do you enjoy the veteran arenas?

gatekeeper13 · March 2020

I would like vMA more if it would drop more often the desired loot. I ve done like 25 times and got all weapons except Maelstrom Bow, which is the one I am farming for.

But it simply wont drop.

Ryath_Waylander · March 2020

That's a tough question. I haven't done the group ones on vet yet and normal is not a problem. VMA is a love hate thing for me at the moment as I'm still trying to get past that big argonian in the poison phase. When that damn poison plant pops up under the shield... gnngh I hate it!

It has however, made me a much better player than group content ever did. Once I started trying to beat vma,I soon found I could solo world bosses. It's a tad slow on a healer but exhilarating when you succeed. *note to self*... must go back tonight...

idk · March 2020

karekiz wrote: »

I enjoy VBRP more than VDSA simply because 5 stages is a better feel than 9. VDSA around stage 6 even in fast groups feels like its going on a tad too long.

As for the DPS comment, for those players should do BRP on normal you still get the drops without a 1st set bonus <which is 100% fine with me>. Normal BRP is just fine with lower DPS.

Yea, I can agree vDSA seems long these days. It used to be my favorite. I do remember when it used to take the fastest team more than an hour to clear so it used to take longer than today.

I like both arenas. Good content for 4 man groups.

ccfeeling · March 2020

VDSA - Free, can be pugged, mid level for all pve even pvp players
VBRP - Paid content, cant be pugged, the requirement is huge different, I think there is lesser than 1 percent of players complete this arena, just like all dlc 12 man HM, not for most of us.

Kadoin · March 2020

They are not bad, but with the game current performance, meh...I also don't like one-shot game mechanics; I consider them artificial difficulty.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · March 2020

I would enjoy the arenas if you could simply skip the trash rounds. Just let me go in, kill the bosses, get to the end boss. IF there was an option to spawn all the trash at once and just take it down in 1 round that would be fine if its really an integral part of the arena.

Grianasteri · March 2020

Personally I think part of the problem is that they are too easy on Normal and too hard on Veteran. By too hard I do not mean I cant complete them, I mean to do so needs a specific set up, and or a good team of equally dedicated good players, with plenty of time... so its a lot of effort, coupled with the fact that on vet some of them require some serious attention to detail and concentration. That can be fun, but its certainly not relaxing.

I guess some do like that. But they are not catering for the casual or average gamer, which may well be the point, to cater for the end gamers. Which to an extent is fine.

Id have to say vet wise, no, I do not enjoy the arenas. I do them for the gear.

gatekeeper13 · March 2020

Grianasteri wrote: »

Personally I think part of the problem is that they are too easy on Normal and too hard on Veteran. By too hard I do not mean I cant complete them, I mean to do so needs a specific set up, and or a good team of equally dedicated good players, with plenty of time... so its a lot of effort, coupled with the fact that on vet some of them require some serious attention to detail and concentration. That can be fun, but its certainly not relaxing.

I guess some do like that. But they are not catering for the casual or average gamer, which may well be the point, to cater for the end gamers. Which to an extent is fine.

Id have to say vet wise, no, I do not enjoy the arenas. I do them for the gear.

Totally agree. Normal versions are too easy and hard versions too hard to be enjoyable. There is no "intermediate" mode that can be done with a simple group and still be challenging and fun.

kylewwefan · March 2020

Do You Enjoy Arenas?

I really like doing VDSA. With a good group, it’s a nice challenge. Not so much Normal. It’s too much of a face roll.

I haven’t got a group yet to beat VBRP. Normal Blackrose Prison I’d have to admit is much more difficult than normal Dragonstar and really seems to push the limit even on every pug I’ve gone in there with. So yeah, I’d say Normal Blackrose is somewhat enjoyable, but I don’t feel like accomplished much at the end. Maybe because it’s something a little newer or more challenging idk.

Used to HATE Vet Maelstrom. Now I find it fun. Every single run I feel challenged and accomplished with finishing it. Normal, is not much more difficult than a really long Fungal Grotto 1 type dungeon and you don’t really learn as much you should. It’s not really enjoyable on normal.

Here’s The Problem:

every time I go in to one of these arenas it’s a different group. I have pugged VDSA a ridiculous amount of times, and most of those runs don’t get past the second round. Unless it’s with people that know what they’re doing here.

