When was the last time you attempted Veteran Maelstrom Arena?

Klixen · May 2018

Never

Hehe I know my limits, I will never attempt any veteran content.

But it's kind of telling that the 'Never' option is currently the highest. It seems I'm not the only one who avoids this type of content.

Isojukka · May 2018

It's been almost a month

crjs1 wrote: »

Never im only at cp360 so not sure I can deal with hours of getting killed when my playing time limited to a couple hours every couple of days.

Do normal first.

DoTHurts · May 2018

I've tried it this week

Stuck on the last stage for 2 months - will keep going until it’s done and then never again. My ping from Aus is 360 which makes it seemingly close to impossible.

Sixsixsix161 · May 2018

Never

Never.

I get my characters to level 50, but that's about it. Solo the delfts (sp?), but public dungeons and other things I can't do.

Vaoh · May 2018

6 months +

After grinding through the atrocious loot drops for a long time, all of the fun was sucked out of it. I never plan to return despite wanting a Winterborn Ice Staff.... which will never drop for me anyway.

Hippie4927 · May 2018

It's been almost a month

I have to be in a special kind of mood to deal with the time involved and the stress and frustration. That special kind of mood doesn't happen everyday. But I will get back in there when I'm feeling masochistic.

Tactical32 · May 2018

2-3 months

GreenSoup2HoT wrote: »

Its bad content. Its spawn kill the add's or be killed. Would be nice if it actually had more thought put into it then just a dps test.

Lol, what? My first completion my character was doing 14k.

DPS test?

Just keep practicing, you'll get it eventually lol.

Morgul667 · May 2018

Other

Lastdouble drop event

LadyLethalla · May 2018

It's been almost a month

DoTHurts wrote: »

Stuck on the last stage for 2 months - will keep going until it’s done and then never again. My ping from Aus is 360 which makes it seemingly close to impossible.

@DoTHurts I'm in Australia on ADSL2 + and I'm pleased to say it IS possible... I've completed it 5 times now; the 4th was on a Saturday when I usually wouldn't attempt it (after 11am) but the other four were done very early morning.
Keep trying it, you'll get it eventually.

N2woR · May 2018

Never

Generally really want to but at the minute at cp371 I have a huge list of things I need to do. Did Normal once and completed it dying once.... seemed pretty pointless to continue grinding it after that

l.ys · May 2018

I've tried it this week

Sheezabeast wrote: »

How long has it been since you tried Veteran Maelstrom Arena?

It becomes much easier, after the first clear. I can run it in like 35 minutes now

damiandjay24 · May 2018

3-6 months

As soon as I got all the weapons I needed (which took forever) I stopped and never looked back. It’s probably been more than 3-6 months tbh.

DoTHurts · May 2018

I've tried it this week

LadyLethalla wrote: »

DoTHurts wrote: »

Stuck on the last stage for 2 months - will keep going until it’s done and then never again. My ping from Aus is 360 which makes it seemingly close to impossible.

@DoTHurts I'm in Australia on ADSL2 + and I'm pleased to say it IS possible... I've completed it 5 times now; the 4th was on a Saturday when I usually wouldn't attempt it (after 11am) but the other four were done very early morning.
Keep trying it, you'll get it eventually.

@LadyLethalla thanks, that’s encouraging - must admit I was beginning to wonder! Made it up to the crystals maybe 20 times and down once, keep getting stunned and the lag is horrible.

kylewwefan · May 2018

I've tried it this week

I put 4 toons on the leaderboard this week.

finally got around to beating it on my DK, which I think was the roughest class to run Maelstrom on so far.

Asardes · May 2018

2-3 months

I completed it on my Warden with ~420K score, but I hadn't done it in about 3 months at that point. I'm still bored to death after the intensive farming runs between August-November 2017, and subsequent runs on normal which got 10 characters from 10 to 50 during various double XP events. After that boredom starts to wear off I might consider running it on a regular basis again, though not 3-5 times since I got quite enough weapons from there to even give the crafting characters some nirnhoned/infused/precise/sharpened lightning/inferno/bow.

LadyLethalla · May 2018

It's been almost a month

DoTHurts wrote: »

LadyLethalla wrote: »

DoTHurts wrote: »

Stuck on the last stage for 2 months - will keep going until it’s done and then never again. My ping from Aus is 360 which makes it seemingly close to impossible.

@DoTHurts I'm in Australia on ADSL2 + and I'm pleased to say it IS possible... I've completed it 5 times now; the 4th was on a Saturday when I usually wouldn't attempt it (after 11am) but the other four were done very early morning.
Keep trying it, you'll get it eventually.

@LadyLethalla thanks, that’s encouraging - must admit I was beginning to wonder! Made it up to the crystals maybe 20 times and down once, keep getting stunned and the lag is horrible.

Oh I wondered too (constantly) before I actually managed it. Are you on EU or NA? I tried EU, gave up, started levelling on NA and tried there but I think the difference in my lag was only minimal and as I had only 440+ CP there I went back and tried it again on EU. Kept dying on the crystals or else getting knocked down and then dying to the Crem Guard. But eventually managed to stay alive IF I got knocked down, then got close one morning... tried him again and OMFG he's dead.
Sweet feeling!

