Decreasing Vampirism Stage!? (after update 26 - quite frankly unreasonable)

InfinityIncarnate

Hello everyone,

I recently returned to ESO after a long break. Last time I played was before Update 26, so I remembered the “old” vampire system. I picked up where I left off, played normally... and of course hit Vampirism Stage 4 in no time.

And then I ran into a brick wall.

At Stage 4, many NPCs (including merchants) simply refuse to interact with you. That part is now intended behaviour.
The only built-in way to reduce your stage is to wait out the timer – 4 hours per stage without feeding – which is not exactly practical if you just want to keep playing normally.

So I googled, read forum posts, and learned about Purifying Bloody Mara as the “proper” way to reduce your vampirism stage.

This is where the design really falls apart:

1. The “fix” is event-locked and rare.
The recipe for Purifying Bloody Mara only drops during the Witches Festival from Plunder Skulls, and it’s a gold recipe. Outside the event you’re at the mercy of guild traders or other players, and the drop rate is low enough that a lot of people never see it at all.

2. The ingredient setup is not friendly to new or unprepared players.
The drink requires Nirnroot, Tomato, Daedra Heart and, most importantly, Frost Mirriam. Frost Mirriam is a high-tier provisioning ingredient that mainly comes from provisioning writ reward containers and hireling mails. If you’re a returning or low-level player who hasn’t done writs for ages, you have basically none. On my server I couldn’t find any for sale either.

3. Even if you get the recipe and the mats, you still probably can’t use it.
Because it’s a gold recipe, you need high-level Provisioning with Recipe Quality rank 4, which effectively means Provisioning 50 plus several skill points invested before you can craft it at all. So: rare event recipe + rare-ish ingredient + maxed Provisioning + skill points... just to have a reliable way to *reduce* a downside that the system is throwing at you constantly.

To me, that’s not just a bit harsh. It’s completely unreasonable.

The result is a system where:

- You can very easily end up at Stage 4 just by playing and feeding “like a vampire”,
- NPCs you *need* for normal gameplay (merchants, some services, etc.) suddenly refuse to talk to you,
- And the main mechanical “exit valve” (Purifying Bloody Mara) is locked behind multiple layers of grind, RNG and progression that a returning or casual player simply won’t have.

On top of that, if you also have the Dark Brotherhood skill line, Feeding uses the same contextual button as Blade of Woe, with no way to split the keybind. The only difference is proximity. That means it’s very easy to accidentally feed when you meant to use Blade of Woe (or vice versa), which can push you toward higher stages even faster.

So from my perspective this update is:

- Lore-breaking (this isn’t how feeding has typically worked in earlier Elder Scrolls titles – here it’s effectively reversed),
- Game-breaking (locking you out of key NPC interactions in a PvE MMO), and
- Balance-breaking (huge penalties with a “fix” that’s gated behind rare event content and high crafting).

I know you can still use merchants/bankers in Outlaws Refuges, but that doesn’t help with things like bag upgrades, mounts, or just talking to normal quest NPCs.

It honestly feels like the system was designed to trap you at Stage 4 unless you happen to be a veteran crafter with event recipes, writ income and guild trader knowledge.

I’m genuinely curious: what were the developers thinking when they decided to implement it this way? Why is the *basic ability to get back down from Stage 4* gated this hard, instead of being something accessible to all vampires from the start?

I’d really like to hear if there are any plans to make stage reduction less punishing and more reasonable, especially for returning or new players who don’t have years of provisioning and event loot behind them.

FieryPhoenix

You can also use the Basin of Loss to reduce your vampirism level, most decent guild halls provide access to the basin and an npc to feed on to increase your vampirism level, instead of using the drink recipes (Corrupting & Purifying Bloody Mara).

virtus753

Reducing your stage is not the only way to be able to interact with NPCs. Mesmerize them.

Vulsahdaal

When my vamp needs to lower his level and is out of purifying bloody mara, there still are a couple things he can do.

First is, there is a vampire fountain furnishing that will bring the stage down. You most likely dont have it, but maybe you can visit a house that does through housing tours.

A faster way though, is use Mesmerize skill on the seller/quest giver. Just slot it real quick, mezmerize them, and they will act as if you are not a vamp, even at stage 4.

tomofhyrule

The bloody Mara drinks and recipes are also found on guild traders. Especially with the Witches event happening so recently, they should be pretty cheap.

It is a good idea to have your crafter learn the recipes even if they are not a vampire. The drinks are not levelled so you can have your crafter churn them out for other characters.

Also most guild halls will have the Vampire furnishings available, so you don’t need to pay real money for them.

ZOS is trying to encourage players to socialize with others (this is nominally an MMO), so those would be the quickest way to get what you need.

InfinityIncarnate

virtus753 wrote: »

Reducing your stage is not the only way to be able to interact with NPCs. Mesmerize them.

Which requires Vampirism Skill Rank 6.
I'm quite below this skill rank.

freespirit

Are you on PC-EU?

spartaxoxo

You can also buy the armory for free from the crown store. Save your build with vampiric abilities (it will save you have it) on slot 1.

