Release 58

RELEASE 58, September 27, 2018
Release 58 of Shroud of the Avatar goes live this Thursday, September 27, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

Release 58 is the final release in which we focused on the current iteration of our Top 10 Priorities (from Q3 2018 post). The good news is we made some progress on fishing, we got tameable Wyverns in the game, performance has improved again, bugs were fixed, and more decorations are dyeable. Unfortunately we were not able to make as much progress as we hoped.



As many of you might have noticed via our standup notes, we have been coordinating moving to a new office for a couple of months now. We were going to originally move slowly over a two week period with internet and network overlapping at both offices but our internet provider at our old office decided to disable our internet 2.5 weeks early! This forced us to initiate our move quite suddenly, right before lockdown, and of course disrupted our plans considerably for R58 as you will see below.

But, be not dismayed, Avatars! Q4 will see us caught up on fishing and other delays! Stand fast with us and ye shall be rewarded yet!

Wyverns: These dragonkin are generally smaller than their full-size cousins and the smaller versions can be tamed. Rumors abound that the Dragon clan of the Norgard Barbarians has tamed some wyverns to help waylay travelers in the northwest, so beware if you encounter them!

Player-Made Dungeons: Players can now begin practicing laying out their player made dungeons using the craftable versions of the dungeons. The blueprints and recipes for these will start appearing as loot and merchant sale items in Release 58 and increase each release going forward. We have also started adding pre-built dungeon foyers for purchase (including the ones that come with the Dungeon Entrance Patterns).



Dyeable Decorations: Over 30 items have been updated in Release 58 to support dyes, including Elven Furniture, Tents, Awnings, and Beds.

Bug Fixing: We dedicated a significant portion of the release to working solely on fixing bugs and reducing our overall bug count. We addressed over 100 issues with over 80 of them highlighted in these notes including fixes to various scenes (typos, stuck spots, etc.), crafting fixes, combat fixes, and various user interface fixes. The biggest issue that was fixed was the Linux version of the in-game map system!

I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to the players who tested the items listed below on our QA server. They found many bugs and also provided editorial feedback on this post so that it is easy to read and actually matches what is in the game.

Before offering feedback and/or reporting a bug, we kindly ask that you read this whole message and the linked Player Guide and Known Issues to get up to date on the current game state. To keep up to date, please check out the Patch Notes.

By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and effort can be focused on new “unanswered” questions and addressing critical issues that impact each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is also working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. Be sure to check the schedule for player-run events (via the player-run websites: NBNN Community Calendar & Avatars Circle). You can also get the latest official events on the Main Website.

Without further ado, here is a list of what you can expect to see in Release 58.

Key:
 * Plain Text: The original plan for the Release deliverables from the Q3 2018 Schedule Update. We intentionally preserve the original text so that our backers can compare plan versus actuals.
 * Italics: Detailed notes of what was actually delivered.
 * Strikethrough: These are items that did not make the release (but are still planned).

RELEASE 58, September 27, 2018


 * Story: Tier adjustments to better balance scene difficulty will be completed. We will also add a few new sidequest s.
 * Alms for the Poor (SPOILERS): Some poor orphans and beggars could use a helping hand. Give them a coin and the oracle may recognize your compassion… while a threatening response to their request may have the opposite effect! As part of this Chad is not the only beggar! Beggars have been added to the following towns:
 * Aerie
 * Brittany Estates
 * Central Brittany
 * Desolis
 * Etceter
 * Fortus End
 * Goti
 * Kingsport
 * Noreach
 * Point West
 * Resolute
 * Soltown
 * Xenos
 * Barbarian Roving Encounters (SPOILERS): The Barbarian clans of Norgard have grown more bold of late. Not content with defending their own territories, they have begun accosting travelers along the roads and plains of Northwest Novia including the regions of North Paladis, North Verdantis, and Norgard. Most worrisome is the rumors of the Dragon Clan overlords who are said to have mastered the taming of Wyverns! [[Image:SS_Creatures_Wyvern_C.jpg|990px]]
 * Scene Polish
 * Brittany Alleys: The myriad boats to Player-Owned Towns have been consolidated into boats with associated lists. These are grouped by biome; so boats to grassland POTs use the same list boat, boats to forest POTs use a different list boat, etc.
 * Brittany Wharfs: The myriad boats to Player-Owned Towns have been consolidated into two boats with associated lists, one for forest POTs and one for island POTs. [[Image:BrittanyWharf1.jpg|1024px]]
 * Fast Travel Teleporters Journal Entry: Whenever you first travel near a teleporter object (signpost, boat, wagon, balloon, gondola, etc.) you will now gain a journal entry that explains what they are and how they work.
 * Retired Towns: Due to the popularity of living in Player Owned Towns we were able to retire three unpopulated towns in Release 58: Dorwald, Umber Heath, and Shady Copse.
 * Spectral Foothills: This scene has been upgraded to Tier 5. It was already mostly this level with only a few Tier 4 areas but we have replaced those areas with more consistent Tier 5 challenges throughout the scene and correctly labelled it as Tier 5.


