Perspective on VMA

Rockndude

November 28, 2016

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_RichLambert
@ZOS_Finn

I would like to open up a discussion about VMA. I have completed it multiple times within the past 2 months on a stam sorc and once on a magicka sorc. The goal of this discussion is to bring both some positive things and some issues with the arena to light for ZOS and also a place to hold dicussions.

These are my observations and proposed changes:

1. The most pressing issue is the lag and disconnections that occur causing unnecessary deaths. Disconnects on Xbox One are guaranteed at least once per run making flawless runs and high scores near impossible. Its not just a disconnect, but the game actually quits itself and returns players to the home screen quite often. This happens not only in VMA but also any high traffic areas such as Elden Root, Mournhold, and Wayrest to name a few. Its annoying in those zones but intolerable when trying to get flawless conquerer or a high score.

2. Please do not nerf the arena! This along with VDSA and other vet trials are the reasons PvE players who are at end game keep coming back to play. The content is still challenging enough to make it interesting. Also, most of the complaints I have seen are from people who have not completed the arena who want the weapons without putting in the time and effort to learn the arena mechanics and optimizing their build. The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be earned makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content. The first time I attempted the arena I quit on the first round. I was not ready. I did not understand how to run a proper skill rotation, had low CP, and I was not geared properly at CP 200 something. Next attempt was a month or two ago as a CP 531 and it took me 10 hours to to understand through experience the final boss mechanics with help from guildmates. I probably spent a total of 20 hours on my first run over the course of 6 days. Second completion was under 2 hours, third run under an hour 30 min, averaging an hour 5 min now. It gets exponentially easier after your first completion because you know what to expect and how to run the mechanics. It made the completion that much sweeter when I struggled for so long and finally beat it. I have a guildmate who is CP 334 who is now cosistently farming VMA proving skilled players do not need 561 CP. Alcast has made an excellent video describing the mechanics and if you need help ask people who have completed it. The fact that it is difficult is what makes it worth doing. I along with others who have completed it will be very disappointed if it gets nerfed.

3. Please ZOS make the sword and board its own 2 piece set with enchantments geared toward tanking to make it worth running for tanks. The only set that drops from the chests besides weapons at the end that is worth anything is the winterborn set and sword and board is useless if running winterborn. Every time I get sword and board it is a wasted run as I end up destroying, deconstructing or researching because they will never be used.

4. The only traits worth using on Maelstrom weapons are sharpened, precise, possibly infused or nirnhoned, and possibly the one that increases healing done on resto staves. If the above suggestion was implemented for sword and board, then sturdy, reinforced, and maybe infused or divines shields would be acceptable. Every other trait for weapons and shield are completely useless and just makes players who have already proven they can complete this content have to grind out many excessive hours trying to get the trait desired. Some have done many completions and never seen a sharpened trait. Sharpened has been extensively tested and proven as the best trait unless in a trial where warhorn time is high enough and all debuffs are applied to trials bosses, then precise is best. This grind takes away from our time having fun playing other end game content with friends and turns Maelstrom into a chore and a bore. Many players are extremely discouraged by the very high time cost of many completions compared to the very low chance of being rewarded. My time is better spent elsewhere having fun with my guilds and I dread VMA because I have zero expectations of getting a good trait on a weapon.

I like the difficuly level. I like the arena mechanics including the randomness of the poison and final rounds because it keeps it fresh. I like the fact that not everybody can complete it because it makes it worth doing and worth having the stormproof/flawless title above your head as an accomplishment and the maelstrom weapons in hand as reward. My main concerns are lag/disconnects, and keeping the difficulty level where it is at.

As the CP cap increases, I would personally like to see higher difficulty PvE content introduced in upcoming DLC such as a trial that only 500 CP+ with best in slot gear are able to complete. I have not even completed VMOL yet but these kind of trials that are considered to be the most difficult are the most rewarding to complete for hardcore PvE players because it is an accomplishment.

Also, a 2 man trial would be a great addition because sometimes it is difficult to find 4 or 12 players to do trials.

Please make your contributions to this thread with the aim of improving the game. Thank you.

Lukums1

I agree with absolutely everything you said.

Here are my main points (which have been completely ignored with support tickets) - "We are working on it" LOL no you're not.

