AWFUL loot tables for arena content

xazkov · March 2021

This is the most discouraging grind i have ever had in a game. a seemingly infinite grind in SOLO content to get meta gear for GROUP content is not what players play an MMO for!! I want group content. when i want to game solo, i play my switch. Honestly, making a specialized build that barely works to get through these arenas is already a waste of time when i could actually be doing content that i enjoy. PLEASE make arena rewards a CHOICE at the end. I do not care to play solo content exclusively for something that has a .5% drop rate. ANd as if that wasnt bad enough, i get the same damn thing i got the past 3 runs!!! WHYYYYYYYY?

El_Borracho · March 2021

Welcome to ESO. Please, join the long line of people who despise the VMA grind. Can in interest you in a restoration staff? We have plenty to choose from...

Obviously, I assume you are talking about Maelstrom Arena and are looking for either a bow or inferno staff. You can run it on normal and get a non-perfected version of the weapon which is still better than not running a Maelstrom weapon.

Side note, running a heavy attack sorc build with Infallible Aether body pieces, Undaunted Infiltrator jewelry and lightning staff, and Maw of the Infernal (except on level 7) is easy mode in there. The basic rule of VMA is repetition. Once you figure out spawn points and mechanics it gets a lot easier. Sadly, the grind does not go away.

Matchimus · March 2021

It is sad when the moment has been reached that no enjoyment occurs when it drops. You just curse for the last time and move on.

Rittings · March 2021

I once broke down 50 vMA bows in a single sitting... even now all 18 of my toons have a vMA bow on them... just because...

So I feel your pain. It took me 3 years to get a vMA inferno staff, and the week I got it, I got another in my leaderboard rewards 2 days later looool.

I believe that some people are very unlucky, and it's possible they may NEVER get the drop they want for a build. That's kinda sad... and it's why I endorse the idea of getting a token of some kind that can be traded in like undaunted keys... not just a random piece of loot, but actually a vendor that you can pick and choose, or like the shoulder pieces, can spend more tokens to increase the odds of you getting the right piece, or even know you're going to get that piece, but the trait will be random... Endless grinds are not what we play the game for. Grinding for a result is... and if there is a chance that it may NEVER result in anything, then it turns people away and they uninstall...

Vermintide · March 2021

Got a perfected bow the first time I finished veteran.

Don't have a stam char. I've never even seen a staff.

Arbit · March 2021

I've been plugging at vateshran looking for a perfected void shield, and I now have a 3 resto staves, a lightning staff, an ice staff, and DW. This one is a pain in the butt for me to beat, while vMA is no longer as much of a challenge for me as it used to be. I do wish they'd add a light at the end of the tunnel for arena's to give us a way to feel like despite the bad drops, there are tokens, or keys that will eventually give us what we desire. Right now I just pray each and every time I complete it that I'll get that elusive shield. It often takes me a couple hours to beat the boss in vateshran (could be my own fault since I haven't actually gone out of my way to get the stam buffs, only the health buffs), so I really feel for everyone that's struggling to get what they need.

Arbit · March 2021

OMG, those vateshran buffs make all the difference. I can't believe I was farming this without the stam buffs xD

Arbit · March 2021

Still no shield been plugging at it everyday, would just be nice to feel like I was getting closer to that shield...

Vermintide · March 2021

A system like the Undaunted keys would be perfect. It still takes you a few tries, but at least you know the odds are somewhat under your control.

Doing a daily VMA now because I'm a masochist. I did about 20 runs in normal, still didn't get what I wanted, so I figured if I'm gonna keep torturing myself like this, I'm at least gonna get the perfected version.

WrathOfInnos · March 2021

Hehe, imagine doing this before transmutation. The Weapon had to drop in the correct trait or it was worthless, and there was no reconstructing for alts so you were not done after finding one. Normal arenas did not drop weapons, only veteran, and even there it was not a guaranteed drop, just a chance.

There have been a ton of QoL changes to ease the farm. Kinda hard to sympathize after living through the old system.

Arbit · March 2021

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Hehe, imagine doing this before transmutation. The Weapon had to drop in the correct trait or it was worthless, and there was no reconstructing for alts so you were not done after finding one. Normal arenas did not drop weapons, only veteran, and even there it was not a guaranteed drop, just a chance.

There have been a ton of QoL changes to ease the farm. Kinda hard to sympathize after living through the old system.

I was there for all that, still doesn’t change the fact that farming is genuinely a treadmill with no time limit without safeguards. I did end up getting my shield but after getting everything else (plus a ton of dupes) aside from the bow.

