Play Release 105!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 105 goes live August 25th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 105 (R105), we offer bug fixes, the deactivation of the Heritage flag, and a small upcoming scene preview.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

Vikland Preview

Sannio’s upcoming scene in progress, Vikland, is apparently a small village of barbarians. I’ve heard they’re raiders who ransack other communities up and down the west coast of Slangemagge, but there’s nothing worrisome here in the village or in the hills further inland.

Vikland in Progress

 

Heritage Flag Deactivation

Heritage IconYes, the rumors are true! Due to overwhelming community request, we are disabling the Heritage flag on all items purchased in the Crown Store. This applies to items bought in the past and items currently listed in the store. This change is planned to be put in place with a patch on Friday, September 2nd.

What is Heritage? Items currently marked with the Heritage flag are bound to the account that purchased the item. In the store this is indicated by the lion icon and the item names showing green, indicating that they cannot be traded (unless packaged for trade with Crowns.)

We are overriding the effects of Heritage items so they may once again be tradeable. Feel free to gift all your friends with fancy outhouses! RMT (Real Money Transactions) are still not supported by Shroud of the Avatar, in so far as Support will not assist in any issue arising from a player to player RMT trade, and RMT advertisements should not be made on any of the official SotA social channels (Discord, Forums, in-game chat, etc.) We recommend using one of the existing (or maybe even a new) player-run website/forum for RMT trades.

 

Release 105 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 105 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R105 is a polish month. Content, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R106 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 105!

Crafting, Decoration, & Inventory Item Changes:

  • Allow items to be placed on the Small Nightstand. SOTA-70695
  • Fixed a typo in Fragile Trailsend Tunnel Key description. SOTA-70687
  • Fixed the icons for two Puzzle Cloaks. SOTA-70685
  • Fixed an issue where the Belt of Control, Legendary had less Tame Health Level Modifier than the Rare version. A fix for the Tame Critical Hit Damage Multiplier is coming soon. SOTA-70688

User Interface, Store Information, & Lua Changes:

  • Adjusted the lot expiration text to reflect that the decorated lot can be retrieved from the Property Manager instead of the bank.
  • Made Lua function button textures optional.
  • Updated Avatars Radio stream location. SOTA-70694

World and Quest Changes:

  • Fixed an issue with dynamic resource nodes not rewarding XP scaled for the scene tier. Fixed low-tier nodes’ durability costs for dynamic nodes. SOTA-70560
  • Fixed a null exception in the lost mail quest when triggering the keyword “lost mail” in the chatbox. SOTA-70486
  • Brittany Fields: Moved a tree which was blocking the road with its limbs. SOTA-70701
  • Castle Atos: Added a guild registrar inside the throne room entrance. SOTA-70702
  • Etceter: Updated the quest logic so that the “Get Information from Lady Ransom” compass marker goes away at the proper time. SOTA-70699
  • Grusk: Fixed some walls that had z-fighting. SOTA-70700
  • West Perennial Trail: Removed a floating spider web. SOTA-70696

Player-Owned Town Changes:

  • Mith Trysull: Fixed Governor name.
  • Rajazel: Added a custom loading screen and message. SOTA-70706
  • Traveller’s Rest: Upgraded to Metropolis. SOTA-70698

 

Latest News and Q&A Livestream

 

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, August 26th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “Fall is on its way” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream, and we’ll even be periodically posting answers to some unanswered questions in the forums. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!!

Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues:

 

 

Sales and Bonus Events

To commemorate Labor Day, the following will be in effect until end-of-day September 5th:

  • Double XP will be enabled.
  • Crown store sale category items will be 30% off.
  • Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.
  • Player Owned Town upgrades for Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off. These upgrades may only be initiated by an email to Support.

 

Release 105 Subscriber Login Rewards

These rugs are made for walkin’. The Rewards Program login items for Release 105 are a Rectangle Rug (Yellow and Gold), a Small Rectangle Rug (Ocher and Green), and a Slim Dark Wood Dresser to place upon one of them. …out of the path of traffic.

 

Slim Dark Wood Dresser

Rectangle Rug (Yellow and Gold)

Small Rectangle Rug (Ocher and Green)

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 105 to receive these special login items.

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

 

  • 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
  • Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month)
  • 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
    • 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
    • 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
    • 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
    • 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
    • 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
  • Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
  • Pick any three of these 7 Obsidian Potions every month:
    • 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
    • Potion of Stamina: Decreases focus use from sprinting
  • While subscribed to the rewards program, players also receive these special bonuses:
    • Obsidian Potions are significantly more powerful!
    • 24 Additional Deck Slots!

September Login Reward

Each account that logs in during the month of September will receive a one-time gift of a Rectangle Rug (Orange and Tan).

Rectangle Rug (Orange and Tan)

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for a patch soon after release:

  • Reference Book Group 3-Pack
    Reference Book Group 3-Pack

  • Painting (Landscape)
    Painting (Landscape)

…for September 2nd:

  • Rectangle Rug (Orange and Tan)
    Rectangle Rug (Orange and Tan)

…and for September 16th:

  • Slim Dark Wood Dresser
    Slim Dark Wood Dresser
  • Rectangle Rug (Yellow and Gold)
    Rectangle Rug (Yellow and Gold)

  • Small Rectangle Rug (Ocher and Green)
    Small Rectangle Rug (Ocher and Green)

 

The Summer Seasonal store items are available until Sunday September 25th:

  • Firedancer Outfit
  • Fire Dance Emote
  • Fire Dance Cross Emote
  • Flame Scimitar
  • Flame Shield
  • Flame Stained Glass Table Lamp 3-Pack
  • Flaming Bagpipes
  • Hula Emote
  • Island Spear
  • Island Flower Crown
  • Island Dress

 

New Bug Brigade’s 2nd Anniversary Party!