 * Performance: Performance work will mainly focus on improving frame rate and reducing hitching during gameplay. Work will also continue to be done on load time reduction on the few outstanding scenes that are not meeting our 15 second load time target.
 * Memory Allocations: More incremental work on reducing memory allocations was done this release. This should show a very modest improvement in long term hitching.
 * Migration to .NET 4.6 and Proper In-lining: After addressing a few bugs in existing libraries, we were able to fully move to the latest software framework. This enabled a number of new optimization options in addition to removing some performance bottlenecks. The largest optimizations this has allowed is more sophisticated options for code in-lining in the client build. Players with strong video cards that were CPU bound in the past should see a measurable improvement in high stress situations.
 * Sowing and Batch Sowing Seeds: We rewrote major portions of the code for these functions as the original code was using up a lot of processor cycles.


 * Bug Fixing: Time will be allocated to a general sweep through all systems, features, and content to reduce overall bug counts.
 * AFK on Overworld: We fixed an issue where the AFK flag would persist, even after keyboard interaction, if AFK was activated on the Overworld.
 * Bear Head Tracking: We constrained the head tracking range for bears so they would not turn their heads so much. This looked especially bad on tamed bears.
 * Blessing of Invigoration: Fixed (maybe) an issue where this blessing would rarely not apply.
 * Body Slam: Fixed the description to indicate the damage range.
 * Book Formatting: We fixed an issue where formatting tags in books would not apply to text on subsequent pages.
 * Bow Animations: We fixed an issue where bows were not animating correctly.
 * Break Armor & Break Weapon: We updated the descriptions to note that they now hit two targets (a change we made in previous release).
 * Cloaks vs. /pushup: Cloth sim is now automatically disabled when you do pushups so the cloak won’t sort through your body.
 * Combat and Instruments: We fixed an issue where playing instruments would pull you out of combat, even if being attacked.
 * Fire Arrow: Fixed this so it stacks properly 3 times instead of 4.
 * Fire VFX: These are no longer visible when dead.
 * Give Document to Lord Macsen task (Aerie): Fixed several issues with this task where he would not accept the document. If you have previously tried and it did not work try saying “Hello” to Lord Macsen and it should work now.
 * Healing Grace: Fixed this so it now properly gets decreased cast time from Life Specialization.
 * Heraldry Cloak: Fixed some splotchy areas on this cloak that would show up when it was dyed.
 * Heraldry Gear and Pure White dye: Fixed an issue where Pure White dye was appearing as grey on heraldry items.
 * Immolation: We fixed an issue where the attunement bonus and animation for this Fire magic spell would stop intermittently.
 * Linux In-Game Map System: The plug-in that our in-game map system is based on was finally updated to work with Linux, so now the map system works in the Linux client!
 * Lunar Rifts: We fixed various errors with the Lunar Rifts where they were not properly changing with the time and were not sending you to Isle of Storms when the destination was your current location.
 * Mac OS Resolution: We fixed an issue where on Mac OS X clients, if you set the game resolution in the video options menu, quit the game and loaded the game back again, it would keep the resolution until the options menu was opened yet again; it reverted back to Mac OS X’s resolution.
 * Meteor Shower: Fixed an issue where this Moon magic spell would hit other players in PvP up to 4 times per second (versus a single time as designed).
