Release 129

RELEASE 129, August 29, 2024[edit]

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 129 goes live August 29th 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 129 (R129), we offer a party and some pest control.

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.^[1]

Features[edit]

Optional Subscription Updates[edit]

Shroud of the Avatar is a free-to-play game. We have ensured that the game can be played without the need to spend money apart from purchasing any expansions, such as Episode 2.

To help fund the development of the game, we have an in-game currency that can be purchased on our website which can be used to purchase non-pay-to-win items in the game’s Crown Shop. The income from direct currency sales is not sufficient to pay the Dev team and operating costs and continue game development. The bulk of the game’s income is provided by players who opt to participate in the optional subscription.

The current subscription model is not enough to keep up with increasing costs due to inflation and our small player base. To help us increase income to allow for continued development and to resume marketing, we have added two additional tiers to the subscription model.

We have completed testing and incorporating player feedback into the new three-tier format. The new subscription options will be activated on Thursday August 29th once Release 129 has been deployed.

All of the tiers will continue to have the normal bonuses and benefits: three (generally) monthly login rewards, a new title every quarter, a twelve-pack of dyes every six months, and additional deck slots as well as the below:

Tier 1	$9 (plus tax)	900 COTOs and 3 Obsidian potions monthly
Tier 2	$18 (plus tax)	2000 COTOs and 6 Obsidian potions monthly
Tier 3	$27 (plus tax)	3500 COTOs and 9 Obsidian potions monthly

Billing cycle begins on the day you start your initial subscription. Subscription cycles last for a period of one calendar month. Your subscription will automatically renew every month and your payment method will be charged at the standard price for your chosen subscription. You may cancel your plan at any time from your account page. Your status as subscribed will remain throughout the paid period. Subscription status and payment history are available on your account page in the subscriptions tab. Initial rewards will be available for redemption once payment has cleared. Subsequent rewards will be available once recurring payment has cleared.

To upgrade, downgrade, and/or update your payment method for an existing subscription, you must cancel the existing subscription and then initiate a new one. All of your earned rewards and your title level will be preserved if you cancel and sign back up later. The billing cycle will not change from your initial subscription billing date as long as you re-initiate a subscription within one month of a cancellation (that is, while you’re still in the subscription period).

Events[edit]

Bug Brigade’s 4th Anniversary Party[edit]

Location of the Bug Boat off the northwest of Hunters' Island in Brekken Bay.

Please join us for a party celebrating the 4th anniversary of the new Bug Brigade, hosted by the Bug Moderators Ravalox, Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn! The party will start Saturday September 21st at 2PM NBT on the Bug Brigade’s Houseboat at its location in Brekken Bay off Hunters’ Island, indicated in the image on the right. We will have a live DJ spinning tunes while the party-goers dance, play party games, and more! You never know what might happen!

News[edit]

Latest News and Q&A in the August Livestream[edit]

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, August 30th on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “hearth and harvest” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team stream on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!!

Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/shroudoftheavatarofficial and on Discord at https://discord.gg/shroudoftheavatar.

Release 129 Patch Notes[edit]

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 129 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R129 is a polish month. Content, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R130 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 129!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:[edit]

Made a Foraging Book Pattern and put it on book merchants. SOTA-72234
Added a pattern to Hunting Daggers. (This snuck into a patch in R128.)
Corrected a blueprint/recipe name mismatch for Stone Dungeon Room (1×1) 2 Entrances. SOTA-70416
Adjusted the fancy stool and dinner bench to have visible labels and use current standards.
Resized the collision on barrel flotsam so they can be placed closer to lot edges. SOTA-70405
Removed the doubled sign on the Fancy Brass Blade Ground Sign. SOTA-71128
The wall hook for the deco version of the 2024 Monthly Fishing Cloak is now visible.
Made the 2024 Monthly Fishing Cloak Pattern a valid cloak pattern for reshaping.
Corrected the image compression on the Fishing Pole of Prosperity.
Cleaned up dye slots on the Yule Elf outfit.
Cleaned up dye slots on the plain and ornate Katanas.
Cleaned up dye slots on the Perennial Coast Farmer Leggings.
Cleaned up dye slots on the POT teleporter hatches (somewhat).
Fixed the names of patterns for the Pirate Jacket with Strap.
The Inoperable Kobold Cloud Cannon and Tesla Rifle quest items should no longer register as equipment. SOTA-70905
Removed durability from the Lord Marshal Drinking Horn to match the rest of the holdable drinking equipment. SOTA-68331
Drinking vessels, smoking pipes, musical instruments, and similar items with no durability should no longer have a right-click to repair option. SOTA-69782

User Interface, Store Information, Inky, & Lua Changes:[edit]

