How do I start a trial?

Cazzy · September 2016

I want to do my first trial and I'd like to do Maw of Lorkhaj for the skin - but where do I queue or how do I find people to do it with?

PS4 EU if anyone is interested!

Nestor · September 2016

Go to Hew's Bane, talk to the guy on the Docks, find a group of people and go do it. I think you need 12 for that one, I have never tried it, so it might be some other amount.

For the others, I think you just show up to the Dungeon and talk to an NPC in the place. Maelstrom needs 1 player, Dragonstar needs 4, the others need 12 (Hel Ra and the Library something or other). I don't know if there are any other 4 player trials, but I guess Vet Dungeons can kind of count for that as you chase the various Achievements. Also, not sure if I missed a 12 person or not

Travy_2Hype · September 2016

So you cannot queue for trials, you have to create 12-man groups manually, travel to the area for the trial, and just walk in (be sure to pick up the quest first of course). You don't necessarily have to have 12 people, you could walk in with just yourself if you really wanted.

Best way to form groups is through your Guilds, if you're not in any or not in any that do trials I'd suggest going to the PS4 EU guild page on the forums and looking through what they have and/or create a thread that you're looking for a guild.

driosketch · September 2016

You'll need a guild group, or at the very least 11 other players, all who either sub, or own the thieves guild DLC to run Maw.

The trial itself is in the south of Reaper's March, though you can probably wayshine in or travel to player. One player will get the quest to share with the group.

It's best if have some players who have run it before, learning the mechanics can take a while, like 2-3 hours if you have a lot of first timers. You'll need a couple healers, a tank, and one more player who can at least off tank with a taunt. You need 3 players, who can manage their run stamina, and have high awareness. Finally, your remaining 6 players need to really know how to DPS to their fullest. (You may need to replace a player or more if you get any quiters).

This is all for normal, by the way. Once you have a firm grasp of the mechanics, find a strong group to run the vet mode for the skin.

saxgooner · September 2016

In short and to the point, it is a long way off from getting the skin as only a few of the elite team have got this achievement.
Something to strive for.

AlnilamE · September 2016

If you only get the skin on Vet, I would say run the trial on normal a few times to get an idea of what it's like.

Woeler · September 2016

Veteran Maw is the most difficult content in the game that requires long time playing together coordinated min/maxed groups. There is not a chance you will complete that as your first trial. You're better off searching for groups for normalmodes first, then join a decent raiding guild.

Cryptical · September 2016

Seriously, run the trial on normal, scaled down, to get your feet wet on that content. And to farm the motif. Then do normal scaled up. Then start trying to do it on vet.

And when you complete it on vet, you'll get congratulations from everyone. And I mean everyone.

Even the lead content designer of Zos says finishing vet maw of lorkhaj hm is an impressive feat: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/284084/beyond-infinity-world-first-vet-maw-of-lorkhaj-hard-mode

driosketch · September 2016

You might want to try the normal trials in Craglorn for your first time.

AA, Mage trial, might be the easiest, but you absolutely need 12 players for the pressure plate gates, and it will split you into 3 groups a couple times.

HRC, Fighter trial, splits you into 2 groups for a bit after the first boss. There are some heavier hitters in this one.

SO, Serpent's trial, is the most strait forward, no real splitting up here, just need to get your timing down on the door switches. Avoid the falling off the edges, and remember to clear your poison. Every boss fight is pretty much tank holds aggro, dps stacks on the hind side letting aoe clear the adds, healers in back.

Cazzy · September 2016

Okies I'll build up to that then, thank you

code65536 · September 2016

Do the trials in this order:

Normal Atherian Archive (Craglorn) - The easiest and usually people's first experience at a trial
Normal Hel Ra Citadel (Craglorn)
Normal Sanctum Ophidia (Craglorn)
Normal Maw of Lorkhaj (Reaper's March, requires DLC)
Vet Atherian Archive
Vet Hel Ra Citadel
Vet Sanctum Ophidia with Hard Mode
Vet Maw of Lorkhaj

There is a gigantic difficulty gap between Normal-mode and Veteran-mode trials. You can PUG all of the normal mode trials, but you need to join a trials guild for the vet trials, and I wouldn't recommend trying them until you're at the point that you're facerolling through the normals. vMoL is literally the most difficult PvE content in the game, harder than even vMA. The other three vet trials are much easier, but are still tougher than the most difficult vet dungeon. But it's all feasible, if you work your way up.

AA and HRC are similar in difficulty and are more or less interchangeable when it comes to the order in which you do them. The Craglorn trials tie into the Craglorn main story line, so if you care about the narrative, I would recommend also doing the Craglorn main quest chain if you have not done so already; AA and HRC are the closing chapters of the Lower Craglorn questline, and SO is the closing chapter of the Upper Craglorn story.

MoL's story is standalone, with a short please-go-and-investigate-this-place intro quest at the Abah's Landing docks.

magnusthorek · September 2016

I can't see the day I will do vMoL because the level of difficulty scares away the vast majority of players in my timezone.

When the so called "elite" (because it's relative) play is early dawn or late night to me so, meh

RAGUNAnoOne · September 2016

There is no que so if you need a trial group on NA I can get you into a guild that frequently runs them and has teaching runs too. But they use PSN messages to communicate so you might want to fix the notifications and prepare for the occasional spam

NeillMcAttack · September 2016

If you still play on EU, our guild runs them Fridays and sundays. Everything is communicated through guild chat and group chat apps, so if you want you can join up. Link to our website and the guild application are in my sig.