Release 124

RELEASE 124, MARCH 27, 2024

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 124 goes live March 28th 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 124 (R124), we offer many traditional spring signs of life but also a reminder of death.

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

None

Events

Join the Annual Easter Egg Hunt!

Three Dark Archlapins of Death and Destruction are on the path to the Mount Midir Event Hall. One of them is standing and looking right at you!

We will be holding our annual Egg Hunt event in game! Join Laney and other Devs for any of the one-hour event windows on Saturday, March 30th in Mount Midir:

• 9 AM Central Daylight Time
• 3 PM Central Daylight Time
• 9 PM Central Daylight Time

We have scheduled the event windows in such a way as to allow Avatars from all over the world to participate.

Good luck!

News

Scottie’s Work on the New 2024 DarkStarr Metronome

(From a Forum Post by Scott Jones)

Greetings and Salutations folks!

It’s been a bit since I’ve had the chance to reach out and post about stuff I’m working on! And there are a few things I’m working on that I need to wait for a bit before I can reveal the coolness! But lucky for me I just finished something that, though not incredibly elaborate of a task, is delicious enough to present! Of course, this post is just about me and my workflow, as well as my creative thoughts about the task, so I can’t really conjecture about when this will become available or how folks will be able get one into their hot little hands,…but I WILL be showing you some blow-by-blow images reflecting the steps I took to essentially give the old, original DarkStarr Metronome a new and updated look to revel in the classic style of DarkStarr’s glory as our resident Lord of Chaos (and Gothic Fashionista :D).

The inspiration, of course, is the fact that Starr recently celebrated another trip around the sun in our real world, and we thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to honor him in the game with a thoughtful re-working of his old, somewhat brown/bronze-ish Metronome into a more sharp and stylish color-scheme with an extra bit of decorative “flourish” thrown in?” I, for one, always recognized the early, original version as something worth revisiting for the sake of a visual update, at least texture-wise. Here you can see it below!

A wooden statue of a winged skeleton in a reddish robe has its arm across its oddly box-shaped chest as if to open it.

I really don’t recall the mind-set, at the time, which guided the original artist towards that particular color-scheme, but it certainly always had that “copper and bronze steampunk” sort of aesthetic appeal. Its original motto inscribed at its base, “AS TIME PASSES DEATH APPROACHES”, added a wonderfully sinister edge to the already macabre design and somewhat rusty appearance of its inner workings and gear/scythe combination that gets exposed as part of its “tick-tock” timing mechanism within. Fun stuff! But how to re-visit and offer something a bit different while still maintaining and respecting the initial design?

Read of my work and see the result in my forum post.

Take care for now, folks, and I’ll be back soon to post a little something about some other stuff I’m working on! I hope to make it a habit once again!

Yours truly, Scottie ^_^

Latest News and Q&A in the Second March Livestream

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, March 29th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Please join us for a special livestream Friday to celebrate Starr Long’s 54th birthday! Darkstarr will join us along with other guests for a chaotic stream full of prizes, stories, sales, and of course game updates.

To enter the prize drawings, type “Happy Birthday Darkstarr!” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

• Twitch/shroudoftheavatar
• Add-On Store

Release 124 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 124 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R124 is a polish month. Content, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R125 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 124!

A red chicken stands in a rocky meadow in front of several wooden stalls with hay bedding. A nest with eggs is visible sitting in some of the hay. This looks like an innocuous chicken, not like those others.

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

• Added Animal Spawner – Chicken to Decoration Merchants. SOTA-71955
• Made a pattern for the Explorer’s Shovel, obtainable by salvage. SOTA-71599
• Modified snowball boxes to deliver in December, January, and February. SOTA-71835
• Fixed salvage and masterworking of troll belts. SOTA-70241
• Corrected several crafting ingredients, mostly cooking, that were not showing on the crafting inventory tab. SOTA-71916
• Moved the astrolabe recipe from the decorations subsection to the miscellaneous subsection of the alchemy part of the recipe book.
• Corrected the combining recipe names for the various Belts of Zombie Skin. SOTA-71951
• Corrected a typo in the name of the Small Heart-Themed Gift Box 2024. SOTA-71933
• Adjusted text descriptions for Books of Learning to use similes that will be accurate regardless of global experience rate changes. SOTA-71486
• Added ability to place a Shogun Stool on POT land. SOTA-71939

Combat & Skill Changes:

• Unlocking Bard Specialization now requires level 80 in the previous skill, the same as the rest of the specializations. SOTA-69611

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

• Added the ability to place a custom tooltip on heraldry banners. SOTA-71950
• Market Deeds can no longer be used to claim Row Lots.
• Fixed a store typo for the Breathe Hearts emote.
• Corrected the icon size of the LLTS St. Patty’s Day Party 2024 Cloak. SOTA-71901
• Minimized too-large item icons for Rectangular Sunglasses and the Jeweled Party Dress.

