Author Archives: Berek

Berek

About Berek

Senior Community Manager for Shroud of the Avatar.

Avatar’s Update #284: The Making of East Vauban Foothills


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 East Vauban Foothills

This hilly area is northeast of Vauban pass in the Drachvald region. It was previously a Tier 3 area but is being upgraded to a Tier 5 area for Release 55. The increase in difficulty of this scene is part of a longer term effort where we will be increasing the difficulty of several scenes to better match the surrounding scenes and the character’s progress along the associated story paths that bring you near those scenes. Undead have overrun a village here and Ebon Dawn Cultists are taking advantage of the resulting chaos.

[From a A Dev+ Forum Post by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf]

Hey folks! I have a few screenshots to share of my current progress on East Vauban Foothills. In this scene, an Ebon Dawn mage has converted the population of a small village into zombies, and is performing experiments on them to see if their humanity can be restored.

Cavern Scout Camp

Read more…


Community Spotlight – Beran’s Reach


Welcome to another Community Spotlight! These spotlights are dedicated entirely to community content, usually about a player town and presented by a single individual or an entire guild.

This week we return to the snowy peaks of the soon-to-be Municipality of Beran’s Reach. Home of The Bear Tavern and waypoint for many who venture out into the frozen wilds of Regalis and North Paladis. Beran’s Reach earned a reputation as being a sanctuary for all from the wilds beyond its high walls. We catch up with Vallas Tellen, Tavernkeeper of The Bear Tavern and Governor of Beran’s Reach, to find out more.

Can you tell me a little about Beran’s Reach?

Beran’s Reach has a long and distinguished history, growing over the years from a sleepy farmstead to the gateway to the northern reaches. Dominating the local countryside and overlooking the main road leading south to Britanny, it acts as a vital way station for both merchant caravans and those seeking fame and coin the wilds beyond. Indeed, Beran’s Reach has become a sight of veritable pilgrimage for newer adventurers looking to make a name for themselves like the heroes of old, a bastion that separates civility from savagery. To go beyond Beran’s Reach is to begin a journey to paths unknown, indeed perhaps best left untread.

As a consequence, Beran’s Reach has developed a unique culture that is surprisingly welcoming to all. In the northern reaches where survival presents an almost daily challenge, divisions and the complexities of life at court are luxuries that few can afford. Within the inns and markets that sprawl within ‘the Reach’ as it is more affectionately known, grim north men rub shoulders with wealthy travellers. Amid the hubbub of the central market square, merchants can often be seen vying for trade, with gold changing hands for valuable furs, wood and ore. All manner of adventurer can often be seen seeking food and provisions among the many shops and bazaars that dot around the city, providing last minute supplies for their journey.

Rising up from the centre of Beran’s Reach, the keep of The Bear Tavern shines night and day with the warm glow of a multitude of candles, torches and open fires. A Beran’s Reach tradition, The Bear Tavern provides a home-from-home for all as well as a venue for travellers and locals alike to eat, drink and seek respite from the outside world.

How do you get to Beran’s Reach?

Despite its seeming isolation, Beran’s Reach is a relatively short ride from central Britanny. Most travelers take the northern road that lies along the coast of Spindrift bay, turning right as the road forks within the Serpent’s Spine Foothills.

Crossing the bridge that spans the confluence of the Fortus and Sanctus rivers, the road leads on to the town and its prominent position on a hill within the Sanctus Forest.

What major landmarks are there in Beran’s Reach?

Within the walls and environs of Beran’s Reach are a diverse range of shops, businesses and locations, each contributing to the its rich and unique culture. Here is a selection of just a few that can be found, with many more yet to be discovered by the discerning visitor:

The Bear Tavern

Read more…


Special Friday (June 8) Livestream – R54 Stretch Goals Continue (Tropical Themed)!


Watch Release 54 Livestream – June 8 from shroudoftheavatar on www.twitch.tv

** $80,000 **

R54 Livestreams Funds Raised

Join us this Friday for a special 4-hour livestream event from 3-7pm CT (8pm GMT) that picks up where we left off from this Monday’s R54 Livestream! We will be answering missed questions, having sales, giving out prizes, and tracking towards stretch goals from the R54 Livestream!

