Shroud of the Avatar has just recently put out their Release 24 version of the game-client.

Originally intended to be a very small update, the developers managed to add quite a load of new content and updates to the game. From new world location areas, to new combat features, new creatures, new crafting, and new musical instruments and much more; this latest update looks like it packs a punch.

Below you can find a quick list of all the features that were added and updated as well as a short list of planned features and updates that didn't make the cut for this Release.

Release 24 Updates

Story

  • Nightshade Pass (Hilt Exterior)
  • Etceter
  • Mariah Overlook
  • Brittany Outlander Graveyard
  • Minor polish added to:
    • Northern Grunvald Barrens
    • Ardoris

Localization

  • Crowdsourcing localization has begun for the following languages:
    • German
    • French
    • Spanish
  • A language option has been added (but currently does nothing as translation is still a work in progress.

Weather

  • Weather variation has been added, so snow and rain and other effects occur more randomly - and will also be determined by region. The following weather types have been added into the system:
    • Clear
    • Light Clouds
    • Heavy Clouds
    • Light Rain/Snow
    • Heavy Rain/Snow
    • Storms
  • Wind Direction / Intensity has also been added and will vary between Calm, Light, and Heavy.

Combat

  • Pickpocket - high tier skill for Subterfuge
  • Undead Immunities - added against certain spells/abilities
  • Smelling Salts - adjusted stun-removal duration
  • Combat Skills - adjusted on-hit rolls in regards to skill levels
  • Attunement - increased the effectiveness
  • Root - increased chance to be broken based on victim's strength
  • Healing Grace - increased cost and cast time
  • Critical Hits - damage increased for both melee and magic
  • Break Weapon - fixed the negative damage bug
  • Thrust - damage increased
  • Chain Lightning - now stuns as intended
  • Sigil Fixes - various issues fixed with size and placement
  • Ransom Proofing - removed store and pledge purchases from ransom loot in PvP
  • Tamed Creature Rez Timer - increased from 1 minute to 5 minutes

New Water - Continued experimentation with the new water system, some scenes and locations will use water that has edge-foam. Owl's Head will also be used to experiment with water for rivers. Splash animations have been added for walking/swimming through water.

New Musical Instruments

  • Flute x2
  • Tabor Drum x2
  • Harp x2

Creatures

  • Clockwork dogs/cats
  • Horses and Foals
  • Donkey Foals
  • White Turkeys
  • White Reindeer
  • Doe (added to pair with Stags)

Mystery Boxes

  • Cornucopia
  • Artisans Box of Plenty
  • Snowball Box

NPC Renaming - Avatars can now rename player-owned town NPCs, Vendors, Servants, Pets, and Tamed Creatures.

Crafting

  • Founder Artisan Tools
  • Crafting Table Properties
  • Founder Expert Crafting Stations
  • Recipe Difficulties adjusted
  • Fishing (now influenced by time of day)
  • Polish for the Loot System

Emotes

  • Lore British Salute
  • Taunt
  • Kiss

Home Decorations

  • Added the ability to change Aether Radio stations
  • Talking Mirror
  • Castle Wall Set
  • Hot Air Balloon
  • 2015 Yule Trees
  • Yule Tree Tabletop
  • 2015 Menorah & Wreath
  • Ancestor Tombstone

Player Homes

  • Guild Chapter Houses
  • Mantles
  • Adobe Homes
  • Various bug fixes to specific buildings

Clothing

  • Added holiday/Yule themed clothing

Didn't Make the Cut

The following game elements were NOT worked on and/or did not make their planned changes or updates for Release 24 (and contain some notes to explain the current state/reasoning for this):

  • Performance: We have only done rudimentary optimizations, and we do not yet have a full suite of performance fallbacks (LODs, etc.). This means the game will be quite slow on older machines, and due to memory usage, and might be unstable in certain conditions (like densely decorated areas). With each release, we will be doing further optimizations and adding to our fallbacks to improve performance.
  • Crafting: The crafting system is in the game as a framework, but is still missing some key components like a full suite of Refining/Production Skills, quality levels for tools/crafting tables, Agriculture, and breadth/depth of recipes.
  • Game Loop: Release 24 is a further iteration on our rudimentary game loop, but is still missing some key components. Expect this to expand with each subsequent release, but it won’t be truly complete until we hit Beta next year.
  • Advanced Player Housing: There are some advanced features for player housing, including advanced permissions (ex. renting) and ceiling decorations that are not yet integrated. Expect to see these appear in future releases.
  • Visual Quality: 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 (ex. vendors).
  • Persistence: As part of development, we will need to periodically wipe data including characters, property, etc. As we near official launch the frequency should decrease, but there will definitely be a wipe right before launch. So consider everything gained during early access temporary.

For more information and details about all the above features, updates, and changes - be sure to check out the game's official website for much more detailed release notes.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 21, 2016

About The Author

Alex has been playing online games and RPGs for quite some time, starting all the way back with Daggerfall, EverQuest, and Ultima Online. He's staying current with the latest games, picking up various titles and playing during his weekly streams on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings with both MMOs and MOBAs being feature plays. Hit him up on Twitter if you have a stream request for Freeplay Friday! Two future games he's got a keen eye on are Daybreak's EverQuest Next and Illfonic's Revival.

Comments

Related Content

Shroud of the Avatar Launches Early Access Release 7
Shroud of the Avatar Up for Greenlight Vote