Jack T. Lamplighter

Hello everyone! Welcome to persistent game play! Here is the news of the week!!! World Start – Play Release 32 Now! World Starting Gift to all Backers: Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier Behind the Scenes: Spite Waterfalls Summer Telethon of the Avatar Part 1 Results Shroud of the Avatar in the News Bank Upgrades Increased to 100 Bundle Store Updates 15% Bonus and 24 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2 The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook Community Resources – Players Helping Players Upcoming Events Community Resources – Players Helping Players ONBE Shipments and Backer Shipping Addresses Recommended Projects to Back The post Echoes From the Caverns 07-29-16 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: World Start – Play Release 32 Now! World Starting Gift to all Backers: Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier Behind the Scenes: Spite Waterfalls Summer Telethon of the Avatar Part 1 Results Shroud of the Avatar in the News Bank Upgrades Increased to 100 Slots Bundle Store Updates 15% Bonus and 24 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2 The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook Upcoming Events Community Resources – Players Helping Players ONBE Shipments and Backer Shipping Addresses Recommended Projects to Back World Start – Play Release 32 Now! Release 32 successfully launched yesterday, July 28, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in for the Final Wipe and Lot Selection! Lords of the Manor are still claiming today and Dukes will begin claiming this weekend. Besides Lot Selection, there’s lots of new content to explore, including: New scenes including Brittany Estates, Spite and Xenos New User Experience Polish including a reworked Isle of Storms In-Game purchasable Player Vendors Over 40 New Crafting Recipes New NPC Behaviors including Theft Detection and Virtue Reactions Economic and Combat Balance Adjustments …and much more Check out the Release 32 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new content. We need all your help with testing the new patches, putting more stress on our multiplayer servers, and testing the new game content, so please join us in playing Release 32! If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. The basic Adventurer level pledge is also available on Steam Early Access. Release 32 Player Instructions Release 32 Known Issues World Starting Gift to all Backers: Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier All backers of Shroud of the Avatar with game access as of midnight July 27, 2016 will receive the Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier as a small expression of our gratitude. This device will let you tune into streaming radio stations including our very own Avatar’s Radio or NBNN. We chose this specific gift to honor our community because it started as a suggestion from our community, was initially created by our community, streams content from our community, and is used by our community as part of their events. Thank you community for making Shroud of the Avatar reach persistence. You made this all possible. Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier by Shroud of the Avatar on Sketchfab Behind the Scenes: Spite Waterfalls Our very own Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar provides us with a behind the scenes look at how he built the waterfalls in one of our newest scenes: Spite via a video on YouTube. Today we will be taking a closer look with Worldbuilder Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar into the process behind making the town of Spite come to life. Spite is located on the shores of Stormwater Lake in the Drachvald Region and is a pivotal location in the Path of Love. The town is built on treacherous stone cliffs and is surrounded by great waterfalls that make their way down the rugged mountain side. The Summer Telethon of the Avatar Part 1 Results Our Summer Telethon of the Avatar Part 1 was a huge success! In fact, it was our biggest telethon to-date! We achieved all our original Stretch Goal Rewards and even had to create new ones! A heartfelt thank you from the entire Dev Team to all of you, our backers, that have contributed to the development funding of Shroud of the Avatar! Wednesday’s Telethon was yet another example of your amazing support and contributions! The total as of Midnight, July 27th, was a staggering: ** $145,000 ** As promised, Telethon Funding Stretch Goal Rewards will be rewarded to any backers that pledged a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight July 27 (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply). These rewards should show up on your account page within the next several weeks and will begin showing up in the game over the next few releases starting with Release 33. Achieved! $10,000: /fan emote (player fans themself with a small folding fan) Achieved! $25,000: Aeronaut Helmet Achieved! $35,000: Hacked Oracle Crawler Pet Achieved! $50,000: Clockwork Wings (goes in cloak slot, does not grant powers of flight) Achieved! $65,000: Hacked Oracle Flyer Pet Achieved! $80,000: Tiny Airship Pet Achieved! $100,000: One Man Band Steampunk Wearable: Works with our ABC music system Achieved! $130,000: Organ Grinder Instrument (Works with our ABC music system) & Clockwork Monkey Pet $150,000: Baby Clockwork Dragon Pet (we will make this one part of the Summer Telethon of the Avatar Part 2 Stretch Goals) We had deep dives, answered questions, danced, sang, did shots, spun the Wheel of Fortune & Doom, had flash sales, went behind the scenes, and handed out tons of prizes including: Store Credits Viking Bundles (Viking Row 2 Story and Viking Village) Kobold Bundles (Kobold Row 2 Story and Kobold Village) Pledges (Ancestor and Edelmann) Lord British relics Challenge Coins Shroud of the Avatar t-shirts Sword of Midras audiobook AND hardcover copies! Razer Gear Missed participating in the telethon event? Watch the entire stream on YouTube! (There are two segments, 6-hours long each): Shroud in the News MMORPG.com: Release 32: Le Finale Wipe: Red Thomas wrote another Release review for MMORPG.com where he talked not only about what is in the release but also about our process and what this means for development as a whole. Since this release is a milestone of sorts for the project, it seems appropriate to be a bit reflective, and one thing that I’ve particularly enjoyed through the process of following this project, is the virtually unfettered access Richard Garriott and Starr Long have allowed me to have to the game, the developers, and to their community. I don’t know many writers who’ve had the chance to watch a game develop from scratch like this, and I think it’s a pretty amazing thing to be able to observe. It’s even more amazing when the company is taking such a bold step away from traditional development practices, and yet not one time did they ask me not to write about something mentioned or observed. Nor have they been anything other than appreciative of the few negative comments I’ve made since covering their development. Eurogamer.net: It’s OK, Richard Garriott is protected by spells from harmful use of his blood: Richard Purchese over at Eurgamer.net chatted with us about the Blood Reliquaries. Bit weird, wasn’t it, when Richard Garriott and Starr Long tried to sell their blood on eBay for $5000? I wouldn’t do that. Imagine someone owning your blood: they could make black pudding with it. That’s disgusting. Or they could use it to curse you and what would you do about that? I tell you what Richard Garriott and Starr Long did about it, because people actually bought their blood: they had members of their Shroud of the Avatar community cast spells on them for protection. Yes really. Eurogamer.net: Will Richard Garriott’s Lord British survive the night?: Richard Purchese followed up the above article with a piece comparing the final events of Ultima Online’s Beta and Shroud’s Final Wipe. Will Richard Garriott’s Lord British survive the night? That’s the big question – because history predicts his death. Remember what happened in Ultima Online? Lord British was famously killed on the ramparts of Blackthorn castle by a mere commoner. Everyone believed him to be immortal but he wasn’t – someone found a way. He died that night in August 1997 during a royal tour of Ultima Online, marking a milestone moment in the game’s near-complete development. Tonight he tours his new game Shroud of the Avatar for the same reasons, well aware fate bets heavily against him. You see for almost as long as he can remember, and no matter what he’s done to prevent it, Lord British has never managed to survive. PCGamer: Richard Garriott’s MMO Shroud of the Avatar is about to be wiped for the final time: Andy Chalk at PCGamer mentioned our the Final Wipe and the start of persistence. It’s been awhile since we last talked about Shroud of the Avatar, the crowdfunded, Early-Accessed MMO that Richard “Lord British” Garriott unveiled to the world back in 2013. But work has continued, and it now stands on the cusp of a major milestone: At midnight CDT on July 27, the game servers will be taken offline for a final wipe, after which persistence—that is, the real game—will begin. Bank Upgrades Increased to 100 Slots We have multiplied the number of bank slots you get when you purchase a Bank Upgrade in the Add On Store by 10. This is also retroactive for anyone who had already purchased Bank Upgrades; you will just need to go claim your rewards at the bank. This should help those of you with multiple Add On Store purchases who are trying to find room in your bank until your Lot Selection Window comes online. Bundle Store Updates Last week we launched the new Bundle Store. This week we added all the remaining Viking bundles AND we added the Kobold tab with all the Kobold Bundles to the store. Each bundle includes Early Access to Shroud of the Avatar, along with a variety of additional rewards that includes such items as pets, emotes, increased inventory size, wearables, tools, potions, tax-free property, houses, basements, decorations, special VIP forum access, and more! (NOTE: Most bundle items are currently available in-game, but some rewards are marked as available in an upcoming Release) Upgrading Your Bundle Additionally, if you buy one of the smaller bundles and later wish you had bought a larger bundle, you can easily upgrade to the larger bundle at any time without having to pay the full price of the larger bundle. To upgrade your existing bundle to a larger bundle, go to your Account page, select the “Bundles” tab, and click the “Upgrade” button next to the bundle you wish to upgrade (NOTE: You can only upgrade bundles of the same theme). 15% Summer Bonus and 24 Day Countdown to Expiration Event, Part 2 As we march toward the Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone, we are having a Summer 2016 Expiration Event split into Two Parts! Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2 At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, we are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2. To commemorate the final expiration of all remaining pledges, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 2, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Pledge Expirations at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC). Get Your 15% Summer Bonus! If you were thinking of purchasing (or upgrading) a pledge or Player Owned Town before they expire, then now’s a great time to do it! For all new purchases (including pledges, pledge upgrades, add-on items, player owned towns and upgrades, Make a Difference items, and service vouchers) between 12:00 am CDT June 24, 2016 and Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) August 22, 2016, we’ll add an additional 15% bonus to your Store Credit! [Read more…] The Sword of Midras Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook The Sword of Midras, by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott, is a revised and expanded version of the Blade of the Avatar novel (originally included in pledge rewards through May 31, 2015). The expanded The Sword of Midras includes four additional chapters not seen in the pledge reward version of Blade of the Avatar, extending and elaborating on key elements of the story. The Hardcover, Kindle, and Nook, versions by Tor Books are available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and the unabridged audiobook version is available now at Audible.com. A sample of the audiobook is available at SoundCloud. [NOTE: The original Blade of the Avatar novel has already been delivered as an electronic PDF to all pledges prior to May 31, 2015 (when it expired). For those who qualify for this reward, you can find the link to the PDF on your SotA website account page Special Rewards tab for download. The physical and signed versions of the novel that are rewards at the Patron and Citizen level up through May 31, 2015 will be a paperback print version of the original Blade of the Avatar novel that has been delivered as an electronic PDF. This physical reward will be delivered to backers at the same time that all physical rewards are delivered, which we currently expect will be toward the end of this year Some backers have asked if they will receive The Sword of Midras, or the 4 additional chapters that were written for it, as part of their Blade of the Avatar novel pledge reward. Unfortunately, Portalarium is contractually not at liberty to distribute The Sword of Midras, or the additional chapters, in print or electronic form, as part of our original pledge rewards. This was a requirement In order to procure a mass market book publishing agreement with a major book publisher. We felt the mass market distribution of The Sword of Midras was critically important to help increase the worldwide exposure of Shroud of the Avatar. If The Sword of Midras is successful, it will help introduce many readers to our game, and potentially bring them in as new players, which is a long-term benefit for the game and the community.] Upcoming Events 2016.08.16 – GDC Europe 2016.08.22 – Summer Telethon Part 2 + Final Pledge Expirations Episode 1 (Pledge Expirations at Midnight) 2016.08.25 – Release 33 2016.09.02 – DragonCon 2016 2016.09.21 – Austin Games Conference 2016.09.29 – Release 34 2016.11.04 – SotACon Community Activities Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out the Release 32 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events. Event of the Week – Quest of Courage – Part 1 Featured Site MarkeeDragon is a prominent game news website that has consistently and proudly covered Shroud of the Avatar all the way back since the Kickstarter. From the start of persistence, they also have been regularly livestreaming the game on their official Twitch channel at www.twitch.tv/markeedragon. Community 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. Resource of the Week Role-Players of the Avatar (RPOTA) Role-Players of the Avatar is a social environment where you will find a creative outlet for story writing and adventure creation. We are a community which feeds your desire to be someone else… a crazed barbarian, a cunning scoundrel, maybe a quirky wizard or perhaps a mysterious assassin. Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing. Status of ONBE Shipments The Order of the New Britannia Empire (ONBE) awards are now shipping to our amazing community recipients! There are still several recipients that have not updated mailing address information on their accounts. If you are expecting an ONBE, please do this now! We are also sending out e-mails to ensure we have the correct address. Please check that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account to receive these e-mails! Visit SotA Wiki for a current list of those who have received or are expecting ONBEs. Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image. For country and regional tax assessment purposes, our tax accountants have requested that we start collecting a buyer’s physical/shipping address for all purchases, whether digital or physical. We’ve tried to streamline that process as much as possible, such that once you’ve entered a physical address we will pre-populate the address fields with your default address. A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account! Recommended Projects to Back Crowfall In this Throne War Simulator, characters are persistent but the campaign worlds are not, thanks to voxel technology which enables fully-destructible settings. A seamless blend of an MMO with a large-scale strategy game, players are immortal champions, traveling between realms to fight in an eternal War of the Gods. Save View the full article