The other times I got all the way through was to prove to myself it wasn't a fluke... but that's not to say I can get through it every time, or all in one go. I've gotten from stage 1 through to 9 in under 3 hours then spent another 3 hours dying to Voriak Solkyn before giving up because of the lag. Next time I went in, got through those final rounds on stage 9. Then started again. (Sucker for punishment.)

And since my holidays ended... well, I haven't tried at all

Nestor · May 2018

Never

I don't enjoy pain and frustration all that much. At least not intentionally inflicted.

Foxic · May 2018

6 months +

I got decently close to the top on nightblade and sorc well over a year ago then I got my destruction staves and never went back

BadSerpico · May 2018

It's been almost a month

@CP 364 finished in 58 min, 510 score last week or so

plutosshadow · May 2018

I've tried it this week

Finished for the first time yesterday after being stuck at the last boss for ~1wk. Yay! Actually have a mad desire to go back in...

Septimus_Magna · May 2018

2-3 months

Farmed vMA for nearly a month without success, needed the lightning staff for my sorc and/or the fire staff for my NB.
Then I heard about the upcoming Summerset Chapter and stopped farming vMA.

With Summerset farming vMA becomes easier but the weapons become less important.
If I have nothing to do after a while I might farm vMA again but Im not sure.

I did get The Flawless Conqueror title but thats about the only positive thing after nearly a month of vMA runs.

IlCanis_LupuslI · May 2018

I've tried it this week

Sailed smoothly through on my new main a Stam dk (never done vmsa on that char before) ; and got 1 run with 2 deaths and the 2nd one flawless.... Vmsa is easy once you get the hang of the mecaniks

exiars10 · May 2018

Never

I only came to MA once to unlock location and that's it.
I am perfectly aware I can't beat it or maybe I can but only after massive waste time... It's just not worth. After all, I play ESO for fun, it's not my job.

N00BxV1 wrote: »

On a side note: I recently seen a <300cp player with the Stormproof title in a vet dungeon. I thought it was strange because they were really struggling, couldn't follow the mechanics or stay alive. How in the hell can you do VMA but can't do a non-dlc vet dungeon!?

Yea, I had several times in PUG group dungeons players with vMA bow and they were bad. I wondered the same: you beat vMA which I will never do, but in group play you play bad and your DPS is bad, too.

Troneon wrote: »

Completed Vet a few times and then never went back because I refuse to play content that is nothing but RNG one shots and non skill based luck of RNG or Lag or Bugs....

ZOS need to tone down this RNG one shot crap and make content challenging in other ways.

It's like modern startegy games on higher difficulty - AI is not smarter - it has just access to more resources (script cheat) so it can more spam.

Asardes · May 2018

2-3 months

exiars10 wrote: »

Yea, I had several times in PUG group dungeons players with vMA bow and they were bad. I wondered the same: you beat vMA which I will never do, but in group play you play bad and your DPS is bad, too.

That's probably because they had farmed it on sorcerer, than outfited their stamina character with it, while having not the slightest idea how to play melee. I did completion on 4 of my characters withing about one month of each other, and while not getting flawless, the runs were decent so I pushed hard for that and got 'em all on the leaderboards. But all those characters are good in dungeons, can run trials etc. I wouldn't bring any character in group content unless had everything trained and I actually knew how to play them relatively well (ex. I clear most world bosses solo in zones I clear for shards & skill points). But I guess most people wanna get undaunted as fast as they can, even on characters that are bare bones build and they don't actually know how to play yet.

Marvinthebeast · May 2018

It's been almost a month

Currently at stage 4. Is there any weapon trait for insta-killing dwemer machinery?

Asardes · May 2018

2-3 months

Marvinthebeast wrote: »

Currently at stage 4. Is there any weapon trait for insta-killing dwemer machinery?

Most trash mobs in vMA die from 1-2 hits regardless of trait, if you go with a decent one like infused, precise, nirnhoned or sharpened if your DPS is decent. Arena 4 is one of the easiest IMO, you just gotta focus the bigger adds (sphere ones), and stack the small ones (spiders) so they die from AoE. The intermediate stage mini-bosses are also pretty easy to deal with. The last boss is pretty straight forward. While he's moving stay melee, otherwise he will electrocute you. When he stops and starts spewing flame put your AoE down, hit him with an ultimate and burst. The strategy depends a bit on class & build, for magicka is simpler because you can stay ranged and just heavy/light attack him on top of the DoTs straight into execute. Normally he should drop right there.

Acharnor · May 2018

Been struggling off and on for ages. Switched to my Pet Sorc and made a bunch more progress than my Templar. First real go I got to the Argonian Bohemoth and the bloody poison plants. Sat there for a while, changed some gear and finally made it to the last round. That last boss so thoroughly kicked my ass I have not been back for a couple of months. Sigh! Some day I will try again. I just can't handle the heat I guess.