I call it “The Pug Breaker” because after 45 minutes being in here on stage 2 of 9, Theres no point to push any further ahead. At this pace you’re looking at a 6 hour run; they probably won’t clear the seventh round. Then by chance you do; going to massively struggle on the last boss if able to beat it at all.

VBRP, you’re likely not making it past the first round in a pug. Which made it comical during the Murkmire event to see all these zone callouts to do VBRP. You already know these aren’t going to go anywhere. No one has the balls to say “NBRP” nope. They say VBRP on Normal. It’s really not VBRP then is it?

Even in my Progression Group, I haven’t found a solid team to commit to working on 4 man arenas. Everyone’s got stuff to do. They come on for Trials Progression and then go they separate ways afterwards.

I’m not likely gonna get a group together and smash out VDSA or VBRP real quick. I suggest not many people will.

Lastly

You don’t get anything good out of them. Where’s the Good Gear? Something that’s gonna make me OP AF. Perfected VBRP weapons are marginally better than Normal and even then, still not something anyone wants. I don’t use any DSA gear on any build. There’s just better stuff.

None of it is very good in PvE asides from Maelstrom and they’ve even been nerffed into marginal gains now too.

mikemacon · March 2020

I really like both vMA and vDSA. When someone in the guild wants to run vDSA, I'll be one of the first to X up. The only real issue I have with vMA is the fat emo argonian round. Those mushrooms ("Finn Flowers") shouldn't be able to pop up under the protective dome. Also, it's the only round that is truly RNG heavy, what with those shrooms of death. But still very, very well designed overall IMO.

vBRP is growing on me. But I will say the difficulty delta between normal and vet on that arena is significantly steeper than the other two.

YMMV.

General_Zeranth · March 2020

I haven't done much of the other arenas honestly, mostly cause I'm more of a solo player and don't really dig guilds cause they always turn toxic or disband (or try so hard to be a trading guild then fail and give up/turn toxic they can't afford the bids). >->

Anyway I'm a really big fan of Veteran Maelstrom. I love running it at least once a week for rewards and seeing how my score adds up. Getting better everyday with the build that finally worked for me, and getting closer and closer to that Flawless Title. OwO
Yeah the mechanics aren't explained and yeah I smashed my head against the proverbial wall of it for 2 years before it finally clicked but now that it has I can't resist my weekly run throughs of it.

Agenericname · March 2020

I like vMA the most. I still run it. I have no need of the gear, so it definitely isn't the reason.

VDSA can be fun with a good group or nightmarish if it isn't. It seems a little too long though.

VBRP is chaotic. I'm warming up to it.

I wouldn't say that everyone gets the gear and never goes back, but I'm sure many do.

tmbrinks · March 2020

vDSA is just long and tedious. It was fun when it came out, but now it's just so slow.

vMA is fine. I burned myself out on it grinding for a Sharpened Lightning in there back in the day (before transmutation)... took me like ~300 runs to get it. Have gone back in to get flawless on my main (along with 2 alt characters that are secondary "mains"), I don't really touch it anymore though, since I have like 10 of every weapon from the 300 previous runs

vBRP is fun, but frustrating. It is not very forgiving. One small mistake by anybody can wipe the group. I like progressing it though, much like progressing the vet HM trials as well.

oxygen_thief · March 2020

ccfeeling wrote: »

VDSA - Free, can be pugged, mid level for all pve even pvp players
VBRP - Paid content, cant be pugged, the requirement is huge different, I think there is lesser than 1 percent of players complete this arena, just like all dlc 12 man HM, not for most of us.

theres no sense for most of us to do this content. why would i waste a lot of time for it if a can buy few runs to get a gear what i need. people who like this kind of activity get their gold people like me who dont want to bother with it get their stuff everybody is happy

Odovacar · March 2020

Hell yeah I do. I wish we had more arenas, really. If we had one more Maelstrom Arena style solo play I'd be in heaven for a while.

Grianasteri · March 2020

kylewwefan wrote: »

Lastly

You don’t get anything good out of them. Where’s the Good Gear? Something that’s gonna make me OP AF. Perfected VBRP weapons are marginally better than Normal and even then, still not something anyone wants. I don’t use any DSA gear on any build. There’s just better stuff.

