My thoughts on maelstrom arena

attackjet

I never had the wrothgar dlc, so I never really knew what all the talk with vMA was about, until I played it for the first time yesterday.....


And by jebus himself, it is awesome! Such a beautiful area.

The arena is very challenging, something you seldom see in this game (kinda). I'm on the 3rd round right now and can't wait to complete it. Hopefully I get a 2h weapon, eh?

But in all reality, people love to hate on vMA, and I just can't see why. I understand its hard (I'm a stamblade, 531 cp) and the mechanics take awhile to understand, but isn't that what we want? Does anyone want a super easy solo arena? Like minecraft? No.

The area is majestic and the arena is hard AF, not to mention the good loot you get at the end.

So to you, the reader, do you like or not like vMA, and if so, why?

Lord_Wrath

I learned the mechanics but the final boss is too psycho for me. Too much crap to watch out for while timing actions. One mistake and you drop dead almost every time.

It is fun with the other rounds once you figure them out.

Strider_Roshin

Oh that's not why we hate it. Good luck getting that 2H with sharpened lol

attackjet

Strider_Roshin wrote: »

Oh that's not why we hate it. Good luck getting that 2H with sharpened lol

Oh you hate it? Why is that?

Wollust

I don't mind doing it, it's pretty easy imo.

I do mind it being solo content. I play MMOs for the group stuff, not to spend many hours by myself getting the best weapons and such.

dem0n1k

I think I am just too casual for it. I got stuck on the spiral shadows round & had a terrible time, missing ques & not seeing the webspinners until too late. I finally got past the final boss of spiral shadows by the skin of my teeth & pretty much gave up at this point. I will probably come back to it at some point.

I agree, it's a great zone that looks fantastic & good for XP & honing your skills with your character. Even though I am crap at it... I hope ZOS leave it as hard as it currently is. Some content should be really hard for the folk that want the challenge.

Seratopia

Wollust wrote: »

I don't mind doing it, it's pretty easy imo.

I do mind it being solo content. I play MMOs for the group stuff, not to spend many hours by myself getting the best weapons and such.

Yeah it gets lonely and depressing in there all alone. If only they had a two person arena.

Destyran

Lord_Wrath wrote: »

I learned the mechanics but the final boss is too psycho for me. Too much crap to watch out for while timing actions. One mistake and you drop dead almost every time.

It is fun with the other rounds once you figure them out.

Cmon the last boss is the easiest i wish it was just 9 rounds of killing him.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

The difficulty is not the issue. The challenge is appropriate. Call me on your 100th run when you still dont have a decent 2hander that you are after. All the luck to you, but the RNG is what sucks.

Ch4mpTW

My disliking of VMA comes from the things outside of our control as the players. Meaning that my issues lie with: Bugs, lag, RNG, etc. Those are the things I have an issue with. When you've done over 100 runs (or in some people's cases 1,000 runs), and still have not seen a certain weapon type or received a weapon in a certain trait — it causes hostility. It causes extreme hostility, as well as a sense of dread. Factor that in with the uncontrollable things I listed above, and VMA transforms into a cesspool of negativity and overall unhappy memories.

acw37162

Even your very best Malestrom run will at some point make you want to break your keyboard/controller.

Good luck with that 2h.

Ch4mpTW

acw37162 wrote: »

Even your very best Malestrom run will at some point make you want to break your keyboard/controller.

Good luck with that 2h.

In my case, it was a coffee table. Lol.

Some_Guy

Wollust wrote: »

I don't mind doing it, it's pretty easy imo.

I do mind it being solo content. I play MMOs for the group stuff, not to spend many hours by myself getting the best weapons and such.

Wrothgar was designed to be a solo area in anticipation of a severely decrease player population as the release of Fallout drew near. It gave players new content for those who were staying, yet, knowing that the player base would decrease (and it did, quite a bit), would be playable by those who remained. VMA pandered specifically to the "elistists" (as that few could even complete it at all when it first released). Now, it's a joke and a cake walk, able to be cleared in 40 minutes.
As for group content (for those of us lucky enough to have friends to play with), this game has plenty of dungeons, trials, and bosses that "require" groups to finish.