Marvinthebeast · May 2018

It's been almost a month

Asardes wrote: »

Marvinthebeast wrote: »

Currently at stage 4. Is there any weapon trait for insta-killing dwemer machinery?

Most trash mobs in vMA die from 1-2 hits regardless of trait, if you go with a decent one like infused, precise, nirnhoned or sharpened if your DPS is decent. Arena 4 is one of the easiest IMO, you just gotta focus the bigger adds (sphere ones), and stack the small ones (spiders) so they die from AoE. The intermediate stage mini-bosses are also pretty easy to deal with. The last boss is pretty straight forward. While he's moving stay melee, otherwise he will electrocute you. When he stops and starts spewing flame put your AoE down, hit him with an ultimate and burst. The strategy depends a bit on class & build, for magicka is simpler because you can stay ranged and just heavy/light attack him on top of the DoTs straight into execute. Normally he should drop right there.

Yeah, just kidding about trait. Playing with my templar healer, with some gear and skill changes for vMA. My spell damage is around 2200, trying to keep up rotation while struggling to stay alive, adds are not dying as quick as they should. Until now had problems with sustain cause mag regen was too low, now its 1600 and will try again, I'm sure I will do it.
Thanks for your advice.

Asardes · May 2018

2-3 months

Marvinthebeast wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

Marvinthebeast wrote: »

Currently at stage 4. Is there any weapon trait for insta-killing dwemer machinery?

Most trash mobs in vMA die from 1-2 hits regardless of trait, if you go with a decent one like infused, precise, nirnhoned or sharpened if your DPS is decent. Arena 4 is one of the easiest IMO, you just gotta focus the bigger adds (sphere ones), and stack the small ones (spiders) so they die from AoE. The intermediate stage mini-bosses are also pretty easy to deal with. The last boss is pretty straight forward. While he's moving stay melee, otherwise he will electrocute you. When he stops and starts spewing flame put your AoE down, hit him with an ultimate and burst. The strategy depends a bit on class & build, for magicka is simpler because you can stay ranged and just heavy/light attack him on top of the DoTs straight into execute. Normally he should drop right there.

Yeah, just kidding about trait. Playing with my templar healer, with some gear and skill changes for vMA. My spell damage is around 2200, trying to keep up rotation while struggling to stay alive, adds are not dying as quick as they should. Until now had problems with sustain cause mag regen was too low, now its 1600 and will try again, I'm sure I will do it.
Thanks for your advice.

Change gear and it's doable quite easily. Templar was also one of the hardest for me. The gear I ended up using was actually not much different than my normal DD setup - each of my character has multiple setups, so the healer can become DD with just gear & mundus swap. One thing I learned early on it's that is a terrible idea to stay melee and heal with Puncturing Sweep, since it's like a catch 22: you get more damage, so you have to spam that harder, which in turn drains you magicka, so you need higher recovery, and then you sacrifice spell damage and so on and so forth. So I decided to go fully ranged, and use basically a DoT and HA rotation.

My gear setup is 1 Iceheart 5/4 Infallible Aether w Maelstrom back bar 5 Law of Julianos, Apprentice Mundus, maximum health + magicka food, full spell damage on glyphs; if you don't have Maelstrom yet you can go with Julianos staves and wear 2 IA armor and 3 jewels, or just 4 IA and go with a full monster set such as Skoria - almost every skill is a DoT. Stats are 17K health 10K stamina ~40K magicka 3.3K spell damage 61% spell critical, ~12K spell penetration (w. elemental drain); most mobs have lower than that so I melt them without even applying it. I found the most effective combo is double lightning staves, with infused trait, flame glyph front bar and berserker back bar. Next patch I will probably go with another monster piece, such as Kena shoulder, or even a full monster set since the IA staff will count as 2 pieces.

Skill setup is as follows:
Front Bar: Radiant Glory | Purifying Light | Elemental Drain | Harness Magicka | Inner Light || Empowering Sweep
Back Bar: Elemental Blockade | Blazing Spear | Ritual of Retribution | Vampire's Bane | Degeneration || Elemental Rage

Rotation is easy since it's all DoTs with heavy attacks, and entirely static:
Elemental Drain -> Purifying Light -> bar swap -> Degeneration -> LA -> Vampire's Bane -> LA -> Ritual of Retribution -> LA -> Blazing Spear -> LA -> Elemental Blockade -> bar swap -> Purifying Light -> HA -> HA [repeat] Radiant Glory instead of HA < 15% HP, reapply Elemental Drain in beween HAs every 2nd rotation. Note that this rotation can also heal and support in a group so I actually run this setup in dungeons more often as off-healer, than my full healer setups. In dungeons I replace HA with Crushing Shock if someone else is healing and draining, and for trials I also replace Degeneration from back bar with Inner Light since I'm running spell power potions and go with 2 Skoria and drop an IA piece. Ritual of Retribution is not that good either there so I run other skills such as Scalding Rune or Lightweight Trap.

GrigorijMalahevich · May 2018

6 months +

After I done it couple of times on every char I had it became anything but interesting.

Very sad that there is no other solo content or any initiative for old chars to come back to vMA for something cool.