We just issued a small series of bans today for players knowingly exploiting the game. A reminder that the game is now in a persistent live state, so we may be issuing further bans if you are caught knowingly using an exploit, as well as not reporting it immediately to us. Please report all exploits to us via support@portalarium.com. Do NOT post exploits in the forums! Additional examples that will be cause for immediate and permanent ban from the game are: ... Warning on exploiting the gameView the full article

If you wish to guarantee that Pledge Transfers and Lot Selection Group Upgrade* requests have been processed by our customer service department before the expiration of ALL remaining pledges at 11:59 PM CDT on August 22, 2016, you will need to send in your request by 5 PM CDT on August 17, 2016. Pledges expiring on August 22, 2016: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2.​... Lot Selection Group Upgrades and Pledge Transfers for Expiration Event Part 2View the full article

Please accept our deepest apologies. We know that some of you are not getting all of your rewards. We have identified almost all of the exact problems causing these issues and we have prioritized the fixes for each of them. We are working through each fix and we expect the first round of fixes to go live first thing tomorrow morning. Some of these fixes do not even require a patch. Rest assured we know exactly what each of you are supposed to receive and you have lost nothing you are... Reward Delivery Issues: Fixes incoming View the full article

We have multiplied the number of bank slots you get when you purchase a Bank Upgrade in the Add On Store by 10. This is also retroactive for anyone who had already purchased Bank Upgrades. This should help those of you with multiple Add On Store purchases who are trying to find room in your bank until your Lot Selection Window comes online. View the full article

All backers of Shroud of the Avatar as of midnight July 27, 2016 will receive the Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier as a small expression of our gratitude. This device will let you tune into streaming radio stations including our very own Avatar's Radio or NBNN. We chose this specific gift to honor our community because it started as a suggestion from our community, was initially created by our community, streams content from our... World Starting Gift to all Backers: Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier View the full article

All backers of Shroud of the Avatar as of midnight July 27, 2016 will receive the Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier as a small expression of our gratitude. This device will let you tune into streaming radio stations including our very own Avatar’s Radio or NBNN. We chose this specific gift to honor our community because it started as a suggestion from our community, was initially created by our community, streams content from our community, and is used by our community as part of their events. Thank you community for making Shroud of the Avatar reach persistence. You made this all possible. Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier by Shroud of the Avatar on Sketchfab View the full article

