Banners is not bugged

[Display Name]

Technically, the name of this zone event is "Deadly Apocalypse:"

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Deadly_Apocalypse

https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Deadly_Apocalypse

 

And I've noticed that my ability to badge this event is inconsistent.  Here are some examples:

 

1) I was leading a ToT league in Kallisti Wharf and it was my first time doing so.  Everything was going pretty smooth (I've ran leagues before) until the thunder cracked and sinister music started playing!  Then it was like the entire Homecoming server suddenly wanted to join my league!  I was literally unable to move while I was busy sending invites, moving players around, etc.  We quickly filled.  Meanwhile, a player who usually ToTs there (and has the name "Mistress") ran banners To Hell and Back!  I went from zero banner badges to fully badged in just a few mins.  All while standing still halfway across the zone!?

 

2) Yesterday I was part of a league in Peregrine Island.  Once again, the thunder cracked and sinister music started playing.  The league lead (Jack Rabbit, a *fine* example of a league leader) immediately started giving us instructions and moving into position.  The rest of the league was sluggish to move but finally got going.  During this banners event, I didn't get a single badge!?  And I was at every location on time and blasting away.  I was disappointed but just laughed it off because I knew Jack Rabbit was doing their absolute best.

 

Most of the time, my results are sporadic.  I'll get some badges and miss others.  I've heard people say that banners is bugged but after paying attention to what's happening in the league while it's going on, I think I've figured out what's wrong: players are not participating on a level required to badge.

 

Case in point:

Today, I was in a ToT league and the league leader gave clear instructions for each team.  My team was assigned to blue.  I went straight there and waited for my team.  After waiting too long for everyone else to get there, I was suddenly ATT'd to the purple banner.  Somehow, team 2 ended up there!?  Ok, well maybe they're a little color blind...?  No worries, we'll course correct as the event progresses.  Then, the banners became vulnerable and the league leader instructed everyone to engage the green banner.  Naturally, I moved immediately to the green which was only a couple of hundred yards away.  Meanwhile, my team didn't budge and remained on purple.  I think there was one other person on the team who went to green but we didn't do enough damage to badge.  This was starting to aggro me, so I said something about following instructions in the league chat.  Afterwards, I started badging because presumably people started paying attention.  At the end, I missed the Monstrous badge for the Greater Mystic.  But I chalked this up to the team not knowing how to handle that part of the event.

 

Before I continue, let me offer some advice for getting the Monstrous badge.  When the last banner goes down, *start searching for the Greater Mystic!*  Just head in the right direction, at least!  That way, when someone finds them you're already close.  Don't just wait for someone to say "here" and *then* start moving.  You're not going to make it in time because people usually don't wait.

 

But my observations have brought me to the conclusion that there's no bug or glitch in banners.  It's just that players either don't know how to do banners or aren't paying attention to the league chat (or both.)

[tidge]

3 hours ago, Display Name said:

But my observations have brought me to the conclusion that there's no bug or glitch in banners.  It's just that players either don't know how to do banners or aren't paying attention to the league chat (or both.)

 

I also don't believe there is any 'bug' in getting badges during the Deadly Apocalypse: every case where I have missed a Banner badge is one I attributed to being on a team that didn't do enough (or any) damage to the banner. This season so far:

• The time I was an Incandesence 'anchor' for one the later banners, I never landed a single hit on the banners I didn't engage.
• The time I was on a small team, again anchoring (so away from the action) and my team appeared to be mostly lower-level characters side-kicked up.

I have come to believe that on a large league in a level 50 zone, there is literally no need to have Incandesence anchors... as long as one of the folks rushing between banners summons the entire league (or waits for someone who can) before attacking the banners. Same as with the Greater Aspect.

