Release 82

RELEASE 82, September 24, 2020

Release 82 of Shroud of the Avatar goes live this Thursday, September 24, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (16:30 UTC).

We 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. Keep the input coming, and again — thank you!

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.

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 in the Community Events Forums. You can also get the latest official events on the Main Website.

Here is a list of what you can expect to see in RELEASE 82, September 24, 2020.

• New Adventure Scene: Lord British’s Castle!

Master world builder Keith “Sannio” Quinn has done it again! His latest adventure masterpiece is Lord British’s Castle and is now on the live server for players of Shroud of the Avatar! The gorgeous gardens, theater, and décor would be quite inviting to guests under normal circumstances, but alas, these are not normal times, Avatars! Something is amiss at Lord British’s Castle in Mistrendur, and only Episode 2 Access holders can to rally to our ruler’s aid!

• Challenge yourself! Progress through the castle while fighting waves of progressively-harder enemies (similar to the Compendium of Pain and Suffering)
• Explore! After clearing out the whole castle, explore new areas that weren’t accessible while invaders were around, including Lord British’s vault (but only if you want your virtuous reputation tarnished!).
• Quests! Talk to the guards by the entrance to learn a little backstory and get 2 new repeatable quests.

“Lord British’s Castle! Frequently under assault by those who want to slay the ruler of New Britannia or pillage the vast fortune rumored to exist within his private vault. Even now, deadly enemies have breached its walls and overrun the stronghold’s hallowed halls. Your reasons to venture to Mistrendur and into Lord British’s home will be your own, but know that each room will throw you against waves of the toughest enemies you have ever faced!”

These words from Sannio should inspire caution amongst the intrepid. Those first to storm the gates of Lord British’s Castle will soon learn that the waves of enemies within will continue to grow in power such that even the greatest of New Britannia’s warriors will eventually fail. How far into the castle will your band of companions venture? What treasures could be within? A challenge unlike no other awaits thee!

• Food & Drink System Update!

Avatars! Eat! Drink! Be Merry! A long-awaited round of love to the Food and Drink Systems is upon us! In the past, players could imbibe 2 foods regardless of which was eaten. Now, all foods and drinks have been assigned a numerical value from 1 to 3 which indicates how many food buff slots are utilized when eating and drinking that item. Up to 6 food channels are possible, so if a character eats 6 single point foods, they can fill up all 6 food channels. If the character eats 2 foods which have 3 points each, all 6 food channels are also filled.

This new concept as well as a revisit/balancing to all food recipes should greatly increase the versatility of the food system and make a larger range of recipes desirable for use and consumption. Here are some examples of food recipe tooltips which show the buff slots as well as revised effects:

Also, players can now feed their pets with newly added recipes! Pet food allows for 3 channels of food in a point system entirely separate from the 6 food channels available for characters. The newly added pet foods are as follows:

• Bear Bites
• Dragon Kibbles
• Fishy Nibblers
• Rabbit Pate
• Venison Jerky

Even after these changes patch onto the live server, the system will continue to be tweaked and each food recipe scrutinized. Ultimately we hope players of Shroud of the Avatar enjoy the revamped system. So many more amazing game updates are just around the corner, so stay tuned!

• Agriculture Trophies: Pumpkins & Jack O’Lanterns!

Gardeners of New Britannia, take heed! A strange occurrence has permanently altered pumpkins throughout the lands causing them to grow larger than ever before! Now, gardeners growing pumpkins through use of the Agriculture System have rare chances to harvest Trophy Pumpkins! Take those pumpkins to your crafting tables to convert them into Jack O’Lantern Trophies! The recipe for creating the Jack O’Lantern Trophies is for sale on Cooking Merchants.

Sometime in the near future and before the expiration of this year’s appearance of Pumpkin Head, players can expect certain size ranges of Trophy Pumpkins to drop as loot from the spooky seasonal boss and his minions. Of note, the Agriculture System will likely produce the largest pumpkins available.

Players can expect a considerable size range in available trophies, and the image above does NOT show the largest sizes! That’s for the players of Shroud of the Avatar to discover! Happy gardening, Avatars!

• Maps and More Maps!

