News

A busy day in Avalon. Here is what's new.

Trade with other heroes. Open any hero's profile and press Trade. Put items, gold and crystals on both sides, and both of you see exactly what you give and what you get. Nothing changes hands until both of you approve: the other hero can accept, decline, or change the offer and send it back. Each of you pays a 500 gold fee when a trade completes, and you can trade once you are 10 days old. Your offers wait on the Trades page.

Ang the Wise One knows more. Ask him which Colosseum to fight in, how strong another hero is, which quests are waiting for you, and where your cargo sells best today. He also tells you a fortune once a day, free, and now and then the smoke leaves a little something on the table. Find him under Quests and people on Explore.

A tidier city. Explore now groups places by what you came to do, starting with Fight and train, Quests and people, and Beyond the walls. The Stables, Trading Post, Cartographer and World Map sit together under Travel and trade. Prefer the old districts? Use the switch at the top: By what you do or By where it is. Explore remembers your choice.

Also new:

• Home shows every bonus you hold in one place, and where each one comes from.
• The Hall of Legends is rebuilt, with your own place on every board and a new board for the best winning streak.
• Every job rank has its own stories when you finish a shift.
• Every update now has a version number. See them all under What's new.

The cities of Avalon have decided to honour their champions. Every Colosseum badge now makes you an honoured guest of its city, with a privilege of its own:

• Avalon, Freedom of the City: half-price healing at the Springs, and Molly pours your first drink of the day for free.
• Stormhold, Harbour Rights: faster sea journeys out of its harbour, and cheaper iron and stone.
• Edenia, Friend of the Terraces: 15% off at Paaldin's Warehouse, cheaper herbs and wine, and a free healing herb from the gardeners every day.
• Volantis, Forge Pass: 15% off at Methos & Co, and your silk sells for more anywhere.
• Whirl Islands, Channel Pilot: no trouble on the road to or from the Islands, and cheaper fish and pearls.
• Icaria, Reader of the Cloud Library: more experience from adventures while you are there.
• Altaria, Under the Garrison's Shield: hospital stays that start in Altaria are halved, and 15% off at the Eagle's Armoury.
• Egria, Sahira's Guidance: faster journeys to and from Egria that never cost you anything on the road, and cheaper spices and glass.
• Ancient Sanctuary, The First Light: once a day, when you fall, the light restores you and spares you the hospital. Nobody has earned it yet.

The Colosseum shows each city's privilege under its badge, and your privileges are listed on Explore when you are in that city. Missing a few? The gladiators are waiting.

Magister Penn has opened a new wing at the Academy. From level 15 you can master a specialisation: a craft that suits the way you play, with a lasting perk.

There are 13 to choose from and you can hold 2. Each takes 14 days and 250,000 gold. Every day of study brings a principle of the craft from its old master, so keep an eye on your events.

• Agronomy: your animals produce more, and your land holds more plots.
• Merchant's Ledger: better prices at the Trading Posts, and more crates on the road.
• Pathfinding: shorter journeys, and more gold in the forest.
• Dragon Husbandry: dragons train better and can grow further.
• Treasure Hunting: more gold from adventures, and more chests.
• Carnival Sharp: more tokens on every win, and a Ringmaster's Lucky Ticket every week.
• Field Medicine: shorter stays in the hospital and the stocks, health back twice as fast, and a stronger head for drink.
• Guild Leadership: more gold for your guild from quests, and a chest for you on every win.
• Haggling: 10% off in the city shops.
• Diligence: 25% more pay for every shift, and quicker promotions.
• Alchemy: healing and energy items work 25% better.
• Banking: more interest, on savings up to 50,000,000.
• Fortune's Favour: fewer empty spins on the Wheel, and the timed games are ready sooner.

Changed your mind later? Learn a new one and choose which it replaces. You'll have to study the old one again to get it back, so choose well.

There's a new climb in the Damage Tent. Fifty floors, one health bar, and no healing between floors.

Every floor holds a new opponent, with a guardian on every 5th floor. They take their strength from yours, so nobody gets an easy climb... and they get tougher the higher you go. Beat a guardian and you catch your breath for a little health back.

You get one climb a day, and starting it takes a full bar of energy. The floors themselves cost nothing. When the climb ends there's no hospital: Thornspire gives you back your own health.

Every floor pays gold and experience, every 5th floor a chest and every 10th floor crystals. The three highest climbs each week win a Platinum, Gold Plated or Iron Chest plus crystals, paid on Monday.

