Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- Final Weekend for Expirations, 15% Black Friday Bonus, and Fall into Winter Telethon
- The Making of Superstition Canyon
- The Making of Blood Bay
- 2016 Winter Holiday Wax Cylinder Soundtrack
- Community Spotlight: Dragomir – Player Owned Town
- Upcoming Events
- Community Resources – Players Helping Players
- Recommended Projects to Back
Final Weekend for Expirations, 15% Black Friday Bonus, and Fall into Winter Telethon (now with schedule & prizes)
Only 3 days left until our Fall into Winter Telethon and your last chance to purchase a bunch of items that are expiring, as well as receive your 15% Black Friday Bonus! Note that we’ve added the schedule for the telethon and the list of prizes we will be giving away!
At Midnight CST, November 28, 2016 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2016), we are expiring the following content / features:
- House Stacking in Bundles (only 1 House per Bundle going forward)
- Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home
- Adobe 2-Story with Patio & Balcony Village Home
- Adobe 2-Story Village Home
- Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home
- All Kobold Masks (some will still be exclusively available in Kobold Bundles)
- All Prosperity Tool Packs (will still be available as part of Bundles)
- Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Vol 1
- Battle Banner
- 2016 Jack O Lanterns
- 2016 Jack O Lantern Mask
- 2016 Jack O Lantern Mask with Glow
- 2016 Grim Reaper Statue
- 2016 Grim Reaper Mask
- 2016 Rotten Armor
- 2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak
- /juggleseveredheads
- /jugglezombieheads
- /jugglejackolanterns
- 2016 Spooky Soundtrack
At noon on that same day, we are starting a 12-hour telethon that will include an array of fun activities and engaging content, many of which you can directly participate in with us in-game! We are also giving away a ton of fabulous prizes*, and as always we will be having stretch goals that based on how much players spend during the telethon (see below).
As usual, your questions will be answered throughout the event. You can pre-post your questions in the article’s comments section (linked here), or post questions during the telethon in Discord chat.*
As a special bonus, we are offering Telethon Funding Stretch Goal Rewards to any backer that pledges a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply). The Fall Into Winter Telethon of the Avatar Funding Stretch Goal Rewards are:
$10K: Rain Autumn Leaves Emote (/rainautumnleaves)
$25K: Autumn Leaf Crown (increases length of /rainautumnleaves emote)
$35K: Autumn Fairy Leaf Dress + Autumn Leaf Wings
$50K: Pet Squirrel
$65K and beyond: Secret Winter items!
Cheer on the Devs!
For every $2,500 donated, all developers on camera have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.
Additionally, we will be spinning the Wheel of Fortune & Doom! The wheel will have 14 items at any given time, but dozens of total prizes ultimately will be given away! This includes developers that, if selected, have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.
As the wheel is spun, what is selected will be replaced by something else. Details list of wheel items coming soon. Items already selected will be removed for a time (some may not come back onto the wheel for the rest of the telethon. Keep in mind that some of these may never come up, so cross your fingers for your preferred item!
Telethon Schedule
- 12:00 PM: Welcome to the Fall into Winter Telethon!
- 12:30 PM: R36 Postmortem Q&A and review
- 2:00 PM: Homes of New Britannia Tour
- 3:00 PM: New Scenes/Builders Deep Dive
- 4:00 PM: Story & T/L/C/Offline Deep Dive
- 5:00 PM: Player Housing & Towns
- 6:00 PM: Community Hour
- 7:00 PM: Crafting & Economy Deep Dive
- 8:30 PM: Combat & PVP Deep Dive (with tour of Blood Bay)
- 10:00 PM: Tour of Xenos changes with Scottie
- 11:00 PM: Adventure Tour!
Win These Great Prizes!
