Arena Drops

MindOfTheSwarm

So since curated drops I felt pretty good about not having duplicate drops in Maelstrom arena. However, now that all armor has been collected, duplicates are dropping once again.

I guess this means weapons only drop on the final encounter?

If so…. Only 73 more runs to go to fill out my collection.

Ridiculous to expect players to do this.

redspecter23

The chests on the final round in maelstrom arena drop weapons for arena weapons and for the non arena sets. The chests from prior rounds drop the other pieces. Basically, you're doing one run for every non arena weapon, which is a lot.

It's way better than it was, but it's still probably the longest gear grind by number of runs required. 6 non arena sets was too many to add for Maelstrom. It could have had 3 and it would have been fine.

Number_51

Yep, ran a companion through nDSA last night just to level a weapon skill line for them. All duplicates till the final chest where I got a couple dual wield Master weapons and one weapon from one of the other sets.

Gundug

Maces, daggers, greatswords, swords, mauls, axes, battleaxes, fire, lightning, ice, restoration staves, mace and shield, dagger and shield, sword and shield, axe and shield. I think that’s everything, so 15 weapon combinations times 7 sets (including the Maelstrom weapons) equals 105 runs, if I’m not miscalculating something. I could see the five piece set weapons dropping in the end of round chests. It would still be a bit of a slog.

colossalvoids

It's fine because you don't really "need" this sticker book entries to be fully completed, that's something that would happen eventually if you'll stick with game long enough and with much more ease than before the book introduction when we were farming way more, those 70 runs could be just for a one exact drop, not even talking hundreds of runs before transmutation for some sharpened inferno.

MMOs are grindy, there are achievements that would take you much longer to complete so it's normal thing to expect.

Heartrage

Weapons only drop from the final bosses in arena, dungeons and trials or from randomly spawning chests in those content that can drop anything and aren’t curated. Sadly those don’t spawn in arenas.

If you don’t want to do the arena 70 times, i think there’s an orsinium event that double the rewards from maelstrom. If someone can verify, it would be nice.

Edit: Actually, Vathreshan hollow drops 3 or 4 weapons by run 1 for the last boss and one for each or two of the last bosses of the portals.

MindOfTheSwarm

Would it hurt to simply have the weapons start dropping in each round AFTER the armor pieces have been discovered? I refuse to grind away for potentially 70 more runs to get the weapon I need for one of the arena sets. Gonna look elsewhere for easier sets. I mean take a look at the sets anyway compared to other easier sets.

Parabellum is very similar to Hatchling’s Shell. Yet if there is a specific Parabellum weapon I want, why bother when Hatchling does almost the same thing and is 300% easier to acquire.

Same can be said for Winterborn weapons or Permafrost, the latter of which is only really useful with jewellery and weapons anyway.

If they allowed these weapons to drop each round after the armor pieces have been filled it would still require numerous runs and grind to get them all without it feeling obnoxious.

Necrotech_Master

redspecter23 wrote: »

The chests on the final round in maelstrom arena drop weapons for arena weapons and for the non arena sets. The chests from prior rounds drop the other pieces. Basically, you're doing one run for every non arena weapon, which is a lot.

It's way better than it was, but it's still probably the longest gear grind by number of runs required. 6 non arena sets was too many to add for Maelstrom. It could have had 3 and it would have been fine.

i think it would help if those non special weapon items were tradeable

for some reason dragonstar arena is the only dungeon/trial/arena that has tradeable regular set drops

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Arenas are a colossal weapon grind for stickerbook. Its not the arena weapons themselves, they really arent all that bad to get, its all the other sets. Maelstrom has I believe 6 gear sets. It ends up being close to 100 runs. I would be well passed that if Smart Loot had been her since launch, but the notion that I am going to run VMA 100 more times at this point is absurd.

I also feel like binding a perfected item should unlock both the perfected and non-perfected version in your stickerbook, but that might be a rant for another thread.

Dungeons take about 45 runs on average, so not a lot better if I am being honest, typically they are faster, than an arena, but you often want/need some other players. Yes stickerbook is a massive improvement, but they need to take a second pass at how weapons drop. No dungeon in this game is so good that I want to run it 45 times.

