Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week’s update brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a new town scene for Episode 2 Access holders! Tanglemire is located on the new continent of Mistrendur! Four new species of lava fish have been added, and many more lava fishing locations have also been added! Additionally, a sneak peek on the upcoming rideable mounts has been revealed, and building blocks now have a much more flexible behavior as decorations! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

News Announcements

Community Updates

New Town Scene: Tanglemire!

Tanglemire is now available to Episode 2 Access holders! Inhabited by a deeply superstitious Norgardian-style populace, the people of Tanglemire protect their borders with Spirit Warders that impede the incursion of creatures from Spindelskog.

The shadow-like beasts from within that nearby darkened wood infect their weary minds with crippling dread. The people of Tanglemire are ruled by a group of “elders” struggling to preserve their village, but how long can they delay the inevitable demise of their beleaguered settlement? What aid might an Avatar bring to a people so burdened by doubt and fear?

“Life is a never-ending struggle for Tanglemire, a fading outpost in the north of Mistrendur virtually abandoned by the Norgard Empire. Surrounded by freezing cold, deadly swamps, and a haunted wood, it’s no wonder that the desperate locals have turned to unusual means for protection. But how long will their decaying “spirit warders” keep them safe from the untold horrors that threaten these peaceful people?”

The outskirts of Tanglemire, in similar fashion to Valhold, features a variety of enemies to defeat and challenges to overcome. Much of the Tanglemire content will ultimately land somewhere in the middle of the Mistrendur storyline, but for this initial release, Tanglemire features two repeatable quests. Additional quests will be added as more Episode 2 content is released in the time ahead.

Guest Speaker Friday Livestream!

Another weekly Community Livestream is this Friday, August 28th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other development team members for a community 1 hour livestream!

This week, we have a special guest! Finn Staber will be speaking about Shadow of Valhalla, a new project to support!

To enter the prize drawings, type “wishing I was fishing” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website add-on store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT!

Four New Species of Lava Fish!

Brave lava anglers throughout the lands have discovered four entirely new species of lava fish swimming deep within the molten hot magma pools of New Britannia! Will you dare to cast your lines into the lava, Avatars? These beasts are enormous! So be sure not to be pulled into the scorching lava. Once caught, take these denizens of depths to your crafting table and create display trophies to marvel all of your visitors and friends. The following trophies and recipes are now available:

Plesiosaurus (Ground and Hanging Versions)

Ichthyosaurus

Coelacanth

Trilobite

But that is not all, anglers! You can scour the lands for additional fishable magma flows, thanks to many more containing lava fish! Some scenes received more expansive lava fishing spots, but other scenes were added as entirely new lava fishing locations. Be sure to have a lava fishing pole equipped and gemmed lures on your hot bars, for these gigantic creatures will only nibble upon gem stones! Here’s a list of all the lava fishing locations now available:

Blackblade Foothills Blackblade Passage Bunker C Etceter Crag Mines K’rawl K’rul Northwest Blackblade Mountains Oracle Colossus Quel Passage Spectral Mines Sunless Barrens Verdantis Mines



Rideable Mounts Sneak Peek!



It’s been some time since Avatars have returned to New Britannia, and with their arrival came otherworldly tales of men and women riding upon beasts. The peoples of New Britannia have taken these tales to heart and have labored tirelessly to discover the art of riding for themselves. As you can see from this sneak peek video, their labors were fruitful! Soon, all players of Shroud of the Avatar will be able to dash across the lands upon rideable mounts. More news about the upcoming mount system and many other exciting new features are just around the corner!

Flexible Building Block Placement!

Builders of New Britannia, prepare to stack your building blocks like you’ve never stacked them before! As of Release 81, every piece of every building block set allows for much more flexible placement while decorating. In the image above, you can see that blocks now allow for a very significant amount of overhang. Also, larger blocks can now be placed on top of smaller blocks. With these changes as well as the recent scaling update allowing blocks to scale from sizes 0.5 to 1.3, builders will have a much wider variety of capabilities at their disposal. Happy block stacking, Avatars!

Of note, there were some slight design aberrations with the particular blocks shown in the above picture. The original versions of these blocks flipped along a different axis than their counterparts in other block sets. All Crown Store entries now sell updated replacement blocks, but any player who’s purchased any of the affected block sets in the past 3 months will receive replacement blocks (applicable pieces listed below) sent to them via the in-game mail system in the coming weeks ahead. The blocks affected were as follows:

Players who’ve purchased the new block sets (Polished Wood, Iron, Fallow Granite, Polished Granite, Black Marble, White Marble) would have received 15 of the 2x1x1 blocks. They will receive an additional 15 1x1x2 blocks via in-game mail.

Players who’ve purchased the Black Ice and Ice block sets would have received 20 of the 2x1x2 blocks. They will receive an additional 20 2x2x1 blocks via in-game mail.

If players already have the 1x1x2 blocks or the 2x2x1 blocks within these block sets, those are the newer versions so they’re good to go! Deliveries of blocks will begin sometime in the coming week, so please be patient as we work through the deliveries.

Screenshot/Video Contest!

With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s time for all New Britannians to partake in the festivities! Labor Day is right around the corner and within the game world, the in-game calendar is about to hit 600 P.C. for a new year and new century! To celebrate, it’s time for a screenshot/video contest!