[lemming]

3 hours ago, tidge said:

 

I also don't believe there is any 'bug' in getting badges during the Deadly Apocalypse: every case where I have missed a Banner badge is one I attributed to being on a team that didn't do enough (or any) damage to the banner. This season so far:

• The time I was an Incandesence 'anchor' for one the later banners, I never landed a single hit on the banners I didn't engage.
• The time I was on a small team, again anchoring (so away from the action) and my team appeared to be mostly lower-level characters side-kicked up.

I have come to believe that on a large league in a level 50 zone, there is literally no need to have Incandesence anchors... as long as one of the folks rushing between banners summons the entire league (or waits for someone who can) before attacking the banners. Same as with the Greater Aspect.

Yep, it's entirely based on how much your team does and doesn't matter if you are doing it.

 

It is more hit'n'miss with the ToT leagues in PI since often a lot of the league sticks to the motel.

Most successful runs have been when there's incan to each of the banners once vulnerable, and then to the GM.

 

Best way if you have three to seven friends with decent builds to just jump into one of the lesser used zones and just do the banners yourself.  

[tidge]

3 minutes ago, lemming said:

Best way if you have three to seven friends with decent builds to just jump into one of the lesser used zones and just do the banners yourself.  

 

I briefly experimented with a 50+ MM jumping from banner to banner. I'd try to defeat 20-ish enemies at one banner before moving to the next. I did get the blue bar to start to move, but I don't know that I could have completed the blue bar solo before time expired. From what I could tell, I had to have defeated some number of spawns at every banner before it moved... but I wasn't able to pin down what specifically I needed to do (solo).  It felt like I would have had to have done this five times (each banner)... but it couldn't verify I had done enough at each banner until I got to the fourth one (in the cycle).

 

Even in the lowest level zones that get the Apocalypse, I suspect that my MM build would take at least 2 minutes on each (vulnerable) banner... may less time if the Lore pets were out... so I don't know if I could have solo completed the event in 16 minutes.

[lemming]

8 hours ago, tidge said:

 

I briefly experimented with a 50+ MM jumping from banner to banner. I'd try to defeat 20-ish enemies at one banner before moving to the next. I did get the blue bar to start to move, but I don't know that I could have completed the blue bar solo before time expired. From what I could tell, I had to have defeated some number of spawns at every banner before it moved... but I wasn't able to pin down what specifically I needed to do (solo).  It felt like I would have had to have done this five times (each banner)... but it couldn't verify I had done enough at each banner until I got to the fourth one (in the cycle).

 

Even in the lowest level zones that get the Apocalypse, I suspect that my MM build would take at least 2 minutes on each (vulnerable) banner... may less time if the Lore pets were out... so I don't know if I could have solo completed the event in 16 minutes.

You need to have someone at each banner to really make progress on making them vulnerable.   I did a team of four that was able to finish the event, each one on a banner to make vulnerable, then coming together to defeat them serially

[PresidentDSG]

You need at least one person at each banner, yeah. To make them vulnerable enemies have to die at each banner simultaneously (People will say things about the circle, that's just aesthetics)

 

If you're not getting badge credit for banner kills it's because your team hasn't contributed enough damage for one reason or another to get the credit.

If people are jumping around not paying attention to the organization or what order banners need to be killed or killing banners before everyone is there, then you have problems.

[Clave Dark 5]

Yeah, no bug, just some poor teamwork.  It can be hit or miss, you just keep working at it till you get it.  (also, BTW, his name is Jack The Rabbit, 😉 and yes he is a saint for making ToT leagues work so well).

[Display Name]

More "glitches."

Today I participated in two ToT leagues.  One in Peregrine Island 1 and the other in Peregrine Island 2.  I did a total of three Banner runs and couldn't get the blue banner badge (Scorn, I think.)  After complaining about player participation, someone said that there was a "fix" in the Beta version of the game.

I have a few questions:

 

1) Is this true?

2) Will it be released for this event?

3) Just out of speculation, does the "fix" involve changing the requirements so that a player only has to hit the banner to get credit for the badge?

[lemming]

39 minutes ago, Display Name said:

More "glitches."