 * Morton in Owl’s Head: Morton now asks for ale instead of beer to make him more talkative.
 * Novia Tier Markers: Fixed several locations where the red “plus” fabric was floating away from their tier markers. Also, made the red fabric slightly bigger on overworld tier markers.
 * Offhand Focus Cost: We fixed an issue where when focus cost gets below 1 no focus cost would display. Now there is always a default focus cost of at least 1.
 * One Man Band Pants: The One Man Band musical instrument originally only replaced your shirt when used. This worked fine unless you were wearing a dress or skirt in which case your bottom half suddenly became invisible. This has been fixed by making a pair of pants to go with the shirt and now the One Man Band replaces your pants and shirt when used.
 * Pipe Organ Volume: We have increased the volume of the Pipe Organ.
 * Planting Beds & Pots: Planting Beds and Pots now need unobstructed space above them and must be placed flat (horizontal) on the ground to function properly. This means planting beds can no longer be stacked on top of each other. If you have planting beds currently stacked on top of each other, or oriented in any other direction than horizontal then they will no longer function properly until they are unstacked. These bugs were causing server performance issues and various other issues.
 * Poisons: We fixed an issue where Festering and Regular Poison were no longer stacking properly.
 * Shroud of the Avatar: This item no longer incorrectly has dye slots so players will no longer mistakenly waste dyes on it.
 * Skeleton Fire Mage: We fixed an issue where the fire DOT icon was invisible.
 * Spellbinders Stance: We fixed an issue where Spellbinders Stance was not giving spell critical chance increase.
 * Split Stack Dragging: We fixed an issue where dragging a portion of a split stack into a container could lock the items in limbo.
 * Sun Ankh Artifact: We fixed an issue where this artifact caused an animation error because it was not set as an unarmed weapon type.
 * Scene Fixes: We went through many scenes in the game fixing major and minor bugs including conversations, quest markers clearing, stuck spots, floating assets, missing assets, bad NPC patrols, inaccessible ore nodes, missing collision, audio issues, falling through the world, tree issues, etc. The list includes:
 * Antilles Cove (POT)
 * Battle of Highvale
 * Blood River Outskirts
 * Brisach Maple Forest
 * Crag Mines (from Foothills)
 * Crooked Shank
 * Estgard
 * Fortus End
 * Hallowed Plains
 * Highvale Outskirts
 * Jaanaford
 * Kai (POT)
 * Kingsport
 * Northwest Blackblade Mountains
 * Point West
 * Sanctus Spine
 * Sequanna Colossus
 * Skalabrekka (POT)
 * Snug Harbor (POT)
 * Solace Bridge Outskirts
 * Solania Catacombs
 * Soltown
 * South Midmaer Way
 * Southeast Blackblade Mountains
 * Spectral Foothills
 * Stonegate (POT)
 * Wynton’s Folly
 * House, Furniture, & Equipment Decoration Fixes: Fixed various issues with homes, furniture, and equipment decorations including places where decorations could not be placed, where stairs could not be climbed without jumping, where furniture could not be used, gear that could not be placed as deco, etc. The list includes:
 * Barn Two-Story Village Home
 * Bed
 * Crafting Symbol Chests
 * Elven Three-Story w/ Dual Cabanas Town Home
 * Darkstarr Pavers
 * Duke Founder City Home
 * Elven Row Homes
 * Fancy Bed
 * Fine Oak Bed
 * Greenhouse Four-Story Row Home
 * Heraldry Banners
 * Hollow Log Home
 * Hollow Log 2-Story Village Home
 * Knight Marshal Benefactor
 * Kobold Three-Story w/ Open Deck Town Home
 * NYC Launch Party Cloak
 * Observatory Home
 * Oracle Confirmatory
 * Ornate Greenhouse Row home
 * Pristine Gothic Mansion
 * Renaissance Bed
 * Storefront Row Home
 * Stucco 4-Story Row Home Left Alcove
 * Town Stone 5-Story Basement
 * Wood & Plaster Three-Story Row Home