1. Round 5 - the Ice Round. You can "walk up" the platforms you get stuck why is this the case? This makes no sense. Sure I've learnt to JUMP over the bump but this is pretty damn stupid if you ask me and it seems like an easy fix as it's an environmental platform issue which I'm sure it could be lowered or raised as a model object.
2. Round 7 - I'm flawless I flawless every single run. But when a spore spawns under you while you're in the bubble from the adds on the boss round and SOMEHOW the scream didn't kill the summoner of spores that's terrible RNG.
3. Round 7 - Mid round 3-4 - I can say I 80% of the time always DC MID ROUND haha this is a joke, it's almost without fail now days. What's up with that one? Granted I do think it's something to do with PS4 PRO. But I can't be sure.


Funny enough these are my only issues with the entire arena most is L2P or L2GS (Learn to get sigils).

Non the less I agree with your write up.

Luke

Lukums1 - PS4

Izaki

Nailed it.

Rockndude

The DC issues are everywhere just particularly annoying in Maelstrom on Xbox One and this is the only game that it happens with so I am confident it is an issue with ESO on these consoles and not with ps4 or xbox systems themselves. I appreciate the responses. Ice round I jump over the platforms too lol!

Lukums1

Rockndude wrote: »

The DC issues are everywhere just particularly annoying in Maelstrom on Xbox One and this is the only game that it happens with so I am confident it is an issue with ESO on these consoles and not with ps4 or xbox systems themselves. I appreciate the responses. Ice round I jump over the platforms too lol!

Haha most everyone jumps now days. It's just too risky.

LOL

Oh boy fail issues are fail, I can't wait for something better to come out in 2017.

Rockndude

How do I tag ZOS? I really hope they see this.

Lukums1

Rockndude wrote: »

How do I tag ZOS? I really hope they see this.

The AT symbol then ZOS_

But don't bother they never respond.

code65536

There was a lot of feedback about the 1HS weapons, along with good suggestions on how to make them useful. This was over a year ago, when vMA was on the PTS. Nothing came of it. At this point, the 1HS ship had long sailed, hit the iceberg, sank, raised up, and placed in a museum.

As for disconnects, that sounds like a console issue. Never had performance issues in vMA on PC/NA.

And I don't think vMA is in any danger of being nerfed. The amount of QQ about vMA difficulty is a fraction of what it used to be a year ago. Back then, when the calls for nerfs were much greater, ZOS stood their ground, refused to nerf it because it's intended to be "aspirational" (their exact word). With power creep and a gentler learning curve (remember when you could not save vMA progress?), there are a lot more people with vMA completions today. It's a very common sight at an Undaunted camp these days.

Rockndude

Thanks for posting! I just continually see posts on the forum with people asking for nerfs on VMA because they can't complete it and it worries me because I feel like there is not enough difficult PvE content. We have four 12 man trials, a 4 man trial, and a solo trial. Dungeons are a joke besides the DLC dungeons. Even imp city and white gold are no longer very difficult because they were made easier and it saddens me.

GeneralFlogger

I have been playing on console since launch and I can say, in my opinion, that something has to be done about vMA on X1. I like challenging content as much as anyone, I really do... but as an X1 player, the rubber banding lag (which keeps you from switching weapons, teleports you back into red circles, hits you with NPC damage all at once, etc...) and DC's is enough to make you want to quit the game when dealing with challenging content such as this. I'm not kidding. I have a decent amount of time and money invested into ESO, but if they do not fix these issues, it's hard to justify sticking around in hopes that they will fulfill stabilizing the content.

Rockndude

I completely agree with your point that the lag and DCs are unbearable on console. This is my point number one above. It makes the difficulty of the arena increased sevenfold and it is not because the content is that hard. It makes very skilled players who can complete it in their sleep want to rage quit and I couldn't even imagine trying to get a first completion with the amount of lag that is occurring. It is probably contributing to people not completing it and asking for the nerf gun to be shot at VMA.

jakeedmundson

Rockndude wrote: »

November 28, 2016

The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be earned makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content.

Can you teach me how to EARN these weapons?.... apparently i haven't run it enough times to make my drops any better.

I'll just fix the line for you...

"The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be acquired by luck makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content."

