Why is vma so insanely hard?

Khallarion

When I was younger, and no, wasn't long ago, lol. Games were easy in general, of course due the hardware limitations, but also because lots of people just want to had some fun, play with friends and so on. At that time, playing Mortal Kombat, for example, the try hard was the guy that knew all the Brutalities and Fatalities, and was able to execute them flawless.

With the competitive gameplay, achievements and so on, games became different, or were reforged in order to satisfy a more competitive audience, or the need of satisfaction based on the illusion of achieving something. But the core mechanics didn't change, I mean, it's still a game.

In other words, a game is a mathematical system, where the protagonist, or observer interact with its environment, achieving different levels of mastery or difficulties. But it's important to keep in mind that "difficulty" depends on your comfort zone, also on what you're used to.

For example, if you get an amateur sportsman to compete a professional competition, you will exhaust the poor guy, because he's not used to that type of activity, or the level of effort required, but doesn't mean he's not capable, it just mean he lacks training.

The same way, understanding the mechanics, the general idea, the conditions you need to satisfy, also putting some effort and having some dedication, you're capable of achieving everything in a game at least. Also, the flaw of every comercial game is that they were made to be completed, achievable, because again, the need of satisfaction based on an achievement.

If you get stressed out, if you shake and get that panic feeling, don't give up. You need to overcome that, because if even in a game you feel so affected, imagine in real situations. Of course, you're not training to become a military, but it's always good to fortify your psychological, to forge your personality based on difficulties and so on.

Why? Because we live in a world where people are always trying to take advantage upon others, thus you must be clever, you must be efficient, and you must protect your own interests as well. Doesn't mean you need to humiliate others, to feel you're superior or better, since this is childish mentality. It just mean you're aware of difficulties, and you forged your intelligence in order to overcome such issues.

Also, you must be clever, because companies will try to grab your attention and make you waste your time at all cost, pretty much those old mmorpgs where you had a monthly subscription model and several quests that just want you to deliver items crossing the entire map over and over.

ESO isn't different, even though it behave differently. If you take the flawless achievement in vMA, specially the 7th stage, you'll clearly notice how random it's, and how it depends on different circumstances, not only gear and knowing the mechanics in order to overcome that, specially if you play with 250 - 300ms.

Same applies with Grand Overlord achievement in Alliance War, since after general, you just keep stacking Alliance Points and stars that means anything at all, because it won't judge your tactical or the ability to become Emperor, which is another delusional achievement, since you can get that in a empty server, or at the main server, doing PvDoor when everybody is sleeping.

The majority of games are just like that, mechanics and practice, because if games were too logical, people wouldn't play it, because they just want the illusion, the feeling of achieving something, not actually achieve something, unless they reframe the reasons they play, as the example of fortifying your psychological.

If you studied your class, the gear, different skills, and if you want to adapt yourself, overcome yourself, then vMA is awesome. If you can't at least complete it, it's all upon you, you don't have team mates of people to throw the responsibility, and that's why we need more content like that.

Oh, such a wall of text, such a dissertation! It's awesome to be able to write in a different language, just for the pleasure of practice, and that should be your mentality when trying to overcome something hard. You can't just complain about how hard it's, you do, or you do not, pretty much like Yoda said once, lol.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

It's not. I reject the original premise of this post.

That said, if it makes you feel better, stage 5 of VMA was the first content that made me seek help online. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but this is a learn to play issue. The good news, VMA will teach you to play ESO better than just about anything, especially since tutorials are virtually non-existent. I was a significantly better player on the other side of my VMA prog. It is one of the best ways to get a grasp on fundamental mechanics and a feel for your specific class.

Few things on stage 5:

Dodge roll is your friend. People underestimate how powerful this can be when you have multiple ranged adds. Put down ground DOTs between rounds, and once everything spawns, pop a shield and dodge roll once. This will buy you enough time to at least focus down one add.

