pre banner discussion thread: Special Heroes banner January 2024

[ARMADS!!!]

So I forgot that we had another Special Heroes banner in january on top of the New Years one. 

 according to the January-February Event Schedule, it seems like they're going to rerun all of the desert banners close to the date of release of the new banner (that comes out on the 18th or 19th) so I think it means they're not dropping the desert theme this year. What do you guys think? 

 Anyway, drop your expectations, theories and wants (or not wants) about the upcoming banner here.

[Othin]

Rerunning past years' seasonal banners is standard procedure, it doesn't say anything about whether or not the theme will change. They've been changing the August and September themes, and from what I remember,they kept running the past years' banners for those months regardless.

I don't particularly care about the desert theme, so I'd be fine with a new one.

Edited January 12 by Othin

[ARMADS!!!]

Just now, Othin said:

Rerunning past years' seasonal banners is standard procedure, it doesn't say anything about whether or not the scene will change. They've been changing the August and September themes, and from what I remember,they kept running the past years' banners for those months regardless.

I don't particularly care about the desert theme, so I'd be fine with a new one.

Oh, yeah, ok makes sense.

 I sorta like the theme, but not enough to mind it they change it (in fact, I'd probably rather if they did, because this theme has been around for way too long now and there are so many other cool themes they could do).

 

 Alas, if they keep the desert theme I think they'll go with Engage's desert (I think it's called Solm duo to a very quick google search, don't crucify me if Im wrong, I'm not familiar with Engage at all) anyway, other people were pointing out in the pre banner discussion thread for the new heroes banners that they thought it was gonna be Engage because later this month will be Engage's anniversary, well since it wasn't then I think It'll be now. Which is a big motive for me to not care about it (unless if they choose an extremely good lineup).

 I'd find it sorta cool if they did an Arcadia desert banner, but one thing I'd want to see in this one is a Hawkwye/Igrene Duo and I don't think they'll do a fourth Duo in a row, and also Im sure they'll use Arcadia desert for another "all dragons" banner and I'm not the biggest fan of these so maybe I'd better not keep my hopes high for it.

[Etrurian emperor]

A problem with desert themes is that we're quickly running out of desert countries. A lot of FE worlds don't have them. In Tellius the desert is just part of Begnion, in Archenea its part of the barbarian wastelands and in Jugral its the place where exiles go. You could even argue Elibe doesn't strictly have a desert nation per se.

They could do a Solm banner but Timera would likely be the big money maker there and she already had her alt in Halloween. Arcadia might have missed its chance due to redeemed Idunn already being in the game as an ascended. 

If there's a desert theme it be a logical place to introduce Tormod even if my prefered alt for him is a pirate one. 

[Tybrosion]

If they do go with Solm, the Harmonized Hero better be Merrin & Velouria where the former uses the latter as her mount. 

28 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

A problem with desert themes is that we're quickly running out of desert countries. A lot of FE worlds don't have them. In Tellius the desert is just part of Begnion, in Archenea its part of the barbarian wastelands and in Jugral its the place where exiles go. You could even argue Elibe doesn't strictly have a desert nation per se.

Jehanna from Magvel is also an option, and there also happens to be a certain sword lady from that game who somehow still only has one alt. Oh, and I suppose they could also use a banner like that to add Ismaire if they want.

[ARMADS!!!]

49 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

A problem with desert themes is that we're quickly running out of desert countries. A lot of FE worlds don't have them. In Tellius the desert is just part of Begnion, in Archenea its part of the barbarian wastelands and in Jugral its the place where exiles go. You could even argue Elibe doesn't strictly have a desert nation per se.

They could do a Solm banner but Timera would likely be the big money maker there and she already had her alt in Halloween. Arcadia might have missed its chance due to redeemed Idunn already being in the game as an ascended. 

If there's a desert theme it be a logical place to introduce Tormod even if my prefered alt for him is a pirate one. 

Yeah, one way or another the desert places will end soon (also what do you mean by "In Archanea, it's part of the barbarian wastelands"? there's more than one desert there along with Khadein? I'm not 100% familiar with the geography of Archane). The places they have left are what? Jehanna, Solm and Arcadia (which is not a nation per se but I'm sure they'd use it just for the dragons... And maybe to have a bunch of men dressed like Hawkwye but I wouldn't complain about that), unless Im missing one but I think not...

 About Timera being the big money maker of a Solm themed banner, I think they could just try to make characters from other titles be the big sellers too, just like how Dorothea+Lene, Karla, Byleth and Nino were on the other desert banners, also don't think that her having gotten an alt in october would stop them from giving her other now if they really wanted to make Solm. About Arcadia, I don't think it exactly MISSED its chance, they would probably just throw either Ninian, Sophia or Igrene (or even two of them at once) on the banner along with a bunch of characters from other titles since the desert banners don't have more than one or two characters from the origin location anyway.