My Solution: Give all bosses a 20-25% chance to also drop an additional weapon that follows the smart loot system. Still a grind, just not an absurd one. On average that's two weapons per run instead of one in most dungeons. In a place like VMA, maybe you get three on average. Still talking about roughly 30 hours of farming to fill your book for one instance.

colossalvoids

I also feel like binding a perfected item should unlock both the perfected and non-perfected version in your stickerbook, but that might be a rant for another thread.

I believe it was on a next update PTS notes, better later than never.

Treeshka

This does not make much sense since once one completes every item from a solo arena they would just use their crystals to reconstruct that item. So after maximum of fourteen runs one can complete every perfected weapon from there but they can only get one sixth of the available set weapons.

I think they should make this like in Vateshran Arena where you get four weapon for each completion. Since each last chest of the side areas awards a weapon from those three sets. Maybe they can make the certain arenas in Maelstrom award a weapon from the sets to make it more easy.

Same goes eventually for the dungeons as well. One can acquire all body pieces maybe in four or five runs but weapons are the real grind. I think they will not change anything on this though. Since if they remove the rule where weapons and jewelry only drops from last boss, and change it to every boss can drop anything, and with the curated drops, farming dungeon gears would be much more easy and will result the content dying earlier.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

colossalvoids wrote: »

I also feel like binding a perfected item should unlock both the perfected and non-perfected version in your stickerbook, but that might be a rant for another thread.

I believe it was on a next update PTS notes, better later than never.

Well that is pretty neat.

I mean it fits with crafting lore if you will. If I find a perfect version of an item, pretty sure I can reconstruct a less than perfect version. Haha. I was just not looking forward to the day that I had to start standing on a street corner in craglorn trying to find normal trial runs to farm stickerbook. I have never stepped foot in normal Vateshran and never will. And after farming DDF leads, I have no interest in ever doing normal DSA again either.

colossalvoids

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

colossalvoids wrote: »

I also feel like binding a perfected item should unlock both the perfected and non-perfected version in your stickerbook, but that might be a rant for another thread.

I believe it was on a next update PTS notes, better later than never.

Well that is pretty neat.

I mean it fits with crafting lore if you will. If I find a perfect version of an item, pretty sure I can reconstruct a less than perfect version. Haha. I was just not looking forward to the day that I had to start standing on a street corner in craglorn trying to find normal trial runs to farm stickerbook. I have never stepped foot in normal Vateshran and never will. And after farming DDF leads, I have no interest in ever doing normal DSA again either.

Yeah pretty much the same deal for me and people I know, doubt any would be eager to go through the grind again on a difficulty that poses no enjoyment whatsoever or just being DSA for its amazing talk through phases hehe, and yea especially after going through the lead that took me a month roughly being the "luckiest one".

Jusey1

I recently spent two whole days grinding nDSA just to get the special weapon sets from it, let alone all of the weapons for the three normal sets in that Arena... I got sick and tired of the guy who loves the sound of his own voice pretty quickly.

I don't mind grinding out the Arena in all honesty if I could just mute the idiot talking. You're not a [Big Shot] dude, you die in like 10 to 15 seconds in normal... Just shut up already and let me grind in peace.

AlnilamE

They could start dropping weapons before the last round, but I don't think getting everything by just doing the first round and then resetting would be healthy for the game.

I think in maelstrom, you can get jewelry from the 8th round as well, so they could add weapons there, and maybe to the Vault of Umbrage as well.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

AlnilamE wrote: »

They could start dropping weapons before the last round, but I don't think getting everything by just doing the first round and then resetting would be healthy for the game.

I think in maelstrom, you can get jewelry from the 8th round as well, so they could add weapons there, and maybe to the Vault of Umbrage as well.

I am all for the arnea weapons being only last boss. The weapons from the other sets are the real issue. I really dont care how they do it, but they should make it possible to get 2-3 set weapons per run.

Necrotech_Master

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

They could start dropping weapons before the last round, but I don't think getting everything by just doing the first round and then resetting would be healthy for the game.

I think in maelstrom, you can get jewelry from the 8th round as well, so they could add weapons there, and maybe to the Vault of Umbrage as well.

