Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #114

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Play Release 15 Now!
Underworld Funded – Now Entering Final Week!
Crowfall Kickstarter Funded in 3 Days!
Final Week for Massively Kickstarter
First Wedding in New Britannia
Rick Holtrop’s Spectral Mines
In-game Community Weekend Events

Play Release 15 Now!

Release 15 screenshot courtesy of *Meyaka*[PeV]. Check out more in the Forum’s Release 15 Screenshot Gallery.

Release 15 successfully launched yesterday, February 26, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

Transitioned to Unity 5, the latest version of the Unity engine
Travel the Perennial Coast on the Novia Overworld
39 new scenes, including Spectral Mines, Verdantis Shardfall, Solania, and Soletown
11 new magic and combat skills (including Stealth)
20 new crafting skills
Pledge reward and add-on pets that follow you around
…and more!

Check out the Release 15 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new R15 content.

The Grand Tour Quest
Just as in our last few releases, we’ve included a Grand Tour Quest designed to guide you through all the new content. You will be able to get the Silver Jester Carnival Mask by completing the Release 15 Grand Tour Quest. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 15 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in soon and talk to all the Tour Guides!

Verdantis Shardfall

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 15!

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 15 Player Instructions

Release 15 Known Issues

R15 Patch Notes

Thanks to all our community members that jumped right into Release 15 and started reporting bugs. We’ve already fixed quite a few of them and pushed out several patches. Click here for the most up-to-date Patch Notes.

February 27, 2015

Build Number 229 6:30 PM CST

Notes:

Fixes for Anti-Aliasing so it does not blur text too much
Fix for merchant inventories showing up empty and then shutting immediately
Improved feedback for when a purchase fails with a merchant
You can now join a party member in a random encounter by double clicking on their marker
Stealth spells cast while already in combat are not broken by attacks
Blackblade Pass South Entrance now properly displays name
Fixed some broken facial hair
Fix for stealthed characters being too hard to see by the player operating them
Barriers on Novia Overworld now higher to prevent access to unfinished areas
Long beards should now sort properly in game
Fix bug that was preventing some players from logging in
Solania realtor no longer selling reward deeds, now same as housing NPC in Owl’s Head
Fixed bug where some cotton nodes were incorrectly named flax
First room in Chillblain’s Compendium of Doom (aka Challenge Dungeon) is now filled with wolves instead of stags that run out the room
Help text for vendor proceeds in bank (to fix confusion on how to get your proceeds)
Particles now longer render when characters are stealthed
Fixed the encumbrance issue so that it only prevents interactions (harvesting, crafting, etc.) while not able to move and encumbered
If you die and log out while flagged for PvP the flag will be removed when you log back in. You must return to the Oracle to have it restored.

Known Issues:

The screen may go completely black except for UI in some cases. If this occurs, you can open the video options and turn off Tone Mapping as a temporary fix.
Many pledge, add on, and stretch goal items have not yet been built and/or do not yet have tech support. These will not be complete until later this year
The update to Unity 5 caused a host of general texture and lighting related issues, and not all of these have been resolved.
Distant tree billboards may have a white outline that is especially noticeable at night, and some trees may shimmer with white at night.
Some scenes in the new Novia overworld are missing visible name scrolls, though they can still be entered and explored.
Bugs in the lighting system during this transition to Unity 5 have degraded performance, especially in large towns like Owl’s Head and Ardoris. This will require a sweeping change so unfortunately won’t be fixed until Release 16.
Hair is not responding to light correctly
Skin tone will sometimes not match properly on different parts of the body
Occlusion in Ardoris is not working properly which will result in places in the city where walls are invisible with nothing visible beyond them

[Complete Patch Notes…]

Underworld Funded – Now Entering Final Week!

