Blackwood Portal Punisher: antecedent catalyst machines? [Solved]

MoonPile · August 5

For this month's promo: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/66437

I don't understand what / where in the portal these antecedent catalyst machines are?

Nobody in-game has answered either. Even map pin addons don't appear to have a filter for the machines. Can't find anything googling. The 3 done in that screenshot were by accident, over a year ago, so I don't remember. Figure I'm probably not the only one who's gonna have this question.

EDIT: Someone explained in-game. Apparently a machine does spawn behind the end boss. I didn't see it; a lot of people were in there and someone else may have destroyed it. But it should count for everyone if someone gets it. (I was not getting a point in the achievement for every boss killed so Idk, maybe the group missed the machine sometimes.)

EDIT 2: SOLVED
For players' future reference, this is the antecedent catalyst machine:

This time I let other players get it; I had 6 done before this:

Now I have 7 done. So Re: these comments, Idk if there are some other qualifiers you need to have...

Update again: I've been AFK for a bit and left my toon here with Azandar. We definitely haven't been doing top-anything dmg, but still got 2 more points. SO I believe it counts for everyone in the area as long as someone remembers to destroy it.

opalcity · August 5

Just search for 'blackwood portal map' and you'll find images of where they might spawn in Blackwood.

You enter the portal, kill mobs and mini bosses, go through a couple of portals until you finally get to the final boss. Can be done solo without too much hassle.

Or, like me today, you find yourself slightly behind other people and not have to kill anything until you get to the final boss and just wait 5 minutes for it to spawn.

Morvan · August 5

They can randomly spawn at one of these spots, you just need to ask in zone chat or go look if they are up, once you get in you just run through until you get to the last boss, just stay there after killing him and repeat, that will count for the achievement.

MoonPile · August 5

opalcity wrote: »

Just search for 'blackwood portal map' and you'll find images of where they might spawn in Blackwood.

You enter the portal, kill mobs and mini bosses, go through a couple of portals until you finally get to the final boss. Can be done solo without too much hassle.

Or, like me today, you find yourself slightly behind other people and not have to kill anything until you get to the final boss and just wait 5 minutes for it to spawn.

Morvan wrote: »

They can randomly spawn at one of these spots, you just need to ask in zone chat or go look if they are up, once you get in you just run through until you get to the last boss, just stay there after killing him and repeat, that will count for the achievement.
...

I think both are misunderstanding the question: specifically about the "antecedent catalyst machines". I've gone through killed the end boss multiple times just today; it's not counting for that achievement and I have not seen any "antecedent catalyst machines" to destroy.

EDIT: Ok something updated the achievement with another completion since I posted... Idk what it is; I've killed more end bosses than points gained.

EDIT 2: Someone explained in-game. Apparently a machine does spawn once the end-boss dies; I didn't see it since a lot of people were in there and someone else may have destroyed it. But it counts for everyone if someone gets it.

GMdoghunter · August 5

So to earn the achievement after killing the boss you will see a set of stairs (They are always there) just facing you as you enter the room,like a platform with a machine on it.When you kill the boss run and i mean run up they stairs and you will see like a glowing orb on top of a machine which you have to synergise with and basically smash.Pressing the E key if i am right.

But honestly this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

In my opinion this is going to become toxic very very quickly and is very badly designed.

I wish you all the success in getting it,i was in the other evening/during the night as in 3am u.k. time and th eplace was absolutely jumping,at least 20 players all with companions.That gives you an idea what you are up against here.

Good luck and hope you get the achievement.

MoonPile · August 5

GMdoghunter wrote: »

...
But honestly this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

In my opinion this is going to become toxic very very quickly and is very badly designed.

...

I honestly don't know; have to go back and check. Because somehow I did get +2 points earlier and I don't recall ever destroying that thing. So I assumed the person who told me in-game was right, that it counts for multiple people.

It could be like some other world events that only count for top 12 dmg?

SilverBride · August 5

MoonPile wrote: »

Even map pin addons don't appear to have a filter for them.

Map Pins does have a filter for them.

MoonPile · August 5

SilverBride wrote: »

MoonPile wrote: »

Even map pin addons don't appear to have a filter for them.

Map Pins does have a filter for them.

This question was specifically about the machines in the title and bolded again in the OP, not portals generally.

SilverBride · August 5

MoonPile wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

MoonPile wrote: »

Even map pin addons don't appear to have a filter for them.

Map Pins does have a filter for them.

This question was specifically about the machines in the title and bolded again in the OP, not portals generally.

Ah, ok. Well if anyone was wondering about the portals...

MoonPile · August 5

SilverBride wrote: »

MoonPile wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

MoonPile wrote: »

Even map pin addons don't appear to have a filter for them.

Map Pins does have a filter for them.

This question was specifically about the machines in the title and bolded again in the OP, not portals generally.

Ah, ok. Well if anyone was wondering about the portals...

Lots of people can't find those either! So, fair enough to leave it

SeaGtGruff · August 5

As far as I know, the glowing reward chest will not spawn unless someone shuts down the Auntie Thingie, so if the chest does spawn and you're able to loot it, you should presumably get credit for shutting down the portal.

If you aren't able to loot the chest for some reason-- such as having arrived too late in the battle and not having a chance to register any damage against the enemies-- then presumably you won't get credit for shutting down the portal, in which case you should just wait there until the boss spawns again.

MoonPile · August 5

GMdoghunter wrote: »

...this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

...

Hi again, just replying in case you're interested - I updated the OP at the bottom.

And,

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

...so if the chest does spawn and you're able to loot it, you should presumably get credit for shutting down the portal.

