vMA farm observation

f047ys3v3n

The past few months, since Wrothgar, I have been putting a toon on the vMA boards. In the process I have begun watching the boards, specifically the NB one, reasonably closely through the week. At the end of the week the board will cut off at something like a 430k score which is either a lot of sigals with few deaths and a bit over an hour or well over one and a less sigals but more deaths. In either case it is a pretty competent but by no means clean run. The interesting thing is that beyond that last score on the board few scores at all will be posted. It certainly appears to be less than 25 based on how the scores progress over the week. Often on Saturday the board isnt yet full and you can see just exactly how few scores lie between 0 and the eventual final score on the board.

What I take this to mean is simple. Almost nobody is farming the thing, at least not in the one go that is necessary to post a score. There are plenty of folks who can beat there way through the thing and not have the reasonably smooth run that 430k represents. I should also note that the cut on the overall board is 546k which is like 40min, no death, no sigal. What all this means to me is that a few folks running pretty well or better run it once a week for the 2 for one loot they get for leaderboards and maybe (I know I do) to stay fresh for the next level cap change, lots of folks who do it very well don't bother to run at all, and lots of folks who can do it but only poorly don't run it at all.

This is all very interesting to me as NB, specifically magica NB is one of the best toons to farm the thing with. Presumably, if you were going to farm the gear even if you weren't going to make the boars you would choose that or one of the sorcs. Yet clearly not a lot of this is happening though it was during the Wrothgar event when the boards went up to 505k and tons of completes registered that were no where near that.

My conclusion is simple. The reward of the content in gear and gold is so low that despite the fact that it is solo and so can fit anywhere in folks playing time, it is rarely run. Since I know very very few who have all the gear they want from there and the gear is unquestionably good, I can only conclude that the RNG is so bad, and so well known to be thus, that people are simply deciding not to try for the gear they want as I did for the first 6 months after my first complete. Even now I only run once a week to stay fresh and get a weekly drop. Often I opt to motif farm or do other meaningless tasks when I could be running vMA for gear I would like. Mostly I hope to stay fresh so that when the difficulty is buffed with the next level update I have a shot at getting the gear early assuming the RNG is improved and the difficulty is not made cheat engine only (ZOS, apparently in denial about cheat engine use, I think likely will buff things to this level.)

Moral of the story, I think vMA RNG (and also weapon RNG in general) is so bad that ZOS is well past the mark at which people will run the content more because it takes a while to get the gear and into the relm where they, rightfully, never expect to get the gear and stop running at all. That is what my data suggests. (This coming from a magica guy who has his sharpened flame by the way.)

Lukums1

Generally I think you're correct with that you said.

Also 546k is 48minutes no sigil just for reference.

Personally I get all I can on the boards just for a random GOLD as income LOL.

I also agree that the boards are rarely full and to be honest once people have their weapons... it's really not worth investing anymore time into it.

I personally just run to help people and answer questions on twitch. But it would be nice for more people giving it a shot and attempting the content after all it was very challenging.

The other issues are the RNG behind certain drops which really do deter people away from running.

Personally I don't see the gear staying this way for ever, it's been over a year with Maelstrom weapons. I would be shocked if these were going to continue being the "best there is to offer"

Wait and see I suppose.

f047ys3v3n

Lukums1 wrote: »

Generally I think you're correct with that you said.

Also 546k is 48minutes no sigil just for reference.



Personally I don't see the gear staying this way for ever, it's been over a year with Maelstrom weapons. I would be shocked if these were going to continue being the "best there is to offer"

Thanks, my best was 519k, a few sigils, no deaths, and 57 min. I am apparently a bit off in what I thought the higher scores connected too time wise. I really preferred the old formula as I have figured out a death is 1k plus time and a sigial is 750pts but I do not know how much a second of time is worth or the rest of the formula. I also have no idea on the other trials what the formulas are. It's all clear as mud in your eyes except that deaths in general are worth very little relative to dps and therefore time. This is the reverse of the original time plus 5 min for each death system.

As for the gear, ESO is mostly about single player RPG content not raids. It is really an RPG with MMO elements not the other way around. I expect gear from the two arenas to be BIS for weapons for the foreseeable future. Perhaps I am wrong and the next trial will feature new weapon (ability altering enchant) sets instead of 5 pc gear sets but I do not expect this. Even if it does, there is no guarantee that ZOS will get it right and actually make those weapons best. Witness everyone using 3 or 4 pc infal or moondancer except for the healer using 5 pc infal as a group buff set. The staggering incompetence in end game itemization is indicative, I think, of the low standing of raiding in the ZOS priority list. Getting end game itemization right clearly ranks well below say the sound of hoarse hoves which they changed how many times? I do hope at some point we get decent drop rates or tokens. I am not about to grind my face off for another 1/144 sharpened flame staff. I got the first one quickly by luck and would not have ground it out if I hadn't. Most of the reason I do one vMA run a week is to be fresh at it because I think the next level cap increase is only a few months off. To do it more I would need either good drop rates or some undaunted loot to make it worth the effort. There are many weapons I still want in there but I have no expectation of getting them before the next level cap would render them useless anyway.

