A story about a Noob and Maelstrom Arena

Yvarhna

So there I was yesterday having a Monday off from work (I'm in NZ) and thought to myself …should I spend the day just chillin and go fish for the master fisher achievement? Or should I go try do “normal” maelstrom arena?

Since I had only done Maelstrom Arena once…2 years ago and struggled on normal, I decided this time round I’d be much better. I’m a pet Sorcerer this time so eazy peazy.

In I go as confidant as I’d ever be.

I go though Stage 1. So far so good.

Stage 2…all good! I got me shields and heals

Stage 3…died once, but next time round beat it.

Stage 4…I’ll admit, this stage I died a couple of times, and this is where I started to think, well, I really am still a noob, because this is pretty hard even on normal. Not to be deterred though, I passed this stage pretty quickly.

Stage 5…hello Ice! This stage did a big FU to me, however, once I figured I got to go smash those trolls in the face, and kill all adds, I once again passed this with limited deaths.

Stage 6..Spider daedra became dead daedra. This one was easy. However……

Stage 7…Argonians. I have decided I dislike Argonians intensely. This fight gave me such bad rng that I decided right there after dying multiple times to that stupid behemoth that I was going to stop and give up. I mean, if normal was this hard, how in the hell was I ever to past Vet?

You may be wondering at this point…. Yvarhna, you’re like the biggest noob ever. It’s on normal and you’re getting wasted. And you’re right. I ported back to my house and felt like such a noob.
Until…..

I looked at my journal with a angry face to see Vet Maelstrom Arena staring back at me. Wait a minute I say…that can’t be right. I quickly check the achievement page and see all the bosses I cleared so far on Vet.

This is the moment I say OMG!

I head straight back to those Argonians. Thanks to Joy’s vet walkthough, I find the info I need, proceed to clear the rounds and once more face that fat behemoth. After a few more tries, I finally got him down with barely any health left and I ran out of magicka. But I passed it!

Stage 8 went pretty quick

And here I am at stage 9.
I almost got the boss down, but it took a lot of tries to work out the mechanics at the start of the boss stage. The crematorian guard was my bane of existence, and I could barely even make it to the crystals. I now can take all the crystals down, but I tend to fail once the boss gets back down.

It’s ok though, because I feel quite proud of myself for getting this far. Maybe I’m not the noob I thought I was. One thing I will say though, once I pass stage 9, it’s going to feel amazing!

And in case you’re wondering, this was done with no fancy trial gear, just necropotence and Julianos. The build was basically Alcast’s pet Sorc build but instead of bound armor changed to power surge.

And that’s my story of how a noob accidently walked into Vet Maelstrom Arena. Thanks for reading

mursie

good read and best of luck. once you learn the mechanics, boss 9 will be a breeze. i hear some are subbing out julianos for plague doctor on pet sorc to have an even bigger shield.

firedrgn

Great story thanks for sharing. Keep going.

BNOC

I reckon vMSA has some significant placebo effects on players, always has.

Congrats anyway, stick at it, use the sigils and you'll get through it, even 1% is progress.

Once you've done it one time, you'll walk it over and over


Never seen Joy's guide but it seems to be widely regarded so props to him for writing that up.

sudaki_eso

Congratz, even tho you are not through yet. At first i was like, wtf he failed in normal mode, which is like playing a delve or public dungeon?! You made it through the ice stage and poison stage which is the first obtacle for many people i know - me included, first time on vet i died in that fricking ice stage so many times and i still die in these two stages. Then you found out that it was actually vet...good job getting this far excpecting it was normal!
Now dont give up, the first time i made it through it took me several tries to beat the boss and only got lucky to beat him, i died but my dots also killed the boss in almost the same moment and it counted - what a feedling.

Yvarhna

I hope to finish this this weekend, as work takes too much of my time during the week. Knowing my luck, I'll probably get a MA two handed axe or a mace or something, but whatever....I'll finally have that Stormproof title.

I have the timing down now, and the dps for the final boss, so I feel pretty confident to clear the last stage.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my story. I know it first sounds like I was doing Normal, but that's what makes it hilarious. I swear, only I would be so frickin dense not to notice it was on vet. lol.

Yvarhna

So just to give a update, I decided to try and finish it last night and can now finally say I cleared VMSA!

I also jinxed myself because I did state on here and told my husband as I stared at the final golden chest that I bet I'll get a two handed axe. And sure enough...that's what I got.

I think the next time I try and clear it I have to say in my Best negative voice

"I bet I'll get a stupid Lightning staff or bow."

That way I can trick the rng gods lol.

To all those who have cleared this with no deaths, I have to say, you guys blow me away with your skill. I'm pretty happy to just have the Stormproof title, but getting that Flawless Conqueror, that's definitely beyond this noob.

DarcyMardin

I had a very similar experience a few months ago. And the next time I tried, I finished it easily. Onward to VMA!

Danksta

Yvarhna wrote: »

So just to give a update, I decided to try and finish it last night and can now finally say I cleared VMSA!

I also jinxed myself because I did state on here and told my husband as I stared at the final golden chest that I bet I'll get a two handed axe. And sure enough...that's what I got.

I think the next time I try and clear it I have to say in my Best negative voice

"I bet I'll get a stupid Lightning staff or bow."

That way I can trick the rng gods lol.

To all those who have cleared this with no deaths, I have to say, you guys blow me away with your skill. I'm pretty happy to just have the Stormproof title, but getting that Flawless Conqueror, that's definitely beyond this noob.

It took me months of playing vMA off and on again to get my first clear. My first time in there I couldn't even beat the first stage and it was a struggle just to get to the boss. I literally whittled away at it for the better part of a year. I once said that I'd never get flawless too but now I'm confident I could get it on any class/spec. If you set it as a goal of yours I'm sure you can get flawless too.

Congrats!

cyberjanet

Congrats. I am still stuck on the final boss. Haven't killed a crystal yet.

pelle412

Great job! My first time in there I probably died 500 times and was ready to give up, and now I have flawless clears.

greenmachine

Great job and thank you for sharing @Yvarhna !

Yes vMA is tough but very rewarding and can teach so much about your class. Whether I'm in vet dungeons, trials, BGs, or whatever, if I see a Stormproof title I know I can count on them to know their stuff.

Rontabs77

Congratulations @Yvarhna !

I too had just cleared vMA, just last night, in fact, and my hands were literally shaking by phase 3. My God I have never played any content in any game as hard as vMA my entire life and I have been gaming for almost, if not more than 30 years.

- Rontabs