Updates

Avatar’s Update #265: The Making of The Lost Vale

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

The Making of The Lost Vale

“The Lost Vale” is a new adventure area (originally promised during the Kickstarter campaign) that is accessible only during special astronomical alignments. Note this is not to be confused with the Hidden Vale which is an entire island of both adventuring areas and towns that is accessible at all times.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski]

Lost Vale

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Release 50 Postmortem Telethon – Feb. 2, 2018

** $50,000 **

Telethon Funds Raised

Watch R50 Postmortem Telethon – Feb. 2, 2018 from shroudoftheavatar on www.twitch.tv

Telethon Stretch Goal Rewards:

  • ACHIEVED! $10K: /samba
  • ACHIEVED! $25K: Mardi Gras Garlands
  • ACHIEVED! $35K: Flambeaux (equippable 2 handed open flame gas lamp)
  • ACHIEVED! $50K: Mardi Gras Mask Fountain
  • $65K: Feather Outfit including Feather Back and Head Piece (like Rio Carnival)
  • $80K: Mardi Gras Jester Outfit

Greetings Avatars,

The new year has fully set in and we’ve just completed details for the next big celebration – R50’s Postmortem Telethon – Mardi Gras style! We’re announcing this release’s telethon with new Stretch Goal Items ready to be achieved, Expiring items that become rares if you get them now, Prizes to give away, and informative Developer Deep Dives.

All of this is coming up fast on February 2 from 3-7pm CT!

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A New Magnificent Trophy Rooms Contest

Get your homes ready for the most intense contest yet this year! Over the next few weeks you will have the fun opportunity to show off your hunting heroism, crafting coordination, and trophy triumphs in this new three part contest kicking off today.

Adding on to last year’s trophy room contest, we now have the wild boars and updated wolves to make into new trophies! Here’s how the contest will work…

PART 1: Hunt down a creature, defeat another player (to get their skull), or catch a fish!

PART 2: Craft the trophy from that creature (human skulls come as-is, no preparation needed…)

PART 3: Display your trophy triumphs in a single room of a house you have access to!​

Submissions Must Include:

  • 2-3 screens of combating a creature that can provide a trophy (1x with UI, 1x without)
  • 2-3 screens of you in the crafting process for creating the trophies (2x with UI)
  • 3 screens of your trophy room (1x with UI, 2x without UI, different angles, lighting, etc.)
  • Brief one paragraph description for each screenshot category. Please include as much basic detail about the location and other statistics that might be useful for others wanting to hunt the area to craft their own trophies.

Submit all screenshots in a single post response to This Forum Thread. Deadline to submit is Monday, Feb. 26 at 11:59pm CT.

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Avatar’s Update #264: Play Release 50 Now!

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

Play Release 50 Now!

Release 50 successfully launched yesterday, January 25, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

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Community Livestream – The Making of Shroud of the Avatar Physical Goods

We’re taking a first look at the design process for the game’s physical goods! Scott “Scottie” Jones will be back on the livestream to show off his work on the box cover, manual, cloth map, as well as a mention of the intricate design work on the Release 50 icons for potions and crafting icons.

Matt Schmitz will also be back on the livestream, this time to talk about his work on the DJ table & emotes. These are new items in Release 50, both being added to the game just in time for the release’s dance party (2-4pm CT right before this livestream) and Avatars Radio’s 4th Anniversary!

As always, we will be giving away some in-game prizes during the livestream!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 


Play for Free

Download Your Preferred Game Client

Windows
Windows 		macOS
macOS 		Linux
Linux  (tgz)

 

For details on the latest build notes and what’s changed from last release, please see the Instructions and Known Issues documents.

Not sure if your computer will run the game? Check out the System Requirements in the game FAQ!

 

Follow Shroud of the Avatar


R50 & R51: Skill Unlearning 100% Return

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

For R50 and R51, all skill unlearning will return 100% of the experience that was spent on them. We made this change because of the major changes to combat math, ransom, and movement speed that some players might feel invalidate skills they invested in.