Cheer on the Devs! For every $2,500 donated, devs on camera have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol. Additionally, we will be spinning the Wheel of Fortune & Doom! (we borrowed this idea from our friends over at Crowfall). The wheel will have 14 items at any given time, but dozens of total prizes ultimately will be given away! This includes developers that, if selected, have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol. As the wheel is spun, what is selected will... Final Wipe Telethon Prizes and Wheel of Doom!View the full article

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 32 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, July... Release 32 Instructions View the full article

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr 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 32 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, July 28, at 9:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (14:30 UTC). One Hour Early: Please note that we are opening the servers one hour early this time to give Group 1 more time to prepare for Lot Selection. Patch at Midnight: Please also note that we hope to have the first build for R32 available for download to players as early as Midnight, right after wipe so that everyone can be fully patched up in the morning. Also please note that some of the below deliverables did not make the first patch. History: On Thursday December 12, 2013 Release 1 allowed our backers to play Shroud of the Avatar for the very first time. Since that very first release, we have provided you a monthly release on the last Thursday of every month for the last 31 months. Thanks to our amazing backers, our game and community have both grown each release to the point that we are now the second largest crowd-funded video game ever. Help us celebrate this historic moment as we move into our next phase with our 12-hour Summer Telethon of the Avatar! Persistence: This Release will be different from all of those other releases because we are finally going Persistent. This means that the progress a player makes will no longer be reset every three months. Just because we are persistent, however, does not mean we are going to slow down! We will continue our Monthly Releases just like we always have. We still have features to implement, content to complete (see our Roadmap), and lots (and lots) of balancing to do. Even though this is the “Final Wipe” we are still in Early Access and, if needed, we will do small Rollbacks and/or Partial Wipes if we absolutely need to in order to maintain the health of the product. New User Experience: We continued the work we started in Release 31 and polished more of the new user experience in the Isle of Storms, Solace Bridge, Soltown, and even as far as Ardoris. This included a new Oracle in the Isle of Storms, more NPC behaviors, and further transitions of the hints to the new on-screen system. Balance: We began what will be multiple releases of balance adjustments to combat and economy starting with major overhauls to Merchant inventories. We have also adjusted starting recipes, starting skills, and starting gear for better balance and better advancement curves. 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 all the 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 mostly 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 addressing 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. Be sure to check out a couple of the event calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites: Avatars Circle and Events of the Avatars). You can also get the latest official events on the Main Website. Without further ado, here is a list of what you can expect to see in Release 32. Key: Plain Text: The original plan for the Release deliverables. We intentionally preserve the original text so that our backers can compare plan versus actuals. Italics: Extra notes and new deliverables. Strikethrough: These are items that did not make the release. RELEASE 32, July 28, 2016 Final Wipe: Please note that if you have been waiting to convert your purchases to store credits, these will be your FINAL three chances to do so as long as you do NOT claim your rewards at the bank. There will be three windows the week of release to convert your purchases to store credit. These windows will be on Monday, Wednesday, and then finally on the day of release; Thursday. This will work exactly as it has in previous releases. Full Wipe (except Social): We wiped all player data including inventory and housing. Social information (friends and guilds) will remain intact. If you have Add-On Store items you wish to convert to credit, then you can do so on the Shroud of the Avatar website multiple times this week. Remember to do it before you claim your rewards in the bank (Live or QA) since that will make all add on store items “claimed in game.” Also please note that if you upgraded a property owning pledge since the last wipe, you ended up with extra lot deeds which will have now been wiped (lot deeds do not stack). Your current deed amount will match your purchases when R32 goes live. Please note that because we are wiping offers multiple times this week you will end up with multiple sets of rewards. Here are the days/times when we will wipe offer data to allow conversion to store credit: Monday July 25 11:00 AM CDT (this was announced on forums) Wednesday July 27 7:00 PM CDT Thursday July 28 9:00 AM CDT No Experience Bonus: Unlike previous releases there will be no Experience Bonus granted going forward. Offline Wipe: This wipe included a wipe of offline data as well but if you have a saved game you should be able to load that and restore. Registry Wipe: We also wiped registry settings, so all your options and key bindings have been reset to default settings. Offline Persistence: We are not yet supporting persistence for Offline Content. This will not be possible until we support reward delivery for Offline Mode, which will be coming later this year. As mentioned above if you regularly save you “might” be ok but we cannot guarantee that persistence just yet. Lot Selection: Starting at 11:00 AM CDT, players can begin selecting lots in the game in order of their lot selection group. You can view your lot selection group on your account page. Lot Selection: We actually built and tested all this technology back in Release 29. We did another test this release and Lot Selection will proceed as planned with no changes. Lot Selection Groups: Updated numbers for each group were posted on July 12th here. Note that you can still upgrade your lot selection group until August 22 by either upgrading your pledge or by adding money to your pledge directly through a service voucher and a request to support@portalarium.com. The “Lot Selection Groups” section of your Account Page will show the time that you can begin selecting a lot. Lot Selection Rules: Beginning at your appointed time for any group prior to group 91 here are the rules: You may use any ONE deed you own to claim any one unclaimed lot you wish. The type of deed, the location of the lot does not matter, all are covered under the same rule. (except Water Lots, see below) Any deed may be used to claim a lot of the listed size or smaller. The beginning time of the group after yours does NOT affect your ability to claim a lot; if the next group after you has begun their claim window prior to you being able to claim a lot, you CAN still claim a lot. The times listed are Beginning times. Once begun, your ability to claim your one lot does not expire. Any remaining deeds in your inventory may be used to claim lots after the beginning of Group 91 at 03:00 CDT on the 24th of August. Water Lots can only be claimed using Founder Deeds There are no restrictions on location changes. If you change your mind and want to claim a different lot you have that ability. To claim a lot you must move your Avatar to the location of the lot in the town in the game. There is no lot claiming outside the game. As a reminder Lot Deeds are flagged “No Trade” during Release 32. Story: The Love Path will get a major polish pass with a special focus on NPC behaviors in Soltown and Ardoris. Greater Brittany will be finished with the addition of the final neighborhood of Brittany Estates, a plush area composed mostly of City-sized lots. Additionally, several NPC towns that are currently clones, including Spite, will be replaced with original scenes. Brittany Estates: This final neighborhood completes Greater Brittany. It is northwest of Central Brittany on the shores of Lake Equitas in the North Paladis region of Novia. It is filled with manicured gardens, water features, and high end shops surrounded by mostly City-sized lots. Spite (Unclone): Spite is located on the shores of Stormwater Lake in the Drachvald Region and is a pivotal location in the Path of Love. Spite started as a cloned scene (based on the Forest 01 PRT/POT template, aka the PaxLair template). We completely rebuilt it from scratch in Release 32. The city is now built into terraced cliffs with a beautiful waterfall and has some key landmarks like the Mortuarium. Note