How to be a PRO vMA Player

TotterTates

Hey everyone,

Cuppincakes here bringing you an exclusive look into the world of competitive vet Maelstrom Arena.

I currently hold the NA record for Dragonknights (#2 world) with a score of 455,702.

These are highlights from this week's runs, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqjn6WvOAi0

Xendyn

Yay for a guy with a sense of humor.
Thx for the smile tonight, needed that...thumbs up.

TotterTates

Xendyn wrote: »

Yay for a guy with a sense of humor.
Thx for the smile tonight, needed that...thumbs up.

Everyone deserves a smile

Glad you found it entertaining! Already getting downvotes from people who I'm guessing want to be pro...

tangy.citrus

Its unfortunate, but i think you're the only one who is still doing vma on dk competitively in NA. Kuscoe is pretty much done with it, at least for now. Doubt he will pick it up again, im sure swagg is the same way unless he hasnt gotten his staves yet.

Just too early imo for the solo content

Congratz though, sick shiet on stam dk.

Valrien

LOL, I loved this. Even as a Magicka Sorcerer I've had my share of deaths...so hilarious.

Wollust

This is what loads of people fail to see. Even the competitive and hardcore players have their fair amount of deaths and frustration in there.

Awesome video, sounds very familiar

Daveheart

tangy.citrus wrote: »

Its unfortunate, but i think you're the only one who is still doing vma on dk competitively in NA. Kuscoe is pretty much done with it, at least for now. Doubt he will pick it up again, im sure swagg is the same way unless he hasnt gotten his staves yet.

Just too early imo for the solo content

Congratz though, sick shiet on stam dk.

Last I checked, swag still didn't have the staves.

swaggasm

tangy.citrus wrote: »

Its unfortunate, but i think you're the only one who is still doing vma on dk competitively in NA. Kuscoe is pretty much done with it, at least for now. Doubt he will pick it up again, im sure swagg is the same way unless he hasnt gotten his staves yet.

Just too early imo for the solo content

Congratz though, sick shiet on stam dk.

still no staff

TotterTates

Happy everyone is getting a kick out of this!

Swag, we'll never get our weapons.

ssewallb14_ESO

I legitimately lol'd at accidentally uppercutting the mage caster in stage 7.

Thelon

rip

TotterTates

ssewallb14_ESO wrote: »

I legitimately lol'd at accidentally uppercutting the mage caster in stage 7.

I knew what was happening as soon as the WB animation started... I just accepted my fate.

Thelon wrote: »

rip

You always say the most beautiful things to me

Heindrich

lol awesome video @TotterTates . All those crying about vMA should see this and realise just how much pain even the top players go through to accomplish the scores they do. There really is no substitute for perseverance and a little intelligence to work out what you are doing wrong so you avoid dying in that particular way next time.

Of course there are a million ways to die in vMA

Also how could you still not have whatever staff you want? I'm nowhere near as hardcore as you and I already have every single weapon I really wanted in the traits I wanted them Even deconn'd 2 Sharpened Inferno staff already, felt wrong but couldn't see why I'd ever need more than one.

Tacadrie

Congratulation for your #1 NA. I recognized several dead in your video ^^

@Heindrich : I have done vMA dozens of times and I have loot only one fire staff.

TotterTates

Heindrich wrote: »

lol awesome video @TotterTates . All those crying about vMA should see this and realise just how much pain even the top players go through to accomplish the scores they do. There really is no substitute for perseverance and a little intelligence to work out what you are doing wrong so you avoid dying in that particular way next time.

Of course there are a million ways to die in vMA

Also how could you still not have whatever staff you want? I'm nowhere near as hardcore as you and I already have every single weapon I really wanted in the traits I wanted them Even deconn'd 2 Sharpened Inferno staff already, felt wrong but couldn't see why I'd ever need more than one.

Thanks, that was my purpose for creating the video

I have plenty of staves... because I don't use them. I also have multiple copies of every other weapon with sharpened/precise... except for the sharpened maul (the only thing I really want in there).

Tacadrie wrote: »

Congratulation for your #1 NA. I recognized several dead in your video ^^

@Heindrich : I have done vMA dozens of times and I have loot only one fire staff.

