Greetings Friends and Fellow Avatars!  As some of you have known, I have been working on a special holiday image for everyone for this Friday before Christmas.  I took to Adobe Illustrator in my spare time and recreated some of the tileset from Ultima 4 as well as create 3 new tiles that never existed in Ultima 4.  Because of the rise of Geeky Ugly Sweater and Ugly Tee designs, I bring to you… The Ultima 4 Inspired Ugly Christmas Graphic.

 

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

• Play Release 13 Now and Get Your Grand Tour Yule Hat
• R13 Patch Notes
• Vote for Shroud of the Avatar as the Most Anticipated MMO of 2015!
• Cult of Spears Christmas Giveaway Winner!
• $5 for $5 Holiday Bonus
• In-game Community Weekend Events
• Upcoming Events

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Please note that December 20 – 28 and January 1 are official company holidays for Portalarium which means there will be no developer presence nor customer support on those dates.

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Play Release 13 Now and Get Your Grand Tour Yule Hat

Release 13 successfully launched yesterday, December 18, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

• New houses and decorations, including the much requested room dividers and hedges
• 16 new skills, including our first Chaos magic spell
• New consumable crafting recipes, including Smelling Salts, Explosive Potion, and Haste Potion
• New creatures, including Earth and Air Elementals, Imp, Scorpion, and Reindeer.
• New Desert Scenes
• Combat balancing, especially so melee fighters aren’t so overpowered
• …and more!

Check out the Release 13 Instructions update for detailed information about all the R13 content.
The Grand Tour Quest
Just as in the last few releases, we’ve a Grand Tour Quest designed to guide us through all the new content. And just in time for the holidays, you will be able to get the Yule Hat by completing the Release 13 Grand Tour Quest. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 13 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in soon and talk to all the Tour Guides!

If you need help getting your R13 Yule Hat reward, then check out The Mad Hermit’s video guide to completing the R13 Grand Tour Quest:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiC2bH4MWOw?feature=oembed]

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Please 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 13!

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 13 Player Instructions

Release 13 Known Issues

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R13 Patch NotesThanks to all the community members that jumped right into Release 13 and started reporting bugs. The team has already fixed quite a few of them and pushed out a couple of patches. Click here for the most up-to-date Patch Notes.

December 19, 2014

Build Number 199 (Linux, Mac, PC): 5:30 PM CST (15:30 GMT)

• Augmented Cloth Hood no longer removes facial hair
• Deathfield nerfed slightly
• Obsidian Cloak now displays the proper symbol
• Fixed a logic error that gave you bonuses and penalties to fizzle chances for standing still or moving BUT only if holding a bow. Now will apply those no matter what weapon is equipped. Also, cut the penalty in half.
• Immolation is now enabled in the game (no really, we aren’t kidding)
• Fixed various typos in conversations
• Changed Launcher to default to 64 bit windows build if machine is capable
• Various performance optimizations (should make Owl’s Head play much better)
• Updated the get hit sound effect to something marginally better but still placeholder
• Fixed doorways in desert buildings that were blocking fully scaled avatars
• Books should no longer appear in the equipment tab
• Kobold Mages and Archers should now have the correct names
• Fixed floating fence and boulders in Wynton’s Folly (new desert scene)
• Fixed issue that was causing multiple items to be selected in inventory, even when trying to select single items

Build Number 198 (Linux, Mac, PC): 9:30 AM CST (15:30 GMT)

• Marlene Graff’s quest to recover her necklace is now working properly
• Red Sash Bandits now dropping Red Sashes again
• Fixed text overlap issue in Options UI
• Fixed issues with Blink letting you go through walls of player houses
• Added more footstep sounds
• “Random Encounter!” text replaced with “Prepare to defend yourself!”
• Player placed lights can now be turned off
• Partial fix for the issue that many creatures will run away from you briefly before running towards you when they notice you
• Duke and Baron crows now work properly with hair
• Fixed Grand Tour bug where guides sometimes don’t acknowledge you when you typed the “Progress” keyword
• Visual Effects for Caltrops and Explosive Potions are now in the game.
• Chest Mimics are now working again
• Fixed rock in Link of Hyrule’s yard
• Random Encounters are now flagged as private so they will no longer be filled with dead animals and mined out resources
• Changed Tour Guide names so they have the place name in their name (“say name one more time *********!”)
• Sitting with a torch while AFK no longer burns your nether regions
• Caltrops can no longer be placed in your non-combat bar (which was locking you in place if you tried to use it)
• Spiders in Deep Ravenswood should be more challenging/balanced

