[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Greetings 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 34 access for all backers begins this Thursday, September 29, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

Combat and Economic Polish and Balance:

Release 34 is our first chance since persistence to really analyze our current set of data and begin to execute major steps towards balancing and polishing Combat and the Economy.

As described in my forum post, we are making several changes to provide more gold to casual players. Those changes include Daily Oracle Confessions (500 gold), increased experience and gold rewards for Path of Love Quests, Outlander Tracking Program (100 gold per town), Mail Quests expansion, and First Bind Point reward.

Combat also received a lot of attention, with over 20 balance changes related to skills, taming, health / focus regen rates, and critical hits. We also added several new skills including new healing skills outside of Life Magic and new reactive skills.

Crafting, Cooking, and Food:

Crafting got a major expansion with 45 new recipes, including our first recipe built from difficult to obtain rares (Bone Armor) and a refactor of how food works that makes it much more relevant to game play.

Bone Armor, a new type of armor, is crafted at a Tailoring table from bones refined at a Carpentry station (the first armor to involve Carpentry). It has the attributes of Heavy Armor (high Damage Avoidance) but it is actually classified as Light Armor, so when Masterworked, your modifiers will be Light Armor modifiers and your skills used with it will be Light Armor skills. It also has very high durability, making it ideal for Enchanting and Masterworking. However, the bones needed to craft it are exceedingly difficult to acquire. In addition to the normal Tailoring, Carpentry, and Smithing ingredients (leather, cloth, thread, wax, metal etc.) Bone Armor requires parts from Dragons, Phoenixes, Demons, and Tier 5 Skeletons.

We are finally making the eating of Food relevant to gameplay. Health and Focus regeneration have been slowed down (see Combat section below) and now eating Food is the primary way to increase those rates. We have also made it so food (and other consumables like Potions) can be used from inventory via double-click or right-click while you are not in combat. They no longer have to be used from the shortcut bar. In fact, food is no longer part of the deck system at all. We have also expanded the types of foods you can eat to include raw foods like fruit, not just prepared foods. These raw foods will offer very small, short buffs. Finally, foods will now be tiered in their effects based on the amount and types of ingredients. There are 6 tiers. In Release 34, we still only have Tiers 0–2, but we are planning to expand into the higher tiers in future releases. Normal Food will affect Health and Focus Regen rates while Fantastical and Special Foods will give more magical effects (but may also have negative effects).

Path of Love Polish:

We continue to polish the Path of Love to bring it up to the level of a Lord British experience. In Release 34, our main focus was on the Necropolis where we added an NPC at the entrance of the Necropolis Barrens to warn newer players to keep to the road. Said road now goes from the entrance of the Necropolis Barrens to the Necropolis itself and is properly marked, and safer than traveling through the other parts of the Barrens. We also added a new spirit named Lacey (after our fallen community member) to the entrance of the Necropolis. The spirit talker you hired in Ardoris will now accompany you through the Necropolis and fight alongside you (note: not all spirit talkers are created equal) and warn you if you veer into dangerous areas. The difficulty of some of the monsters has been toned down (the terror of the poison spiders will live on in memory). Additionally, the ending is clearer as to what is expected to happen next, and the player can exit if they wish directly into the next part of the story. We also continued polishing Ardoris as well.

Halloween:

Of course I have to mention our favorite time of the year: Halloween! We had to make sure that the game was filled with enough spooky content this year so we went over the top! The scary items range from ghostly pets to gross emotes, to ghastly costumes, all the way up to a Gothic (aka Haunted) Mansion!

Yet again, I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the items below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback on this post. So, they are a big reason that this post actually matches what is in the game, and that it is easy to read.

While we are getting closer to launch, we are still in a constant state of change, and we do not yet have all the in-game systems to inform players of these changes, or to share ways to help them to explore new content and systems. This means we rely mostly on this message, and the linked instructions and known issues to convey the current game state. We regularly have to answer questions or filter bug reports because some players elect not to read this valuable information.

By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and efforts can be redirected to focus on new “unanswered” questions, and addressing critical issues impacting each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post, and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. Be sure to check out a couple of the event calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites: Avatars Circle and Events of the Avatars). You can also get the latest official events on the Main Website.

Without further ado, here is a list of what you can expect to see in Release 34.

Key:

Plain Text: The original plan for the Release deliverables. We intentionally preserve the original text so that our backers can compare plan versus actuals.

Italics: Extra notes and new deliverables.

Strikethrough: These are items that did not make the release (but are still planned).