Thank you! Congrats on your incredible score (I know you've had the 463k for a while), very impressive. Not sure I can do that as stamina

Nifty2g

tangy.citrus wrote: »

Its unfortunate, but i think you're the only one who is still doing vma on dk competitively in NA. Kuscoe is pretty much done with it, at least for now. Doubt he will pick it up again, im sure swagg is the same way unless he hasnt gotten his staves yet.

Just too early imo for the solo content

Congratz though, sick shiet on stam dk.

Agreed, the competition is little to none, I haven't tried to beat my score in almost a month and I dropped from #1 to #3 in that time. That's how little competition there is for templars seems the same for all the other classes too.

Ahzek

Fun vid

Also i have noticed a very kwel (new ?) bug in my latest 2 vMA runs (in the last 2 weeks ...) where after dieing to the final boss during the second stage then sometimes when entering the stage again through the hub portal the lava would drop all over the place, not just the edge of the arena, until you went back to the edge and actually triggered the mechanic. This pretty much turns it into stage 8+9 regarding environemntal effects and it looks pretty epic.
Did anyone else experience this ?

TotterTates

Ahzek wrote: »

Fun vid

Also i have noticed a very kwel (new ?) bug in my latest 2 vMA runs (in the last 2 weeks ...) where after dieing to the final boss during the second stage then sometimes when entering the stage again through the hub portal the lava would drop all over the place, not just the edge of the arena, until you went back to the edge and actually triggered the mechanic. This pretty much turns it into stage 8+9 regarding environemntal effects and it looks pretty epic.
Did anyone else experience this ?

Yea, I've seen it a few times... I just ignored it until I destroyed the 3 crystals.

Jhunn

This is great.

Tacadrie

TotterTates wrote: »

Thank you! Congrats on your incredible score (I know you've had the 463k for a while), very impressive. Not sure I can do that as stamina

Thank you too ^^ It complicated at magicka DK so I can not imagine how hard it is in stamina.
During my last try I died senselessly with 1min ahead of my record. So I can improve a little my score . I try to touch 470k ^^

Gilliamtherogue

Thanks for summing up my past 2 weeks as I've tried to go for no death vma as stamina. I hope ZoS takes a look at this vid (even in its non serious manner) and starts to retract their statement on being "content with its current state".
-A lot of deaths can be from simple mistake, but some of the stuff is appalling. You die so many times while dodge rolling it boggles my mind. Our only form of defense, which is extremely punishing to our damage and continued surviability, and it can't even work reliably.
-Getting volatile poison under a shielder, forcing your death with literally 0 counter play. Why is this even possible?
-Dying in under 2 seconds to volatile poison, which was introduced as a risk reward mechanic as you deal increased damage and remove troll and boss enrage while under the effect but are unable to utilize this intended mechanic outside of normal mode as it kills you almost instantly.
-Having to channel the ghost synergy and being vulnerable to damage and CC whilst doing so.

I could probably spend another hour writing up how awful this place is but you probably already know full well. Anyways, sorry for hijacking your funny post and turning it into a negative nancy srs business awareness post. I rate 10/10 quality game, worthy of MMO of the year (especially with this solo pve content whilst we have 8+ month old trials left dead)

danno8

Nifty2g wrote: »

tangy.citrus wrote: »

Its unfortunate, but i think you're the only one who is still doing vma on dk competitively in NA. Kuscoe is pretty much done with it, at least for now. Doubt he will pick it up again, im sure swagg is the same way unless he hasnt gotten his staves yet.

Just too early imo for the solo content

Congratz though, sick shiet on stam dk.

Agreed, the competition is little to none, I haven't tried to beat my score in almost a month and I dropped from #1 to #3 in that time. That's how little competition there is for templars seems the same for all the other classes too.

Many don't find it fun.

And if they do find it fun, the consecutive hours you need to learn and complete is too much.

And if you do find it fun, and have the time, the RNG can kill your motivation.

I find myself in group B mainly. I think a save feature would have made the vMSA far more popular/doable. Too bad they couldn't figure out a way to make it work.

To the OP, I love the video. As someone who was still in the "learning" phase of vMSA before I gave up on it, I have to say it looks mightily familiar.

