Category Archives: Update of the Avatar

Avatar’s Update #406: Foal & Tamed Horse Exchange Details! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

November 6, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Recently, players of Shroud of the Avatar were introduced to the long awaited Mount System! Now players who are tamers or possess stretch-goal foals can turn-in their horses and foals for rideable versions of those animals! Also, the coming weeks will address bug fixes and quality of life improvements! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Foal & Tamed Horse Exchange Details!

Shortly after Release 83, new foal and tamed horse turn-in NPCs have been added to the game! These turn-ins yield fully functional mounts that have the same capabilities as the Crown Store mounts! So if you’re a tamer or one of the lucky owners of an older foal, head on over to the following locations throughout New Britannia to exchange your items:

Nob: The Stable Boy in Owl’s Head
Bodan Koren: The Master Taming Trainer in Braemar
Corsten: The Master Tactics Trainer in Desolis
Falcon: Animal Trainer in Aerie
Oakley: Stable Girl in Brittany Fields

If any player owns one of the following non-domesticated versions of a foal, the turn-in locations listed above will yield the following items:

Appaloosa Foal, Trade-in Yields: Appaloosa Foal (Domesticated), Appaloosa Horse Mount
Black Foal, Trade-In Yields: Black Foal (Domesticated), Black Horse Mount
Buckskin Foal, Trade-In Yields: Buckskin Foal (Domesticated), Buckskin Horse Mount
Dun Foal, Trade-In Yields: Dun Foal (Domesticated), Dun Horse Mount
Roan Foal, Trade-In Yields: Roan Foal (Domesticated), Roan Horse Mount
White Foal, Trade-In Yields: White Foal (Domesticated), White Horse Mount

For all the tamers out there, bring your tamed Bay, Blanket, and Palomino Horses to those NPCs and get these rideable mounts:

Taming Necklace (Bay Horse), Trade-In Yields: Bay Horse Mount
Taming Necklace (Blanket Horse), Trade-In Yields: Blanket Horse Mount
Taming Necklace (Palomino Horse), Trade-In Yields: Palomino Horse Mount

And don’t forget to get your riding skills, Avatars! You’ll need these to improve the functionality of your new four-legged friend:

Horsemanship (+Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
Horse Gallop Speed (+Mounted Speed Sprint)
Horse Carry Capacity Focus (-Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
Horse Speed Focus (+Mounted Speed, -Mounted Carry Capacity)

So get in-game and check out these splendid new mounts! Explore New Britannia atop a majestic and mighty steed!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

The weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, November 6th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1 hour livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “Autumn Leaves and Pumpkins Please” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website add-on store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT!

Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund

Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need:

“No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com)

Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated.

Avatar’s Update #405: Play Release 83 Now! Mounts of New Britannia Revealed! New Adventure Scene: The Breach! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

October 29, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 83 brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a plethora of new features, content, and fixes! The new Mount System is available! A new adventure scene known as “The Breach” is ready to challenge battled-hardened adventurers! The changes to the Player-Owned Town Teleporters are now live! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Mounts of New Britannia Revealed!

Rideable mounts have arrived in New Britannia! Now, players of Shroud of the Avatar will be able to zip across the lands of Novia, Hidden Vale, and Mistrendur atop 16 beautiful mounts, with many additional varieties coming in the near future! Of note, 6 of the Crown Store mounts will also be obtainable by players who already own particular foal decoration pets! Also, 3 of the new mounts will be obtainable through exchange of the tamed versions of those horses. Additionally, to add a bit of spice and fun to riding, 4 new mounted skills have been added to the Tactics Skill Tree!