None of it is very good in PvE asides from Maelstrom and they’ve even been nerffed into marginal gains now too.

I think each arena has some very good weapons which can be used in PVE. I think the problem is that most of the weapons are pretty niche and/or not good, so its only the 1 or 2 weapons from each arena that are actually worth it for the most part.

ZOS_Volpe · March 2020

Greetings,

We have recently removed some unnecessary back and forth from this thread. This is a reminder to keep the discussion civil and constructive. Please keep our Community Rules in mind moving forward.

Septimus_Magna · March 2020

vMA is fine, all about the mechanics and you dont need crazy high dps to complete it.
vDSA takes too long, stages either have plain mechanics with too many add waves or its quite chaotic.
BRP I only did normal during the Murkmire event but the fights are quite repetitive and the mechanics are not very interesting.

I agree with above mentioned point that normal is too easy and vet is too hard for most PUGs. Mechanics that require communication tend to make it hard for a PUG because they usually dont use Discord. Regarding the length of the dungeon and difficulty of the mechanics I think Unhallowed Grave was designed pretty well. Hopefully the new content will follow this trend instead that of Icereach.

Donny_Vito · March 2020

Yes, they are challenging and fun.

vBRP was tough, but the accomplishment the group felt afterwards was worth it. Similar to that feeling you get when you finally beat vMA, except you share it with your group members. It's a good feeling.

MudcrabAttack · March 2020

I'd do any content at least once, and it's usually pretty fun.

VMA- did it several times, it was kind of so-so. It's solo, and gets repetitive.
VDSA- Enjoyed it, and I volunteer to help friends get whatever they want from it. I think grouping up makes it much more interesting.
VBRP- Can't for the life of me get a group together who wants to run it. My friends and I did a very fast dry run on normal, but after getting the normal weapons they just don't want to go back for vet.

I think the problem comes from people getting burned out with seemingly overwhelming mechanics on some of the later DLC dungeons. The default answer from my old friends and my PVE casual guild to "Hey do you want to run V(DLC)?" is a flat no most of the time. I have to use group finder to get through those DLC pledges, and I'm having way more success pugging those old and new vDLCs than in the past years.

Wrekkedd · March 2020

Sergykid wrote: »

please no talk about performance, like "i would like X arena if my spells would fire properly". I want to talk strictly about the activities as they are designed.
A guild member which is the GM with full guild house, much invested both time and money, talked an evening about this and seemed interesting, and even tho it's obvious, i wanted to have it written down.

who does the vet arenas in ESO because he likes them? everyone does an arena to get what they need from there, and then never touch them again. When was the last time someone said "hey, i really liked the vDSA experience, let's do it again sometimes"? You run an arena to get the gear you want then never go again because everything in these arenas is stressful and demanding to complete.

it's either loot lammas and hoarders either elites that milk every unit of power, which only farm their gear without any real purpose. Content is either too easy (normal arenas) or too difficult. It's rare cases where something is right and enjoyable. What is the completion rate of vBRP? how many of those repeat the content after they get their item, because of how enjoyable it is? same applies to vDSA. Sure now vMA is the only challenge where you don't depend on your group but that is also some rng luck and very heavily dependent on knowledge.

arenas don't teach you what to do, you have to die repeatedly until you finally discover what should be done, and that is done via excessive one-shot mechanics. Or you must go to search online on external sources like wikis or youtube. I have finished all arenas, on multiple characters, and i can say it's very rare to get a group to do them. I know this is hard content for stronger people, but people do not avoid them because of how difficult they are, but because of how unpleasant and time consuming it is to learn them, and how demanding are those both in knowledge and gear. "20k dps is enough for any content in the game" yeah sure see you finish vBRP with 40k total group dps.

Can't tell if you want a nerf? Or...maybe you want that stuff to be purchasable in the crown store?

[Edit to remove bait]

mobicera · March 2020

I didn't read all the comments...
I do arena's for fun.
On ps4 last week vdsa was the weekly I ran it 5 or 6 times on 2 toons...
I tanked it for fun...
I'm in a group who most are learning vbrp we are having fun....
I admit I haven't done vma in a while, but it is solo...
Some people do these arena's for fun just as some people do VDLC hm for fun!

precambria · March 2020

I'm not sure about "enjoy" but I feel like it's the only PvE content that actually feels like the difficulty is balanced properly for what peoples toons can do now

GrumpyKlam · March 2020

First of, I prefer 4-man content over 12-man. It is less tedious to get going and can be a lot of fun.

