Avatar’s Update #276: Heraldry Items and Decoration Loot

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

Heraldry Items (cont.)

In Release 52 we added Heraldry as a reward for eligible Kickstarter Founder era backers. In Release 53 Heraldry will be open for everyone through the sale of Heraldry Eternal Patterns in the Add-On Store. We are also adding a Cloak to the growing number of items you can use to display your heraldry. Note that these items are visually distinct from the Founder versions we released in Release 52.

This week we added the regular versions of Heraldry Armor, banners, and shield (which is rectangular). We also introduced a heraldry cloak.

Players continue to post pics of their heraldry in the thread they started a few weeks ago and the results are amazing!

Check out this helpful guide for submitting blazon artwork.

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

Plate Heraldry Armor:

Leather Heraldry Armor:

Chainmail Heraldry Armor:

Cloth Heraldry Armor:

Heraldry Rectangle Shield:

Heraldry Cloak:

Heraldry Banners:

Decorations Loot

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

In Release 53 we are adding a lot of decorations as loot items. Toadstools (literally mushroom chairs) can be gained by defeating the mushroom creatures (Psilocybin, Amanita, Conocybe Filaris, Paxillus Involutus). Additionally various items that were previously only found in NPC homes (and would therefore trigger virtue loss as stolen items) can now be occasionally be found in chests in adventure areas (just beware of mimics!). Also animal skins and heads can now be used to craft Animal Skin rugs! On top of all this Place Anywhere and Player Owned Town Lot Deeds will start appearing occasionally in Rare Supply Bundles along with an assortment of Home Deeds!

Toadstools:

Animal Skin Rugs:

The Making of Penmawr Island

Penmawr Island is a Tier 4 island in the Bay of Storms in the South Paladis region directly south of Jaanaford. The island includes a safe haven for plunderers but a recent shipwreck nearby threatens the inhabitants with a horde of undead.

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

A few more shots of Penmawr… 

NO SPOILERS! Thanks for following our progress!

The Making of Tenebris Harbor

Tenebris Harbor was once a thriving town on the coast of the Bay of Storms in the South Paladis region west of Jaanaford. The town has recently been attacked and taken over by plunderers who have burned down whole sections of the town. For the first few days of the release parts of the town will be on fire and the bodies of the residents will litter the streets but soon those fires will go out and the bodies will get cleaned up and the town will settle into the long term plundered and ruined state. This is a Tier 5 scene so be prepared for a challenge!

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

Hey guys! SorcerousSteve here to give you the latest on Tenebris Harbor!

The Tenebris Harbor Docks burn at night following the recent attack by pirates.

Furniture has been piled out on the street and burned, while a pirate flag flies above the courtyard. 

Wide angle view of west Tenebris Harbor. 

The shipyard with the town in the background. 

Tenebris Harbor Eastern Gate.

Be sure to checkout Tenebris Harbor this R53!

Esteben Zaldivar

Release 53 on the QA Server

An early version of R53 went live on the QA server this week and players started testing almost immediately. They also started reviewing and offering feedback on an early version of the R53 post.

R53 is full of new content most of which is now on the QA server for early testing.

  • Scene Rebuilds: Tenebris Harbor, Penmawr Island, Eastmarch (town)
  • Looking for Group
  • Loot Improvements: Player Gear, Decorations, Worn Armor, Lot Deeds
  • Offline Drop Rates
  • Virtue Effects for Gear
  • More Side Quests
  • Heraldry for everyone
  • More Adventure Scene Blessings
  • User Interface Polish
  • New Plunderer NPCs
  • and more!

Testing on QA makes you eligible for Testing Incentive Rewards including gold crowns, the Ant Farm, Antennae, Bug Cloak and Paintings. 

Stress Test on QA Server Mon Apr 23 = Double XP if Successful!

[From a Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr”]

Greetings Avatars,

We need to do some performance stress testing on Monday April 23 at 3 PM on the QA server (prior to Release 53 going live Thursday April 26). So we are going to have a dance party on my ship, the Queen of Chaos, in Rift’s End (a player owned town). During the party the programmers will be profiling and we will summon some boss creatures to fight (and of course degrade performance) underneath the ship.

Remember playing on the QA server and reporting bugs there makes you eligible for the rare testing incentive rewards. However in order to get as many people as possible we are also going to randomly award some additional prizes including some handmade gear by myself and Atos as well as some of the ultra rare testing incentive rewards (corpion chair!!!).

And if we get at least 50 people at the party for 45 minutes we will reward everyone by turning on double XP on the live servers for one week when Release 53 goes live!!!!

Store Credits Exchange to Gold Crowns: May 7th

[From a Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr”]

When we first began our Crowdfunding campaign we created Store Credits to help facilitate the ability for players to purchase and store funds for future spending. As we have moved out of the Crowdfunding and Early Access phase and into commercial sales we have to review and revise several of our monetary policies. One of those that went into effect recently was was our legal obligation to charge taxes for specific territories. Another one of these is Store Credits which are not compatible with international banking laws for specific territories.

