Release 114

RELEASE 114, May 25th, 2023
Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 114 goes live May 25th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 114 (R114), we offer a few new quests in Port Harmony and a few old beings who resent have been awakened.

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.

Release Day Work Window Changes
From a Forum Post by Ravalox An ornate hourglass on a table with a book bearing the heraldry of Valhold.

Starting with this release, we will be taking the game server offline at 08:00 AM CT instead of 9am as in the past. This is mainly to streamline the time used for the work window and prevent our maintenance from extending further into the day when additional maintenance is required.

Shifting our work windows to start at 8am better syncs with our pre-scheduled database backups (preventing us from having to execute a second backup when we take the server down) and provides more time to perform any additional maintenance steps, including database migrations, while still returning the server to operation by 10:30 AM CT.

Our published work window will be from 08:00 AM CT to 10:30 AM CT, but we will bring the server back up as soon as work is completed if earlier than the end of the work window. This means that, for most release deployments, the work should be completed and the server restored to service by 09:30 AM CT instead of the usual 10:30 AM CT.

In the event we have a larger deployment, we will still advise the community of any extended outage times well in advance of the scheduled work day/time. – Ravalox

Blood River Outskirts and Vermillion Lens Quest Items
We are working to resolve issues that are preventing players from obtaining or using certain quest items in Blood River Outskirts as well as the Vermillion Lens Assembly quest.

Though we put a fix in place, it appears that the issues are not fully resolved. We will provide a patch for this as soon as we have verified a fix on the QA server.

– Ravalox

The Great New Britannia Mapping Project Continues
All of Novia Region Seven (the Longfall region, including Aerie) should now have in-game maps. Next up is Region Six (South Paladis, including Resolute). Region Six is missing a bunch of maps (twelve in total), so this region may spill over into R115. Once Region Six is complete, I will be moving on to Region Nine (North Paladis).

– Ravalox

Release 114 Patch Notes
Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 114 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R114 is a polish month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R115 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 114! (This is a short list: many changes scheduled for this release were included early and are listed on the patch notes page under R113 here.)

User Interface and Store Information Changes:

 * Made another attempt to fix Variant delivery from Snowy Owl store entry.
 * Adjusted image compression for Black Stag store entry.
 * Deed expiry notification emails have been adjusted to 15- and 10-day notices, with “Final Warning” in the subject line of second email.

An Aether Dragon in tundra glares balefully at having been roused. What power art thou, who from below hast made me rise unwillingly and slow from beds of everlasting snow?

World and Quest Changes:

 * Arabella: Reviewed Arabella’s conversations in various scenes and made small tweaks. SOTA-71169
 * Kiakis: All versions of Kiakis should now have similar responses, promoting the perception of them as one person. SOTA-71418
 * NPC Conversations: Added a response to “thank you” to the shared response file.
 * Aether Dragons, Aether Liches, and Aether Corpions will awake in their respective stomping grounds as the two-tailed comet comes within range of the world on May 27th.
 * Brittany Fields: Updated props and paths near the Central Brittany large gate. SOTA-71408
 * Ferig’s Battle Camp: Removed line-of-sight from Ferig’s conversation. Added a delay for situations where Ferig believes you’re done with his quest and cuts off the conversation. SOTA-71400
 * Highvale Outskirts: Fixed an issue with several spawn-in targets that incorrectly shared the same name.
 * Highvale Outskirts: Fixed a typo in Guard Horatio’s responses, clarified his desire for a “Elf Sniper’s Short Bow,” and have him explain he’s cleaned up the short bow he awards the Avatar at the end of his quest. SOTA-71370
 * Malice: Approaching Sequanna for the first time will always show her imprisoned. Improved logic that activates the exit teleporter. SOTA-71411
 * Malice: Sequanna will now be sitting when the avatar approaches her at the proper quest stage. SOTA-71411
 * Northern Grunvald Barrens: Corrected the compass marker label for the Atavists of Purity camp.
 * Port Harmony: Fixed a typo in a journal entry and responses from watersmith Annora Jenkins.
 * Port Harmony: Fixed a typo in responses and journal entries by watersmith Annora Jenkins, Lunden, and Winifred.
 * Port Harmony: Watersmith Annora Jenkins now has a proper redirect for her new quest in her “help” response.
 * Port Harmony: Fixed a typo in “Mention Visitors to ‘Avatar'” journal entry. SOTA-71397
 * Port Harmony: Fixed typos in Zouch’s responses, including correctly mentioning the bakery stall instead of the produce stall. SOTA-71395
 * Port Harmony: Fixed an issue that disallowed players from getting a proper response from Peregrine when they mentioned “visitors” instead of “visitor.” SOTA-71399
 * Port Harmony: Added “loyal fanatics” quest assets. Updated conversations for Winifred, Lunden, Verity Webb, and Madalena. SOTA-71392
 * Port Harmony: Moved the town crier’s spawn-in target out of a statue and next to him. SOTA-71398
 * Port Harmony: Updated conversations for NPCs at the tavern. Added “dropped water” quest from Watersmith. SOTA-71391
 * Resolute: Corrected the “Ferig” response for Vella and the other knights in this scene. SOTA-71407
 * Spectral Mines: Fixed an issue with the archlapin timedevent settings.
 * Spectral Mines: Fixed an issue where the lepus zombies were spawning in the wrong location.
 * Vikland: Added a bounty master named Gulla to the village near the bonfire. SOTA-71320
 * Created East Longfall Wetland in-game map.
 * Created Longfall Woods in-game map. SOTA-71405
 * Created South Longfall Road in-game map.
 * Created South Longfall Wetland in-game map.