- 2016 Jack O Lantern Mask with Glow (Expiring)
- 2016 Grim Reaper Mask (Expiring)
- 2016 Spooky Soundtrack (Expiring)
- 2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak (Expiring)
- Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home (Expiring)
- Adobe 2-Story with Patio & Balcony Village Home (Expiring)
- Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home (Expiring)
- Kobold Mask 4-Pack (Expiring)
- Elven Village Tax Free Bundle!
- Pristine Gothic Mansion
- 2016 Snowman mask (w/hat)
- 2016 Winter Holiday Decoration Pack
- 2016 Winter Holiday Pack
- 2016 Yule Stockings 3-Pack
- 2016 Yule Gift Box set
- 2016 Regular Gift Box set
- Winter Holiday Gift Pack
- Winter Holiday Pack
- Tabletop Yule Tree
- Ornate Snow Family
- Ornate Umbrella
- Ornate Scarecrow
- Ice Nightmare Mask
- Speckled Turkey
- Breathe Emote 6-Pack (includes Breathe Snow Emote)
- Store Credit ($10)
- And several items courtesy of RelicsbyRild.com
We will be giving prizes away on an hourly basis with many being given away multiple times. If you wish to win prizes during the Telethon event, be in Discord chat!
Watch The Telethon on Twitch! The final recording will be archived on YouTube after the event as well. See you on the livestream chat at Noon this coming November 28th!
Final Weekend to Get Your 15% Black Friday Bonus!
For the past two years we’ve extended our Black Friday Promotion to give you up to 8 weeks to take advantage of our 15% Black Friday Bonus, and we did it again this year! For all new purchases (including bundles, bundle upgrades, add-on items, player owned town upgrades, and Make a Difference items) between Midnight CDT October 6, 2016 (5:00 UTC, October 7, 2016) and Midnight CST, November 28, 2016 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2016), we will add an additional 15% bonus to your Store Credit!
The Making of Superstition Canyon
Superstition Canyon is one of the numerous Control Points that limits travel between regions in Novia. It is located between the Verdantis and South Paladis regions and is controlled by the Vertas Elves. Superstition Canyon started as a clone of Brightbone Pass but has been completely rebuilt for Release 37.
[A Dev+ Forum Post by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf]
Hey folks, Sea Wolf here with another level update featuring Superstition Canyon! The new canyon features a blending of the alpine and hills biomes. The further up in elevation you get, the colder it becomes. The canyon also features some castle ruins, an undercroft, and the remains of an elven settlement which can be explored.
The North Pass
The Castle Ruins
The Settlement’s Remains
The Southern Pass
Chris Wolf
Level Designer
The Making of Blood Bay
Blood Bay is going to be an Open PVP area with two NPC towns, player housing, adventuring areas, and entrances to underground adventure areas. It is going to be a testing ground for several systems that will, in turn, propagate to other parts of the game if successful. We will be talking about more of those new systems and revealing more about the map during the Fall into Winter Telethon, so be sure to tune in.
[A Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski]
An update! **NOTE** volcano itself, especially lava flows are a W.I.P. There are some really killer flowing-lava materials, courtesy of Hutch, that will be implemented very soon**
Looking SouthEast
Landward gate to North side of town (facing South)
2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack – Wax Cylinders
* Phonograph in image not included with this collection
Enjoy the sounds of the holidays at your next holiday event or while relaxing at home with this rare, 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack. Available now in the Add-On Store, these wax cylinders come in a custom Winter Holiday color scheme! Collection includes:
- “Let’s Just Get Through Christmas” by Doctor Turtle; Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.
- “Winter Chimes” by Kevin MacLeod; Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
- “Jingle Bells” by Kevin MacLeod; Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
- “Classical Guitar – Greensleeves” by anddij; Copyright: Public Domain
- “Carol of the Bells (Christmas Cover)” by myuu; Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
- “The Kiddies Christmas Frolic Part 1 – Morning” by Columbia Orchestra; Licensed under a Public Domain/Sound Recording Common Law Protection License.
- “The Kiddies Christmas Frolic Part 2 – Evening” by Columbia Orchestra; Licensed under a Public Domain/Sound Recording Common Law Protection License.