Jaronking

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

My disliking of VMA comes from the things outside of our control as the players. Meaning that my issues lie with: Bugs, lag, RNG, etc. Those are the things I have an issue with. When you've done over 100 runs (or in some people's cases 1,000 runs), and still have not seen a certain weapon type or received a weapon in a certain trait — it causes hostility. It causes extreme hostility, as well as a sense of dread. Factor that in with the uncontrollable things I listed above, and VMA transforms into a cesspool of negativity and overall unhappy memories.

I just want a sharpened 2h but all I have is a sharpened sword and a sharpened inferno staff.It sucks just give me what the hell I want.

Soleya

So far my biggest problem with the arena is deaths you can't control. (sorry for the poor video quality)

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

Completely outside the red, still dead. 90ms ping.

DannyLV702

I got my sharpened 2h maul on my second run. It was honestly the first weapon I wanted, I was lucky. Now unless your luck is a good as mine, you may soon learn the real reason why people hate vma...

Vangy

attackjet wrote: »

I never had the wrothgar dlc, so I never really knew what all the talk with vMA was about, until I played it for the first time yesterday.....


And by jebus himself, it is awesome! Such a beautiful area.

The arena is very challenging, something you seldom see in this game (kinda). I'm on the 3rd round right now and can't wait to complete it. Hopefully I get a 2h weapon, eh?

But in all reality, people love to hate on vMA, and I just can't see why. I understand its hard (I'm a stamblade, 531 cp) and the mechanics take awhile to understand, but isn't that what we want? Does anyone want a super easy solo arena? Like minecraft? No.

The area is majestic and the arena is hard AF, not to mention the good loot you get at the end.

So to you, the reader, do you like or not like vMA, and if so, why?

Come back in about 3 months after you clear vMA 1000030123012491204012 times and keep getting powered items. Lets see how u feel then. Ur late to the party bro. Which is why its all sunshine and rainbows for u.

Brrrofski

First you'll hate it because it's hard.

Then you learn to do it and the next run or two is filled with hope as you laugh through the stages.

Then you realise you've done it ten times and and have yet to have one legitimately good drop.

Then you realise you might have to do this forever.

FOREVER.

Qbiken

The reason people dislike it (I don´t) is the bad RNG at the end. When you´ve done the vMSA a few times on a character it´s not that difficult (never thought I would ever say such a thing XD ). I haven´t done that many runs (perhaps 15-ish runs in total, not sure tho) so I haven´t felt the extreme frustration of not getting the weapon I want. I´ve had really good luck with the rng sometimes, even got my self 2 sharp destro.....

FailSaucePro

The crazy amount of rng in the arena, the lag, and the stupid mechanics make it a very frustrating place. It's pretty fun the first few times and then maybe still fun when you start to get scores that stick on the leaderboard but when you do it over and over just to get powered and decisive weapons it starts to get to you.

Vildebill

We hate the RNG. The arena itself is not that bad when you learn it. Some stuff are just bad design though like the random poison in round 7, that I still hate sometimes. Good luck getting your 2 hander in sharpened

jeo329

My sharpened axe drop second time nirn inferno staff first

SublimeSparo

Still yet to get a single sharpened weapon of any kind out of the chest. 9 of my 12 characters are stormproof. Completed it on every class/stat combo, loads of leaderboard weeklies, hundreds of completes and nada.
I just run it for the lolz now. Did it on an infallible aether, elegant, double pet sorc, by mine camping and using lightning heavy attacks- actually really easy and chilled lol
https://youtu.be/tWSX1cB1jCA
Did it on reactive, malubeth, transmutation templar vamp stage 4 was pretty funny.
Not sure what to try next- any suggestions?