Mini-map creation in Shroud of the Avatar has resumed! The development team is hard at work adding additional maps so that players can find their way in the enormous world of New Brittania. As adventurers explore, they’ll encounter these additional maps added for Release 82:

• Celestis
• City of Yew
• East Perennial Trail
• East Veiled Swamp
• Eastreach Gap
• North Brightbone Woods
• Restless Forest
• South Brightbone Woods
• South Celestial Wetlands
• Spindelskog
• Tanglemire
• West Veiled Swamp
• Whiteguard Foothills

More maps will be added with every monthly release, so gear up and get out there, explorers!

• Player Dungeon Creature Spawner!

The Mysterious Swamp and Upper Tears are two adventure scenes amuck with the ever living… the lingering… those who should have passed on to their next lives but have not. The high level lich fighters in both of those scenes now have a small chance to drop a recipe for a Lich Fighter Spawner Statue! Once crafted, players can place these statues in their dungeons whilst in Design Mode. This marks the spawn point for a lich fighter. Once the dungeon is placed into Adventure Mode, the statue comes to life and is replaced by a Tier 15 Lich Fighter!

Meant solely as a method to add “roaming monster immersion” into player dungeons, these lich spawners will not generate loot nor experience since they can only be placed in non-encounter rooms where decorating is possible. Expect a larger variety of spawners to become available in the future as the dungeon system continues to evolve. The majority of these spawners will become available as crafting recipes, with focus placed upon requiring underutilized crafting materials such as Aortic Thrombi and Ancient Essences.

• New Town Sizes Available!

After the Megalopolis town size became available, the Player-Owned Town (POT) governors of New Britannia demanded even larger size upgrade options! And more upgrade options they shall receive! Now, players of Shroud of the Avatar can upgrade their POTs to the size of Gigalopolis and Teralopolis. Slightly before Release 82, these town sizes became available for town upgrades and direct purchase from the web store.

The various decoration and feature limits for these new sizes are as follows:

• Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition!

For all existing and upcoming Lord of the Isle supporters, a new perk has JUST been added to the list of goodies! In a future release, Lord of the Isle supporters will now receive a version of the Fishing Expedition scene! This scene will feature decoration surfaces as well as a baked-in island castle. Because this special expedition will use our Basement mechanics (and will not be a Player-Owned Town), players will be able to access them from housing lots. Only the owner and visitors with appropriate permission levels will be able to enter and decorate the scene as they desire, and other players will also be able to visit the scene and fish to their heart’s content!

• New Store Additions: Faun Conversationalist, Ornate Round Setees, & More!

An additional Inky NPC has been added to the store! Players can now enjoy customizing the dialogue for a Faun Conversationalist! Also, a new furniture style has been introduced and added to the Crown Store — round setees! Each setee allows for 4 occupants and is a must have for anyone with a reading room in their house! The setees feature two dye layers and a decoration surface behind the occupant’s head. The pictured lamp does not come with the setees, but is there to demonstrate the decoration surface provided. Also, a giant Golden Oracle Guardian Statue has been added to the store!

• Conversationalist, Faun 1
• Ornate Red Floral Round Setee
• Ornate White & Gold Round Setee
• Golden Oracle Guardian Statue

The fall and spooky store season is upon us, Avatars! From September 24th to November 6th, the following items will be available either in the Vault or as a recurring spooky/fall item:

• Baby Black & Orange Spider Pet
• Blood Spurting Headless Mask
• Bloodraven Pet
• Breathe Spiders Emote
• Day of the Dead Colorful Mask
• Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Top Hat
• Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Veil
• Day of the Dead Mask
• Day of the Dead Mask 6-Pack
• Day of the Dead Mask with Top Hat
• Day of the Dead Mask with Veil
• Dead Tree with Spider Webs 6-Pack
• Ghost Cat Decoration Pet
• Ghost Dog Decoration Pet
• Ghost Raven Decoration Pet
• Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
• Giant Lich Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
• Grim Reaper Mask
• Grim Reaper Mask 2016
• Grim Reaper Statue
• Headless Horseman Grim Reaper Statue 2017
• Headless Mask
• Jabbering Bertha
• Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2015
• Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2016
• Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2017
• Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2018
• Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2015
• Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2016
• Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2017
• Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2018
• Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2015
• Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2016
• Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2017
• Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2018
• Juggle Jack O’ Lanterns
• Juggle Severed Arms Emote
• Juggle Severed Heads
• Juggle Skulls Emote
• Juggle Zombie Arms Emote
• Juggle Zombie Heads
• Large Headless Horseman Grim Reaper Statue 2017
• Large Nightmare Statue
• Large Spooky Fountain
• Ornate Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
• Ornate Scythe
• Ornate Scythe 2017
• Ornate Scythe 2017 Pattern Pack
• Ornate Scythe Pattern Pack
• Ornate Skull Candle
• Ornate Spider Legs Cloak
• Prisoner’s Mask
• Puke Blood Emote
• Rain Spiders Emote
• Rotten Armor Outfit
• Rotten Flesh Cloak
• Skull Cloak
• Spider Web Cloak
• Spooky Wax Cylinder Pack
• Tall Dead Hedge Fence
• Torn and Tattered Wedding Dress Outfit
• Torn and Tattered Wedding Tuxedo Outfit
• Undead Specimen Vats Set
• Witch’s Hat
• Woven Spider Web Cloak
• Zombie Cat
• Zombie Dog
• Zombie Mask
• Zombie One-Eyed Mask
• Zombie Raven
• Zombie Statue

• New Vault Round!

The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, October 1st at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc.

• Rotten Flesh Cloak
• Banded Turkey 2017 Decoration Pet
• Ornate Scythe 2017
• Headless Mask
• Autumn Leaf Mask
• Autumn Fairy Crown
• Autumn Fairy Outfit
• Spooky Wax Cylinder Pack
• Tall Dead Hedge Fence

• October Login Reward: Blood Spurting Headless Mask!

Do you have the strange urge to decapitate yourself and spew blood upon your friends and enemies? Well… now you can! October’s login reward is a Blood Spurting Headless Mask! Simply log in during the month of October, and this mask will become available in the Rewards Window.

• Release 82 Rewards Program Login Items: Lord British & Spooky Themed!

Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 82 are Lord British and spooky themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 82 to receive these login items:

• Ghost Conversationalist
• Skeleton Set 2 (5-Pack)
• Lord British Plate Greaves

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

• 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
• Monthly Login Reward Items (~ 3 per month)
• Exclusive Title every 3 months

• 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
• 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
• 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
• 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
• 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
• 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge

• Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
• Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including:

• Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity
• Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance
• Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills
• Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills
• Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage
• Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills

• World & Miscellaneous Changes

These miscellaneous updates affecting the game world or aspects of the user interface (UI) patched in during R81, will go live with R82, or will go live shortly after R82:

• Troll’s Bridge: The Snowy Mountains Road Encounter that included the Troll Twins has been converted to a non-random scene called Troll’s Bridge. This scene is in the same location as the encounter version. This change will arrive sometime shortly after R82.
• Sprinting on Overworld: More abilities are becoming available on the overworld map each release, to now include sprinting! Not to be confused with Dash or Sprint in the skill trees, by double tapping forward (default “W”) a player will zoom faster across the map whilst expending focus.
• Tanglemire: Additional fetid water fishing locations will be joining one already by the waterfall.
• Explosive Barrels: The trapped barrels in NW Blackblade Mountains and Bunker C now feature initial physical damage in addition to the already present damage-over-time fire effects.
• QA Server Quest Resets: Players can now reset their quests an unlimited number of times on the QA server for testing purposes.

