Shroud of the Avatar

Catnip Games has acquired the operating assets of Portalarium, which includes the Shroud of the Avatar, in a recent forum discussion.

Shroud of the Avatar is setting up for its upcoming Release 70 update, which hits the MMO September 26 at 10:30 Central Time. With it the team is setting up for Halloween seemingly by bringing back Pumpkin Head, as well as new decorations, Spooky items and even a new creature, Nightmares.

For Shroud of the Avatar players who are inclined to help the devs test the next addition to the game, Update 66 has landed on the QA server. It includes a number of additions such as new Warding and Taming skills, Leacherboards, updates to the new user experience, new emotes alongside bug fixes and other technical improvements.

From now through the end of May, all players who log in to Shroud of the Avatar will receive a pair of free gifts: A 3-story wood and plaster row home and a miniature greyhound pet to lay by its fireplace. Both can be claimed by checking the rewards tab once logged in.

Update 65 is now live on Shroud of the Avatar servers. It brings with it a host of tweaks and balances as well as some significant improvements in performance. Players will find that a balance pass has been applied to tamed pets. Other systems seeing improvements include combat, wave battle improvements, Xen Penetrator Bow balance, Dodge adjustments, crafting & economy updates, item weight changes, batch consumable recipes, taming updates, Player Housing tweaks & much more.

Shroud of the Avatar Release 64 will be available later today and comes packed with new content for players to explore including a springtime event featuring the Arch Lapin, literally a "Deathy Bunny". Players can also stock up on Spring Equinox items like "delightful confections" and can even dye eggs for themselves. A wider array of player-made dungeon encounters are also added along with quality of life improvements and more.

The Shroud of the Avatar livestream from last week started off with a bang as Starr Long kicked things off with "We are nomadic now" and told the viewers that Portalarium had decided to give up its office space in favor of teleworking. The move away from offices will free up resources and time, according to Long, due to increasing office rental costs and rising utilities as well as commute time / cost for developers.

When Release 63 goes live in Shroud of the Avatar later today, player-made dungeons will make their official debut, "including a system to level up these dungeon encounter rooms". Portalarium is adding a single encounter type for this update but "it'll be added to multiple different rooms" as a proof of concept. All progress made by players in leveling up the room will be saved going forward.

The Shroud of the Avatar site has been updated with the update notes for Release 62 that launches later today. Devs managed to make headway in each of the identified Top 10 Priorities for this patch including systems polish, the addition of seasonal content and much more.

On Thursday, December 13th, Shroud of the Avatar players will be able to log into the game to find both a celebratory holiday event and even more to love about fishing with the deployment of its second phase. Release 61 also comes with QoL improvements, bug fixes and much more, according to the team.

Portalarium has sent definitive word that Shroud of the Avatar is now officially a free to play game. No purchase is required to jump in and start playing and the available features to free players have been expanded. The news comes after last week's release of the retooled new player experience.

With today's launch of Update 59 in Shroud of the Avatar, players will be able to check out a number of big improvements and the overhauled new player experience. It is, according to Starr Long, the update "in which we focused on the current iteration of our Top 10 Priorities" and one where the dev team made significant progress. The update is slated to go live at approximately 8:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Eastern.

The Shroud of the Avatar site's latest newsletter is out and about, this time with the news that Update 59 has landed on the QA server, most notably with the addition of the new tutorial area. The location is a "focused tutorial space" in the Isle of Storms that aims to provide players with the basics of many of the game's features. Once the tutorial area is complete, the newly minted character will land in one of three starter areas which are also to be updated.

Richard Garriott's official profile on the Shroud of the Avatar site now omits the title CEO, something that has been part of the description since the game's pages were first published. SEC filings name Garriott as CEO, though Delaware, where the original corporation paperwork was filed, does require an executive officer, not specifically a "CEO". At the moment, Garriott's profile only lists him as Creative Director and Founder. UPDATED AFTER THE JUMP.

The latest Shroud of the Avatar newsletter is live on the game's official site. This time, the letter is anchored by the news that Player Made Dungeons will be arriving in-game as early as Q4 2018. The team is targeting that span of time and, until then, several placeholder, or "example", dungeons are in the game. When Player Made Dungeons go live later this year, these example dungeons will leave the game.