Not sure what to do. (VMA too hard, no more gear to get)

Shogunami · January 2016

Ok so here's the thing..

There's a problem with difficulty and meaning/progression in ESO.

I play Orsinium DLC and it's been great fun, good story and beautiful scenery. But it's been laughably easy all the way, not even a bit challenging. I did Maelstrom Arena and it too was laughably easy. I have full Briarheart, Shield Breaker and agility sets, some Para Bellum pieces and old master's weapons and I can't really get any better gear unless I research traits (which'll take at least a month, or months). Sure, I could grind for weeks/months to MAYBE get a helm or shoulder that's worth switching to. And then there's the obvious lack of gearing direction, there's no intuitive way to tell which gear should be obtained to progress, no way to know what gear is better.

So I thought "I have no more gear progression that is possible at the moment, that I know of or that is remotely feasible, there are no challenges left, but the one.. Veteran Maelstrom Arena."
Normal Maelstrom Arena is faceroll. And Veteran Maelstrom Arena is technically impossible to complete for me.

What is required of me to progress further in this game? Do I have to wait a month for all of the traits to be researched so I can craft a better set that just maybe might improve my character or is there something I can do?

I'm glad I made the choice to listen through all of the dialogue with NPCs and follow the story closely as it prolonged the experience by several hours, and I reckon I have at least 1/3 of story left which'll take me a couple of days to finish. But when that's done I fear there's nothing more to do.

At least Orsinium DLC have lasted me longer than Imperial City which only had a few days worth of content/enjoyment, and it was mostly farming.

I'm not bashing ESO or anything, I'm just honestly not sure what to do.

Does this mean nerf Veteran Maelstrom Arena? Maybe.
Does this mean I don't fully know how to enjoy the game? Maybe.
I'm a seasoned MMO PvP and PvE veteran and have to say that, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but Veteran Maelstrom Arena is by far the absolutely hardest and least rewarding overall thing in any game that I've ever tried doing.

Either way, please help me out here.

Praeficere · January 2016

Class? No v16 gold weapons? (Master Weapons are outdated and you're losing out on a ton of damage). Which stage did you get to? Skill setup? This seems more of a rant than an actual ask for help.

Since you're stamina I'll recommended to watch some of Alcasts' videos on Youtube. Gameplay and commentary both there for vMA.

You have to take the time to learn vMA before you can complete, not just rushing in killing everything = else you'll die in 2 seconds every time. Remember the spawn locations and what they spawn, remember the boss mechanics and plan your fight from there. That's what vMA is: Having a good setup and being able to plan your fight.

It's not too difficult to find someone who can craft for you for free or a small fee, granted you have the materials. Ask in zone or join a good trading guild.

Heindrich · January 2016

Shogunami wrote: »

Veteran Maelstrom Arena is by far the absolutely hardest and least rewarding overall thing in any game that I've ever tried doing.

My complete collection of pretty much every Maelstorm weapon I want in the traits I want disagrees with you

I'm not even an elite player. Mediocre skill level if I am honest.

It just takes quite a lot of effort to learn, but once you do it gets easier and easier.

Shogunami wrote: »

Does this mean nerf Veteran Maelstrom Arena? Maybe.

Please no. It's not gonna happen anyway, zenimax already said so. But the arena doesn't need a nerf, it could do with some rebalancing, and DKs and Templars need some class buffs, but the Arena needs to remain difficult.

Suggestions:

Have you done all the vet dungeons and trials? It seems all you've done is solo count.
PvP?
Hire crafters to make whatever you want. There's plenty around now.

Shogunami · January 2016

Praeficere wrote: »

Class? No v16 gold weapons? Which stage did you get to? Skill setup?

If you're stamina I'll recommended to watch some of Alcasts' videos on Youtube. Gameplay and commentary both there for vMA.

You have to take the time to learn vMA before you can complete, not just rushing in killing everything. Remember the spawn locations, which mobs spawn, boss rotation/moves, and plan your fight from there. That's what vMA is: Having a good setup and being able to plan your fight.

Nightblade, gold agility dual-wield weapons. Can't even finish surreal final stage.