World and Quest Changes:

• Approach to the Shuttered Eye: Fixed a stuck spot. SOTA-71895
• Blackblade Foothills: Updated the collision on a large rock.
• Brittany Estates: Fixed several displaced hedge pieces and updated connected terrain and flora. SOTA-71965
• Brookside: Fixed a typo in a note.
• Courage Club: Disabled several debug objects that are intended only for use in the editor.
• Grusk: Removed grass that was poking through the floor of a building.
• Hometown – Basements: Removed this dev POT from the Pacu rotation.
• Hometown – Legacy Homes: Removed this dev POT from the Pacu rotation.
• Savrenoc Stronghold: Fixed a typo in a note.
• Sequanna Colossus: Players respawning in this scene now always arrive at their previous entrance, matching the other three Colossus scenes.
• Solace Bridge Outskirts: Some NPCs in the bivouac camp now suggest selling excess items to reduce your weight and avoid slowing down. SOTA-71954
• South Broken Road: Updated logic used by the Orator to complete a “Talk to the Orator” task.

Player-Owned Town Changes:

• Frogtown Market: Added new crossroads village south of Brittany in Novia.
• Shearwater Island: Upgraded to City from Town.

R124 Map of Novia POTs

Sales, Rewards and Crown Store

Sales and Bonus Events

To celebrate Darkstarr’s Birthday, Easter, and April Fool’s Day, from March 28th through end-of-day April 4th:

• XP will be doubled.
• Crown Store sales will be 30% off.
• Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.
• POT Upgrades via COTOs will be 20% off.
  • (Contact support to initiate a POT upgrade and pay with COTOs.)

Release 124 Subscriber Login Rewards

Make a place to stop and bury the bodies smell the flowers. The Rewards Program login items for Release 124 are a White Floral Circular Hedge Set, a Primrose Flowerbed, and a Veronica Flowerbed!

• (See Rewards Program)

A woman in a purple dress can be seen standing in an open circular white floral hedge between two and three body lengths in diameter. Hedges outside the circle show shapes of different arcs and discs.

A bas relief of ancient warriors hangs above yellow and orange primroses, and some random coltsfoot and grasses, in a rectangular wooden flowerbed nestled beside stone stairs up to a grand wooden double door.

Light blue Veronica fills a rectangular wooden flowerbed nestled under the window of a fancy stone house.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 124 to receive these special login items.

April Login Reward

Keep your friends on their toes to improve their dexterity like the drill instructors of Westend! Each account that logs in during the month of April will receive a one-time gift of a hundred confetti eggs.

A woman in spring colors is being menaced by a large man in plate mail who is carrying a dainty Easter basket.

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for today’s release:

• Equipable Eggs Basket and Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2024

A woman in a purple dress can be seen spinning with joy on a large mossy boulder under trees in a floral meadow, a green basket with pink cloth trim, filled with dyed eggs, in her left hand. That does not look like a safe spot to be spinning.

A woman in a purple dress can be seen sitting on a shogun bench under trees in a floral meadow, a green basket with pink cloth trim, filled with dyed eggs, next to her on the bench. It seems she didn't sprain her ankle spinning on the rocks after all; her expression is peaceful, not pained.

• Animal Spawner – Duck

A handsome mallard patrols the shore of a small pond, its nest with eggs sitting in the grasses a few feet back.

• Animal Spawner – White Duck

A white duck casts an ominous shadow on the shore of a small pond, its nest with eggs sitting in the grasses a few feet back. This one is probably easier to get than the one mentioned in the tavern in Brittany Fields.

• Total Eclipse 2024 Cloak

A woman in a dark blue tuxedo and a light blue cloak depicting a full solar eclipse adjusts a large telescope on a stone balcony to point it at the sun.

• Large Curved White Floral Box Hedge Set

A woman in a purple dress can be seen standing in a large open circular white floral hedge perhaps seven body lengths in diameter. Hedges outside the circle show shapes of different arcs and discs.