The first iteration of mounts added to the game are as follows, and should become available throughout the early part of R83:

Appaloosa Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
Bay Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
Black Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
Black Unicorn Mount (Crowns)
Blanket Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
Buckskin Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
Dun Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
Ghost Horse Mount (Crowns)
Nightmare Mount (Crowns)
Palomino Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
Roan Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
Shadow Horse Mount (Crowns)
Skeleton Horse Mount (Crowns)
White Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
White Unicorn Mount (Crowns)
Zombie Horse Mount (Crowns)

Following through with the old webstore mount stretch goals, players with the following foal decoration pets will soon be able to trade-in these pets at a quest NPC to receive domesticated versions of the foal PLUS the corresponding Crown Store horse mount! Also, players will receive domesticated versions of the foals from all future Crown Store purchases. Whether a domesticated foal version is received via the foal quest trade-in or through a future store purchase, the domesticated versions of these foals cannot be traded-in at the quest NPC. More details are coming soon, but the current plans for the trade-ins at the quest NPC will yield the following:

Appaloosa Foal, Trade-in Yields: Appaloosa Foal (Domesticated), Appaloosa Horse Mount
Black Foal, Trade-In Yields: Black Foal (Domesticated), Black Horse Mount
Buckskin Foal, Trade-In Yields: Buckskin Foal (Domesticated), Buckskin Horse Mount
Dun Foal, Trade-In Yields: Dun Foal (Domesticated), Dun Horse Mount
Roan Foal, Trade-In Yields: Roan Foal (Domesticated), Roan Horse Mount
White Foal, Trade-In Yields: White Foal (Domesticated), White Horse Mount

Three of the new mounts are specifically reserved for the tamers of New Britannia! Tamers will be able to exchange their tamed horse pets for a bridle, which is the inventory item that allows players to summon a mount. More details will soon be revealed, but current plans will allow players to trade-in the following Taming Necklaces:

Taming Necklace (Bay Horse), Trade-In Yields: Bay Horse Mount
Taming Necklace (Blanket Horse), Trade-In Yields: Blanket Horse Mount
Taming Necklace (Palomino Horse), Trade-In Yields: Palomino Horse Mount

To provide players some additional functionality as riders gallop across New Britannia, 4 additional skills have been added to the Tactics Skill Tree:

Horsemanship (+Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
Horse Gallop Speed (+Mounted Sprint Speed)
Horse Carry Capacity Focus (-Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
Horse Speed Focus (+Mounted Speed, -Mounted Carry Capacity

These newly created mounts are just the beginning! Players can expect many more mount varieties to come their way in the future! Please stay tuned for more mount related news just on the horizon.

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 30th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1 hour livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “I love fall most of all” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website add-on store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT!

New Adventure Scene: The Breach!

Another adventure scene is nearing release and will become available in early R83 to challenge players of Shroud of the Avatar! Chris “Atos” Spears has created a new style of boss encounter which can only be experienced in The Breach, a new adventure scene available to Episode 2 Access holders!

This PvE scene is a modified version of Dysborg Ruins, a PvP scene located along the shores of the Naryad Channel. The Breach features improved performance over Dysborg Ruins, and the creature spawns have been expanded considerably. For players to best the creatures and wave event within The Breach, team-oriented tactics must also be employed!

Players must face four guardian elemental mini-bosses which spawn in key locations. Each elemental has a five minute respawn timer. Two of these elementals are highly resistant to magic. The other two elementals are highly resistant to physical damage. All four elementals must be slain at nearly the same time, requiring considerable team coordination. A player must also be present at the wave battle spawn location to trigger the wave event when the four guardian elementals are defeated. The resulting wave battle will be highly difficult, and provide a significant challenge to even the most powerful of teams.

The Breach is coming, Avatars! Will you accept this challenge and defeat the denizens of The Breach? May the Virtues guide thee…

Player-Owned Town Teleporter Update!

Governors and stewards of Player-Owned Towns (POT) can now enjoy extra functionality with their premium NPC Town teleporters. Currently, these 3 teleporters only take players to a single NPC Town. As of Release 83, they have received additional capabilities, and the names of these 3 teleporters have been adjusted to coincide with the changes to their functionality as follows:

“Teleporter to Ardoris” name changed to “Shogun Teleporter”
“Teleporter to Central Brittany” name changed to “Bell Tower Teleporter”
“Teleporter to Owl’s Head” name changed to “Tower Archway Teleporter “

Not only can governors and stewards adjust which towns these 3 teleporters point to, but all NPC Towns, Player-Run Towns (PRT) and POTs are available as destinations. Of note, the prices for these 3 teleporters have been significantly reduced.

