Do you think vMA is worth it?

Lukums1 · January 2018

Worth.

Makes you a way better player.
Makes you aware.
Forces you to try new strats which work for the individual.

Rewarding for finally completing as @Oreyn_Bearclaw Mentioned when we did it back in the day with virtually no CP and lack of gear across the board it was much more frustrating I find these days are enjoying it more than they were due to the learning difficultly.

Was it absolutely fun doing 1,000 + runs for the sharpen flame staff no it wasn't but at least you had something to do other than to farm the lame raids over and over with people crying about dc's LOL.

SoLooney · January 2018

vma makes you a better player, so yes it is worth doing

vma bow is a must for stam players, reason why endless hail is your hardest hitting move

vma staves are still essential for magicka players

honestly anything to boost your dps is worth achieving.

Morvane · January 2018

Lukums1 wrote: »

Worth.

Makes you a way better player.
Makes you aware.
Forces you to try new strats which work for the individual.

Rewarding for finally completing as @Oreyn_Bearclaw Mentioned when we did it back in the day with virtually no CP and lack of gear across the board it was much more frustrating I find these days are enjoying it more than they were due to the learning difficultly.

Was it absolutely fun doing 1,000 + runs for the sharpen flame staff no it wasn't but at least you had something to do other than to farm the lame raids over and over with people crying about dc's LOL.

now i have vma sharp fire staff from 3d run and every basement dweller ask me why not **cking Lightning.

Lukums1 · January 2018

Morvane wrote: »

Lukums1 wrote: »

Worth.

Makes you a way better player.
Makes you aware.
Forces you to try new strats which work for the individual.

Rewarding for finally completing as @Oreyn_Bearclaw Mentioned when we did it back in the day with virtually no CP and lack of gear across the board it was much more frustrating I find these days are enjoying it more than they were due to the learning difficultly.

Was it absolutely fun doing 1,000 + runs for the sharpen flame staff no it wasn't but at least you had something to do other than to farm the lame raids over and over with people crying about dc's LOL.

now i have vma sharp fire staff from 3d run and every basement dweller ask me why not **cking Lightning.

Best bit, opened my leaderboard rewards last week flame sharpen unreal eh.

Splattercat_83 · January 2018

Azyle1 wrote: »

Just curious. (I also know this has likely been asked before)

vMA was something I always thought would be the pinnacle of difficulty. Now, I assume this is true, but was surprised I beat it with as little practice as I did.

I did it with my only character(Xbox if that matters) a Stamblade. I also finally got the bow and will likely never go back in.

So do you think vMa is worth doing? Some people appreciate a challenge, and while I was relieved when I did it, I don't feel it's always a fair challenge. RNG, lag, weird animations (Sometimes enemies do not do their animations for certain attacks, despite.. you know, them actually doing the attack apparently).

In addition, the weapons. The bow seems to be one of the most sought after weapons. I am CP 578 and was doing ~37 - 38K DPS before. With the bow and a change from infused to Nirnhoned, I hit a MAXIMUM of 40.5K. Big increase? Not really. Also, if I would of had to spend 50+ tries, I'm sure I feel more "meh" about it.

So in my opinion, I think vMA is a neat concept that gets blown out of proportion as far as how hard it is and the rewards aren't up to snuff with the frustration put into it. Especially if you are unlucky. I got EXTREMELY lucky and got the bow on my 4th attempt.

Just want to know other people's thoughts. Do you think the rewards are worth it? The difficulty fair? Thoughts?

This is what Maelstrom done for me. I spent the better part of the first year of playing eso running around in overland on xb1 NA. I was max level and never had run a dungeon. I never had watched any youtube videos either. One of my friends on here turned me onto youtube and I started seeing all these cool monster sets. So I made a healer and pretty much started out doing 4 man dungeons, as a healer. I had collected all the monster helms and was actually a really good healer.

I started wanting to do a damage role, so I pulled out my sorc and started to do damage. BOY, I SUCKED SO BAD! By this time Wrothgar just released and all the rave was about the Maelstrom weapons. I thought my damage was so bad because I didn't have the MA weapons. So I started in there. I very quickly realized, that I wasn't doing low damage because I didn't have a MA weapon; but because I could do damage period. I couldn't avoid mechanics and dps on target. It was one of the other. I could do mechanics but I couldn't pull a rotation, because honestly, healing I could kite, and slam 1 button to heal my group (remember up until this point my only group play experience was 4 man dungeons and this was pre ICP and WGT and I had no trials experience.) I could try to do a rotation,which wasn't very good to begin with, then die.

Maelstrom arena taught me how to really play as a damage dealer. I went from spamming force pulse because that's all I could to do, to light weaving my skills, keeping up my DoTs, and keeping up my buffs. Maelstrom Arena has given me so much more than just a fancy bow or staff, it taught me how to play basically.