Also thank you for doing vMA instructional content. Instructional content is tremendously helpful for players when learning raids. Going step by step through Deltia's videos is how I did my first vMA complete.

Lukums1

f047ys3v3n wrote: »

Lukums1 wrote: »

Generally I think you're correct with that you said.

Also 546k is 48minutes no sigil just for reference.



Personally I don't see the gear staying this way for ever, it's been over a year with Maelstrom weapons. I would be shocked if these were going to continue being the "best there is to offer"

Thanks, my best was 519k, a few sigils, no deaths, and 57 min. I am apparently a bit off in what I thought the higher scores connected too time wise. I really preferred the old formula as I have figured out a death is 1k plus time and a sigial is 750pts but I do not know how much a second of time is worth or the rest of the formula. I also have no idea on the other trials what the formulas are. It's all clear as mud in your eyes except that deaths in general are worth very little relative to dps and therefore time. This is the reverse of the original time plus 5 min for each death system.

As for the gear, ESO is mostly about single player RPG content not raids. It is really an RPG with MMO elements not the other way around. I expect gear from the two arenas to be BIS for weapons for the foreseeable future. Perhaps I am wrong and the next trial will feature new weapon (ability altering enchant) sets instead of 5 pc gear sets but I do not expect this. Even if it does, there is no guarantee that ZOS will get it right and actually make those weapons best. Witness everyone using 3 or 4 pc infal or moondancer except for the healer using 5 pc infal as a group buff set. The staggering incompetence in end game itemization is indicative, I think, of the low standing of raiding in the ZOS priority list. Getting end game itemization right clearly ranks well below say the sound of hoarse hoves which they changed how many times? I do hope at some point we get decent drop rates or tokens. I am not about to grind my face off for another 1/144 sharpened flame staff. I got the first one quickly by luck and would not have ground it out if I hadn't. Most of the reason I do one vMA run a week is to be fresh at it because I think the next level cap increase is only a few months off. To do it more I would need either good drop rates or some undaunted loot to make it worth the effort. There are many weapons I still want in there but I have no expectation of getting them before the next level cap would render them useless anyway.

Also thank you for doing vMA instructional content. Instructional content is tremendously helpful for players when learning raids. Going step by step through Deltia's videos is how I did my first vMA complete.

Thank you for taking the time to write the above.

Yes, deaths is a large misconception of score. I can generally get away with 5 deaths under 50minutes for 540-545k scores easily.

No death 46minute 555k which is my best currently.

I hope the weapons do keep some kind of value, personally between you and I you could equip purple weapons and join end game raiding on console and no one would ever know the difference... for this reason I would of rather been on PC as the end game gear means so very little on console... ah well.

I think a lot of game balances will be coming with general fixes and of course housing, I don't need any ground breaking raids or solo arenas for some time. Guess we can keep a look out on the horizon.

You're welcome about the instructional content, there are guides like Joy and Deltia that are out there but I feel like people actually needed a step by step without end game gear and a general walk through on what sigils to get and the reason behind why, at least this way you can take that sigil away and know the DANGER behind not getting it, which I think is way more valuable then seeing "oh this add, kill it".

My 2 cents as always.

Good luck on that 2nd destro flame sharp

LiquidPony

The weekly NB leaderboard cuts off at 430k? What platform? On XB/NA weekly for NBs is usually around 490-500k. Sorcs around 530k.

Bandit1215

My best score is 545k, but I don't remember how many sigils I used, the time, or how many deaths except for the fact that I didn't get flawless. I don't remember the last time I DIDN'T get over 500k, but the legendary title of "Flawless Conquerer" still eludes me, along with any sharpened dual wield weapon or staff.

Lukums1

Bandit1215 wrote: »

My best score is 545k, but I don't remember how many sigils I used, the time, or how many deaths except for the fact that I didn't get flawless. I don't remember the last time I DIDN'T get over 500k, but the legendary title of "Flawless Conquerer" still eludes me, along with any sharpened dual wield weapon or staff.

A score of 545k is approx 51minutes with 1-2 deaths.

f047ys3v3n

LiquidPony wrote: »

The weekly NB leaderboard cuts off at 430k? What platform? On XB/NA weekly for NBs is usually around 490-500k. Sorcs around 530k.

Wow, really, it is PC, NA. I have put most of the weeks cut's in my drop thread as basically a way for me to keep records. The average cut is around 420k for NB. For sorc it is more like 525k or so. My runs lately have been about 58min, 517k 0-2 deaths and I am not sure how many sigals though I always take a few.