Greetings Friends! Been a while since I last did a Shroud of the Avatar update post. I will continue to bring you the news as regularly as I see fit. Before we get into the sections of news that we will highlight below, let’s do a little house keeping topics that some have requested, but do not require a whole section.  One thing to note is that the Shroud of the Avatar website still has in the footers that the copyright is Portalarium, and not Catnip Games. Should be a rather easy update to make.

Also, I did contact Seed Invest and my communication with them was enlightening.  I am hoping to hear back on one more question . Should anyone who did invest in the Portalarium Seed Invest wish to share their stories on any communications from Seed Invest since the purchase of Portalarium’s assets by Catnip Games, feel free to contact us.  I would love to do a post sharing stories from everyone because there certainly seems to be a lack of openness about the situation. And in fact, there appears to be some conflicting reports and claims by both backers but also Portalarium/Catnip.

For today’s post, let’s look at the following news that I wish to highlight since the last update post:

• Bard Skills Introduction
• Episode 2 Continent
• Removal of Universal Orb Requirement

Bard Skills Introduction

So Shroud of the Avatar has been marketed as a “Classless Character System: Vast customization options with hundreds of skills and spells in over 20 different skill trees” as well as currently as having a “Classless Character System” to “Enjoy true individuality with a vast pool of customization options. Use over 20 different skill trees containing hundreds of skills and spells to forge your unique path”. Now obviously with the skill based system that was designed, basic archetypes were going to develop. Ranged, Melee, Magic being the 3 Combat Archetypes.  Well now we have class skills. The first one being, the Bard.

The devs recently announced that the  bard skill tree now has many skills available for testing on the Player Test Environment (QA) server. QA testers can train these skills by visiting the Advanced Skills Tactics Trainer in Desolis. They were specific to mention they are working to add visual and audio effects to these skills. Here’s a list of 5 additional abilities, but the plan is to have a total of 16 skills added:

• Savage Sonata: AoE enrage ability
• Chorus of Conservation: AoE focus cost reduction for party members
• Rhythmic Readiness: Passive skill that reduces ability casting time
• Resounding Reach: Passive skill which increases range of abilities
• Musical Fortitude: Passive skill which increases duration of abilities

Episode 2 Continent

The Episode 2 continent is more of a some islands. Now certainly these islands do not increase the total land mass of the game by the amount Richard Garriott said future episodes would do. However, with the obvious failures in Episode 1 in regards to scale and the handling of content. This is most certainly not a bad thing that the scope is reduced. On February 29th, the “land grab” began and will continue following set brackets till April 4th. I would certainly expect some Player Owned Towns to request being moved to the new lands as well to maximize players taking advantage of the new zones and quests that players will be exploring. Check out the forum post from the devs on what the rules and plan has been for more details.

FYI – Purple Indicators: potential NPC/story towns (more will be speckled in eventually)
Orange/Red Indicators: potential adventure scenes (more will be speckled in eventually)

Removal of Universal Orb Requirement

When Global Chat was gated by the SotA devs with a Universal Broadcast Orb that cost $2 in the Add-On Store, there were many discussions about it being a cash grab, etc. One of my favorite complaints is it would alienate the Free to Play (FTP) players. Now the devs did say that this Broadcast Orb was done for the reasons of spam protection in regards to the  in-game chat. However they recently admitted that it “inadvertently stifled communication for new FTP players wanting to participate in our community”.  As of R75, the Universal Broadcast Orb will no longer be required to utilize Universal nor Trade chat channels. This item has been removed from the Add-On Store too. For those who bought one or had one given to them because they were a backer, those users have received an orb decoration as a replacement. This decoration version of the Universal Broadcast Orb also emits light and counts as a light source.