Use Sigils, especially the reflect and the damage sigil. I rarely use sigils in VMA, but gun to my head needing a flawless, you better believe I am using them in rounds 3 and 4 of stage 5.

Get ring of Pale order if you havent already. No you don't need it, but it is way more useful than a monster set for your first time.

Kill trolls if you can, but don't kill yourself to do it. Outside of the last boss, they arent mandatory. And lots of people die trying to run from island to island, just to get a troll. You can camp one platform through all of stage 5 until the final boss if you want.

Lastly, Crit Surge is life, and treat your shield as a health bar. If I die in VMA on my mag sorc, 95% chance I let surge fall off. Surge plus ground dots make you very hard to kill.

Destyran

You hands cramp? Just slow down remember the roto skill light attack skill light attack etc don’t have to be perfect just look at buffets or try to keep a 10second count. Don’t rush don’t stress it’s all just a game it’s mechanics just follow em

volkeswagon

So VMA must be like trying to do a Harrowstorm with 3 people

DaveMoeDee

I cleared it for the first time last week, then did it two more times. I have been here since the game launched, but when I tried it when Wrothgar was released, I got crushed and never really went back.

I cheesed my way through it with Alcast's werewolf build on my DK main. It was pretty easy using the werewolf, though I always die quite a bit on the state with the poisonous plants. And a few times on the one with the swarms.

The werewolf is really good on the stage OP mentioned.

I did go ahead and used the pricey food he mentions. Did it with the Briarheart and Alessia gear setup he lists. And I had the Pale Order ring.

nukk3r

volkeswagon wrote: »

So VMA must be like trying to do a Harrowstorm with 3 people

A lot easier than that.

Jeremy

wishlist14 wrote: »

Im not too proud to admit that vma is crazy difficult.....it's NOT the mechanics that is hard it's the insane amount of damage and too many things happening at once.
Im stuck on arena 5 and i got to the 5th stage 4 times but i cant kill the boss she still has like 15% health left when she breaks the last ice island and i die.

I sometimes miss a troll so i just let myself die and start again.....BUT it's the exhaustion that wears me down. My hands get cramped and i physically feel shaky. I cant even go to normal ma and practice because the mobs die too fast and i cant practice....i think its more exhaustion...having to start from stage 1 of this arena to get to the final boss just tires me out.

Im playing on my cp 810 with 1 bar sorc and 1 added the interrupt skill on my second bar to range interrupt trolls easier too....i kill mages asap and the other casters then the archers and keep looking out for trolls but sometimes i get caught out and find the troll is right next to a boss and i interrupt but boss lays ground aoe and i cant see it with all those mobs on a lil island....

I cant ever see myself doing this.....ive done a few vet hm dungeons but this is beyond crazy. I thought i was an average good player but now that i see so many say this vma is easy i just want to die....im depressed cos i want to advance in this game...i want to do this.

Normal trials are too easy for me so i want to progress but i need my vma weapon......lots of progression guilds are insisting you have beat vma in order to join their progression team or even be considered as a bench warmer.😢

It would be helpful if there was an intermediate ma and if you could save each stage in vma not just each arena. Ty for reading

I MEANT 810cp ...i edited it was a typo....

Thank you so much for all the support and advice..ill keep trying.

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. The troll just seems to randomly one shot you out of the blue. I beat it on Veteran, but don't ask me how or even why. Just sometimes the boss let's me live long enough to kill it. I suppose you can call it hard, though I think dumb is the more appropriate word. But that's how I would describe VMA generally. I'm not a fan. haha

AyaDark

wishlist14 wrote: »

Im not too proud to admit that vma is crazy difficult.....it's NOT the mechanics that is hard it's the insane amount of damage and too many things happening at once.
Im stuck on arena 5 and i got to the 5th stage 4 times but i cant kill the boss she still has like 15% health left when she breaks the last ice island and i die.

I sometimes miss a troll so i just let myself die and start again.....BUT it's the exhaustion that wears me down. My hands get cramped and i physically feel shaky. I cant even go to normal ma and practice because the mobs die too fast and i cant practice....i think its more exhaustion...having to start from stage 1 of this arena to get to the final boss just tires me out.