that scenes that we unclone after the Final Wipe will NOT get this level of rework, and the placement of NPC buildings and player housing lots in those towns will remain unchanged; only cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage will be made. Xenos (Unclone): Located on the Isle of Elysium, Xenos is where pilgrims stop on their way to Artifice on the Path of Truth. Like Spite, Xenos started as a cloned scene (using our Forest 01 PRT/POT template, aka PaxLair). We used the same base template but modified it heavily to build the new scene. Polish: Love Path Conversations: NPC Conversations along the Path of Love were edited to reduce overall word count and make the next steps along the Path more clear. Soltown: Soltown received another pass to make the NPCs feel more reactive and alive with more daytime/nighttime schedules and behaviors. Soltown now also uses the new Theft Detection mechanics, and NPCs will yell at you for stealing, you naughty Avatar. Ardoris: Many NPCs in Ardoris now have daytime/nighttime schedules which they use for patrolling, workplace activities, and even sleep. These NPCs also have various special behaviors—similar to the work we did with Soltown—to make them feel more active and alive. Brittany (Central): Now that we are finished building all the surrounding neighborhoods of Greater Brittany, we realized some areas inside Central Brittany are redundant, such as the farming areas. By eliminating areas like these, among other adjustments, we increased the amount of player lots within Central Brittany by 30. A mysterious plague has swept through the population of the town as well, and half the population has died. The upside is that performance has greatly increased! Brittany Sewers: A previously-blocked tunnel has been opened up and players can now venture deeper into Brittany Sewers, where they can test their minds against a steam-powered puzzle and their combat prowess against enemies of ever-increasing difficulty, including a “boss fight” area. Brittany Alleys: Switched the default row houses in this area to the new “Shingle Roof” style. Celestis: This scene was switched to the new Island PRT Template to better reflect its location and our long term plans for when we unclone the scene. Aldwater: This scene was switched from the old, smaller PRT template to the modern Forest 01 PRT Template to give it an NPC core. NOTE: We do not plan on changing any of the other older style PRTs to the newer PRT style template. Under Construction Signs: Scenes that we plan to go back to later for NPC schedule work, behavior additions, conversation additions and story polish now have notifications to let players know of that temporary state. This notification includes a message on screen that says “Attention: This area is in early development and not all NPCs have schedules, behaviors, conversations, or story connections.” Also, actual barricades are at the entrances of these scene which players have to walk around before entering. New User Experience Polish: Continued polish passes will be done on the Tutorials, hints, and starting scenes with special focus on the Isle of Storms and Bloodriver. Blood River Delayed: We chose to focus exclusively on polishing the Path of Love and so we delayed work on Blood River. Isle of Storms: We completely reworked the opening sequence of the game to separate the initial greeting from the casting of your future. Arabella now performs the greeting and directs you to use the Magic Mirror to build your Avatar. She also directs you to the Oracle Confirmatory where you interact with the new Oracle Automaton who now casts your future (this was formerly done by Arabella). The Confirmatory also includes images of the Virtue questions that appear while you take your test. Note that while we are once again allowing players to start in Blood River Massacre and Battle of Highvale if they choose, we do recommend new players start in Battle of Solace Bridge for the most polished experience to date. Solace Bridge: Further improvements were made to the Battle of Solace Bridge tutorial sequence. In particular, interactions with a lost child should be considerably easier and make more sense. Pop-Up Text Hints: We have transitioned most of our Hints to the new onscreen system from the old “Wall of Text” windows system. We are still editing the text and polishing the presentation of these, so expect several more releases of improvements. There are a few hints still in the old system, like Housing, which may stay on that system due to their complexity. Service Hardening: We will continue a series of passes through the client, authentication, and server to harden the service for security and customer service. Special attention will be paid to the Patcher. Service Hardening: Various changes were made behind the scenes. Failover and Backups: The server cluster has been upgraded to allow for failover servers for the key systems and more frequent backups Player Towns & Player Housing: Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear. In-Game Player Vendors: Vendors can now be purchased in the game with Gold. These Vendors can be placed on Player Lots to sell goods. Unlike the Premium Vendors sold with Pledges and Bundles, these Vendors charge fees to list items for sale and to create purchase orders (much like Public Vendors). Lot Deeds Removed: All Lot Deeds have been removed from Merchants. Purchasing of Lot Deeds in-game will be done via a Lottery system starting in Release 33. Lot Upgrading In-Game: If you upgrade your pledge (or bundle) after already claiming rewards, you will now see an upgrade option in your Lot Deed UI. This fixes the duplicate lot deed issue we were having when players would upgrade between wipes after claiming rewards. Property Tax Rates: The following are the current Property Tax Rates for Taxable Lot Deeds. These are balanced to be based on about one hour of effort per week to maintain a Row Lot on one end and about one hour of effort per day to maintain a City Lot at the top end. We want the Tax Rates to be easily achievable by single players for the smaller lots, but require more determined play for the larger lots. For reference, we based these values on observing players making about 3500 – 7500 gold per hour at median levels with decent crafted gear (some determined players were making as much as 20K per hour!). As players first establish themselves and level up their characters in the first few weeks these rates will be challenging, but we calculate that they are very achievable in the long run. With that said, we will carefully monitor these values and adjust them if average play times do not match these goals. Row: 500 gold per day Village: 1000 gold per day Town: 2000 gold per day City: 3500 gold per day Paying Taxes with Gold Crowns: Players now have the option to pay their property taxes with Gold Crowns of the Obsidians instead of gold. Please note that tax rates are still being fine tuned and balance adjustments may be made throughout early access. Row: 1 Gold COTO per week Village: 2 Gold COTOs per week Town: 4 Gold COTOs per week City: 7 Gold COTOs per week Island Lots in Dynamic POTs: Players with Keep or Castle Lot Deeds can now use them to claim the pre-placed Island Lots in Dynamic POTs, provided they have the available space. We suggest you claim these first, before placing your other lot markers, to insure you have adequate square footage. Royal Warrant: Recipients of the Royal Warrant can now display their warrant in the game! New Dynamic POTs & Dynamic POT Changes: We processed all Locked submission forms for Dynamic POTs. Advenire: Renamed (formerly Calain). Converted to Forest 02. Upgraded to Crossroads Village. Location change. Interconnections (Removed: Dracheninsel, Unterwelt; Added: Yew) Amour and Serenus: Renamed (formerly Veger). Converted to Forest 01a. Upgraded to Metropolis. Arx Draconis Lowlands: Upgraded to Hamlet. Barrataria Bay: New addition (nested in Port Titan). Beran’s Reach: Converted to Snowy Mountains. Brickceter: Renamed (formerly Bricksium). Nested interconnection changed to within Etceter. Caladruin: Upgraded to Hamlet. Set to non PvP. Celestial Gardens: Converted to Tropical Island. Rotated to 180. Changed location. Added interconnections (with Brittany Wharfs, Brittany Fields, and Brittany Alleys). Clew Bay: New addition (nested in POT Lyonesse). Dragomir: Changed location. Dragon’s Fall: Converted to Forest 01a. Erak: New addition. Falling Waters Fortress: Converted to Forest 01a. Rotated to Right. Finchfield: Changed location. Added interconnections (with POTs Illusive Passage and Illusive Cavern) Haunted Keep of Solania: Upgraded to Village. Inselberg Wastes: Renamed (formerly Gretch). Converted to Snowy Mountains 01a. Islands of Wonders: Rotated to 180. Jatavern: New addition (nested in Kingsport). Lions of Amore: Converted to Snowy Mountains 01a. Rotated to Left. Upgraded to Metropolis. Magincia: New addition (nested in POT Oceania). Malus: Converted to Forest 02. Rotated to Right. Changed location. Neath: Converted to Mountains. Upgraded to Village. Interconnection (with POT The Caverns Under Neath) New