 * Crafting & Economy: The fishing system will be expanded to include different water types (fresh vs. salt), more fish types, more loot, and other improvements.
 * Bait as Active Skill: As mentioned in the R57 Livestream Fishing Deep Dive and in Weekly Update #298, bait must now be activated in order to fish (instead of activating your fishing skill), very similar to how seeds are used in Agriculture. This change was implemented in Release 58, so you now directly use your worms to fish, instead of them just being consumed when you fish. Note that this also allows you to fish by using bait directly from your backpack!  For now, worms are the only bait type, but more bait types will be added, starting in Release 59, and continuing throughout Q4. As we add more bait and lure types, the one you select to use will have a very significant effect on the outcome of fishing.
 * Fishing Water Types: We now have the tech to support multiple water types, and we have begun the process of going through each scene and tagging the four different water types that we will be supported in Fishing Phase 2: Fresh, Salt, Fetid, and Lava. For R58, this will not have any effect on the actual process nor results of fishing.
 * Creature Balance, Gold and Artifacts: In Release 57, we increased the experience reward for creatures and began to identify creature difficulty outliers. Occasionally, we make a pass on creature stats and loot to fix these inconsistencies. For this release we adjusted some non-boss creatures to have higher health along with increased artifact and gold drops. This primarily affected the highest threat humanoid creatures but some other middle-tiered creatures with below average health, were adjusted. Gold and artifact rewards now increase with creature difficulty and Dragon, Daemon, and Cabalist bosses now drop an increased amount of gold.
 * New Recipes, Blueprints & Patterns: We added over 45 new recipes, blueprints, and patterns in R58. [[Image:SS_Store_Shield_Kobold_A.jpg|990px]]
 * Heavy Kobold Kite Shield Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Heavy Kobold Kite Shield Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Heavy Royal Elven Shield Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Heavy Royal Elven Shield Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Kobold Ranseur Spear Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Kobold Ranseur Spear Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Oracle Hammer Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Oracle Hammer Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Scythe Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Scythe Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Viking Maul Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Viking Maul Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Longbow Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Longbow Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Mage Staff Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Mage Staff Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Spear Eternal Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Royal Elven Spear Pattern (Add On Store)
 * Single Connection Stone Dungeon Foyer Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Single Connection Stone Dungeon Foyer Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection T) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection T) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection V) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection V) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection X) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Intersection X) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Straight) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Hall (Straight) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (1×1) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (1×1) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (3×3) Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (3×3) Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Lich Boss) Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Lich Boss) Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 1) Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 1) Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 2) Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 2) Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 3) Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Random Encounter 3) Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Spider Encounter) Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Room (Spider Encounter) Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Rotunda Blueprint (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Rotunda Smelting Recipe (Loot Drop)
 * Stone Dungeon Stairs Blueprint (Book Merchants)
 * Stone Dungeon Stairs Smelting Recipe (Book Merchants)
 * Fishing Phase 2 Content Delayed: We have the tech support complete for almost all of Fishing Phase 2, including multiple water types and bait as the active skill, but we still need fish to go with these water types, bait/lures, rods, and trophy data before Phase 2 can fully deploy. Due to the move and some office absences we were unable to start deploying the content for these in Release 58, but we should start catching back up in Release 59.


 * Castle Defense Scenarios: Expanding on the work from the Obsidian Trials, new scenes will be created (or existing scenes modified), similar to our control points where groups of players can fight over control of a fortress. Winning these contests will grant currency which can be spent on rewards like emotes, titles, gear, components, recipes, and more. Work on this system will also help improve the existing control points.
 * Castle Defense Scenarios Delayed: Moving disruption and office absences caused this feature to be delayed. We will resume work on this in Q1 of 2019.


