3.1 Atlas Discussion

Section 1:
So, what we know is that the Shaper and his sibli....Elder are fighting over the Atlas. To get your atlas taken by Elder you would need to do some Shaper infused maps first.
We also know that Shaper orbs can only be obtained through Elder infused map. While infusing the atlas with Elder, The Shaper will turn up right next to the map you just infused with elder.
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Section 2:
An example: https://puu.sh/yEJsU/50025777ec.png
So when i do the map that is Shaper infused next to Underground River (Which is Mineral Pools) the elder will take over it and the Shaper will turn up at the next map.
However, if i do the Underground River map while the Shaper is still on Mineral Pools, i lose the Elder Infusion and Shaper will take over. If you do an Elder map at a choke point, you lose all Elder Infusion connected to that map (learned that the hard way).
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Section 3:
If you do any maps that is not Shaper infused (Like forexample a legendary map), the Shaper is able to take over your Elder infused map.
An example: https://puu.sh/yEJIX/9f1dc08bc1.png
I had the Armoury with Elder infuse upon it. However, once i did a Legendary map and checked atlas, the Shaper had taken over the Armoury. (ie, you had no control over it because you did a non-shaper map).
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Section 4:
Once you have enough Elder infused maps. Some of the maps will get a colored marker. There will be 4 guardians and 1 Elder map.
Example: https://puu.sh/yEJXt/b7eb77f8c9.png
After doing the 4 Guardian maps and then do the Elder map, all your Elder infused maps will return to normal (You lose everything that is Elder infused and go back to a "normal" Atlas).
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Section 5:
Shaper orbs drop from their respective Tier. (Shaper orb 3 will drop from T8 map and so on). The map that can drop Shaper orbs seems to be pretty random. I had a Shaper orb spawn on the first T6-T7 Map i Elder infused, T8 took some tries before it popped.
What this means is that if Bog (T10) decides to drop a Shaper Orb for me. I would first have to get to Bog, Elder Infuse it and check if its capable of dropping an orb.
If we look at my atlas: https://puu.sh/yEKeW/292e96fb62.png
This would mean that i would first have to do Waste pools so that Waste pools becomes Elder infused, The shaper moves on to Bog, then i would need to do Bog and after completing it (So it becomes Elder infused) hope it has an Orb. This essentially means you will have to do the map twice for a Shaper orb.
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Section 6:
If you decide to do the Bog map for the Shaper orb. You lose the Elder infusion on it and Shaper will most likely not spawn on Bog again. Shaper never seems to spawn right next to a map you just lost the Elder infusion to. That means you will have to do other maps, hope that Shaper spawns on Bog again (high chance though after doing another map) and then do Bog again for Elder infusion, all while hoping that the Shaper doesn't randomly take over your other Elder infused maps (See Section 3).
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Section 7:
What does this all mean if you wish to Elder infuse your maps or get all Shaper orbs;

- The Atlas seems to punish you for doing two of the same maps in a row.
- Getting Shaper orbs is very random and punishes you for getting one.
- Farming a specific tier in hopes to get a higher tier is punishing unless you get it on your first run. You won't even have a handful of maps to choose from due to having to follow the Shaper maps.
- Doing any other map that is not Shaper infused will punish you. (Legendary maps is a good example)
- You need to buy maps if you are unlucky
- The easiest way to get all Shaper orbs would be to Elder infuse every single map until you have all 15 on the Atlas, then do them one by one starting from the top.

This is purely based on my own observations. If i am wrong somewhere, please do tell as i am most curious as to how the Atlas works this season.