Player-Owned Town Changes:
R114 Map of Novia POTs R114 Map of Mistrendur POTs
 * Adjusted the Fishing Bonus POT rotation blacklist to exclude Dev-run POTs. SOTA-71406
 * In an upcoming patch  Dragonshores: Removed POT.
 * In an upcoming patch  Dragonvale: Changed biome to Island 01a, upgraded to Municipality, and moved to Mistrendur near Port Harmony.
 * Lamplight: Upgraded to Hamlet from Holdfast.

Remembrance Sale
This is the time of year that our thoughts go towards those who have been lost in conflict or in an effort to keep the peace. In this reality, events such as past world wars and current conflicts have taken too many lives to bear counting. The world of New Britannia is no different; many lives were lost under the rule of the Obsidians and during the Obsidian Wars.

Between May 25th and June 5th, we celebrate the memories of those we have lost with the following sales:
 * Double XP.
 * Crown Store sales will be 30% off.
 * Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.
 * Deed Upgrades will be 20% off.

Release 114 Subscriber Login Rewards
They think they can get away with it because they’re cute: The Rewards Program login items for Release 114 are a Silver Marble Top Console, a Black End Table, and a Cream Shiba Inu who needs to stop knocking things off of them! A Silver Marble Top Console against a green marble wall with a geometric stained glass lamp on it. A Black End Table against a green marble wall with a vase of pink lilies on it. Three Cream Shiba Inus running amok in a Bramble yard.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 114 to receive these special login items.

June Login Reward
We love the sun, but not TOO much sun: each account that logs in during the month of June will receive a one-time gift of a Floppy Beach Hat! A woman wearing a floppy beach hat meditates on a beach towel by the sea.

Crown Store Updates
New in the crown store for June 9th: Silver Marble Top Console A Silver Marble Top Console against a green marble wall with a geometric stained glass lamp on it. Black End Table A Black End Table against a green marble wall with a vase of pink lilies on it. Cream Shiba Inu Three Cream Shiba Inus running amok in a Bramble yard. To celebrate his birthday, the Darkstarr Rares store items will be available until Monday May 29th:

List of Darkstarr items:
The Summer Seasonal store items are available from Friday May 26th until Monday September 25th:

List of Summer Seasonal items:
The Lord British store items are available from Friday June 23rd until Friday August 4th:

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 2023 Release Schedule is as follows:
 * This Release 114 – May 25 (Polish)
 * Release 115 – June 29 (Polish)
 * Release 116 – July 27 (Content)
 * Release 117 – August 31 (Polish)

Additional Information

 * Player Guide
 * Known Issues
 * Quick Reference Card