Have you completed Veteran Maelstrom Arena? (Anniversary Edition)

Doctordarkspawn · November 2016

AJTC5000 wrote: »

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

AJTC5000 wrote: »

@Doctordarkspawn What's your progress in vMA?

Done normal, got up to around round three on a DPS I'm not really playing that often (Cuz I dont enjoy the roll and never really have) and have just sorta given up. I've actually got to Sehts Flywheel on my tank, but dont care to finish it on either. I wont farm it because it'd be hell, and I dont play my DPS enough to warrent geting the weapons.

I'm *** at vMA and I hate it with a passion -- putting that out there. But if you haven't experienced the harder 2/3 of the vet version of the arena, and are basing all of your arguments off of your experience in normal mode . . .

It is a learning curve, and although it's one that you don't necessarily have to adhere to, it is easier to do it in some ways than others. That's just how things work.

I'm not necessarily basing my arguements off the normal, but like I said I have played it to a large extent and I know what mechanics would be a royal *** on vet. So. That's where I'm coming from, I've experienced the difficulty and what I have not exactly experienced, I can reasonibly infer.

LegendaryArcher · November 2016

KochDerDamonen wrote: »

Still don't have any interest, don't log onto this game to play alone for hours, don't have a strong enough desire for the (imo ugly, except for the shield which literally does nothing special) maelstrom weapons to put myself through content I don't want to do, probably don't even have the mechanical skill or build sense necessary.

Well, any crafted, non-set Sharpened weapon is better than a non-Sharpened vMA. And you won't get the Sharpened weapon you want in under 1000 runs. Probably not even after. vMA clears = usable vMA weapons is a veeeery wrong assumption.

Wollust · November 2016

LegendaryArcher wrote: »

KochDerDamonen wrote: »

Still don't have any interest, don't log onto this game to play alone for hours, don't have a strong enough desire for the (imo ugly, except for the shield which literally does nothing special) maelstrom weapons to put myself through content I don't want to do, probably don't even have the mechanical skill or build sense necessary.

Well, any crafted, non-set Sharpened weapon is better than a non-Sharpened vMA. And you won't get the Sharpened weapon you want in under 1000 runs. Probably not even after. vMA clears = usable vMA weapons is a veeeery wrong assumption.

I got every weapon in sharpened with something like 50-60 runs or so though.
It's RNG, you can never make a general assumption with it.

Though I do support a token system for the poor people that never had luck with it. And I guess there is a lot of those.

LegendaryArcher · November 2016

Wollust wrote: »

LegendaryArcher wrote: »

KochDerDamonen wrote: »

Still don't have any interest, don't log onto this game to play alone for hours, don't have a strong enough desire for the (imo ugly, except for the shield which literally does nothing special) maelstrom weapons to put myself through content I don't want to do, probably don't even have the mechanical skill or build sense necessary.

Well, any crafted, non-set Sharpened weapon is better than a non-Sharpened vMA. And you won't get the Sharpened weapon you want in under 1000 runs. Probably not even after. vMA clears = usable vMA weapons is a veeeery wrong assumption.

I got every weapon in sharpened with something like 50-60 runs or so though.
It's RNG, you can never make a general assumption with it.

Though I do support a token system for the poor people that never had luck with it. And I guess there is a lot of those.

Out of curiosity, was it before DB or after? Because getting every weapon in Sharpened after DB in 50 - 60 runs... that's insane. We're looking at a chance somewhere in the 10^(-30) area (30 zeros after comma).

However, before DB, if you were getting on the leaderboard every week, which pretty much guaranteed a usable weapon, 50 - 60 runs to get every single weapon in good traits is pretty average.

I see you're from Well-Fitted. So you know Decado. How is he? Has he hit the 1200 runs by now without a Sharpened Inferno?

Carl-lan · November 2016

Still trying to get past stage 5 on vet. Tried again today but died heap of times on the boss. Really frustrating. Getting closer though. I'm determined to get it done!

smashcats · November 2016

I have never beat vet maelstrom I got to poison round 7 and gave up cause i was already in for 2+ hours getting there and then died like 100 times and I havent gone back yet...

And from all the horror stories I imagine all my blood and sweat trying to beat vMA is not going to be rewarded anyways as I only have interest in sharpened staves and sharpened 2h weapons, I don't think I would be able to stomach opening up the chest just to be super dissappointed in what I get anyways......

so just not even going to bother and i'll go ahead and make builds based on other weapons (even though I wish I had vMA weapons)

Knootewoot · November 2016

I must admit I haven't tried. I did normal mode 2 times.

I am still planning to do it because I want some sharpened staves. But because of my RNG luck I gave up before even trying.

