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

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!

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 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

Latest Store Additions: Conversationalists & Seasonal Items!

Additional Inky NPCs have been added to the store with MANY more soon on the way! Players can now enjoy customizing the dialogue for a variety of Kobold, Satyr and even a Faun Conversationalists!

  • Conversationalist, Kobold Ghost 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Fighter 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Archer 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Mage 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Brawler 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Grenadier 1
  • Conversationalist, Kobold Gunner 1
  • Conversationalist, Satyr Fighter 1
  • Conversationalist, Satyr Archer 1
  • Conversationalist, Satyr Mage 1
  • Conversationalist, Faun 1

The fall and spooky store season is upon us, Avatars! From September 24th to November 6th, the following items will be available either in the Vault or as a recurring spooky/fall item:

  • Baby Black & Orange Spider Pet
  • Blood Spurting Headless Mask
  • Bloodraven Pet
  • Breathe Spiders Emote
  • Day of the Dead Colorful Mask
  • Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Top Hat
  • Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Veil
  • Day of the Dead Mask
  • Day of the Dead Mask 6-Pack
  • Day of the Dead Mask with Top Hat
  • Day of the Dead Mask with Veil
  • Dead Tree with Spider Webs 6-Pack
  • Ghost Cat Decoration Pet
  • Ghost Dog Decoration Pet
  • Ghost Raven Decoration Pet
  • Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
  • Giant Lich Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
  • Grim Reaper Mask
  • Grim Reaper Mask 2016
  • Grim Reaper Statue
  • Headless Horseman Grim Reaper Statue 2017
  • Headless Mask
  • Jabbering Bertha
  • Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2015
  • Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2016
  • Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2017
  • Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2018
  • Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2015
  • Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2016
  • Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2017
  • Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2018
  • Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2015
  • Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2016
  • Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2017
  • Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2018
  • Juggle Jack O’ Lanterns
  • Juggle Severed Arms Emote
  • Juggle Severed Heads
  • Juggle Skulls Emote
  • Juggle Zombie Arms Emote
  • Juggle Zombie Heads
  • Large Headless Horseman Grim Reaper Statue 2017
  • Large Nightmare Statue
  • Large Spooky Fountain
  • Ornate Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
  • Ornate Scythe
  • Ornate Scythe 2017
  • Ornate Scythe 2017 Pattern Pack
  • Ornate Scythe Pattern Pack
  • Ornate Skull Candle
  • Ornate Spider Legs Cloak
  • Prisoner’s Mask
  • Puke Blood Emote
  • Rain Spiders Emote
  • Rotten Armor Outfit
  • Rotten Flesh Cloak
  • Skull Cloak
  • Spider Web Cloak
  • Spooky Wax Cylinder Pack
  • Tall Dead Hedge Fence
  • Torn and Tattered Wedding Dress Outfit
  • Torn and Tattered Wedding Tuxedo Outfit
  • Undead Specimen Vats Set
  • Witch’s Hat
  • Woven Spider Web Cloak
  • Zombie Cat
  • Zombie Dog
  • Zombie Mask
  • Zombie One-Eyed Mask
  • Zombie Raven
  • Zombie Statue

October Login Reward: Blood Spurting Headless Mask!

Do you have the strange urge to decapitate yourself and spew blood upon your friends and enemies? Well… now you can! October’s login reward is a Blood Spurting Headless Mask! Simply log in during the month of October, and this mask will become available in the Rewards Window.

Release 82 Rewards Program Login Items: Lord British & Spooky Themed!

Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 82 are Lord British and spooky themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 82 to receive these login items:

  • Ghost Conversationalist
  • Skeleton Set 2 (5-Pack)
  • Lord British Plate Greaves

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

  • 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
  • Monthly Login 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

The Bug Brigade Rides Again!

The Bug Brigade was established to assist the community and the development team to work together to improve the game. Since then 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 player-base, and for that reason the program has been revamped and is being relaunched.

The program is now open to all players in good standing and bug rewards are back! They will be awarded on a progression basis monthly with only a minimal requirement to be filled to qualify.