Addington: New addition (nested in Goti). Ordinis Mortis: Renamed (formerly Mortem Praedonum). Converted to Grasslands. Rotated to Right. Changed location. Added interconnection (with POT Vengeance). Radio City: Upgraded to Metropolis. Serenity’s Edge: Converted to Mountains. The Barrowlands: Rotated to Left. The Caverns Under Neath: New addition (nested in POT Neath). Vengeance: Converted to Forest 01a. Changed location. Removed interconnection (with POT Serenite). Downgraded to Crossroads Village. Virtue Isle: Renamed (formerly Redwood Isle). Converted to Tropical Island. Rotated to Left. Changed location. Added interconnections (with POTs Virtue Oasis and Chaos Caverns). Virtue Oasis: Converted to Forest 02. Added interconnection (with POT Virtue Isle). Performance: Major efforts will be done to optimize performance. This will include frame rate improvements, load time improvements, and memory footprint improvements. New Co-Hosting Facility with Fiber Connection: We have switched to a new Co-Hosting Facility with a Fiber Connection which should result in much better connectivity. LODs/Simplified Collision: Steam Pipes Ropes Viking Village Home City Walls Oracle Confirmatory Kobold Town Home Kobold Row Homes Viking Great Hall City Home Multiplayer Economic Balance: A pass will be made through creature loot bundles, merchant pricing, property taxes, public vendor fees, harvesting rates, agriculture growth, crafting recipe ingredient amounts, and other factors to begin establishing an equilibrium for the multiplayer economy Merchant Inventories: We made a comprehensive pass through all the Merchants in the game, including merchants in NPC, PRT, and POT locations. We adjusted their inventories based on the merchant type to better match current thinking (some merchants were incredibly outdated) and we removed many items that we wanted to be more represented by the crafting system (for instance many decorations are now crafted versus sold). We also adjusted the inventories based on the size of the town and where it falls along the Paths so that there is a good progress from starting towns like Soltown to more advanced towns like Ardoris. Finally, we ensured that gear merchants are only selling Basic versions of all armor and weapons with no modifiers to emphasize the value of player made gear. Meticulous Collection: We separated the rolls for these from the regular loot rolls so that they can be independently balanced. We then created separate loot bundles for these again to better balance the results of a successful Meticulous Collection roll. Starting Recipes: We adjusted the starting recipes of all players to better reflect current crafting status and to simultaneously offer a better advancement path to craftspeople. Entry Level Gear Adjustments: We examined the gear recipes and better defined what we consider “Entry Level” gear, which is Cloth Gloves, Helms, and Boots as well as Daggers and Shortbows. The material costs for these are tuned to be attained at what we consider a reasonable amount of game time. Tier 1 Resource Nodes: We increased the yields from Tier 1 resource nodes slightly Starting Consumables are now No Trade: To close a loophole, we are flagging all starting consumables (recall scrolls, potions, etc.) as “No Trade.” Weapon Drop Values: Archers drop Short Bows now that have slightly lower value than Longbows. Rusty Sword Values have also been adjusted downward slightly Ectoplasmic Residue: This item has been retired for economic balance reasons. Multiplayer Combat Balance: A pass will be made through combat skills, creature stats, player stats, advancement rates, zone difficulties, and other values to establish an equilibrium for multiplayer combat. Animations for Moving while Attacking: We improved our animation blending to allow players to animate fully while moving and attacking. Starting Skills: We reworked the starting skills to better reflect our current skill trees (these were woefully out of date) and start characters out with a more balanced set of skills. Minimum Skill Requirements: Skills now have minimum skill requirements for the preceding skill(s). This also means that each skill has a minimum skill level below which it will not decay or unlearn. This minimum skill level is based on the requirements of child skills in the skill tree (since we don’t want you to be able to unlearn a skill such that the requirements for a child skill that you have learned are no longer met). Until a skill reaches this minimum skill level, the only two advancement modes that are available for that skill are Training and Not Training. Reveal Hidden: Now an AOE around caster (as opposed to a targeted AOE). Crafting: More enchantments and more masterwork modifiers will come online. Most decorations will be removed from NPC merchants and moved to recipes for crafters. Additionally several homes will be craftable for the first time. Minimum Skill Requirements: Recipes now have a minimum skill requirement associated with them. In general, this means that players will no longer be presented with recipes that have a very low chance of success. This also means that each skill has a minimum skill level below which it will not decay or unlearn. This minimum skill level is based on the requirements of child skills in the skill tree (since we don’t want you to be able to unlearn a skill such that the requirements for a child skill that you have learned are no longer met). Until a skill reaches this minimum skill level, the only two advancement modes that are available for that skill are Training and Not Training. Starting Recipes: We adjusted the starting recipes of all players to better reflect current crafting status and to simultaneously offer a better advancement path to craftspeople. (note this is a repeat post from above) Supply Cache Pledge Reward: Royal Artisans will now receive this pledge reward which gives them enough ingredients to make 4 of every finished goods starting recipe in their book Double Starting Recipe Reward: Royal Artisans will now receive this pledge reward which gives them double the normal number of starting recipes Masterworked and Enchanted Visual Effect: All gear that has been Masterworked or Enchanted now has a glow that pulses periodically More Enchantments: We added several new Gem Enchantments including Light enchantments to Sun and Moon as well as a Near Death enchantment to Necromancy. Expert Crafting Stations: We adjusted the values on these to make sure they continue to improve success chance at higher levels. 44 New Recipes: Shortbow: These are now the entry level craftable ranged weapon that requires less material than a Longbow. Epic Leather Gloves: Epic Leather was missing this one piece of the set until now. Fortified Cloth Boots & Gloves: Fortified Cloth was missing these two pieces of the set until now. Ornate Aeronaut Helmet: Ornately embossed leather version Ornate Clockwork Wings: Ornate Cloth, Wood, and Brass version 4 Shingle Roof Homes: Be sure to collect lots and lots of granite and timber to make these four homes. Shingle-Roof Three-Story (Village Home), Shingle-Roof Two-Story (Village Home), Shingle-Roof Two-Story w/ Balcony (Village Home), and Shingle-Roof Four-Story (Row Home). 3 Pipes: Enjoy the new Pipe smoking system with Clay, Wood, and Metal versions of the Pipe. 31 Home Decorations: We removed these 31 Decorations from Merchant inventories and moved them to the crafting system (note some of these names are placeholder and will be individualized). Brazier Wall Candle Iron Lantern Brazier Wall Torch Chair 1 Chair 2 Ornate Cherry Room Divider Antique Room Divider Ornate Antique Room Divider Stage Stage Stairs Tavern Counter Tavern Counter with Gate Bleachers Large Windmill Power Generator Large Rusted Iron Greenhouse Tall Barn Stall Barn Stall Thin Barn Stall Green Stall Awning Red Stall Awning Blue Stall Awning Large Fountain Ankh Small Ankh Banner Carpet Round Rug 1 Round Rug 2 Rug Character: A polish pass will be completed through all the hair styles. Hair Polish Delayed: We ran into some significant visual issues related to upgrading the hair, and we chose to delay this effort for another release until we could resolve those issues. Skin Detail: We discovered various bugs in our shader, camera and render pipeline that were preventing all details from showing in the character’s skin. These have now been fixed and details in skin should now be showing properly. New Camera and Lighting in Character Creation: The Camera and Lighting settings in Character Creation were not matching the game and were flattening the look of the character considerably. These have been updated to better match the game and improve the look of the characters during character creation. Pipe Smoking: If you have a pipe equipped in your right hand and you use the /smoke emote, you will animate smoking and blow smoke into the air. We chose to put the pipe in your right hand to leave room for your drink in your left hand (of course!). Ornate Pipes: In addition to the 3 craftable pipes, there are a variety of Ornate Pipes available for purchase in the Add On Store including: Ornate Metal Pipe