Illurian wrote: »

On my first clear I got so excited I stepped on my power cord which switched off my PC. I wasn't able to loot my first vMA chest. But I did it again!

You already got past what (in my opinion) is the toughest stage; stage 7. I hate those RNG mushrooms so damn much.

Definitely try again! It'll eat at your soul if you don't.

On my last attempt I had gotten Voriak down to 6k Health. 6k! But I wiped before I could get that last attack cast, then after that failure no matter what I did I couldn't get him past 50% again. Your story sounds so heartbreaking accidentally being robbed of your loot like that.

You have to do it. Its the pinnacle of Solo PvE, and its well within your grasp.

Many will back me up, that first clear takes hours overall and 100's of deaths. I must have been in for 20 hours total I bet.

My next pass I did many rounds no death and it took about 3 hours, then 2 - then it quickly dropped to 1.5hrs

The first pass is hard due to mechanics, and learning your build. The 2nd is SO much easier.

Voriak is a nightmare first time, but after that the fact that there is less RNG and he's pretty manageable makes it one of the easier rounds. Rd's 5, 7 and for me 8 with no sigils are the hardest ongoing.

I would say get back in there, get it done.

It's great to achieve it.

Qbiken wrote: »

Beardimus wrote: »

You have to do it. Its the pinnacle of Solo PvE, and its well within your grasp.

Many will back me up, that first clear takes hours overall and 100's of deaths. I must have been in for 20 hours total I bet.

My next pass I did many rounds no death and it took about 3 hours, then 2 - then it quickly dropped to 1.5hrs

The first pass is hard due to mechanics, and learning your build. The 2nd is SO much easier.

Voriak is a nightmare first time, but after that the fact that there is less RNG and he's pretty manageable makes it one of the easier rounds. Rd's 5, 7 and for me 8 with no sigils are the hardest ongoing.

I would say get back in there, get it done.

Stage 8 is a pain. It´s the only stage I´ve trouble with at the moment. The flamecasters are annoying (should make their spinning bolt ability dodgeable or at least reflectable). And the flameknight is more of a challange than the last boss for me (playing magDK and is a vampire, unless I´m at stage 3 I almost get 2 shot by the flameknight). If I get a Death in vMA (not counting in lagspikes and mechanics being Active after the boss is killed on a stage) it´s almost Always at stage 8, at least on my magdk. RIP my effort in getting 570k scores :P

So that's an easy enough round yeah. But all my no deaths go there to die on the second to last last boss.

cpuScientist wrote: »

You gotta do it. If you don't you will regret it. And never feel adequate in bed bath or beyond....

What class are you on by the way, we might be able to give pointers if you wanted.

MagSorc. I wouldn't dare try with any other class. Even then I have to use the Defense sigils or else I'm just way too squishy and I'm spamming Ward all the time.

What kind of skill combos should I be using to nuke the Crystals during Voriak's up top phase?

Yeah do it! Just go one stage at a time. I left off at the final stage over a month ago lol. Just because it's not worth the frustration and I want to be in the right mindset. But really it wasn't all that hard up to the last one.

Well I have just cleared it on Saturday and did another 6 runs since then, all on my Sorcerer. It has become much easier after I started learning the spawns and the trigger points for some of the mechanics. My deaths are clustered in a few arenas, namely the Ice Rink, Vault of Umbrage and Theater of Despair. My best score thus far has been about 430K, for 1h20m run. But clearly I can do much better than this. I wanted to run yesterday but by the time the server came back online it was already pretty late, so I will run today instead. Gear used is 5 Law of Julianos, 4 Infallible Mage, 2 Iceheart. I will probably change the Infallible and Iceheart shoulders for 5 Netch's Touch (all pieces already available, just awaiting upgrade) for more damage when I feel I won't need that extra shield. The trigger point for moving to the next class is 500K+ score and <10 deaths achieved consistently. I have actually decided to take a complete break from group content until I finish vMA on all 4 veteran characters currently available with 500K+ scores and get most of the useful gear. I estimate it will be a long break, probably lasting till February-March next year during which I will run vMA exclusively (20+ runs a week), so for me is not about trying but putting all my bets on it.

Sorry for the necro.

But after how many months? And watching an Alcast build where he uses a Maelstrom Staff, I thought that'd be great on my Sorc. I must have gotten better by now right? If I could get all the way to the end before then maybe I can actually complete it this time. Let's do it!

I rage quit after the third wipe on Stage 2.

I'm just never gonna touch solo end-game content again. Maybe I'll try getting a Master's Weapon instead.

@Beardimus

Git gud - no sigils for lyfe boy.

Ok all seriousness LOL - I do guides on twitch all the time for fun showing you how to mitigate most negative effects - issues on all rounds on many different classes.

It's hard the first time 100% more than hard, frustrating and infuriating but man oh man once you realize by hitting that sigil NOW how easy it gets honestly it's dumb.

You can select every sigil at very specific times to almost reflect ALL damage. vMA is a struggle and you shouldn't give up what an accomplishment when you complete!

Trust me, it's worth it!

And its not that bad once you learn it. Personally I found it even easier when I decided to go heavier into the DPS and less into defense. Iceheart and a hardening glyph actually made it harder for me since the longer you make the fights last the higher the chance of getting the mechanics wrong.

If your last try was before morrowind you should be aware that you will find it several times harder now with the nerf to sustain and, on the sorc, the removal of the knock down on shards that was pretty helpful in there (because we can't ballance PVE and PVP separate and it was OP in PVP). On the bright side, I hear that pet builds for mag sorc are pretty effective in vMA now so you may want to try that for dividing agro as well as the big twilight heal.

My thoughts are that vMA is a challenge well worth doing and you learn a lot about the basics of build design and handling mechanics in the process.

Danksta wrote: »

f047ys3v3n wrote: »

If your last try was before morrowind you should be aware that you will find it several times harder now with the nerf to sustain and, on the sorc, the removal of the knock down on shards that was pretty helpful in there (because we can't ballance PVE and PVP separate and it was OP in PVP). On the bright side, I hear that pet builds for mag sorc are pretty effective in vMA now so you may want to try that for dividing agro as well as the big twilight heal.

My thoughts are that vMA is a challenge well worth doing and you learn a lot about the basics of build design and handling mechanics in the process.

Sustain on mag sorc is pretty easy in vMA, even more so if you choose the morph of their execute that refunds magicka if it kills your target. That combined with the destruction expert passive gives you very good sustain.

At a certain point on my mag sorc completing this for the first time, I was only using my back bar and lightning heavy attacks with AOEs. Using harness magicka as a shield and a source of regen alongside boundless storm and crit surge. It became so much easier when I wasn't worrying about regen or bar swapping.

I also find the best approach to not burning out on VMA is to stop for the day once a piece of your gear breaks. Leave the arena and come back the next day. Usually the fresh perspective makes it easier and less frustrating. My first complete took 3 days of doing it like this.