I am all for the arnea weapons being only last boss. The weapons from the other sets are the real issue. I really dont care how they do it, but they should make it possible to get 2-3 set weapons per run.

like others noted, some of the arenas before the final ones do drop jewelry, possible they could just add weapons there

i think MA is -1 from the final gives jewelry, and DSA is -1 and -2 from final gives jewelry (at least the DSA normal set drops are completely tradeable like overland gear, i usually frequently sell my DSA gear on guild store that i dont need lol)

VH is less directed, but also has WAY less normal set items to collect, and BRP uses the same normal set drops as murkmire

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

They could start dropping weapons before the last round, but I don't think getting everything by just doing the first round and then resetting would be healthy for the game.

I think in maelstrom, you can get jewelry from the 8th round as well, so they could add weapons there, and maybe to the Vault of Umbrage as well.

I am all for the arnea weapons being only last boss. The weapons from the other sets are the real issue. I really dont care how they do it, but they should make it possible to get 2-3 set weapons per run.

like others noted, some of the arenas before the final ones do drop jewelry, possible they could just add weapons there

i think MA is -1 from the final gives jewelry, and DSA is -1 and -2 from final gives jewelry (at least the DSA normal set drops are completely tradeable like overland gear, i usually frequently sell my DSA gear on guild store that i dont need lol)

VH is less directed, but also has WAY less normal set items to collect, and BRP uses the same normal set drops as murkmire

Well I had mentioned just putting a 20-25 % weapon drop rate per boss. Over 8 bosses (not the last one), that is basically 2 extra weapons per run. If you wanted to guarantee a second weapon on boss 7 and or 8, that would probably work too. It was mentioned that it wouldnt be healthy if people could just grind the first boss, and truthfully, I see that as a non-issue. Again, arena weapons themselves would be limited to last boss. It would actually take longer to grind the first arena and wait for the reset than to just grind the whole thing, so point is, I would not be worried about some sort of cheesy first boss grind if they could drop set weapons (not arena weapons).

Necrotech_Master

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

They could start dropping weapons before the last round, but I don't think getting everything by just doing the first round and then resetting would be healthy for the game.

I think in maelstrom, you can get jewelry from the 8th round as well, so they could add weapons there, and maybe to the Vault of Umbrage as well.

I am all for the arnea weapons being only last boss. The weapons from the other sets are the real issue. I really dont care how they do it, but they should make it possible to get 2-3 set weapons per run.

like others noted, some of the arenas before the final ones do drop jewelry, possible they could just add weapons there

i think MA is -1 from the final gives jewelry, and DSA is -1 and -2 from final gives jewelry (at least the DSA normal set drops are completely tradeable like overland gear, i usually frequently sell my DSA gear on guild store that i dont need lol)

VH is less directed, but also has WAY less normal set items to collect, and BRP uses the same normal set drops as murkmire

Well I had mentioned just putting a 20-25 % weapon drop rate per boss. Over 8 bosses, that is basically 2 extra weapons per run. If you wanted to guarantee a second weapon on boss 7 and or 8, that would probably work two. It was mentioned that it wouldnt be healthy if people could just grind the first boss, and truthfully, I see that as a non-issue. Again, arena weapons themselves would be limited to last boss. It would actually take longer to grind the first arena and wait for the reset than to just grind the whole thing, so point is, I would not be worried about some sort of cheesy first boss grind if they could drop set weapons (not arena weapons).

yeah i was only talking about the normal set items, the special arena drops should definitely only come from completion

i would be fine with it either way honestly, moreso for maelstrom than anything else because theres 6 normal gear sets in maelstrom (72 normal set gear weapons since they are all full sets)

jecks33

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

I refuse to grind away for potentially 70 more runs to get the weapon I need for one of the arena sets.

Imagine back in the days when we had to repeat the arena 100, 200, 500 times to get one infused vma flame staff, before change trait and stiker book.

[snip]

[Edit for bait.]

Oreyn_Bearclaw

jecks33 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

I refuse to grind away for potentially 70 more runs to get the weapon I need for one of the arena sets.

Imagine back in the days when we had to repeat the arena 100, 200, 500 times to get one infused vma flame staff, before change trait and stiker book.

[snip]

[Edit for bait.]