Wollust · November 2016

LegendaryArcher wrote: »

Wollust wrote: »

LegendaryArcher wrote: »

KochDerDamonen wrote: »

Still don't have any interest, don't log onto this game to play alone for hours, don't have a strong enough desire for the (imo ugly, except for the shield which literally does nothing special) maelstrom weapons to put myself through content I don't want to do, probably don't even have the mechanical skill or build sense necessary.

Well, any crafted, non-set Sharpened weapon is better than a non-Sharpened vMA. And you won't get the Sharpened weapon you want in under 1000 runs. Probably not even after. vMA clears = usable vMA weapons is a veeeery wrong assumption.

I got every weapon in sharpened with something like 50-60 runs or so though.
It's RNG, you can never make a general assumption with it.

Though I do support a token system for the poor people that never had luck with it. And I guess there is a lot of those.

Out of curiosity, was it before DB or after? Because getting every weapon in Sharpened after DB in 50 - 60 runs... that's insane. We're looking at a chance somewhere in the 10^(-30) area (30 zeros after comma).

However, before DB, if you were getting on the leaderboard every week, which pretty much guaranteed a usable weapon, 50 - 60 runs to get every single weapon in good traits is pretty average.

I see you're from Well-Fitted. So you know Decado. How is he? Has he hit the 1200 runs by now without a Sharpened Inferno?

I had 3 sharpened weapons and one precise before the changes (Bow, 1h axe, 2h axe, 1h dagger), though I never bothered doing much maelstrom because I got those weapons with a maximum of 10 runs and I only needed dualwield and bow for PvE and 2h for PvP. After the changes I got in 40 runs or so sharpened frost, fire, lightning, dagger, bow, 2h sword, 2h maul plus a few more weapons with defending which I wanted for PvP and some others in precise for PvE.
And of course I got quite a few charged crap.

But anyway, I got pretty much anything I needed without much of an effort. Though I'd like to have a precise fire staff.

Oh I didn't even know he had such issues with it. Poor boy. That's why we need a token system I guess.

Ch4mpTW · November 2016

I've beaten Veteran Maelstrom Arena with all 4 classes, and even utilized obscure builds to complete it (e.g. "PetSorc").

In my opinion, VMA is incredibly easy nowadays. However, it can be easier to complete depending upon the class and type (e.g. MagDK I find to be harder than StamDK). You can complete it without having gold gear, and without utilizing a "meta"/popular build. However, just understand that you won't magically be great at completing it immediately. It'll take time to: Learn spawns, learn when to go defensive and go offensive, and to not waste soul gems.

RazorCaltrops · November 2016

I remember my days of endless farming before DB patch to prevent further runs because of new loot table, still missing 2 weapons in sharpened. It's not enjoyable yes, solo arena in an MMO sounds really weird. And it is frustrating in the beginning, all of us spent hours there for our first clear.

But believe it or not, VMA makes you a far better player. That's priceless compared to sharpened weapons.

Dubhliam · November 2016

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

AJTC5000 wrote: »

@Doctordarkspawn What's your progress in vMA?

Done normal, got up to around round three on a DPS I'm not really playing that often (Cuz I dont enjoy the roll and never really have) and have just sorta given up. I've actually got to Sehts Flywheel on my tank, but dont care to finish it on either. I wont farm it because it'd be hell, and I dont play my DPS enough to warrent geting the weapons.

For a person that hasn't gotten even halfway through the Arena, you sure do comment a lot.

Like... every other comment.

Tyrion87 · November 2016

Yes, and I got my beloved Flawless Conqueror title after about 15-20 runs. It took me 4 months to have my first vMA completion and around 2 next months to get no death. Getting no death depended more on the lack of lag than on the skill itself...

Svenja · November 2016

I am still working on my first clear.
My main ist a magplar healer, and as I don't want to respec morphs and champion points every day, I have given up on finishing vMA with that char. That one is stuck in Arena 3.
My stamblade is still stuck in Arena 2, the damage from the spinning blades just gets too much at some point.

I tried the arena with my new magsorc last week and it immediately felt better than with my other two chars, I made it to Matriarch Runa on my first run (~30 deaths so far though

). Haven't tried more since then, but I am very sure I can beat her today! Will start my next try in a few minutes, wish me luck.

At this point I don't even care about the weapons, I just want to beat that place at least once.

P.S.: You Flawless Conquerer guys, you all have my greatest respect! Whenever I see that title on someone, I am in awe.

LegendaryArcher · November 2016

Svenja wrote: »

P.S.: You Flawless Conquerer guys, you all have my greatest respect! Whenever I see that title on someone, I am in awe.