• Crafting, Items & Economy Changes

These changes to the player economy, in-game items, or crafting patched in during R81, will go live with R82, or will go live shortly after R82:

• Conversationalist Recipe: A recipe for a new Conversationalist has been added to a decoration vendor in Xenos. The Beggar is the first craftable conversationalist, but won’t be the last!
• Additional Decoration Surfaces: The following items now have decoration surfaces…

• Castle Wall Sets

• Crafted Stone
• Crafted Palisade
• Dark Stone
• Dark Stone w/Ladders
• White Stone
• White Stone w/Ladders
• Viking Palisade
• Shogun
• Golden Stone
• Golden Palisade

• Crafting Stations (4 Varieties)

• Founder
• Benefactor
• Expert
• Gold Merchant

• Cylindrical Basket Recipe: A recipe for a new decoration container has been added to decoration vendors in Resolute, Bramble, Jaanaford, and Storms Reach.
• New Equipment Decorations: The following items now have decorative versions of the items…

• Gloves of the Cutpurse
• Boots of Skulking
• Torch of Jerik
• Thunderbranch

• Crown Store Price Reductions: Many Crown Store items received price reductions and/or normalization. These changes mostly affected…

• Conversationalists
• VFX Decorations
• Potions of Disco Fever
• Spooky & Fall seasonal items

• Devotionals: The tooltips for all devotionals now also indicate which types of buffs the devotionals provide.
• Stackable Items: The following items now stack in a player’s inventory…

• 1-Story Snowy Spruce Tree
• 2-Story Snowy Spruce Tree
• 3-Story Snowy Spruce Tree
• 4-Story Snowy Spruce Tree
• Aether Vibration Device
• Arrow Trap
• Blue Cylinder
• Construction Barricade
• Construction Crane
• Construction Planks
• Construction Ropes
• Construction Scaffold Walkway
• Construction Stone Wagon
• Darkstarr Chaos Throne
• Darkstarr Chaos Throne (Reverse Colors)
• Darkstarr Clock Tower
• Darkstarr Clock Tower (Reverse Colors)
• Epic Snowy Spruce Tree
• Flame Trap
• Gothic Dining Table
• Gothic King Size Bed with Black Leather
• Gothic Queen Size Bed
• Hanging Torture Cage
• Large Ornate Cordovan Harp
• Medium Ornate Yule Wreath 2016
• Medium Ornate Yule Wreath 2017
• Medium Ornate Yule Wreath 2018
• New Britannia Globe
• Ornate Grand Piano
• Ornate Kettle Drum
• Ornate Pipe Organ
• Ornate Red & Gold Filigree Harpsichord
• Ornate Yule Music Box
• Painting of Cordelayne
• Painting of Crazy Teeka
• Painting of Lady Minerva
• Painting of Lady Shimizu
• Painting of Lord Deiter VomPasker
• Painting of Lord Serion
• Painting of Master of the Mint
• Painting of Master of the Mint #2
• Painting of Rufus
• Painting of Scott Jones
• Painting of Scott Jones w/Special Frame
• Painting of William
• R55 Anywhere Lot Deed Raffle Ticket
• R55 POT Lot Deed Raffle Ticket
• Small Ornate Yule Wreath 2016
• Small Ornate Yule Wreath 2017
• Small Ornate Yule Wreath 2018
• Spike Trap
• Torture Chair
• Torture Rack
• Torture Table
• Umber Upright Piano
• Universe Broadcast Orb
• Wind Power Generator

• Public Garden Revamp: This POT-only decoration now features baked-in flowers.
• Wall Clocks: These devices can now be rotated on a wall if players wish to display them in a crooked fashion.
• Luminous Atavist Robe: This robe can now be socketed.
• Rough Stone Craftable Walls: This crafted wall set can now be stacked upon other pieces within this set and can now scale from .5 to 1.3.
• VFX Items: Visual effects (VFX) items such as butterflies, fireflies, fog, and bats can now be placed upon other items such as blocks or tables, onto walls and exterior walls, and on water. These items can now be scaled from .5 to 2.0, but this mostly affects the altitude of the VFX item.
• Pole Torch: This decoration can now be placed in POTs as well as on other items such as blocks or tables.
• The Ring of Wisdom: This artifact now has an epic version.

• Combat Balance & Changes

These changes to combat skills or concepts patched in during R81, will go live with R82, or will go live shortly after R82:

• Rusty Armor: This armor set has received Damage Resistance updates in line with recent changes to other armor.
• Shooting Star: The damage and focus cost for Shooting Star has been increased by 25%. This skill has also received significant VFX improvements.
• Combat Buffs: A very large number of changes have occurred across the spectrum of crafted food and drink which will greatly change how a player decides upon food buffs for combat. Pet food has also been added. See here for the main article.

