Maelstrom Arena Rant

odahving

Hey everyone, I gotta rant about Maelstrom real quick, so here goes.

I've put a lot of time into this game, and I absolutely love it. A while ago, I decided to start doing Maelstrom so that I could get some good gear, XP, and gold.

I've done Maelstrom on normal at least 12 times now, now attempting to get the lightning staff with every run I do. I have the inferno staff, and I've received the ice staff at least 3 times and the restoration staff at least 4 times. NEVER have I received the lightning staff, and it's really starting to grind my *** gears. I wish there was something I could do to guarantee the lightning staff drop, but nope, just gotta keep doing it over and over and over and over and over... you get the point.

Also Vault of Umbrage may be one of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced in a game.

[snip]

Thank you for listening and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

[Edited to remove Inappropriate and Non-Constructive Content]

VilniusNastavnik

got 100 lightning staves.. still no bow. last thing I need

Provin915

VilniusNastavnik wrote: »

got 100 lightning staves.. still no bow. last thing I need

Same here, got almost everything except the bow... And I'm playing bow/bow

Lephrel

I feel for you. Took me like a hundred runs to get the inferno staves from vMA and vVateshran (winterborn staves were also a huge pain).
I really wish they would somehow make the grind a bit less time consuming.
But it's already a lot better, now that you can trait change. I remember back in the day, you had to run vMA literally hundreds of times to get all your weapons in sharpened.

Integral1900

A friend of mine reached her 300th run without seeing any staves at all. She started counting after her third or fourth run but she couldn’t be sure of that.

If I remember correctly that was the time she said she stood up from the computer and punched a hole in the drywall. I only knew the story because I saw the dent afterwards and asked what happened.

Personally I don’t have that kind of stamina, I got to about a dozen before I just wanted to throw back my head and scream. I think that’s where my deep-seated loathing of our argonians came from, if it was up to me those walking handbags would be find themselves on the endangered species list. 🤬

After that I made a promise that I would never set foot in any solo arena in this game ever again for any reason, I don’t care how over the top the reward is it’s not worth it. My rng is broken in general so chances are I never get the item I wanted in the first place, it’s a simple as that 😐

Banana

RNG is a pickle

Vildebill

12 runs...

Stahlor

...and now, try to imagine the time before transmuting and what a punch in the face it was for these players, when ZOS introduced perfected weapons...

GreenHere

I had the same issue! Was going for Lightning, and it was literally the last thing I unlocked. By the end, I had gotten so many Ice & Resto staves that I could quad wield them by holding two in each hand; while still having 3 shields, 4 bows, and like 17 mauls for my backup bar. I could have constructed an entire mechanical army from all the damn materials I was deconstructing just from vMA weapons by the end.

I finally got one from the leaderboard mails by switching to a class that pretty much guaranteed placement because no one really bothered much with them at the time -- Dragonknights. Maybe try clearing it on an alt?

Also, pro tip for the ****** *** **** Vault of Umbrage: Those stupid poison plants make a gross squelchy kind of noise as they grow up through the ground. Play with headphones, and listen for em; often enough to make a difference you'll know where they spring up without even seeing them. Usually when I get got by them, it's because they sprang up behind me while I was focused on something else.

Fischblut

I've put a lot of time into this game, and I absolutely love it. A while ago, I decided to start doing Maelstrom so that I could get some good gear, XP, and gold.

I've done Maelstrom on normal at least 12 times now, now attempting to get the lightning staff with every run I do.

...On normal I still can't believe that these weapons drop on normal, cause normal MA is a meme. It exists simply for leveling little new characters.

Imagine having done hundreds of runs on veteran mode, and then having all those veteran weapons taken away in Greymoor. As if all those vMA runs before Greymoor never happened.

Grianasteri

odahving wrote: »

Hey everyone, I gotta rant about Maelstrom real quick, so here goes.

I've put a lot of time into this game, and I absolutely love it. A while ago, I decided to start doing Maelstrom so that I could get some good gear, XP, and gold.

I've done Maelstrom on normal at least 12 times now, now attempting to get the lightning staff with every run I do. I have the inferno staff, and I've received the ice staff at least 3 times and the restoration staff at least 4 times. NEVER have I received the lightning staff, and it's really starting to grind my *** gears. I wish there was something I could do to guarantee the lightning staff drop, but nope, just gotta keep doing it over and over and over and over and over... you get the point.

[snip]

Thank you for listening and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

I think it may be helpful to add in some context to your 12 run plight.

There are people who run maelstrom arena hundreds of times to get the weapon they want/need, and we used to have to do that on veteran for ANY of the weapons. It is pure RNG and it can be infuriating.

When you are the one who hasnt got what you need after 12 runs I know that can feel very frustrating. I was there once. For instance Ive run Arx Corinium between 300 - 400 times, looking for UI shock staff - never dropped. In stark contrast, personally I got the staff I wanted after ONE vet maelstrom arena run!

RNG is what were dealing with here and you have my sympathy. Hopefully now with context, you wont feel so put out by just 12 runs!

Some have suggested that maelstrom should work on a ticket system, where each successful run awards tickets... a total number of ticketsthen allows you to for instance open a box with much improved RNG across a limited number of weapons/sets, similar to how we now have boxes available for the Undaunted monster sets.

Septimus_Magna

The chance for a lighting staff is 1/6 (for 6 weapon categories) x 1/3 (for 3 elements) = 1/18

I would advise to run MA just once or twice each day, that prevents its from getting boring and you'll eventually get the lighting staff. Normal runs also dont take too long and you gain a decent amount of XP.

Odovacar

We've all been there OP and we all can understand the RNG hell MA can be. Keep grinding and it will come...and when it does it will be a glorious ESO memory for you. When I first got my first inferno after zillions of runs I was glad I kept at it. Also, feel a little fortunate you can run normal for weapons too.

May the RNG gods bless you

jaws343

Fischblut wrote: »

I've put a lot of time into this game, and I absolutely love it. A while ago, I decided to start doing Maelstrom so that I could get some good gear, XP, and gold.

I've done Maelstrom on normal at least 12 times now, now attempting to get the lightning staff with every run I do.

...On normal I still can't believe that these weapons drop on normal, cause normal MA is a meme. It exists simply for leveling little new characters.

Imagine having done hundreds of runs on veteran mode, and then having all those veteran weapons taken away in Greymoor. As if all those vMA runs before Greymoor never happened.

Yeah, it's hard to have concern for a run that takes 20 minutes tops on a fully specced character.

On the other hand, I got really lucky with the new perfected versions. Perfected Lightning on my first run after the weapon changes.