LIVESTREAM AGENDA (Occurring roughly in the order listed below)

  • Introductions
  • R54 Missed Questions
  • Combat Deep Dive
  • Community Announcements
  • Q&A Continues
  • Ending Announcements

CONTINUING THE STRETCH GOALS (Tropical Themed!)

As a special bonus, we are offering funding rewards to any player that makes a minimum purchase of $5 during a twelve hour window during the day of the livestream, from 12:00 PM to 11:59 PM CDT (June 8 17:00 to June 9 05:00 UTC). We continue the R54 Livestream stretch goals, Tropical themed, in honor of the summer season starting!


Reference Image From:
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa

All purchases during the twelve hour window will count towards the stretch goals, not just the four hours of the livestream! We will pick up where we left off at $47,500:

  • ACHIEVED ON 6/4! $10K: /rainbow
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/4! $20K: /wardance & /hula
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/4! $30K: Leaf Backpack
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/4! $40K: Palapa
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/8! $50K: Polynesian Dress with Tropical Flower Crown
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/8! $65K: Polynesian Axe & Spear
  • ACHIEVED ON 6/8! $80K: Large Tiki Heads with Flames
  • $90K: Polynesian Bow plus two other Weapons
  • $100K: Polynesian Daemon Themed Armor with Full Helm

Read more…


Community Spotlight – Veritas Sanctuary


Welcome to another Community Spotlight! These spotlights are dedicated entirely to community content, usually about a player town and presented by a single individual or an entire guild.

For this week’s spotlight, we toured the player owned town of Veritas Sanctuary. It is a town in the forests along the coast of Longfall, just opposite of the Bay of Storms. The governor of Veritas Sanctuary, Dereck Visaard, was kind enough to provide a fascinating update on the bustling activities of the town.

As told by Dereck Visaard:

It’s been a while since we provided an update on the expansion of Veritas Sanctuary. Phase I of construction, referenced in this post, was completed shortly before the 2017 holidays when the town was a town-size POT. After the holidays, the town was upgraded to a city-size POT, and over the last few months residents have been hard at work building out the Phase 2 expansion.

I am pleased to report that Phase 2 is now complete and open for business! I’d like to thank all the town residents and benefactors who contributed RMT funds, gold, COTOs, crafting supplies, and precious time to build, test, and refine the new southern areas.

And for our German friends: Es haben sich einige aktive Spieler aus Deutschland in Veritas Sanctuary niedergelassen. Damit heißen wir jeden Spieler auch in deutscher Sprache herzlich willkommen und laden dazu ein sich in Veritas Sanctuary niederzulassen. Als Ansprechpartner dient Catweazle Waldschrath. (Anflüstern: /w Catweazle Waldschrath, oder eine private Nachricht an @CatweazleX hier im Forum)

What’s New?

Town historians explored the ruins south of Scholar’s Square further and confirmed that the elven refugees from Vertas settled near two ancient trees along the river. One of the trees still stands at the riverbank, while the other evidently fell sometime before the refugee’s arrival. The few records we found relate that the mighty stump was sprouting new leaves when the elves arrived, so they built a small shrine there to commemorate a new start and appropriately named the tree “Hope Tree” symbolizing their hope of starting a new life.

To honor their memory, we built the Hope Tree Market around its remains.

The market features a full set of expert crafting tables, NPC merchants, an Oracle and banker, several new row and village spots for player vendors, and an upgraded auction house named Veritas Coliseum on the south side. Yes, the Veritas Sanctuary Auctions will soon return! :)

[Read More…]

There are so many towns and historical landmarks to explore throughout New Britannia. Visit the Community Spotlight section of the website to read about more of these sprawling towns. If you are interested in sharing your tales of adventure, message community managers Berek or Cerus!


Royal Gardeners Wanted! New Decoration Contest


[​IMG]
Once upon a time, somewhere in New Britannia, a mysterious Outlander arrived.
Nothing was known about his origin, a curious place today known as “The Otherworld”.
Nobody knew of his intentions and the reasons of his arrival.
Nobody, not even the outlander himself could have forboded the fateful consequences of his arrival. Consequences that were to change New Britannia forever.
He, who was the first Outlander of our lands, is today known as Lord British, the keeper of Virtues.

