I Hate Maelstrom Arena

humpalicous

Mashille wrote: »

I've farmed VMA quite a bit since it's release. And here's some reasons why I hate it.

It's Not Fun... At All: Very few people may find VMA 'fun' and that's all well and good but for most of us it's a painful and spiteful chore that we must do that always ends up with me either punching my desk because I got killed some some bull**** (**** You toxic mushrooms) or because I got useless loot... again



The RnG is Rage inducing: I have yet to get the Maelstrom Weapon I desire after a lot of runs, I did 4 Run's today alone and got 3 1H Maces and Shields. To go along with all my other 1H Maces and Shields. All the regular item sets from VMA are trash so you are only doing it for the Maelstrom weapon, and after all that hard work and usually frustration at something or other you get literally nothing as it's a weapon you really don't want as you already have 5 million of them. (Seriously I swear that 1H and Shield drop rates are like 80% higher than all other weapons)This is the point where I'd just ask them to be sold at the Golden Vendor for 800,000 Gold or something, I know a lot of people would hate that but holy moly I'm so sick of grinding for nothing but disappointment.


BiS Gear: Maelstrom weapons are far superior to any other weapons in the game in most cases (I know many builds can be made with other sets and not need them but in a lot of competitive builds they are needed) meaning you are practically forced to Grind for them. There should be different ways and viable options to get different BiS gear types. Like there is DSA atm, but Master Weapons normally aren't as good as Maelstrom Weapons but there should be more ways to get there. For example an ultimate Crafted weapon where, I dunno, if a crafter has unlocked every trait in the game they can Combine 5 Legendary Quality Weapons together is a Forge and get something of similar Strength to Maelstrom Weapons. Or another type of 'Master' weapon that is earned through something not like VMA. Maybe earned through PvP, or scaling Group content depending how big the group is.

Well, that was a bit of a rant. I know, I know there have been tonnes of VMA threads since it came out to add token systems and stuff (Which I 100% agree with) but I wanted to write something cross because I farmed VMA all day today and pretty much got nothing.

I guess I don't mind the difficulty, feels good to be challenged even on my Stam Sorc.

But...

The RNG is just terrible in there, gear-wise and mechanics-wise (looking at you stage 7), which makes it more frustrating than fun.

I prefer playing actual group content

ccfeeling

Vma is the most important dungeon ever in the eso history,u can skip TG,DB or even MW,but u cannot skip Osinium,vma weapon enhancements are the only things we should throw some money.
Its not about fun,we all know there is no fun at all,we just want to play better ,thats it
Repeatable daily?No thx

DeHei

Mashille wrote: »

I've farmed VMA quite a bit since it's release. And here's some reasons why I hate it.

It's Not Fun... At All: Very few people may find VMA 'fun' and that's all well and good but for most of us it's a painful and spiteful chore that we must do that always ends up with me either punching my desk because I got killed some some bull**** (**** You toxic mushrooms) or because I got useless loot... again



The RnG is Rage inducing: I have yet to get the Maelstrom Weapon I desire after a lot of runs, I did 4 Run's today alone and got 3 1H Maces and Shields. To go along with all my other 1H Maces and Shields. All the regular item sets from VMA are trash so you are only doing it for the Maelstrom weapon, and after all that hard work and usually frustration at something or other you get literally nothing as it's a weapon you really don't want as you already have 5 million of them. (Seriously I swear that 1H and Shield drop rates are like 80% higher than all other weapons)This is the point where I'd just ask them to be sold at the Golden Vendor for 800,000 Gold or something, I know a lot of people would hate that but holy moly I'm so sick of grinding for nothing but disappointment.


BiS Gear: Maelstrom weapons are far superior to any other weapons in the game in most cases (I know many builds can be made with other sets and not need them but in a lot of competitive builds they are needed) meaning you are practically forced to Grind for them. There should be different ways and viable options to get different BiS gear types. Like there is DSA atm, but Master Weapons normally aren't as good as Maelstrom Weapons but there should be more ways to get there. For example an ultimate Crafted weapon where, I dunno, if a crafter has unlocked every trait in the game they can Combine 5 Legendary Quality Weapons together is a Forge and get something of similar Strength to Maelstrom Weapons. Or another type of 'Master' weapon that is earned through something not like VMA. Maybe earned through PvP, or scaling Group content depending how big the group is.

Well, that was a bit of a rant. I know, I know there have been tonnes of VMA threads since it came out to add token systems and stuff (Which I 100% agree with) but I wanted to write something cross because I farmed VMA all day today and pretty much got nothing.

I would really like to creating a legendary weapon, which is similar to vMSA weapons. Then you be possible to make money with crafting again. I am a 9 trait crafter and i can not doing much money with that..

Beardimus

They aren't that superior, and of you think they are then you just have to put the effort in.

People fixate on them then moan about the content.

Tho i do agree with your comment, master crafters should.be able to do something..say take 50 Maelstorm weapons and craft into one BOP one, own design too as Maelstrom weps.are Fugly

Beardimus

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

You know why I love Maelstrom Arena?
It's leaderboard system. If you are a solo player, MSA leaderboards are all you have in the entire game if you are looking for competition. Emperor leaderboard is grinding BS and so are BG leaderboards which reflect only time played and not player performance.