 * Localization: All interface text and quest dialogue will be fully translated into our launch languages including English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. Additionally we plan to have the website fully localized.
 * Russian: Everything is translated and there is a fully localized Russian website run by our partners Black Sun.
 * Localization in All Other Languages in Progress: Other languages are still in progress.
 * Website Localization Delayed: The website is being updated with a new look so we have decided to wait until that work is complete before beginning the localization process.


 * Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns (POTs) that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
 * Dyeable Decorations: Over 30 items have been updated in Release 58 to support dyes:
 * Antique Furniture: Chair, Curved Arm Chair, Dining Chair
 * Awnings (craftable): Green, Red, Blue
 * Beds (craftable): Bed, Bunk Bed, Fancy Bed
 * Burled Wood Antique Furniture: Chair, Curved Arm Chair, Dining Chair
 * Elven Furniture (craftable): Bed, Chair, Loveseat
 * Elven Tents: Small (craftable), Medium, Large
 * Fine Oak: Bed & Chair
 * Knight’s Tents: Small & Large (from Flexible Placement Stretch Goal)
 * Kobold Ornate Four Poster Twin Bed
 * Kobold Red Velvet with Nailheads Chair and Bench
 * Ornate Elven Furniture: Bed, Chair, Loveseat
 * Ornate Wooden Four Poster Canopy Bed
 * Padded Chair (craftable)
 * Pillow
 * Renaissance Bed
 * Small Tent (craftable)
 * R58 Lot Deed Raffle Winners: Tickets for the R58 Raffle were sold during R57. Deeds will be delivered to the winners after R58 goes live.
 * Place Anywhere Deeds (15):
 * Village: 8
 * Town: 5
 * City: 2
 * Player-Owned Town Deeds (30):
 * Village: 15
 * Town: 10
 * City: 5
 * R59 Lot Deed Raffle Tickets: R59 raffle tickets can be purchased during R58 with in game gold from home merchants. Each person can only win a single deed of each type (maximum of one place anywhere and one POT). The drawing will occur in R59.
 * Place Anywhere Deeds (15):
 * Village: 8
 * Town: 5
 * City: 2
 * Player-Owned Town Deeds (30):
 * Village: 15'
 * Town: 10
 * City: 5
 * New and Updated Dynamic POTs: [[Image:R58_Map_of_Novia_POT.jpg|990px]]
 * Caelestis Canton: Changed biome to Tropical Island 01.
 * Hammaburg: Added new Town southwest of Brittany.
 * Noshima Island: Upgraded to City.
 * Paradise Valley: Added new Hamlet, nested in Brittany Fields.
 * Shogun Ridge: Upgraded to City.
 * Sionann: New Village near Sequanna Colossus.
 * Player-Made Dungeons: Players can now begin practicing laying out their player-made dungeons using the craftable versions of the dungeons. The blueprints for these will start appearing as loot and merchant sale items in Release 58 and increase each release going forward. We have also started adding pre-built dungeon foyers for purchase (including the ones that come with the Dungeon Entrance Patterns).
 * Dungeon Builder Phase 0.5 (Layout Only): The first iteration of the Dungeon Builder is live in Release 58. Starting with the foyer you can now start laying out your dungeon by using the connection points to choose the next piece and moving on from there. Note that this version does not yet have the ability to put in encounters nor restock those encounters. This version also does not yet allow movement through the space outside of Design mode. Deco options for them may be added in a patch depending on how our testing goes. For the initial release we are not allowing decorations to insure that we don’t enable a feature that might result in lost items for players. Once this has been more thoroughly tested, deco options will be enabled.
 * Dungeon Crafting (Blueprints, Smelting, etc.): Dungeon pieces are crafted at the Smelting station and the difficulty varies based on the size of room and the materials cost. Blueprints are required and are consumed when you successfully create the dungeon piece (but are NOT consumed if you fail).
 * Dungeon Blueprints and Recipes as Loot: The most unique room blueprints and recipes will now start appearing as loot starting with Release 58. The blueprints and recipes are linked to the area you find them in (ex. Hilt has some rooms that look like Hilt Fortress). Each release going forward we plan to add more of these blueprints that allow you to craft unique dungeon rooms.
 * Dungeon Recipes and Dungeon Blueprints for Sale: As of Release 58 the blueprints are in bookstores, at least for now. We will move them to a specific merchant either during a patch or for R59. We considered putting the blueprints and recipes on blacksmithing merchants but they already have tons of inventory. However since the dungeon pieces are smelting recipes the new merchants will be associated with smelting and blacksmithing locations.
 * Dungeon Foyers: These are the first rooms you appear in after using a dungeon entrance and the starting point from which you build your dungeon. In Release 58 we have created the foyers that come with the dungeon entrances in the Add-On Store and a craftable dungeon foyer. [[Image:SS_DungeonBasement_A-1.jpg|990px]]
 * Ornate Triple Connection Marble Dungeon Foyer (Add On Store)
 * Ornate Triple Connection Stone Dungeon Foyer (Add On Store)
 * Single Connection Stained Glass Dungeon Foyer (Delivered with Circle of Stones Dungeon Entrance Pattern)
 * Single Connection Stone Dungeon Foyer (Craftable & Delivered with Dungeon Entrance Patterns Book, Mirror, & Arch)
 * Dungeon + Basement: You now have the ability to have both a dungeon and a basement on your property.
 * Sample Dungeons + Dungeon Builder Option: Since the current version of the Dungeon Builder doesn’t yet allow encounter placement we have decided to give players the option to still keep their Sample Dungeon available.