 I also miss the pirate banner, was a bummer that they stopped with it, at the time I was okay with it because they replaced it with the Phantom Thieves thing I was an even bigger fan of that one, then they dropped it too!(and for a "maid" banner, no less...) I'd like it if they came back with old banner themes such as these ones... Also I think they screw up big time on the lineups for the desert banners, why didn't we get Volug in Hatari? then Tormod as you said, and Merric really should've been on the Khadein one (I'd kill for a banner that has him use that giant cloak/cape + giant shoulder pads with stones hanging + the mage hat).

 EDIT: Another reason I think they might be planning to stop with desert themes soon is cause I suspect that if they were worried about running out of desert countries, they'd have made one in Heroes already.

Edited January 12 by ARMADS!!!

[Tybrosion]

If they do move away from the desert theme, then going in the opposite direction could be an alternative. And by that, I mean they can start doing ice country banners.

There certainly isn't a shortage of those: Rigel (Valentia), Silesse (Jugdral), Ilia (Elibe), Daein (Tellius), Regna Ferox (Ylisse), Faerghus (Fodlan), Elusia (Elyos), Nifl (Zenith).

Edit: I somehow didn't initially include FEH's own ice nation.

Edited January 12 by Tybrosion

[Florete]

I think there's a good chance we'll see Nabata this year. Don't know who will be on it, though.

[ARMADS!!!]

@Tybrosion (pinging because I forgot to quote you and can't do it on edits) I was considering the possibility of them doing an "ice tribe" banner this year, because I can hardly think of more "elements" for the "elemental tribes" thing, but I think I'd like it more if it was as you said, they'll probably drop the tribes thing soon too (alternatively they could do a final desert banner this year and an ice tribe banner later on the year, then drop the desert thing for ice countries).

5 minutes ago, Florete said:

I think there's a good chance we'll see Nabata this year. Don't know who will be on it, though.

 Lol I was calling the desert Arcadia the whole time, forgot that it was Nabata (while Arcadia is INSIDE Nataba...).

Edited January 12 by ARMADS!!!

[Etrurian emperor]

46 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Yeah, one way or another the desert places will end soon (also what do you mean by "In Archanea, it's part of the barbarian wastelands"? there's more than one desert there along with Khadein? I'm not 100% familiar with the geography of Archane)

Oh yeah. Your right. I was thinking of the Thebes area and completely forgot Khadein.

 

[EricaofRenais]

The only banner theme dropped I miss is the dancer banner, I really don't like that it went away.  I personally would be fine with the desert theme going away, I don't know what might replace it but I would be down.  I agree that this banner will probably be Engage heavy because of the timing, so they might actually do desert one final time just because of that.  I just really want a harmonic on this one.  Merrin would be a lock if they do Solm I could see them using her has the "guide" character like Tharja, Nailah and Linde in the paralogues for the desert banners before.

[Sunwoo]

I really don't want Tormod to get an alt before his base form. If he gets an alt, his CYL rank is gonna tank and since he's not a girl he's going to be stuck in alt hell forever. Pretty sure that's basically what happened to Zihark. Tellius also has a shitload of characters who aren't in the game at all, so it's more competitive than a game that's already running low on characters.

As for deserts, I suppose Nabata and Solm are reasonable options, as is Jehanna. As for which one I think it will be ... how much do you guys think IS wants to push Engage as the shiny new thing? If so, then it'll probably be Solm. If Engage doesn't get special treatment, it's really up in the air.

[Tybrosion]

16 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

As for which one I think it will be ... how much do you guys think IS wants to push Engage as the shiny new thing?

Personally, I don't think they're actually that interested in pushing Engage. If they were, we'd have gotten way more than just five seasonal Engage units in 2023. 

Nah instead, we've gotten like fourteen seasonal Three Houses units since Engage released last January.

[Sunwoo]

13 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Personally, I don't think they're actually that interested in pushing Engage. If they were, we'd have gotten way more than just five seasonal Engage units in 2023. 

Nah instead, we've gotten like fourteen seasonal Three Houses units since Engage released last January.

Hmmm ... does Fodlan have anything resembling a desert?

[Tybrosion]

12 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Hmmm ... does Fodlan have anything resembling a desert?

Not really, but that certainly won't stop IS from crowbarring a Fodlan character or two onto this banner (including and especially if Solm is the theme).

[ARMADS!!!]

I don't think that they're that interested on shoving Engage down our throats either, but at the same time it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to choose the new game for the desert banner if that end up being the theme again (since y'know, it's the newer one + because of Engage's anniversary + we only have like 3 titles with a desert nation left anyway) so they very well might do this, but I don't think It'll feel like they're pushing it if they go with Engage, specially because on desert banners they don't even put a lot of characters from the actual game the desert is from.