Theme: Fireworks show! All screenshots and videos for this contest must be of a choreographed fireworks show launched from the Overworld map or from in-game towns and adventure scenes. Get your guild/team together to compete in this world wide fireworks competition!

Screenshot Requirements:

Resolution : Minimum of 1920×1080, and always in 16:9 aspect ratio (cropping allowed).

: Minimum of 1920×1080, and always in 16:9 aspect ratio (cropping allowed). Quality : Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed.

: Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed. Time of Day : Nighttime shows only, no night vision please.

: Nighttime shows only, no night vision please. Hide the UI: Please toggle off the UI using the default key F9.

Video Requirements:

Resolution : Minimum of 720p.

: Minimum of 720p. Quality : Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed.

: Use in-game settings to their maximum, no post-screenshot alterations allowed other than labels, overlays, or watermarks to promote your guild/team. Overlay holiday messages are also allowed. Time of Day : Nighttime shows only, no night vision please.

: Nighttime shows only, no night vision please. Hide the UI: Please toggle off the UI using the default key F9.

Please toggle off the UI using the default key F9. Duration: 30 seconds minimum, 60 seconds maximum. Anything occurring after the 60 second mark will not be considered for judging.

Guild/Team Requirements:

Captain: Each guild/team must select a team captain.

Each guild/team must select a team captain. 12 Players Max per Team: Each team, to include the team captain, can have a maximum of 12 players.

Submission Requirements:

# of Entries Per Team: 1 screenshot and 1 video entry per guild/team maximum.

1 screenshot and 1 video entry per guild/team maximum. Submission Location: Submissions must be placed as a reply into the main thread for this contest on the official forums by the guild/team captain.

Submissions must be placed as a reply into the main thread for this contest on the official forums by the guild/team captain. Post in Forums: In the submission post, the guild/team captain must post the screenshot as a viewable image and/or the embedded video.

In the submission post, the guild/team captain must post the screenshot as a viewable image and/or the embedded video. Participant List: The captain must list out all participants of their team (max of 12 players) in their submission post. The participant list must include the proper spelling of each character. If proper spelling and character names are not provided, prize delivery will be negatively affected.

The captain must list out all participants of their team (max of 12 players) in their submission post. The participant list must include the proper spelling of each character. If proper spelling and character names are not provided, prize delivery will be negatively affected. Deadline: All submissions must be posted by 6AM CT on Monday September 21st.

All submissions must be posted by 6AM CT on Monday September 21st. OPTIONAL: Please post these on our Twitter and/or Facebook pages to help spread the word about the contest.

Best Screenshot Prizes:

1st Place: 10,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

2nd Place: 5000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

3rd Place: 2500 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

Best Video Prizes:

1st Place: 10,000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

2nd Place: 5000 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

3rd Place: 2500 Crowns (delivered to team captain), Title: Master Artist (delivered to all team members).

Prize Rules:

Crowns will be delivered to team captain only. The team captain will determine how to split the Crowns amongst their team.

Please ensure your team member list has accurate spellings of character names, or titles cannot be delivered.

Each team can win once in the screenshot and once in the video categories.

Players can only represent a single team.

The Catnip Games team members will pick the winners based on aesthetic and creative qualities of the screenshots and videos. Winners will be announced during the community livestream 1 to 2 weeks after the contest’s deadline! Good luck, Avatars!

Crowns, Deed Upgrades, & Two-Hour Flash Sales!

In celebration of Labor Day as well as the 600 P.C. in-game calendar event, various sales will begin on Friday and extend throughout the holiday. Crowns will be on sale for 20% off. Deed Upgrades will also be 20% off! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. But that’s not all! Two-Hour Flash Sales will also commence on Friday morning! So watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours!

Players have until Monday, September 7th at 1PM CT to take advantage of these great discounts, at which time all 3 sales events expire. Happy shopping, Avatars!

September Login Reward: Dyeable Fishing Rod!

Anglers rejoice! September’s login reward is an indestructible dyeable fishing rod! Featuring both primary and secondary dye layers, anglers will really be able to show off their style whilst casting a line into the waters of New Britannia! Simply log in during the month of September, and this dyeable fishing rod will become available in the Rewards Window.

Release 81 Reward Program Login Reward Items: Lord British & Farming Items!

Avatars! Rewards Program login reward items for Release 81 are Lord British and farming themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 81 to receive these login items:

Lord British Plate Leggings Large Haystack Small Haystack Strawbox Box Hay Bale 5-Pack Hay Pile Hay Drying Rack Hay Cart



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

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



The Bug Brigade Rides Again!

The Bug Brigade was established to assist the community and the development team to work together to improve the game. Since then the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the player-base, and for that reason the program has been revamped and is being relaunched.

The program is now open to all players in good standing and bug rewards are back! They will awarded be on a progression basis monthly with only a minimal requirement to be filled to qualify.

We are bringing the bug forums current and will make every effort to have triage and intake for each validated bug. To assist in doing this we have asked Alley Oop, Justyn, and Tazar to take on a moderator role within the bug and feedback forums. Please congratulate them the next time you see them in the game or on the forums!

The Bug Brigade will be open to all. If you feel the game is your home, sign up and assist us in making it a better place to live! To sign up, read the post “Bug Brigade Rides Again!” in the main Bug/Feedback forums for both the Live or Player Test areas in the official forums. If you have trouble finding them, please ask a Hospitaller, or one of the Moderators via PM in the forums or in Discord.

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