Is this normal in the Infinite Archive: a Wraith of Crows showing up after having cleared a stage?

msetten · October 2024

A weird thing happened to me an a friend in the Infinite Archive in Elder Scrolls Online. After having cleared a stage in arc 4 - cycle 5 - stage 2, I went away for a small break to find myself dead when I returned. Even though we cleared the stage and my friend already picked up a verse and I still had to pick a verse, a Wraith of Crows suddenly showed up, killing me. Luckily, my friend was able to defeat him so we didn't loose thread. See the attached video that my friend saved (so it is from his perspective and notice that you can see the pillar where to pick a verse is still there as I hadn't picked a verse yet).

Video: https://youtu.be/IYLKg4X_CsI?si=NtRrppYs6HijC93Q

I wonder is this something new that I missed (I did look in the patch notes, but couldn't find a mention of it)? A bug? Did this happen to someone else?

tomofhyrule · October 2024

Wraiths-of-Crows are one of the new 'elite enemies' that you can get in a round, and they have their standard attack where they fly up and then swoop in a bit later.

It may have been a glitch where it flew up and the game counted it as having 'left the fighting surface,' so it gave you the verse, but since it was in the middle of its attack it then came back to finish the fight. The idea of the round ending when the only living enemy has left the area is likely the answer to people having rounds that wouldn't end since an enemy got stuck outside the playable area (like under a stair or something), so you just happened to get in the case where the fight wasn't technically over, but the game saw that in that brief moment there were no enemies in the fightable area.

valenwood_vegan · October 2024

I reported this a while back - it seems to have started after the IA update this year.

Sometimes I go afk after a stage (after I've collected my verse, so I know for sure the stage really did end [EDIT: at least the game thinks the stage ended... I missed tom's point above while I was typing my post up, and maybe that's what's causing these "leftover" enemies to show up, yeah]) and I've had the same thing happen several times at random... I return to my pc and a single random enemy has spawned and is attacking me.

Iirc every time it's happened to me it's just been a trash enemy rather than an elite though. It's a strange one.

heaven13 · October 2024

I had this happen once but it was a different elite, a frost atro in my case. I'd finished a stage, collected my verse, and then went afk to eat at my desk. A bit later, I was suddenly back in combat. I figured it was afk deterrent since I've otherwise never seen such a thing.

Soriana · October 2024

Seems to be an afk deterrent in a place where you cannot take a break, save progress, etc. I guess the dev's never heard about stretching your legs, getting up and moving around, potty breaks??? It's happened to me and a bunch of my friends so it's definitely a built in mechanic

freespirit · October 2024

If they have actually built in an afk deterrent, well that is pretty damn awful.

Ok they don't want us to save our progress BUT not being able to go afk, to take a break, make a drink, have a pee, well that is unhealthy to us to say the least!!

msetten · October 2024

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

I reported this a while back - it seems to have started after the IA update this year.

Sometimes I go afk after a stage (after I've collected my verse, so I know for sure the stage really did end [EDIT: at least the game thinks the stage ended... I missed tom's point above while I was typing my post up, and maybe that's what's causing these "leftover" enemies to show up, yeah]) and I've had the same thing happen several times at random... I return to my pc and a single random enemy has spawned and is attacking me.

Iirc every time it's happened to me it's just been a trash enemy rather than an elite though. It's a strange one.

We, my friend and I, are very certain that if wasn't the boss of the stage as we had just killed the Minotaur boss.

M1SHAAN · October 2024

Soriana wrote: »

Seems to be an afk deterrent in a place where you cannot take a break, save progress, etc. I guess the dev's never heard about stretching your legs, getting up and moving around, potty breaks??? It's happened to me and a bunch of my friends so it's definitely a built in mechanic

I don't think it's an afk deterrent- my partner and I were killed by a meteor right after we cleared a stage once and we didn't lose a thread, so I would expect dying to an enemy once a stage is "done" would be the same way. (also hi Sori! lol)

I have also experienced an ice atronach spawning after the stage was already cleared, but I don't remember taking any significant break- my partner and I were both present to see it run up behind us at least. That makes me think it's more likely to be a bug, maybe specifically with the new elite enemies. I submitted a bug report at the time but idk if anything came of it. Is there a way to view bug reports you've submitted? I wish I could review the one I put in to see if I included any details I've forgotten.

I'll attach screenshots of the map I had it occur on and the verses/visions I had, just in case it's helpful.