Rockndude

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Rockndude wrote: »

November 28, 2016

The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be earned makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content.

Can you teach me how to EARN these weapons?.... apparently i haven't run it enough times to make my drops any better.

I'll just fix the line for you...

"The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be acquired by luck makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content."

You do not need to fix what is not broken. I stand by what I said and what I meant is that they need to be earned by working towards and completing the difficult content in the arena. This comment is for those who have not completed it that expect Maelstrom weapons to be handed to them because the content is "too hard".

The fourth point that I brought up in my original post addresses the issues with getting drops in useless traits and why currently the arena time cost is too high for the low reward we get for running it. I also offered a constructive suggestion for the weapons to drop in certain traits that are useable and would drastically cut down on the time cost of attaining Maelstrom weapons in the desired trait. If there are 4 trait options for most weapons and shields, and 5 options for resto staff, and I forgot to add defending and decisive mace and swords, you are much more likely to get the trait desired. Currently you have a 1/96 chance of getting the weapon in the desired trait per run (citation below). This is much too high. I would appreciate and prefer thought out arguments that add to the discussion in a constructive way as that is the goal of this thread.

Veteran Maelstrom Arena (vMA) drop table and probability for Shadow of the Hist:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/288027/veteran-maelstrom-arena-vma-drop-table-and-probability-for-shadow-of-the-hist

jakeedmundson

Rockndude wrote: »

jakeedmundson wrote: »

Rockndude wrote: »

November 28, 2016

The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be earned makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content.

Can you teach me how to EARN these weapons?.... apparently i haven't run it enough times to make my drops any better.

I'll just fix the line for you...

"The fact that Maelstrom weapons are not given away and need to be acquired by luck makes them something to strive for and worth completing this content."

You do not need to fix what is not broken. I stand by what I said and what I meant is that they need to be earned by working towards and completing the difficult content in the arena. This comment is for those who have not completed it that expect Maelstrom weapons to be handed to them because the content is "too hard".

The fourth point that I brought up in my original post addresses the issues with getting drops in useless traits and why currently the arena time cost is too high for the low reward we get for running it. I also offered a constructive suggestion for the weapons to drop in certain traits that are useable and would drastically cut down on the time cost of attaining Maelstrom weapons in the desired trait. If there are 4 trait options for most weapons and shields, and 5 options for resto staff, and I forgot to add defending and decisive mace and swords, you are much more likely to get the trait desired. Currently you have a 1/96 chance of getting the weapon in the desired trait per run (citation below). This is much too high. I would appreciate and prefer thought out arguments that add to the discussion in a constructive way as that is the goal of this thread.

Veteran Maelstrom Arena (vMA) drop table and probability for Shadow of the Hist:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/288027/veteran-maelstrom-arena-vma-drop-table-and-probability-for-shadow-of-the-hist

See bold above...
The point is that putting in ANY amount of time doesn't EARN you anything in this place. If that were true... you would never see people running it 100 times... 200 times or more without getting the item they're after.

also, you don't have a 1/96 chance of getting a weapon you want... that citation is incorrect. the drops are not even between each weapon.
You actually have a 1/18 chance at an inferno staff and a 1/144 chance of getting a sharpened inferno staff.
compared to a 1/6 chance of a resto staff and a 1/48 of getting that in powered or precise.

The loot tables are weighted and hint.... its not in the favor of dps weapons.
you are FAR more likely to receive a resto staff, bow, or shield drop than all others.

And yes this needs to be fixed because it IS broken... they changed a good system of drops to this terrible one after the DB update... and destroyed many peoples chances at getting an item they are after.

Rune_Relic

Theres a big difference between
a 1/96 probability and
a guaranteed preferred item every (at worst) 96 tries.

Someone has done 1500 runs i think it was, without the option they wanted ever appearing and to my knowledge, still does not have it.
So for me the biggest problem is the RNG is broken on the player/client side.
We know the server side and overall combined drop rate is fine.
Thats the problem with shared RNG...someone else has your stuff.

