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 PERIODIC WIPES, 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. Despite February being a short month and therefore Release 39 being a short release, we have a ton of new content in this release; including more story, new scenes, and major new systems such as Patterns, Town Blessings, and Magic Movers! Path of Courage Polish: Various changes were made to the Path of Courage, including new NPC conversations in Valhold, proper journal/task support for the ending sequence, and experience rewards for finishing the Path of Courage commensurate to the Path of Love.
Blood River Polish: Various changes elaborating on the massacre that happened here, along with better tutorial support for new users. Additionally, players are no longer sent to Soltown after the sequence is complete. Support for sidequests in Aerie and Vertas similar to Soltown and Ardoris will come in future releases, but for now we continue to recommend new players begin with the Path of Love for the best experience. Quest Discovery & Navigation Improvements: We are working on improving the ability to find characters who have quests and/or who you have active tasks to complete for quests. Characters who have quests for you, or who have current active tasks, will now have a blue glow. The character's glow will turn off once you complete all quests assigned to it. Additionally, as long as you are on a quest for a character, they will appear as a Point of Interest on your compass. These will be options you can turn off if you wish to continue to play “old school.” We lovingly call this system “Totally not an !”. NPC Conversation Interface Improvements: Work continues on polish and bug fixes. This release we focused on the order of keyword sorting (so that once you use a keyword it sorts to the back of the list) and added pagination (so that you can step through longer text without having to scroll back using a "More.." prompt). Journal Improvements: If a quest sends you into an area that requires combat (such as a dungeon or hostile area), the journal entry will warn you if the difficulty of the area is more than you can currently handle. As your skills grow in power, the evaluation in your journal will change. This is not exact, but should warn avatars a bit too eager to head to their certain doom. We will be adding many combat-related tasks going forward and this will help you be aware of which are currently appropriate for your character. K’rul: Underneath Blood Bay, far from the prying eyes of the Oracle, top Kobold researchers work in the Kobold Research Underground Laboratories: a.k.a. K'rul. In this vast underground facility, Kobolds build ever larger and more dangerous automatons and craft mysterious weapons. K'rul will be filled with top tier Kobolds and automatons to battle, as well as dangerous technological traps and puzzles.
K’rawl: This long tunnel system connects Skrekk to K’rul and consists of long tracks and mine carts that can be ridden! However, regular checkpoints by Kobold sentries and traps make traversing this underground quite risky. So that groups can travel the K'rawl to K'rul, Skrekk can now be entered by parties. (The Path of Courage instance of Skrekk remains limited to solo players.)
North Drachvald Spur: North Drachvald Spur is located near the Sirens mountains in the Drachvald region in the northeastern section of Novia. It started as a clone of the Whiteguard Foothills and got completely rebuilt as a new scene for Release 39. The area is home to a group of bandits who have been ambushing supply convoys using rock slides. The area will also feature the remnants of an abandoned mine and a mysterious watchtower. The rock slides take advantage of our new traps technology. SPOILERS: Combat in the center of the main bandit headquarters has a good chance of drawing out enemies which are more challenging than the rest of the area! The mysterious watchtower is part of our new efforts to add higher tier enemies (Tier 6+) to maps that players can discover and/or trigger. In this case there is a signal fire that will trigger a high level bandit attack.
Upper Fortus: The Fortus River runs south-to-north through a large canyon in the North Paladis region to the east of the Sanctus Spine Control Point. Kobolds have established a mining facility here using steam to soften the terrain. Bandits have a camp nearby and have been raiding the shipments of ore and therefore, the Kobolds have been ramping up their defenses of the mining facility. Expect strong resistance when trying to raid the Kobold mining camp; and the bandits are not going to be too friendly either! This scene started as a clone of North Varisalla Foothills but has been completely rebuilt for Release 39.
Fire Visuals in Starting Scenes: We upgraded and replaced all the fire visual effects in the three starting scenes (Blood River, Highvale, and Solace Bridge) to what we consider competitive standards. Tier 6+ Enemy Additions: Inspired by the Liches in Deep Ravenswood we are going to be adding pockets of higher level enemies (Tier 6-10) to all 5 Skull (aka Tier 5) maps. Some of these will always be present but some will only be there when triggered by an event or interaction (like lighting a signal fire). Each release we will add these to a few maps until all Tier 5 maps have been covered. Scenes covered in R39 include: Ulfheim, Sequanna Colossus, Necropolis Barrens, and Verdantis Shardfall. Chaos Bosses: Several new chaos focused Bosses have been added to the Ruins and Shardfalls. Because they are chaotic, they are also quite rare because they show up when they feel like it... Traps and Interactions Additions: With Release 38 we added new traps and interactive functionality to the game, including moving platforms, pressure plates, flame jets, arrow shooters, gas fields, etc. Going forward we will be adding this functionality to existing maps each release until they have been propagated across the entire game. We will be also expanding the functionality of our existing interactions and/or adding new ones each release. New R39 interactions include Moving Platforms with Switches, Exploding Barrels, Landslides, and Electric Damage Fields. Scenes covered in R39 include: South Fetid Swamp, North Fetid Swamp, South Longfall Wetland, Resolute Sewers, Soltown Sewers, Solania Catacombs, and Kingsport Sewers. Decorated Lot/Decorated Basement Moving & Saving (aka Magic Movers): Players can now save a fully decorated lot or basement to their local bank and reload it