RELEASE 34, September 29, 2016

Story: A final polish pass will be completed through the Love Path of the story and we will begin a polish pass on the Courage Path. Aerie and Resolute NPCs will also get a behavior improvement pass. Additionally several NPC towns that are currently clones will be replaced with original scenes. Love Path Polish (but not final): We made various edits to conversations, lots of polish to Ardoris, and a major overhaul to the Necropolis. However, the Love Path is still not final. Ardoris still needs more polish work. The Tower of the Shuttered Eye and Malice both need overhauls and Spite needs major polish. All of those will get tackled in Q4. Resolute NPC Behaviors Delayed: We decided to remain on Ardoris longer before moving on to Resolute. Estgard (Unclone Polish): Estgard is on the island of Norgard and is part of the Path of Courage. Outlanders must pass through Estgard on their way to Valhold. Estgard was another cloned scene using one of our PRT/POT templates based off of the Forest 01 base template (aka “the PaxLair template”). In Release 33, we did an initial rebuild (aka “uncloning”) of that scene where we added a plot-specific perimeter wall and a handful of other visual changes to have it more closely match the Viking like style of the island of Norgard. In Release 34, we did a more thorough rebuild of the area to bring it up to our visual standards. When we start focusing on the Courage Path in a future release, it will also get an NPC polish pass. NOTE: When we unclone scenes we do NOT change locations of player lots, NPC buildings, or entrances. We only make cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage. Aerie NPC Behaviors: Added schedules to many NPCs, especially guards. Added a Guard Barracks and improved decorations in many other buildings. Added theft detection to all buildings and merchant stalls. Ardoris Polish: We continue to polish the City of Love to get it closer to a Lord British level of interaction and life. While we still are not quite there, we are getting closer. Notable improvements include the addition of children and animals to the city, a facelift to the New You shop, added theft detection, more visual clues about Min Liang Tan, and lots of dialogue improvements. In Release 35, we will be doing updates to the NPC costumes to make them unique to Ardoris as well as final passes on the dialogues. Necropolis Polish: We have begun a major polish pass on the entire Necropolis experience. It begins with an NPC at the entrance of the Necropolis Barrens to warn newer players to keep to the road. Said road now goes from the entrance of the Necropolis Barrens to the Necropolis itself and is properly marked, and safer than traveling through the other parts of the Barrens. We also added a new spirit named Lacey (after our fallen community member) to the entrance of the Necropolis. Unlike the other spirits to be found, this particular spirit is helpful and kind – and (unique among them) was once an Outlander herself. Now, much as she did in reality, her kindness will help guide avatars as they progress along the Path of Love. Hopefully this small tribute will help demonstrate how much she, and everyone in our community, means to us and to each other.The spirit talker you hired in Ardoris will now accompany you through the Necropolis and fight alongside you (note: not all spirit talkers are created equal) and warn you if you veer into dangerous areas. The difficulty of some of the monsters has been toned down (the terror of the poison spiders will live on in memory). Additionally, the ending is clearer as to what is expected to happen next, and the player can exit if they wish directly into the next part of the story. Finally, the Necropolis is now a one way dungeon—when you reach the end, you can exit by door either into the Midras Ruins (PvP) or by ladder directly into the Novia Overworld. Targeting Reticle Off In Convos: We now deselect your targets when you are talking to NPCs so you no longer have to look like you are about to shoot the person you are conversing with. Skull Ratings on the Overworld: In Release 33, we experimented with adding the stacked skulls next to scenes on the Novia Overworld in the Perennial Coast to indicate the difficulty of each scene. Previously, these were only visible after you had entered the scene. Players seemed to appreciate the convenience of this extra information on the Overworld, so we have propagated them across all of Novia and the Hidden Vale. Brittany Graveyards: The graveyards now have several new Mausoleums, one of which connects to a new catacombs section of the Brittany Sewers. Note that this new section is small and not yet connected to the previously-released Brittany Sewers sections. Discoveries on Overworld: Novia and Hidden Vale now have discovery locations for all major locations that will appear on your compass. Variable Travel Speed on Overworld: Movement speeds will once again be different depending on whether you are on a roadway (fast) or in the wilderness (slow) on the Overworld. This was how the Overworld maps worked in the original Ultimas. This was also how movement speeds were in the earlier releases of Shroud, but during testing we removed them to allow players faster access to areas. We are now putting these variable speeds back albeit with much less speed reduction than we had originally. Over time, there will be various ways to increase speeds when not on roadways. Some examples include POT blessings, crafting bonuses on Boots from Masterworking and Enchanting, food bonuses, etc. Demig’s & Ferig’s Battle Camps: NPCs will now react to players taking anything that does not belong to them in these scenes. Large Creature Navigation Improvement: Every scene containing large creatures—including trolls, dragons, etc.—has been updated with a devoted navmesh that will improve the navigation behavior of these enemies. Brittany: There is a new fully decorated “New You” shop in Central Brittany. Economic Balance Changes: As described in my forum post we are making several changes to provide more gold to the more casual players. Many of these are related to the story including the following: Daily Oracle Confession: Visiting the Oracle on a daily basis and discussing how you are faring on your journey along the Paths of Truth, Love, and Courage will earn you 500 gold per day. You must answer her accurately based on your personal actions. If you do not answer correctly based on your actions, take it to heart and return in one (real-world) day. Increased Experience Gold Rewards for Path of Love Quests: Quests along the Path of Love give significantly more gold (when appropriate) and experience upon completion so that following the story quests is a viable means of accruing experience for building characters. Path of Courage quests will undergo similar boosts in the next release. Outlander Tracking Program: Novians do not exactly trust Outlanders and want to make sure they know where they are traveling around to. Thus, they started an Outlander Tracking Program. Each time you visit a Town Crier for the first time in any town will earn you 100 gold. This includes all town criers, including ones in POTs and PRTs. Mail Quests Expansion: Previously Town Criers were requesting mail services between only a handful of towns like Soltown. Now these include all the named cities of Novia and the Hidden Vale (excluding POTs and PRTs). First Bind Point Reward: You now receive 200 gold the first time you bind to a Town Crier. Reagent Spawner Rebalance : We reviewed the reagent spawners to make sure they are evenly balanced against the power of the spells they are used with, and that they are well dispersed in the scenes so players won’t have to exclusively rely on merchants.

A polish pass will be completed through the Love Path of the story and we will begin a polish pass on the Courage Path. Aerie NPCs will also get a behavior improvement pass. Additionally NPC towns that are currently clones will be replaced with original scenes. Player Towns & Player Housing: Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear. R33 Lot Deed Raffle Winners: The drawing will be held right before R34 goes live and we will announce the winners on Friday September 30 in Update 196 for the 675 Lot Deeds. As a reminder, here is the breakdown of those numbers:

Place Anywhere Deeds (75): Row: 40 Village: 20 Town: 10 City: 5 Player Owned Town Deeds (600): Row: 320 Village: 160 Town: 80 City: 40 R34 Lot Deed Raffle: R34 will be our second Lot Deed Raffle and there will be another 675 Lot Deeds available. Raffle tickets will again be available for purchase. However in addition for those backers who do not yet own property, we are going to automatically enter you into both Raffles in Release 34! Anyone who has game access to Shroud of the Avatar, but does NOT yet own property at the beginning of Release 34 (September 29, 2016), will automatically be given a gift of 1 Raffle Ticket of each type to the R34 Raffle. To claim your tickets, simply login to the game, go to the nearest bank and claim your rewards. The drawings will be held on October 27, 2016 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Deeds will be delivered in Release 35. Backers are not eligible for this gift if they meet the following criteria on September 29, 2016: Own an Ancestor Pledge or above Own a Viking 2-Story Row Bundle or above Own a Kobold 2-Story Row Bundle or above Own any quantity of Add On Store Deeds Own any deeds won through previous drawings, contests, etc. Royal Orb: This pledge reward from the Lord Pledge is now functional in the game. It can be used once per month to reduce a private Vendor’s fees by 50% for one month. NOTE: This is the equivalent of the description on the pledge reward where it says it: “Grants the player the ability to reduce the rent of any vendor by 50% for one month.” Tropical POT Template Polish: When we launched the Tropical Island Player Owned Town Template in Release 30 back in May, we were moving quickly to get it launched and in the hands of our POT owners. It was based on the Island 01 template and was a mainly a simple swap of tree type without any other major changes. Owners who chose this template were understandably underwhelmed by this variation, so we decided that we needed to take another pass at this Island. This release, Hutch worked to enhance the island and has made a host of improvements. He started by choosing a few different base terrain textures, ones that lend themselves better to a tropical environment. He then chose some additional terrain grasses and ran a process to apply them to the map in order to cover areas that were bare of grass before. He also added some more tree varieties to the map to improve variety and height differences and spread these more thoroughly throughout the map. The biggest changes, however, are an overall increase in foliage density throughout the island to create a more tropical jungle look and the addition of flat beach areas suitable for house placement. Walled Island POT Templates: When we created the Walled variation of the Swamp Island POT Template, we realized we could use that same encircling wall to make Walled variations of the other Island templates. These are connected to Hometown for previewing. New templates that can be selected in the POT submission form in R34 include the following: Island 01a (Walled) Island 01a – Right (Walled) Island 01a – Left (Walled) Island 01a – 180 (Walled) Tropical Island 01a (Walled) Tropical Island 01a – Right (Walled) Tropical Island 01a – Left (Walled) Tropical Island 01a – 180 (Walled) POT Island 01 Template Polish: While we were making the Walled variations, Hutch took the opportunity to polish the terrain and flora on the Island 01 template so it looks even more like a temperate forested island with even better options for house placement on the terrain. Stone Dock POT Template Variants: Several POT owners liked the stone docks visible in the Swamp 01 templates versus the wooden docks visible in the other templates. So we created several new template variants with stone docks. These are connected to Hometown for previewing. New templates that can be selected in the POT submission form in R34 include the following: Desert 01b Desert 01c Forest 01b Forest 01c Fireplaces and Chimneys: Scott “Scottie” Jones has created a system of Fireplaces and Chimney pieces that allows homeowners to build fireplaces and chimneys into any of our players’ homes. They even work through multiple floors and out through the roofs! There are currently a total of 8 different styles, 2 styles can be crafted (see Crafting section below). Here are the 6 Add On Store styles: Ornate Stone Ornate Stone Large Ornate Stone & Wood Ornate Stone & Wood Large Ornate Cast Iron Ornate Cast Iron Large Basement Exit Ladder Decoration: All basements now have appropriate ceiling openings for exit ladders—these were previously absent from many stone basements in particular. Inactivity Timer for Tax Free Lots: Until now, all Tax Free Lots defaulted to the base amount of 4 months of time allowed for inactivity before the lot would revert to being unowned and all contents would go to the owner’s bank. With Release 34, that 4 month time still applies to all backers who purchase the game through bundles or Steam, but if you purchased the game via a pledge your Inactivity Timer now scales based on your Pledge Level as follows: Default*: 4 Months (*includes Ancestor, Navigator, Developer, & all Bundles) Citizen: 5 Months Edelmann: 6 Months Knight: 7 Months Knight Marshal: 8 Months Lord: 9 Months Lord Marshal: 10 Months Baron, Baron 2, Baron 3: 11 Months Duke: 12 Months Lord of the Manor, Lord of the Manor 2: 13 Months Darkstarr Moondial: This Orrery now will let you view the Constellations when you double click on it, which is the same functionality as the Astrolabe (see Crafting section below). Dynamic POT Island Lot Walls Removed: We removed the pre-placed walls on the Keep and Castle Island Lots in Dynamic Player Owned Towns. POT Oracle Confirmatory Fixed: The Oracle Confirmatory will now work again in Dynamic Player Owned Towns. Note that with the addition of the Daily Oracle Confessions, this makes the Confirmatory especially valuable. Oracle Statue Head: The full sized Oracle Statue head finally has its mystery functionality revealed! Outlanders can now use the head as a limited connection to the Oracle herself that allows them to enable PVP. However due to the tenuous connection, Outlanders cannot disable PVP; for that they will need to visit an actual Confirmatory. Edelmann Birdbath: This pledge reward now attracts a flock of birds overhead when placed. Tree Clearing Increased: The range around a lot in which trees and other flora are cleared when a lot is claimed was increased. This should hopefully greatly reduce the number of tree branches poking into houses. NOTE: Currently this is only applied in NPC and PRT scenes. In R35 we will implement it as an option for POT owners. Halloween Housing & Decorations: Since Halloween is our favorite time of year, we created a plethora of spooky housing related items for the season that you can find in the Add-On Store. Trick or Treat! Gothic (aka Haunted) Mansion: What happened there so many years ago? What happened to that family? We should totally go in there Friday night when we are having our slumber party! What’s that? We only have one lantern for the 4 of us? That’s totally fine. I’m sure it will be ok… This 3-story village home is your stereotypical Victorian mansion full of secret passages that also happens to attract a large flock of bats. Stone Ruins (Medium and Large): Late at night you can hear victims of the Cataclysm crying and howling their anguish in these two stone ruins. NOTE: These are decorations (not a house). Dead Trees: What Haunted House would be complete without Dead Trees in the yard? The answer? None! Dead Trees with Spider Webs: But you want spiders too? And the trees don’t look right without webs? Well we have the answer for you with these Dead Trees festooned with spider webs. Gallows: Tell your neighbors that you do not take their loud parties lightly with this delightful hanging platform. One variation comes with an example skeleton hanging from the noose! Dungeon Iron Cages: No dungeon is complete without these whimsical additions. One even comes with a deceased occupant, reduced to mere skeletal remains. Oh the hilarity. 2016 Jack O’ Lanterns (Seasonal Rares): Once again, we have have a delightful assortment of 6 different Jack O’ Lanterns for you to decorate with. This year’s faces are even more delightful than last year’s! 2016 Grim Reaper Statue (Seasonal Rare): Our giant Grim Reaper Statue has returned in a new and improved version for 2016! What is better than one scythe? Two scythes! What’s better than non-glowing eyes? Glowing eyes! What’s better than stone? Darker stone! 2016 Spooky Soundtrack (Seasonal Rare): Can you imagine a haunted house without scary sounds and moody music? Neither can I! These Wax Cylinders even comes in a custom Halloween bloody pumpkin color scheme! Elven Bundle Homes & Furniture: While the Elves of Novia were originally created for war by the Obsidian Order, in the centuries since, many have sought to find new meaning in their lives, and have found it through finding a place of their own in nature’s order, harmonious with the land around them. The Row Houses and Wardrobe reflect this by being built from natural materials. The following assets for those bundles are now in the game and fully functional: 2 Story Row House (Left & Right Versions) 3 Story Row House (Left & Right Versions) 4 Story Row House (Left & Right Versions) Elven Wardrobe Cabinet Hometown: Hometown is taking a new form. We have decided to take this back over as a developer effort versus a volunteer community effort. This was not an easy decision but there was some negative perception around having players have access to the houses and decorations for “free” and rather than create unnecessary drama we have just decided to take this back on as a dev effort. Darkstarr has been feverishly placing the first sets of lots and houses this release and various team members will be claiming and decorating them as their own over the next several releases. There is a large perimeter wall built from the White Stone Castle Walls that encircles the main flat area on the main island. All the houses in that enclosed area are available in the Add-On Store (ala carte or in in Bundles) or in-game (crafted or bought from NPC merchants). Everything outside of that perimeter wall is expired content. Shingle Roof Homes Plaster Upgrade: The 10 Shingle Roof homes we introduced in R31 and R32 have had an upgrade on their Plaster to make it pristine instead of dirty. As a reminder these are available either from in-game merchants or can be crafted. Enjoy! New POTs/POT Changes: Ahnen Hain: Changed location. Interconnections (added Central Brittany, removed Brekken Bay). Allaman: Converted to Forest 01. Nested interconnection changed to within Owl’s Head. Ambrosia: New addition (nested in Xenos). Bay Lunaire: Renamed (formerly Swamp of sorrow). Ownership changed. Nested interconnection changed to within Central Brittany. Interconnections (with Brittany Fields, Brittany Estates, Brittany Alleys). Upgraded to Village. Blackspire: New addition (nested in Resolute). Drachenfels: Removed interconnection (with Drachensteig). Drachenhort: Removed POT. Drachensteig: Removed POT. Dragomir: Changed location (minor). Dragonvale: Upgraded to Metropolis. Encantado: New addition (nested in Kingsport). Flint: Upgraded to Village. Forgewright Mines: Renamed (formerly Grym). Converted to Underground. Ownership changed. Removed overworld access. Interconnection (with Forgewright). Forgewright: Converted to Mountains. Rotated to 180. Changed location. Interconnections (removed Kiln, added Forgewright Mines). Forlorn Peak: Nested interconnection changed to within Aerie. Gensicke: Converted to Forest 02. Changed location. Haunted Keep of Solania: Upgraded to Crossroads Village. Haven: New addition. Jade Mountains: Converted to Mountains. Leoni d’Amore: Renamed (formerly Lions of Amore). Changed location. Interconnection (with Serenite). Lux Sanctuary: Changed location. Malhelkyth: New addition (nested in Lochfield). Moonshire Downs: Upgraded to City. Rotated to Right. Nidhoggr Mountains: New addition (nested in Brittany Fields). Ordinis Mortis: Upgraded to Town. Pomerantz: Interconnection (with Taenby Landing). Praga: Interconnection (with Central Brittany). Rats Nest: Converted to Swamp Island 01a. Reverie: Changed location. Interconnection (with Port Graff). Serenite: Interconnection (with Leoni d’Amore). Upgraded to Town. Silverston: Nested interconnection changed to within Kingsport. Sionann: Upgraded to Village. Nested interconnection changed to within Aerie. Stocktopia: New addition (nested in Yew). Tarakan: Converted to Underground. Ownership changed. Nested interconnection changed to within Xenos. Interconnection (with Avallon). Terreg Wis: New addition (nested in Xenos). The Eventide Enclave: Renamed (formerly The Gloaming Grotto). Converted to Tropical Island. Rotated to Left. Changed location. Interconnection (with Goti). The Undershire: New addition (nested in Moonshire Downs). Twin Traders: Interconnections (with Kingswood, Estercove, Port Mirren, and Forewind) Vale St. Julie: Ownership changed. Warehouse City: New addition (nested in Grumridge). Welcome Center: Upgraded to Crossroads Village. Rotated to Right.

Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear.

Offline Economy: The economy in offline mode will be tuned to be better balanced for single player. NPC merchants will buy player crafted items at a profit to the player for instance. Additionally pledge and add-on store items will be available from NPC merchants for purchase with in-game gold. Offline Economy Delayed: Unfortunately continued work on upgrading to Unity 5.4 forced us to delay work on Offline content.

Crafting: Recipes will become teachable (much like emotes). Agriculture will get a polish pass and some new content. Teachable Recipes Delayed: We made some architectural changes to inventory in order to make the overall game more robust and that work delayed our work on Teachable Recipes. Agriculture Polish & New Agriculture Content Delayed: We chose to focus on fundamental changes to how food works before making any further changes to Agriculture, but R35 will see a renewed focus on this effort. Resources Increased near Starter Scenes: We slightly increased the overall resource yields in the scenes around the starting areas. Food Changes: We are finally making the eating of Food relevant to gameplay. Health and Focus regeneration have been slowed down (see Combat section below) and now eating Food is the primary way to increase those rates. Consume from Inventory: Food (and other consumables like Potions) can now be used from inventory via double-click or right-click while you are not in combat. They no longer have to be used from the shortcut bar. In fact, food is no longer part of the deck system at all. Consume from the World: Food (and other consumables like Potions) placed in a home as decorations can now be consumed via right-click. This means you can finally set a table with food and eat from it in your home! Eating Raw Foods: We have expanded the types of foods you can eat to include raw foods like fruit, not just prepared foods. These raw foods will offer very small, short buffs. Tiered Food Buffs: Foods will now be tiered in their effects based on the amount and types of ingredients. There are 6 tiers. In Release 34, we still only have Tiers 0–2, but we are planning to expand into the higher tiers in future releases. Normal Food will affect Health and Focus Regen rates while Fantastical and Special Foods will give more magical effects (but may also have negative effects). Tier 0: Single Items (ex Apple): Very Short Length, Weak Normal Buff. Tier 1: Cheap Normal Food (ex Bark Bread): Short to Medium Length, Medium Normal Buff. Tier 2: Expensive Normal Food (ex Gorn’s Venison Roast): Medium Length, Medium to Strong Normal Buff. Tier 3: Fantastical Food (ex Wolf Chops): Medium Length, Medium Magical Buff. Tier 4: Rare Fantastical Food (ex Obsidian Bear Stew): Medium to Long Length, Medium to Strong Magical Buff. Tier 5: Special Food (ex Dragon Stew): Short to Long Length, Strong Magical Buff (with negative side effect). Royal Elderberry: We have decided to remove the No Trade flag on all forms of Royal Elderberry (plant, seed, dye, etc.). Immortality Fruit: We have decided to remove the No Trade flag on all forms of Immortality Fruit (plant, seed, consumable, etc.). New Recipes: Bone Armor: In honor of the Halloween season we are introducing Bone Armor! This new armor type is crafted at a Tailoring table