Syrani

Maelstrom is REALLY starting to tick me off. I get stuck in heavy attack animations ALL the time, which slows my character to a crawl. I have to dodge roll to get unstuck, wasting stamina. I know you can block too, but usually I need to dodge because now the enemies are in my face about to do a nasty hard hitting attack. I got DC'd for the first time in there yesterday (PC EU). I have had enemies warp from one position to another (lag). I have had enemies spawning much faster than they should. I have had multiple damage sources hit me all at once when the attack animations never showed (lag). I have had invisible ice platforms on stage 5. Just all kinds of really annoying things that makes me want to throw stuff.

I play this in the early morning, usually around 5:30 am or so, so it isn't prime time causing these issues, and it seems to be getting worse.

Rockndude

@jakeedmundson
The citation I provided does assume that ZOS has not misled us and that the weight is even for each item/trait but the point is made in this citation that even this amount of possible combinations assuming even weight leads to too many runs with not enough rewards. If it is in fact skewed as much of the community believes it is and as some have tested with results leading us to believe it is skewed, then the situation is even worse.

I really do not understand why you want to argue with me so badly when I agree with you that the RNG is trash and needs fixed. I have never said otherwise. If it does get fixed, my point still stands that the content should be kept difficult in order to earn the most powerful weapons in the game rather than making it so a CP 160 with white gear can attain it through beating the first boss repeatedly to get enough tokens to purchase the weapons or some other poorly thought out system.

Solution: Fix the lag/DC issues, make sword and board its own independent Maelstrom set, cut down the traits to only the desirable ones, evenly weight the RNG, keep the difficulty where its at.

Note: In the above solution as well as in all of my posts, I do not contradict anything you have said and agree with you about RNG. You are preaching to the choir.

Paneross

I've beaten multiple times on stam chars. Not once on magic.

jakeedmundson

Rockndude wrote: »

@jakeedmundson
The citation I provided does assume that ZOS has not misled us and that the weight is even for each item/trait but the point is made in this citation that even this amount of possible combinations assuming even weight leads to too many runs with not enough rewards. If it is in fact skewed as much of the community believes it is and as some have tested with results leading us to believe it is skewed, then the situation is even worse.

I really do not understand why you want to argue with me so badly when I agree with you that the RNG is trash and needs fixed. I have never said otherwise. If it does get fixed, my point still stands that the content should be kept difficult in order to earn the most powerful weapons in the game rather than making it so a CP 160 with white gear can attain it through beating the first boss repeatedly to get enough tokens to purchase the weapons or some other poorly thought out system.

Solution: Fix the lag/DC issues, make sword and board its own independent Maelstrom set, cut down the traits to only the desirable ones, evenly weight the RNG, keep the difficulty where its at.

Note: In the above solution as well as in all of my posts, I do not contradict anything you have said and agree with you about RNG. You are preaching to the choir.

Yep... agreed.

Just poking fun at "earn" the reward in maelstrom.

Rockndude

Paneross wrote: »

I've beaten multiple times on stam chars. Not once on magic.

I have only completed it once on a magicka character (sorc) and farm it on my stam sorc. Trying stam dk next. I am much better at stam builds in general and VO 5 piece makes it so you have the equivalent of the haste sigil for most of the fights. My friend actually thought it was hilarious that I could complete it on stam and not magicka because people used to make magicka sorcs specifically to beat VMA as they were considered the easiest build to run it on, while I struggled for about a week on the final boss. The loss in dps forced me to run mechanics that I burned through on my stam builds. Also, after I took points out of bastion and put more into resistances I was finally able to beat it. Resistances are always up. Shields are not.

rosendoichinoveb17_ESO

jakeedmundson wrote: »

6 chance of getting a weapon you want... that citation is incorrect. the drops are not even between each weapon.
You actually have a 1/18 chance at an inferno staff and a 1/144 chance of getting a sharpened inferno staff.
compared to a 1/6 chance of a resto staff and a 1/48 of getting that in powered or precise.

IDK man i got my sharpened inferno staf on my second run. But yes, the traits that those weapon drop should be adjusted so that the useless ones are filtered out. Alternatively the all traits need to be adjusted to be useful

Rockndude

rosendoichinoveb17_ESO wrote: »

jakeedmundson wrote: »

6 chance of getting a weapon you want... that citation is incorrect. the drops are not even between each weapon.
You actually have a 1/18 chance at an inferno staff and a 1/144 chance of getting a sharpened inferno staff.
compared to a 1/6 chance of a resto staff and a 1/48 of getting that in powered or precise.

