Release 111

RELEASE 111, February 23rd, 2023
Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 111 goes live February 23rd 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 111 (R111), we offer wildlife: fish to find and keep in fishtanks and new Brigade bugs to collect.

Please note that the incremental client patch going from build 1633 to 1635 may not apply correctly on Windows clients. This is a known issue. If this occurs, the game client will apply the core patch from 0 to 1635. We will publish the patch as soon as possible after R110’s closing so players may begin downloading and applying the update immediately.

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.

Go Fish and Catch a New Friend!
A large rectangular floor-standing fishtank, a large round floor-standing fishtank, and a table with a rectangular tabletop fishtank and several fish bowls, all filled with goldfish

Devilcult has created a set of fish tanks that can house several species of new pet fish which Sannio has scattered throughout New Britannia. A craftable fish bowl is a magical watery habitat perfect for one fish and three larger tanks in the Crown Store can each host multiple fish as well as one of a pair of decorative accessories to give them an appealing underwater world. More tanks, accessories, and fish are planned for future releases!

New Bug Brigade Rewards
Ravalox has created a set of new rewards for the Bug Brigade which, together with this month’s new subscription reward item, will allow delivery of rewards to those who’d blown through all the previously-scheduled ones. These plaque-mounted insects are of a size to scare off any of their more-lively cousins! Each can be placed on horizontal or vertical surfaces seperately or in an upcoming display case.

A selection of the new insects shown wall-mounted on five wooden plaques

Release 111 Patch Notes
Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 111 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R111 is a polish month, but the fish just wouldn’t wait any more! Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R112 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 111!

Reward Program Changes:
The long-awaited fix for the dye 12-packs (one every six months) and quarterly subscriber titles has been completed. With Release 111, we will be delivering all overdue rewards to subscribers. Players who have accumulated more than 30 months of subscription up to this point should receive all missing titles and dye rewards to match their current count of subscribed months as documented on their account upon their next login after the reward fix is deployed.

Crafting, Decoration, & Inventory Item Changes:

 * A crafted fish bowl with a goldfish in it being menaced by a tabletop bear statue
 * The recipe for a new crafted fish bowl can now be found on a familiar travelling merchant along the Perennial Coast and on a pair of new ones in the snowy areas of Mistrendur and in a new encounter scene in the Hidden Vale.
 * Slightly increased the chances that an Ancient Gold Necklace can be found from fishing. SOTA-71087
 * Gustballs can now be placed as POT deco. SOTA-71143
 * Fixed two letters from Penmawr Island that were pointing to the wrong content when placed as decorations. SOTA-70690
 * The “Krampus’ List: Naughty Boys and Girls” quest item now can be destroyed by avatars. SOTA-71090
 * Removed the mesh collider on the Castle Atos Teleporter and replaced with box colliders to improve placement performance. SOTA-70417

Combat & Skill Changes:

 * Cuthbert’s Bane and Bogman Club weapons will now give 10% and 15% Melee damage against undead respectively.
 * The obsidian blade component was 200% damage vs obsidian creatures and is now 10% damage vs obsidian creatures. This damage multiplier was not working and has been fixed. Obsidian weapons affect creatures that are made of obsidian (golems) OR have been corrupted by exposure to obsidian, such as many animals and the rare obsidian lich.
 * Descriptions for these weapons and components previously said “Damage vs X” and have been corrected to “Melee Damage vs X”.
 * Casting speed effects such as chaotic feedback won’t affect bard skill charging times anymore. This was previously giving weird results: sometimes faster or slower on certain bard skills and also creating a division by zero error. (Casting speed of the bard skill still remains in effect with it.)
 * Atonal Aria: Slightly reduced the duration, cooldown, and critical damage debuff. Increased charging speed.
 * Concussive Canticle: Increased charging speed.
 * Mesmerizing Melody: Charge speed will now be faster depending on bard level. Duration has been reduced and cool-down increased. Added “chance and duration” instead of just “duration” in the tooltip.
 * Savage Sonata: Decreased the weapon critical damage modifier a little. Increased charging speed.
 * Blind: Fixed description to better reflect what it is actually doing.
 * Gust: Changed “with” to “will” on tooltip.
 * Pull: Changed the tooltip’s mention of dodge to damage avoidance.