Ornate Wooden Pipe Ornate Wooden Skull Pipe Ornate Meerschaum Wolf Pipe Ornate Metal Dragon Pipe Ornate Meerschaum Titan of Courage Pipe Ornate Meerschaum Titan of Love Pipe Ornate Meerschaum Titan of Truth Pipe Equipped Item Requirement for Emotes: We now have the ability to require an equipped item for emotes. We are currently using this for the /spyglass and /smoke emote, and will likely expand this to other emotes like /toast and /knight in the future. Looting Animation: When you open containers or loot corpses, you now play a looting animation instead of just standing still. New Run for Drawn Bow: We created a new run animation for when the character has a bow out and drawn. /breathefire: This new emote purchasable from the Add On Store is sure to heat up your next event. Juggle Variations: Last release, we introduced the /juggle emote that you could learn in Brittany. For R32, we have introduced a variety of flashier versions of juggling that you can purchase in the Add-On Store. The variations include: /juggleclubs /jugglerings /juggletorches /juggleknives /juggleskulls /jugglelight /jugglewisp Aeronaut Helmets: You can’t stand in your Hot Air Balloon nor your Airship without your safety gear! These come in three varieties: Aeronaut Helmet: The unique Summer Telethon Stretch Goal version has the virtue symbol embossed into the leather Ornate Aeronaut Helmet: With ornately embossed leather, this one can be crafted. Black Leather and Chrome Ornate Aeronaut Helmet: This unique variation is available in the Add On Store. Wings: Have you always wanted to look like you could fly but not have the ability to fly? Well now you can with these new items that you wear in the cloak slot. All of these wings can be purchased in the Add On Store (except the Clockwork versions which are for the Telethon and crafting). Clockwork Wings: The unique Summer Telethon Stretch Goal version is made of cloth and wood and has the virtue symbol woven into the cloth Ornate Clockwork Wings: This Ornate Cloth, Wood, and Brass version can be crafted Leather and Metal Wings: Add On Store Kobold Metal Wings: Kobold Bundles and Add On Store Demon Wings: Add On Store Fairy Wings: Add On Store Zombie Wings: Add On Store White Feather Wings: Add On Store Fancy Riding Outfit: This outfit was actually patched into R31, but for R32 we removed seams in the front pelvic regions. Ahem. NPCs: As part of the NPC behavior polish passes on the towns, we have been adding all sorts of behaviors and animations to our NPCs. Waking Up: We have made it so that you can wake up sleeping NPCs and speak with them to complete quests, you rude jerk. Theft Detection: NPCs now recognize when players steal items from their homes, shops, etc. and will yell at them when this occurs. In later releases, this will expand to include guard behaviors and punishments. Virtue Reactions: Guards have a chance to now react to the player based on the player’s virtue status. If your Virtue is high, guards might now salute you. If your Virtue is low, guards might scowl at you. We plan to expand this functionality further in future releases to other NPCs and other reactions. Turning Lights on and off: Lamp Lighters and Guards now play an animation when they turn lamps on and off at dawn and dusk instead of just standing near the lamp. Sweeping: We created brooms for NPCs to clean with. Cleaning Mugs: Bartenders will be seen cleaning mugs behind the bar. Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Town Criers now will gesture with this classic attention-grabbing animation Reading and Writing: We created equippable books, papers, scrolls, and quills for NPCs to use. Bundle Store: This new store has themed packages that can be purchased individually or can be upgraded from bundle to bundle (as long as you stay inside a particular theme). Viking Bundles: These bundles include some unique Viking themed items as well as an assortment of other new items to the game. In previous releases we introduced the Viking style Row Homes, the Viking Horned Helmet, Viking Cloak, Viking Chest, and Blood Raven. New items for Release 32 include: 3 Shields: These round shields are classically identified with Vikings Viking Tyr Shield Viking Guor Shield Viking Brynhildr Shield Viking Stronghold: This Village Home is a 2-Story keep like structure and has a roof deck. Viking Great Hall: This is a 3 story City sized home with multiple balconies and an open air terrace. Ornate Viking Chest: This is a more colorful and ornate version of the Viking Chest. /angry: a new emote that expresses your mood /judgeyes & /judgeno: classic thumbs up or thumbs down in the Roman Emperor tradition /meditate: a moment of peace before battle Winter Lynx & Winter Rottweiler: These are unique all white variants of the Lynx and Rottweiler pets Kobold Bundles: These bundles wrap up a lot of the Kobold themed items from the Add On Store plus several unique items for Release 32 including: Blackened Metal Clockwork Pets: These are unique variants of the clockwork Dog, Cat, and Raven pets Kobold Town Home: This three story stone and metal home has multiple balconies and a secret area. Kobold Metal Wings Make a Difference Blood Reliquary Bundles: These unique items can be found in our Make a Difference Store and 10% of your purchase will go to the blood charity of your choice. These bundles include some unique items available in Release 32. Tax-Free Player Owned Town Castle Lot Deeds: Looking to add a Castle Lot to your Player-Owned Town? Well the Blood Reliquary Bundles have the answer! Outside of the Lord of the Manor pledge—which expires August 22—there is no other way to obtain a deed of this size. /bloodrain: Do you love the /rain emote, but you wish that instead of rain it was blood? Well now you can have your wish. Lord British & Darkstarr Blood Reliquaries (digital): These in-game versions of the reliquaries can be placed on the walls of your home as decorations for visitors to admire (or be creeped out). Blood Fountain: Do you enjoy having a fountain decoration in your courtyard but you have always felt it would be better if it was filled with blood instead of water? Well now you can enjoy this bloody cascade in your home. Miscellaneous Enter/Loot Key: There is a new function that by default is mapped to the “E” key that allows you to Enter scenes in the Overworld while you are in Reticle mode and Loot corpses while in Reticle mode (pressing it a second time while the Loot window is up will “Take All”). Equipped Crafting Tools: These now automatically sort to the bottom of your inventory list and you also now have the option to not display them when equipped. Options Reset Default: You can now reset all Options to default settings. Specular, Bump, and Detail Mapping Fixed: We discovered a handful of issues that were breaking all texture mapping beyond base textures. This removed all the details in everything you saw making everything look flat. These fixes will improve the details in the entire game from making skin look like it has pores and wrinkles to making the dirt look like it has rumples in it. Depth of Field Tuning and Option: Depth of Field has been tuned to happen farther away and to have less of a blur effect. There is also now an option to disable it entirely. Disable Mouse Movement Option: Mouse movement can be disabled entirely if you wish. So, now that it is clear what you can expect, we should also be as clear about what you should NOT expect: Stability (especially Linux): The latest version of Unity that we updated to for Release 29 introduced quite a higher level of instability and memory leaks than we have ever previously encountered. This is especially bad for the Linux version of the game. We are working directly with Unity engineering to resolve this as quickly as possible. Performance: We have begun performance optimizations (LODs) as well as a first round of performance fallback routines via a Performance Manager. However we still have some work to do, particularly for older machines. Additionally, with the latest version of Unity we are using has some serious stability issues and memory leaks that we are working closely with them to resolve. Please be patient with us as we work through these issues. With each release, we will be doing further optimizations and adding more fallbacks to improve performance. Game Loop: Release 32 is a further iteration on our game loop, but is still missing some key components. Expect this to expand with each subsequent release. Visual Quality: Efforts to improve visual quality are ongoing. We will continue to iterate on these until we have highly competitive visuals. Pledge Rewards: Pledge Rewards that have been built and have tech to support them are in the game; all other rewards are awaiting either content creation or tech support. You can find an updated list of these items in known issues. Here are links to instructions and known issues. Thank you again for your continued support. This is truly the most amazing community we have ever worked with, and we are proud to be on this journey with you. Sincerely, Starr Long aka Darkstarr Executive Producer Save View the full article

