Just ran Maelstrom Arena for the first time.

Artanisul · February 2022

I tried running this back when my main was only cp 450 or so....which was over a year. Since the CP changes and my growth, both in points and reading stuff here about how to actually do damage, I breezed through it. So I decided to run all my 12 characters through it. Every class I have just pounded through it. It really is just mechanics....hmmm.

I encourage anyone who was hesitant before, or had a bad first experience, go back in. Stam, Mag, Even my Nightblade tank in heavy armor plowed it.

Kaelthorn_Nightbloom · February 2022

There's only 2-3 serious mechanics you need to know. Once you have it figured out, it's a breeze.

dem0n1k · February 2022

Glad you guys find it easy

For me with a 350-500ms ping (AU) it's still a struggle to keep up with the mechanics while dealing with the broken mechanics that I get from lag (I guess?). I often get stunned & can't break free despite having sufficient stamina. Lightning heavy attacks so often just won't go off even though my Xhair is right on the target. I need to press the key up to 3 times to get it to fire which wastes so much time.

It's still mostly the last boss that gives me the most trouble. With other arenas I can make up the lost ground I suffered due to the skills/heavies/break-free not working, but , Valkyn & his flaming skull barrage & a crematorium guard so often get me.

Anyways.. now that I've had my whinge.

I have a question about the Maelstrom Baron polymorph which looks like this..
03YsFs.md.jpg

But I have also seen the one below in-game on a player... how do you get this polymorph?

(edit) I am talking about vMA.

Cheers!

Amottica · February 2022

Good to hear.

Was this vet?

CP5 · February 2022

That other polymorph is likely one of the 3 from the imperial city.

endgamesmug · February 2022

Nice one! Took me 5 years to get to that place, after they added normal weapons gave me a reason. Maybe vet in another 5 years for me 😆

dem0n1k · February 2022

CP5 wrote: »

That other polymorph is likely one of the 3 from the imperial city.

Thanks for the info! To be precise, it's the Imperial City Xivkyn Augur polymorph. I just went & got it

silvereyes · February 2022

endgamesmug wrote: »

Nice one! Took me 5 years to get to that place, after they added normal weapons gave me a reason. Maybe vet in another 5 years for me 😆

Vet is a really good way to train muscle memory and situational awareness. I encourage folks who want to git gud to try it out, at least once you've got some decent gear. I highly recommend an easy heavy attack + pet sorc vMA build to start. There are many varieties online, but keeping the rotation simple will really help you to focus on your surroundings and keeping your shields up.

worrallj · February 2022

Mostly I agree it's not bad. But the level with the venom callers/exploding poison flowers can hit you with some crappy RNG sometimes and even though the rest of it is pretty easy I sometimes get stuck dying a bunch on that one with just unlucky flower bombs spawning under me and stuff.

endgamesmug · February 2022

silvereyes wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

Nice one! Took me 5 years to get to that place, after they added normal weapons gave me a reason. Maybe vet in another 5 years for me 😆

Vet is a really good way to train muscle memory and situational awareness. I encourage folks who want to git gud to try it out, at least once you've got some decent gear. I highly recommend an easy heavy attack + pet sorc vMA build to start. There are many varieties online, but keeping the rotation simple will really help you to focus on your surroundings and keeping your shields up.

I really appreciate you trying to help me out with some guidance on this, i did use that kinda build on a mag sorc back in 2016 mainly because i was terrible at sorc (was my first character). Got to 3rd boss then they nerfed shields at the time so i gave it up. I dont have any plans to do scorepushing or anything competitive for that matter so dont see the need for vet maelstrom weapons now. I got my situational awareness in the years in between in pvp mainly, and im alot better these days getting clears of other things now. Im just an average player 😁

N00BxV1 · February 2022

Good job. It's a nice feeling completing a solo arena for the first time.

But... I haven't touched Maelstrom Arena for a while and have no more desire to do so. I completed VMA back when the weapons had the special effect plus extra stat. Then they nerfed those weapons by removing the extra stat. And then they turn around and re-add the extra stat back to the weapons but tell us we have to go farm them again. No [snip] thanks. Fool me twice... I'm done.

[Edited for Censor Bypass]

colossalvoids · February 2022

dem0n1k wrote: »

Glad you guys find it easy For me with a 350-500ms ping (AU) it's still a struggle to keep up with the mechanics while dealing with the broken mechanics that I get from lag (I guess?). I often get stunned & can't break free despite having sufficient stamina. Lightning heavy attacks so often just won't go off even though my Xhair is right on the target. I need to press the key up to 3 times to get it to fire which wastes so much time.

It's still mostly the last boss that gives me the most trouble. With other arenas I can make up the lost ground I suffered due to the skills/heavies/break-free not working, but , Valkyn & his flaming skull barrage & a crematorium guard so often get me.