This

Betsararie

the unskilled hate what they are not good at...

word to the wise.

code65536

ArchMikem wrote: »

My last vMA attempt one run i got the last boss down to just 6k health. One more ability would have won me the arena and given my first weapon. But i wiped. And after that no matter what i did, i couldnt get him past 50%.

That was when i decided never again. Theres an obvious need for SOME kind of change there cause youre right, its not fun in the slightest. But whenever someone wants a change to Maelstrom the woodwork bursts with people bashing on you, calling you a carebear, to git gud and l2p.

The difficulty of vMA is fine, and no amount of "please nerf" threads in the 1.5 years of its existence has convinced ZOS to change anything.

I too dislike vMA and don't think it's fun. But that has absolutely nothing to do with how easy or difficult it is. vMA isn't fun because it's a lonely solo instance that people run over a hundred times only to get constantly shafted by the game's RNG loot system.

Nobody in the "woodwork" (except maybe Artis) has any issue with changing the loot system, which is what this thread is about. And yes, we do respond negatively to anyone wanting to nerf vMA's difficulty because it has already been severely nerfed indirectly by all the power creep over the past 1.5 years.

Rataroto wrote: »

vma is easy and fast, not to say a small profit if you take chests. Plenty of gems for free as well as purple mats, final chest may tilt you (if you're that easly tilted), but its rng.

for a 40 minutes run and getting 9 gems + 9 purple mats at least, I'm ok with it, tho wouldnt mind adding Plunder to it.

(Before you ask, first complete was on orsinium day 2, got a necklace, second complete on the next day, got a sharp bow. and yeah I have everything that drops there)

I do vma for the fun and distraction of boredom

Profit?! Yes, with a Flawless run (so no extra repair costs beyond those incurred from XP gain), the net gold is positive, but just barely. And the vendor value of the Soul Gems is barely enough to cover the MM cost of the trash pots you used (and if you use spell pots, then you're definitely not profiting from vMA).

The reason I would never consider vMA profitable is because of the opportunity cost. Just running around for 40 minutes picking flowers or mats is far more productive. Thieving for half that time would yield several times the "profit". Or, in less than the time it takes to do a vMA run, I could do a SotH HM motif run and get a motif worth 30-90K.

Or, if you want to compare against another frustrating RNG weapon farm, I've gotten a grand total of just one sharp MD fire or shock staff drop for me personally after 195 vMoL clears. But unlike the equally-frustrating vMA weapon RNG, farming vMoL is actually fun because you are running it with friends. vMoL is truly profitable because you get 15K worth of Plunder. And vMoL's RNG is less punishing because there are 11 other people who might get what you want and who might be convinced to trade it with you. And the amount of time it takes to run is similar for both.

If they added 5K plunder to the final chest and a weekly coffer containing a Winterborn motif chapter, it'd take a lot of the sting out of vMA. But when I finish vMA with yet another junk weapon and a laughable "profit" of a few decon mats and a few hundred gold after repair expenses, it just feels like salt in the wound.

Vanzen

Playing since beta, done ONE normal Arena and understood at once what the hell it would be to farm something on vet.

Never went back, never regreted.

You dont need maestrom weapon to be competitive, so many other options compared to the masochistic hassle it is.

The fact that one is willingly suffering such stupidity tells alot about oneself.

Almost like a massive scale sociological survey ...

Mashille

Blanco wrote: »

the unskilled hate what they are not good at...

word to the wise.

Expect I farm it quite a bit so am fairly good at it by this point... If you read my post I never actually complain about the difficulty.

Universe

Betsararie

Lord wrote: »

pretty much this, doable pre and post patch.

RNG equally frustrating. THE END

Marcd23

To be honest... I don't get why they don't use a token system for gear, rather than a one in a million chance at a loot drop which will in time potentially ruin the game for some...
It wouldn't be hard to implicate, each alliance has it's own token and if you want a set you have to run content in that zone and can buy a piece at a time or save the tokens to buy the full set... There could easily be a vendor in each capital or in each area where the sets would drop and you just buy it from them at different prices depending on which trait you want...

It could be something like
Delve run - 1 token
World Boss - 10 tokens
Dolman - 5 Tokens
Group Dungeon - 20 tokens
Public Dungeon - 20 tokens for first time complete, 1 token per boss killed

See why can't ZOS come up with simple ideas like that.

bebynnag

my 1st complete ever was so painfull

on every other character it was bearable - except my MagDen *** me that was torture!

maboleth

Ah you new(ish) players... games of 80s and 90s were all about Maelstrom arena. You'd die 1000x, many times even without any continue option, only to try finding the mechanics of the 'queens' (bosses). And a huge luck to deal with them in XYZ's try.

Needless to say, I like challenging, old-school gaming content. Not everything has to be easy or made for everyone to complete. If you are at least a solid player, you'd complete MA in normal mode in no time. But VMA - good luck.

