Release 119

RELEASE 119, OCTOBER 26, 2023

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 119 goes live October 26th 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 119 (R119), we offer treasure for the coffers, treasure for the mind, and a nice place to go back to when you’re done gathering them.

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.

Features

Find a Treasure Map and Set Off for Adventure

A hopeful quester digs on a tropical beach.In the coming days, you may find a mysterious map along your travels: perhaps on an enemy, in a chest, listed on a player vendor, or given to you by some kind and/or baffled guild-mate. Junior Treasure Hunters across Novia all know to go to Selleck, to be found along the Port Harmony docks, to learn about seeking what it leads to! There’s a guy who really knows where his shovel is. He’ll make sure you know how to use one before sending you out with some helpful hints. There may be valuables ne’er seen before! There may be guardians to battle! It’s a good thing that explorer’s shovel is a weapon…

This first round added to the game includes decrepit maps that will lead you into low-tier zones accessible to players of every level and blood-stained maps that will lead you into zones frequented by players hunting other players. Be sure you trust your party members!

Be Transported to a New Tutorial Encounter

Helpful Automatons now have an inventory-themed tutorial they can provide to any Avatar.

The tutorial is a series of one-on-one lessons in a solo scene which any Helpful Automaton can teleport you to upon request. It’s primarily informational, but there are some basic activities which shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. If needed, though, a teleporter at the site will allow you to return to town at any time, even before the tutorial is concluded, and you can always return to the tutorial scene and continue where you left off. Students who complete the tutorial are given a reward.

Helpful Automatons can be found in Soltown, Castle Atos, Kingsport, Port Harmony, and other NPC towns around the world, and more units will be added to other cities over time.

Build Diverse Neighborhoods with New Row Markers

An unclaimed row lot in a player-owned town has always displayed a two-story wood-and-plaster row home, which doesn’t make for much visual variety until residents start claiming them and replacing them with other homes. From now on, however, Governors and Stewards can place an assortment of alternative row markers which display one of eleven additional two-story home options, allowing themed neighborhoods or a lively cacophony! These homes retain their variant appearances when claimed, giving the resident access to a variety of home styles they’d otherwise have to purchase. They may still wish to purchase their own, as none of these markers are for taller homes with more space.

Most of these homes are normally available in the Crown Store and the associated new markers are priced accordingly, but a few homes whose stand-alone versions have been available for in-game-gold are also to be had in the Crown Store for a minor price so any Governor should be able to create some variety.

See the full set in Crown Store Updates!

Release 119 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 119 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R119 is a content month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R120 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 119!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

• Added the ability to upgrade a POT Castle Lot Deed to a be a POT Castle Tax Free Water Lot Deed. SOTA-71730
• Adjusted some of the floor deco surfaces for the plain and golden variants of the Kobold Four-Story Great Hall City Home. SOTA-71732
• Fixed frog goliaths not giving meticulous collection XP.
• Salvage/combination of Daemon Tridents and salvage of Ice Hammers of Jotungrund, Shards of Night, Halberds of the Sun, and Xen Penetrators will no longer output a pattern per weapon for common and uncommon variants. SOTA-71707
• Enabled dying the fabric cushion on the craftable Arched Wooden Armchair. SOTA-70431
• The Magical Broom Pet will no longer be visually shouting at avatars. SOTA-58540
• Added new icon to the Shard of Night. SOTA-71717
• Corrected icon for book Theme for Rabbling.
• Removed pink artifacts in icon for Fiona Fitzowen’s lute.
• Removed pink background from icon for Pristine Patriarch Bear Head.

User Interface, Store Information, Inky, & Lua Changes:

• The prices for POT NPC Buildings have been adjusted: buildings with special functionality are now 1200 COTOs and all others are 800 COTOs.
• Fixed typos in 130 store descriptions.

World and Quest Changes:

• Overworlds: All roving NPCs will now respect Spawn Protection and wait until it’s gone before pulling the Avatar into a random encounter. This includes dogs, sheep, and stags. SOTA-66405
• Seasonal Monsters: Pumpkin Head is packing it in for the year and Krampus will return to East Sanctus Forest and some Snowy Mountain Road Encounters on November 16th.
• Desert Encounter: The Luminous Atavist will no longer appear out-of-season. SOTA-71726
• Swamp Road Encounters: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. A frog goliath might also spawn. SOTA-71570
• Multiple Scenes: Reworked the sounds for all junction transformers used in kobold creations, placed in scenes as well as part of player deco, like moon towers, windmills, trolley stations, weather and time machines, and elevators. Also, shutting off both transformers in moon towers will turn off the moon tower completely.
• Manor of Mystery and Tutorial Encounter: Adjusted sound effects for the Teleporter Pads and corrected their cloth accessories to be Return-to-Previous-Location purple. SOTA-71339
• Blood Bay: Adjusted LODs on several rock types. Added and updated steam and lava sounds. Added waterfall sounds to a waterfall at a ruin. SOTA-40523
• Blood River Forest: Tweaked the whirlpool VFX. SOTA-64690
• Blood River Outskirts: Fixed typos in Captain Bearfield’s responses.
• Brave Coast: Added more spawn location alternatives and ankhs throughout the scene. SOTA-71681
• Brookside: None of the four wells should be protected by the anti-theft system any longer.
• Castle Atos: Added ambient light options.
• East Vauban Foothills: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
• Far Hinterlands: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
• Grannus Colossus: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
• Greymark Forest: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
• Grusk: The five daily versions of Kortreek’s kite platform quest now have separate initial journal entries, with better directions for finding the platforms. SOTA-70489
• Jotungrund: Reverted scene worldbuilding and navmesh to its R117 state.
• Lost Vale: Blocked off the end of a hallway in the Fall of the Epitaph area. SOTA-71731
• Manor of Mystery: If you have completed his Inoperable Kobold Cloud Cannon quest, the High Magus will now accept an Inoperable Kobold Tesla Rifle even if you have a second Inoperable Kobold Cloud Cannon in your inventory. SOTA-71714
• Naryad Moors: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
• Necropolis Barrens: Replaced a tree with odd collision that allowed players to slide up the sides. SOTA-71725
• Paladis Shardfall: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
• Port Harmony: Removed grass poking through a planter. Moved several rubble piles to the ground.
• Port Harmony: Updated the logic for Selleck’s treasure chest so avatars can get extra chances to dig it up if they wait too long to recover the trinket inside.
• Port Harmony: Treasure Hunter Selleck now gives a proper response for the “lemon” keyword (as do the Junior Treasure Hunters.) SOTA-71719
• Port Harmony: Fixed typos in Treasure Hunter Selleck’s responses, journals, and quest item. SOTA-71715
• Rhun Ruins: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
• Spindelskog: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
• Tenebris Harbor: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. A frog goliath might also spawn. SOTA-71570
• Well of Aldur: Added extra randomization to the wyvern wave battle, which now includes additional large and huge wyverns of not-seen-before colors. Adjusted the loot for most wave enemies prior to the final wave. SOTA-71713

Player-Owned Town Changes:

• Arx Draconis Lowlands: Upgraded to City from Town.

Sales, Rewards and Crown Store

Release 119 Subscriber Login Rewards

Use these lights to guide your visitors and these gift boxes to bait them into a trap: the Rewards Program login items for Release 119 are a pair of Spooky Urns with Blue Flame and a set of three Cat-Themed Square Halloween 2023 Gift Boxes!

• (See Rewards Program)

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 119 to receive these special login items.

November Login Reward

Share your treats! Well, at least keep them in a nice container. Each account that logs in during the month of November will receive a one-time gift of a Small Rectangle Pumpkin Halloween 2023 Gift Box!

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for today’s release:

• Row Property Marker (Blue Tile)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Blue Tile)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Blue Tile)

• Row Property Marker (Elven w/ Left Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Left Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Left Alcove)

• Row Property Marker (Elven w/ Right Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Right Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Right Alcove)

• Row Property Marker (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)

• Row Property Marker (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)

• Row Property Marker (Obsidian)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Obsidian)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Obsidian)

• Row Property Marker (Shogun)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shogun)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shogun)

• Row Property Marker (Viking)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Viking)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Viking)

• Row Property Marker (Shingle-Roof)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof)

• Row Property Marker (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)

• Row Property Marker (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)

• Variety 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (One each Elven Left Alcove, Elven Right Alcove, Kobold Left Alcove, and Kobold Right Alcove and two each Blue Tile, Obsidian, Shogun, and Viking)
• Variety 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Two each Elven Left Alcove, Elven Right Alcove, Kobold Left Alcove, and Kobold Right Alcove and four each Blue Tile, Obsidian, Shogun, and Viking)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Mixed Alcoves) (Six each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Mixed Alcoves) (Twelve each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove)
• 12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof and Stucco) (Three each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove and six Shingle-Roof)
• 24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof and Stucco) (Six each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove and twelve Shingle-Roof)

…And some POT improvements that aren’t Row Markers:

• New You Pavilion Bundle (This bundle comes with a POT NPC Building and one each of male and female New You Beautician POT NPCs. An NPC is needed for the New You functionality.)

• Player-Owned Town Iron Signpost

• Player-Owned Town Kobold Signpost

…And some things that aren’t POT improvements:

• Painting Display Stand (Paintings and books dragged on to these new types of display stands will snap into an angled position for ease of viewing.)

• Tabletop Painting Display Stand

• Book Display Stand

• Dark Gothic Furniture Mega Set

• Dark Gothic Furniture Dining Set

• Dark Gothic Furniture Bedroom Set

• Dark Gothic Queen Size Bed

• Dark Gothic Standing Mirror

• Dark Gothic Padded Dining Chair 2-Pack

• Purple Fireflies

• Black Tiki Demon Mask

• Black Flaming Tiki Demon Mask

• Flaming Tiki Demon Mask

• Pale Flaming Tiki Demon Mask

• Ghost Themed Round Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack

• Pumpkin Themed Rectangle Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack

…and for November 10th:

• Cat Themed Square Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack

• Spooky Urn with Blue Flame

The Spooky Seasonal store items (apart from this year’s new additions, which will be available throughout R119) are available until Monday November 6th.

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 119 – October 26 (Content)
• Release 120 – November 16 (Polish)
• Release 121 – December 14 (Polish)

Additional Information

• Player Guide
• Known Issues
• Quick Reference Card

See Also

• Release 118
• Release 120
• Release 121
• Release Features 2023
• Release Dates