Update 52 is old news – Shroud of the Avatar is already looking ahead to release 53 and beyond. So sayeth the game’s latest newsletter, which offers a peek into the development of the bustling and cozy Viking-themed town of Westend. “Westend is located on the western end of Verdantis in close proximity to the Verdantis Shardfall. Alongside this it is in close proximity to Norgard, so for this particular uncloning we decided to bring in our Viking style architecture and improve the theme of the area as a coastal swamp biome,” Portalarium writes. “The NPC center and cluster of shops in the heart of town have now received a major makeover with multi-level platforms that rise above the swamp alongside the addition of bringing in viking themed architecture, furniture and additional propping.”
The studio is also teasing the addition of brewing and a plan to run a double-experience event thanks to the “incredible” turnout for the stress test last month. In fact, Starr Long says the team had to boost capacity on the QA server for the event: “There were so many people, 330+ at one point in three instances!”
Finally, Portalarium has a business model change on the way thanks to its move out of early access and expansion around the globe (and into new taxation territories): It’s eliminating the store credit system entirely. But don’t worry; you’re not losing anything.
“We have made the decision to phase out Store Credits worldwide, rather then just removing them in some territories, while keeping them in other territories (like the US). We do not want anyone to lose any value in this process so we are going to do an equal value exchange of all Store Credits and Store Credit Coupons worldwide to Gold Crowns on Monday May 7 at 11:00 AM CDT US. Whatever the amount of store credits you have as of that time and date you will get the best and closest exchange rate. For example if you have $100 in store credit you will receive 115 crowns. This will affect all Portalarium, Travian, and Black Sun customers.”
In the meantime, players can spend their crowns in-game at gold crown merchants, but Portalarium says it’s considering adding such purchases to the website too.