later onto that same lot or onto a different lot in that same scene (as long as that lot is the same size). Players will start with 5 slots and, in future releases, will be able to purchase more for Gold Crowns. In a future release, we will expand this feature to allow movement of a fully decorated lot/basement between separate scenes for an, as yet, undetermined cost. Town Blessings: Owners of Player Towns now have the ability to place 11 different Devotionals to the 8 Virtues and 3 Principles in their towns. Each Devotional offers a different blessing and the power of the blessing is based on how many people live in the town. To receive a blessing you merely need to stand near a Devotional that has been placed in a POT or NPC town. Players can only have two blessings active at any time so visiting a Devotional while other blessings are active will overwrite the oldest blessing. These Devotionals also attract the attention of the Cabalists and there is a chance that your town will come under siege if you have them placed (starting in R40). You can read more here.
Combat Cover: Being behind cover now decreases the amount of damage taken in combat. Cover is considered any object that blocks, or partially blocks direct line of sight between you and a target. “Utility” Bar: The non-combat bar will now stay visible during combat and consumable items in that bar can be used from that bar. This should allow players who actively use potions and foods a much better alternative than allocating space in their deck. Consumables used from this bar will have the same cool down values that the combat bar uses. Note that we are experimenting with allowing a few spells we consider “utility” spells to be useable from here as well. For now these include Summoning Spells, Light, Night Vision and Resurrection. Moving While Fighting Animations: We rebuilt the animation rig to better support animations for combat while moving. This should make animations during combat look much, much better. Ignite Weapon Effect Polish: We performed a major visual upgrade to the visual effects for Ignite Weapons. Your flaming sword has never looked more incredible than now! Poison Refactor: The Poison Weapon skill is now a passive skill. Additionally, there are now multiple poison types with different effects that can all be crafted. Catapults and Engineers: Catapults in Sieges are now attended by a team of Tier 8 engineers and guards who defend and operate the catapult. Only when three waves of engineers are killed will the catapult cease firing. Additionally, killing those engineers has a chance to yield a recipe for a tabletop catapult decoration and lots of lumber as loot. Note that killing the engineers is now what triggers the appearance of the liches, not destroying the catapults. More Artifacts: More than 30 new artifacts have been added to the game, along with the first epic artifact! We wouldn’t want to spoil it for you by telling you what they are, however… City Kobolds: In Release 39. we have begun working on what we are calling our “City Kobolds.” These are the Kobolds that live in Skrekk and other places like K'rul. They are much more advanced than anyone else in Novia, and the source of almost all of the technology that you see in the game; including clockwork creatures and aether vibration amplifiers. City Kobolds use advanced armor and weaponry including chainswords, electric axes, gas guns, electric blunderbusses, grenades, etc. In some cases, City Kobolds are friendly to players (depending on story elements) and there are rumors of City Kobold Merchants who sell rare Kobold technology to players. The other Kobolds players have interacted with until now have been what we now call Village Kobolds, and will remain what players encounter in outdoor zones and small Kobold habitations. In Release 39, you will be able to find our first round of City Kobolds in K'rul. In Release 40, we will be updating Skrekk with City Kobolds, including a new unique visual for King Korabar.
Attack Clockworks: The City Kobolds defend their territories fiercely and part of their defenses are an army of Clockwork beasts. Players have already seen some of these in previous releases including the Shock Monkey and Clockwork Dragon. In R39, the Clockwork menagerie expands to include Attack and size variants of some of our existing Clockwork beasts. The Clockwork Attack Dogs and Cats (which are the size of mountain lions) are used by Kobold guard patrols to knockdown and tear up trespassers. The Clockwork Attack Ravens have confusion fields that make fighting them especially challenging. We have also introduced giant versions of the Shock Monkey that have stomp and throw attacks, as well as a scaled-down version of the Clockwork Dragon that works well within interior spaces. Finally, there are giant versions of the Oracle Flyers and Oracle Crawlers that shock and stun players who try to fight them.
Mushroom Monsters: These fungal creatures have weak melee attacks that are mostly annoying until they get in large groups. However, if you kill them, they can unleash devastation with clouds of noxious spores that poison and confuse opponents. New Weapons on High Level Enemies: High level enemies wield a variety of new weapons that can sometimes be looted and salvaged for patterns (see Patterns below). New weapons include Kobold Chain Swords, NOgard Lucerne Hammers, Norgard Spathas, Satyr Bardiches, Vile Flachions, and Katanas. Patterns: This system will allow players to change the visual appearance of many items in the game while preserving the functionality and data associated with the item the pattern is being applied to. In the case of a weapon, that means that it will still retain all of its stats, including damage range, durability, enchantments, etc., even though it looks different. Patterns are used to reshape existing pieces of gear in much the same way you would enchant that gear at a crafting station. To do this, take a weapon or a piece of armor to the appropriate station (ex. Longbow to a carpentry station) and then use a pattern to reshape that item into something visually different. Patterns can be obtained through purchase and from inside the game. You can read more about how the system works here; including Eternal Patterns (patterns salvaged from Add On Store gear)
And much more including more player outfits, tons of bug fixes, new weapons, new patterns, UI polish, combat balance, etc.! Click here for the complete R39 Instructions [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!]