from bones refined at a Carpentry station (the first armor to involve Carpentry). It has some of the attributes of Heavy Armor (high Damage Avoidance but lower fizzle chance) but it is classified as Light Armor so when Masterworked your modifiers will be Light Armor modifiers and your skills used with it will be Light Armor skills. However, the bones needed to craft it are exceedingly difficult to acquire. In addition to the normal Tailoring, Carpentry, and Smithing ingredients (leather, cloth, thread, wax, metal etc.) Bone Armor requires: Bone Helmet: Lich Skull & Tier 5+ Skeleton Bones. Bone Chest Piece: Troll Rib Cage & Hip Bones & Tier 5+ Skeleton Bones. Bone Legs: Dragon Neck Bones & Tier 5+ Skeleton Bones. Bone Boots: Demon Hooves & Tier 5+ Skeleton Bones. Gloves: Phoenix Talons & Tier 5+ Skeleton Bones. Training Dummy: Practice your combat skills in your home! Astrolabe: This amazing Kobold device worn around your neck allows you to see the constellations in the sky at all times. Gravestones: The 3 craftable gravestones now have the same customizable tooltips as signs so that you modify them to pay tribute to fallen loved ones. We made this change in honor of our community member Lacey who lost her battle to Breast Cancer and was an incredible decorator contributing to Hometown, the Devs vs. Players PVP event, and countless other community events.. Cooking, Plates, Bowls & Coal: All recipes that require a cooking step (everything but salads) now use coal as fuel. However they no longer require Plates or Bowls! This better balances food against other crafting in the game now that food has a bigger direct impact on game play. Plain Street Organ: If you missed the Summer Telethon Part 1, all hope is not lost! You can now craft the Kobold invented musical instrument that has the dubious honor of requiring the least skill of any other musical instrument in the whole of Novia. Note that this version sadly does not include a Clockwork Monkey. but perhaps you can convince one of your friends to play that part in your sad little charade. NOTE: This was originally called an Organ Grinder but that is the name of the performer, not the instrument. Plain Accordion: If you missed the Summer Telethon Part 2, all hope is not lost! You can now craft the Kobold invented musical instrument whose beautiful sounds are only exceeded in annoyance by bagpipes. Plain Bagpipes: Did someone say annoying bagpipes? Lute & Drum One-Man Band: Will no one join your band? Well now you can craft your own 2 piece band and you need never try to convince anyone to play with you again! Harp & Drum One-Man Band: Is a Lute & Drum One-Man Band too cool for you? Do you need something even more odd? Well, then you should craft a Harp & Drum 2 piece One-Man band for something truly unique. Spider Legs (cloak slot wearable): Take the legs of giant spiders you kill and wear them on your back to warn other spiders of their impending fate! Small Stone Ruins: Late at night you can hear victims of the Cataclysm crying and howling their anguish in these small stone ruins. NOTE: These are decorations (not a house). Wood & Plaster Burned Village Home: What terrible tragedy befell this home? I bet it was those damn kids with their fireworks! Plain Stone Fireplace: Build your own stone hearth and chimney to warm your cold hands (and heart) in your home. Plain Stone & Wood Fireplace: You can also build a wood and stone hearth and chimney if mixed materials is more to your liking. Marching Band Shirt & Hat: Now that you can move and play a musical instrument at the same time you have to dress for the occasion! Fancy Marching Band Shirt & Hat: And if you need to get fancy while you march around then you need to craft these even fancier ones! Stovepipe Hat: I must say you look quite dashing in your fancy new hat! It makes you look so much taller and more commanding, almost presidential in fact. 11 Trophy Heads: You can now take the heads of some of the creatures you kill and turn them into mountable trophies for your walls! For Release 34, we started with Wolves and Bears: Brown Bears Grizzly Bears Obsidian Bears Patriarch Bears Polar Bears Arctic Wolves Elder Wolves Obsidian Wolves Timber Wolves Desert Wolves <secret>

Creatures: We will continue a major polish pass through our creatures. Elves: We are finally getting started on polishing our creatures with our first stop being the Elves. We had already redone the Elven wearables, so we then focused on resculpting and repainting the Elves themselves.

We will continue a major polish pass through our creatures. Roving Encounters: Potential encounters (wandering merchants, monsters, etc.) will appear on the overworld for players to engage (or avoid). Roving Encounters Delayed: We actually have made considerable progress on this and it promises to be a much better experience than the current Random Encounters system, but we ran out of time to get it ready for release. It should definitely appear in Release 35, however!