Two years later, I have an armory of Maelstrom weapons because I saved everyone I got even through the whole "If it's not sharpened, it's trash" era and now thanks to the transmutation station, they aren't worthless. I do not need to go back into Maelstrom ever again. I have all the weapons I'll ever need from there, but I still run it because it will keep you sharp on knowing how to react to mechanics, pressure, self preservation, and how to control your damage.

Splattercat_83 · January 2018

TheKrokvo wrote: »

Yes, Yes and BIG F***ING YES, do it again and again, go without sigils try best score as there can be. You wont be rewarded by items(although some of them are nice indeed) but your main reward will be knowledge how to Survive while Moving around and at the same time doing DPS, a lot of end-game raiders are missing this particular skillset which is fairly easy noticeable in vHof and now in vAS.
Bugs are and always be there(?)
And Rng isnt playing a big role so if you die there 90% (or even maybe more) will be on you, then again by those countless deaths and failures you will lear how to play this game without any group, you can always go there and leave it without anyone be raging why you left, not like in raid.
Also I noticed that players and friends which are doing vMA after 3 years got better dps and better surviveability than those plebs without Flawless Conqueror or even Stormproof

I was pugging nAS with a group the other day, when ST. Olms would do his jump or the massive AOE lighting attack, it would wipe the group except for maybe 3 of us. After about the 3rd or 4th wipe I explained that you have to kite the aoe's or move to the sides to keep from dieing. I was asked how were they supposed to keep damage on boss. I was shocked that they didn't know to do mechanics and keep up dps. I just about backed out at that point, but I remembered that I use to be just like that. They finally pulled it together and got it done.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · January 2018

Splattercat_83 wrote: »

Azyle1 wrote: »

Just curious. (I also know this has likely been asked before)

vMA was something I always thought would be the pinnacle of difficulty. Now, I assume this is true, but was surprised I beat it with as little practice as I did.

I did it with my only character(Xbox if that matters) a Stamblade. I also finally got the bow and will likely never go back in.

So do you think vMa is worth doing? Some people appreciate a challenge, and while I was relieved when I did it, I don't feel it's always a fair challenge. RNG, lag, weird animations (Sometimes enemies do not do their animations for certain attacks, despite.. you know, them actually doing the attack apparently).

In addition, the weapons. The bow seems to be one of the most sought after weapons. I am CP 578 and was doing ~37 - 38K DPS before. With the bow and a change from infused to Nirnhoned, I hit a MAXIMUM of 40.5K. Big increase? Not really. Also, if I would of had to spend 50+ tries, I'm sure I feel more "meh" about it.

So in my opinion, I think vMA is a neat concept that gets blown out of proportion as far as how hard it is and the rewards aren't up to snuff with the frustration put into it. Especially if you are unlucky. I got EXTREMELY lucky and got the bow on my 4th attempt.

Just want to know other people's thoughts. Do you think the rewards are worth it? The difficulty fair? Thoughts?

This is what Maelstrom done for me. I spent the better part of the first year of playing eso running around in overland on xb1 NA. I was max level and never had run a dungeon. I never had watched any youtube videos either. One of my friends on here turned me onto youtube and I started seeing all these cool monster sets. So I made a healer and pretty much started out doing 4 man dungeons, as a healer. I had collected all the monster helms and was actually a really good healer.

I started wanting to do a damage role, so I pulled out my sorc and started to do damage. BOY, I SUCKED SO BAD! By this time Wrothgar just released and all the rave was about the Maelstrom weapons. I thought my damage was so bad because I didn't have the MA weapons. So I started in there. I very quickly realized, that I wasn't doing low damage because I didn't have a MA weapon; but because I could do damage period. I couldn't avoid mechanics and dps on target. It was one of the other. I could do mechanics but I couldn't pull a rotation, because honestly, healing I could kite, and slam 1 button to heal my group (remember up until this point my only group play experience was 4 man dungeons and this was pre ICP and WGT and I had no trials experience.) I could try to do a rotation,which wasn't very good to begin with, then die.

Maelstrom arena taught me how to really play as a damage dealer. I went from spamming force pulse because that's all I could to do, to light weaving my skills, keeping up my DoTs, and keeping up my buffs. Maelstrom Arena has given me so much more than just a fancy bow or staff, it taught me how to play basically.

Two years later, I have an armory of Maelstrom weapons because I saved everyone I got even through the whole "If it's not sharpened, it's trash" era and now thanks to the transmutation station, they aren't worthless. I do not need to go back into Maelstrom ever again. I have all the weapons I'll ever need from there, but I still run it because it will keep you sharp on knowing how to react to mechanics, pressure, self preservation, and how to control your damage.

This is it right there! Maelstrom will teach you how to play this game and play your class. The first thing I have done with every character upon reaching level 50 (since I made one of each) was to take them through VMA. You will figure your class out in a hurry in that place. I was like you, I spent the first year or so of this game playing it like any other ES games. I would rarely group, and I was running a terrible hybrid NB.

VMA is like that training montage in a JCVD movie. You go in a scrub and come out being able to play on the other side.