IDK man i got my sharpened inferno staf on my second run. But yes, the traits that those weapon drop should be adjusted so that the useless ones are filtered out. Alternatively the all traits need to be adjusted to be useful

So far in about 20 runs I have gotten a sharp dagger, precise dagger, sharp battleaxe. A lot of nirnhoned stuff and assorted other traits on other weapons. Never seen a bow.

Even if traits are changed to be made useful, sharpened has been extensively tested for all weapons and deemed best in slot. Sharpened is really all that any of us want and our chances of getting a sharpened weapon are extremely low. My rationale for mixing in the mentioned traits with even weight is as follows: precise for trials where warhorn is up constantly and the boss is fully debuffed, nirnhoned for researching, useful tanking traits for 2 piece set s&b, and powered I believe it is for resto staves for increased healing. You and I have both been fortunate to get good traits and weapons so soon but not everyone has such good luck.

jakeedmundson

rosendoichinoveb17_ESO wrote: »

jakeedmundson wrote: »

6 chance of getting a weapon you want... that citation is incorrect. the drops are not even between each weapon.
You actually have a 1/18 chance at an inferno staff and a 1/144 chance of getting a sharpened inferno staff.
compared to a 1/6 chance of a resto staff and a 1/48 of getting that in powered or precise.

IDK man i got my sharpened inferno staf on my second run. But yes, the traits that those weapon drop should be adjusted so that the useless ones are filtered out. Alternatively the all traits need to be adjusted to be useful

then count yourself lucky... extremely lucky.
I'm actually looking for a sharpened lightning staff... and i've never even seen ANY lightning staff.
but i also stopped running it after the double drop event. If i couldn't get one to drop there... my outlook felt very dim
Until something changes, i won't go back in... i even unsubbed because of vMA.
I just can't keep playing monotonous, time consuming, and difficult content that doesn't reward me.... it wasn't like a rage quit thing... more like... well, i don't feel like this is worth the time and effort anymore.

Rockndude

jakeedmundson wrote: »

rosendoichinoveb17_ESO wrote: »

jakeedmundson wrote: »

6 chance of getting a weapon you want... that citation is incorrect. the drops are not even between each weapon.
You actually have a 1/18 chance at an inferno staff and a 1/144 chance of getting a sharpened inferno staff.
compared to a 1/6 chance of a resto staff and a 1/48 of getting that in powered or precise.

IDK man i got my sharpened inferno staf on my second run. But yes, the traits that those weapon drop should be adjusted so that the useless ones are filtered out. Alternatively the all traits need to be adjusted to be useful

then count yourself lucky... extremely lucky.
I'm actually looking for a sharpened lightning staff... and i've never even seen ANY lightning staff.
but i also stopped running it after the double drop event. If i couldn't get one to drop there... my outlook felt very dim
Until something changes, i won't go back in... i even unsubbed because of vMA.
I just can't keep playing monotonous, time consuming, and difficult content that doesn't reward me.... it wasn't like a rage quit thing... more like... well, i don't feel like this is worth the time and effort anymore.

This defeated feeling you are describing is the exact reason why I have created this thread. I would really like for players to start creating some positive, constructive change talk when it comes to VMA because all I see on the forums are people complaining rather than giving feedback and suggestions for improvement which is what ZOS is more likely to respect and listen to.

The most major changes that would benefit players are DC/lag fixes and a change to the weapon traits and drops that makes it so hundreds of hours are not wasted trying to get weapons for those who have proven they are able to complete the content and we have more time playing with friends which is what MMOs are all about. Your last paragraph perfectly sums up the entire population's attitude towards VMA. It makes interest in the game fizzle out. I personally got no good traited weapons during double drop and the lag was so unbearable during that period because of so many people being in the arena that I waited til it was done to start running it again.

Masel

I thorough agree from my side over here. Add token system: I suppose 15 runs per random weapon box(inferno staff box, dagger box etc.) and 60 runs for a specific one would do the job.
Either that or balance the damn traits already! Make nirn and precise on par with sharpened while keeping the advantages of each one.