 * Combat: We made major updates to combat including adding Wyverns, new store weapons, and closing a major loophole related to out-of reach enemies.
 * Out-of-Reach Enemies: When a player is unreachable by an enemy NPC (due to navigation mesh issues) damage from that player gets marked as invalid. This will show in the player’s chat log as “out of reach.” If the player remains unreachable for an extended amount of time, the enemy NPC will leash back to their spawn point. We applied this same change to taming so enemies cannot be tamed if they cannot reach the player. This change will close some loopholes that would allow players to hit enemies for extended periods without taking any damage.
 * Wyverns: These dragonkin are generally smaller than their full-size cousins and the smaller versions can be tamed. Rumors abound that the Dragon clan of the Norgard Barbarians has done this very thing, so beware if you encounter them! While dragons are more solitary and intelligent, Wyverns are more communal and pack-like (similarities to wolves have been made) so be careful when you find a Wyvern, there is likely to be more than one around! Also, beware of the poisonous stinger on their tail which can drain the health of even the strongest warrior. Red, Purple, Orange, and White Wyverns have been spotted in the Northwest of Novia but tales are told of other colors as well (although these other colors have not yet been added to the game). [[Image:SS_Creatures_Wyvern_F.jpg|990px]]
 * New Weapons: We added 9 new weapons (and corresponding pattern packs) to the Add-On Store including a Royal Elven Longbow, Ornate Scythe (Spooky Recurring), shields, and hammers. [[Image:SS_Store_R58_Scythe_Ornate_A.jpg|990px]]
 * Kobold Heavy Kite Shield
 * Kobold Heavy Kite Shield Pattern Pack
 * Kobold Ranseur Spear
 * Kobold Ranseur Spear Pattern Pack
 * Ornate Oracle Hammer
 * Ornate Oracle Hammer Pattern Pack
 * Ornate Scythe (Spooky Recurring)
 * Ornate Scythe Pattern Pack (Spooky Recurring)
 * Ornate Viking Maul
 * Ornate Viking Maul Pattern Pack
 * Royal Elven Longbow
 * Royal Elven Longbow Pattern Pack
 * Royal Elven Mage Staff
 * Royal Elven Mage Staff Pattern Pack
 * Royal Heavy Elven Shield
 * Royal Heavy Elven Shield Pattern Pack
 * Royal Elven Spear
 * Royal Elven Spear Pattern Pack


 * User Interface Polish:
 * Consumable Range: We added range to the information we display for consumables. This is especially useful for things like explosive potions and will also be useful for some of the baits and lures for Fishing Phase 2.
 * In-Game Crown Purchase: We updated the visuals for this interface and created new icons for the different crown packages.
 * Wax Cylinder Stacks: Wax cylinder stacks are now shown in the phonograph UI. The quantity affects play chance.
 * Whisper Feedback: We improved the feedback players recieve when trying to whisper to someone they cannot whisper to (or temporarily cannot whisper to) but who whispered to them.