Go get it cured and save that as slot 2.

Now you can just turn off vamp completely when you just want to do trader stuff

InfinityIncarnate

tomofhyrule wrote: »

The bloody Mara drinks and recipes are also found on guild traders. Especially with the Witches event happening so recently, they should be pretty cheap.

It is a good idea to have your crafter learn the recipes even if they are not a vampire. The drinks are not levelled so you can have your crafter churn them out for other characters.

Also most guild halls will have the Vampire furnishings available, so you don’t need to pay real money for them.

ZOS is trying to encourage players to socialize with others (this is nominally an MMO), so those would be the quickest way to get what you need.

I haven't found the drinks on any guild trader yet.

This assumes you have a dedicated crafter - I don't, and I assume most don't either.
The drinks are indeed very level gated - it still requires AT LEAST 1 at that crafter level.
I have the recipe, just not the required ranks yet.

I haven't found these furnishing in guild halls yet.

Despite the fact that they MAY be available - they seem incredibly difficult to find.
..and while it's a commendable for ZOS trying to get players to socialize, it's an AWFUL way to do it, through gating remedies, something that used to be base mechanic for the actual skill line.

In my opinion, not only is it LORE-BREAKING, but also GAME-BREAKING.
It's beyond unreasonable to gate it this hard.

InfinityIncarnate

freespirit wrote: »

Are you on PC-EU?

Yes.

freespirit

@InfinityIncarnate if you are on PC-EU you are welcome to use my house that has both the Thrall(increase stage) and the Basin of Loss(decrease stage).

I can supply you with a link to get there.

I also know both recipes so could help you out with the drinks too.

If you are not on PC-EU I am sure other people could help you out on your server!

Munkfist

Hmm, you may even be able to say it's a curse.


There are many crafthalls/guildhalls posted throughout the House Tours menu, and nearly every hall has the fountain available for use.

Post in any zone/guild and you'll most certainly have someone that is willing to sell or even craft/give you some of the drinks.

It's a minor inconvenience at best, I think.

kargen27

How is it lore breaking? I admit I don't much pay attention to the lore but it seems from the bit of lore I know that the general population doesn't much care for vampires so merchants refusing to do business with one would fit. I also wouldn't call it game breaking but I agree it can be a major annoyance. It becomes a minor annoyance once you find a house with the basin.

And it becomes less of a hindrance as you level your characters skills. Until then the merchants in Cold harbor and Cyrodiil are vampire friendly.

InfinityIncarnate

freespirit wrote: »

@InfinityIncarnate if you are on PC-EU you are welcome to use my house that has both the Thrall(increase stage) and the Basin of Loss(decrease stage).

I can supply you with a link to get there.

I also know both recipes so could help you out with the drinks too.

If you are not on PC-EU I am sure other people could help you out on your server!

I am on the PC-EU Server.

InfinityIncarnate

Munkfist wrote: »

Hmm, you may even be able to say it's a curse.


There are many crafthalls/guildhalls posted throughout the House Tours menu, and nearly every hall has the fountain available for use.

Post in any zone/guild and you'll most certainly have someone that is willing to sell or even craft/give you some of the drinks.

It's a minor inconvenience at best, I think.

I get that Home Tours + crafthalls/guildhalls exist now, and that a lot of people are generous with their homes and drinks.

But that’s kind of my issue: the practical fixes are all either
– locked behind Crown Store furnishings like Basin of Loss / Soul-Sworn Thrall, or
– dependent on knowing about housing meta, Home Tours, and which random guild halls have those items set up.

For a returning or newer player who doesn’t know any of that yet (or doesn’t want to rely on other people’s paid furnishings), the “just use a fountain somewhere” answer isn’t obvious at all. From inside the game, what you actually see is:
– Hit Stage 4 very quickly,
– Merchants and some important NPCs won’t talk to you,
– The built-in way down is waiting out 4-hour stage timers, or using a rare event recipe that also needs maxed Provisioning to craft.

This means in practice, that the remedy is heavily gated.

I’m happy that veterans with housing setups can treat it as a minor inconvenience. My argument is more that the baseline design is punishing and unintuitive plus it breaks with established Elderscrolls lore, and it shouldn’t rely on Crown-Store furnishings and community workarounds to feel reasonable.

InfinityIncarnate

kargen27 wrote: »

How is it lore breaking? I admit I don't much pay attention to the lore but it seems from the bit of lore I know that the general population doesn't much care for vampires so merchants refusing to do business with one would fit. I also wouldn't call it game breaking but I agree it can be a major annoyance. It becomes a minor annoyance once you find a house with the basin.

And it becomes less of a hindrance as you level your characters skills. Until then the merchants in Cold harbor and Cyrodiil are vampire friendly.

It breaks with lore and official ingame mechanics in previous Elderscrolls titles, in the way that feeding normally reduces vampirism, not increases it. And vampirism stages comes due to STARVATION - Not Feeding. It used to be lore-accurate, but now it's the opposite.

tomofhyrule

Remember, the big vampire overhaul happened in U26, so if you last played before that, you may want to read up on the 'new' vampires rather than just assuming that it all worked as it did five years ago. There were massive changes in that patch.