On July 2nd we want to gather with you in our beloved New Britannia and celebrate a very special event: Lord British’s Birthday! 

(See the program here). Inspired and amazed by the magnificent beauties, that the Community has built over the years in Novia, we want to ask you, the Community, to design the garden/plaza of Lord British’s Birthday Celebration during this contest.

Read more…


Release 54 Livestream – June 4, 2018 (Tropical Themed!)


** $47,500 **

R54 Livestream Funds Raised

  • ACHIEVED! $10K: /rainbow
  • ACHIEVED! $20K: /wardance & /hula
  • ACHIEVED! $30K: Leaf Backpack
  • ACHIEVED! $40K: Palapa

Another release livestream is upon us! The Release 54 Livestream is set for June 4, just a few days after Release 54 goes live on May 31 next week.

All Avatars from around the world are welcomed to join us in the livestream activities. We will be doing deep dives, answering questions, having sales, handing out prizes, and tracking towards stretch goals. In honor of spring time here in the north, this event’s stretch goals are entirely tropical themed!

LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE (Central Time Zone)

Monthly livestreams are on Twitch and include answers to your gameplay questions, world building tours, prize giveaways, sales on items, and more! Here is the schedule:

  • 3PM: Introductions and Q&A
  • 3:45PM: Deep Dive 1: PVP
  • 4:30PM: World Building Tour: New Scenes & Quests
  • 5:30PM: Deep Dive 2: Heraldry
  • 6:15PM: Q&A Continues
  • 7PM: Ending Announcements

Read more…


Community Livestream – Celebrating Release 54


A new Community Livestream is set for this Friday and we’re celebrating Release 54 the entire time!

We will be kicking off the livestream with our usual round of news from Starr “Darkstarr” Long, and then he’ll be off to Lux Sanctuary in the game to DJ as “DJ Darkstarr” for the release dance party at 6pm CT! We’ll be following him along on the livestream as he cranks up the tunes for the crowd.

Click here for the details of the dance party, sponsored by the great folks of Lux Sanctuary and Avatars Radio!

Watch on Twitch this Friday at 5:30pm CT! Also join the community’s Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 

 

Are You a Livestreamer?

Get this exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Livestreamer Program!


Community Livestream – The Companions Revisited


A new Community Livestream is set for this Friday with several developers ready to show you the latest game content they’ve been working on!

We will be kicking off the livestream with Fletcher Kinnear and Brandon Cotton to show off the companion gear that will be made available to players via questing for it, and then Erik Touve and Brandon Cotton will dive deeper into the Companion abilities. And finally, we have some really cool new property decorations to show you!

Watch on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT! Also join the community’s Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 

 

Are You a Livestreamer?

Get this exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Livestreamer Program!


Community Spotlight – Rauchbier Platz


Welcome to another Community Spotlight! These spotlights are dedicated entirely to community content, usually about a player town and presented by a single individual or an entire guild.

For this week’s spotlight, we toured the player owned town of Rauchbier Platz. It is a town nested within Central Brittany that is dedicated to the art of brewing beer. In anticipation of brewing being added to the game, the governor of Rauchbier Platz, Hannah Alpenglow, provides a tour of this snowy festival town.

As told by Hannah Alpenglow:

Greetings, Avatars! Welcome to Rauchbier Platz – please, enjoy a mug of our finest beer while we walk through town. Rauchbier Platz was founded by my late husband and I in 517 PC to help establish our beer brewing business here in New Britannia. The main area of town is set up a bit like a civic square that one might find in Bavaria, as we wanted to bring a bit of our homeland to this world. Rauchbier Platz roughly translates to ‘Smoked Beer Place’ and is meant to be a happy, laid back town where one can enjoy time with friends old and new.

Read more…


Community Livestream – Westend & Store Housing


Another content packed Community Livestream coming this Friday! We will be kicking off the livestream with Bob Cooksey and Michael Hutchinson to show off the upcoming store housing! Then Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar will be on to show off the new seaside scene of Westend.

Watch on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT! Also join the community’s Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 

 

Are You a Livestreamer?

Get this exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Livestreamer Program!