Cheers!

Btw from one high ping player to another. If you don't have break free bound to some specific button just do it, personally have it on my mouse side button along with dodge roll and it's a lifesaver really. As I understand when those bottlenecks happen and commands are "choking" you're still sending block, then la press and possibly skill queue and movements to the server, better just not press literally anything and press this one single break free button. You still should understand possible timings but was clearly able to see the difference, carried me through ttt back in time, my ping was disastrous 😂

silvereyes · February 2022

N00BxV1 wrote: »

I completed VMA back when the weapons had the special effect plus extra stat. Then they nerfed those weapons by removing the extra stat. And then they turn around and re-add the extra stat back to the weapons but tell us we have to go farm them again.

I agree, they should have updated the vMA weapons to perfected during Update 26, but saying that we previously had the extra stat that perfected versions added back in is a misrepresentation of what happened when the extra stat was removed. The weapons used to have a unique enchantment before that patch, meaning you couldn’t enchant them without losing the bonus. The unique bonus was moved to the set bonus that patch, meaning that you could add another enchant on top of it. It was a buff, not a nerf.

Edit: for reference, here's a quote from @code65536 in the Update 26 combat preview thread about the subject.

code65536 wrote: »

Dracane wrote: »

@code65536 From your retelling of history alone, I would almost tend to agree with the developers. But you have not clearly mentioned the fact that Maelstrom weapons already possessed those stats. They used to grant roughly 1.5th of a normal 1 set piece and then they removed this.

Now they add it back in. So our weapons were nerfed and now they bring back what we lost but force us to farm it again. From this point of view, the players are most definately correct and understandably upset.

Unless they add something fancy to justify it, then this method is not good. I am certain all that will be done is giving all those weapons a 1 piece effect back, just like it used to be back then.

@Dracane That is a line of argument that I do not wish to pursue. The reason is that the static stat bonuses were removed when the weapon effect was changed from an enchantment to a set bonus. I.e., it became possible to run "normal" enchantments on arena weapons. If you think about it how much power is added by a Weapon Damage enchantment versus a static value, the enchantment is stronger (in part because it's numerically stronger and in part because the stat bonus from a Berserker enchant can affect both bars). So, yes, the original stat bonuses were removed, but their removal coincided with a separate buff to the weapons, and the net effect was that the weapons were buffed.

dem0n1k · February 2022

colossalvoids wrote: »

dem0n1k wrote: »

Glad you guys find it easy For me with a 350-500ms ping (AU) it's still a struggle to keep up with the mechanics while dealing with the broken mechanics that I get from lag (I guess?). I often get stunned & can't break free despite having sufficient stamina. Lightning heavy attacks so often just won't go off even though my Xhair is right on the target. I need to press the key up to 3 times to get it to fire which wastes so much time.

It's still mostly the last boss that gives me the most trouble. With other arenas I can make up the lost ground I suffered due to the skills/heavies/break-free not working, but , Valkyn & his flaming skull barrage & a crematorium guard so often get me.

Cheers!

Btw from one high ping player to another. If you don't have break free bound to some specific button just do it, personally have it on my mouse side button along with dodge roll and it's a lifesaver really. As I understand when those bottlenecks happen and commands are "choking" you're still sending block, then la press and possibly skill queue and movements to the server, better just not press literally anything and press this one single break free button. You still should understand possible timings but was clearly able to see the difference, carried me through ttt back in time, my ping was disastrous 😂

Thx! I do bind mouse buttons to break-free/interupt & dodge-roll. I always found the double-tap for dodge roll a bit hit & miss. I even check my mouse buttons are working properly after break-free failure related deaths :P

blktauna · February 2022

good job! Congrats

Diminish · February 2022

Congrats, one common consensus is that the first clear is always the hardest. If I recall, I shaved days off my time between my first and second ever vMA completions lol

Before I knew it I was sub 1 hour completions, then sub 45 minute completions... it really does just come down to familiarizing yourself with the different spawns/encounters.

O_LYKOS · February 2022

dem0n1k wrote: »

CP5 wrote: »

That other polymorph is likely one of the 3 from the imperial city.

Thanks for the info! To be precise, it's the Imperial City Xivkyn Augur polymorph. I just went & got it

The Xivkyn polys are awesome. 3 to collect

i still need the light and medium ones on pc i think,

silvereyes · February 2022

O_LYKOS wrote: »

dem0n1k wrote: »

CP5 wrote: »

That other polymorph is likely one of the 3 from the imperial city.

Thanks for the info! To be precise, it's the Imperial City Xivkyn Augur polymorph. I just went & got it

The Xivkyn polys are awesome. 3 to collect i still need the light and medium ones on pc i think,

I wish they were just skins.