Along these same lines, the recently added POT Interconnection Teleporters have also received name changes. In a similar fashion, all of these teleporters now allow for NPC Town, PRT, and POT destinations. Now that teleportation to NPC Towns is available through player-placed decoration items, POT service vouchers can no longer be utilized for new POT to NPC Town interconnections. The names of these teleporters have changed as follows:

“Player-Owned Town Wagon” name changed to “Wagon Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Hatch” name changed to “Hatch Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Balloon” name changed to “Balloon Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Boat” name changed to “Boat Teleporter”

We hope this Quality of Life (QOL) improvement enhances the gameplay experience of town governors, stewards, and residents. So many more QOL improvements are just on the horizon, so stay tuned, Avatars!

Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund

Crowns, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales!

Avatars! Sales for the Halloween season are upon us! Crowns are on sale for 20% off! Players will have the entire holiday weekend to enjoy the discount. Deed Upgrades are ALSO 20% off! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. But that’s not all! The Two-Hour Flash Sales event returns for another round and start today at 1PM CT! So watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! All sales should start shortly!

Players have until Wednesday, November 3rd at 1PM CST to take advantage of these great discounts, at which time all 3 sales events expire. Happy shopping, Avatars!

Avatar’s Update #404: Bug Brigade & Testing Directives! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

October 23, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a bit of information about Release 84, which will focus primarily on bug fixes rather than new features and content. We’d also like to extend an enormous thank you to all those participating in the Bug Brigade! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

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 recently relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into 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 cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily 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! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system 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.

Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, Justyn, and Tazar. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team!

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they 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
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, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 23rd at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1 hour livestream!

Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, October 29th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

Baby Black & Orange Spider Decoration Pet
Fall Wreath 2017
Bloodraven Decoration Pet
Ghost Cat Decoration Pet
Wood & Plaster 2-Story Village Home
Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Overhang Village Home
Obsidian Sarcophagus
Prisoner’s Mask
Giant Scarecrow

Avatar’s Update #403: New Mini-Maps Available! Special Guest Friday Livestream!

October 16, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a very large number of additional mini-maps! New and old players alike will have a map to guide them in more adventure and town scenes! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

New Mini-Maps Available!

Master cartographers Ravalox and List Rostov are hard at work exploring the world of New Britannia and annotating their travels through the creation of new mini-maps! Check out this amazing list of scenes that have received new mini-maps during R82:

Alpine Road
Approach to the Shuttered Eye
Braemer
Brightbone Pass
Fishing Expedition
Graff Gem Mines Entrance
Greymark Forest
Hills Encounter
Human Battle Encampment
Kingsport
Kingsroad
Kobold Battle Camp
Kobold Expeditionary Camp
Lamech’s Baazar
Mistrendur
Mistrendur Ulfheim Classic
Moors of Northshore
North Ravenswood
North Valeway
Northmarsh
Owl’ Nest Mine
Owl’s Nest
Plains of Righ Inis
PRT Template 1 (used in multiple scenes)
PRT Template 2 (used in multiple scenes)
South Ravenswood
South Valeway
Southeast Blackblade Mountains
Southmarsh
West Perennial Trail
West Ravenswood
Wynton’s Folly
Wyrmsands

These new maps were already announced and added before or on R82. For those that missed out:

Celestis
City of Yew
East Perennial Trail
East Veiled Swamp
Eastreach Gap
North Brightbone Woods
Restless Woods
South Brightbone Woods
South Celestial Wetlands
Spindelskog
Tanglemire
West Veiled Swamp
Whiteguard Foothills

In this first pass for many of these maps, the goal was to make them available as soon as possible, with plans for more touch-ups to occur at a later time. So even after a map becomes available, expect many of these to receive aesthetic improvements in a second pass. At some point, adventurers of New Britannia can expect to see mini-maps in every adventure and town scene. So get your exploration gear ready, Avatars! So many more mini-maps are coming your way!

