Shroud of the Avatar: Update of the Avatar #115

Greetings Friends and Fellow Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• Community Sponsored Decoration Contest
• Abe’s Overworld Work-in-Progress
• Release 16 Grand Tour Quest Reward: Black Lepus Mask
• Crowfall Kickstarter Passes $1 Million Stretch Goal!

Community Sponsored Decoration Contest

Last month, community member Athanil sponsored a Release 14 Decoration Contest that 28 people participated in! Community member Lollie coordinated a tour of all the competing homes with the contestants hosting a walk-thru and describing their decorating efforts. The winners were determined by the participants voting on each other’s homes. Themo Lock was the runner up, and the following community members tied for 1st Place:

Doctor Shroud: Decorated a Druid Home in a Town Lot in Port Mirren, (Loc: -69.9, 185.0, -565.6)

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Malakas & Maganda: Decorated three Village Lots in Owl’s Wash (Loc: -93.1, 27.8, 41.7)

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The screen shots don’t do these gorgeous homes justice so if you have the time you should check them out in-game!

Release 15 Decoration Contest – March 19 Entry Deadline

Community Member Lollie posted the following announcement in the Release 15 Event Forum:

Every release we’ll be doing the Decoration Contest to celebrate all the amazing work people are doing to make this game look so much better Image may be NSFW.
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This contest will be different to the last one held by Athanil – we have judges this time, and there will be a points system so the judges will be looking at all aspects of your creations. Two of our judges are former winners of the last Decoration Contest.

We will be looking at originality, detail, completeness, and a whole bunch of things you have done to make your lot and/or building unique – so get an idea together and enter in the R15 Decoration Contest!

You can enter a house, a castle, or an empty lot with deco items on it, or even several lots (if they join to each other). It can be your own private residence, or you could be running the town markets, or the local bar, or a boarding house or even a place of ill repute. It’s up to you!

Anything goes!

Here’s how to enter:
Name – write your ingame name here (both the name of decorator and name on the sign or stone on the lot).
Location – write the coordinates of your lot (type /loc when you’re in the game, standing out right by the sign or stone of your lot).
Description – describe your idea, try to explain the function of your property, or the scene you are trying to create.

If you’re not sure what house/lot you want to use right now just enter in first and modify your post later once you know what you’re doing. And feel free to make a further post later with pictures to show off your property. The most important thing to do right now is register your entry.

Get your entries in by Thursday 19th March, and judging will begin on Friday 20th March.

Abe’s Overworld Work-In-Progress

Abe Robertson knocked it out of the park with the Novia Overworld map that was included in Release 15 last week. Abe has an ongoing Dev+ forum thread where he continues to post some of his additional changes to Novia, as well as beginning to make a pass at re-working the Hidden Vale:

Hidden Vale

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Here is BlackBlade Pass lava channel on Novia, night and day:

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Release 16 Grand Tour Quest Reward: Black Lepus Mask

Just as in our past several releases, we’re including a Grand Tour Quest in R16 designed to guide you through all the new content. Just in time for Easter, you will be rewarded with a Black Lepus Mask when you complete the R16 Grand Tour Quest. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 16 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in to R16 starting March 26 and talk to all the Tour Guides!

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Time is Running Out to Get Your R15 Grand Tour Quest Reward

Better hurry if you want to add the Silver Jester Carnival Mask to your collection because the R15 Grand Tour Quest ends on March 26 when we launch Release 16. If you need help getting your R15 Silver Jester Carnival Mask reward, then check out The Mad Hermit’s video guide to completing the R15 Grand Tour Quest:

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Crowfall Kickstarter Passes $1 Million Stretch Goal!

One of our long-time friends and former Origin protégés, Gordon Walton (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies), has teamed up with J. Todd Coleman (Shadowbane, Wizard 101), to create an awesome sounding game called Crowfall. They describe it as a seamless blend of an MMO with a large-scale Strategy game! Think “…Game of Thrones meets Eve Online”. They’ve enlisted the aid of yet another former Origin protégé, Raph Koster (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies), as a design consultant!

They’ve been kicking butt and taking names with their Kickstarter campaign! With the achievement of their $1 million stretch goal (which includes new female Centaurs and enhanced particle effects), they announced their next stretch goal: Mounts and Caravans at $1.3 million. To celebrate that goal when they hit it, they are promising “bonus rewards” to any backers at the $60+ tier level; they get one or more magical figurines that lets them summon a spirit mount: a Quarterhorse, Warhorse and a “Nightmare” mount.

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Sounds pretty awesome, right? Check out their Kickstarter page and if you like what you see then pledge your support to Crowfall!