Shroud of the Avatar plots more tutorials, new treasure maps, and more Episode 2 content in 2023

    
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Shroud of the Avatar has laid out a course for 2023, with a roadmap of planned updates to quests, features, and communication for the still-developing MMORPG.

The post opens with a quick retrospective of last year’s events, including content updates to Episode 2 and the disastrous October release that saw players lose months of progress thanks to a rollback; that whole debacle, which took Catnip Games practically all of October to fix, combined with accusations of eluding investors that were further obfuscated by Catnip’s boss (who is also working on Richard Garriott’s new NFT MMO), helped SOTA to earn our 2022 pick for the game with the stormiest future.

In terms of update plans for 2023, the devs are looking to introduce treasure maps, create an in-game information codex, add new “teaching scenes” to guide players through additional game mechanics, continue adding Episode 2 scenes, and apply a variety of player-owned property updates like houses flattening land, freely placeable houses in a lot (instead of having them snap to the center), and some deed updates.

Meanwhile, Release 110 has gone live with new lava fishing trophies for players to craft, additional recipes, a new player-owned town in Solaris, and a host of zone-specific tweaks.

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 groups are now building a blockchain MMO. SOTA itself does still have a tiny playerbase and is technically still receiving minimal development.
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