 * Physical Goods: Phase 1 of the Collector’s boxes is complete and we have begun preparations for Phase 2. Please see the post in the forums for more details.
 * Leaf Backpack (Final Release 54 Livestream Item): The Release 54 Livestream(s) items were all Tropical and Polynesian themed in honor of the summer months and most were published in Release 57. The final item, the Leaf Backpack, is now complete and live in Release 58. [[Image:Island-Leaf-Backpack-Render.jpg|1024px]]
 * Silver Serpent Wand (Final Release 55 Livestream Item): The Release 55 Livestream(s) items were all Lord British themed in honor of his birthday which falls on July 4th. In honor of his birthday, the items either have the silver serpent or the full crest of Lord British on them. They are also themed around things that Lord British loves, like fireworks, space, and magic! In Release 57 we were able to complete and deliver almost of these items. The final item, the Lord British Silver Serpent Wand, is now complete and live in Release 58. [[Image:Silver-Serpent-Wand-Main-Image.jpg|1024px]]
 * Release 56 Livestream Items: The Release 56 Livestream items were all Aether themed to link to the comet and its aether causing effects on the creatures of Novia. In Release 58 we have added all of these stretch goal items except for the Aether Dragon statue which we will deliver in Release 59. [[Image:SS_Stretchgoal_R57_Aether_Lich_Statue_A.jpg|1024px]]
 * Aether 1H Sword
 * Aether Crossbow
 * Aether Lich Statue
 * Aether Longbow
 * Aether Shield
 * Replenishing Box of Aether Dye


 * Pink Dual Wax Cylinder Phonograph (Breast Cancer Make A Difference): This special pink version of the Dual Wax Cylinder Player is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month (October). Like the Ornate version it comes bundled with the DJ emotes: DJ Cheer, DJ Listen, DJ Table, and Overheadclap. You can purchase this in our Breast Cancer Make a Difference Store where approximately 50% of the proceeds will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, an organization that works to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. [[Image:SS_Store_Phonograph_Pink_A.jpg|1024px]]
 * 2018 Rare Spooky Items: Earlier this month we brought back the recurring Spooky items and in Release 58 we are adding three Rare items that will only be available until November 30, 2018. [[Image:SS_Store_2018_JackOLantern_Deco_Set_B.jpg|1024px]]
 * 2018 Jack O’ Lanterns Set
 * 2018 Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask
 * 2018 Jack O’ Lantern Mask


 * Community Cloaks: We added three Clasped Gauntlet Community Cloaks for various player events that happened over the last few months.
 * Carpe Noctem Conflux 2018 Cloak
 * Dragon Con 2018 Cloak
 * Syndcon 2018

Thank you so much for reading all the way here to the end!

There is even more to come! Q4 is going to be full of all kinds of exciting improvements and additions including Fishing Phase 2, continued expansions to the Player-Made Dungeons system, more Quality of Life improvements (more bind points!), New User Experience Polish, and a whole new look and flow for the Website!

Q4 is just a warmup for 2019 which will be an amazing year for Shroud of the Avatar players! Crafting specializations (choose your effects!), Grandmaster Craftsman only effects, more loot improvements, more expansions to the fishing system, better boss fights and more! 2019 will of course culminate with Episode 2 which will have a new story, new lands, a revamp of the Quest and Journal system, a Theater System, Treasure Hunting with treasure maps that show up as loot, Item Affinity, Taming system expansions, Customizable NPCs, and expanded permissions for containers and doors!

As a reminder here are links to Player Instructions and Known Issues. Thank you again for your continued support. This is truly the most amazing community we have ever worked with, and we are proud to be on this journey with you.

Sincerely,

Starr Long aka Darkstarr Executive Producer

Additional Information

 * Release 58 Instructions
 * Release 58 Known Issues
 * Quick Reference Card