Djennku · October 2024

Question for you guys; what platform are you on? I've never seen or heard of this issue, and I play PCNA. Wondering if it's a console-specific bug, and it's clearly a bug.

msetten · October 2024

Djennku wrote: »

Question for you guys; what platform are you on? I've never seen or heard of this issue, and I play PCNA. Wondering if it's a console-specific bug, and it's clearly a bug.

I am on PS-EU (PS5)

msetten · October 2024

M1SHAAN wrote: »

I don't think it's an afk deterrent- my partner and I were killed by a meteor right after we cleared a stage once and we didn't lose a thread, so I would expect dying to an enemy once a stage is "done" would be the same way. (also hi Sori! lol)

If you are in one of the fire stages, it is indeed possible to get killed by the lava meteors even after having finished the stage. Those keep dropping. Even had one drop on me while selecting a verse. But that is something different as that is the area that sends these meteors. We had a Wraith of Crows just spawning in after having finished the stage.

Vulsahdaal · October 2024

Its not just wraith of crows, archive can be a buggy place. If enemies arent taunting you by hiding somewhere that you cant get to them (or even finish the round)-

then they are spawning in after youve finished, it was a daedra spider when I took this screenshot-

PrincessOfThieves · October 2024

If this is really an anti-afk mechanic, this is ridiculous.
It is very unhealthy to just sit and play for hours without taking breaks. Even raid groups usually take breaks so that people can get something to drink, or go to bathroom, or just stretch their legs a bit.

Vulsahdaal · October 2024

I really dont believe its an afk thing. I have gone afk more than a few times before to get a drink, bathroom, whatever and never had an issue.

Also, in my bottom pic I never went afk. You can see on the top right I just had repaired my armor, and I stopped to check my staff charge and food.

I hadnt even picked up my verse yet, which I would never afk without doing so first, as after far too many times I hesitated to pick up my verse for whatever reason (about 3 minutes or so) the verse (or vision as well) will disappear and you lose out. I think that could be an afk 'punishment'.

But the late spawn? I also believe its just a bug, or maybe something to do with lag spikes, idk....

Ishtarknows · October 2024

PrincessOfThieves wrote: »

If this is really an anti-afk mechanic, this is ridiculous.
It is very unhealthy to just sit and play for hours without taking breaks. Even raid groups usually take breaks so that people can get something to drink, or go to bathroom, or just stretch their legs a bit.

It's perfectly fine to leave by the portal and enter the starting area of the IA to have your break. No chance of getting killed there and when you re-enter the portal you'll be back where you were.

Varana · October 2024

But I think that works only for about 5 minutes or so. You can't stay longer than that in the lobby before it clears your run.

Ilumia · October 2024

I enjoy IA, but it is a buggy place.
I've been stuck with tomekeeper skills once. Luckily I was grouped, and my mate could clear the stage. It reset when we left for the next stage.
I've had my groupmate stuck as a goat. Luckily we were done at that point with the dailies, and decided to leave.
I've tried to be stuck running in slow motion. I also couldn't sprint, I thought maybe my 20 year old keyboard had succumbed to my aggressive tapping, but that still didn't explain the permanent slow running. Sadly I was grouped with someone who didn't understand english, so I couldn't relog to try and fix it. It ended up finishing our run in arc 5 or 6, even though he was tanky enough, and I was dealing good damage. But the lack of mobility just made me die so often. I was annoyed, but I suppose the silver lining was my husband sitting next to me and cheering for bedtime once i wiped the final time. Also had a groupmate with that slow run bug. Relogging worked.

And many more bugs, but these are the most recent ones in the last two weeks of IA runs - trying to get that pesky elisanwe daily achievement so I can get the new fighting perk (thanks for making new ones zos, that's a very nice addition to the IA adventure. May I request getting a 4 vision-choice-collectible next? Pretty please with sugar on top. There are too many times when I get three not very nice choices that are barely useful. And the many new added ones makes it too hard to obtain 3/3 for the transmorphs).

Ilumia · October 2024

Here's a screenshot of the stuck-as-goat bug:

Jordan_Black · October 2024

Varana wrote: »

But I think that works only for about 5 minutes or so. You can't stay longer than that in the lobby before it clears your run.

Is this true? If you stay in the lobby for five minutes it clears your run?

msetten · October 2024

Jordan_Black wrote: »

Varana wrote: »

But I think that works only for about 5 minutes or so. You can't stay longer than that in the lobby before it clears your run.

Is this true? If you stay in the lobby for five minutes it clears your run?

If you don't move around in the IA in any location, you will get a time-out after some time. I don't know if it is 5 minutes or more, but there definitely is a time-out. You are then logged out and your IA ends without the score being saved to the leaderboards.