vMA drop rate is still terrabad [Rant]

MightyMouseMark · July 2016

I got a decisive bow on my 10th run, I feel special. But I had 4 rings in a row before yesterday's run. I've only started running it since DB, are you guys telling me the drop rates were better before?

DRXHarbinger · July 2016

5th run....it dropped.....
..

Infused....

Qbiken · July 2016

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

XaXa · July 2016

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Have you even read the thread?

People are going 5, 10, 15+ runs without a SINGLE weapon dropping. The drop rate is broken and with ZoS blatant dilution of the loot tables with subpar traits at end game content its even worse.

Like you said you cant even complete vMA.

Come back when you have wasted time on 50+ runs and dont even have a single endgame viable weapon and tell me its fine as it is.

LadyNalcarya · July 2016

XaXa wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Have you even read the thread?

People are going 5, 10, 15+ runs without a SINGLE weapon dropping. The drop rate is broken and with ZoS blatant dilution of the loot tables with subpar traits at end game content its even worse.

Like you said you cant even complete vMA.

Come back when you have wasted time on 50+ runs and dont even have a single endgame viable weapon and tell me its fine as it is.

Yeah it was supposed to be 50%, and with all those extra traits leaving drop rate as it was is a major nerf.
Before DB patch, if you got a weapon, there was 66% chance that it will be useful (precise/sharpened). Now the chance is insanely low.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

DRXHarbinger · July 2016

XaXa wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Have you even read the thread?

People are going 5, 10, 15+ runs without a SINGLE weapon dropping. The drop rate is broken and with ZoS blatant dilution of the loot tables with subpar traits at end game content its even worse.

Like you said you cant even complete vMA.

Come back when you have wasted time on 50+ runs and dont even have a single endgame viable weapon and tell me its fine as it is.

Innit. I feel offended by that guys attitude, dude I've run VMA religiously since f'ing January....that's 7 frikin months and I mean at least 10 runs per week on average to get an inferno which is today.....

Don't dare say they should be "rare" Christ people have toppled nations in less time, do yourself a favour and spend hundreds and hundred of hours of your precious gaming time on single player grind crap like this and get nothing you want and then say they should be "rare" damn my *** is boiling lol

Now I have a problem with this game....I don't know what to do now....maelstrom is over for me but I will continue to whine to zos until they change it so you don't end up bald and angry 24/7 like me.

@XaXa godspeed in your quest for the holy weapon of 7 months grind....may it be as swift as possible..

XaXa · July 2016

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

XaXa wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Have you even read the thread?

People are going 5, 10, 15+ runs without a SINGLE weapon dropping. The drop rate is broken and with ZoS blatant dilution of the loot tables with subpar traits at end game content its even worse.

Like you said you cant even complete vMA.

Come back when you have wasted time on 50+ runs and dont even have a single endgame viable weapon and tell me its fine as it is.

Innit. I feel offended by that guys attitude, dude I've run VMA religiously since f'ing January....that's 7 frikin months and I mean at least 10 runs per week on average to get an inferno which is today.....

Don't dare say they should be "rare" Christ people have toppled nations in less time, do yourself a favour and spend hundreds and hundred of hours of your precious gaming time on single player grind crap like this and get nothing you want and then say they should be "rare" damn my *** is boiling lol

Now I have a problem with this game....I don't know what to do now....maelstrom is over for me but I will continue to whine to zos until they change it so you don't end up bald and angry 24/7 like me.

@XaXa godspeed in your quest for the holy weapon of 7 months grind....may it be as swift as possible..

Amen. Hopefully the construction on the house is done soon cause as of now im just sitting here.

Hopefully RNGessus will notice my absence and bless my return with a sharpened inferno.

Life tip for everyone. When getting out of the military A) dont move back in with parents no matter how much help they say they need (especially if you have good reason to think they dont need it).

And b) if you ignore the previous tip, make sure they arent planning major construction to start immediately when you get home.

Good luck with your runs everyone, keep the thread going. And keep the bombard spam on ZoS

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_KaiSchober
@ZOS_MattFiror
@Wrobel

boggie · July 2016

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Ok... for the moment we'll ignore the fact that by your own admission, you haven't even completed it once, and therefore you have zero personal experience to base your opinion on...