Im playing on my cp 810 with 1 bar sorc and 1 added the interrupt skill on my second bar to range interrupt trolls easier too....i kill mages asap and the other casters then the archers and keep looking out for trolls but sometimes i get caught out and find the troll is right next to a boss and i interrupt but boss lays ground aoe and i cant see it with all those mobs on a lil island....

I cant ever see myself doing this.....ive done a few vet hm dungeons but this is beyond crazy. I thought i was an average good player but now that i see so many say this vma is easy i just want to die....im depressed cos i want to advance in this game...i want to do this.

Normal trials are too easy for me so i want to progress but i need my vma weapon......lots of progression guilds are insisting you have beat vma in order to join their progression team or even be considered as a bench warmer.😢

It would be helpful if there was an intermediate ma and if you could save each stage in vma not just each arena. Ty for reading

I MEANT 810cp ...i edited it was a typo....

Thank you so much for all the support and advice..ill keep trying.

I did it on my tank 400-500 cp first time. In ebon or plag doctor and warior poet, it was very hard, becouse it is bad sets for arena.

NMA i did on 160+ cp twink.

vMA is not hard.

And for better understanding, not to pass it on 810+ shows that you play not good, because majority of players pass itt 100500 times before on 610+ cp with worse gear.

It shows that DD must not only DPS in dummy.
vMA is about mechaniks only it train how many thingth you are capable to watch each time and move.

This is no real difference vMA or nMA weapon. It is only that to have nMA is not comfortable to have for veteran player. That is all.

WaywardArgonian

Seeing as some people were talking about Stage 7 earlier, here's a few things I do to prevent poison shenanigans:

- A lot of people seem to stay in the middle, but I always position myself near one of the cleansing pools during each round. I start with the pool on the far end of where you enter the arena: there is a shield sigil near in case I screw something up during the archer waves, and it is far away from where that thunder lizard spawns in round 3. By being next to a pool, you will reduce the risk of being poisoned as flowers don't often spawn inside those pools, and you have an insta-fix in case you do get poisoned. Of course, once you use one pool, you move across the room to the other one.
- The most dangerous adds are the archers, so memorize when/where they spawn and see if you have a clear path to the shield sigil in case you need it.
- During the boss fight, there is a known problem of flowers spawning under your shield. However, this is preventable in the vast majority of the cases if you do not panic and just take your time to see where the 2 casters are positioned respectively, and how close they are to poison flowers. You can also stall killing one of the casters for a few seconds if you feel like a Venomcaller spawn is due. If you killed a Venomcaller right before the boss spawned, it is possible that one spawns again during the caster phase. if it happens, kill the Venomcaller first and then complete the caster mechanics.

I know the above sways from OPs struggles, but given some of the discussion regarding Stage 7, I figured it might help someone. It is not 100% foolproof as it is very easy to die in this stage, but I do think the problems encountered there are more preventable than a lot of players make them out to be.

fossoyer

Doing VMA with 240 cp. It's juste question of training.

UrbanMonk

Many people use these so called "ONE BAR EASY" Builds or for that matter any similar setup, but what they don't consider is the amount of experience needed to clear this arena when you are more focused on defensive play, rather than offensive.
Yes it can be cleared with less damage and lower CPs but is that optimal if you are going for the clear? In my opinion NO. Playing safe is ok, but it'll never be optimal or make things easy for you to get you a clear.

If a 500+ CP player wears a half decent gear combo for mag classes such as False god / MS/ Medusa etc. Which are easy to get, even with a trash rotation, you can get easily 30-40k DPS with some practice and with that damage, when you kill things faster, Arena will become far easier.

Heck ive a magDK HEAVY ATTACK-EASY BUILD for arena clears on my YT channel, which in no way is any less defensive than 30-40k health one bar builds but at the same time does atleast 3-4 times damage.