Please join us for a party celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the new Bug Brigade, hosted by the Bug Moderators Ravalox, Alley Oop, Justyn, Echondas, and our newest Bug Moderator (to be announced during the party)! The party will start Saturday the 10th at 7PM NBT in Ardoris on the Bug Brigade’s Houseboat indicated in the image on the right. Justyn will be spinning tunes on WRFB while the party-goers dance, play party games, and more! You never know what might happen!

 

Bug Brigade & Testing Directives!

The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running and the volunteers (Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn) are in a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to clean up the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

Every month, a considerable amount of development time will be spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels!

In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Much improvement has been noticed by the development team and we’re so very excited to see the program’s continued success!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who take time to participate in QA Testing Directives. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs can be identified and fixed prior to content going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives.

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing and bug rewards are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows:

  • Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter”
  • Single Ant Cloak
  • Lady Bug Backpack
  • Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids”
  • Ant Farm
  • Insect Leg Table
  • Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles”
  • Bug Painting B
  • Bug Sprayer and /bugspray Emote
  • Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths”
  • Butterfly Chair
  • Corpion Chair (Pictured Below)
  • Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies”
  • Hacked Oracle Flyer
  • Giant Blue Butterfly Pet
  • Butterfly Mask
  • Dragonfly pet
  • Fairy Wings
  • Monarch Butterfly Pet
  • Dragonfly Wings
  • Hacked Oracle Crawler
  • Blue Butterfly VFX
  • Orange Fireflies VFX
  • Orange Butterfly VFX

If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, sign up and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravalox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Streamer Program

Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar can participate in a program to showcase the game and be rewarded for their efforts. Any Streamer who wishes to be included in the Streamer Program can contact Laney via in-game mail with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not: you’re on the list and you don’t need to reapply.

Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar.

Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual.

Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and the LIVESTREAMING title.

Rules:

  • To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application.
  • To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program.

Monthly Streamer Bundles:

On the 1st of each month, qualifying streamers will be eligible to receive 50 Streamer Bundles. Bundles will be sent out to Streamers via in-game mail.

A few things you need to know:

  • Streamer Bundles are intended to be given away to stream viewers, not consumed by the streamer.
  • Streamers are not allowed to put paywalls in place for the Streamer Bundles. (For example, giving away Streamer Bundles once the stream reaches a certain number of bits, subscriptions, or donations).

Other Items of Note:

  • Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
  • An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
  • Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program.

Upcoming Release Dates

Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2022 Release Schedule is as follows:

  • This Release 105 – August 25 (Polish)
  • Release 106 – September 29 (Content)
  • Release 107 – October 27 (Polish)
  • Release 108 – November 17 (Polish)
  • Release 109 – December 15 (Polish)

Community Events & Resources

Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums.

Recurring Events:

  • Monthly Release Fishing Contests: This will be a rotating, multi-location contest sponsored and organised by Rajazel, The Town Museum and its Governor Diablotine.
  • Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding all of New Britannia with junk: Headdresses, Wings, Backpacks, assorted miscellany of every sort. It’s time to clean this trash up and so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that is turned in each contest period!
  • Lightbringer Isle Fishing Contest: Why not earn some extra prizes each month and participate in Lightbringer Isle’s monthly fishing tourney? Lots of fantastic prizes — don’t miss out!
  • 500 Crown Leisurely Fishing: Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. You can now win 500 Crowns for record fishies caught in Brittany Fort by anybody at any time in history for display in Sonja Solar’s fishy aquarium museum. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “Brittany Fort” link provided in the first post to see the full explanation of the contest rules.
  • Lightbringer Isle Auction: Lightbringer Isle hosts a monthly auction held the Sunday after release at 11AM CT!

Community Calendars:

  • Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
  • NBNN Calendar: This calendar provides a great schedule for NBNN and WRFB programing as well as many other community events. If you’re a fan of the Laz & Jack show or even if you’re hoping to catch them in action for the first time, this is the calendar for you!
  • SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better!

Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!

  • One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
  • Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
  • Game Master (GM) Potion Request Procedures: Shroud of the Avatar has an amazing in-game consumable for player event holders — the Potion of Temporary GM Powers! Players wishing to enhance their in-game community event by having GM Powers at their disposal need to simply follow the procedures outlined in this forum thread.
  • Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
  • Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
  • Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
  • Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
  • Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
  • Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
  • Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.

SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Project to Support: Shard RPG

Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad.

  • Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals.
  • Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character!
  • Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah!

So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG!

Project to Support: Embers Adrift!

Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Embers Adrift! While not yet live, they plan to release later this year and you can join the closed beta now by pre-ordering from embersadrift.com. Check out their newly released video here:

Project to Support: Avatar Express

 

[Forum post by Vladamir Begemot]

I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site.

If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening.

You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like.

Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game.

It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts!

So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us!

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.



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