NateAssassin

How to be pro at vMA:

Step 1: L2P
Step 2: ...
Step 3. Profit

Jhunn

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

-Getting volatile poison under a shielder, forcing your death with literally 0 counter play. Why is this even possible?

This lol. This *** almost cost me a new mouse.

Gilliamtherogue

Jhunn wrote: »

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

-Getting volatile poison under a shielder, forcing your death with literally 0 counter play. Why is this even possible?

This lol. This *** almost cost me a new mouse.

I broke my theory crafting calculator after that happened 3 times in a row. RIP

Shader_Shibes

Hahah awesome Do you have a swear box at home? You should .

I've watched a few of your live streams, enjoy watching your runs.

vMSA has cost me a headset and a sweatshirt i ripped off my torso xD, but now it's less stressful.

swaggasm

TotterTates wrote: »

Happy everyone is getting a kick out of this!

Swag, we'll never get our weapons.

ikr

Tacadrie wrote: »

Congratulation for your #1 NA. I recognized several dead in your video ^^

@Heindrich : I have done vMA dozens of times and I have loot only one fire staff.

I've only looted 2 inferno staffs both defending lol

TotterTates

Jhunn wrote: »

This is great.

Thanks, figured it was time to lighten up the vMA posts!

Shader_Shibes wrote: »

Hahah awesome Do you have a swear box at home? You should .

I've watched a few of your live streams, enjoy watching your runs.

vMSA has cost me a headset and a sweatshirt i ripped off my torso xD, but now it's less stressful.

Hey Shader! Haha, thankfully I don't have a swear box, but my wife yells at me whenever I go full tilt in there.

Happy you enjoy my streams, I hope to start streaming regularly again soon now that my semester from hell is over.

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

Thanks for summing up my past 2 weeks as I've tried to go for no death vma as stamina. I hope ZoS takes a look at this vid (even in its non serious manner) and starts to retract their statement on being "content with its current state".
-A lot of deaths can be from simple mistake, but some of the stuff is appalling. You die so many times while dodge rolling it boggles my mind. Our only form of defense, which is extremely punishing to our damage and continued surviability, and it can't even work reliably.
-Getting volatile poison under a shielder, forcing your death with literally 0 counter play. Why is this even possible?
-Dying in under 2 seconds to volatile poison, which was introduced as a risk reward mechanic as you deal increased damage and remove troll and boss enrage while under the effect but are unable to utilize this intended mechanic outside of normal mode as it kills you almost instantly.
-Having to channel the ghost synergy and being vulnerable to damage and CC whilst doing so.

I could probably spend another hour writing up how awful this place is but you probably already know full well. Anyways, sorry for hijacking your funny post and turning it into a negative nancy srs business awareness post. I rate 10/10 quality game, worthy of MMO of the year (especially with this solo pve content whilst we have 8+ month old trials left dead)

Between dodgeroll deaths and projectiles ignoring my wings, I'm on my third mouse since i first stepped into vMA. The poison clouds are toward the bottom of my rage list now, but don't even get me started on the white ghosts or channeled explosion...

danno8 wrote: »

To the OP, I love the video. As someone who was still in the "learning" phase of vMSA before I gave up on it, I have to say it looks mightily familiar.

So happy you enjoyed it. I usually record all my runs just so I can go back and review my strategies. I felt posting this would be cathartic for me, while providing others with a bit of lighthearted entertainment. I wish I could sit here and say that vMA becomes easy at some point... but I'd be lying. Hope you get a chance to get back in there and beat it!

Gilliamtherogue

TotterTates wrote: »

Between dodgeroll deaths and projectiles ignoring my wings, I'm on my third mouse since i first stepped into vMA. The poison clouds are toward the bottom of my rage list now, but don't even get me started on the white ghosts or channeled explosion...

Oh you mean those white ghosts that deal damage through dodge roll? :^)

Kildayen

Hey bro! Great job with the video. You made me LOL a lot!

This sums up VMSA perfectly. Thumbs up!

Xantaria

TotterTates wrote: »

Hey everyone,

Cuppincakes here bringing you an exclusive look into the world of competitive vet Maelstrom Arena.

I currently hold the NA record for Dragonknights (#2 world) with a score of 455,702.

These are highlights from this week's runs, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqjn6WvOAi0

You ENJOY vMA?

Stop lying.