- “The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71 – Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Copyright: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- “The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71 – Chinese Dance – The Reed, Pipe Dance” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Copyright: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- “The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71 – Miniature Overture, March” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Copyright: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- “Auld Lang Syne” by Jeris; Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
(NOTE: You will need a Phonograph placed on a Property in-game to play these wax cylinders)
Community Spotlight: Dragomir – Player Owned Town
This week’s community spotlight features the Player Owned Town, Dragomir! Each week we tour towns and talk with guilds and other groups, all of which are open to be spotlighted on coming tours brought to you by Berek, your community wood elf druid.
This spotlight tells a special tale, where CatherineRose, govenor of Dragomir, shares her story about the town from the beginning. Have a read:
The dream of a peaceful paradise named for thee, my husband Duke Gregorie Dragomir, seems to fade as the setting sun disappears into the sea and darkness overtakes the land.
Ye chose this land and this town to be the home of our dreams but a horrible fire dragon devastated all we created. In the final days of the battle to save Dragomir from the wrath of dragons, my precious husband and I were defending our town against the last dragon’s assault. The dragon with the advantage and my strength fading, my death loomed before me and I knew the end would soon be. With great courage and love pushing himm my precious Gregorie lunged between me and the dragon and dealt the final victorious blow. I watched with terrified eyes as the dragon and my husband plunged into the great abyss to their death below the cliffs of Dragomir.
Alone, I survived.
Upcoming Events
Nov 28, 2016 – Fall into Winter Telethon and Expirations (House Stacking in Bundles, etc.)
Dec 9, 2016 – Community of the Avatar livestream
Dec 15, 2016 – Release 37
Dec 16, 2016 – Community of the Avatar livestream
Dec 20, 2016 – R37 Postmortem
Jan 26, 2017 – Release 38
Feb 23, 2017 – Release 39
Feb 25, 2017 – Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Event
Mar 17, 2017 – SXSW Gaming
Mar 30, 2017 – Release 40
Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.
Event of the Week
Prism and Diamond Fields present a Grandmaster Tutoring/Recipe Event
We invite all grandmaster Crafters to come and share their knowledge to new and would be grandmasters. At least one grandmaster Carpenter, Tailor and Blacksmith, Alchemist, Cook, Enchanter, Masterwork Tailer, Masterwork Blacksmith, will be attending, and able to mentor parties of folks. If more grandmasters donate their time then even more can be mentored.
You must bring your own materials to this event. There are merchants very near by the crafting pavilion in Diamond Fields but prices may increase due to turn out. A banker is also near buy so you can shuttle in your raw materials and squirrel them away ahead of time for the event.
You can teleport to Lace Delamorte, or zone into Port Phoenix and take the first boat on the left to Diamond Fields. Hope to see you there!
Community Resources – Players Helping Players
- 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.
Recommended Projects to Back
Eric “Wingman” Peterson and team are bringing back six-degrees-of-freedom combat by blasting 90’s action game favorite, Descent, into the 21st Century with current-generation gaming technology. Descent: Underground is more than a graphics upgrade. Get ready for multiple types of customizable ships! Prepare for upgradable weapons and sensors with richly-detailed tech trees. Brace yourself for destructible voxel maps with new power-ups and mod tools to make your own maps and more!
Backer Shipping Addresses
In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image.
A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account!
The Autumn Fairy Leaf Dress + Autumn Leaf Wings look great. Will there be a male variation? Perhaps without the leaves covering the male chest?
Blood bay and the telethon items look really good!
The crafting event in Diamond Fields tomorrow sounds great, but what the heck is “NBT” time? I’ve searched the internet under time zones and NBT, and can’t find anything. Is this an in-game thing (New Britannia Time)? Please translate into a more well-known time zone so we can attend your event.
New Britannian Time (NBT) is used to represent the time in Austin Texas, where Portalarium is located. This is in the U.S. Central timezone (UTC-06:00).