• Episodic Content: Shroud of the Avatar will consist of five episodes that will tell a series of virtue based stories created by Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman. All supported by a series of prequel novels starting with Blade of the Avatar. Forsaken Virtues is the first episode (this is what you are purchasing access to).
  
• Single Player Offline Mode: Players will adventure through over 40 hours of story in an interactive world where their choices have consequences, ethical paradoxes give them pause, and they play a vital part in weaving their own story into the immersive world and lore surrounding them.
  
• Selective Multiplayer Modes: If you want to go through the story online you can play with everyone in a single world with three different online modes (Single Player, Friends, and Open).
  
• Classless Character System: Vast customization options with hundreds of skills and spells in over 20 different skill trees.
  
• Skillful Combat: A new way to prepare and fight in an RPG by building custom decks of skills and dynamically activating them in combat.
  
• PVP: Consensual with Open PVP flags, zones, and Guild Warfare.
  
• Player Housing: Non instanced, finite, and embedded in the world with multiple group living options.
  
• Player Driven Economy: Deep crafting system where the best items are made by players and player items are the main source of loot found in the game.
  
• Pay Once to Play: No subscription fees. Each episode (released approximately annually) is a one time fee and everything in the game can be purchased with in game gold that can be earned (except for some exclusive backer rewards).
  
• Social: Full Guild System, Highly Active Community and Player Owned Towns.
  
• Crowd Sourced & Funded: Support the project by contributing content (and receive compensation) or by pledging (and receive exclusive rewards).
  
• Open Development: Players help shape the game by giving feedback on monthly early access releases, videos, weekly updates, blog postings, forums, chat, etc.