1 hour ago, EricaofRenais said:

The only banner theme dropped I miss is the dancer banner, I really don't like that it went away. 

Oh yeah! The dancer banners! I liked those, it'd be awesome if they started doing these back someday too.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I want it to be Arcadia, with Igrene or Hawkeye or Sophia or Fae.

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

A problem with desert themes is that we're quickly running out of desert countries. A lot of FE worlds don't have them. In Tellius the desert is just part of Begnion, in Archenea its part of the barbarian wastelands and in Jugral its the place where exiles go. You could even argue Elibe doesn't strictly have a desert nation per se.

They could do a Solm banner but Timera would likely be the big money maker there and she already had her alt in Halloween. Arcadia might have missed its chance due to redeemed Idunn already being in the game as an ascended. 

If there's a desert theme it be a logical place to introduce Tormod even if my prefered alt for him is a pirate one. 

What have they done so far? The only one I remember is Plegia. You say Archanea is only barbarian wasteland but that's not true, there's Khadein. And I think one of the desert banners was a Khadein banner. To go through the other continents

Valentia: Mercenary banner with Jesse and other mercs from across the series.

Jugdral: Loot sect banner (too similar to Plegia?)

Elibe: Arcadia banner.

Magvel: Jehnna banner

Tellius: Laguz emancipation banner (throw Panne or someone in there so it's not one setting)

Fates: Was there a desert? I know you fought the wind tribe in a desert like area on birthright. So that.

Three House: Only really sand worms and the wind caller. So might be a challenge there.

Engage: Solm banner. Aka most likely of the set. But every setting except Three Houses offers something 

Edited January 13 by Jotari

[Florete]

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

What have they done so far? The only one I remember is Plegia. You say Archanea is only barbarian wasteland but that's not true, there's Khadein. And I think one of the desert banners was a Khadein banner. To go through the other continents

Plegia, Khadein, and Hatari (Tellius) have been done so far.

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Florete said:

Plegia, Khadein, and Hatari (Tellius) have been done so far.

Oh so we still have a second option for Tellius. All in all though, as far as my feelings go, I wouldn't really care if they ditched the desert banner, but I do think there's still material out there.

[Othin]

On 1/12/2024 at 11:01 PM, Florete said:

Plegia, Khadein, and Hatari (Tellius) have been done so far.

Huh. I was curious if two of those overlapped, but it turns out that Khadein is just north of the area that became Plegia - while Altea did end up as part of Plegia. Interesting how that played out.

[Jotari]

47 minutes ago, Othin said:

Huh. I was curious if two of those overlapped, but it turns out that Khadein is just north of the area that became Plegia - while Altea did end up as part of Plegia. Interesting how that played out.

If by interesting you mean they didn't give a single fuck about the continuinty.

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, Othin said:

Huh. I was curious if two of those overlapped, but it turns out that Khadein is just north of the area that became Plegia - while Altea did end up as part of Plegia. Interesting how that played out.

Yeah the landscapes in Awakening seemed to have been placed without rhyme or reason. Most noteworthy is Altea/Gra now being a desert without any explanation as to how. The place where you recruit Laurent is also a desert and is placed in Galder harbor where Marth starts out his journey. Ferox meanwhile is a frigid wasteland despite the barbarian wastes also housing a desert and lava area in new Mystery.

Just switching the places of a few paralogues around would go a long way in making Ylisse make more sense. 

[Tybrosion]

The bonus titles for next week's Resonant Battles are Binding Blade and Engage.

So unless if we somehow get a Duo Hero here, the Harmonized Hero should be led by a Binding Blade character. Naturally, that points to Nabata / Arcadia being the theme this time.

This also doesn't hard confirm Nabata / Arcadia because we had Dorothea (Three Houses) being the Harmonized lead for the Plegia (Awakening) banner and Azura (Fates) being the Harmonized lead for the Hatari (Tellius) banner. We could be getting some other theme (which may not even be a desert one) and the Harmonized Hero is led by a character from a different title (Binding Blade, in this case).

[ARMADS!!!]

49 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

The bonus titles for next week's Resonant Battles are Binding Blade and Engage.

So unless if we somehow get a Duo Hero here, the Harmonized Hero should be led by a Binding Blade character. Naturally, that points to Nabata / Arcadia being the theme this time.

This also doesn't hard confirm Nabata / Arcadia because we had Dorothea (Three Houses) being the Harmonized lead for the Plegia (Awakening) banner and Azura (Fates) being the Harmonized lead for the Hatari (Tellius) banner. We could be getting some other theme (which may not even be a desert one) and the Harmonized Hero is led by a character from a different title (Binding Blade, in this case).

Wait, it's that how it works? The Harmonised is always led by a character from one the titles that is the bonus on the Ressonant battles??

 Also, if the bonus titles are Engage and FE6, then why can't the lead of the harmonic be an Engage character?