A woman in a purple dress can be barely seen from above laying in a large open circular white floral hedge perhaps seven body lengths in diameter. Hedges outside the circle show shapes of different arcs and discs.

• White Floral Box Hedge Maze Set

Short, straight pieces of white floral hedge, of four different lengths, are arrayed in an empty field. This photographer has no imagination.

• White Floral Box Hedge Miscellaneous Set

Four different pieces of sculpted white floral hedge, two in pots, are arrayed in an empty field. Oh wait, I took that picture. Such great composition!

• Potted Primrose

[Image:SS_Potted_Primrose_overlay.png|800px]]

Yellow and orange primrose fill a pair of clay pots placed on either side of a medium round water fountain, with elder bushes visible at the edges.

• Potted Veronica

Blue Veronica fills a pair of clay pots placed on either side of a medium round water fountain, with azalea bushes visible at the edges.

• Tabletop Bluebells

Three small clay pots of bluebells sit on a potting bench next to a straw hat with a blue brim. A patch of lettuce and a carved wooden fence are visible past the table.

• Dark Gothic Display Case

A large black wooden display case with closed glass doors sits between two white leather seats and two dark wooden sigil plaques along a green marble wall.

A large black wooden display case with open glass doors sits between two white leather seats and two dark wooden sigil plaques along a green marble wall. It's filled with books and bottles and statues and a very creepy jester mask above a skull.

• Dark Gothic Long Wooden Storage Chest

A long black carved wooden chest sits behind a white leather sofa, part of a larger seating arrangement. A clay pot of Veronica is next to it.

• Dark Gothic Tall Vanity

Two clay pots of Veronica on dark wooden pedestals flank a large dark wooden mirror with a low built-in shelf against a green marble wall.

…and for April 12th:

• Curved White Floral Box Hedge Set

A woman in a purple dress can be seen standing in an open circular white floral hedge between two and three body lengths in diameter. Hedges outside the circle show shapes of different arcs and discs.

A woman in a purple dress can be seen from above laying in an open circular white floral hedge between two and three body lengths in diameter. Hedges outside the circle show shapes of different arcs and discs.

• Primrose Flowerbed

A bas relief of ancient warriors hangs above yellow and orange primroses, and some random coltsfoot and grasses, in a rectangular wooden flowerbed nestled beside stone stairs up to a grand wooden double door.

• Veronica Flowerbed

Light blue Veronica fills a rectangular wooden flowerbed nestled under the window of a fancy stone house.

The Spring Equinox store items are available until Sunday May 5th:

List of Spring Equinox items:

• Brown Bunny Ears & Slippers Set
• Bunny Ears & Slippers Set
• Decorative Dyeable Egg Pack
• Flower Crown
• Lepus Mask 2017
• Lepus Mask 2018
• Silver & Gold Lepus Mask
• White Lepus Mask
• Rabbit Tailed Bodice Ensemble
• Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2016
• Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2017
• Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2018
• Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2019
• Spring Fountain w/ Floating Candles

Although there are not currently enough items to make a whole new category for them, a few St. Patrick’s Day items can be found in other categories (Wearables and Outdoor Decorations) through Monday May 6th:

List of St. Patrick’s Day items:

• Garden Leprechaun
• Leprechaun Bowler Hat
• Leprechaun Bowler Hat with Shamrock
• Leprechaun Hat
• Pot o’ Gold

To celebrate his birthday, the Darkstarr Rares store items will be available through Monday May 27th:

List of Darkstarr items:

• Darkstarr Basement Entrance Eternal Pattern
• Darkstarr Chaos Throne
• Darkstarr Chaos Throne (Reverse Colors)
• Darkstarr Clock Tower
• Darkstarr Clock Tower (Reverse Colors)
• Darkstarr Fur Collared Cloak
• Darkstarr Pavers
• Darkstarr Shield
• Darkstarr Shield Pattern Pack
• Lord British vs Darkstarr Battle Banner
• Mosh Emote

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 2024 Release Schedule is as follows:

• This Release 124 – March 28 (Quality of Life)
• Release 125 – April 25 (Content)
• Release 126 – May 30 (Quality of Life)
• Release 127 – June 27 (Quality of Life)

Additional Information

• Player Guide
• Known Issues
• Quick Reference Card

See Also

• Release 122
• Release 123
• Release 124
• Release 125
• Release 126
• Release Features 2024
• New Britannian Calendar