WARNING: THIS GAME IS EARLY ACCESS. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE IT UNLESS YOU WANT TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME VIA CROWD FUNDING, BUG TESTING, AND FEEDBACK. PLEASE ONLY PURCHASE IF YOU ARE ALSO PREPARED TO HANDLE SERIOUS ISSUES AND INCOMPLETE CONTENT. PLEASE READ THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS PRIOR TO PURCHASE, MANY OF WHICH WARN YOU OF THE CURRENT UNFINISHED STATE OF THE GAME.
Avatars,
Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.
Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 40 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, March 30, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (15:30 UTC).
Release 40 is full of so many important changes that it is hard to know where to begin! The Obsidian Cabalists are now spreading their vileness throughout New Britannia, weapons can now be placed as decorations, we have shifted more of our focus to improving the new user experience (NUE), there are tons of new patterns (both in-game and out), and we finally upgraded to Unity 5.5 (which should address some major AMD issues).
New User Experience & User Interface Polish: We are now shifting a large amount of our effort towards improving the New User Experience. For several years, our backers have been providing us with feedback about the NUE. For example, our backers have pointed out that having to open the journal to view their active tasks/quests feels cumbersome, and that we overload the player with too many options at the beginning of the game (too many skills, too many different hotbars, etc.). This feedback has been affirmed by metrics gathered during our recent Free Trial. In R40, we have implemented improvements for both these issues as well as other improvements to the NUE. There is now an on-screen task list, we start players with fewer skills, we now delay introducing the player to some more advanced features until later in the game, and we have begun integrating SotA Map into the game client to aid with navigation.
Obsidian Cabalists: These vile beings who follow the Anti-Virtues will now be laying siege to towns throughout Novia, including Player Owned Towns that harbor devotionals to the Virtues! Each Cabalist dons a unique hood artifact bearing the symbol of their anti-virtue, and also wields a unique weapon artifact. These artifacts, along with Cabalist Robes and Cabalist Plate Boots, can be looted from Cabalists if you manage to defeat them. Players can then choose to either wield the Vile artifacts or salvage them for patterns that can be applied to other equipment.
Obsidian Cabalist Vile Weapons: Each Cabalist wields a unique artifact weapon made from Obsidian and bearing their anti-virtue symbol. We made sure that each weapon type (including shield) was represented so that players would have a chance to get a weapon of the type they favored.
Rhun Ruins: The Rhun Ruins are one of the six ruined cities found in Novia that date back to the period in Novian history in which the Obsidian Order rose to power. (As described in the Sword of Midras prequel novel by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott). The exact history of some of these cities has been lost to time, but it is rumored that some of them may have been abandoned even before the rise of the Obsidians. Rhun was a city devoted to Compassion but has since been overrun with the undead. It is located in the Drachvald region in the northeast of Novia. Rhun started as a clone of the Dysborg Ruins, but was completely rebuilt this release to have a unique layout and visuals. Since this is an Open PvP scene (as are all the Ruins) we expressly focused on being sure the map has interesting setups for PvP conflict, with plenty of space for hiding, escaping, ambushing, and skirmishing.
Serpent's Spine Mines: The Serpent’s Spine Mines are located in the northern end of the Serpent’s Spine mountain range in the North Paladis region of Novia. Kobolds have ranged farther east than normal to exploit the rich ore veins and crystal deposits in this vast mine. This is one of our most vertically oriented mines to date with a large central chamber featuring deep vertical shafts, elevators, and mine carts. This scene started as a clone of Graff Gem Mines but was completely rebuilt in Release 40. We also relocated these slightly to the south so they are actually in the Serpent’s Spine Mountains!
Skrekk: The capital of the Kobold empire is now populated with City Kobolds, and King Korabar now has his own unique art and animations!
Town Sieges: There is now much better messaging about stage completion (e.g. flags next to each catapult disappearing when the catapult has no engineers) and lifting the siege (namely, a UI messaging stating the current state of the siege). Additionally, placed Devotionals in NPC towns and Player Owned Towns now attract Sieges...so watch out!
New Weapons and Shields: In addition to the Cabalist gear we added other new weapons and shields to the game including a Khopesh (curved Egyptian style sword), Kobold Electric Axes, Norgard Axes, Heater Shields, and Bucklers.
100+ New Patterns: We added over 100 new patterns to the game including in game patterns that can be salvaged from looted gear like the Obsidian Vile Weapons.
Weapons as Decorations: We started in Release 39 with making equippable items decorations using the musical instruments as our first test. In R40, we are going bigger and now almost all weapons can now be placed in your home as decorations.
Magic Visual Effects Polish: We have begun a major polish pass on the visual effects on all magical spells starting with the lowest level spells and working our way upwards. R40 spells polished include Fire Fist, Fire Arrow, Ice Arrow, Ice Fist, Ice Arrow, Stone Fist, and Searing Ray.
Unity 5.5: We have finally upgraded to the latest version of Unity. This should result in better overall performance and numerous fixes to longstanding issues including the longstanding AMD incompatibility!
[And did we mention that you should read the negative reviews that warn you about the unfinished state of this game before you purchase? Don't buy this game until you read them!]