Ch4mpTW

SublimeSparo wrote: »

Still yet to get a single sharpened weapon of any kind out of the chest. 9 of my 12 characters are stormproof. Completed it on every class/stat combo, loads of leaderboard weeklies, hundreds of completes and nada.
I just run it for the lolz now. Did it on an infallible aether, elegant, double pet sorc, by mine camping and using lightning heavy attacks- actually really easy and chilled lol
https://youtu.be/tWSX1cB1jCA
Did it on reactive, malubeth, transmutation templar vamp stage 4 was pretty funny.
Not sure what to try next- any suggestions?

LMAO! Bruh shhhh! No one must know the "OP-ness" that is a MagSorc-PetSorc in VMA. Quickly fix your post. Let people keep using MagNB's and MagTemplars. Before you know it, the combat devs will nerf us MagSorc users again. And to be honest? I absolutely love having 55k-60k max magicka, with obnoxiously strong Empowered Wards.

DPShiro

I love the arena, mechanics and the challenge when first learning it!

I hate the RNG on the drops, and we really need a traitchange option for master crafters or a token system or even both.

Also wish they would implement a hard mode like in trials and dungeons for an even greater challenge.

HawkStan

Loved it at first. Now that im decent at it, it became a grind for loot. A solo grind. With rng at the end and 45 min to even get there its very painfull. I like the arena, how hard it is and the mechanics, but not for 100 times.

SublimeSparo

DPShiro wrote: »

I love the arena, mechanics and the challenge when first learning it!

I hate the RNG on the drops, and we really need a traitchange option for master crafters or a token system or even both.

Also wish they would implement a hard mode like in trials and dungeons for an even greater challenge.

Hm is letting last boss get 3 ghosts, surviving and beating him while a fkame colossus is up at the same time

Armitas

attackjet wrote: »

I never had the wrothgar dlc, so I never really knew what all the talk with vMA was about, until I played it for the first time yesterday.....


And by jebus himself, it is awesome! Such a beautiful area.

The arena is very challenging, something you seldom see in this game (kinda). I'm on the 3rd round right now and can't wait to complete it. Hopefully I get a 2h weapon, eh?

So to you, the reader, do you like or not like vMA, and if so, why?

It's all fun and games until frozen rink and mushroom phase. There is no hope you will get a 2h weapon, and if you do it will be powered. I enjoy the first 4 arenas, they are actually fun, all of them are, except ice and mushrooms. Every flaw and imperfection in the game shows up there and just makes for a frustrating experience.

Juhasow

Jaronking wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

My disliking of VMA comes from the things outside of our control as the players. Meaning that my issues lie with: Bugs, lag, RNG, etc. Those are the things I have an issue with. When you've done over 100 runs (or in some people's cases 1,000 runs), and still have not seen a certain weapon type or received a weapon in a certain trait — it causes hostility. It causes extreme hostility, as well as a sense of dread. Factor that in with the uncontrollable things I listed above, and VMA transforms into a cesspool of negativity and overall unhappy memories.

I just want a sharpened 2h but all I have is a sharpened sword and a sharpened inferno staff.It sucks just give me what the hell I want.

@Jaronking I would give You all 3 types of 2h with sharp i have for that 1 sharp flame staff Zenimax add maelstorm exchanging system !!!

Juhasow

Did it 1st time with 163 cp weak gear horrible performance and cp 50 stamina dropped potions in 2h 12 m. Now I am bored. With 200 cp and better gear my best time is 1h10m and 480k score. Arena is boring and laggy what makes it feel less enjoyable but more like You forcing Yourself to go there for vMA weapons just to mostly get trash You dont need at the end.

Here is prove for non belivers that it can be done with low cp.

DPShiro

SublimeSparo wrote: »

DPShiro wrote: »

I love the arena, mechanics and the challenge when first learning it!

I hate the RNG on the drops, and we really need a traitchange option for master crafters or a token system or even both.

Also wish they would implement a hard mode like in trials and dungeons for an even greater challenge.

Hm is letting last boss get 3 ghosts, surviving and beating him while a fkame colossus is up at the same time

Nope, that is just a L2P issue.
What's next, not standing on platforms on ice level while clearing it? Doing stupid stuff =/= Hard mode.

Every other mode has Hard Mode, just implement a new title and double the drops in chests =done.