250+ flawless runs here (300 overall). I wish I never entered that place. Not a single usable vMA weapon that is better than just a crafted non-set one. You don't wanna be me, trust me.

Junipus · November 2016

It always amazes me how many people go in and do vet mode without realising that there's sigils they can take to make things so much easier and so much quicker. One of the downsides of watching people clear it flawless in <40 minutes on YouTube is they don't realise what's there to help them learn and so they come on here and *** and whine that it's too hard.

A guildie also had an epiphany yesterday after realising that things go much smoother after learning where the spawn points were at each stage, something that takes time and experience to learn. Not everyone seems to understand that just like everything else in game it takes practice and numerous attempts to get through the whole arena smoothly and can't be done first time.

Since people still complain about it, I put it to them that if they give up after a few attempts because it's "too hard" or "too difficult" without actually practicing them they're also likely to have unsatisfied partners in their personal lives since they give up too easily.

Reorx_Holybeard · November 2016

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

...
Two. It's a DPS race. That's what it is, a single player DPS race. It's designed as a single player trial, and this does not mesh well with endurance tests. It basicly just ammounts to 'can you kill it before it and the mechanics kill you?' It's why so many Maelstrom setups use twohanded, the burst damage is the best way of accomplishing it.
...

Very little of vMA is an actual DPS race depending on how you define the term:

Doing more DPS makes everything easier.
You need a minimum DPS or its "impossible".

#1 is true for everything in ESO but usually when we say a "DPS race" we are talking about #2 and only two or three bosses in vMA fit this description. If we look at the bosses for each stage:

Definitely a DPS race as he heals more and more each time he summons things.
There's no benefit to rushing here so better to take your time, avoid the blades and AoEs and DPS them down as you can. Actually, there's a little DPS race here...if you can DPS one robot down so he disengages you won't have to fight more than one robot at a time but this is a soft race. It's a little harder to fight with all 3 running after you firing AoEs but not impossible and for some classes it may actually be easier to fight all 3 with AoE abilities.
I believe adds spawn on a timer so there's a little race here if you can't kill the adds and eventually get overcome.
There's a DPS race here as if you can't kill the boss by the time the first mini-boss add spawns it become much, much harder. Eventually you'll get overrun by adds if you reach this point.
This one is actually the opposite of a DPS race and you do better by not rushing. Adds spawn and mechanics occur by the bosses Health so you completely control the pace of the fight.
Trying to rush the boss will likely lead to death by adds or AoE. Kill adds as they spawn, uncover obelisks and DPS when the boss is stunned. I believe there is an enrage mechanism with the boss but I've never encountered it and you won't either if you focus on the mechanics.
Rushing here tends to lead to death by flower. Better to watch out for summoners and the lightning people while slowly DPSing the boss down.
No need to rush here and trying to do it too fast leads to problems with adds spawning while you are trying to DPS the boss.
When learning the fight its much easier to take it as slow as you need to. Rushing here leads to wipes unless you are very familiar with it.

So other than 1, 4 and maybe 3 a bit most vMA bosses are easier dealt with at first by a more slow and steady approach. I know I've died more on the last boss due to simple mistakes from me trying to rush the fight.

Elloa · November 2016

I may try it one day. possibly maybe.
Or not.
Not sure yet.

Junipus · November 2016

Elloa wrote: »

I may try it one day. possibly maybe.
Or not.
Not sure yet.

There's never any harm in trying.

Dymence · November 2016

Reorx_Holybeard wrote: »

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

...
Two. It's a DPS race. That's what it is, a single player DPS race. It's designed as a single player trial, and this does not mesh well with endurance tests. It basicly just ammounts to 'can you kill it before it and the mechanics kill you?' It's why so many Maelstrom setups use twohanded, the burst damage is the best way of accomplishing it.
...

Very little of vMA is an actual DPS race depending on how you define the term:
Doing more DPS makes everything easier.

You need a minimum DPS or its "impossible".

#1 is true for everything in ESO but usually when we say a "DPS race" we are talking about #2 and only two or three bosses in vMA fit this description. If we look at the bosses for each stage:
Definitely a DPS race as he heals more and more each time he summons things.

There's no benefit to rushing here so better to take your time, avoid the blades and AoEs and DPS them down as you can. Actually, there's a little DPS race here...if you can DPS one robot down so he disengages you won't have to fight more than one robot at a time but this is a soft race. It's a little harder to fight with all 3 running after you firing AoEs but not impossible and for some classes it may actually be easier to fight all 3 with AoE abilities.

I believe adds spawn on a timer so there's a little race here if you can't kill the adds and eventually get overcome.

There's a DPS race here as if you can't kill the boss by the time the first mini-boss add spawns it become much, much harder. Eventually you'll get overrun by adds if you reach this point.