We are bringing the bug forums current and will make every effort to have triage and intake for each validated bug. To assist in doing this we have asked Alley Oop, Justyn, and Tazar to take on a moderator role within the bug and feedback forums. Please congratulate them the next time you see them in the game or on the forums!

The Bug Brigade will be open to all. If you feel the game is your home, sign up and assist us in making it a better place to live! To sign up, read the post “Bug Brigade Rides Again!” in the main Bug/Feedback forums for both the Live or Player Test areas in the official forums. If you have trouble finding them, please ask a Hospitaller, or one of the Moderators via PM in the forums or in Discord.

Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams

Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel (complete with “Mojito the dog” cam). Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!!




Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at our other social media venues:

Are You a Livestreamer?

Soon, the Streaming Reward Program will be returning. As the details are getting reworked, we’ll reveal more information. Traditional streaming rewards included an exclusive in-game Streamer Camera for being a veteran of our Streaming Program! Expect the camera reward to return! More goodies will come to your way as the program fully develops. Thank you for streaming Shroud of the Avatar!

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 Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold!

Complete List of Rewards:

  • 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
  • Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above)
  • NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.)
  • Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!)
  • Choice of 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)
  • Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later)
  • 140,000 Crowns
  • 1000 Bank Slots
  • Pick 12 Prosperity Tools
  • Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item)
  • Unique In-Game Emote (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 Lord British’s property
  • Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and 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, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD.

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

Upcoming Events Calendar

Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums:

2020 Release Schedule:

  • Release 83 – Oct 29
  • Release 84 – Nov 19
  • Release 85 – Dec 17

Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney

Greetings Anglers! The weekly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! These contests run for 1 week intervals, Friday Noon to Friday Noon CT.  We’ll announce the winners every Friday during the livestream.

Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry.

Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 9th at Noon CT to Friday the 16th at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week:

  • Largest FRESHWATER Fish (Town):
    • Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns. Governs can request loaner water conversion statues.
    • Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy
  • Largest Fish (PvP):
    • Rules: Must be caught in Libris Ruins
    • Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy
  • Largest Lava Fish:
    • Rules: Must be caught in Bunker C
    • Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy
  • Participation Prizes:
    • Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations
    • Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy

Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone.

  • Current Crossovers:
    • PaxLair: The residents of PaxLair have a wondrous spin-off contest announced! If you’d like a chance for additional fun and prizes, check on the main forum post on this topic.
    • Brittany Fort: A fantastic 2 week contest which features prizes and goals even a beginner or casual angler can compete! If you’d like more information, check on the main forum post on this topic.
    • Novia Market: Head on over to Novia Market to compete in this spin-off contest run by Adam Crow and friends! Great prizes from a great community! 2 prizes every day! For more information, please visit the main forum post on this topic.
    • Dark Bayou: Daily prizes! A large prize for the entire week! Find out more on the main forum post on this topic.

How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch.

Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Community Event: Extra Life Charity Event

We gamers have a chance to help sick kids on Saturday, November 7, by doing what we do best: playing games! Extra Life is a 24-hour video game marathon to raise money to help kids at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. All the money raised for Extra Life will go directly to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital of your choice. Browncoat Jayson is playing for the Dell Children’s Medical Center, located in Austin Texas (the home of our SotA developers). This year, Jayson will be streaming Shroud of the Avatar live for 24-hours over on his Twitch.tv channel. For more information about this charity event or how you can become involved, be sure to check out the main forum post on this topic on the official forums.

Community Event: Terrifying Tea Tales

Join the Jade Dragons and come on over to Jade Gardens on the middle island of the Mistrendur to find out why the freshwater in Jade Gardens turns fetid each October. Enter the fishing contest, hear the story, and have a dance with your favorite Avatars while enjoying the music from Stryker Sparhawk!

  • When: October 18th, 3PM to 5PM CT
  • Where: Jade Gardens

For more information about this charity event or how you can become involved, be sure to check out the main forum post on this topic on the official forums.