Combat and Gameplay Balance: In addition to changes to focus and health regeneration rates to make food relevant, we made over a dozen other changes to systems, skills and spells to better balance combat. Weapon Durability Reduction Normalized: We adjusted weapon durability reduction from use to be similar in rate to armor so that now weapons and armor should now drop at more similar rates. Weapons have been dropping at much too fast a rate until now. Focus & Health Regen Changes: For this release, focus and health will regen at 75% of the rate of past releases. As more food options come online, we will continue to decrease that number. Spawning Changes: Spawning in most scenes will now be quicker for heavily depleted areas. Instead of spawning creatures at a given rate, one creature at a time, the spawner will now spawn several at a time Party Experience Bonus: The experience bonus for grouping with friends (or enemies!) has been increased dramatically to encourage grouping. A group of 2 will now each receive 70% of the full experiences vs 55% in previous releases. Immortality Fruit: This now has a 24 hour cooldown so it can only be used once per day. However, it can now be freely traded between players (this includes all versions (seed, plant, etc.) Dodge: Now works! In previous releases, Dodge would properly show the “You dodge X!” message but would then quietly apply the damage anyways! Now dodge actually nullifies all damage! Tap Soul: Casting cut in half and both damage and focus regeneration increased. Overall, the conversion rate is now around 10% worse, but the results can be achieved much faster. Ring of Fire: Received a 13% reduction in its damage output over time. Critical Hit Math: Due to an error in calculations, critical hits were occurring as much as 80% of the time (or 160% of the time from behind!) with some weapon/skill combinations. This math has now been corrected. Disabling Shot: Duration of the slow effect has been increased by 150%. Ice Field: This spell is now targetable and has a larger radius of effect. The focus cost has also been increased to match its new power level. Evaporate: Now makes use of the skill level to determine the effectiveness. Piercing Breeze: Now uses the Aimed Shot damage bonus. Deathtouch: Casting time has been reduced to match the other point blank attack spells. Fiery Decay: Now factors in the attunement level to the damage calculations. Shock Arrow: The base damage now matches that of Aimed Shot in addition to the other spell effects. Spinning Attack: Fixed to now hit targets in a 360 degree radius. Previously it appeared to hit everything but really was restricted to the front arc. Base Weapon Damage: Previously there was almost a 2 to 1 ratio in base damage between 1 handed and 2 handed weapons once strength modifiers were factored in. These have now been narrowed by increasing 1h weapon damage by 1-2 points and improving the strength modifier and lowering the damage of many 2h weapons by 1 point. The new target is closer to 3 to 2 instead of 2 to 1 for 2h vs 1h. Sigil Visual FX Removed: These have been removed from all spells and skills except for Summons. They were blocking players view of the action in many cases, had visual anomalies in other cases, and finally were causing performance issues. They have been replaced with charging effects on your fists that match the colors of the school. Summons Remember Stance Settings: Summoned pets now remember the last stance setting you gave them (Passive, Aggressive, Defensive). Pet Targeting Pathfinding Fix: Pets will no longer act nearly as confused when trying to acquire and/or maintain targets while pathfinding. Collar Recovery Effectiveness: We have increased the overall effectiveness of this skill and adjusted the skill gain curve to be exponential (versus linear) so that you get much greater returns earlier on as your skill increases. Changes to Tamed Pet Resurrection & Death: We fixed the various loopholes that allowed players to circumvent permanent death for their tamed pets if they were not resurrected. At the same time, we made some improvements to how the resurrection process works so you can now resurrect your pet even if you no longer have access to the body: There is a window of time for resurrection to keep your pet from permanently being killed. If your creature dies and you are still in the scene, you can resurrect it. If your creature dies and you leave the scene: It will not re-summon automatically – as it’s waiting for resurrection. You will see a countdown timer for resurrection by looking at the whistle tool-tip. Once it hits zero, your pet is dead permanently. To resurrect your creature (in the whistle) prior to the timer running out, cast Taming “Resurrect Creature” on yourself. If successful, your pet resurrect timer is cleared and you are free to summon your creature again. You can attempt to cast resurrect as many times as it takes during that time window.

In addition to changes to focus and health regeneration rates to make food relevant, we made over a dozen other changes to systems, skills and spells to better balance combat. New Combat Skills: We have started adding new skills and spells to various schools. One goal was to add alternate heal spells outside of the Life school that had different strategies attached. We also started adding new reactive skills and spells that can be used to react to specific actions the opponent makes. Spellbinders Stance: A new stance in the focus tree for casters that speeds casting and improves focus regen! Breaks if the user moves. New Heal Spells: To better allow players to truly roll play their desired characters, we added additional options for healing for those who choose not to learn life magic spells. With these additions, all schools except Fire and Air have ways that they can heal. Cocoon of Night: Moon heal spell. Tier 4. Does a vanish + heal over time. Heal only lasts as long as player is stealthed and Vanish breaks if they move. Works best at night. Elysian Illumination: Sun heal spell. Tier 4. AOE, weak heal over time + damage undead over time. Works best during day. Torpor: Earth heal spell. Freezes the player in place for 8 seconds while wrapping them in a ball of roots that protects them. After 8 seconds the player emerges healed and stronger! Reactive Skills/Spells: A new skill/spell mechanic has been added and the first three skills using the mechanic are live in R34! Reactive skills/spells can be cast at any time and have some modest effect but when used in response to the proper action, they are extremely powerful. Aetheric Feedback : A focus tree skill that recovers a large amount of focus when used right after you score a critical hit with a spell! Opportunity Strike: An attack in the subterfuge tree that becomes even more powerful and bypasses armor when used right after you successfully dodge an enemy attack. Fortify Defenses : A new defense buff in the Tactics tree that grants resistance to critical hits when it is used immediately after someone critically hits you. Effects can stack to effectively eliminate all critical hits on you for a limited amount of time.

We have started adding new skills and spells to various schools. One goal was to add alternate heal spells outside of the Life school that had different strategies attached. We also started adding new reactive skills and spells that can be used to react to specific actions the opponent makes. Performance Unity 5.4: We have finally upgraded to the latest version of Unity and it represents a significant increase in performance across the entire game. On machines that were CPU bound, many scenes have seen 30%+ frame rate improvements! LODs: Low Poly / Low Texture level of detail models for various environment and character art assets were created. Tents Admiral Outfits Riding Outfits Viking Cloak Virtue Cloak Elven Row Homes Helmets

Breast Cancer Make A Difference: October is Breast Cancer awareness month so we have added a new item to our Breast Cancer Make a Difference Store. As a reminder, Shooter Jennings graciously donated a set of Countach album related items to the Breast Cancer store earlier this year and 50% of all purchases from the Breast Cancer store go the Breast Cancer Research Foundation . /jugglepinklight: These pink balls of light commemorate the official color of Breast Cancer awareness. This emote was a suggestion of community member Minerva in honor of community member Lacey who passed away after a long battle with Breast Cancer. NOTE: This item not included in “Countach Package.”