Precise 10% crit and 5% crit damage modifier. Nirn buffed to 33% and go. Charged increases the strength and duration of effects, not only the proc chance, and maybe the damage of light and heavy attacks. Powered can stay like it is. Infused and defending can stay as well. Decisive needs a buff to increase ulti gen more and maybe to give you ulti on kill or something.

It's pure crap as it is, everyone but a small fraction of dd players/builds use anything but sharpened weapons...

Rockndude

Masel92 wrote: »

I thorough agree from my side over here. Add token system: I suppose 15 runs per random weapon box(inferno staff box, dagger box etc.) and 60 runs for a specific one would do the job.
Either that or balance the damn traits already! Make nirn and precise on par with sharpened while keeping the advantages of each one.

Precise 10% crit and 5% crit damage modifier. Nirn buffed to 33% and go. Charged increases the strength and duration of effects, not only the proc chance, and maybe the damage of light and heavy attacks. Powered can stay like it is. Infused and defending can stay as well. Decisive needs a buff to increase ulti gen more and maybe to give you ulti on kill or something.

It's pure crap as it is, everyone but a small fraction of dd players/builds use anything but sharpened weapons...

I only agree with tokens if they are awarded upon completion. Otherwise a person could farm round 1 through 8 bosses for them while never completing the content. But holy crap dude! Do you realize that we are not all Andy S. and are not all able to complete it in under 40 minutes?! If it took 60 runs to pick your trait, that is equivalent to 60+ hours!!! Thats far too much just for a single weapon in a single trait and not doing players any favors. It seems like a much worse situation than we are currently in and I would rather put my trust in RNG over this suggestion.

Honestly I like the idea of evenly weighted RNG with weapons that have only traits that are worthwhile.

jakeedmundson

Rockndude wrote: »

Honestly I like the idea of evenly weighted RNG with weapons that have only traits that are worthwhile.

^^^^ yes please

Also, i had a positive feedback thread before... went ignored. i honestly did say i liked the arena but the drop rates were killing it for me. I even understand the grind... but when there is no real progression, the grind never ends.

There were a few really good, strong threads about vMA changes during the double drop event.... and still nothing from zos

Lukums1

I'm included in the group who has completed Maelstrom over 300 + times I'm low balling there.

I can 100% tell you, that you WILL get your dagger/bow/maul/axe/resto with all traits sooner or later 100% no drama.

The Sharpen Lightning/Flame you'll have to donate another 300 + runs.

I was lucky by 150 runs I had everything in every trait, but what most are saying is deemed in my eyes "fair"

Over a year ago I would of had the *** if they give triat changes to the "entitled" scrubs who wanna complain after sub 100 runs. However I reckon 70% of people have at least cleared it once every trial every dungeon maelstrom weapons everywhere.

Giving a token system after 12 months of running it to the people who wanna quit forever due to bad rng should be added.
I don't agree with triat change I don't agree vendor maelstrom weapons.

You have to be VERY careful what you wish for, last game I played there was something similar to triats in eso and guess what happend they added a "triat change" item to the cash shop $20.00 Yeah I know $20.00 is small price to pay for 100s of hours of your time. But things like these suggestions do spiral out of control from time to time.

Rockndude

@Lukums1

So you are saying you completed 300 hours or more, plus an average person will put in an additional 300 hours if trying to get a sharp fire or lightning staff for a video game for a total of 600 hours or more. 600 hours / 24 hours in a day = 25 days.

I am not sure about you, but I am a grad student, I work, and in a six year committed relationship among other things in the real world outside of ESO, and I still have managed to put enough time and effort into my gear and gameplay since December of 2015 to complete VDSA, VMA, VHRC, VAA, VSO, every dungeon, and grind 8 characters past CP cap at 595 CP since December. Is it unreasonable to say I just don't have the time to sink 25 days into a single perfect roll Maelstrom weapon in the current state of the RNG? It is nice to be able to preach "you will get them eventually" when you conveniently already got them in less time than most do but clearly that has not been the experience of the community as a whole.

If you are referring to me as an entitled scrub because I have not put 100 hours aka 4 full days into running Maelstrom 100 times, it is very condescending and unappreciated. Even after being able to complete VMA and farm it I prefer group content over solo and that does not make me a scrub. If you beat VMA even ten times you will surely be able to continue doing so.

