Updates

Outlaw Country Musician Shooter Jennings to Unveil Latest Album, Countach, in Shroud of the Avatar

 

You are invited to the Ultimate Album Premier of the Decade!

SHOOTER JENNINGS, with Marilyn Manson, Brandi Carlile, Steve Young, and Lord British, in his newest album, Countach!

Groups from around New Britannia are joining forces to bring you the party you will never forget!

Join us in-game for events: quests, parties, and a world premier first time listen of the entire album

Party goers will assemble at 7 pm CT (GMT -06:00) at the Bear Tavern in the player town of Beran’s Reach on the western coast of Spindrift Bay (or /zone Balec deCani).

Attendees have the chance to win prizes, including:
Pink Vinyl physical copies of Countach
In-Game Wax Cylinders of Shooter Jennings Tracks!

The event will be broadcast live on Avatars Radio (http://avatarsradio.info/)
With live video streaming by RizeUp Gaming (http://www.twitch.tv/rizeupgaming)

Thanks To:

Shooter Jennings – For the opportunity to bring you this party!
Amber Raine – For co-sponsoring and broadcasting the event on Avatars Radio
Gabriel Nightshadow, Elgarion De Kahli, Asclepius & NBTT – For the performances and quests
Minerva, Aimend, Athanil et Team – For decorating the multiple event locations
Kazyn Phoenixfyre, Eclipse Maiden, RizeUp Gaming – for live video streaming on Twitch.tv
Duke Violation & OoV – For coordinating event security
The Bear Tavern – For hosting the kickoff party
Wake Up New Britannia – The Pre-show on Avatars Radio!
Speck – For nurturing the idea to fruition!
(…and many, many others)

IF you only plan to attend one party in Shroud of the Avatar this month,
THIS is the party you do not want to miss!

Shooter_Jennings

In Shooter’s Own Words…

When news recently got out that outlaw country musician Shooter Jennings, son of the country music icons Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, planned to hold the World Premier of his new album, Countach, inside of the fantasy role-playing game Shroud of the Avatar, one news outlet dubbed it “…arguably the weirdest gaming event of all time.”

When asked why he chose such a unique venue to unveil his latest album, this is what he had to say:

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #163 – 2016.02.12: Happy Birthday Avatars Radio!, Making of Skrekk, Halls of Artifice, Valentine’s Day Events, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

  • Happy Birthday Avatars Radio!
  • The Making of Skrekk
  • The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
  • Valentine Scavenger Hunt & After Event Party
  • The New Britannia Breast Cancer Awareness Biathlon
  • Happy Valentine’s Day!
  • 17 Day Countdown for Stretch Goal Store Expiration
  • Backer Shipping Addresses
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back

Happy Birthday Avatars Radio!

24w6fe9[1]

We’d like to wish a heartfelt “Happy Birthday” to Avatars Radio! Founded by Amber Raine, Avatars Radio is the first, and oldest, Shroud of the Avatar radio station, dating all the way back to SotA Release #1!

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #162 – 2016.02.05: Shores of Malice, Artifice Entrance, R26 Postmortem, Greenhouses, New Player Owned Town Templates, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

  • The Making of Shores of Malice
  • The Entrance to Artifice
  • Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 26 Postmortem
  • New Greenhouses
  • New Player Owned Town Templates
  • In-game Community Events
  • This Week In the News
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back

The Making of Shores of Malice

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

Hey guys, once again its SorcerousSteve here with my latest map: The Shores of Malice entrance to the Malice Dungeon (final love quest location)!

The Shores of Malice are located on the banks of Stormwater Lake on the northern section of Drachvald bounded by the treacherous peaks of The Sirens.

SotA_Shores_of_Malice_1

Read more…


Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 26 Postmortem

SotA_R26_FireLotus_Release_Party3

Please join us Friday, February 5th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 26 and looking ahead to Release 27!  And as usual, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance right here in the comments section.*

We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast.  Be sure to join us!

