Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Release 83 brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a plethora of new features, content, and fixes! The new Mount System is available! A new adventure scene known as “The Breach” is ready to challenge battled-hardened adventurers! The changes to the Player-Owned Town Teleporters are now live! 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
Mounts of New Britannia Revealed!
Rideable mounts have arrived in New Britannia! Now, players of Shroud of the Avatar will be able to zip across the lands of Novia, Hidden Vale, and Mistrendur atop 16 beautiful mounts, with many additional varieties coming in the near future! Of note, 6 of the Crown Store mounts will also be obtainable by players who already own particular foal decoration pets! Also, 3 of the new mounts will be obtainable through exchange of the tamed versions of those horses. Additionally, to add a bit of spice and fun to riding, 4 new mounted skills have been added to the Tactics Skill Tree!
The first iteration of mounts added to the game are as follows, and should become available throughout the early part of R83:
- Appaloosa Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- Bay Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
- Black Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- Black Unicorn Mount (Crowns)
- Blanket Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
- Buckskin Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- Dun Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- Ghost Horse Mount (Crowns)
- Nightmare Mount (Crowns)
- Palomino Horse Mount (Taming Necklace Exchange)
- Roan Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- Shadow Horse Mount (Crowns)
- Skeleton Horse Mount (Crowns)
- White Horse Mount (Crowns, Foal Exchange)
- White Unicorn Mount (Crowns)
- Zombie Horse Mount (Crowns)
Following through with the old webstore mount stretch goals, players with the following foal decoration pets will soon be able to trade-in these pets at a quest NPC to receive domesticated versions of the foal PLUS the corresponding Crown Store horse mount! Also, players will receive domesticated versions of the foals from all future Crown Store purchases. Whether a domesticated foal version is received via the foal quest trade-in or through a future store purchase, the domesticated versions of these foals cannot be traded-in at the quest NPC. More details are coming soon, but the current plans for the trade-ins at the quest NPC will yield the following:
- Appaloosa Foal, Trade-in Yields: Appaloosa Foal (Domesticated), Appaloosa Horse Mount
- Black Foal, Trade-In Yields: Black Foal (Domesticated), Black Horse Mount
- Buckskin Foal, Trade-In Yields: Buckskin Foal (Domesticated), Buckskin Horse Mount
- Dun Foal, Trade-In Yields: Dun Foal (Domesticated), Dun Horse Mount
- Roan Foal, Trade-In Yields: Roan Foal (Domesticated), Roan Horse Mount
- White Foal, Trade-In Yields: White Foal (Domesticated), White Horse Mount
Three of the new mounts are specifically reserved for the tamers of New Britannia! Tamers will be able to exchange their tamed horse pets for a bridle, which is the inventory item that allows players to summon a mount. More details will soon be revealed, but current plans will allow players to trade-in the following Taming Necklaces:
- Taming Necklace (Bay Horse), Trade-In Yields: Bay Horse Mount
- Taming Necklace (Blanket Horse), Trade-In Yields: Blanket Horse Mount
- Taming Necklace (Palomino Horse), Trade-In Yields: Palomino Horse Mount
To provide players some additional functionality as riders gallop across New Britannia, 4 additional skills have been added to the Tactics Skill Tree:
- Horsemanship (+Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
- Horse Gallop Speed (+Mounted Sprint Speed)
- Horse Carry Capacity Focus (-Mounted Speed, +Mounted Carry Capacity)
- Horse Speed Focus (+Mounted Speed, -Mounted Carry Capacity
These newly created mounts are just the beginning! Players can expect many more mount varieties to come their way in the future! Please stay tuned for more mount related news just on the horizon.
Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!
Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, October 30th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team 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 Adventure Scene: The Breach!
Another adventure scene is nearing release and will become available in early R83 to challenge players of Shroud of the Avatar! Chris “Atos” Spears has created a new style of boss encounter which can only be experienced in The Breach, a new adventure scene 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. The Breach features improved performance over Dysborg Ruins, and the creature spawns have been expanded considerably. For players to best the creatures and wave event within The Breach, team-oriented tactics must also be employed!
Players must face four guardian elemental mini-bosses which spawn in key locations. Each elemental has a five minute respawn timer. Two of these elementals are highly resistant to magic. The other two elementals are highly resistant to physical damage. All four elementals 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 elementals 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, Avatars! Will you accept this challenge and defeat the denizens of The Breach? May the Virtues guide thee…
Player-Owned Town Teleporter Update!
Governors and stewards of Player-Owned Towns (POT) can now enjoy extra functionality with their premium NPC Town teleporters. Currently, these 3 teleporters only take players to a single NPC Town. As of Release 83, they have received additional capabilities, and the names of these 3 teleporters have been adjusted to coincide with the changes to their functionality as follows:
- “Teleporter to Ardoris” name changed to “Shogun Teleporter”
- “Teleporter to Central Brittany” name changed to “Bell Tower Teleporter”
- “Teleporter to Owl’s Head” name changed to “Tower Archway Teleporter “
Not only can governors and stewards adjust which towns these 3 teleporters point to, but all NPC Towns, Player-Run Towns (PRT) and POTs are available as destinations. Of note, the prices for these 3 teleporters have been significantly reduced.
Along these same lines, the recently added POT Interconnection Teleporters have also received name changes. In a similar fashion, all of these teleporters now allow for NPC Town, PRT, and POT destinations. Now that teleportation to NPC Towns is available through player-placed decoration items, POT service vouchers can no longer be utilized for new POT to NPC Town interconnections. The names of these teleporters have changed as follows:
- “Player-Owned Town Wagon” name changed to “Wagon Teleporter”
- “Player-Owned Town Hatch” name changed to “Hatch Teleporter”
- “Player-Owned Town Balloon” name changed to “Balloon Teleporter”
- “Player-Owned Town Boat” name changed to “Boat Teleporter”
We hope this Quality of Life (QOL) improvement enhances the gameplay experience of town governors, stewards, and residents. So many more QOL improvements are just on the horizon, so stay tuned, Avatars!
Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund
Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need:
“No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com)
Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated.
Crowns, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales!
Avatars! Sales for the Halloween season are upon us! Crowns are on sale for 20% off! Players will have the entire holiday weekend to enjoy the discount. Deed Upgrades are ALSO 20% off! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. But that’s not all! The Two-Hour Flash Sales event returns for another round and start today at 1PM CT! So watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! All sales should start shortly!
Players have until Wednesday, November 3rd at 1PM CST to take advantage of these great discounts, at which time all 3 sales events expire. Happy shopping, Avatars!
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Cabalist Avara Hood