I am asking that the difficulty remain because there is not enough difficult PvE content available. I am mostly requesting lag and DC issues get fixed. I have suggested that sword and board be made into an independent set because everybody knows they are currently useless as set pieces. I am not suggesting "trait change tokens" or any other pay to win type changes. I am not suggesting that anyone who completes it once should get a sharpened flame staff. What I am suggesting is to stop diluting the pool of possible combinations with garbage traits forcing people to run the same content an excessive amount of time to "get it eventually". I am a huge fan of the game and I will not quit because of this but it has caused great players to quit eso out of dumping hours into it and getting trash out of it.

Lukums1

Rockndude wrote: »

@Lukums1

So you are saying you completed 300 hours or more, plus an average person will put in an additional 300 hours if trying to get a sharp fire or lightning staff for a video game for a total of 600 hours or more. 600 hours / 24 hours in a day = 25 days.

I am not sure about you, but I am a grad student, I work, and in a six year committed relationship among other things in the real world outside of ESO, and I still have managed to put enough time and effort into my gear and gameplay since December of 2015 to complete VDSA, VMA, VHRC, VAA, VSO, every dungeon, and grind 8 characters past CP cap at 595 CP since December. Is it unreasonable to say I just don't have the time to sink 25 days into a single perfect roll Maelstrom weapon in the current state of the RNG? It is nice to be able to preach "you will get them eventually" when you conveniently already got them in less time than most do but clearly that has not been the experience of the community as a whole.

If you are referring to me as an entitled scrub because I have not put 100 hours aka 4 full days into running Maelstrom 100 times, it is very condescending and unappreciated. Even after being able to complete VMA and farm it I prefer group content over solo and that does not make me a scrub. If you beat VMA even ten times you will surely be able to continue doing so.

I am asking that the difficulty remain because there is not enough difficult PvE content available. I am mostly requesting lag and DC issues get fixed. I have suggested that sword and board be made into an independent set because everybody knows they are currently useless as set pieces. I am not suggesting "trait change tokens" or any other pay to win type changes. I am not suggesting that anyone who completes it once should get a sharpened flame staff. What I am suggesting is to stop diluting the pool of possible combinations with garbage traits forcing people to run the same content an excessive amount of time to "get it eventually". I am a huge fan of the game and I will not quit because of this but it has caused great players to quit eso out of dumping hours into it and getting trash out of it.

Hold up.

I'm saying if you run it enough of course you'll get it after all it's RNG not good RNG but RNG non the less.

So time will = your drop yes that's what I'm saying.

I have a family, I work 9-5 I have a life outside video games, so I'm not saying to donate all your time or anything that you may be hinting at there.

I'm stating that the current RNG IS NOT fair to all for some to get all their weapons in 10-20 runs are considered super lucky.

I will never insult anyone on the forums, however under 100 runs as stated 1/98 or whatever it is the RNG is not on your side. We ran for months and months to get our weapons so it's about perseverance... "unfortunately"

Can we remember when we used to run raids in other games never getting what we wanted from THAT week!
You do have an opportunity to run as many times as you want without prejudice depending on others this fact I love it suits you and your ability talking about VMA solely.

THE DC issues are apparent and is SHOCKING and shouldn't be allowed to continue.
I'm from AUS Sydney without any lag but I play on non peak times so this IS server stability issue with concurrent users which is a issue for developers and engineers at ZOS.

If you felt my post previously was directed at you it wasn't. I'm just so tired so seeing people complain... there are other weapons other builds... yea I know I'll get flamed for that one line. There has been probably over time hundreds of the VMA loot issues I have never seen a "proper response from a ZOS member" ever.
So why bash people back and forth about views? This I never understood.

If you don't get sharpen... change points in the champion tree...( I know it's not the same for staffs 5200... ) where 1 hand you could sneak by with precise.

They just needed to remove the bad triats... powered on anything other than resto... defending "ok maybe keep" decisive ...

It seems like a simple IF statement to me plus the generalization of RNG loot table but at least dish out decent triats. This I agree completely.

Luke

Rockndude

@Lukums1
I appreciate the clarification. The whole reason I wanted to start this thread was to have thought out discussion that allowed for brainstorming solutions instead of the usual constant complaints that I have seen. I appreciate your input and I must have misunderstood your first post.