Current Version

• Housing: Purchase property and a wide variety of buildings to place there. These can be customized with hundreds of items (paintings, crafting stations, chairs, tables, food, plants, fountains, statues, lights, etc.). Players can also set permissions that allow them to share this property with other players. Higher level pledges begin the game with property and house deeds. (Find out more at www.shroudoftheavatar.com)
  
• Crafting: Gather and refine resources to craft a wide variety of objects including weapons, armor, potions, food, and furniture.
  
• Player Trading: Trade with each other for items or gold.
  
• PVP (Duels and Zones): Fight other players in Open PVP zones of the map or 1 on 1 duels in any location.
  
• Dual Scale Map: Explore the world by walking across a map (aka The Overworld) like old school RPGs with random and roving encounters mixed among named points of interest.
  
• Combat and Magic Skills: We have over 100 skills in a wide variety of combat and magic schools including Blades, Fire, Water, Life, Polearms, Shields, etc.
  
• Multiple Online Modes: Play how you want in one of two modes: Single Player Online or Open Multiplayer Online.
  
• Character Customization: Customize your character's facial features, hair style, hair color, facial hair, skin tone, and gender. Also express yourself with a vast array of different gear that when equipped shows on your character. (cloaks, armor, weapons, hats, tools, torches, etc.)
  
• AI Behaviors: Archers will try to maintain distance, warriors will try to surround you, Liches will summon skeletal allies, and villagers will turn on lights when night falls.
  
• Advancement: As you gain experience fighting and questing you gain levels which give you skill points that you can use with a trainer to purchase new skills or to raise your attributes.
  
• Hint System: Each time you attempt something for the first time a hint will appear with basic instructions (this can be disabled in options)
  
• Fully Interactive World: Every attempt is made to make the world respond to you. All the lights you see can be turned on and off, doors can be opened/closed/locked/unlocked, objects can be taken from shelves/tables/etc.
  
• Dynamic Lighting: Time of day changes as you play along with all light sources casting light in a realistic fashion.
  
• Summoned Allies: Certain schools of magic can summon allies including Ice Elementals, Fire Elementals, Liches, and Skeletons.
  
• Control Points: Grab control of Vertas Pass and see how long you can hold it against ever increasing waves of Dark Elves.
  
• Emotes: Express yourself with a wide variety of emotes including dances, bows, laughs, bows, yawns, etc.
  
• Guilds: You can form or join a guild
  
• Banks: Store all your gear and loot when it gets too heavy to carry around.
  
• Character tied to Pledge: All versions of the game (aka pledges) come with special rewards (gear, houses, titles, emotes, etc.).
  
• Player Owned Towns: Players can purchase and customize from templates their very own town.
  
• Player Vendors: You will be able to set up NPC vendors to sell the goods you have crafted or found adventuring.
  
• Player Made Books: Write your own book in the game and pay in game gold to have it published widely.
  
• Dye-able Gear: Customize your gear by changing the colors.
  
• Crowd Sourcing Create content for the game (music, sound effects, and art) and be paid for it.

Future Updates

• Story: A rich narrative that presents you with complex moral choices will come online closer to launch.
  
• More Scenes: Many additional scenes will come online including cities, dungeons, deserts, arctic areas, swamps, fortifications, battlegrounds, etc.
  
• Performance: Continued optimizations as well as sophisticated fallback routines will greatly improve performance.
  
• More Magic & Combat Skills: More skills will be coming including the Chaos Magic School.
  
• Localization: Support for multiple languages.
  
• More Creatures: More creatures along with multiple variations and new behaviors.

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04 or newer officially but most linux flavors supported
• Processor: Quad Core 2.4 GHz or fasterMemory: 12 GB RAM
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible NVIDIA 960 / AMD 560Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 30 GB available space

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04 or newer officially but most linux flavors supported
• Processor: Quad Core Processor 2.8GHz or fasterMemory: 16 GB RAM
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible NVIDIA GTX 1070 / ATI Radeon HD 5870Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 30 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Performance significantly improved with an SSD