Former Origin protégé, Paul Neurath, is rebooting the legendary Ultima Underworld games with the Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter campaign, which reached its $600k funding goal yesterday! It has been more than a decade long wait, but the stars have aligned and Paul has at long last freed the rights to move forward with the franchise. We’re especially excited that, just as the original Ultima and Underworld shared a connection on backstory and fictional elements, so too will Shroud of the Avatar and Underworld Ascendant.

SotA is teaming up with Underworld Ascendant (UA) so that backers of both games can get special in-game items. This week they are announcing a new item, Jabbering Bertha!

Jabbering Bertha

When UA reached 10,000 backers, the Chattering Bart reward was added to all UA pledges. Chattering Bart, formerly known as Bartholomew, was the favorite court jester of a long-ago nobleman. Bart was famously sharp-witted. Sadly, Bart drowned in a huge vat of mead one evening after feasting. The nobleman had a necromancer animate Bart’s skull so that, in death, Bart could still chatter up a storm. While wielded in UA, Bart will share his wit and pithy statements with the player, usually at the most inopportune times. Some of Bart’s dialogue are quips penned by UA backers who submit them to OtherSide Entertainment as part of a contest during their Kickstarter campaign!

Well, it turns out that Bart had a wife. After Bart was turned into a chattering skull, his soon to be deceased wife insisted she would be too, and became Jabbering Bertha. The two can talk up a storm! Sadly, Jabbering Bertha got separated from Bart. Indeed, she was taken through a portal to the lands of Shroud of the Avatar. For any players who get Jabbering Bertha as an Add-On in both games, the two will be reunited, and swap some unique quips. Not only that, but Bertha will put on her lipstick for Bart. Please don’t make any ‘lipstick on a pig’ jokes, Bertha can be sensitive about her looks. Jabbering Bertha is currently available in the SotA Add-On Store, and as an Add-On on the Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter page.

Dark Elven “Kinsman” Buckler

SotA_UA_DarkElvenKinsmanBuckler_set This buckler, inscribed with the Dark Elven symbol, has a moonstone gem inset. If a player owns the buckler in both Shroud of the Avatar and Underworld Ascendant, then the moonstone will glow with the warmth of kinship. This signifies that the Dark Elven clans, though sundered between distant worlds, still are one. The Dark Elven Buckler is currently available in the SotA Add-On Store, and as an Add-On on the Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter page.

Otherside Entertainment has surpassed their $600k funding goal, but needs your help during their final week to start hitting their stretch goals! Be sure and check out the Underworld Kickstarter site, and if you are as excited about it as we are, then show your support and make a pledge to Raise the Underworld!

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

Crowfall Kickstarter Funded in 3 Days!

Another former Origin protégés, Gordon Walton (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies), has teamed up with J. Todd Coleman (Shadowbane, Wizard 101), to create an awesome sounding game called Crowfall. They describe it as a seamless blend of an MMO with a large-scale Strategy game! Think “…Game of Thrones meets Eve Online”. They’ve enlisted the aid of yet another former Origin protégé, Raph Koster (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies), as a design consultant!

Game characters are persistent, but the Campaign Worlds are not. Players are Crows – Champions who travel from one world to the next, fighting an endless War of the Gods. There are two types of Worlds in the Crowfall Universe: the Campaign Worlds, which produce materials such as stone, iron, and wood (and last until some “win condition is met” – typically 1 to 3 months), and the Eternal Kingdoms, which are barren of resources — but last forever. When a campaign ends, a victor is declared, the map is wiped and the World goes offline forever. The players – the Crows – then fly back to their Home Worlds, to either count their spoils or lick their wounds before they choose a new Campaign and fight again.

Another really cool feature is that the worlds are made of voxels (like Minecraft, only much smaller) – which means the entire world is destructible. They are harnessing VoxelFarm technology to generate an endless succession of unique and interesting Campaign Worlds for you to mine, shape, conquer and destroy.