*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 26 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. ;)

Update of the Avatar #161 – 2016.01.29: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Final Wipe & Lot Placement, Shooter Jennings Countach Album World Premier, Play R26 Now, Valentine Goodies, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

  • Play Release 26 Now!
  • The FireLotus Release 26 Party!
  • R26 Patch Notes
  • SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Final Wipe and Lot Selection
  • Shooter Jennings’ In-Game Worldwide Premier of New Album “Countach”
  • The Entrance to Artifice
  • Valentine Goodies
  • New Player Homes
  • Checkers Anyone?
  • The Giant Yew Tree
  • In-game Community Events
  • This Week In the News
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back

SotA_Daemon

Play Release 26 Now!

Release 26 successfully launched yesterday, January 28, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

  • Full Wipe to allow for fundamental changes to several systems, including crafting and quests
  • New Summon Chaos Daemon Spell, plus polished/balanced dozens of existing spells & skills
  • New Consider System to show level difference between player and enemy
  • Points of Interest polish added to 16 existing scenes
  • 5 New scenes including Resolute, Aerie, North Varisalla Foothils, Sanctus Spine, and Dysborg Ruins (PVP zone)
  • New Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year items
  • New Grasslands Biome Template for Player Owned Towns
  • 21 New Player Owned Towns
  • New Crafting System that allows for material modifiers, gear naming, components, etc.
  • Agriculture System Balance/Polish
  • Performance Imrovements
  • Language Translation Progress
  • …and more!

Read more…


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Final Wipe and Lot Selection

UPDATE: JULY 12, 2016: Updated the group numbers to current backer numbers.

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Darkstarr

Greetings Avatars,

We are incredibly excited to announce that we have scheduled final lot selection and our final wipe, including all social data (names, friends, guilds), [UPDATE: 06/21/2016] for Release 32, July 28, 2016! After Release 32, we will no longer be wiping the game state. Your characters and your properties will be persistent from that date forward.

Please understand that final wipe is not “launch”. We will continue to be working to finish the game’s story content well past final wipe, while we remain in Early Access. Until then, the game is neither “launched” nor complete, but as mentioned below, the concept of “launch” may not even be applicable to this development model. Launch will be when we pull the game out of Early Access and we start marketing / public relation campaigns to pull in new customers. We have no plans to do those things in July. We know that this plan will generate a lot of questions and stir up plenty of emotions, but we firmly believe this is the best possible course of action for the project.

By Release 32, our goal is that the virtual world and economy will be fully functional and reasonably balanced. Additionally, the Love storyline will be polished and playable from beginning to end, with all characters and quests complete. The Truth and Courage storylines will also be completely playable from beginning to end, although not in as polished a state as Love. We are purposely holding the finale part of the storyline that ties the three threads together until the entire plot has been polished. This allows us to really focus on the new user experience and one storyline instead of spreading that effort out too thinly. ***Please note that the story is nonlinear and non-exclusive. It is designed to allow free movement between the three storylines and it is only until all three are complete that you move to the finale (this structure will be very familiar to Ultima players). So just because you finish the Love story, you are not excluded in any way from experiencing the other plots.

As part of all of this, we are also announcing the 2016 Spring and Summer Expiration Events.

Read more…


Release 26 Instructions

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Darkstarr

Greetings 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 26 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, January 28, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (16:30 UTC).

We decided to start 2016 with a BANG by making Release 26 one of our biggest releases to date! The world expanded with five completely new scenes including new segments in the Truth and Courage storylines (along with polish across multiple scenes). We also made over 100 playability tweaks to combat to address responsiveness, playability, and balance. On top of that, we migrated to the new crafting architecture which unlocked a huge swathe of crafting changes and additions.

Yet again, I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the items below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback on this post, so they are a big reason that this post actually matches what is in the game, and that it is easy to read.

While we are getting closer to launch, we are still in a constant state of change, and we do not yet have in-game systems to inform players of these changes, or to share ways to help them to explore new content and systems. This means we rely entirely on this message and the linked instructions and known issues to convey the current game state. We regularly have to answer questions or filter bug reports because some players elect not to read this valuable information. By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and efforts can be redirected to focus on new “unanswered” questions, and SotA_PlayerEventsBookaddressing critical issues impacting each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post, and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. So, be sure to check out a couple of the Community Events Calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites Avatars Circle Community Events and Events of the Avatars calendar).

