Release Features 2024

SotA Developers added many features and content to the SotA game in 2024 (Release 122 through 133). These enhanced the game experience for players. This page consolidates these features that were published in the individual main Release articles.

Release 122 (January 25, 2024)

Main article: Release 122

See and Don’t Be Seen in Sneak Scene

A sentry with a torch and a candle helmet patrols a darkened room filled with random junk.

Barkeeps in port towns across New Britannia have made their basements available to all sorts of nefarious people who value the ability to come and go without notice. They might have a key, if you ask, to access a place where specialists in skulking hone their craft. Drunken whispers have overshared that those frequenting this ‘sneak scene’ will claim avoiding combat is more important than direct confrontation. Some people might suggest this place is neutral ground, with both assassins and spies putting aside their differences in order to make use of these elaborate training facilities. It might, perhaps, be wise to do any such training before partaking of the barkeeps’ wares, not after.

Find these training grounds under taverns in:

• Blood Bay
• Broochash
• Celestis
• Goti
• Etceter
• Fortus End
• Kingsport

Release 123 (February 29, 2024)

Main article: Release 123

Build a Bazaar With the New Market Lots!

A busy market street between white castle walls with many small shops on both sides, with wagons, streetlights, pennants, a fountain, and guards, shoppers, and stray cats crowding the area. Towers, an air balloon, and a dragon can be seen in the far distance past the walls.

Sometimes you want just small space with no home for an open-air shop. A nice tent, a few stalls… portable and low-maintenence! Our new Market Lots are 10 by 8 meters: the same frontage and just a smidge over half the depth of a Row Lot.

A shot looking down at a street with 14 variously-decoed Market Lots along its length, with the footprint of each lot shown in green.

Here is a sample market showing a variety of possible uses:

Player Owned Town Market Lot released!!

Youtube Video

After a few internal adjustments to some that almost fit, all but the largest tents will fit on a Market Lot, as well as all the craftable stalls and awnings, albeit with some player resizing needed for the larger ones.

• Tent (Craftable)
• Welcome Tent
• Small Canvas Tent (Craftable)
• Medium Canvas Tent
• Small Elven Tent (Craftable)
• Medium Elven Tent
• Small Knight’s tent
• Large Knight’s Tent
• Great Knight’s Tent
• Triangle Kobold Tent (Craftable)
• Small Kobold Tent (Craftable)
• Medium Kobold Tent
• Virtue Oktoberfest Tent
• Wide Market Tent
• Blue Stall Awning (Craftable)
• Green Stall Awning (Craftable)
• Red Stall Awning (Craftable)
• Barn Stall (Craftable)
• Tall Barn Stall (Craftable)
• Thin Barn Stall (Craftable)

…as well as a miscellany of sheds, gazebos, pavilions, wells, and outhouses. Some decorated lot examples are below:

A tan awning holding some crates and hay bales sits behind a semicircle of nice wooden counters covered with boxes of various fruits and vegetables, with a scarecrow guarding tomato plants in the far corner. I'm sure he keeps the crows off the cash register, too.

A half dozen barn stalls shelter many stacked tables holding boxes, maps, fireworks, a birdcage, an aether vibration amplifier, some wax cylinders, a Xenossian shield, some small statues and glassware, and other assorted fripperies. Find neat things you don't need today!

A riot of baskets, box crates, handbaskets, cylindrical baskets, and a large round wooden table with flat baskets and more handbaskets fill a market lot, with an orange rug and a pair of green free-standing banners adding a splash of color. A merchant in a long brown coat stares across the street, not noticing the orange tabby cat who is clearly contemplating jumping into a handbasket. Never trust orange tabbies.

A Perennial Coast peasant tends a market lot holding potted an assortment of potted plants: azaleas, elder bushes, a large flowering elderberry, a few heliotropes, and a row of royal elderberries. Good thing there's a public well across the street!

A shopkeeper in a snazzy purple vest stands in front of five wooden walls that display framed maps and paintings under a large wood awning with a kobold chandelier.

A pair of wooden stages keep many rustic cabinets off the bare ground. The cabinets have on them (and presumably in them) a couple dozen boxes of fireworks of all types, a cash register, and a yellow supply bundle. A red pennant draws attention to the shop from a distance.

A city kobold has brought glassware from Grusk to display under a pair of triangular kobold tents: five bookshelves hold many empty clear bottles and flasks of various shapes lit by a water lantern atop a large stone block.

A fancy Perennial Coast merchant fronts a shop of goldfish; three large rectangular tanks are sheltered by barn stalls and several small tables hold tabletop fishtanks and fishbowls. A tan marble bench and some potted bamboo grace the edges.

A shopkeeper in a magenta dress gazes at two picnic tables covered with confection and treat platters, petit fours, cupcakes, and a sliced cake on a raised stand. A pair of tall pink banners stand behind them and the lot is closed with an ornate post and rope fence.