Special Guest Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 16th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and special guest Scott Jones for a community 1 hour livestream!

Not only will Scott Jones share tales of his work with Shroud of the Avatar, he’ll be sharing news about one of his most amazing projects, Shard RPG!

Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, October 22nd at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

Grim Reaper Mask 2016
Ornate Scythe 2017 Pattern Pack
Ghost Dog Decoration Pet
Grim Reaper Mask
Jabbering Bertha
Ornate Skull Candle
Autumn Leaf Trident
Torn and Tattered Wedding Dress Outfit
Large Spooky Fountain

Avatar’s Update #402: Upcoming Adventure Scene – The Breach! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

October 9, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar details about The Breach! The Breach is an upcoming new adventure scene featuring team-oriented boss mechanics. 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Upcoming Adventure Scene – The Breach!

Another new adventure scene is in design and will be revealed to players on the QA server shortly! Chris “Atos” Spears is hard at work creating a new style of boss encounter which can only be experienced in The Breach, a new location soon to become available to Episode 2 Access holders!

This PvE scene is a modified version of Dysborg Ruins, a PvP scene located along the shores of the Naryad Channel. Much of the terrain has been altered to provide a chilly arctic feel with more visual changes to come during development. A dark and foreboding fog accompanied by frequent lightning strikes will most certainly put adventurers ill at ease! The Breach will also feature improved performance over Dysborg Ruins, and the creature spawns will be expanded considerably.

By accomplishing team-oriented events within the scene, a highly difficult wave battle will commence in the center of the map. Players will face four guardian golem mini-bosses which spawn in key locations.

Each golem will have a five minute respawn timer. Two of these golems will be highly resistant to magic. The other two golems will be highly resistant to physical damage. All four golems must be slain at nearly the same time, requiring considerable team coordination. A player must also be present at the wave battle spawn location to trigger the wave event when the four guardian golems are defeated. The resulting wave battle will be highly difficult, and provide a significant challenge to even the most powerful of teams.

The Breach is coming soon, Avatars! So stay tuned, and happy adventures!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 9th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, October 15th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

Rotten Armor Outfit
Ghost Raven Decoration Pet
Grim Reaper Statue
Witch’s Hat
Zombie Mask
Skull Cloak
Autumn Leaf Shield
Fall Wreath 2019
Large Nightmare Statue

Avatar’s Update #401: Teleporter Revisions Continue! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

October 2, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar details about additional teleporter revisions coming shortly! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Teleporter Revisions Continue!

Soon, the governors and stewards of Player-Owned Towns (POT) will be able to enjoy extra functionality with their premium NPC Town teleporters. Currently, these 3 teleporters only take players to a single NPC Town. In Release 83, they will have additional capabilities, and the names of these 3 teleporters will be adjusted to coincide with the changes to their functionality as follows:

“Teleporter to Ardoris” name changes to “Shogun Teleporter”
“Teleporter to Central Brittany” name changes to “Bell Tower Teleporter”
“Teleporter to Owl’s Head” name changes to “Tower Archway Teleporter “

Not only will governors and stewards be able to adjust which towns these 3 teleporters point to, but all NPC Towns, Player-Run Towns (PRT) and POTs will be available as destinations. Of note, the prices for these 3 teleporters will be significantly reduced for price balancing with other store items.

