It’s been some time since Richard “Lord British” Garriott successfully crowdfunded the highly anticipated Early Access MMO, Shroud of the Avatar, but today the developers have confirmed that they will soon be taking the game offline for a server wipe for the final time. The highly anticipated sandbox MMORPG game will be taken offline at midnight on July 27th, at which point the developers will wipe all progress for the final time.
The wipe is expected to take several hours with the servers restoring at approximately 9:30 on July 28th. The wipe itself will see expiration of homes and basements.
[quote cite=”Richard Garriott, Portalarium”]“When we turn the servers back on July 28, we expect there to be a major land rush. Similar to the Oklahoma land rush of the late 19th century, our players will be able to venture out, plop down their house deeds and claim their property in Shroud of the Avatar for good. This will be the beginning of true persistence in the world. Expect the best properties such as great vistas and overlooks, strategic locales and waterfront real estate to go first. And expect some maneuvering between now and the end of the data wipe as higher level backers will get the first choices.” [/quote]
[quote cite=”Portalarium”]”While Final Player Data Wipe is NOT ‘Launch’ of our game, we are super happy to be at such an important milestone with our community of backers. We couldn’t have built the game nearly this far in its development without the support and feedback of everyone playing. There’s a lot more to go yet, but we’re about to cross a major hurdle this summer, and can’t wait to cross it with you!”[/quote]
Portalarium have attracted over $9.2 million in support and financial funding for Shroud of the Avatar, making it the second most successful crowdfunded game of all time, behind the juggernaut that is Star Citizen.
Source: PC Gamer