October is Breast Cancer awareness month so we have added a new item to our Breast Cancer Make a Difference Store. As a reminder, Shooter Jennings graciously donated a set of Countach album related items to the Breast Cancer store earlier this year and 50% of all purchases from the Breast Cancer store go the . Blood Reliquary Make A Difference Bundle Items: Players who bought the Blood Reliquaries started receiving the unique items in R32; including the POT Castle Lot Deed, Blood Fountain, /bloodrain emote, the Lord British and Darkstarr blood red cloaks, and the Reliquary decorations. In R33, we added the Blood Elemental Pet. For R34, we have added the final unique reward: Blood Red Water! As a reminder 10% of each purchase of a Blood Reliquary Bundle goes to a Blood themed charity of the purchaser’s choice. Blood Red Water: When you place your Blood Fountain in your Player Owned Town your ocean water will turn Blood Red!

Players who bought the Blood Reliquaries started receiving the unique items in R32; including the POT Castle Lot Deed, Blood Fountain, /bloodrain emote, the Lord British and Darkstarr blood red cloaks, and the Reliquary decorations. In R33, we added the Blood Elemental Pet. For R34, we have added the final unique reward: Blood Red Water! As a reminder 10% of each purchase of a Blood Reliquary Bundle goes to a Blood themed charity of the purchaser’s choice. Summer Telethon Part 1 Rewards: We have the second set of Summer Telethon Part 1 Rewards created and being delivered in the game. Any backer who pledged a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight on July 27th (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase did not apply) will receive these rewards (which you can view on your account page). All the rewards were themed around the steaminess (punk) of summer. Street Organ: Kobolds have created this musical instrument that has the dubious honor of requiring the least skill of any other musical instrument in the whole of Novia. Note that the accompanying Clockwork Monkey will be appearing in a later release. NOTE: This was originally called an Organ Grinder but that is the name of the performer, not the instrument. One-Man Band: Will no one join your band? Well, to hell with them! You can be your very own band with this amazing Kobold invention that combines 4 different instruments into one amazing device! Finally, you can play the drum, lute, harp, and flute all at the same time and you don’t need any friends to do it!

We have the second set of Summer Telethon Part 1 Rewards created and being delivered in the game. Any backer who pledged a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight on July 27th (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase did not apply) will receive these rewards (which you can view on your account page). All the rewards were themed around the steaminess (punk) of summer. Summer Telethon Part 2 Rewards: We have the first set of Summer Telethon Part 2 Rewards created and being delivered in the game. Any backer who pledged a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight on August 22nd (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase did not apply) will receive these rewards (which you can view on your account page). All the rewards were themed around the steaminess (punk) of summer. /aeroplane: Don’t you look splendid in your Aeronaut Helmet and Outfit, standing on the deck of your Airship? And won’t you look magnificent standing in place pretending to be an aeroplane making buzzing noises? ? & ! Hats: Make fun of your friends still playing those games that actually tell them where to go and what to do! Imagine that! Aeronaut Outfit: Don’t be caught dead in the basket of your Balloon without this dashing leather and brass outfit. Accordion: Ah, the sweet, sweet sounds of the accordion. Kobolds once again have created a musical instrument whose “beautiful” sounds are only exceeded in annoyance by bagpipes. Mini Automaton: Who hasn’t wanted a tiny little robot child to call their own?

General Emotes: Learned from various NPCs in the game. /sigh: Learned via asking Allen, the barman in Solania, what it’s like living in the midst of a swamp. /shrug: Learned via asking the mysterious Shish in Desolis about her past. /wait: Learned via asking Robin the Brave, the courageous pilgrim in Etceter, about Artifice. /blush : Learned via asking the mighty axe crafter Zangoff in Ardoris about axes. /cringe: Learned via speaking to Dion, the faun, in Kiln about his recent injury. /hug: Learned via speaking to Sheng Lau in Ardoris about love. NOTE: The Avatars will wrap their arms around an approximately Avatar shaped object but the game will not automatically connect the two Avatars together. /holdhands: Learned via speaking to Cai Lau in Ardoris about love. NOTE: The Avatars will hold their hands in front of their bodies at approximately waist height but the game will not automatically connect the two Avatars together. Torches held during Emotes: No longer will things go dark when you emote! Avatars will now remain holding torches while doing most general emotes. Nose picking removed from idle: Nose picking has been removed again from the idle animation loop.

Learned from various NPCs in the game. Halloween Emotes: As you can see we have no respect for any kind of decorum during this season, so we filled the Add-On Store with nastiness… /breathespiders (Seasonal Recurring): You should have a doctor look at that cough! /rainspiders (Seasonal Recurring): Bringing a new meaning to itsy bitsy spider… /pukeblood (Seasonal Recurring): Oh no, what did I eat? /juggleseveredheads (Seasonal Rare): I mean what else was I going to do with all these heads I had lying around? /jugglezombieheads(Seasonal Recurring): They aren’t as slippery as you might think! /jugglezombiearms (Seasonal Recurring): I wanted to juggle the arms too, not just their heads! /juggleseveredarms (Seasonal Recurring): These arms weren’t doing anyone any good just lying in that bloody pile now were they? I might as well put them to good use right? /jugglejackolanterns (Seasonal Rare): Hopefully the candles stay lit!