The text descriptions of POT deeds now indicate that they can also be used in PRTs. SOTA-70409
Shifted the SotA Soundtrack Volume 1 to the normal store and the Winter Holiday and Spooky Wax Cylinders to their normal seasonal recurring categories instead of the vault.
Made correct icons for several trophies, take two. SOTA-72160
Corrected size of icons for Mounted Bug Rewards.
Nimrond’s Elegant Wooden Lion Chair is no longer sold as a sign of excellent workmanship, but rather as a decoration to be placed in your house and used as a chair or just be displayed as an example of a master’s artwork. SOTA-72237

World and Quest Changes:[edit]

Snowy Mountain Road Encounter and Troll’s Bridge: Adjusted props and pathing under the bridge to help larger NPCs move around. SOTA-72248
Merchant Conversations: Fixed Hometown-related typos in the conversations for generic deed merchants and one of the Soltown merchants. SOTA-72250
Aerie: Added fishing supplies merchant in stall at docks. Removed fish from a separate, unused stall. SOTA-72251
Brittany Wharfs: Corrected the teleport targets for two ladders used to exit the water. SOTA-72243
Brittany Wharfs: Fixed offset issues with tower walls. SOTA-72242
Castle Atos: Fixed collision on a water trough so players don’t stand on top of its water. SOTA-72244
Graff Island: Fixed a gap in the rocks that allowed players to exit the playspace. SOTA-72253
Graff Island: Added collision to several staircases. SOTA-72254
Graff Island: Brunhild Johnson now replies with her correct name. SOTA-72257
Hilt Fortress: Raised a chestplate embedded in a counter. Squished a ceiling decoration poking through to the floor above it. Cleaned up some overlapping props near the Paladis Passage exit.
Merchant Caravan: Adjusted quest logic used in the Renegade Messenger’s responses. Updated his message and journal entry to clarify that only the renegade villagers won’t fight the Avatar, not other renegades elsewhere in the Outlaws’ Run. SOTA-72246
Necropolis Barrens: Added basic container loot to the Envy Angel’s empty vanity.
Southeast Blackblade Mountains: Blocked gaps in the mountains that allowed players to exit the playspace. SOTA-72256
Tanglemire: Fixed an issue where Einar the Town Crier had a blank “hello” response. SOTA-72241
Tower of the Shuttered Eye: Moved a note off a breakable crate.

Player-Owned Town Changes:[edit]

Cassiopeia: Added new hamlet west of Soltown in Novia.

R129 Map of Novia POTs

Website Changes:[edit]

The Rewards Program page will show multiple available subscription options on Thursday August 29th once Release 129 has been deployed.

Sales, Rewards and Crown Store[edit]

During our Fall Sale from August 29th through September 5th:

Crown Store sales will be 30% off.
Deed Upgrades will be 20% off.
Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.

Release 128 Subscriber Login Rewards[edit]

Autumn rains? Protect yourself in style! …or maybe just watch it from your bed all day. The Rewards Program login items for Release 129 are a Dark Gothic Bench, a Dark Gothic King Size Bed with Black Leather, and a Dyeable Umbrella!

Rewards Program

An ornately-carved black bench sits on a pink rug in a green marble room between a banana plant and some ivy climbing a nearby pillar.

A large black bed with a red dyeable blanket sits in a green marble room below a tapestry of a cavern amphitheatre.

A woman on a tropical island holds a bright blue umbrella against the backdrop of a grey sky.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 129 to receive these special login items.

September Login Reward[edit]

Natural pest control! Each account that logs in during the month of September will receive a one-time gift of a Tabletop Potted Redthorn Flower to nab any bugs invading your kitchen.

A trowel and three clay bowls, one of them filled with dirt and a small redthorn flower, are on a potting bench in a round elven greenhouse on a swampy island.

Crown Store Updates[edit]

New in the crown store for today’s release:

Redthorn Flower

A pile of dirt on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower next to a Dragonbone Throne that is only a little taller than the bloom.

Large Redthorn Flower

A pile of dirt on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower twice as tall as the Dragonbone Throne next to it.

Huge Redthorn Flower

A pile of dirt on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower towering four times as tall as the Dragonbone Throne next to it.

Potted Redthorn Flower

A clay pot on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower that is only half as tall as the troll contemplating kicking it.

Potted Large Redthorn Flower

A clay pot on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower that is just as tall as the troll next to it. It seems even trolls have the sense not antagonize a plant that size.

Potted Huge Redthorn Flower

A clay pot on a swampy island hosts a Redthorn Flower that is more than twice as tall as the troll next to it. Who's guarding who, here?

Ornate Dyeable Umbrella

A Brittany Estates resident in aqua and green holds a sky blue and gold umbrella which doesn't match her outfit at all. ...yet.

…for September 1st:

Tabletop Potted Redthorn Flower 3-Pack

Four clay bowls, three of them filled with dirt and small redthorn flowers, are on a potting bench in a round elven greenhouse on a swampy island.

…and for September 13th:

Dark Gothic Bench