If you aren't able to loot the chest for some reason-- such as having arrived too late in the battle and not having a chance to register any damage against the enemies-- then presumably you won't get credit for shutting down the portal, in which case you should just wait there until the boss spawns again.

as well. I now believe it counts for everyone in the area as long as someone remembers to destroy it, regardless of damage amount. Az and my toon were just standing there AFK.

SeaGtGruff · August 5

MoonPile wrote: »

GMdoghunter wrote: »

...this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

...

Hi again, just replying in case you're interested - I updated the OP at the bottom.

And,

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

...so if the chest does spawn and you're able to loot it, you should presumably get credit for shutting down the portal.

If you aren't able to loot the chest for some reason-- such as having arrived too late in the battle and not having a chance to register any damage against the enemies-- then presumably you won't get credit for shutting down the portal, in which case you should just wait there until the boss spawns again.

as well. I now believe it counts for everyone in the area as long as someone remembers to destroy it, regardless of damage amount. Az and my toon were just standing there AFK.

If you were AFK, it's still possible that your companion attacked some of the mobs and scored some damage.

I don't know whether you can miss out on the credit if you're already in the area when the boss is killed, but I'm pretty sure I've missed out on occasion if I was just running into the final area as the boss was being killed, or immediately after. I'm not sure if it's based on whether you were in the final area when the boss died, or when the Auntie Thingie was destroyed, or if you (or a Companion or Combat Pet) are required to do some minimum amount of damage, or what-- but in any case, if you do miss out, just hang around until the boss respawns.

MoonPile · August 7

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

MoonPile wrote: »

GMdoghunter wrote: »

...this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

...

Hi again, just replying in case you're interested - I updated the OP at the bottom.

And,

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

...so if the chest does spawn and you're able to loot it, you should presumably get credit for shutting down the portal.

If you aren't able to loot the chest for some reason-- such as having arrived too late in the battle and not having a chance to register any damage against the enemies-- then presumably you won't get credit for shutting down the portal, in which case you should just wait there until the boss spawns again.

as well. I now believe it counts for everyone in the area as long as someone remembers to destroy it, regardless of damage amount. Az and my toon were just standing there AFK.

If you were AFK, it's still possible that your companion attacked some of the mobs and scored some damage.
...

True, bless him and his 1 LA/10 sec

We got it done.

vgabor · August 7

GMdoghunter wrote: »

you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

Well, bad news it looks bugged, not getting credit even if it was me smashing that orb, was 9/10 before I did and still 9/10 after I did...

Grizzbeorn · August 8

GMdoghunter wrote: »

you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

That isn't true.

I haven't smashed that orb in a very long time (months), and I still got the "Portal Punisher" achievement on my first portal run during this event, and I've received credit toward the Weekly by just taking part in that last boss fight every time (7 in total so far). I've not had a chance to get to the orb after the fight before someone else did.

Rikkadir · August 13

Just like to say that if you travel to a Guild mate already in the dungeon, destroying the machine doesn't count, in my recent experience. You have to physically enter the portal from Blackwood yourself.
Just destroyed three machines after travelling, didn't count. After entering myself they counted.

I know I'll probably be proved wrong.
Thanks.

DenverRalphy · August 13

Rikkadir wrote: »

Just like to say that if you travel to a Guild mate already in the dungeon, destroying the machine doesn't count, in my recent experience. You have to physically enter the portal from Blackwood yourself.
Just destroyed three machines after travelling, didn't count. After entering myself they counted.

I know I'll probably be proved wrong.
Thanks.

You must have had some other circumstance affectding your Endeavor completion. Because I just did exactly that. A guild mate advertised he was in the portal for the Endeavor. I travelled directly to him. And I got credit for the Endeavor.

[Edit] And I wasn't the player to clicky and destroy the machine either.

kringled_1 · August 13

Rikkadir wrote: »

Just like to say that if you travel to a Guild mate already in the dungeon, destroying the machine doesn't count, in my recent experience. You have to physically enter the portal from Blackwood yourself.
Just destroyed three machines after travelling, didn't count. After entering myself they counted.

I know I'll probably be proved wrong.
Thanks.

Is there a chance you ended up in a Deadlands associated Atoll of Immolation instead? If you just port to a guild mate, it's not possible to tell from the guild roster if they're in a Blackwood portal or a Deadlands portal. And the deadlands portals obviously won't count for the Blackwood achievement.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 13

MoonPile wrote: »

GMdoghunter wrote: »

...
But honestly this will be very interesting indeed this event as you only get the credit if it is you who smashes the orb which i am calling it,if someone else does it You DO NOT get the credit.

In my opinion this is going to become toxic very very quickly and is very badly designed.

...

I honestly don't know; have to go back and check. Because somehow I did get +2 points earlier and I don't recall ever destroying that thing. So I assumed the person who told me in-game was right, that it counts for multiple people.

It could be like some other world events that only count for top 12 dmg?

A bit late, but I never destroyed one of those, and still got the achievement, and I am pretty sure it only took the 10 boss kills.

Then again, it might be because the boss I was at, didn't have a huge amount of people, as in I always got loot from the boss itself. (I am assuming it is like the ones where only the top damage dealers get it if there are too many people at the boss)

Rikkadir · August 14

kringled_1 wrote: »

Is there a chance you ended up in a Deadlands associated Atoll of Immolation instead? If you just port to a guild mate, it's not possible to tell from the guild roster if they're in a Blackwood portal or a Deadlands portal. And the deadlands portals obviously won't count for the Blackwood achievement.

No. Well, I zoomed out [L2] and it showed me the Blackwood zone.