I think the point is the most of us are already in triple digits in that place, and are now looking at trying to complete stickerbook or perhaps use one of the full sets from the arena. We aren't talking about chasing a specific Arena weapon, which is frankly trivial at this point.

Also, I while I am sure it happened, most people did not run that place anywhere close to 100 times to get their first staff, let alone 500 (not sure I believe anybody who claims to have run that place 500 times for a weapon, but I digress). And if you really want to go back, an infused staff didnt exist when VMA launched. It was Sharp, Precise and defending, and the DPS difference between the three was minimal. I have put my time in that place, a started grinding about a month after it launched. There also wasn't all that much time between the infused meta and trait change.

I also give very little weight to the argument, "well it stunk for me so it should stink for everyone else" when pointing out an obviously flaw in a system.

jaws343

It's probably easier to just wait until a double drop event. Should drastically cut the grind down.

Brrrofski

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Would it hurt to simply have the weapons start dropping in each round AFTER the armor pieces have been discovered? I refuse to grind away for potentially 70 more runs to get the weapon I need for one of the arena sets. Gonna look elsewhere for easier sets. I mean take a look at the sets anyway compared to other easier sets.

Parabellum is very similar to Hatchling’s Shell. Yet if there is a specific Parabellum weapon I want, why bother when Hatchling does almost the same thing and is 300% easier to acquire.

Same can be said for Winterborn weapons or Permafrost, the latter of which is only really useful with jewellery and weapons anyway.

If they allowed these weapons to drop each round after the armor pieces have been filled it would still require numerous runs and grind to get them all without it feeling obnoxious.

Save yourself the time and get neither.

They're both bad sets.

Just get pale order ring.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Brrrofski wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Would it hurt to simply have the weapons start dropping in each round AFTER the armor pieces have been discovered? I refuse to grind away for potentially 70 more runs to get the weapon I need for one of the arena sets. Gonna look elsewhere for easier sets. I mean take a look at the sets anyway compared to other easier sets.

Parabellum is very similar to Hatchling’s Shell. Yet if there is a specific Parabellum weapon I want, why bother when Hatchling does almost the same thing and is 300% easier to acquire.

Same can be said for Winterborn weapons or Permafrost, the latter of which is only really useful with jewellery and weapons anyway.

If they allowed these weapons to drop each round after the armor pieces have been filled it would still require numerous runs and grind to get them all without it feeling obnoxious.

Save yourself the time and get neither.

They're both bad sets.

Just get pale order ring.

Oh for sure. These sets are trash. Just frustrating to see that massive hole in my stickerbook when I have run that place god knows how many times. I was completely shocked to realize that I am actually still missing one of the non-perfected weapons (one of the sword/board one handers). Before the change over I had one toon bursting to the seems with arena weapons. Basically, i grinded this place at launch, grinded again when they expanded traits, grinded again when they added perfected, and now feel compelled to grind for a 4th time to fill out stickerbook. And I am one of those people that actually likes VMA. HAHA

Eormenric

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

So since curated drops I felt pretty good about not having duplicate drops in Maelstrom arena. However, now that all armor has been collected, duplicates are dropping once again.

I guess this means weapons only drop on the final encounter?

If so…. Only 73 more runs to go to fill out my collection.

Ridiculous to expect players to do this.

@MindOfTheSwarm

I couldn't imagine the developers agreeing that filling the stickerbook in these ridiculous expectation scenarios is "needed". They are presenting you with the chance for convenience, if you're willing to be inconvenienced for dozens of hours and even more after acquisition. Ironically, the Vateshran Hollows Solo Arena was somehow made to be the best solo content in the game for self-competitors; the way VH handles the stickerbook is both elegant and respectful of each player's time. Maelstrom is old, forgotten content. They should double the drops if weapons are only on the last round; they should triple the drops if it's on veteran. But it's not on the roadmap for them, as people have been focused only on quickly attaining the ability-altering weapons.

I saw someone suggest waiting for the Orsinium Celebration event. Given that the event didn't occur in 2020, when it occurred in 2021 it was during August. That gives you 5+ months of waiting for what might not even happen this year.

I'm afraid your complaints will need to eventually end and you'll either face the grind ahead of you or ignore it altogether. Going about it on normal will move things faster, but not by much. Best of luck in your decisions.