User Interface, Store Information, & Lua Changes:

 * Temporary destinations on the compass marked from lot and vendor list interfaces will be now be light red.
 * Added icons to craftable house in recipe book.
 * Changed the slot named “Cloak” on the character sheet to “Back” to accomodate all the types of items a player can wear in that slot.
 * Fixed a tooltip showing an overly-large icon for homes.
 * Dark Archlapin of Death and Destruction

World and Quest Changes:

 * Seasonal Monsters: The Envy Angel will go dormant and the Arch Lapin will return on March 16th.
 * Added fishtank fish to [REDACTED]. SOTA-71065
 * Fishing merchant titles have been standardized and there are now two types: Decorative Fish Merchant and Fishing Supplies Merchant. Fishing merchants in some scenes have had their inventories altered to limit redundancy. SOTA-70669, SOTA-70491
 * Control Points: Corrected an issue where Mages of Mystery asked for an amount of gold to cross the scene that didn’t match what was taken. SOTA-71117
 * Novia: Added a discovery marker on the map for the “Kobold Expeditionary Camp.” SOTA-66452
 * Desert Encounter: Fixed an issue where some wave battles used by this template were inappropriately resetting after a successful conclusion. SOTA-69712
 * Seasonal Monsters: The appearance of all aether creatures is now managed by the TimedEvents script. SOTA-69804
 * Seasonal Monsters: The appearances of the Luminous Atavist and Krampus are now managed by the TimedEvents script.
 * Ardoris: Removed the line-of-sight conversation limitation from Fletcher Laoric. SOTA-71116
 * Ardoris: The quest-related paintings on the walls of Caravaggios Wolf’s shop now have proper tooltips. SOTA-71135
 * Artifice: Fixed a typo in the conversation of Kiakis. SOTA-71119
 * Blackblade Foothills: Moved a pickaxe from a breakable barrel to an unbreakable one. Reduced the distance that allowed someone to use a specific ladder. SOTA-71104, SOTA-71105
 * The Breach: Increased the chances of the Blackened Clockwork Dragon, K’kong shock monkey, and Dolorast Vrul daemon appearing in their same locations, while still keeping all three extremely rare.
 * Brittany Alleys: Added numerous props to anti-theft protection. The Town Criers no longer mention a specific gold amount when awarding gold for visiting them for the first time. SOTA-71120, SOTA-71121
 * Brittany Alleys: Fixed several path grid and collider issues in the vicinity of the docks. SOTA-71107
 * Broken Echoes Silver Mine: Updated the “cold barrier” FX and it now uses the door script. Updated the VFX used by the Kugelgeist. SOTA-60236
 * Castle Atos: NPC “Visitors” within these scene no longer claim to live there when asked about their “job.”
 * Castle Atos: Removed the nonfunctional public cache chest.
 * Celestis: Removed a small section of water from sight that wasn’t meant to be visible. Moved a floating tree to a nearby flat area. Fixed a stuck spot. SOTA-71099, SOTA-71100
 * The Epitaph: Updated the loot used offered by a treasure chest that was sometimes empty. SOTA-71108
 * Graff Gem Mines Entrance: Updated the compass marker display text for the exit to Novia, now simply “Exit.” SOTA-71139
 * Graff Gem Mines: Moved a lantern to the top of an indestructible crate. SOTA-71097
 * Highvale Outskirts: The woodsman’s property is now fully covered by anti-theft protection. SOTA-71048
 * Highvale Outskirts: Fixed a logic issue that caused Horatio the Guard to indicate he had a quest when he didn’t. SOTA-71096
 * Highvale Outskirts: Milton’s official title is now Crafting Merchant, to match his wares.
 * Midras Ruins: Fixed a stuck spot.
 * Necropolis Barrens: Added an ankh within the Envy Angel’s house. SOTA-71114
 * Resolute Sewers: Added an extra room off the Cisterns (“spider room”) and moved some spiders to that new area. SOTA-71092
 * Solace Bridge Outskirts: Lady Langston no longer sweeps in her area. SOTA-71089
 * Soltown: Improved the logic which removes the “Find Ashton’s Keepsake” from the task list and compass.
 * Soltown: Improved the logic which controls if the player can loot the Silver Necklace quest item. SOTA-71085
 * South Boundless Forest: Updated the stone archway where boiling water is dropped to better allow barbarian access. SOTA-71109
 * South Majestic Forest: Fixed an issue where handing Preben the shoemaker an ingot as a conversation choice would also pop up a trade window. SOTA-71095
 * Spectral Mines: When the Arch Lapin becomes active, it will now have a chance to spawn in one of two large caves. Also, the Arch Lapin’s activity is now managed by the “TimedEvents” script. SOTA-71093
 * Spectral Peaks: Slightly improved the spawning rate for Obsidian Lions. SOTA-71137
 * Spite: Added decorations near a gap in the palisade and a bridge over a palisade gate. Applied anti-theft protection to most props in the scene. *Changed one of the fish merchants to be a Fishing Supplies Merchant. SOTA-71142, SOTA-71138, SOTA-71141
 * Tartarus: All chests in the barracks should now have at least one item inside. SOTA-71115
 * Vikland: Avatars should only get the non-daemon “buried treasure” instructions after completing the initial daemon treasure hunt. SOTA-71047
 * Vikland: Fixed typos in Hagen’s responses regarding Erica. SOTA-71144
 * Vikland: The kobold-themed treasure hunt instructions no longer include golem-themed directions. SOTA-71132
 * Xenos: Fixed a typo in the conversation of Notus. SOTA-71118
 * Yew: Added collision to roof of elevator. Fixed a stuck spot. SOTA-71103, SOTA-71102