Along these same lines, the recently added POT Interconnection Teleporters will also receive name changes. In a similar fashion, all of these teleporters will also allow NPC Town, PRT, and POT destinations. The names will update as follows:

“Player-Owned Town Wagon” name changes to “Wagon Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Hatch” name changes to “Hatch Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Balloon” name changes to “Balloon Teleporter”
“Player-Owned Town Boat” name changes to “Boat Teleporter”

We hope this Quality of Life (QOL) improvement will enhance the gameplay experience of town governors, stewards, and residents. So many more QOL improvements are just on the horizon, so stay tuned, Avatars!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 2nd at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

Avatar’s Update #400: Play Release 82 Now! New Adventure Scene: Lord British’s Castle! Food & Drink System Update! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

September 24, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a new adventure scene! Now, adventurers can delve into Lord British’s Castle, the newest Episode 2 scene to be released! Among other amazing updates, the food system got a very significant improvements! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

New Adventure Scene: Lord British’s Castle!Master world builder Keith “Sannio” Quinn has done it again! His latest adventure masterpiece is Lord British’s Castle and is now on the live server for players of Shroud of the Avatar! The gorgeous gardens, theater, and décor would be quite inviting to guests under normal circumstances, but alas, these are not normal times, Avatars! Something is amiss at Lord British’s Castle in Mistrendur, and only Episode 2 Access holders can to rally to our ruler’s aid!

Challenge yourself! Progress through the castle while fighting waves of progressively-harder enemies (similar to the Compendium of Pain and Suffering)
Explore! After clearing out the whole castle, explore new areas that weren’t accessible while invaders were around, including Lord British’s vault (but only if you want your virtuous reputation tarnished!).
Quests! Talk to the guards by the entrance to learn a little backstory and get 2 new repeatable quests.

“Lord British’s Castle! Frequently under assault by those who want to slay the ruler of New Britannia or pillage the vast fortune rumored to exist within his private vault. Even now, deadly enemies have breached its walls and overrun the stronghold’s hallowed halls. Your reasons to venture to Mistrendur and into Lord British’s home will be your own, but know that each room will throw you against waves of the toughest enemies you have ever faced!”

These words from Sannio should inspire caution amongst the intrepid. Those first to storm the gates of Lord British’s Castle will soon learn that the waves of enemies within will continue to grow in power such that even the greatest of New Britannia’s warriors will eventually fail. How far into the castle will your band of companions venture? What treasures could be within? A challenge unlike no other awaits thee!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, September 25th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “a September to remember” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website add-on store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT!

Food & Drink System Update!

Avatars! Eat! Drink! Be Merry! A long-awaited round of love to the Food and Drink Systems is upon us! In the past, players could imbibe 2 foods regardless of which was eaten. Now, all foods and drinks have been assigned a numerical value from 1 to 3 which indicates how many food buff slots are utilized when eating and drinking that item. Up to 6 food channels are possible, so if a character eats 6 single point foods, they can fill up all 6 food channels. If the character eats 2 foods which have 3 points each, all 6 food channels are also filled.

This new concept as well as a revisit/balancing to all food recipes should greatly increase the versatility of the food system and make a larger range of recipes desirable for use and consumption. Here are some examples of food recipe tooltips which show the buff slots as well as revised effects:

Also, players can now feed their pets with newly added recipes! Pet food allows for 3 channels of food in a point system entirely separate from the 6 food channels available for characters. The newly added pet foods are as follows:

Bear Bites
Dragon Kibbles
Fishy Nibblers
Rabbit Pate
Venison Jerky

Even after these changes patch onto the live server, the system will continue to be tweaked and each food recipe scrutinized. Ultimately we hope players of Shroud of the Avatar enjoy the revamped system. So many more amazing game updates are just around the corner, so stay tuned!

Agriculture Trophies: Pumpkins & Jack O’Lanterns!

Gardeners of New Britannia, take heed! A strange occurrence has permanently altered pumpkins throughout the lands causing them to grow larger than ever before! Now, gardeners growing pumpkins through use of the Agriculture System have rare chances to harvest Trophy Pumpkins! Take those pumpkins to your crafting tables to convert them into Jack O’Lantern Trophies! The recipe for creating the Jack O’Lantern Trophies is for sale on Cooking Merchants.