Nobody has reached the top yet. The Town Crier will make sure everyone hears about it when someone does.

Dragons used to come from the shop or as a gift. Now they hatch.

There are eight new eggs, one for each kind of dragon: Ember, Tide, Grove, Dune, Iron, Storm, Shadow and Dawn. Use one from your Inventory and it goes into your new Hatchery at the Dragon Camp. Twelve hours later, tap Hatch.

The Bronze, Silver and Golden eggs from the Prize Tent hatch now too... if you've been keeping one, go and see what's inside.

Three new kinds of dragon arrived with them: Storm, Shadow and Light. And there are two legendary dragons, Aetheris and Primus, that only hatch from an Ancient Egg. Ancient Eggs turn up in Platinum and Stellar Chests, and no more than two will be found each month.

You'll find eggs in chests and by winning dragon races, and you can buy and sell them on the Item Market. Most of the old dragons got a fresh coat of paint as well.

The Help Centre has the details.

Your house already sets your Will and how much your bag holds. Now it sets two more things.

Your showcase. How many items you can show on your profile depends on your house: 6 for an Empty Lot, 12 for a Small Mansion, 24 on a Private Island. If you're showing more than your house allows, nothing comes down. You just can't add more until you move up.

Your dragon stable. Only dragons in your stable can train and race. An Empty Lot, Hut or Cottage has 3 stalls, and a Private Island has 10. Your other dragons rest in the pasture, under your stable on the Camp page. Swap them whenever a dragon isn't racing or training.

We filled your stable with the dragons you've raced most, so nobody's racing team changed. Some of you will find far more dragons in the pasture than you remember... an old welcome-back email kept handing them out. They're yours to keep.

The Estate Agent now lists each house's bag space, showcase and stalls.

Your bag used to hold anything you put in it. Now it holds as many different items as your house has room for.

An Empty Lot fits 25 different items. A Cottage fits 40, a Small Mansion 100 and a Private Island 300. Each item takes one space however many you carry, so 500 Herbs still take one space. What you have equipped doesn't count.

You won't lose anything you win. If your bag is full when a chest or an adventure gives you something new, it waits at the top of your Inventory under Waiting for space until you make room. Shops and the market won't sell you a new kind of item while you're full.

Nobody lost anything today, and most of you have plenty of space. Your Inventory shows how full your bag is, and the Estate Agent now lists each house's bag space.

This was a big week for Avalon.

You can buy a mule, a wagon, a boat or a hot air balloon at the new Stables and Harbour in Avalon. Every city but the Sanctuary has a Trading Post, so you can buy goods cheap where they're made and sell them dear somewhere else... if the highwaymen let you.

In the Colosseum, every fight now starts with an entrance, and the Guardians fight with weapons of their own. Altaria and Egria are open, each city has two new duellists, and past Egria the Sealed Way leads to the Ancient Sanctuary.

Coming back after a long break? Argus has a gift for each day of your first week back.

The full list is on the forum: everything new this week.

One more thing: save some backup codes in Preferences. If you ever lose your email, they'll get you back in.

Your hero name used to be for life. Not anymore.

Go to Preferences, then Change Your Name. Your first change is free. After that, each one costs 1,000 crystals.

Names can have spaces now, so Lady Morgana of Avalon works. Up to 24 characters.

Logging in doesn't change. You still use the name you signed up with, or your email address if you'd rather.

Your old names are listed on your profile, so friends can still find you. And a name you give up is held for you for 90 days before anyone else can take it.

One more thing: Avalon's Colosseum gladiators finally have faces.

Ralda has restocked the Prize Tent. Nine new prizes, from 30 tokens to 1,200:

• Candy Floss (30): 50 energy
• Clown's Plaster (40): an hour off a hospital stay
• Fortune Teller's Tea (60): your will, restored in full
• Brave Biscuit (80): a quarter of your courage back
• Juggler's Lockpick (120): a 60% chance out of the stocks
• Ringmaster's Lucky Ticket (150): your next carnival win pays three times over
• Strongman's Belt (800): +8% Strength and +5% Guard while you wear it
• Platinum Chest (900)
• Ringmaster's Pass (1,200): 3 days of Nobility

Each one has a limit per player per day, so nobody can buy out the tent before you get there.

Also fixed: some carnival games were paying out more tokens than they showed, and Toad Hop gave a connection error at the end of a game. Every game now pays exactly what it says.

Visit the Prize Tent