Release 109

RELEASE 109, December 15, 2022
Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 109 goes live December 15th at 10:30 AM CST.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 109 (R109), we offer a hidden Obsidian valley behind a maze of tunnels in Vikland.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

Explore Vikland’s Obsidian Valley!
Hagen’s personal tragedy has left a mystery: the most intrepid Avatars exploring Vikland can now solve the puzzle of the Obsidian Cave and venture into the tunnels beyond the locked door. The most clever and resilient ones will make their way completely through the catacombs and enter into a mysterious Obsidian Valley.

New Treasure-Hunting Trophies
Ravalox has made a shiny new set of trophies for treasure-hunting contests! Details on requesting them for your events are here.

Differently-colored treasure chests spinning on pedestals

Release 109 Patch Notes
Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 109 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R109 is a polish month. Content, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R110 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 109!

Crafting, Decoration, & Inventory Item Changes:

 * Garbage Bins: The hint for using these items will now only appear in NPC towns. Fixed an issue to stop question marks appearing at the start and end of the hint message.
 * Swapped stats between Legendary and Epic Belts of Control.

Combat & Skill Changes:

 * Body Slam, Charge, and Engage Opponent will no longer show as clickable when targeting an unmovable object like a plant or a training dummy. The running animation won’t loop when targeting something out of sight; you might still see “you hit nothing” if your target moved out of range before you used the skill. SOTA-68230
 * Fixed a typo in the text for Golden Bird Trick displayed in chat.
 * Fixed incorrect gold cost on Elixir Receptive skill. SOTA-70919
 * Fixed missing xp reward meticulous collection of coconuts and pumpkins. SOTA-70772
 * Reduced natural attack speed of crocodile, though they are still faster than most tamed pets. SOTA-70920

User Interface, Store Information, & Lua Changes:

 * There is now a new emote hotbar which can be displayed vertically (default) or horizontally. Added two checkboxes in Options in the Interface section to display it and to make it horizontal. Added a keybind in the Controls section to toggle it on/off: “Toggle Emote Hotbar.” Added a checkbox in the Emote window to directly show the emote bar without going through options.
 * Added missing pants and shoes to the Black Pinstriped Tuxedo bundle in the store.
 * Fix for starter feedback showing up when quitting before loading into the game.
 * Fixed blurry image for 2015 Yule Tree Store entry.
 * Lua will no longer show up in character appearance.
 * Status bar, pet, and target will now be saved where they were left on the screen when moveable status is enabled in options.
 * When sending a mail, the recipient choice list will now filter as you type. Fixed the scrollbar not showing up when you open that mail window the first time.

World and Quest Changes:

 * Aldwater, Endurance, Forewind, Port Titan, and Taenby Landing: Fixed an issue where the new “Hunters’ Island” compass marker discovery wasn’t appearing.
 * Ecology Researchers: Added extra logic to help auto-archive the “Talk to Magic Shop Owner” task when complete. SOTA-70954
 * Forest Tree Curtains: Adjusted a setting to stop the backdrop from appearing black at long distances.
 * Helpful Automaton: Updated and added some responses.
 * Seasonal Monsters: Updated the timed event trigger day to be on the 16th of the triggering month instead of the first. (For all the rest of them as Krampus was adjusted last month.) SOTA-69911
 * Smashable containers with items inside that it would be stealing to take are now recognized as stealing. SOTA-70941
 * Snow is now enabled in all scenes with normal skies.
 * Town Criers that cannot offer mail delivery now have a better “mail” response. SOTA-70990
 * Aerie: Fixed a typo in the “Collect Order of Truth Armor” task. SOTA-71001
 * Ardoris: Fixed a typo in the “Tell Godbert of Cugel’s Reaction” task. SOTA-70965
 * Blackblade Foothills: Added collision to the walls of the large tents. Removed canvases from wagons. Updated colors to some lean-tos. Added sand effect to many crates, wood platforms, and wagons. SOTA-70976
 * Blood River Forest: Updated the fish hatchery discoveries with targets and names that are more accurate. SOTA-70988
 * Castle Atos: Added several Cleanliness Elementals and associated responses from the locals.
 * Castle Atos: Fixed yule tree showing up along with fountain.
 * Castle Atos: Improved collision along castle walls. Updated the structure behind the castle.
 * Castle Atos: Removed an invisible blocker near the castle. Moved the spawning location of a horse that spawned too far from home. SOTA-70940, SOTA-70939
 * Highvale Outskirts: Fixed a typo in Esmeralda’s responses. Moved oddly-placed ore node. Adjusted loot in “frostgeist victim camp” chest. Small ice spider now provides crystal loot instead of normal spider loot, similar to other ice creatures. SOTA-70955, SOTA-70957, SOTA-70952, SOTA-70951
 * Highvale Outskirts: Renamed the default spawn location to “Monastery Guard Post.” SOTA-70933
 * Jack of Diamonds: Updated the dialogue for the bouncers to add more virtue-specific responses.
 * Kingsport: Added compass marker discovery for the town crier. SOTA-70964
 * Manor of Mystery: Fixed the sitting positions for NPCs who use setees in this scene and throughout the game. SOTA-70953
 * Middle Downs: Fixed several navmesh issues. SOTA-70968, SOTA-70969
 * Norgard Fens: Rain should no longer fall through the ceiling of the “mushroom lab.” SOTA-70942
 * North Valeway: Adjusted some spiderwebs to better visually attach to trees. SOTA-70989
 * Owl’s Head: Improved the logic related to Todd’s responses and the “Discredit Myra” task. SOTA-70980
 * Ruins of Ravensmoor: Moved floating spider eggs to the floor. SOTA-70967
 * Solace Bridge: Removed a redundant default spawn-in target. SOTA-70966
 * Solania Catacombs: Veteru has more appropriate responses when talking about his own name. SOTA-70992
 * South Broken Road: Replaced a standard archer bandit with a plunderer variant. Reorganized plunderer spawners. SOTA-70938
 * South Drachvald Spur: Adjusted spawning for Razorback Destroyers (now minimum 3, proabably 4-5, maximum 6 boars). Added crumbling stone walls and compass marker to help players identify the “boar-filled woods” area with the high-threat boars. Updated scene as Tier 2+.
 * South Midmaer Way: Added a few salt resource nodes around the lake. SOTA-70943
 * South Midmaer Way: Moved an ore node with odd accessibility across the road to a different rock wall. SOTA-70931
 * Verdantis Mines: Switched the gender of one of the types of elves that spawn.
 * Vertas: It should no longer snow through the roof of the small homes. Added or replaced some generic props with elf versions, such as streetlights. SOTA-70935
 * Vikland: Added a missing compass marker asset.
 * Vikland: Updated collision on a guard tower in the village. SOTA-70872
 * Vikland: Added Erica’s Amulet quest. SOTA-70792
 * Vikland: Fixed a typo in one of Erling’s responses.
 * Vikland: Added a switch to open the locked door by the Pale One when on the far side of the door.
 * Vikland: Added wolf spiders to wave battle and throughout area. Updated spawn groups, terrain, and flora. “Pale one” kobolds are now pale like their comrades. SOTA-70790
 * Vikland: Fixed typos in Erling’s responses. Fixed bad position of the orange crystal lock. Removed repairable barrier and teleporter doors on back wall from Obsidian Valley. Removed scroll on seasonal monster.
 * Vikland: In tunnels to valley, fixed a misaligned tunnel. Flattened terrain inside an Obsidian ladder tower. Blocked precipitation from happening in the tunnels that lead to the valley. Increased frequency of Vikland Crystals as loot from Enduring Pale Ones. Avatars can now hold up to 3 of each Vikland Crystals in their inventory and crystals of the same color will stack with one another. Corrected errors in Erling’s responses. Fixed compass markers related to using the Obsidian Cave statues. SOTA-70993, SOTA-70994, SOTA-70997, SOTA-70999, SOTA-70987, SOTA-70985, SOTA-70984, SOTA-70986
 * Vikland: Modified the traps used by a wave battle. SOTA-70790
 * Vikland: Updated wave battle logic and fixed related trap delays. SOTA-70790
 * Yew: All items are now protected by the anti-theft system. SOTA-70946
 * Yew: Fixed typos in the “Mention Rune Bag to Pendro” journal entry. SOTA-70944

Player-Owned Town Changes:

 * CICI’s Bazaar: Added new POT west of Brittany.
 * Crafter’s Town and Ironhall: Removed temporarily-recreated POTs.
 * Duanor: Upgraded to City.
 * Moonshine District: Added new POT south of Brittany.
 * Novia Market: Changed to a new owner.
 * Umbra Regnum: Upgraded to Village.
 * R109 Map of Novia POTs

Sales and Bonus Events
These sales and bonuses will be in place through January 2nd:
 * Double XP
 * Crown Store Sales 30% off
 * Deed Upgrades 20% off
 * Crowns of the Obsidians 20% off
 * Holdfast POT 20% off
 * POT Upgrades via COTOs 20% off (Contact support to initiate a POT upgrade and pay with COTOs)

Release 109 Subscriber Login Rewards
Light it up literally and figuratively! The Rewards Program login items for Release 109 are a pair of Ankh Party Hats and a pair of Triple-Horned Candles! Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 109 to receive these special login items.
 * Ankh Party Hat
 * Triple-Horned Candles

January Login Reward
To help celebrate the new year, each account that logs in during the month of January will receive a one-time gift of a new cooking recipe for Croctails and a bundle of Green/Red/Yellow missile fireworks! (Thanks, Ian Berie!)
 * Green/Red/Yellow Missile Fireworks on the Beach at the Fishing Expedition
 * A Crocodile in Norgard Fens

Crown Store Updates
New in the crown store for December 15th:
 * Kobold Shelves (Thanks, Leylu Listwander!)

…for December 30th: The Winter Holidays store items are available until Wednesday February 8th:
 * Ankh Party Hat Pack
 * Triple-Horned Candle Pack

Upcoming Release Dates
Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2022-2023 Release Schedule is as follows:
 * This Release 109 – December 15 (Polish)
 * Release 110 – January 26 (Content)
 * Release 111 – February 23 (Polish)
 * Release 112 – March 30 (Polish)
 * Release 113 – April 27 (Content)

Additional Information

 * Player Guide
 * Known Issues
 * Quick Reference Card