The following are the current Property Tax Rates for Taxable Lot Deeds. These are balanced to be based on about one hour of effort per week to maintain a Row Lot on one end and about one hour of effort per day to maintain a City Lot at the top end. We want the Tax Rates to be achievable for single players easily for the smaller lots and through determined play for the larger lots. We will carefully monitor these values and adjust them if average play times do not match these goals. In-Game Gold Rates: Row: 500 gold per day Village: 1000 gold per day Town: 2000 gold per day City: 3500 gold per day Gold Crowns of the Obsidian Rates: Row: 1 Gold COTO per week Village: 2 Gold COTOs per week Town: 4 Gold COTOs per week City: 7 Gold COTOs per week View the full article

Hello everyone – here is the last newscast before FINAL WIPE!! Hope you are looking forward to it as much as we are!! Here is the news of the week: •Xenos Reborn •Brittany Central Housing Expansion •Renovating Spite •Rock Paper Shotgun’s 2016 RPG List •Next Dev Heading to SotA Con – Berek! •New Bundle Store •15% Bonus and 5 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1 •The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook •Upcoming Events •Community Resources – Players Helping Players •ONBE Shipments and Backer Shipping Addresses •Recommended Projects to Back The post Echoes from the Caverns 07-22-16 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: Xenos Reborn Brittany Central Housing Expansion Renovating Spite Rock Paper Shotgun’s 2016 RPG List Next Dev Heading to SotA Con – Berek! New Bundle Store 15% Bonus and 5 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1 The Sword of Midras SotA Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook Upcoming Events Community Resources – Players Helping Players ONBE Shipments and Backer Shipping Addresses Recommended Projects to Back Xenos Reborn Xenos (like Spite) started as another cloned scene using one of our PRT / POT templates based off of the Forest 01 base template (aka PaxLair). It is getting a complete rebuild from scratch this release and will go live with Release 32. Note that scenes that we un-clone after the Final Wipe will NOT get this level of rework, and building placements and lot placements in those towns will remain unchanged; only cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage will be made. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard “RrMatey” Matey] Hi guys, Wanted to give you guys a quick update on Xenos. This area is important because this is where you need to hitch a ride to Artifice. But to get on board, you need to win the lottery first. So good luck! Brittany Central Housing Expansion Now that we completed all the surrounding neighborhoods of Greater Brittany, we realized some areas inside Central Brittany are redundant, such as the farming areas. By eliminating areas like these, among other adjustments, we increased the amount of player lots within Central Brittany. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar] BRITTANY UPDATE: MORE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES Brittany keeps on expanding folks. 30 more player lots were added to the southern portion of the city. Most of these new areas of housing are along Cotton Road, Old Holtrop Road, and Jennings Byway. Below we can see a Before and After comparison of the area I am referring to. New lots that were added include: 1 City 1 Town 1 Village 27 Row Looking East from South Brittany. Esteben Zaldivar Level Designer Renovating Spite Spite started as another cloned scene using one of our PRT / POT templates based off of the Forest 01 base template (aka PaxLair). It is getting a complete rebuild from scratch this release and will go live with Release 32. Note that scenes that we unclone after the Final Wipe will NOT get this level of rework, and building placements and lot placements in those towns will remain unchanged; only cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage will be made. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar] Final Plot Layout for Spite Lots of great housing spots for you here, so I invite you to take your time while selecting a home! Lots of great vistas await the future property owners of Spite! Inside the Mortuarium. Rock Paper Shotgun’s 2016 RPG List Rock Paper Shotgun listed Shroud of the Avatar in their list of 2016’s Most Promising RPGs. Their recommendation was definitely a mixed bag of backhanded compliments, but RPS is known for the snark. Have a read: “Definitely another 2016 release I’m expecting to see slip like a clumsy skater surrounded by banana peels, but according to the FAQ it’s still on its way for the next few months. Richard Garriott’s return to the RPG sees him trying to take on both single-player action and a new multiplayer world at the same time, in a world inspired but legally distinct from the Ultima of old. Want to adventure on your own? 40 hours of that await, in a classless, skill-tree driven world full of ethical dilemmas. Prefer company? Enter a world of consensual PvP, house building and more. Want to spend $275 of real money on a house? You’d better believe THAT’S an option. A somewhat worryingly prominent one, but we’ll see how it shakes out.” Next Developer To Attend SotA Con Portalarium’s community manager is the next dev on our team announced to attend the exciting new community driven convention – SotA Con, as… Pikachu Deadpool! Just kidding! While Berek’s wild Pikachu Deadpool days are over (we think), he is confirmed to be the next attendee. Sota Con is coming up this November 4-7, 2016. More about this highly anticipated gathering of SotA players: Visit the Sota Con website at: www.sotacon.org/ New Bundle Store We launched our new Bundle Store earlier this week, currently featuring a variety of value-packed Viking-themed bundles. In addition to the three Viking Tax Free Row Lot bundles, we added five smaller, non-property bundles, as well as a Viking Tax Free Village Lot bundle! Each bundle includes Early Access to Shroud of the Avatar, along with a variety of additional rewards that includes such items as pets, emotes, increased inventory size, wearables, tools, potions, tax-free property, houses, basements, decorations, special VIP forum access, and more! Keep checking the Bundle Store during the days ahead; we’ll be adding more Viking bundles (including Town and City sized lot bundles), as well as a variety of Kobold-themed bundles! (NOTE: Most bundle items are currently available in-game, but some rewards are marked as available in an upcoming Release) Upgrading Your Bundle Additionally, if you buy one of the smaller bundles and later wish you had bought a larger bundle, you can easily upgrade to the larger bundle at any time without having to pay the full price of the larger bundle. To upgrade your existing bundle to a larger bundle, go to your Account page, select the “Bundles” tab, and click the “Upgrade” button next to the bundle you wish to upgrade (NOTE: You can only upgrade bundles of the same theme). 15% Summer Bonus and 5 Day Countdown to Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1 As we march toward the Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone, we are having a Summer 2016 Expiration Event split into Two Parts! Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1 At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27, 2016, we are expiring the homes and basements from the Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2 pledges. We are also expiring new Player Owned Towns (upgrades of existing POTs will continue to be available). All other rewards (including tax free property deeds) that are currently available in the remaining pledges will continue to be available. The final wipe of all game data will also occur at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th. To commemorate this momentous milestone, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 1, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Wipe at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC). Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2 At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, we are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2. To commemorate the final expiration of all remaining pledges, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 2, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Pledge Expirations at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC). Get Your 15% Summer Bonus! If you were thinking of purchasing (or upgrading) a pledge or Player Owned Town before they expire, then now’s a great time to do it! For all new purchases (including pledges, pledge upgrades, add-on items, player owned towns and upgrades, Make a Difference items, and service vouchers) between 12:00 am CDT June 24, 2016 and Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) August 22, 2016, we’ll add an additional 15% bonus to your Store Credit! [Read more…] The Sword of Midras Novel for Hardcover, Kindle, Nook and Audiobook The Sword of Midras, by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott, is a revised and expanded version of the Blade of the Avatar novel (originally included in pledge rewards through May 31, 2015). The expanded The Sword of Midras includes four additional chapters not seen in the pledge reward version of Blade of the Avatar, extending and elaborating on key elements of the story. The Hardcover, Kindle, and Nook, versions by Tor Books are available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and the unabridged audiobook version is available now at Audible.com. A sample of the audiobook is available at SoundCloud. [NOTE: The original Blade of the Avatar novel has already been delivered as an electronic PDF to all pledges prior to May 31, 2015 (when it expired). For those who qualify for this reward, you can find the link to the PDF on your SotA website account page Special Rewards tab for download. The physical and signed versions of the novel that are rewards at the Patron and Citizen level up through May 31, 2015 will be a paperback print version of the original Blade of the Avatar novel that has been delivered as an electronic PDF. This physical reward will be delivered to backers at the same time that all physical rewards are delivered, which we currently expect will be toward the end of this year Some backers have asked if they will receive The Sword of Midras, or the 4 additional chapters that were written for it, as part of their Blade of the Avatar novel pledge reward. Unfortunately, Portalarium is contractually not at liberty to distribute The Sword of Midras, or the additional chapters, in print or electronic form, as part of our original pledge rewards. This was a requirement In order to procure a mass market book publishing agreement with a major book publisher. We felt the mass market distribution of The Sword of Midras was critically important to help increase the worldwide exposure of Shroud of the Avatar. If The Sword of Midras is successful, it will help introduce many readers to our game, and potentially bring them in as new players, which is a long-term benefit for the game and the community.] Upcoming Events 2016.07.27 – Summer Telethon Part 1 + Pledge Homes / POT Expirations (Final Wipe at Midnight) 2016.07.28 – Release 32: Lot Selections 2016.08.16 – GDC Europe 2016.08.22 – Summer Telethon Part 2 + Final Pledge Expirations Episode 1 (Pledge Expirations at Midnight) 2016.08.25 – Release 33 2016.09.02 – DragonCon 2016 2016.09.21 – Austin Games Conference 2016.09.29 – Release 34 Community Activities Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out the Release 31 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events. Events of the Week – Pronoia Release Party PRONOIA will be releasing on July 23rd 2016! The second Album from the boys who brought on the Return of Lord British and that amazing Neon Milk. We at Avatars Radio along with the Caverns are proud to announce the first listen party happening on July 22nd – July 23rd! Starting at 10pm NBT and going until we collapse. Tune in to Avatars Radio and join us in game in the Island of Ghosts!; map). Artwork for the poster done by Indi Martin of Tortoise and Hare creations. Isle of Ghosts – Womby is the Governor. The Maze is Back – 4B Maze in Radio City! The amazing 4B maze builders are back with a brand new maze! Here’s an excerpt from their forum post announcement: When: Sunday, July 24, from 1pm-3pm CDT Where: Radio City (map; Castle Arena Basement, teleport to Net, if he is online, otherwise ask other 4B/AR members for the zone point) Rules: Only light source allowed is the torch or the darklamp (torch is recommended). Use of light spell or light generating items is agaisnt the rules and might disqualify you from winning. Players must stay in the area for the winners (TBD) till the end of the event (or at least till I notice they finished the maze, they better get it confirmed in the chat to qualify for the prizes) No cheats or exploits allowed. Prizes: $10 store credit for the first three people who complete the maze in the first 60 minutes $5 store credit for the first three people who complete the maze in the first 60-90 minutes Gold and obsidian crowns for those who will finish later Community 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. Resource of the Week New Britannia News Network (NBNN) NBNN is New Britannia’s premier video streaming news network. This community effort mobilizes streamers into a global endeavor of promotion for the greater Shroud of the Avatar community. Whether it be the latest news or a revealing interview, NBNN never fails to surprise! Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing. Status of ONBE Shipments The Order of the New Britannia Empire (ONBE) awards are now shipping to our amazing community recipients! There are still several recipients that have not updated mailing address information on their accounts. If you are expecting an ONBE, please do this now! We are also sending out e-mails to ensure we have the correct address. Please check that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account to receive these e-mails! Visit SotA Wiki for a current list of those who have received or are expecting ONBEs. Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image. For country and regional tax assessment purposes, our tax accountants have requested that we start collecting a buyer’s physical/shipping address for all purchases, whether digital or physical. We’ve tried to streamline that process as much as possible, such that once you’ve entered a physical address we will pre-populate the address fields with your default address. A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account! Recommended Projects to Back – Meifumado: The Dark Road To Hell Our very own Shroud community member enderandrew is also a Brightlocker community member and his game idea Meifumado: The Dark Road To Hell made it into the Grand Finals over at Brightlocker. The game is a JRPG set in a fantasy-like feudal Japan with demons, both internal and literal. Okami art-style mixed with traditional Japanese instrumental music sets the tone for this samurai epic. You can read about his experiences in our forums here. He’s going against winners from the previous semi-finals so head over to Brightlocker and support your fellow Shroud community member! Brightlocker Grand Finals run from 20th July to early August. After 6 Semi-Final Rounds, more than 200 game ideas submitted, over 600,000 votes cast, over 22,000 achievements and 1,000,000 XP earned, the BrightLocker have selected their complete roster of 36 Finalists. From cowboys on mars to self driving cars, from feudal JPRG to Donald Trump’s hair, the Finalists show an amazing range of creativity and talent. These 37 game ideas are competing for votes to get into the FINAL GreenZone. The BrightLocker community are making history, as the final selected idea will become the first game to go into production that was created and voted up by the public. No votes are ‘wasted’, as the entire monetary value of all votes cast throughout the Semi Final rounds and Grand Finals go towards seed funding for the winning game idea. BrightLocker is the first crowd publishing platform for games. BrightLocker was launched by fellow ex-Originites Mark Rizzo and Ruben Cortez, members of the original Ultima Online Network Ops team from back in the day. Xounts Kickstarter: Shroud of the Avatar Special! We’re excited to announce that Xounts is offering a free Shroud of the Avatar style when you support their unique speaker system Kickstarter campaign. The ‪Xounts‬ system is fantastic at delivering great sound, looks really cool wherever it’s placed, and supports custom themes… including a really SWEET Shroud of the Avatar theme. We even have a SotA styled Xounts in our office! Save Save Save Save Save View the full article