Today I participated in two ToT leagues.  One in Peregrine Island 1 and the other in Peregrine Island 2.  I did a total of three Banner runs and couldn't get the blue banner badge (Scorn, I think.)  After complaining about player participation, someone said that there was a "fix" in the Beta version of the game.

I have a few questions:

 

1) Is this true?

2) Will it be released for this event?

3) Just out of speculation, does the "fix" involve changing the requirements so that a player only has to hit the banner to get credit for the badge?

The fix was pushed to Open Beta today.   I have not had a chance to check myself, but here's the bit:

Defeat badge credit for the banner event now guaranteed as long as the participant hits the target once, no longer requiring 10% team damage dealt for credit.

 

[Display Name]

Exactly!  This is because "fixing" (ie: neutering) the players, despite being the best solution, is not an option.  So they fixed the game instead.

 

However, I *still* didn't get credit for the Scorn (blue) badge in Banners today.  Despite three attempts.  Is it initiated, yet?  Or do I just vacuum, hard?  It's possible since my toon was completely un-Enh'd.

[lemming]

2 hours ago, Display Name said:

Exactly!  This is because "fixing" (ie: neutering) the players, despite being the best solution, is not an option.  So they fixed the game instead.

 

However, I *still* didn't get credit for the Scorn (blue) badge in Banners today.  Despite three attempts.  Is it initiated, yet?  Or do I just vacuum, hard?  It's possible since my toon was completely un-Enh'd.

It's on Open Beta, so not until Tuesday Maintenance assuming nothing is borked.

[Ridiculous Girl]

9 hours ago, Display Name said:

It's probably because my toon was completely un-Enh'd.

there, fixed it for you! 😆

[Ukase]

On 10/5/2024 at 8:01 PM, Display Name said:

It's possible since my toon was completely un-Enh'd.

Seriously - why? Why would you do this? If you're on a team, doesn't matter if you're level 5 or 50. You should be courteous enough to have at least SOs slotted. You've played long enough to know better, and you can certainly afford it by now. 

Sorry - this is a major peeve of mine. I go out of my way to get what I think are the best enhancements I can because I'm only a slightly better than mediocre player. I need all the help I can get. And you're running around with nothing? That makes no sense in my world. 

 

[Display Name]

14 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Seriously - why? Why would you do this? If you're on a team, doesn't matter if you're level 5 or 50. You should be courteous enough to have at least SOs slotted. You've played long enough to know better, and you can certainly afford it by now. 

Sorry - this is a major peeve of mine. I go out of my way to get what I think are the best enhancements I can because I'm only a slightly better than mediocre player. I need all the help I can get. And you're running around with nothing? That makes no sense in my world. 

 

Most of the time I'm leveling too fast for SOs.  Why is this a peeve of yours?  Lots of people do it.

[Ukase]

I mentioned why it's a peeve - because of how hard I work to ensure I'm pulling my weight to the best of my ability. I feel like I bought a thesaurus with nothing but blank pages. I don't have any words to describe how unsavory I think running around without enhancements is. There is just no excuse good enough. 


I should add, that I do get it to a small degree: you're on a lowbie, doing ToT, and the levels are coming fast. And with the buffs to recharge, and other attributes, you probably don't miss the enhancements. It's just not anything I could feel comfortable doing. 
Occasionally, I do a drop challenge, where I can't use any enhancements, except for what drops. It helps me get excited over the smallest things, like an end mod invention recipe. (which are more rare than very rares, anecdotally) But - when I do those challenges, I don't team with anyone, because I just couldn't allow myself to burden someone else with my twisted idea of amusement. 

It is not my intent to shame anyone for playing in a fashion that's cool with them - so you continue to do things the way you do them. Don't worry about me. I rarely join the leagues anyway. 

Edited October 8 by Ukase

[Michiyo]

With today's patch you no longer need to do 10% damage, you just have to hit the banner.

[High_Beam]

Steely eyed missile men and women they are.