Sounds pretty awesome, right? A lot of gamers think so because they reached their $800k funding goal in just 3 days! Check out their Kickstarter page and if you like what you see then help them build Crowfall with your pledge!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFHJhULEu8Q?feature=oembed]

Final Week of Massively Kickstarter

The Massively Kickstarter campaign has surpassed their funding goal and already has their new website up and running, with lots of great articles in the Massively tradition, so check it out if you haven’t seen it yet!

This is the last week of their Kickstarter campaign and they are working toward their $75k Stretch Goal, which includes Convention Coverage. So, head on over to the Massively Overpowered Kickstarter site and if you like what you see then pledge your support!

First Wedding in New Britannia

Join us in congratulating Roper and Keira on their wedding, this past Wednesday, February 24th. They hold the distinct honor of being the first couple to wed in New Britannia. The wedding was held at the beautiful Lord of the Manor estate of Night Fury and deftly decorated by 4B and Athanil.

Officiation was performed by High Priestess of Chaos Amber Raine and Master Bard Holt Ironfell composed and dedicated the song “Vows & Virtues” to the guests of honor. There were royal visits by Lady Firelotus, Rustica Dragon, Lord Darkstarr, Lord British and other noble dignitaries of the Shroud of the Avatar community; as well as some interesting surprises.

Duke Ezekiel Cooper of the Britannian Mining Company surprised the wedding party by gifting the lucky groom the now infamous “Flaming Sword of Lord British”. This sword is the first enchanted item in the game with the maker’s mark of Lord British!

Thanks to community member The Mad Hermit for creating this video of the momentous event:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qovq9_ghYE?feature=oembed]

“A Bear Tavern wedding without at least one brawl is considered a dull affair.”
-The Mad Hermit

Rick Holtrop’s Spectral Mines

For Release 15, Rick Holtrop put on his Level Designer hat and crafted the Spectral Mines (part of the R15 Grand Tour Quest):

“Long ago, an effort was made to mine the Spectral Peaks but miners stumbled upon some ancient crypts full of undead. The miners abandoned the unstarted mines, but the Order of the Ebon Dawn have since taken over and seek to resurrect the ancient power of the Obsidians.”

In-game Weekend Community Events

Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Here is the latest schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar:

Friday, February 27
7:00pm CST – Dungeon Run – A No-Host Event (Braemar Cemetery)
9:00pm CST – Mass Assassination – 1v1 Double Elimination – By League of Assassins – (Braemar – Arena TBA; details)

Saturday, February 28
9:00am CST – PaxLair Working Hours – Host Winfield (Valemark)
9:30am CST – All Player Towns Gathering – templates (PaxLair, Valmark; “/zone Winfield”; details)
10:00am CST – BMC Recruitment Run (meet Zenie Zen in Braemar)
11:00am CST – Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service (PaxLair, Valemark; details)
12:00pm CST – Welcome Quest in R15 (NorthShire or “/zone Dara Brae”; details)
2:00pm CST – Owl’s Head Hippodrome Extravaganza (Tantalus Consortium, Owl’s Head Castle; details)
4:00pm CST – All Player Towns Gathering – templates (PaxLair, Valmark; “/zone William Serenite”; details)
6:00pm CST – Oov – Crafting in Vengeance (Brave Coast)
7:00pm CST – Escort the Baroness – PvE Event (“/zone Jenny Phoenixfyre or Kazyn Phoenixfyre)

Sunday, March 1
5:30am CST – Explore Novia with royalsexy (Owl’s Head entrance)
2:00pm CST – MidBoss Beta Launch Event (Salty Dog Cafe – Dungeon Basement – Kingsport or “/zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Eniko”)
5:00pm CST – BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration (details)
6:00pm CST – BMC First Blood at Grid-Iron (details)
7:00pm CST – PaxLair Meeting (Valemark, or “/zone Winfield”)
8:00pm CST – New Britannia Press Meeting (Paxlair and Avatar’s Circle Teamspeak)

Be sure and check out the Release 15 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.