Sometime in the near future and before the expiration of this year’s appearance of Pumpkin Head, players can expect certain size ranges of Trophy Pumpkins to drop as loot from the spooky seasonal boss and his minions. Of note, the Agriculture System will likely produce the largest pumpkins available.

Players can expect a considerable size range in available trophies, and the image above does NOT show the largest sizes! That’s for the players of Shroud of the Avatar to discover! Happy gardening, Avatars!

Maps and More Maps!

Mini-map creation in Shroud of the Avatar has resumed! The development team is hard at work adding additional maps so that players can find their way in the enormous world of New Brittania. As adventurers explore, they’ll encounter these additional maps added for Release 82:

Celestis
City of Yew
East Perennial Trail
East Veiled Swamp
Eastreach Gap
North Brightbone Woods
Restless Forest
South Brightbone Woods
South Celestial Wetlands
Spindelskog
Tanglemire
West Veiled Swamp
Whiteguard Foothills

More maps will be added with every monthly release, so gear up and get out there, explorers!

Player Dungeon Creature Spawner!

The Mysterious Swamp and Upper Tears are two adventure scenes amuck with the ever living… the lingering… those who should have passed on to their next lives but have not. The high level lich fighters in both of those scenes now have a small chance to drop a recipe for a Lich Fighter Spawner Statue! Once crafted, players can place these statues in their dungeons whilst in Design Mode. This marks the spawn point for a lich fighter. Once the dungeon is placed into Adventure Mode, the statue comes to life and is replaced by a Tier 15 Lich Fighter!

Meant solely as a method to add “roaming monster immersion” into player dungeons, these lich spawners will not generate loot nor experience since they can only be placed in non-encounter rooms where decorating is possible. Expect a larger variety of spawners to become available in the future as the dungeon system continues to evolve. The majority of these spawners will become available as crafting recipes, with focus placed upon requiring underutilized crafting materials such as Aortic Thrombi and Ancient Essences.

Avatar’s Update #399: Crafting Station Decoration Surfaces! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

September 18, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings crafters and decorators of Shroud of the Avatar wondrous news! Now, players can decorate the surfaces of all 4 categories of crafting stations. 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Crafting Station Decoration Surfaces!

Avatars and decorators of New Britannia! Get some decorations ready to place upon your crafting stations, because those decoration surfaces will be functional when Release 82 hits! All 40 or so crafting stations were verified as working, as you can see in the picture above. Each station has a Lord of the Isle crown placed upon a decoration surface. These categories of crafting stations are affected by this change:

Crafting stations on in-game gold merchants
Expert crafting stations on the Crown Store
Founder crafting stations
Benefactor crafting stations

The stations affected from each category are as follows:

Alchemy
Blacksmithing
Butchering
Carpentry
Cooking
Milling
Smelting
Tailoring
Tanning
Textiles

So get to your crafting stations, Avatars! They’ll be awaiting your decoration efforts in Release 82!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, September 18th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

Castle Wall Decoration Surfaces!

Of note, as we progress into further enhancement of existing decoration items, Castle Wall sets will soon receive significant updates on the QA server. The decoration surfaces on Castle Walls have been enabled! For any players wishing to help test the castle wall sets on QA, please see the testing directives thread on the main forums for further information. And for those wishing to assist with this and other Bug Brigade efforts, here’s more information to help you get involved. Happy decorating and testing Avatars!

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, September 24th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

Black Clockwork Raven Decoration Pet
Adobe 2-Store Village Home
Shogun Five-Story City Home
Ornate Obsidian Sarcophagus
Black Ice Sword
Admiral’s Hat
Ladies’ Riding Outfit
Dragonfly Wings
Virtue Dirndl Outfit

Avatar’s Update #398: The Well of Aldur Sneak Peek! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

September 11, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a small sneak peek at an upcoming new scene known as “The Well of Aldur!” 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

The Well of Aldur Sneak Peek!

New Britannians! Rumors of a mystical and mysterious locale are spreading throughout the lands. “The Well of Aldur” is an upcoming new adventure scene for Episode 2 Access holders which will feature a variety of activities to challenge even the most stalwart of Avatars! Still very early in design, the image above is a small example of the wondrously ethereal ambience which this new scene will exhibit.

