Expanded Discussion: Possibilities for the ESO Vampire

mr.scottkenyonub17_ESO · July 2014

Alright, I recently posted a thread having to do with the ESO Werewolf, listing ideas that made it more of a doubled-edged sword. Now, I tackle the Vampire, looking at past games and reviewing the mods for those games to see how the Vampire could be done. As always, I'm trying to make these alternate states feel more like a double-edged sword, rather than a requirement for potent game-play.

NOTE: I never played a Vampire, so I don't know how a Vampire really feels to play. So this should prove to be a significant challenge.

To start, Let's go over the questline:

To start, the Vampire Quest is fast, far faster than that of the Werewolf Quest. Here's how it goes: You get bitten; go to the Blood Shrine; get quest; participate in short ritual; get Vampirism; finish Quest. Far too fast, and very boring.
What could be done to make this far more interesting is, as with my discussion about the Werewolf, to have an expanded questline. Learn more about your condition, get Vampire-related loot, and, ultimately, choose a side (yes, I will force this, as well).

Now, we should also expand on abilities. Here we go:

There a quite a few abilities on the Vampire Skill-line already (to be exact, two plus an Ultimate). However, this can be expanded:

Vampiric Dodge: The idea of this ability is to add an ability that covers ground quickly. Ideally, Vampires might choose either Bolt Escape and Boundless Storm from the Sorcerer, Dragon Leap from DragonKnight, Teleport Strike from the Nightblade, Shield Charge from the One-Handed and Shield, Critical Charge from the Two-Handed, or the Mist From morph Elusive Mist for the ability to cover ground quickly, but you wouldn't want to pass this ability up. Vampiric Dodge is one of the few non-targeted, non-self abilities for the game, but is unique in that the movement is instantaneous and can be used in all directions. Bolt-Escape is similar, but it can only go forward. As the name suggests, it works like a supped up Dodge Roll, instead going much further and taking the form of a swarm of bats (much like Bat Swarm). This ability did exist in Skyrim, in the form of the Vampire Lord's Bats Night Power. This was a useful ability, as it was the only ability in the vanilla game that had the dodge effect. Morphs could include adding an absorb effect (much like Improved Bats), or increasing movement speed after the ability is used.
Vampire's Sentinel: Is it obvious what this does? It summons a f***ing Gargoyle! I can't believe this didn't make the cut for the Vampire's abilities, as Gargoyles are a large part of the Vampire's Lore, and was highly present in Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC. As you probably would guess, this summons no ordinary Gargoyle, but rather the upgraded version known as the Sentinel. Honestly, there really isn't a difference between the two, rather than an increased power level. Morphs could include either making your Gargoyle Tankier, or more smashy.
Dead Rising: Not quoting the game of the same name, this ability is much like the ability Raise Dead, common from Necromancers. However, this is a temporary summon, rather than a permanent one, and won't take up any summoning limits in place. Rather simple really. Of course, it will just use skeletons... or the dead of your enemies... your allies? Oh, how much fun that would be. Morphs could include either increasing the strength of your skeletons, or transforming them into a miniature army for a very short duration.

Now, for some more brainstorming. It would be absolutely stupid if the Vampires caught fire in sunlight, then everyone will hate being a Vampire. And there is already a regeneration debuff for not feeding (which I would say is quite ridiculous, though). However, what about making feeding more important? What if feeding gave you a temporary buff to healing and stats in general for yourself. To balance that out, food objects will do much less for you, so provisioning will be next to useless to you. Also, the stats boosts will have to level out based on how much you feed, to discourage exploitation, so the appliance of a soft cap should work, followed by a hard cap.
There should also be debuffs for being in Sunlight, just like in the base games, such as decreased stamina regeneration depending on the Vampire stages.

As mentioned previously, there would be a choice to make at the end of the before mentioned expanded questline. The spoilers will cover them both, starting with the first in a separate spoiler:

NOTE: The disadvantages for both sides will be the same as the base Vampire, so... only advantages for both sides.

