is again illustrated by Indi Martin(Tortoise & Hare Creations), and written in collaboration with Rick Hart aka Elgarion. It will be produced and distributed by Relics by Rild, under official license by Portalarium, Inc. This issue has 32 pages of adventure! (prior to backer-generated content).

Our goal is very simple – to bring you this beautiful new issue of New Beginnings, and to continue producing issues going forward.

As the publisher of this comic, my aim is to create a viable model to keep releasing issues. Countless hours have been put in by Indi and Rick, and I want to pay them to keep telling the story. To further this end, we sold ad space in Issue #1. A special thank-you to all our previous patrons!

The thing is, we want to use this space for more than just ads, and we want it to be relevant. So we’re calling it Content Space, and inviting the entire SotA community to make an impact in this print analog to the game. In the spirit of CrowdSharing, we want to allow our backers to enhance and develop the space just as they have done online in New Britannia.

Join the Kickstarter now!

Project to Support: King’s Dinner at SOTACON

[Forum Post by Winfield]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Announcing a Spectacular Event to
Dine with Lord British and Darkstarr
King’s Dinner 2018 Web Page

October 12, 2018 at 5-8 PM CDT
Tickets on sale through October 8, 2018

Purchase Cloaks, Tickets, and Sponsorships Here

Anyone may attend!
Anyone may buy exclusive cloaks or be a sponsor!

Developers, past developers, family,
players, new players, and guests are all welcome!

Friends of Ultima, Ultima Online, Shroud of the Avatar and more!

Come dine with us!​

This event is in conjunction with SOTACON – Austin 2018
SOTACON tickets are not required to attend this dinner.
See SOTACON Schedule

This dinner is not included in the SOTACON – Austin 2018 Ticket
except for SOTACON VIPs

Buy your tickets early before the seats fill up!​

KING’S DINNER 2018 AUSTIN
Featuring
Richard Garriott “Lord British” and Starr Long “Darkstarr”
at a medieval-themed all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner

Special Guests
David Watson “Iolo”
Scottie Jones “Lord Nimrond Ionescu”
Stephen Daniele

King’s Dinner Web Page
Guest List | Sponsor List

County Line on the Lake Restaurant
5204 FM 2222, Austin, Texas

Can’t attend? See Sponsorship ideas farther down

Purchase Cloaks, Tickets, and Sponsorships Here

All Attendees and Sponsors get Exclusive Coins and Cloaks
Cloaks also sold separately!

SPONSORSHIP IDEAS FOR YOU
All funds help reduce dinner ticket prices & add SWAG, gifts, and entertainment​

YOU DON’T NEED TO ATTEND THE EVENT TO BE A SPONSOR!​

CAN’T ATTEND THE DINNER AND STILL WANT THE COIN?

Sponsor at the Baron level to get your name in the Program, we mail the Coin to you anywhere in the world, and deliver the Cloak in game. Your contribution goes to shipping costs and supporting the event.​

WANT TO BE RECOGNIZED AS A SPONSOR AT THE DINNER?

Sponsor at the Baron level for your Dinner ticket, Coin, Cloak, plus your name, guild, player town, or company in the Program (Guest List and Sponsor List). Increase your level of Sponsorship and get more!​

 

ADVERTISE YOUR GUILD, PLAYER TOWN, OR COMPANY!

Sponsor at the Viscount level to get your name, promotional paragraph, and web link in the Program (Guest List and Sponsor List). Also get Dinner, Coin and Cloak. You don’t have to physically attend to Sponsor.​

 

SPONSOR AT HIGHER LEVELS FOR MORE RECOGNITION, MEMENTOS, AND THANKS!

SPECIAL NOTICE: After Dinner on October 12, many of us (including Lord British) will drive 8 minutes to Richard Garriott’s Curtain Theater to see the Baron’s Men Theatrical Production of Shakespearean “Henry IV Part 1”. Ticket box office opens at 7:00 PM, Theater opens at 7:30 PM, Play starts at 8:00 PM. Get tickets ahead of time or at the box office there. Continue a Grand Evening with us!


Scene from “Dead of Winter” (October 13, 2017)
Featuring our friend Scottie Jones (audience left in the chair)


Project to Support: AERIE Fund – Cult of Bob – Direct Relief Fundraiser

[Forum Post by Thexedor Markhamm]

Cult of Bob – Direct Relief Fundraiser​

Hail Avatars!

As many of you know, the AERIE Fund provides members of our community relief for catastrophic medical, financial, and natural disaster events. Thanks to your support we’ve raised funds for emergency chemotherapy, Hurricane Harvey disaster relocation, and even helped a fellow Avatar’s family get through the winter months when their heating system went out. You never know when bad things are gonna happen, and we try to be there to help when they do.

Now, we have a new call to action:

Bob Cooksey (a.k.a Bob the Builder) who was part of the Portalarium team for many years recently had a horrible fall. This fall led to Bob breaking nine of his ribs. This incident sent Bob the Builder to the emergency room.

The good news is Bob is going to make a full recovery.

The bad news: being between medical insurance plans turned a nasty fall into a swallowing hole of debt owed to the ambulance company, emergency room, and additional clinics.

The bright side: AERIE Fund intervened and paid off a significant amount of Bob’s medical bills related to the fall. Again, thanks to all of your support, we were able to help Bob worry less about finances and focus on what matters: healing and moving onto the next phase of his life. But there’s still more to do!

Here’s how you can help:

We’d like to make Bob whole again (and 100% wipe away the financial burden of the fall), so we’re going to help Bob do a little bit of community fundraising. We encourage all of our supporters to chip in (what you can) and support the Cult of Bob initiative all September-long. Any (and all) financial assistance will go directly to Bob Cooksey to help him get back on his feet again.

1: visit Bob’s GoFundMe page and pledge some support. Don’t forget to leave your avatar’s name in the comments (unless you prefer anonymous) so we can say thanks!

2: we invite you to share this initiative with your friends, guilds, and community orgs in-game. Help spread the word and good works!

3: Feel free to host in-game events to spread awareness, celebrate Bob’s work (its everywhere), and help drive some fundraising. Together, we can play for a cause and help a great guy recover from an unfortunate circumstance.

About Bob the Builder:​

The man in the infamous bunny suit, Bob joined Portalarium in 2011. He was responsible for building most of the in-game homes (we live in) and designing the decorations (especially the furniture) that make our homes unique and beautiful across New Britannia! Bob is a very humble and helpful person, and we’re super-thrilled to lend him a hand. To quote Bob directly: “I’m humbled and speechless. This is the best community in the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Thank YOU, Avatars!

Resources – Players Helping Players

SotA_NewPlayerWelcome_Forum

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.

 



2 Comments


  1. AilsaN

    I received my physical copy of SoTA but my husband, who backed at the same level has not. He sent an email, as directed in the newsletter, but it got returned undeliverable.

Comments are closed.