Vermintide · March 2021

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Hehe, imagine doing this before transmutation. The Weapon had to drop in the correct trait or it was worthless, and there was no reconstructing for alts so you were not done after finding one. Normal arenas did not drop weapons, only veteran, and even there it was not a guaranteed drop, just a chance.

There have been a ton of QoL changes to ease the farm. Kinda hard to sympathize after living through the old system.

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out o't shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits o' cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at t'mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife...

Anyway:

Finally! But that was still some absolute garbage of a grind. In the end I was only carrying on out of a bloody-minded determination not to admit defeat.

The fact we have transmutes now is basically the only reason I even did it; I was around for the days before transmutes and reconstruction, and it was the primary reason I just stuck to crafted and overland gear.

N_L · April 2021

Really needs a rework, at least make it so you don't get duplicates if you wont introduce tokens/keys method of buying them sigh. And worst of all after I finally do get perfected inferno staff I'll still need certain weapons from all other arenas and some of those take far longer than vMA

Dalsinthus · April 2021

Oh how I can sympathize with this post. When they introduced perfected versions I felt like I had PTSD. I remember thinking 500+ runs and now I'm expected to go back in there!?!

I did and after 35 additional runs I had the perfected versions of everything. Hang in there; you'll get what you're after.

Jaimeh · April 2021

Farming gear (or leads for mythic gear) is the most face-clawing thing in this game, because it can literally take months of the same content over and over again... (and then in some cases, zos goes ahead and nerfs said gear

). All I can say, OP, is if you really need the pieces to keep at it, and hope it drops sooner rather than later--good luck!

Stevie6 · May 2021

Yeah, I can say that it isn’t RNG. I gave up on any magicka class getting staves. So... I use them as farming mules in Maelstrom for my stam characters and wow I’m getting every drop..shields, all swords, just everything stam related.

My Stam crow is happy.

My Stamden is happy.

RaikaNA · May 2021

I think we should be able to sell VMA and other arena weapons on the open market...

I mean why not? Give us the freedom to purchase the weapon from those who actually enjoy solo content.

N_L · May 2021

Still farming inferno staff, clown.jpg

DonGodJoe · June 2021

Ideally would be dropping an daily cooldown on armor/weapons/jewelry you have just recieved, it still wouldnt solve much probably considering i farm inferno winterborn xyz runs and yet i have just one item collected from weapon section of that set.
But giving daily cooldown would certainly helped with grind

webgeo99 · June 2021

The RNG gods hate my ass!

webgeo99 · June 2021

I've been trying to get a lead to drop in East March for 2 days now. grinding about 2 hours each day and still nothing.

N_L · September 2021

I'm gonna bump this, even with double loot in maelstrom arena I have yet to get inferno staff, I keep getting duplicates but not the only item I actually need sigh. And I'm sick of the place, it feels like it never ends and I just keep repeating same things over and over and over again.

alberichtano · September 2021

Vermintide wrote: »

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Hehe, imagine doing this before transmutation. The Weapon had to drop in the correct trait or it was worthless, and there was no reconstructing for alts so you were not done after finding one. Normal arenas did not drop weapons, only veteran, and even there it was not a guaranteed drop, just a chance.

There have been a ton of QoL changes to ease the farm. Kinda hard to sympathize after living through the old system.

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out o't shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits o' cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at t'mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife...

Anyway:

Finally! But that was still some absolute garbage of a grind. In the end I was only carrying on out of a bloody-minded determination not to admit defeat.

The fact we have transmutes now is basically the only reason I even did it; I was around for the days before transmutes and reconstruction, and it was the primary reason I just stuck to crafted and overland gear.

Hahahaha, I was just thinking of that very sketch. ;-)

Asardes · September 2021

I spent about 3 months in the autumn of 2017 grinding them all, with an average of 20 runs a week, especially considering there wasn't yet a re-trait function back then. I was mostly done when Clockwork was announced so it didn't save much of that. At some point they removed the extra stats from the weapons in order to "balance" them better.

Last year they introduced the perfected weapons that had similar extra stats to those removed earlier, but they didn't convert the old weapons to perfected. Instead I had to run the arena again, and get them. So what I chose to do was to only run it once a week for the leaderboard and get 2 weapons for a 45-50 minutes run. For the first 3-4 months, until Markarth came live, it was the only arena that counted for weekly. Now I run it alternatively with Vatersrhan, depending which is up that particular week. I have managed to replace most of my staves and bows on alts with their perfected versions, just re-traiting the already upgraded weapons from the LB.

So my advice is not to over-exert yourselves grinding. Just pick a less popular class - I do it on Stamina DK - do a run a week and qualify for leaderboard, which is rather easy.