Wearables & Instruments: $10M Gift: Virtue Cloak: On Monday August 22 during our Summer Telethon, we achieved the amazing milestone of $10 Million raised. As an expression of our gratitude to all of you who helped make this happen, anyone who has ever given us any money as of midnight August 22, 2016 will receive the Enchanted Virtue Cloak. The Enchanted Virtue Cloak gives off light that changes color based on the average of your current virtues; whether it is trending towards good or evil. The intensity of the light increases as your character’s level increases (average of Producer and Adventurer). Ornate Street Organ: If you missed the Summer Telethon Part 1, or you find the craftable Street Organ much too simple for your super fancy band, then you should definitely go the extra step and purchase this Ornate Street Organ from the Add-On Store (note this version does not include a monkey). NOTE: This was originally called an Organ Grinder but that is the name of the performer, not the instrument. Ornate Accordion: If you missed the Summer Telethon Part 2, or you find the craftable Accordion much too simple for your super fancy band, then you should definitely go the extra step and purchase this Ornate Accordion from the Add-On Store. Please note that it does not sound any less annoying than the other Accordions. Ornate Marching Band Shirt & Hat: Your marching band is the very best so only the finest outfit will do! Do not be outdone by those other marching bands, march over to the Add-On Store and upgrade to these immediately! Ornate 5 Piece One Man Band: When 4 instruments is just not enough and you need the Street Organ on top of the Harp, Lute, Flute, and Drum to really make that song work then you need this contraption from the Add-On Store. Elven Elder Robes Dyeable: The Elven Elder Robes are now dyeable. Magical Color Cycling Dye: Can you not make up your mind which color you want? Well this dye cycles through a range of colors so you can live a life without choice (well at least when it comes to clothing). Halloween Wearables: We filled the Add-On Store with a swarm of nightmare fuel. Fill up! Ice Nightmare Mask (Seasonal Recurring): My nightmares are cold and bleak. Ornate Spider Legs (Seasonal Recurring): These jointed nightmares will warn all other arachnids not to mess with you. Black Feather Wings: You should definitely pick these up from the Add-On Store for when you are feeling less than angelic… 2016 Jack O’ Lantern Masks (Seasonal Rares): We picked our favorite of the 2016 Jack O’ Lanterns and made 2 masks out of it. One with a glow and one without. 2016 Grim Reaper Mask (Seasonal Rare): This 2016 version has a new face with glowing eyes! Spider Web Cloaks (Seasonal Recurring): One of these appears to be woven from actual spider webs while the other simply sports a spider web design. 2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak (Seasonal Rare): Hopefully you won’t mind the smell… Elf Mask: Perhaps you could slip through Vertas Pass Control point unnoticed? Of course I kid. No Elf would possibly be fooled by your pathetic attempts to disguise yourself in such a way. 2016 Rotten Armor (Seasonal Rare): Haven’t you always wanted to pretend to be a zombie warrior? Well now is your chance!

Pets Ghost Dog, Cat, & Raven: These new ghostly additions to the Add-On Store make the best pets since they never need to eat! Zombie Dog, Cat, & Raven (Seasonal Recurring & Obsidian Bundles): Even rotting pets need loving homes! Won’t you adopt these decaying animals from the Add-On Store? Giant Monarch Butterfly: This new variation on the Giant Butterfly we introduced during the Spring Telethon is an Elven Bundles exclusive.

Musical Instruments: Multi-part Music Files: As a part of getting the various One-Man Bands functioning, we created a new music file format for musical instruments that lets you define the various musical instrument parts in one file. Walking while Playing: Parades are coming to Novia! Yes now you can walk while playing a musical instrument! Better put on a Marching Band outfit! Multiple Sound Banks from One Instrument: This is the tech that allows the One Man Bands to function so that even though a single avatar is technically only equipped with one instrument, they are able to play multiple instruments simultaneously. Instead, it access multiple sound banks so that it sounds like several instruments playing at once. Recap Pronoia Cross Promotion Rewards: Backers of both “Pronoia” and Shroud of the Avatar will now receive their cross promotional rewards consisting of:Wax Cylinder of the instrumental version of “Theme for Rabbling” by Space Bards feat. Rustic Dragon 3 piece of Sheet Music of instrumental versions of songs from “Pronoia” “Made It” “Lose Control” “Star In My Sky” Updated Neon Milk ABC files: Recap aka Space Bards provided some updated versions of the ABC files for their music rewards that provide an improved sound when played. New Musical Instrument Types: The following new musical instrument types have been made functional for Release 34: Bagpipes Street Organ Accordion One Man Band



So, now that it is clear what you can expect, we should also be as clear about what you should NOT expect:

Stability: The latest version of Unity that we updated to for Release 29 introduced some stability issues but most of those have been resolved. However there seems to be one remaining major issue with Unity and AMD A8 integrated graphics chipsets used in laptops that make the game unplayable (this affects other games using Unity as well). Unity is aware of the problem and working on a fix but we do not have an ETA from them on this.

The latest version of Unity that we updated to for Release 29 introduced some stability issues but most of those have been resolved. However there seems to be one remaining major issue with Unity and AMD A8 integrated graphics chipsets used in laptops that make the game unplayable (this affects other games using Unity as well). Unity is aware of the problem and working on a fix but we do not have an ETA from them on this. Performance: We have begun performance optimizations (LODs) as well as a first round of performance fallback routines via a Performance Manager. However we still have some work to do, particularly for older machines. Additionally, with the latest version of Unity we are using has some serious stability issues and memory leaks that we are working closely with them to resolve. Please be patient with us as we work through these issues. With each release, we will be doing further optimizations and adding more fallbacks to improve performance.

We have begun performance optimizations (LODs) as well as a first round of performance fallback routines via a Performance Manager. However we still have some work to do, particularly for older machines. Additionally, with the latest version of Unity we are using has some serious stability issues and memory leaks that we are working closely with them to resolve. Please be patient with us as we work through these issues. With each release, we will be doing further optimizations and adding more fallbacks to improve performance. Game Loop: Release 34 is a further iteration on our game loop, but is still missing some key components. Expect this to expand with each subsequent release.

Release 34 is a further iteration on our game loop, but is still missing some key components. Expect this to expand with each subsequent release. Visual Quality: Efforts to improve visual quality are ongoing. We will continue to iterate on these until we have highly competitive visuals.

Efforts to improve visual quality are ongoing. We will continue to iterate on these until we have highly competitive visuals. Pledge Rewards: Pledge Rewards that have been built and have tech to support them are in the game; all other rewards are awaiting either content creation or tech support. You can find an updated list of these items in known issues.

Here are links to instructions and known issues. Thank you again for your continued support. This is truly the most amazing community we have ever worked with, and we are proud to be on this journey with you.

Sincerely,

Starr Long

aka Darkstarr

Executive Producer

Save