Hey, Shroud of the Avatar. How are you doing? Or more importantly, what are you doing? That’s the question we’re answering once again as the MMORPG has put out a couple of releases in the last little while, so we’re catching up. On what’s being added to the game; we’re not inviting it over for tea and scones. These scones are only for us and our readers. They’re blueberry lemon.
We’ll begin with the arguably most important announcement from the Release 139 newsletter, which points out a change to SOTA’s patch deployment schedule: Major builds will soon arrive quarterly while more critical fixes and smaller updates will deploy monthly or more frequently as needed. The post also confirms work on updating its infrastructure “to improve reliability and scalability.” Timing for this schedule shift wasn’t tied down, but more details are likely to come.
As for the R139 patch notes, those lead with new fire elemental essences, some new decor items like a utility tub and open grain sack, reduction of “excessive shininess on all beach umbrellas,” a wide variety of quest and zone adjustments, and bug fixes like one that caused a lighting fixture to issue light weirdly. The update’s associated newsletter also warns members of its streamer program that they should not be holding more than 50 bundles to give away to their viewers and that this policy will be strictly enforced.
Finally we check in on Release 138, which opened with word about the so-called New Britannia Housing Renewal Project, specifically improving some polish for row house sets in terms of visuals and polygonal clutter. The patch has otherwise brought the usual round of very granular additions and adjustments like a craftable canvas cot, several bug fixes, and adjustments to a tulip cluster store item that was apparently generating too many tulips.
source: official site (1, 2) Longtime MOP readers will know that Shroud of the Avatar is a controversial game in the MMO space. Kickstarted in 2013, the project has been criticized for cutting promised features, crowdfunding excessively, delaying Kickstarter rewards, obfuscating its corporate leadership and office status, and neglecting SEC filings legally required by the game’s equity crowdfunding. In 2019, Richard Garriott company Portalarium sold SOTA to its lead dev and all but exited the game. Press inquires were met with stonewalling and insults, and equity crowdfund investors were abandoned without notice or any semblance of accountability; moreover, the execs began touting a (failed?) blockchain MMO and a battle royale. SOTA itself does still have a tiny playerbase and is technically still receiving minimal development.