The weapons would be rare, even if they had a 100% drop chance off the final boss. At a 100% drop chance, the odds of getting the weapon you want on your first clear is small, and for stam builds, you have to hit that RNG jackpot 3 TIMES. And RNG aside, even if everyone who completed the place got exactly what they wanted on their first runs, you STILL wouldn't see everyone running around with them. Why? Because the bulk of the playerbase is either unable or unwilling to put in the time required to complete the place.

Even if, at the end of the run, the skies opened up and poured forth a shower of death-dealing goodness to bless the poor soul who had fought and suffered and died over and over again to get to that point, having your weapon would still MEAN something, because you had done something that the vast majority of players will NEVER do- complete Maelstrom Arena on Veteran mode.

HoolDog · July 2016

6 clears so far...

Run 1: Ring
Run 2: Ring
Run 3: nirn one handed axe
Run 4: nirn greatsword
Run 5: precise bow
Run 6: Ring

I am hitting the 50% weapon drop rate so I can't complain.

A staff would be nice as I use an Inferno wielding sorc... But this weapons are nice as I prefer Stam in Pvp.

HawkStan · July 2016

Agreed. Fix drop rate and either get rid of the useless traits or get some sort of token system.
Its crazy how i see threads like these every single day, and still not a single reply from ZOS.

I think its very very clear what the comunity's opinion is about it. Please ZOS, listen to us for once.

PurifedBladez · July 2016

boggie wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

As some people already stated (haven´t even completed vMSA myself once yet), it should be rare to get the good stuff. Especially since the maelstrom weapons are really good. Even I who haven´t completed it and realised from other players how rare the dropchance of good items are, think it should stay the way it is. What´s the point of vmsa i you get the best gear/weapons every 2:nd/3:rd run??

Ok... for the moment we'll ignore the fact that by your own admission, you haven't even completed it once, and therefore you have zero personal experience to base your opinion on...

The weapons would be rare, even if they had a 100% drop chance off the final boss. At a 100% drop chance, the odds of getting the weapon you want on your first clear is small, and for stam builds, you have to hit that RNG jackpot 3 TIMES. And RNG aside, even if everyone who completed the place got exactly what they wanted on their first runs, you STILL wouldn't see everyone running around with them. Why? Because the bulk of the playerbase is either unable or unwilling to put in the time required to complete the place.

Even if, at the end of the run, the skies opened up and poured forth a shower of death-dealing goodness to bless the poor soul who had fought and suffered and died over and over again to get to that point, having your weapon would still MEAN something, because you had done something that the vast majority of players will NEVER do- complete Maelstrom Arena on Veteran mode.

I finished it for the first time a couple nights ago. I didn't have fun lol and as a pvp player I feel really bummed out about getting maelstrom weps. Its not something I want to learn and then farm forever in the hopes of getting something I can use. Especially reading a lot of the communities stories about the drop chance. Its kinda turned me off from eso tbh. At least the enchants got a buff recently. Their really should be a pvp alternative to maelstrom weapons. You shouldn't be able to get bis weapons for pvp in pve no matter how hard the pve content. Although it could be somewhat equivalent if they added in a pvp variant.

Anyhow vMA makes me want to play eso less, makes me lose motivation on all aspects of the game I use to enjoy. I honestly wish I never played it.

Whatever though, right?

tist · July 2016

Succession ring run #9 in a row. Somewhat comical at this point.

Nifty2g · July 2016

You know, I havent ran vma for weapons in a long time but going for a certain weapons and seeing how it is ...

@ZOS_Finn the loot drop is absolutely appalling. No one running this is going for rings from a final chest, make the final chest 100% drop on maelstrom weapons.

MrCray78 · July 2016

Run 1 : Ring (Before DB)
Run 2 : Staff (Before DB)
Run 3 : Ring (After DB)
Run 4 : Ring
Run 5 : Ring
Run 6 : Ring
Run 7 : Ring
Run 8 : Ring
Run 9 : Ring
Run 10 : Ring
Run 11 : Ring
Run 12 : Ring
Run 13 : Ring
Run 14 : ?