December 18, 2014

Build Number 196 (Linux, Mac, PC): 12:30 PM CST (18:30 GMT)

• Mac Build is now working! Thank you for your patience
• New Lord of the Manor Keep should have collision and sound effects on the doors
• Gravity returned to Wynton’s Folly (new desert scene). Fixed floating resource node, floating building and floating tree
• Ladders and stairs in Wynton’s Folly (new desert scene) should now work
• Scorpions now playing spitting animation (yes just what you always wanted, to be covered in Scorpion spit, you are welcome)
• Air Elemental now using lightning instead of ice arrow
• Increased slow effects for Ice Spells and Combos: Ice Arrow, Ice Field, Ice Fist, Icy Puncture, and Icy Thrust
• Players can now use /reportplayer and /reportcontent in the chat window which will send tickets to our Customer Service system for inappropriate content

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Please Vote for Shroud of the Avatar for Massively’s Most Anticipated MMO of 2015!

Massively is running a Reader Poll for the the Most Anticipated MMO of 2015, so please click this link to go cast your vote for Shroud of the Avatar!

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/18/massivelys-best-of-2014-awards-most-anticipated-for-2015-and-b

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For those of you who didnt see it, The Cult of Spears did what was the first of their SotA events this month, that ended today.  This time was an out of game Christmas giveaway.  GolemDragon (that’s me!) put up a full set of the new Shroud of the Avatar Steam Trading Cards and a copy of the classic, Dungeon Keeper. Entries were made by community members submitting a christmas recipe.  The winner was randomly selected live on stream and announced live on Avatar’s Radio and confirmed by Avatars Radio via IRC confirmation from the winner.  Community Member, Bubonic, won.  Below are copies of the Submissions. Major thanks to all 10 individuals who entered.

Duke Violation set the bar high early on with his handwritten runic entry.  While creativity or the beauty of the image did not play a role in the contest, I was still very pleased by the work everyone put into their entries.  Each entry brought something that made each community member stand out in a good way.  Way to Go… The Cult of Spears honors each of you this Friday before Christmas.

$5 for $5 Holiday BonusIf you make any purchase of $5 or more on the SotA website between 12 pm CST December 18 and 12 pm CST January 2 we will make a one-time deposit of an extra $5 into your Store Credit!

[NOTE: The $5 for $5 offer can be exercised only once during the promotion period.
$5 Store Credit should show up in your account within 24 hours of a qualifying purchase]

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In-game Weekend Community EventsOur amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. If you missed out on these player events during the previous Releases, we highly recommend you check some of them out this weekend. Here is the latest schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar (http://avatarscircle.com/community-events/):

Friday, December 19
10:00am CST – Dungeon Run – Braemar Cemetery
2:00pm CST – FireLotus Release Party – R13 is here! (Wody’s Tavern, Port Phoenix)
7:00pm CST – Dungeon Run – Braemar Cemetery

Saturday, December 20
9:00am CST – PaxLair Working Hours – Host Winfield (in Valemark)
11:00am CST – Church of the Dark Star – The Monsters that Dwell Within – Greed (PaxLair, Valemark)
12:00pm CST – Welcome Quest in R13 (“/zone Dara Brae” to join; details)
3:00pm CST – Yule Maze (in Owl’s Head or “/zone Net” or “/zone Riya”)
4:00pm CST – Scholarly Lecture – Flora and Fauna of New Britannia (Port Phoenix Fairgrounds, Kingsport, or “/zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre”)
5:00pm CST – PvP Tournament: 1v1 Double Elimination $$$ (Vengeance in The Brave Coast)

Sunday, December 21
5:30am CST – Explore Novia with royalsexy (Owl’s Head entrance)
12:00pm CST – Port Phoenix Storytelling Event! (Port Phoenix Fairgrounds, Kingsport City Center, or “/zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre”)
1:00pm CST – Learn to Gather (Owl’s Head crafting pavilion)
2:00pm CST – Hangout of the Avatar – Economy & Chat systems (details)
4:00pm CST – All Towns Gathering (Dara Brae)
6:00pm CST – Fishing with Winfield (some lake or pond, “/zone Winfield”)
7:00pm CST – PaxLair Meeting (in Valemark or “/zone Winfield PaxLair”)

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Upcoming Events

2014.12.18 – Release 13 Access
2015.01.06 – SotA at CES
2015.01.22 – Release 14 Access
2015.02.19 – Release 15 Access
2015.03.13 – SotA at SXSW Interactive
2015.03.26 – Release 16 Access