Player-Owned Town Changes:
POT Mountain Template: Fixed a floating collection of rocks by moving to the ground. SOTA-71098

Player Dungeon Changes:

 * Fix for the player-created ‘void farms’ for player lots, dungeons, and basements.
 * Adjusted some placement colliders on certain dungeon pieces (The Rise Library, Duke Throne Room, Challenge Dungeon 1,2, and 3; and Ravensmoor Lich room)
 * Corrected the name of the Green Marble Dungeon Room 16×16 1 Entrance blueprint. SOTA-68135

Sales and Bonus Events
Sales are committed to start at noon on the day we publish (due to requiring server deploy and/or client patch). Player Owned Town COTO Upgrade requests for the sale that come in a little earlier can be honored, of course. Sales end at the end of the calendar day New Britannia Time (Central Time) unless a required deploy or client patch fails to successfully publish in time, in which case the sales will end when the next patch is published.

These sales and bonuses will be in place March 16th through the 21st:
 * Double XP
 * Crown Store Sales 30% off
 * Deed Upgrades 20% off
 * Crowns of the Obsidians 20% off
 * POT Upgrades via COTOs 20% off (Contact support to initiate a POT upgrade and pay with COTOs)

Release 111 Subscriber Login Rewards
Make and keep new friends besides fish this Spring: the Rewards Program login items for Release 111 are a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Decoration Pet and a Green Rock Staff with which to defend it!
 * Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Decoration Pet
 * Green Rock Staff

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 111 to receive these special login items.

March Login Reward
Something’s lurking among the greenery: each account that logs in during the month of March will receive a one-time gift of a Garden Leprechaun!
 * Garden Leprechaun*

Crown Store Updates
New in the crown store for February 23rd: …and for March 10th: The Valentine’s Day store items are still available through Monday March 6th:
 * Tabletop Fish Tank
 * Large Circular Fish Tank
 * Large Rectangle Fish Tank
 * Seaweed Fish Tank Accessory
 * Coral Fish Tank Accessory
 * Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Decoration Pet
 * Green Rock Staff

List of Valentine’s Day items:
Although there are not currently enough items to make a whole new category for them, a few St. Patrick’s Day items (some of which were previously hidden in the vault) can be currently found in other categories (Wearables and Outdoor Decorations) until Monday May 1st:

List of St. Patrick’s Day items:
To celebrate his birthday, the Darkstarr Rares store items will be available from Monday February 27th until Monday May 29th:

List of Darkstarr items:
The Spring Equinox store items will be available from Friday March 24th until Friday May 5th:

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 111 – February 23 (Polish)
 * Release 112 – March 30 (Polish)
 * Release 113 – April 27 (Content)
 * 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