Draxys · July 2016

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Surely the devs realize that the multiple layers of rng is what truly makes this system bad.... A 50% chance to drop a weapon (which seems to not actually be 50% atm). Then, you have to hope that rng gifts you the actual weapon you're after, which is something like a 9% chance if I'm counting all the weapons correctly (including a shield maybe? I don't even know if they exist lol). And after all that, there's an 11% chance to get the trait you want.

So to recap, you have to luck out on a 50/50 chance, then 9% after that 50% chance, and then an 11% chance to top all that off.

Any rational mind will agree that so many layers of rng is not okay.

DRXHarbinger · July 2016

Draxys wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Surely the devs realize that the multiple layers of rng is what truly makes this system bad.... A 50% chance to drop a weapon (which seems to not actually be 50% atm). Then, you have to hope that rng gifts you the actual weapon you're after, which is something like a 9% chance if I'm counting all the weapons correctly (including a shield maybe? I don't even know if they exist lol). And after all that, there's an 11% chance to get the trait you want.

So to recap, you have to luck out on a 50/50 chance, then 9% after that 50% chance, and then an 11% chance to top all that off.

Any rational mind will agree that so many layers of rng is not okay.

If you get a weapon drop it's a 1 in 99 chance it's the weapon + trait you want.

Shader_Shibes · July 2016

I think when they adjusted the drop rate %, they put the zero before the five instead of the other way round and inserted a decimal point in between.

SoulKing32 · July 2016

In my experience the drop rate of the weapons has decreased significantly after DB-patch. I havent received a single weapon out of the last chest since the patch. After 40+ runs I havent received a single twohander, not even with a bad trait. I dont think Zos realises how incredible frustrating this rng-mechanic is.

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO · July 2016

mb10 wrote: »

its fine how it is have you ever played any other games let alone MMOs?

Some items in other games have a drop rate of less than 1% so stop moaning and keep going

complaining on the forums should not change the vMSA drop rate at all in my opinion.

BEST WEAPONS IN THE GAME THEY SHOULD BE HARD TO GET!

who gives a *** about other mmo's. this game isnt trying to be other mmo's. every game doesnt need to be like other mmo's.
rng where you have to do the same content 20-100 times to get get what your looking for is terrible and most people are not happy with it, its irrelevant that its an often implemented mechanic.
and the gear would need to be MUCH stronger to justify an obscene time sink wall.

LadyNalcarya · July 2016

Draxys wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Surely the devs realize that the multiple layers of rng is what truly makes this system bad.... A 50% chance to drop a weapon (which seems to not actually be 50% atm). Then, you have to hope that rng gifts you the actual weapon you're after, which is something like a 9% chance if I'm counting all the weapons correctly (including a shield maybe? I don't even know if they exist lol). And after all that, there's an 11% chance to get the trait you want.

So to recap, you have to luck out on a 50/50 chance, then 9% after that 50% chance, and then an 11% chance to top all that off.

Any rational mind will agree that so many layers of rng is not okay.

This.
And with this system some people cant get useful weapons since Orsinium release. This is not reasonable at all, and reminds me of the worst f2p games.
Some rng can be fine, but the current system is broken due to multiple rng layers and the fact that most of traits make Maelstrom weapons useless - to the point where non-set crafted item would be better.
Also, 50% drop rate is a lie.

SublimeSparo · July 2016

So i got suckered into trying my luck in vMA again and get this-

I got 0 rings and 1 maelstrom 2h axe with the charged trait. GOML!

After not very extensive testing consisting of heavy attacking a giant in Wrothgar i managed to conclude that the sharpened battle axe of bahara's curse in my inventory outperformed this hardearned piece of endgame BiS loot by several hundered dmg per hit.

I bet you're all Jealous.

LegendaryArcher · July 2016

- 50% chance to get a weapons drop
- 1/12 chance to get the weapon of your desire
- 1/9 chance to get the trait you desire

50%*(1/12)*(1/9)=0.0046=0.46%

This means:

It will take you 218 runs on average to get the weapon of your desire. If you need three weapons, for example 2x 1h and 1x 2h, it will take you 3*218=654 vMA runs on average.