Surprise attack, ambush, merciless resolve, cloak.

And 2h with vigor + rally, but also tried with bow, mirage/shuffle. Tried with camouflaged hunter for some extra damage.

Health/stamina recovery food, really can't do without.

Things to avoid on the ground = the least dangerous part of vMA - which is totally counter intuitive to me.
Unblocked auto attack from ranged takes at least 1/3 of my health, usually half. 16-22k max health, doesn't really make that much of a difference.

I'll check out Alcasts' videos, haven't really heard of before.

Praeficere · January 2016

Shogunami wrote: »

Nightblade, gold agility dual-wield weapons. Can't even finish surreal final stage.

Surprise attack, ambush, merciless resolve, cloak.

And 2h with vigor + rally, but also tried with bow, mirage/shuffle. Tried with camouflaged hunter for some extra damage.

Health/stamina recovery food, really can't do without.

Things to avoid on the ground = the least dangerous part of vMA - which is totally counter intuitive to me.
Unblocked auto attack from ranged takes at least 1/3 of my health, usually half. 16-22k max health, doesn't really make that much of a difference.

I'll check out Alcasts' videos, haven't really heard of before.

You lose out on a lot of damage by going recovery food, you definitely need health+stamina. Try using Quick Cloak for the movement buff if you haven't. Use the serpent mundus since it's your first time, or switch to three Endurance jewelry (HP+Stamina Recovery) and take The Thief (more crit chance). Caltrops + Arrow Barrage (bow) are your best friends in vMA being a stamina build.

The boss on the first stage is a DPS check. You have to burn him down since he spawns more and more mobs each time which he can call back and heal himself (kill them). Use the damage buff to help your initial burst on the boss, the defence buff if it drags on to be able to ignore his ranged attacks (it reflects it).

Shogunami · January 2016

Damage isn't really an issue at the moment, lacking survivability however is so I think I'll give my attribute points a redistribution to up my health a bit and use some health/stamina food. I think I have endurance jewellery lying around so I'll give that a try as well, currently trying footmen and some other stuff.

I guess the thing that is bothering me about vMA is that I need everything min/maxed and rely less on actual skill. Avoiding damage, controlling mobs and situational awareness are not the issue here, not in any PvE part of ESO in fact.
Had the same issue in PvP where I "had" to do this or that or get rekd, but I solved it by honing my skills. It seems I'll have to learn how to beat vMA without succumbing too much cookie cutter builds/FOTM, or end up not giving a damn about vMA

You guys reckon I should give Morkuldin's a go, if I can find a crafter? The best gear I have stats wise are Shield Breaker + Powerful Assault, footmen jewellery and agility weapons, but Briarheart set bonus seems nice in theory but I don't know if it's that good, and the extra crit is also nice.

anitajoneb17_ESO · January 2016

Heindrich wrote: »

Shogunami wrote: »

Does this mean nerf Veteran Maelstrom Arena? Maybe.

Please no. It's not gonna happen anyway, zenimax already said so.

You actually swallowed that one ? Maybe you're right. I translated it with "We're not gonna nerf it, but we're going to stealth nerf it".

Reorx_Holybeard · January 2016

Shogunami wrote: »

...
Health/stamina recovery food, really can't do without.
...
16-22k max health, ...

If you're at 20k health using drinks your build may have too much focus on HP and not enough on Stamina. More Stamina = more DPS.

Shogunami wrote: »

Damage isn't really an issue at the moment, ...

It may be counter-intuitive but vMSA is more dependent on DPS than survivability. More DPS means things die faster which means you take less damage. I would try tweaking your build to get more DPS with a minimum amount of recovery and health. Try posting your complete build here for feedback.

SecretAtoz · January 2016

Why do people keep saying Orsinium DLC is easy? Orsinium is actually challenging comparing to the original/main content. I literally almost died fighting ice-heart, well that because I didn't expect him to cast such a large AoE covering nearly the whole room, but he was still tougher than the other bosses I have fought excluding world bosses though. Also, all of these mobs in Orsinium have huge amount of hp, so it takes longer to take down. Facing 3 at once is doable, but could get me killed if I didn't play probably and more than 3 will kill me lol.