Join us for another Community of the Avatar livestream! We will be touring Hometown, as well as bringing onto the show a special guest to talk about all the homes available in the game.
Head on over to Hometown after the Fire Lotus Dance Party if you want to meet us! Community manager Berek will be leading the tour. The fun begins live on Twitch at 4pm CT this Friday!
[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 36 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, November 17, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (16:30 UTC).
Short Release: Normally our release cycle lasts approximately four weeks, giving us 3 weeks of development time and 1 week of polish before the release goes live on the last Thursday of the month. However, November and December have the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays which requires us to do our release earlier in those months. That only gives us 2 weeks of development time and 1 week of polish before we release. Read more…
Periodically, NPC towns will come under siege by the Obsidian Cabalists. The timing, duration, and location of these sieges will be driven by Celestial Mechanics. When you attempt to enter a town under siege, you will first enter the Town Siege scene where the enemy has made camp outside the town and is fighting the town defenders. You can choose to join the battle and end the siege early or work your way around the perimeter, perhaps encountering only some scouting parties.
We hope to have the first iteration of this feature and one map live in Release 37.
[A Dev+ Forum Posts by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf and Keith “Sannio” Quinn]
Hey folks, Sea-Wolf here with some screenshots for the new forest siege encounters!
The Entrance
Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
“The abandoned shells of buildings looked silently down on them from either side of the road.”
– From The Sword of Midras by Tracy Hickman & Richard Garriott
The Making of Midras Ruins
The Midras Ruins are one of the six ruined cities found in Novia that date back to the period in Novian history in which the Obsidian Order rose to power. (As described in the Sword of Midras prequel novel by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott). The exact history of some of these cities has been lost to time, but it is rumored that some of them may have been abandoned even before the rise of the Obsidians. Midras, in particular, is significant because it is the location of the Crypt of the Avatar. Note that all eight of the ruins are Open PVP zones.
Midras started as a clone of the Opalis Ruins but is getting completely rebuilt this release to have a unique layout and visuals. We are expressly focusing on being sure the map has interesting setups for PVP conflict, with plenty of space for hiding, escaping, ambushing, and skirmishing.
[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]
Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here to give you an update on the Ruins of Midras coming this R36!
The Ruins of Midras are nestled in the peaks of Midmaer. I took a lot of inspiration from its reference in Blade of the Avatar along with adding my own take to the map.
Aesthetically I was inspired by the city of Osgiliath in the LOTR. Especially the idea of having ruins that had vertical space and were now only frames of what they had once been.
Congratulations winners of the ‘Homes of New Britannia’ House Decorating Contest! We had over 60 participants and some truly amazing home entries. As we toured each one, we smiled, laughed, and even cried (in a good way!) at some of the decorating themes. Well done by all!
As we announced, the winners were organized by themes. We had one change and that was the removal of the Steampunk theme, since no one decorated their house in this way. To replace it, we added another “All-around well decorated” winner, since we had so many entries for that category.
And the winners are…
Location: Owl’s Head (124.8, 72.0, 109.4)
Read more…
Join us Thursday, November 10th at 3:00 PM Central (21:00 UTC) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! The team will be chatting about Release 35 and looking ahead to the Fall into Winter telethon later in the month!
As always, we will be giving out rare Lord British artifacts of immense power and glory, and answering your latest questions. For a chance to win an artifact, or to speak your voice on the latest game changes, be in Discord chat during the livestream. There will be multiple chances to win throughout the broadcast!
UPDATE! Livestream has concluded. You can now watch the archived recording on YouTube here:
This week’s community spotlight features the Player Owned Town, Beran’s Reach! 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.
Here is what I witnessed while I roamed this holiday themed town:
On a high peak dominating the environs of Central Sanctus, the walled Metropolis of Beran’s Reach takes a commanding position in the wilds north of Regalis. For many who live within the northern realms, ‘the Reach’ has become synonymous with sanctuary from the great dangers that lurk within the moors and forests, both men and beast alike. It is, perhaps, with no degree of relief that my caravan rounded corner to reveal the stark, imposing walls and turrets that mark the outskirts of the settlement-proper.
After being ushered in by grim-faced guards, I must admit that I was taken aback by the splendor of a bustling settlement, a far cry from from the wilderness beyond.
[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]
Awhile back, when I was working on the fireplace sets, we had a discussion pertaining to the possibility of Yuletide Season stockings that could be hung from the mantels… I know this wasn’t the first time this subject had come up, but until that moment we hadn’t really had the chance to dig into the tech enough to attempt to create this kind of container for the sake of “hanging” from small surfaces and other deco objects… The folks here seemed to like the idea, and many of you seemed excited by it too, so guess what I had the chance to work on this week! Here’s the four initial stockings in Max… On the far right is the basic, rustic craft-able Yuletide stocking (at least for this year) based on the crochet stocking actually made for me by my mother long ago, and to its left you can see the Yule 2016 Large, Medium, and Small versions, which are all a part of the same visual “family” of stockings that will be available in the Add-On Store for this year’s Yule… I’ve already found a number of other “looks” that have inspired me for later types, and which I’ve set aside for years to come,…but these you see here will be the exclusive set for 2016!
Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
Happy Halloween from the Portalarium Team!
We hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable Halloween this week! We certainly did! One of the perks of having a full-time community manager onsite is being able to plan community events for the Portalarium team members! Thanks to Mathew “Berek” Anderson for coordinating our very first annual Portalarium Halloween Costume Contest! The contestants were voted on by the Portalarium team across four categories, and the winners were:
This week’s community spotlight features the Player Owned Town, Bay Lunaire!
As told from a visit to the town by your community wood elf druid, Berek, Bay Lunaire is nested off of the docks in Central Brittany. The location is perfect for quick access to trade in some of the busiest areas in Novia, and to Kingsport from Central Brittany. Once you are in the town, it’s a breeze to get to all of Brittany’s neighborhoods with a quick boat ride from the docks.
Here is what I witnessed while I roamed this beautiful town that shares so much of the life that nearby Brittany has to offer:
