Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

Labor Day Crown and Dragon Sale

In honor of Syndcon (the Syndicate guild’s annual conference) and Dragon Con we are having a Labor Day sale starting today! All Crown Packages on the Web Store are on sale for 20% off the regular prices though Monday September 2! Dragon themed items are also more likely to be on sale in the Crown Shop (in-game) through Labor Day so be sure to login each day and check the sale section of the crown shop!

Stone Dragon Statues
Topiary Dragon Statues
Dragon Mask
Wyvern Mask
Dragon Pipe
Dragon Cane
Silver Baby Clockwork Dragon Pet

Release 69 on QA (Live Next Thursday)

An early version of Release 69 is on the QA server. Release 69 is full of new content and fixes, some of which is now on the QA server for early testing. An early version of the Release 69 Instructions is also available for review. We could really use everyone’s help to test all of this amazing content before it goes live next Thursday August 29!

Comet Return
Aether Creatures Return: Aether Dragon, Aether Lich, Aether Corpion
Despair: New High Tier Dungeon
Polar Mutilator Bear
Ferocious Warp Spider
Grandmaster Enchantments
Deco Palettes
No-Trade Items as Decorations
Release 65 Livestream Items: Heroes
R69 Rewards Program Items: Heat Theme!
Performance Improvements
More Bug Fixes
and more!

Please join us in testing on the QA server (instructions are posted each release in the bug forums) so we can make each release the best it can be. By helping us test prior to the release we can insure there are less bugs, more stability, and more balance.

Participating qualifies you for the Testing Incentives Program! We will reward you for your efforts because we do understand that time spent on QA is time lost on advancing your character on live. Each release we will randomly reward the following rewards (one prize per player):

500 Gold Crowns (4 prizes)
Ant Farm (4 prizes)
Antennae (4 prizes)
Bug Cloak (4 prizes)
Set of Bug Paintings (4 prizes)
Bug Sprayer with emote (1 prize)
Insect Leg Table (1 prize)
Corpion Chair (1 prize)

In order to qualify you must meet the following requirements:

Install the QA version of the game
Login and play on QA for at least 4 hours per release
Report at least 1 bug in the QA section of the forums
Note that players will only be submitted for the lottery once per QA cycle. Continued bug reporting will not count toward additional submissions into the lottery.

Thanks Avatars!

Despair Dungeon Tour Livestream Today!

Another content packed weekly Community Livestream is today, Friday August 23, at 5 PM CT on Twitch! Please note the later starting time!

This week we are going to give a tour our newest dungeon which is going live as soon as Release 69: Despair! It is rumored to be the most challenging area in the game! It is full of the highest tier Spiders, Polar Bears, Dragons, and Obsidians! You have been warned!

Release 68 Rewards Program Exclusive Items (Lord British!)

This month’s exclusive items for the Rewards Program are Lord British themed! Just be part of the Rewards Program during Release 68 to receive these exclusive rewards.

NOTE: You must login during the release to receive each month’s exclusive rewards.

Lord British Round Shield
Lord British Leather Helm
Lord British Silver Serpent Spear

As usual we will be giving out prizes at 5:15 and 5:45! To be eligible all you need to do is either make any purchase in the store or log into the game and type “Happy Belated Birthday Lord British” in the chat window (no purchase necessary).

Watch on Twitch this Friday at 5 PM CDT!

Are You a Livestreamer?

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

8/23 Crown Shop Updates

Greetings Avatars,

One more week to get the Elven items that are mostly from the expired Elven stretch goal store including the original Elven Outfits and the Elven House in a Hill!

The Vault: Current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, August 29 at 10:30 AM Central Time. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for two weeks, and then the next, etc.
- Elven Cloak
- Ancient Elven Bow
- Elven Warrior Armor
- Elven Archer Armor
- Elven Mage Robes
- Elven House in a Hill
- Monarch Butterfly Pet
- Golden Dragonfly Pet
- Black Stag Pet

Lord British’s Birthday Make a Difference and Episode 2 Stretch Goal Stores 50% Price Drop!

To celebrate Lord British’s birthday on July 4 we have reduced the prices on every item in the Make a Difference and Episode 2 Stretch Goal Store by 50%! Check out the stores for all the amazing items including the Reaper Sapling Pet, Water.org Glowing Mug, Pink Dual Wax Cylinder Phonograph with Emotes, Barn Two-Story Village Home and more!

Episode 2 Stretch Goal Store

Nature Charity

Safe Water and Sanitation Charity

Breast Cancer Charity

Autism Awareness Charity

Movember

Children & Family Charities

August Login Reward: Fire Potions

We are excited to announce the the August login reward! To celebrate the heat of the summer every player who logs in during the month of August will receive a set of Fire Potions that when consumed convey a unique buff!

To receive the rewards simply login to the game before the end of August and check your rewards tab!

Release 68 Reward Program Exclusive Items: Lord British!

Lord British’s birthday was July 4th so we decided to make the Rewards Program items for Release 68 be Lord British themed in his honor! Reward Program members will receive these exclusive items immediately upon logging in during Release 68!

- Lord British Round Shield
- Lord British Leather Helm
- Lord British Silver Serpent Spear

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Gold Crowns, AND receive exclusive monthly reward items!

For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Gold Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Exclusive Monthly Reward Items (~ 3 per month)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
Pick any Dye 12 Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including:
- Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity
- Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance
- Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills
- Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills
- Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage
- Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills

Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles

As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of the Portalarium Offices, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold!

Complete List of Rewards:

UPDATED: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land!
Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle
NEW: Unique Lord of the Isle Home (to be revealed later)
UPDATED: PLUS Choice of any 1 House currently available in the store
Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice
Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot)
NEW: Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (to be revealed later)
1400 Crowns
999 Bank Slots
Pick 12 Prosperity Tools
2 Unique in-game items (to be revealed later)
Early Access to Episode 2
Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team
1 hour one on one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference)
One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8
In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version)
Tour of Portalarium Offices
Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, & Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC.

NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD.

NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Portalarium for Tour & Dinner.

New Scenes & Various Other Livestreams (YouTube)

The Fetid Water Fishing Contest Livestream last week was a blast! Here is the livestream from our YouTube channel in case you missed it:

Atos and others have also been livestreaming most days and you can check those out on our YouTube channel (complete with “Mojito the dog” cam). Note that if you subscribe to the channel you will be notified when he goes live. Here are a few highlights:

Upcoming Events Calendar

Be sure to check out the Forums Recurring Events section for other events!

Aug 29, 2019 – Release 69
Sept 6 – Release 69 Livestream
Sept 14 – Release 69 Dance Party
Sept 26 – Release 70
Oct 10 – 13 – SOTA International Convention
Oct 31 – Release 71
Nov 14 – Release 72
Dec 12 – Release 73
Jan 30 – Release 74
Feb 27 – Release 75
Mar 26 – Release 76

Meretz: Win a Shogun City Water Home

Win a Shogun City Water Home & earn free SotA in-game items daily!

Whether you move a little or a lot, as a Meretz user you rack up valuable Meretz Points (MPs). The more MPs you have, the more stuff you can buy!

Think: in-game SotA goodies, Sweepstakes entries, Relics by Rild giveaways, and tons more. With Meretz, we launch several sweepstakes every month. This month, we’re giving away a Shogun City Water Home ! You can also enter to win a Relics By Rild $50 Gift Card and other cool prizes. AND, use your MPs every day for in-game items like potions and emotes.

What’re you waiting for? Download Meretz TODAY!

Community Event: CHAOS CHECKERS Tournament

[Forum Post by Lace]

By Royal Warrant Diamond Fields / Prism Presents a Chaos Checkers Tourney
Saturday August 24th 12pm NBT at the ‘Gamestop’ in Diamond Fields.
(located just east of the crafting pavilion)

You can pick up your copy of the rule book on the 4th floor public cache at this venue.

Single Elimination
This will be a single elimination bracket run with 4 games simultaneously running with a 15 minute max time limit. We will allow up to 16 players total to compete, meaning that the event will last approximately 1.5 hours for shift changes and awards. First round will be ANTI checkers, followed by regular and depending on the number of participants this will rotate, BUT, the final round will be ANTI-checkers no matter what cause you know .. CHAOS!

Prizes
First place is your own checker themed outfit including crown and golden goblet proclaiming your victory. Also included is your own tabletop checkers set and 1500 cotos.

Second place is your own checker themed outfit including crown and ceramic goblet proclaiming your near victory. Also included is your own tabletop checkers set and 500 cotos.

(first place picks style of outfit and appropriate cup will be awarded, and note while these are on a male and female mannequin they are unisex outfits)

Referees
We will be playing 4 games simultaneously until the finals, and referees are only there to rule on disputes/draws, players need to be respectful and try at all costs to police themselves. Intentional disruption will result in disqualification, lot/pot bans etc. If you would like to help with this tournament by being a referee please contact Lace Delamorte in game, or via Lace on the forums.
(note you will get a nifty black/white/zebra outfit for your aid.)

Join us in Diamond Fields to celebrate the grand opening of Gamestop, your one stop shop for taming supplies, rugs and mounted trophies along with publicly usable chess and checkers sets. We are a no kill shelter and will not adopt out our pets for any planning to endanger them. These pets are looking for their furever home and along your side at dance parties and rp events as part of your extended family with their unique dancing styles.

Other Gamestop amenities include a full service bar, luncheonette, private tea parlor with piano and rotating playable sheet music, along with a whiskey tasting lounge on the first floor.

*Please note all rugs and head mounts were obtained from animals too severley injured by hunters to be rehabilitated and had to be euthanized.

Community Event: Welcome Quest Release 69

[Forum Post by Duke Gréagóir]

By Appointment to
His Majesty Lord British
Welcome Quest Makers

You are invited to join the Welcome Quest in Release 69.

This is a Player ran event – Portalarium (makers of Shroud of the Avatar) is not represented.

This is NOT a PVP event. Please don’t plan on PVPing at this event.

It will be held on Sunday, September 8th, 2019 starting at 12pm (noon) central time/New Britannian time and lasting an hour. It is in your in-game Events book.

Greagoir Pendragon will be active 30 minutes before the event and during the event. So you can teleport to Greagoir Pendragon if you wish.

We are traveling to the town of New Britannian Market, which is located to the east of Central Brittany.

You can also search for the town in the SOTA Map web site – https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/

Are you with us?

Purpose:

The Welcome Quest is a quest for all people to see many towns and establishments. It is created as a way for people to visit many player-ran locations. It involves each town and establishment to give the quest person some information and then instructions to go to the next location (a town or establishment) to do something. The path may be sequential from place to place or in parallel to multiple places at the same time. The goal is for towns and establishments to showcase their places, educate the people, and work with other player-ran towns/establishments. We do the Welcome Quest 4 items a year, one in each season.

We are proud to be the first player-ran quest in SotA! We do it for all of you.

More information is located at: http://sotawiki.net/sota/Community:Quests/Welcome_Quest#Welcome_Quests_in_Releases

Welcome Torch changes – testing and answers due to burnout

With Release 38, all torches changed physically. The durability started to decrease when the torch is held onto. This change also affected the Welcome Torch you receive from the Welcome Quest.

With Release 41 you now can repair your own Welcome Torches with a carpentry repair kit and a carpentry table.

Map:

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.

Avatar’s Update #346: Labor Day Sale, R69 on QA, Dungeon Tour Livestream Today