As a reminder here are those changes from the R50 Instructions:

  • New Combat Math: We have made major changes to how combat math is calculated. We have done away with the old 0-100 system and replaced it with a weighted scale system. The vast majority of players will not notice any difference but high end players will likely notice that some of their tricks to completely avoid being hit will no longer work. Additionally, the attack roll is now split into multiple rolls which makes it possible to have a combination of things happen. For instance, it is now possible to parry a critical hit or get a glancing blow that you also block with your shield.
  • Ransom Changes: We have made several changes and improvements to how ransoming items works that are gained in PVP (either through combat or pickpocketing).
    • Notification: You now get an onscreen notification that you have lost an item through PVP or pickpocketing. There is an intentional 5 minute delay before a ransom icon appears after being pickpocketed. As in life, you don’t often notice theft until it’s too late.
    • Duration Increase: The time to pay the ransom has increased from 2 hours to 24 hours, to give players plenty of time to gain their items back.
    • Valuation: Crafted items and artifacts are now worth much more when ransomed.
    • Item Selection: The way items are randomly selected for ransom has changed so that we only consider each item type once, so many small stacks of an item type only count as a single chance during the selection process (i.e. those of you that have been using many different stacks of items as “defense” are out of luck).
  • Max Movement Speed Check: Effects that modify movement speed can only allow stack to a maximum of two. Additionally, their effects add together instead of multiplying each other as they did previously. This should fix the issue where stacking various buffs and artifacts with movement effects would produce insane movement rates.

Release 50 Instructions

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

Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 50 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, January 25, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (15:30 UTC).

Release 50 is the first release in which we focused on the current iteration of our Top 10 Priorities for Launch (from Q1 2018 post). I am so proud of this team, which was able to address almost every single item on that list in some fashion. We made incredibly strong progress on performance, improved reward cycles, clearer direction, new user polish, story polish, and UI polish. We also have finished key elements of our physical goods like the cloth map and are getting final bids for production. Meanwhile we made steady background progress on launch readiness (example: EU data compliance & server monitoring upgrades) and localization. We did all of this while also planning our launch activities around SXSW.

I know that I say this every time, but this is definitely one of the largest and most ambitious releases we have ever done.

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Shroud of the Avatar Launch Event! March 14, 2018

Greetings Avatars,

In video games it is traditional to have a launch event. These events generally come in two flavors. They are either a party in which the development team has an opportunity to celebrate their achievement, or it is a press event meant to create enthusiasm with journalists and influencers. On rare occasions it is a mix of the two. On even rarer occasions these events are made open to the fans. Twenty years ago we did that very thing with the launch of Ultima Online and had a party with the fans at a nightclub called Paradox here in Austin, TX.

We are happy to say that we are going to do the very same thing with Shroud of the Avatar! The launch event includes our team, press, AND the game’s loyal backers, who are cordially invited as guests to the event. We feel very strongly that community is what this game is all about, so we want you to join us! The event is being made possible by our partner, Travian Games, who is co-sponsoring and will be in attendance.

The event is going to be one spectacular and historic celebration (literally). It will take place at the Bullock Texas History Museum in the Pong to Pokemon video game history exhibit that Richard Garriott and Starr Long helped design and contributed artifacts to show. Shooter Jennings will also be in attendance and playing a short concert.

 
Space is limited! In order to attend you must be a backer (game access or higher) and in good standing with the community. We are only able to accommodate one person per registration. We can only accept the first 100 confirmed backers due to event space. We will inform the community when registration is closed.

Event Details

Where: The Bullock Texas State History Museum

When: March 14, 2018 6:30 – 10:30 PM

What:

  • BBQ Buffet Dinner
  • Cash Bar (Admission comes with 2 drink tickets, attendees must be age 21 or older)
  • Shooter Jennings Concert
  • Mix & Mingle with the Developers

Attending:

  • Backer (Game Access Purchase or Higher Required)
  • First Come, First Served (100 person limit)
  • Good Standing (Approval Required)
  • Travel & Accommodations NOT provided
  • Dress: Dressy Casual to Black Tie (Shroud or era related costumes are great too! No Shorts, T-shirts, Athletic Wear)
  • Consent to Photography: By attending the event you consent to photos and videos of you being taken and shared for promotional purposes.
  • Aged 21 or older

 

Fill out this form to submit your request to attend
 

We look forward to seeing you at the event! If you are unable to attend, fret not! There are going to be several in-game celebrations planned as well (details on those as soon as they are finalized).

Sincerely,

Lord British & Darkstarr


Avatar’s Update #263: New Wolves Attack!

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

New Wolves Attack!

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

The wolves throughout New Britannia are getting a makeover! We originally purchased our wolf from the Unity Asset store to save time and money, but it was not visually competitive. To address this shortcoming, Kevin @UglyFist Wells completely rebuilt the wolves for Release 50, including all the variations, the wolf hat, wolf mask, wolf trophies and the wolf clan barbarians. The wolf trophies will be updated in Release 50 with the updated Timber Wolf and in R51 we will add all the variants!

Timber Wolf

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