Community Event: Net’s Diary

Curious what lands and discoveries community member Net has visited of late? Be sure to pop on by “Net’s Diary with Pictures” to keep tabs on this adventurous soul. Kudos to Goriah Kuulas for this intriguing wilderness perch!

Community Event: Kobold Invasion Event

As the new stone towers of Ironhall City were erected, reports of nearby Kobold sightings were brought to the Fortress and Knight’s Watch. These creatures have not been seen near Ironhall since the last war, a destructive event that left the Kingdom in ruins. Will you join and help us defend our lands?

  • When: Sunday, October 11th, 7PM CT
  • Where: Ironhall City

For more story information about this spectacular player-created role-playing event, please see the main forum post on the official forums.

Community Event: TheAvatar.Express Needs You!

If you’re looking for a great way to get involved in the Shroud of the Avatar community, then look no further! The fine folks at TheAvatar.Express are looking for some new reporters. Avatars wishing to help with the following are highly desired:

  • Developer Stream Summaries
  • Twitter Reposting
  • In-Game Event Coverage
  • Events Calendar Management
  • New Features/Changes Tutorials
  • Interviews
  • Editorials
  • Any other game stuff you want to cover!

Also, the Avatar Express is going to be visiting POTs and writing one or two articles highlighting Shroud of the Avatar’s great community! If you are interested in having your town featured, please reply to this thread with your town’s name. You will be contacted to answer a few questions about the town and will be notified when the article is to be published!

To sign up as a reporter, visit https://theavatar.express/be-a-reporter. If you have any questions, feel free to start a private conversation with that_shawn_guy on the forums or shawnbutts #4362 on Discord. For more information, please also visit the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums.

Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree

Greetings Avatars! Starting this month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian!

  • Where: Crafters Town
  • When: October 1st to October 31st

For more information about contest guidelines and prizes, please see the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums. Happy sales hunting, shoppers!

Community Event: Beran’s Reach Auction

Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Beran’s Reach welcome you the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Beran’s Reach market being the perfect place to do so!

  • When: Sundays, 2PM CT
  • Where: Beran’s Reach

For more information about the auction house event, see the main thread on this topic on the official forums. Happy bidding, Avatars!

Community Event: The Poets’ Circle Returns

Kailef of the Poets’ Circle is back in action, and he’s ready to assist Avatars through the process of custom music review for possible inclusion into the game. Every Player-Owned Town has a customizable soundtrack available to it, and adding one’s own music to that soundtrack most certainly adds a personal flair to one’s governing endeavors. If you’re interested in requesting the assistance of Kailef or simply learning more about this process, please visit the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums.

Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla

Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming!

Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:


The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game:

  • More Enemies!
  • More Environments!
  • More Magic Spells!
  • RPG Quests!
  • Weapon Forging and Crafting!
  • Much, much more!

If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available!

Project to Support: Jar Wars


While you are delving into Virtual Reality (VR), be sure to check out this exciting and hilarious new game, Jar Wars! Our very own Darkstarr has been busy on some side projects, one of which is Jar Wars, a slapstick multiplayer game made just for VR enthusiasts. Battle your friends with wacky weapons and intriguing gadgets for total domination of the Moon! Available for free on Steam!

Project to Support: Dragon Fight

Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey:

  • Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you
  • Using a sword and a shield
  • Fire!
  • Nowhere to run!

This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam!

Project to Support: Crowfall

Be part of shaping the next great MMO by becoming a Crowfall Backer! Crowfall is the first and only online Throne War game. You can win. Join intense PvP battles that demand strategy, survival and a fierce competitive spirit. Reap the spoils of war as an Eternal Champion!

Claim virtual territory on behalf of your guild or faction. Capture mines, mills, and quarries to secure resources, build castles, and besiege your neighbors. Scavenge artifacts and relics from the Dying Worlds and install them in your temples to grant blessings to your vassals. Capture lost spirits to do your bidding — or bind them into your weapons to infuse them with sorcerous power!

Project to Support: Avatar Express

[Forum post by Vladamir Begemot]

I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site.

If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening.

You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no committment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like.

Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immidiate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game.

It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts!

So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us!

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.