Bobby_V_Rockit

It should be at least doable by half the active community though, quit hoarding it already, you got your sandwitch.

bebynnag

Lord wrote: »

im familiar with the phrase 'flogging a dead hoarse'

but beating up a cow.... thats new to me!

SoLooney

Yea RNG is a pain in VMA, yea doing it hundreds of times over is a pain.
Nothing we can do, the next dlc is kind of your answer to rng and the mindless farming.

Doctordarkspawn

Welcome to the resistance. VMA has needed a nerf and allways -will- until they actually do it. Never give up. Never conform. Never surrender.

Also @Mashille

Blanco is a troll. Or at least, seems to be. He just got done posting in another thread where he ragged on the OP for not being gud, and suggested buffing the boss...describing another boss from another dungeon entirely because he didn't read the original post. Just ignore him.

Chadak

At least original NES games usually gave me things like --




Or




vMA usually gives me some garbage gear and a deep sense of the following --




Because...




And then, eventually, I'm all...




And then I give it another go, whereupon I wind up like...



And then I'm all like ...



Whereupon which I get another handful of trash to break down for a few mats, and am left once more feeling like...

Karm1cOne

Why make the best gear in an mmo from a solo instance? Let people have their leaderboards and maybe some interesting gear, but not bis weapons.

Wizball1987

Zos is thinking - if we give them tokens then loads of players will run vma until they have what they want and then a week later " we need more content"!!!

KingYogi415

The way you are rewarded for the hardest content in the game is a joke.

ZOS needs to L2Tokensystem....

Meld777

As someone who got his first Sharpened Inferno after around 620 runs, I feel ya. What I don't understand is this:

Mashille wrote: »

I've farmed VMA quite a bit since it's release. And here's some reasons why I hate it.

It's Not Fun... At All: Very few people may find VMA 'fun' and that's all well and good but for most of us it's a painful and spiteful chore that we must do that always ends up with me either punching my desk because I got killed some some bull**** (**** You toxic mushrooms) or because I got useless loot... again

If you have really farmed it since release, this should not be a problem. 20 - 50 runs in, depending on your general gaming skills, you should've reached the point of continuous flawless runs. And why would a death be enraging? By that time you're gonna get a high enough score to get on weekly even with 15 deaths.

To be fair though, the plants in arena 7 are predictable. I don't remember dying to them in at least 200 - 300 runs. What could kill me was the last boss of arena 5 if I'd get too cocky and would ignore all adds and try to burst on 2nd platform.

ccfeeling

Mmo but best weapons drop from solo instance , zos thinking

altemriel

yes it is f************************rukön hard

DDemon

I recently got the last weapon I needed, after farming it since release, and now they're nerfing sharpened(haha).

Not that I mind, I literally have hundreds of maelstrom weapons with other traits, so I'm good.

Regardless, I do agree, token system, please. The only reason I started hating maelstrom was because of the really crappy drops at the end...

No one wants to spend 30-45 minutes constantly focusing on making it through as quick as they can without dying (much), and getting a powered 1h and shield. I mean, who even uses the 1h and shield, really?

DDemon

Lord wrote: »

That's a weird horse.

Sylosi

ccfeeling wrote: »

Mmo but best weapons drop from solo instance , zos thinking

On that "logic" you wouldn't have 4 man dungeons or instances, because neither is "massively multiplayer" and the best weapons would come from world bosses that took an entire zerg of players to take down.

bebynnag

Meld777 wrote: »

As someone who got his first Sharpened Inferno after around 620 runs, I feel ya. What I don't understand is this:

Mashille wrote: »

I've farmed VMA quite a bit since it's release. And here's some reasons why I hate it.

It's Not Fun... At All: Very few people may find VMA 'fun' and that's all well and good but for most of us it's a painful and spiteful chore that we must do that always ends up with me either punching my desk because I got killed some some bull**** (**** You toxic mushrooms) or because I got useless loot... again

If you have really farmed it since release, this should not be a problem. 20 - 50 runs in, depending on your general gaming skills, you should've reached the point of continuous flawless runs. And why would a death be enraging? By that time you're gonna get a high enough score to get on weekly even with 15 deaths.

To be fair though, the plants in arena 7 are predictable. I don't remember dying to them in at least 200 - 300 runs. What could kill me was the last boss of arena 5 if I'd get too cocky and would ignore all adds and try to burst on 2nd platform.

i have 8 characters that i have run it on flawlessly - dont have a single title
xbox dc's robbing me of my title because of a half arsed fix to a glitch!

Mashille

Meld777 wrote: »

As someone who got his first Sharpened Inferno after around 620 runs, I feel ya. What I don't understand is this:

If you have really farmed it since release, this should not be a problem. 20 - 50 runs in, depending on your general gaming skills, you should've reached the point of continuous flawless runs. And why would a death be enraging? By that time you're gonna get a high enough score to get on weekly even with 15 deaths.

Just because I can do it doesn't mean i can do it flawlessly and easily. I have attempted at 0 death runs a few times but always end up messing up somewhere then after that I lose my cool and everything goes to ****. Normally I can go 0 deaths up to the Vault of Umbrage then die a couple of times there.