Release 73

RELEASE 73, December 12, 2019


Avatars,

'''Please read this entire message, as well as the linked Player Guide and Known Issues. '''

Release 73 of Shroud of the Avatar goes live this Thursday, December 12, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (15:30 UTC). Release 73 includes some exciting updates including Player Game Master Tools (Phase 1), Lua Integration (Phase 1.1), Tartarus and Soltown polish, Release 73 Winter Themed Rewards, and more!



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 73, December 12, 2019. ''NOTE: This release is much earlier than our normal end of month releases due to the winter holidays and our desire to give our team much deserved time off. That is also why this release may seem like it has less than the normal amount of content.''

Story and Scenes: 


 * Soltown Polish: Polished the main paths connecting where players arrive to major quest points focusing on areas like signs. [[Image:4Starr_SoltownImprovements_B.jpg|1028px]]
 * Tartarus Polish: A general polish pass was made to one of our newest dungeons including the addition of discoveries, more resurrection ankhs, adjustments of creature locations, improved lighting, improved sound effects, additional thematic decorations (including lootable dead bodies), and the removal of some inappropriate quest-related loot. [[Image:SS_4Starr_TartarusImprovements_B.jpg|1028px]]

User Interface:


 * Player Game Master Tools (Phase 1): We have our first phase of Player Game Master Tools live! Players will need to apply for a VIP flag (message Atos in the official Shroud of the Avatar forums or with Discord to apply). Once approved, they will then get a single no-trade potion per event they wish to run that lasts 4 hours. Note, all commands are logged to an internal channel monitored by our developers. The GM potion temporarily grants the following powers from the player console:
 * gmghost: Become invisible!
 * slew: “Free camera” mode similar to what dungeon owners and POT owners currently have, but with the bonus of teleporting to the location of your camera upon exiting the mode.
 * teleport to player: Quickly move to another player’s location.
 * summon player: Instantly move another player to your location.
 * set weather over ride: Set the weather for all players in the scene to a new value. Options are:
 * Clear
 * LightClouds
 * HeavyClouds
 * LightPrecipitation
 * HeavyPrecipitation
 * Storm
 * Foggy
 * Custom1
 * Custom2
 * '''summon monster: Summon a monster from a preset list (NOTE: there is no loot nor experience points gained from killing these monsters to prevent exploits). To use simply type /summonmonster # monsterName where # is the number you wish to summon. For example, “/summonmonster 3 bear1” will summon 3 of the lowest tier bears. Currently available summons include the following and will expand over time:
 * Spider1-5
 * KoboldArcher1-5
 * KoboldMage1-5
 * KoboldWarrior1-5
 * Dragon1-5
 * Bear1-5
 * Llama1
 * '''timescale: Changes the time scale in the entire scene. Legal values are 0.25 – 4
 * '''resurrect: This give player GMs the ability to resurrect players in their scene. The valid options are:
 * me – resurrects the player GM
 * selected – resurrects the player the GM has targeted
 * all – resurrects all players and creatures in the scene


 * Lua Integration (Phase 1.1): Phase 1.1 of Lua Integration includes a further iteration of our integration of this full-featured but simple-to-use scripting language that can be used to create new features, simple UI, or other client-side add-ons with just a few lines of code. Players have been incredibly busy creating all sorts of amazing data queries already since we released Phase 1 of our Lua integration in Release 72. Join the Lua Discussions forum to find out what everyone is making! Also, those on Discord can join the Lua-scripting-api channel for real time chat and information! Look for more features to be exposed.

Crafting and Economy:


 * Garden Gnome Recipe: Craft a delightful garden decoration! This recipe can be purchased from Brittany Decoration Merchants. NOTE: This was actually patched into Release 72.

Player Towns and Player Housing:


 * Krampus Statue (January Login Reward): Just login during the month of January to receive this free reward! [[Image:SS_4Starr_JanuaryLogin_KrampusStatue_A.jpg|1028px]]
 * Snow Pavers: Put pavers down that make it look like it has just snowed, just in time for the Winter Holidays! You can find these pavers in the Crown Shop. NOTE: This was actually patched into Release 72. [[Image:4Starr_SnowPavers_A.jpg|1028px]]


 * New/Updated Player-Owned Towns:
 * Bard’s Rest: Added new Village (nested in Brittany Fort).
 * S Mart Factorium: Moved to north of Solace Bridge.

Performance:


 * Load Times: Release 73 brings several improvements in load times. The average load time per level should be between 2 and 5 seconds faster depending on the speed of the computer. This optimization will show the biggest improvement with the slower computers. This optimization did come with a cost of roughly 5.9GB extra disk space for the initial installation. This will also cause a single large patch but going forward, patch sizes and speeds should actually be smaller and faster than before.

Release 73 Rewards Program Items: To receive these exclusive rewards, all you need to do is join the Rewards Program during Release 73 and login to the game during Release 73.


 * Candy Cane Wand
 * Ceiling Yule Tree
 * Desktop Elf Statue with Yule Hat [[Image:4Starr_R73Rewards_A.jpg|1028px]]

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

Join in 2020 for a lot more exciting content including Lua integration (Phase 2), Player GM Tools (Phase 2), Player Vendor Polish, More Trophy Data (Agriculture, Trophy Heads), Property Rating System, More Creatures/Bosses/Tameables, New Skills, Bards, and more!

There will also be 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, Custom NPC Conversations (Inky Integration), 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 73 Instructions
 * Release 73 Known Issues
 * Quick Reference Card