Our goal is to provide high quality, fair, and whenever possible, consistent service to all our global customers. Therefore we have made the decision to phase out Store Credits worldwide, rather then just removing them in some territories, while keeping them in other territories (like the US).

We do not want anyone to lose any value in this process so we are going to do an equal value exchange of all Store Credits and Store Credit Coupons worldwide to Gold Crowns on Monday May 7 at 11:00 AM CDT US. Whatever the amount of store credits you have as of that time and date you will get the best and closest exchange rate. For example if you have $100 in store credit you will receive 115 crowns.

This will affect all Portalarium, Travian, and Black Sun customers.

Note that we are investigating the possibility of adding the ability to spend Gold Crowns on the website but in the meantime you can spend them in game at any of our many Gold Crown Merchants. Additionally we are going to be adding Bundles to the in-game Crown Merchants in the next couple of releases (albeit without the ability to upgrade).

R53 Dance Party Apr 27: Double Feature 2-4 & 6-8 PM CDT

[From a Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr”]

Greetings Avatars,

Our traditional Release Dance Parties were held from 2 – 4 PM in the afternoons on the Friday after a release. This was a great time for our European players but a terrible time for our players here in US time zones who were mostly still at work. So for Release 52 we moved the dance party to start at 5 PM and extended it to last 3 hours! Unfortunately that then put the dance party at a VERY late time for our European players, even for a Friday night. 

So for Release 53 we are going to do an experiment where I play two sets for the dance party. The first set will be from 2 – 4 PM CDT. This set is primarily for our European players and any US players who have night shifts. The second set will be from 6 – 8 PM CDT and is primarily for our US players. Of course all are welcome to attend either or both sets although some songs will be repeated between the two sets. 

If this new format is successful it will be the new standard for our dance parties. 

For more details on location and times for the R53 Dance party please view the official post here.

Stream with Us! New Livestreamer Program & Calendar

Calling all livestreamers and livestream viewers across New Britannia! It is time we get the word out to new players and veteran Avatars about your channels. We’ve seen so many great in-game adventures being shown, we want to spotlight them for everyone else to experience!

We are announcing today a calendar program to make it easier for everyone to tune into their favorite streamer, and to support those who stream Shroud of the Avatar. Want to know when someone is on the air? Our calendar will have them listed!

See below for how you can be a part of this exciting new program.

[Read More…]

Lot Deed Monthly Raffle Returns

The Lot Deed Raffle returns in Release 52! Raffle tickets can be purchased with in-game gold from home merchants. Each person can only win a single deed of each type (maximum of one place anywhere and one POT). The drawing will occur and winners will be announced in R53.

There are two raffles, one for each lot type:

Place Anywhere Deeds: 50 Total

  • Row: 20
  • Village: 15
  • Town: 10
  • City: 5

Player Owned Town Deeds: 100 Total

  • Row: 40
  • Village: 30
  • Town: 20
  • City: 10

Raffle tickets grant the holder a chance to win deeds of any size (Row, Village, Town, or City). Raffles will be held monthly (total deed numbers may vary each month). Winners can claim their deed(s) simply by logging into the game and claiming rewards at any bank.

 

Portalarium is Hiring: Web Developer

We currently have an opening for a Web Developer for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the ideal candidate are:

  • Minimum 5 years industry experience
  • *nix experience (OpenBSD or Linux)
  • Web development experience (PHP, web services, JavaScript)
  • Relational database architecture experience (MySql preferred)
  • Server deployment and cluster orchestration (virtual and/or dedicated machines)
  • Server load balancing, traffic prioritization, etc.
  • Extensive experience with server security
  • Strong debugging skills
  • Ability to work in unstructured, non-hierarchical environment
  • BONUS SKILLS (any one or more of these):
    • NoSQL experience
    • Strong C#/C++ skills
    • Windows programming experience
    • ASP.NET
    • Mac development
    • MMO game development experience
    • Minimum of at least 1 shipped game

If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on the ground-breaking Shroud of the Avatar game, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including gameplay, video footage, and document forms (images, maps, and event descriptions).

Free Trial: Choose Any Path

Free Trial access allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play. You will be able to explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia!

Here are the few Visitor limits:

  • The term (Visitor) is appended to their character name
  • Max skill level set to 50
  • Limited to a single Story Path (Truth, Love or Courage)
  • Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
  • No ownership of player property nor use of player property signs
  • Cannot move/interact with items on a player property (even if given permissions)
  • Cannot interact with public chests
  • Cannot give items to other players via Trade or Mail
  • Cannot flag as Open PVP
  • Cannot gain nor create ransom items when you kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
  • Character data may be deleted if not eventually upgraded to a paid account
  • Cannot play in Offline Mode

Join us in New Britannia for free today!