Before DB, chances to get the weapon of your desire were 50%*(1/12)*(1/3)=1.4% -> So, 72 vMA runs on average to get the weapon of your desire. Yet, in 200 vMA runs before DB, including a bunch of weekly rewards that are not even part of this math, I haven't seen a single Inferno Staff. There are others who quit the game with me who haven't seen a single Inferno Staff in over 600 vMA runs before the DB patch polluted the loot tables.

Someone saying "vMA weapons should be rare, the drop rate is fine" is, in my opinion, out of his mind.

Ch4mpTW · July 2016

LegendaryArcher wrote: »

- 50% chance to get a weapons drop
- 1/12 chance to get the weapon of your desire
- 1/9 chance to get the trait you desire

50%*(1/12)*(1/9)=0.0046=0.46%

This means:

It will take you 218 runs on average to get the weapon of your desire. If you need three weapons, for example 2x 1h and 1x 2h, it will take you 3*218=654 vMA runs on average.

Before DB, chances to get the weapon of your desire were 50%*(1/12)*(1/3)=1.4% -> So, 72 vMA runs on average to get the weapon of your desire. Yet, in 200 vMA runs before DB, including a bunch of weekly rewards that are not even part of this math, I haven't seen a single Inferno Staff. There are others who quit the game with me who haven't seen a single Inferno Staff in over 600 vMA runs before the DB patch polluted the loot tables.

Someone saying "vMA weapons should be rare, the drop rate is fine" is, in my opinion, out of his mind.

While I may not have done 600 VMA runs, I have done well over 150 and never seen an Inferno Staff. In fact, I didn't receive my first staff until a run in the late 90's or early 100's. I made a thread about it. It was a sharpened Restoration Staff. And soon after that, I received a precise Restoration Staff. I have yet to receive any Destruction Staves period, however.

As for post-DB, I received in the final chest an infused Greatsword which is trash to me, because I previously obtained a: Defending, precise, and sharpened Greatsword pre-DB. And that was the only Maelstrom weapon I've received since DB launched in the final chest.

tist · July 2016

@LegendaryArcher
It is worse than that now IMO. The drop rate is supposed to be 50% for weapons but many of us here are receiving a weapon 1/5. I am currently on a 9 ring in a row streak. 9 runs in a row without a maelstrom weapon does not happen with bad RNG.

Assuming a weapon drops 1/5, the chance to get a specific weapon would be .18%

XaXa · July 2016

Finally managed to get some time in to do that last stage (Left it there before my move)
Got a battle axe precise. seems that if I do get a weapon its a stam weapon.

/Sigh. Debating on if I want to do another run or just go outside and give myself heat stroke. they both sound about equally fun.

OnThaLoose · July 2016

Figured I'd add to this:

I guestimate I've completed vma near 100 times between my magplar, stamplar, magblade, and stamblade.

Including the weekly rewards I've gotten 20+ sword n boards, 6 resto staffs, 3 2h, 2 lightning staffs, 3 1h axes, 1 firestaff and 1 dagger (along with a plethora of crap armor and jewelry)

Before you congratulate me, the fire staff is decisive and the mael axes are charged(Wtf), decisive, and defending.

The precise dagger I have is the only good thing.

I'm still running for firestaff sharpened and mael axe sharpened, once I get those im done with vma for good.

XaXa · July 2016

Good luck with your flamestaff and mael axe.

I just need my sharp inferno and I am never setting foot in there again.

I just wish ZoS would at least acknowledge this thread and comment that the drop rate is indeed broken.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_Finn

dereck_phantom · July 2016

I completed my first vmsa run yesterday and got an inferno precise staff I'm happy with my reward but I know next time I probably won't get nothing....on to farming this depressing arena lol

drumbendrum_ESO · July 2016

Yeah since DB it feels like the drop rate is worse, at least for me it does. At least we can relax for today cause in 4 more hours we will be getting our weekly reward!

I was able to post 2 different toons on the weekly so I should be getting twice the resto staves this week!

OnThaLoose · July 2016

I don't feel like the drop rate is worse per se, but I do feel that since there are more traits now that chances are you'll never get what you want. In TG there was precise, sharp, and defending. If you actually got the item, you had a 33% chance to get the trait you wanted. Now? They've added powered, charged, decisive, nirnhoned, etc. it's much harder now.