• Updated Player Owned Towns

These updates affected Player Owned Towns which patched in during R81, will go live with R82, or will go live shortly after R82:

• Brittany Fort: Added multiple interconnections.
• Cottage Grove: Upgraded to City.
• Dead Horse: Upgraded to Crossroads Village.
• Estate D’LaRose: Changed owner.
• Forgewright: Upgraded to Municipality.
• Hammaburg: Changed owner.
• Immortal City: Upgraded to City from Town.
• Jade Gardens: Upgraded to Crossroads Village.
• Jade Valley: Upgraded to Municipality.
• Norstead: New Holdfast added to Mistrendur (plot 103).
• Obsidian Market: Changed name (formerly Tower of Xee) and biome (now Forest 01c). Added interconnection with Tanglemire.
• Treasure Island: Upgraded to Metropolis.
• Wolves Den: Upgraded to Village.

• Bug Fixes

Albeit many bug fixes patched in during R81, will go live with R82, or will go live shortly after R82, here are some of the highlights:

• Ichtyosaurus recipe now works correctly.
• Fixed the issue with the dyeable Fishing Rod not showing its dyed colors periodically.
• Fixes for large creatures getting stuck in several scenes were implemented.
• Fix for entry difficulties in Verdantis Shardfall was implemented.
• Several EP2 scenes with exit issues now send the player to the correct locations.
• Epic Pax Ring can no longer be equipped with other variations of Pax Rings.
• Bonus on the Epic Butcher’s belt has been fixed.
• Wallpaper fixes applied to Haunted Gothic Inn Village Home.
• Various paintings have received unique icons.
• Various collision fixes were implemented in Central Brittany.
• Bunny slippers no longer discolor a character’s feet.
• Elven Mage Robe received store entry fixes.
• Oski at the Ruins of Utheim now remembers player names.
• The UI now properly displays the difficulty for Tanglemire.
• Use of the Water Well is no longer considered stealing.
• Fixed an unreachable ore node in Tanglemire and the Hills Encounter.
• The names for epic item recipes now correctly display in the recipe book.
• The emote /breathehearts now animates correctly when seated.
• Stairs in the Shingle Roof 2-Story w/Balcony Village Home can now more easily be traversed.
• Batch watering of plants has been fixed.
• Armor set bonuses were fixed.
• Fixes for various basements missing collision were implemented.
• Crushing blow once again CRUSHES instead of taps.
• Characters in offline mode can no longer teleport to POTs.
• A stuck spot in Upper Tears has been fixed.
• The Epic Crossbow of Accuracy can now be masterworked.
• The Epic Wand of Undying Embers can now be masterworked.
• The New Beginnings Oracle Cover Painting now has the correct icon.
• The Portrait of a Gentleman now has the correct icon.
• Updated Tanglemire’s missing bones quest. The journals, responses, “footprint” highlighting, and compass markers all received improvements.
• Improved Erla’s “missing bones” reward in Tanglemire.
• Improved the flow of Erno’s quest at Crooked Shank.
• Light source brightness in character design interface reduced to improve appearance of hair colors.
• Lord British Plate Leggings now feature an eternal pattern if salvaged.
• Floating decorations removed from the Vertas scene.
• Linux players no longer fall through the floor of the Village Wood & Plaster Inn 2-Story Basement.
• Collision issues on a rock ledge in the Forest Siege has been fixed.
• The store preview for the Potted Giant Banana Tree has been fixed.
• Players can no longer fall through the stairs in Eastmarch.
• The wizard in Spectral Mines is now appropriately an Ebon Dawn Wizard.
• Fixed a typo in the Ariel Rosehaven quest within the “mystery” response.
• Beds not allowing players to lie upon them have been fixed.
• Player music has received a higher audio priority to fix an associated intermittent sound problem.
• Moving multiple stacks of items while extremely encumbered no longer causes drag and drop issues.
• Attack speed bonuses now properly apply to pets.

Additional Information

• Release 82 Instructions
• Release 82 Known Issues
• Quick Reference Card

See Also

• Release Dates
• Release 81
• Release 83
• Release 84