“High above the mountain peaks of Mistrendur floats the crumbling remains of a civilization whose origins are lost to time. Only the greatest adventurers will decipher the secrets, survive the threats, and discover the true nature of the Well of Aldur.”

Amongst other challenges, players can expect a jump puzzle to tackle with a reward upon reaching its end. More objectives will be available at this locale, so stay tuned for more previews of this astonishing new scene as it continues to develop!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, September 11th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, September 17th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

Brass Mini Automaton Decoration Pet
Magic Sigil Cloak
Ornate Norgard Axe
Ornate Tansu Chest
Elven Keep Village Home
Ornate Viking Short Sword
Dragon Polearm
Candle Helmet
Oracle Eye Throne

Avatar’s Update #397: Decorative Wall Update! Public Garden Blossoms! New Store Items: Round Setees & More! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

September 4, 2020

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar some changes to the craftable stone walls with more updates soon coming to other wall and fence varieties! The Public Garden Player-Owned Town decoration has been revamped to feature decorative flowers! 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 Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Decorative Wall Update!

Builders of New Britannia! A round of love for fencing and wall sets has begun! Demonstrated in the image above, this style of craftable stone wall can be stacked so players can build taller walls. The wall set also allows for significant overhang to encourage more interesting/creative wall structures. Decorators will be able to scale these wall objects from .5 to 1.3. That particular scaling change was also recently applied to all the building block packs. And for those decorators wanting to use these for indoor walls and partitions, go right ahead! Now, these walls can be placed indoors, in basements, and in dungeons!

Expect these changes to patch in shortly, but many more changes are coming your way for fences and walls in the near future. Other varieties of these sets will receive similar changes listed above in the upcoming month, but additional decoration surfaces placed on these fence and wall assets are also on the horizon!

Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, September 4th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

Public Garden Blossoms!

Governors and stewards of New Britannia have become accustomed to having a particular non-functional Player-Owned Town (POT) asset known as the Public Garden. The original intent of this item was to allow players without property to still have a means to grow crops in the agriculture system, but with the advent of Free-to-Play concepts in the game, continued design of these gardens was postponed. Now, since all players receive two free property deeds allowing use of the agriculture system, the original public garden functionality was no longer required yet a need to polish the asset in a decorative sense still remained.

In a recent effort to improve the Public Garden, the partially designed agriculture functionality has been removed, and the planting beds have blossomed with a plethora of flowering plants! For any governors and stewards wanting additional Public Garden decorations, the garden will soon be added to the Crown Store. Happy decorating, Avatars!

New Store Additions: Ornate Round Settees, Golden Oracle Guardian Statue & More!

A new furniture style has been introduced and added to the Crown Store — round settees! Each settee allows for 4 occupants and is a must have for anyone with a reading room in their house! The settees feature two dye layers and a decoration surface behind the occupant’s head (the pictured lamp does not come with the settees, but is there to demonstrate the decoration surface provided). Also, a giant Golden Oracle Guardian Statue has been added to the store and two new plants are available to enhance your gardens!

Ornate Red Floral Round Settee
Ornate White & Gold Round Settee
Golden Oracle Guardian Statue
Potted Giant Banana Tree
Potted Elderberry Tree

Also, we’re scouring the realm for items that have long been missing from the store. Many items are being loaded into the Vault and will rotate in periodically which are announced each week as they go live, but here’s a small number of additional items becoming permanently available on the Crown Store:

Glowing Jewel Cube 3-Packs (Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow)
Display Camera

New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, September 10th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for two weeks, and then the next, etc.

Virtue Flame Armor Set
Red Fez Hat
Tiny Airship Pet
Ornate Katana
Ornate Katana Pattern Pack
Elven Elder Archer Armor
Kobold Masks Set 1
Gentleman’s Admiral Outfit
Black Ice Shield