Pure-Blood

This is an interesting part of the Vampire Skill tree, as it revolves more around Skyrim's Vampire Lord. If you played Skyrim Dawnguard, you would know just how badass the Vampire Lord really was. The same idea is being implemented here, and boy is it fun! This will be focused on if you choose to purify your Vampiric Blood, becoming Pure-Blood, which is more evolved than the average Vampire. However, unlike the original Vampire, Pure-Blood Vampires are more based on brute strength than sneaky tricks, as seen in the Vampire Lord. This means that the Pure-Blood is very physical, slow, and is a tank above all else. Just think about how hard it was for the enemy to kill you in Skyrim as the towering monster. Choosing this opens up a whole set of new passives revolving around the purest Vampire, as well as opening up a new set of abilities, and a powerful new Ultimate:

Vampire Lord: When I mentioned the Vampire Lord previously, did you really think I would not put this ability on the list? I mean, come on! This would work much like the Werewolf Transformation, putting all of the Vampire abilities on the hot bar and supping them up by a multiplier, and adding additional effects. Fun, right? It also gives you a toggle-able form, costing ultimate for each use, but remains active regardless, except during the day, where the transformation time is added. There isn't much else to say, as the Vampire Lord is a ridiculously powerful base Vampire. Also, Waterwalking. Just do it. NOTE: I was partially inspired by a quest in Eastmarch where you needed to collect Vampire Blood to save the King. If you fought the True Vampire (the one who wants to eat everyone), he, at one point, transforms into something resembling a Vampire Lord. Mind... blown.

Daywalker

This was definitely interesting to come up with, as it was partially inspired by Blade of the Marvel Universe, and the style of Infamous: Second Son and Kingdom Hearts. In the Marvel Universe, a bite from the pseudo-Vampire Morbious changed Blade into a form of Vampire called a Daywalker, a Vampire who can walk in the sunlight without fear of the sun cooking him alive. The concept behind this form is somewhat the same. Choosing this negates the effects of the daylight and removes the Nighttime requirement for certain ability and passive bonuses. It also lightens the negative effects of not feeding, but decreases the benefits of feeding at the same time. It also makes food items viable again, as you will rely less on the blood of others, and increases the time between Vampire stages. However, you loose the benefit of the increased power of the Pure-Blood, and you may rely more on stealth and speed. Speaking of which, the passives you gain will focus more on preventing enemies from attacking at all, increasing CC by a fair margin, and it will focus on hitting enemies fast, increasing overall speed and agility, decreasing stamina costs for dodging and breaking CC. You also gain a pretty cool ultimate:

Speed Demon: As the name suggests, this makes you insanely fast and nearly impossible to hit for a short duration. You could go so fast that enemies will only see a blur on the battlefield, I will also give you access to unique light and heavy attacks, heavy attacks hitting multiple enemies around you as you bolt around a small area, and light attacks hitting multiple times in quick succession. Beware the Daywalker, my friends in Cyrodiil.

As for preferences, you might think the Daywalker is very powerful. However, neither form has advantages that outweigh the other, as both are powerful in their own way. Generally, the Pure-Blood does more damage with single hits, but the Daywalker does the same amount of damage over multiple attacks in around the same time. The Daywalker is actually quite weaker than the Pure-Blood, but the overall control they have sure proves to be a huge advantage, although the Pure-Blood is just as hard to kill.

Now, some other notes:

I hate the feeding animation for the Vampire. It just doesn't feel right. I would rather it looked like a Life drain than you siphoning blood from the victim at a short distance. Just... gross. Change it around so you actually walk up the the target and bite it's neck. That would be far less gross.
The Health Regeneration debuff for not feeding feels out of place for the Vampire in ESO. Sure, your hungry, but the regeneration rate in combat is nonexistent anyways, and you could always heal yourself with an extra supply of health potions or a Healing Staff. Not really an incentive to feed often. Remove the Health regen debuff, and place a sunlight weakness debuff in its place.
Try and put more emphasis on Night time bonuses. I feel there isn't enough of them.

Well, that's it. Feel free to comment if I'm missing something important. And tell me how I could change the components for the separate sides if one feels more overpowered than the other.