Without further ado, here are the R26 deliverables.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #160 – 2016.01.22: The Making of Paladis Shardfall & Dysborg Ruins, Expired Reward Changes, Offline Content Poll, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

  • The Making of Paladis Shardfall
  • The Making of Dysborg Ruins
  • Changes to Expired Patron, Navigator, and Developer Pledges
  • POLL: All Content Available in Offline Mode?
  • R25 End Of The World Party (Doc’s Cotton Pickin’ Party)
  • Fastest Decorator in the West
  • Bear Tavern Brawl R25
  • Fireworks 45-Piece Assortment 2
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back

The Making of Paladis Shardfall – Part 2

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

Hey guys, its SorcerousSteve once again, here to give you an update on the Paladis Shardfall!

SotA_Making_Paladis_1

Read more…


POLL: All Content Available in Offline Mode?

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Back in December, Starr Long (aka Darkstarr), posted a survey in the SotA Dev+ Forums about making all Add-On Store items and Pledge Rewards available to be earned or crafted in-game in Single Player Offline Mode. We believe this will greatly increase the quality and value of the basic game experience in single player offline mode.

There are currently 91% “Yes” votes out of the 580 responses from the Dev+ poll. Based on feedback in that thread, we feel it is important to poll our entire backer community. Please follow this link to the Public Forum Survey post and cast your vote.

Below is the full content of Starr’s public forum survey post:

POLL: All Content Available in Offline Mode?

Back in February 2015 I posted about some unique items related to Single Player Offline. Item #4 of that post stated the following:

  • Content: There are a few items that we are not going to sell in game in Online mode including the Castle and Keep sized lots. However we do plan to make those available in Offline mode along with a handful of other items yet to be finalized.

After reading about how negatively many backers (and external folks as well) view our Pledge structure and Add On Store we thought a powerful gesture would be to make ALL content available in Offline mode including ALL add on store items and pledge rewards. Players would still have to earn enough gold to purchase them or gather enough resources to make them in game, unless they purchased them which in that case they would start the game with them just like they do now.

Our only concern is that backers who did pay for the content might feel upset that content they believed exclusive was available to any player (even if only in offline mode).

Last month I started a poll in Dev+ to get some initial reaction from the group with the “most to lose”. That poll is currently standing at over 90% positive, so at the request of several Dev+ backers we have decided to expand the poll to ALL our backers (here). Thank you in advance for participating.

Notes:

  • Earned/Crafted: As mentioned above all these item will have to be crafted or purchased with gold. The bigger items like LotM house will only be affordable after many, many hours of play. You will NOT just get them all at the start, unless you purchased them. That is the purchase value in offline: you start with items everyone else has to earn.
  • Offline Firewalled: Offline mode has ZERO connectivity to online modes. Nothing can move between the two modes.
  • Online only items: Some items have functionality that is only useful in online mode (ex. Fyndoro’s Tablet, Noble Discourse Orb, etc.). In most cases these items will be reduced to non-functional decorations but in a few cases we will try to make an offline function.
  • Hacking: In Offline mode hackers will create mods that unlock all the content anyway

[VOTE HERE]


Update of the Avatar #159 – 2016.01.15: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT, Dysborg Ruins, Paladis Shardfall, Grasslands Template, Telethon Rewards, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

  • SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SotA Release Schedule Update
  • Dysborg Ruins
  • The Making of Paladis Shardfall
  • Kobold Architecture
  • Sojourner Tales Printing Press
  • Player Owned Towns: Grasslands Template
  • The Wondrous Winter Telethon of the Avatar!
  • Many Thanks For the Awesome Holiday Party!
  • Lunar New Year Replenishing Fireworks Boxes
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SotA Release Schedule Update

We are working diligently on detailing our schedule for 2016. We plan to provide you with an update as soon as next week (but definitely before the end of January). We are very excited because this schedule will include the date of our final wipe as well as the start days and times for final lot selection.

Read more…