A Baron Servant looks out from a wide market tent filled with Tansu chests bearing tabletop statues. More are displayed on Celestian altar tables at the front of the tent and frosted lamps light the interior.

An open stone well has a few abandoned buckets scattered near it. A wooden bench and a large ankh make a spot for quiet contemplation. Rough stone fences bracket the lot. A poor peasant woman looks out from a weedy area in the corner.

A woman in a long blue coat stands in front of an awning with rows of tables and benches under it. Potted flesh flayers are on the table to keep down the bugs. A large cauldron bubbles at the corner of the lot, with a table with bowls and a ladle behind it and a dishwashing area in the corner. A good cheap bowl of soup would be a nice thing to give the poor woman at the public well.

A purple awning covers some rough tables: one with an assortment of steaks and sausages on it, one with a cash register and a cloth sack, and a pair in the rear with many large haunches and a cleaver. A sketchy-looking man with a knife in his belt smiles in front of the shop.

This picture shows two shops: a red stall awning with three tables of books bracketed by lion statues, an open book on a display stand, and a cash register, and a large white pavilion with a blue tile roof holding an oval display table with many pieces of clothing on it. A pair of dressed mannequins stand on small stone plinths in front of the pavilion. A brass tailor sign juts between the two shops from the ivy-covered white stone wall behind them.

Un... Claimed... Freight! A stern man in a brown coat stands at the door of an elven tent filled with unmarked crates. If he knows what's in them, he's not telling.

Market Lot decoration limits are:

• Exterior Objects: 100
• Exterior Lights: 4
• Containers: 20
• NPCs: 1
• Basements and Dungeons: None!

A 10-pack of Market Lot Property Markers is available for Governors and Stewards in the Crown Store.

As one may always claim a lot with any deed that size or above, and as these lots will be created only by placing Property Markers in Player-Owned Towns, all existing deeds can claim these as they are the new smallest size. However, taxed deeds for Market Lots can be purchased in the Crown Store and upgraded to tax free for Crowns of the Obsidians:

• Deed, Market (POT, Taxed): 1,100 COTOs
• Deed, Market (POT, Tax Free): 2,100 COTOs

We hope you find this new lot size useful and inspiring!

Live Free on the Sea: POT Tax Free Water Deeds

An empty City Water Lot, highlighted in green to show its full size, is displayed next to a Baron's Galleon docked farther down the shore.

Village, Town, City, Keep, and Castle POT Tax Free Water Deeds are now available through upgrade of existing non-Founder deeds with Crowns of the Obsidians. You don’t have to be a pirate to hoodwink the tax man, though it helps!

The upgrade values for these new deeds are:

Deed	COTOs
Deed, Village (POT, Tax Free, Water)	5,500 COTOs
Deed, Town (POT, Tax Free, Water)	11,000 COTOs
Deed, City (POT, Tax Free, Water)	22,000 COTOs
Deed, Keep (POT, Tax Free, Water)	44,000 COTOs
Deed, Castle (POT, Tax Free, Water)	88,000 COTOs

Note that the only Water Keep and Castle Lots currently available in Player Owned Towns are the baked-in ones; placeable Property Markers for these sizes are soon to be created but, unlike the baked-in ones, will not be toggle-able to an island for land home placement.

Release 124 (March 27, 2024)

Main article: Release 124

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Release 125 (April 25, 2024)

Main article: Release 125

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Release 126 (May 30, 2024)

Main article: Release 126

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Release 127 (June 27, 2024)

Main article: Release 127

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Release 128 (July 28, 2024)

Main article: Release 128

Disharmony in Cantabrigia

Port Harmony's Town Hall stands tall over a guard on patrol and a commoner enjoying at the fountain in the town's main square.

Port Harmony’s Minister of the Hearth has made a concerted effort to lead the city as a cohesive whole but there are always a few people who are not in tune.

The Minister of Coins is missing and presumed dead. There are camps of renegades in the hills above town, likely from the larger group holed up in the Outlaws’ Run, making the edges of the town unsafe for citizen and visitor alike. There’s been sabotage to the city’s cistern. Attacks on the merchant caravans attempting to establish trade with Grusk and Vikland are increasing. All this has been tied to rumors of a leader called the Mallard. This seems like too much effort just for petty criminals; is there some greater goal than a bit of coin behind it all?

Despite requests, Peregrine, said to be the “one true Avatar,” has made no moves to address this growing dissonance. Will you talk to Minister Webb about the renegades and find out what must be done? When you know, will you do it?

A pair of wagons are stopped on the uphill road between Port Harmony and the Outlaws' Run.

Release 129 (August 29, 2024)

Main article: Release 129

Optional Subscription Updates

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).

See Also

• Release Features 2022
• Release Features 2023
• Release Features 2024
• Category:Shroud of the Avatar - links to all the Release articles.
• Release - Release main page on SotAWiki.
• Official SotA All Updates web page.