As for the arenas, I do enjoy them to different degrees:

vDSA: it is fun to do once in a while but it is a bit too long versus the reward you get (no motifs but people buy carries for pvp)

vMA: it is fun to do once in a while or if you need something (at this point who does) and the reward is meh (no motifs)

vBRP: now here we go. It is fast paced, it punishes you for not paying attention and there is a nice reward at the end (motif, but the event crashed the prices). I got Unchained twice before the nerfs and with the desynch AoE on Haj and Netches. It used to be challenging, took me 1h45 to clear the first time. Once you realize you've seen all the mechanics elsewhere in the game, it's easy to grasp what you have to do in order to clear.

We did about 12 runs during the event just for fun. It is still somewhat challenging but it is a lot easier now that the AoEs are synched and that you can chain infusers / poison dot ramp up from the spiders on stage 2-4.

The main problem people have with vBRP is that they have no game sense and stop muddling through quickly. (aka Learn to play issues). If you never play content because "it's too hard" you will never improve or maybe you should consider that that type of content is not made for you.

universal_wrath · March 2020

No, only for the loot. Take too long to do and sometimes too frustrating.

cheifsoap · March 2020

I think its all too long. It requires a crazy time commitment to vDSA. Even with high DPS

Donny_Vito · March 2020

It's also like asking...."Do people really enjoy housing??"

And then I imply that it is flawed for almost everyone else because I do not like it/not good at it. Not good logic to utilize.

Sergykid · March 2020

Donny_Vito wrote: »

It's also like asking...."Do people really enjoy housing??"

And then I imply that it is flawed for almost everyone else because I do not like it/not good at it. Not good logic to utilize.

how did u assume this? i didn't say "i don't like those, you do?"
i was giving my opinion, and not only mine, into the subject. What is so wrong?
and were did i imply anything? how did u assume that i do not like any of these or that i did not finish any of these?

Not good logic to utilize.

Robo_Hobo · March 2020

I do vMA every now and then even though I already have all of the weapons I want from it. Usually, it's with new classes that I haven't done it yet on to see how I fare with them. I've enjoyed it even from the beginning when I was struggling to get past even stage 1, to now when I can get Flawless Conquerer. It was a long road to that, though. There were frustrations along the way, but those frustrations only pushed me to want to complete it even more. The feeling of that first clear was worth it all, and the mini successes along the way when I got past a new stage I hadn't been able to before helped too.

Never have completed vDSA yet, it's difficult to get a group together for, for me, considering the time it takes and scheduling it, and when I do get into a group it's usually with people who also haven't completed it yet, which makes it harder on us. I do enjoy what I've seen so far of it- most of my problems with it stem from me not wanting to join experienced groups of people who are masters at it already, and instead preferring to complete it with friends in different timezones with different schedules, with varying levels of vDSA experience.

Never went into nBRP yet let alone vBRP, figure I should finish vDSA first before trying that, since I hear it's a lot more difficult.

jypcy · March 2020

vDSA was fun back in the day, but I agree that it’s a bit too much now. Many, huge, cookie cutter arenas with spaced out adds (both in timing and distance) make it feel slow-paced, even if you complete it in about the same time as a longer vet dungeon. I think it’s good to keep around because, like the crag trials, it’s more accessible than dlc end game, but I don’t care much to run it nowadays.

I genuinely enjoyed running vMA for a period of a couple months, even after maybe 100+ runs. Unfortunately, with the buff to succession that actually made it desirable, every run that didn’t drop the inferno staff was a bit of a disappointment right at the end, which I think diminished my enjoyment of it. Still, even if I don’t run it as much nowadays, I think it’s some of eso’s best content.

I really enjoy vBRP too. It is easier nowadays than it used to be, but I think it’s still plenty challenging overall. It also feels about the right length, if maybe a tad long because of the repetitiveness. But length, challenge, and rewards all feel about right for what my ideal arena looks like.

Accordingly, I’m hoping that another arena is on the horizon. There are a number of really good dungeons, too, but it’s been a while now since we’ve gotten a new arena and eso has had a pretty good track record with them so far.