We've got a new Twitch channel! Please follow, share, like, and love: www.twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar Note that for the telethon event next week, we are still going to use Discord for primary chat, and the following YouTube link for the livestream: We've heard your thorough feedback on concerns with us using Twitch for the telethon as a primary source, so don't worry about our Twitch channel replacing... New Twitch channel! View the full article

If you have been waiting to convert your purchases to store credits, the following times will be your FINAL three chances, so long as you have NOT claimed your rewards at the bank: Monday July 25 11:00 AM CST Wednesday July 27 7:00 PM CST Thursday July 28 9:00 AM CST The conversion process will work exactly as it has in previous releases. If you upgraded a property owning pledge since the last wipe, you ended up with extra lot deeds which will... Store Purchase Conversions - Final Offer ScheduleView the full article

The First Listen Party for Pronoia! The second Album from the Space Bards / Recap Band Avatars Radio along with The Caverns are proud to announce the first listen party on July 22-23, starting at 10pm NBT (CDT). Tune in to Avatars Radio and join us in game at the Isle of Ghosts! Schedule: 10-11pm NBT: Hangout with the Bards on Avatars Radio for some rabble 11pm NBT: Listen to the entire album from start to finish After the Album is finished, hang around with Dom John, Dan Span, and Steven Goldman! Listen In: RecapBand.com SoundCloud.com/SpaceBards AvatarsRadio.com TheCaverns.net Details and discussion of the event in the Community Forums. View the full article

The community’s health is super important to us. Many great accomplishments by the community have been made both outside and inside the game, and we have much more to offer yet on this journey with you. We want to ensure this positive collaboration between community members can continue forward without disruptions causing undue grief to everyone involved. Listed below are the core rules & guidelines that establish a fair grounding for understanding what is appropriate conduct in the... Community Rules & Guidelines View the full article