This one is actually the opposite of a DPS race and you do better by not rushing. Adds spawn and mechanics occur by the bosses Health so you completely control the pace of the fight.

Trying to rush the boss will likely lead to death by adds or AoE. Kill adds as they spawn, uncover obelisks and DPS when the boss is stunned. I believe there is an enrage mechanism with the boss but I've never encountered it and you won't either if you focus on the mechanics.

Rushing here tends to lead to death by flower. Better to watch out for summoners and the lightning people while slowly DPSing the boss down.

No need to rush here and trying to do it too fast leads to problems with adds spawning while you are trying to DPS the boss.

When learning the fight its much easier to take it as slow as you need to. Rushing here leads to wipes unless you are very familiar with it.

So other than 1, 4 and maybe 3 a bit most vMA bosses are easier dealt with at first by a more slow and steady approach. I know I've died more on the last boss due to simple mistakes from me trying to rush the fight.

3rd stage adds are percentage not timed

Devlin69 · November 2016

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

Cant beat stage 1 lol

Same here

MissBizz · November 2016

Haven't tried yet. Plan to one day do it though, unfortunately I don't think attempting it during the anniversary event is the best idea for me haha.

Izaki · November 2016

After the event I'm done with the arena. If I get what I'm looking for then its cool if I don't screw it. I finished it on a mage sorc, mage NB, stam sorc and stam DK. After the first few clears you start to like vMA for testing stuff out. Then after you got all the daggers, axes and bows you need, you get all hyped up for dat destro staff. After 50 runs you still don't get it and you're like screw this *** I'd rather get together with some guildies and smash some trial.

CultOfMMO · November 2016

@Doctordarkspawn

i enocurage you to get in there and try again. There quite literally is only 1 single mechanic in the whole arena that has ZERO counterplay, and thats the shrooms appearing under the shield in stage 7 boss fight. Everything else can be managed and strategized. If you're lacking specifically dps then whats stopping you from spamming that power sigil?

There are a lot of legitimate reasons here why ppl have stopped pursuing, most ppl here refer to the RNG, which i completely agree with. vMA is rewarding not in the loot sense, but its way better than that, it literally makes you the absolute best possible version of yourself as an ESO player.

Dont think i can say this any nicer, but of all the comments and arguments, only yours seem like a simple lack of motivation and effort. It really is not hard at all, just takes time. Just because the mechanics are challenging to manage with, it does not mean they're bad design and BS.

idk · November 2016

Removed comment.

Wrecking_Blow_Spam · November 2016

Beat it on all 4 classes both stam and magic types so 8 in total.

Also have a couple of flawless Conqueror titles, would be more if not for being dashboarded. Not bad for a "console scrub".

Jaronking · November 2016

Am farm the crap out of the VMA next week at least 7-10 runs a day am planning.If I don't get 1 sharpened DW or 2h even a bow am done with ESO but that would be to much of BIS RNG. Doing it 7 timed a day that's 196 weapons if none of those weapons doesn't drop anything useful than I don't understand what I need to do.

Jimbullbee85 · November 2016

So far my characters are more support based (tanks/healers) so haven't really had chance to have a go at it. I've just finished grinding and kitting out a redguard stampler that has 4K buffed weapon damage so I'm going to give it a go tonight. Ive got two sets that ill need to swap out and experiment with though. Viper and hubdings for dam and crit, and blackrose and viper for tankiness and sustain. I think the latter will probs be best. Wish me luck!

isthatujonwayne · November 2016

Completed on mag sorc, stam sorc, stam dk, stam nb. Had 3 sharpened inferno staffs! And countless restos. But yet to have a sharpened 1 hand or 2 hand

Junipus · November 2016

Jimbullbee85 wrote: »

So far my characters are more support based (tanks/healers) so haven't really had chance to have a go at it. I've just finished grinding and kitting out a redguard stampler that has 4K buffed weapon damage so I'm going to give it a go tonight. Ive got two sets that ill need to swap out and experiment with though. Viper and hubdings for dam and crit, and blackrose and viper for tankiness and sustain. I think the latter will probs be best. Wish me luck!

I'd suggest Viper and Hunding since you're going to want to make use of that 4k weapon damage to kill rather than survive. I'd also suggest vigor, cleansing ritual and bloodcraze for your healing so you survive better.

code65536 · November 2016

isthatujonwayne wrote: »

Completed on mag sorc, stam sorc, stam dk, stam nb. Had 3 sharpened inferno staffs! And countless restos. But yet to have a sharpened 1 hand or 2 hand

If I could, I'd give you my six sharpened 2-handers that are sitting there collecting dust for just one sharpened inferno.