Weekend Flash Sale: Starry Eyes

In Release 52 we added the Observatory Home. Inspired by Richard “Lord British” Garriott’s own home observatory, this incredible new Village sized home has an observatory dome on the third floor that rotates and opens to display the large telescope inside. Peering through the telescope reveals the constellations in the sky (much like using the astrolabe or moondials).

To celebrate we are putting the Observatory Home, Moondials, and clocks on sale!”

Visit the Main Store to view more items! Also, you’ll want to explore the game in detail for many more craftable items available!

Upcoming Events Calendar

April 23, 2018 – Stress Test on QA Server
April 24, 2018 – Richard Garriott at Quo Vadis
April 26, 2018 – Release 53
April 27, 2018 – Release 53 Dance Party
May 4, 2018 – Monthly Livestream: Release 53
May 7, 2018 – Credits to Crowns Conversion
May 31, 2018 – Release 54
June 28, 2018 – Release 55
July 26, 2018 – Release 56
Aug 21 – 25, 2018 – Gamescom
Aug 30, 2018 – Release 57

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.

Screenshot Contest – Winners Announced!

Winners of the ‘Impressions of New Britannia’ Launch Screenshot Contest have been announced! Congrats to the following entrants for some truly amazing screenshot impressions:

TOP 5 WINNERS

deRoque:

Vladamir Begemot:

Feeyo:

Elryin Silvertree:

Alethas:

TOP 7 RUNNER UPS

Paulie Walnuts:

Datendrache:

Arthan Stormbringer:

Stealth2:

Ravenscar:

Sardon777:

Lathiari:

RANDOM 5 TWITTER POSTERS

@arturius_mx:

@_Grimsley:

@Renfail:

@Daedwax:

@Berym:

Contact @Berek to obtain your prize! Please include your Account Name and what you won.

Thanks again all for participating! Stay tuned in just a few days for details of the next contest…

[Read More..]

Spotlight: Aelasar’s Forest – Player Town

Welcome to another Community Spotlight feature! 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 beautiful town of Aelasar’s Forest. The town is located conveniently within Brittany as a nested town.

As told by Governor Cianna:

Welcome, travelers! We’re so happy you made it. Did you have trouble finding us? We are nestled deep in the woods surrounding Central Brittany, to be sure, but that makes it easier to keep a low profile. What’s that you ask? Why do we need to keep a low profile? Hmmm, well, that’s not easy to explain.

When my grandmother, the Outlander Aelasar Soryn, was a young bride, she found the transition from her Earthly life to a Novian one to be very difficult. Her loving husband, my grandfather, Alron, purchased what is now Aelasar’s Forest and gifted it to his young bride, hoping it would ease her homesickness. Through the years, it became Aelasar’s secret haven from the insanity of her new world, and provided a measure of the peaceful Druidic life she’d left behind.

Crafting Hall

[Read More…]

Livestream: The Sounds of Music

Some fine music was made in-game with the latest instruments! Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski was on to play some instruments and walk you through how music can be acquired, as well as how to use the radios, phonographs, and emotes to dance along with the music.

For more livestreams and gameplay videos, be sure to subscribe to www.youtube.com/portalarium!

Diamond Fields Bunny Hunt – Weekends Through R52

PaxLair's Campfire stories events Vol II

From Lace: “All are welcome and we will help coordinate groups. This may involve discord so groups can talk to each other if they lose members and we need to merge groups etc. Details for that provided on need basis days of hunts.

We have our Diamond Fields Heraldry, well I do heh, so taking photos to show it off constantly, but again this event isn’t just for DF residents. We will be doing an early start time, but make some friends and maybe continue the hunt together even long into the day until you get all 6 pieces of artwork. You only have 2 weekends left!”

Message Lace for more information!

Did You Know: Shroud of the Avatar has Tailor and Carpentry Skills?

Avatars! This is Elgarion from @SotAHelp with a regular “Did You Know?” feature. Expect to see these posted regularly on community channels, and here in the weekly update.

Did you know tailors and carpenters in @ShroudofAvatar can work together to create Bone Armor? Using skeleton bones and various lich, demon, troll, dragon and phoenix body parts, this highly sought after light armor could be yours!

We will be rotating these Did You Knows with Getting Started Videos and other related posts. If you have a tip to share, please send them to Berek!

Recommended Project to Support – Denis Loubet Patreon

Our good friend Denis Loubet, and the one responsible for Shroud of the Avatar’s cover art and almost every piece of cover art for Ultima, as well as many other art pieces in SotA’s early days of development, is now running his own project. Denis is creating more Science Fiction and Fantasy Art for you to enjoy. Check it out over at Patreon!

If you remember the Ultima series of computer games, I’m the guy that did most of the covers and the manual illustrations, as well as a lot of the in-game art and animation. I’ve been doing game art since the 80s for companies such as Steve Jackson Games, Hero Games, Origin Systems Inc, Kingsisle, Disney, and many more.

I want to try doing art directly for my fans, with no middleman. That’s the reason for this Patreon project.

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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