Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #106 – Happy New Year

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Greetings and Happy New Year Fellow Avatars!

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

  • Shroud of the Avatar #1 Most Anticipated MMO of 2015 and Beyond!
  • SotA at CES Next Week
  • Brightbone Pass
  • Shardfall Biome
  • Wyrmsands
  • Dragon Pass
  • In-game Community Weekend Events
  • Upcoming Events

Shroud of the Avatar #1 Most Anticipated MMO of 2015 and Beyond!

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There’s no better way to bring in the New Year than to be voted the #1 Most Anticipated MMO of 2015 and Beyond!

On December 18th, Massively opened a Reader’s Poll for the Most Anticipated MMO of 2015 and Beyond. During the early hours of the poll, EQ Next/Landmark commanded a sizable lead for #1, which also reflected the Massively Staff Pick. Shroud of the Avatar was a distant #2, with Star Citizen only 2 votes behind at #3. However, within the next few hours, Camelot Unchained raced past everyone to claim the #1 spot, leaving SotA choking on its dust in the #3 spot!

But the SotA supporters rallied to the fray, and by early evening Shroud of the Avatar inched its way past Camelot Unchained to claim the #1 spot. And in the almost 2 weeks since the Reader’s Poll opened, SotA supporters have driven SotA into a commanding lead on Massively’s Most Anticipated MMO of 2015 and Beyond! Here are the Top 5 standings as of the time of this writing:

  1. Shroud of the Avatar (25.4%)
  2. Camelot Unchained (18.9%)
  3. EQ Next/Landmark (15.1%)
  4. Skyforge (11.3%)
  5. Star Citizen (9.0%)

Ten Ton Hammer Reader’s Choice – Most Anticipated Game of 2015

The Dev Team couldn’t have won the Massively Reader’s Poll without the tremendous support from all of you! And now we’ve just learned of another Reader’s Choice poll for Most Anticipated Game of 2015 being held by Ten Ton Hammer. This poll appears to be more “official” than the Massively poll, and should have a follow up article on TTH once the results are finalized on January 7th.

So, what do you think? Can we keep the mojo going? Can we win two Most Anticipated Reader’s Choice polls for 2015! I bet we can, but we’re going to need all your help (again) to do it, so please follow this link to go cast your vote for Shroud of the Avatar!

Only 1 Day Left to Get Your $5 for $5 Holiday Bonus

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

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[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]

SotA at CES Next Week

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The team are excited that Shroud of the Avatar will be a featured game at the Plantronics booth at CES next week. We want the audio landscape of SotA to be as immersive as the visual landscape and Plantronics is a great partner for us to work with on achieving that goal.

If you’re a fan of Plantronics Gaming Headsets (like we are), then check out their Plantronics Gaming Facebook page, and if you like what you see then give them a “Like”!

Brightbone Pass

This dangerous control point sits high atop the Brightbone Mountains near the Necropolis, city of the undead. Hordes of skeletons and ghosts haunt this ancient fortress and block all who would venture through. Some say a group of ancient Lich’s also call this their home.

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Shardfall Biome

In an age past came the end of two celestial beings, the birth of Daedalus, and a cataclysmic storm in the form of Shardfall! New Britannia was forever changed as celestial debris rained down upon the surface. What strange secrets will be unlocked within the craters of Shardfall? The Obsidian Order understood the power unleashed and sought to harness it: mutation, corruption and blight…

The Island of Novia will have a number of these Shardfall areas where the Blessings of the Oracle do not hold sway and all who venture in them are at risk of conflict (open PVP). With that risk though there is rumor of even greater reward for the Shardfall both generates and exposes more resources than anywhere else in Novia. Release 14 will feature our first scene to use the Shardfall biome; pictured below (image is early work-in-progress).

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Wyrmsands

This desert in the southwest corner of the Vale is also known as the graveyard of dragons. No one knows why these beasts came here to die in such large numbers. Some say those same dragons left behind great treasures upon their death, but few have dared to venture too far in these wastes to find out.

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Dragon Pass

Those who carved these beasts into the desert cliff faces have faded into memory, but these edifices remain in the deepest deserts of Novia.

SotA Forgotten Desert

Environmental artist Andy Cortez is currently modeling the Dragon Pass sculptures based on the above concept art by Stephen Daniele. Keep an eye out for it in an upcoming Release!

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In-game Weekend Community Events

avatars-circle-logo-concept-7[1]Our 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, January 2
10:00am CST – Dungeon Run – Braemar Cemetery
7:00pm CST – Dungeon Run – Braemar Cemetery

Saturday, January 3
11:00am CST – Church of the Dark Star – The Monsters that Dwell Within – Sacrifice (PaxLair, Valemark)
12:00pm CST – Welcome Quest R13.5 (“/zone Dara Brae” to join; details)
1:00pm Port Phoenix Storytelling Event! (Port Phoenix Fairgrounds, Kingsport City Center, or “/zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre”)
5:00pm CST – PvP Tournament: 1v1 Double Elimination $$$ (Vengeance in The Brave Coast)

Sunday, January 4
5:30am CST – Explore Novia with royalsexy (Owl’s Head entrance)
12:00pm CST – Bear Tavern Brawl 1v1 R13 (details)

Upcoming Events

2015.01.06 – SotA at CES
2015.01.14 – Live Dev Hangout: R13 Postmortem
2015.01.29 – Release 14 Access
2015.02.19 – Release 15 Access
2015.03.13 – SotA at SXSW Interactive
2015.03.26 – Release 16 Access

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