Here are the relevant notes:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6779093/#Comment_6779093
and the UESP article about them:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Vampire

Vampire (and werewolf) were always intended as a more "late game" activity, which is why the shrines are in the last zone of each respective alliance. It is possible, though not intended, that players take a curse right off the bat since it will necessarily make the game harder. As such, you are kind of expected to have a character who has Lv 50 provisioning (which can be levelled that far in less than 20 minutes if you have the ingredients) or guildmates by that point in the game.

The reason they swapped the vampire stages was a mechanical reason, not a lore-based one. Before, players could not do anything to get their stage higher without waiting, and your stage would advance while not playing. With the new system, unplayed characters are in stasis and you can quickly jump to your desired stage. That was 100% done because this is not a single-player game and as such it may need to differ from the mechanics of the single-player games since you can't just "rest 3 days" in 2 minutes when it's a real world. Also, as the in-game clock is on a 5:30 cycle, it does make it unfair to try to plan for times when time-of-day strength is needed.

Incidentally, another thing that people who lean on "lore-friendly" like to forget is that there are other games in the TES series than Skyrim. The Skyrim Vampire system came from Oblivion, and it's actually not appropriate since that strain of multi-stage vampirism was solely a Cyrodiilic strain and the Skyrim strain should only be a single strain of Volkihars who have ice breath and can phase through ice. The Dawnguard strain is completely invented for Dawnguard, including the Vampire Lords. In Daggerfall, a vampire is essentially an alternate character with zeroed guild ranks and reputations. The major disadvantage is just taking damage during the day or in temples and needing to kill something every day. You can even get reinfected after curing. Morrowind's strain is specifically like ESO's stage 4, where you are not able to interact with most NPCs and can't really do much at all, and it cannot be retaken once cured.

ESO_player123

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

The bloody Mara drinks and recipes are also found on guild traders. Especially with the Witches event happening so recently, they should be pretty cheap.

It is a good idea to have your crafter learn the recipes even if they are not a vampire. The drinks are not levelled so you can have your crafter churn them out for other characters.

Also most guild halls will have the Vampire furnishings available, so you don’t need to pay real money for them.

ZOS is trying to encourage players to socialize with others (this is nominally an MMO), so those would be the quickest way to get what you need.

I haven't found the drinks on any guild trader yet.

This assumes you have a dedicated crafter - I don't, and I assume most don't either.
The drinks are indeed very level gated - it still requires AT LEAST 1 at that crafter level.
I have the recipe, just not the required ranks yet.

I haven't found these furnishing in guild halls yet.

Despite the fact that they MAY be available - they seem incredibly difficult to find.
..and while it's a commendable for ZOS trying to get players to socialize, it's an AWFUL way to do it, through gating remedies, something that used to be base mechanic for the actual skill line.

In my opinion, not only is it LORE-BREAKING, but also GAME-BREAKING.
It's beyond unreasonable to gate it this hard.

You said that you are on PCEU. Have you tried using the TTC website to see where the drinks are available?

kargen27

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

Munkfist wrote: »

Hmm, you may even be able to say it's a curse.


There are many crafthalls/guildhalls posted throughout the House Tours menu, and nearly every hall has the fountain available for use.

Post in any zone/guild and you'll most certainly have someone that is willing to sell or even craft/give you some of the drinks.

It's a minor inconvenience at best, I think.

I get that Home Tours + crafthalls/guildhalls exist now, and that a lot of people are generous with their homes and drinks.

But that’s kind of my issue: the practical fixes are all either
– locked behind Crown Store furnishings like Basin of Loss / Soul-Sworn Thrall, or
– dependent on knowing about housing meta, Home Tours, and which random guild halls have those items set up.

For a returning or newer player who doesn’t know any of that yet (or doesn’t want to rely on other people’s paid furnishings), the “just use a fountain somewhere” answer isn’t obvious at all. From inside the game, what you actually see is:
– Hit Stage 4 very quickly,
– Merchants and some important NPCs won’t talk to you,
– The built-in way down is waiting out 4-hour stage timers, or using a rare event recipe that also needs maxed Provisioning to craft.

This means in practice, that the remedy is heavily gated.

I’m happy that veterans with housing setups can treat it as a minor inconvenience. My argument is more that the baseline design is punishing and unintuitive plus it breaks with established Elderscrolls lore, and it shouldn’t rely on Crown-Store furnishings and community workarounds to feel reasonable.

you still have Cold harbor, Cyrodiil and I forgot about merchants in thieves dens. I think they will trade with you as well. I never understood why they decided to not allow stage four vampires to interact with guild traders around the land but I don't think it is quite the dire situation you are making it to be. With how fast you can level something the major inconvenience becomes a minor one pretty quick.

InfinityIncarnate

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Remember, the big vampire overhaul happened in U26, so if you last played before that, you may want to read up on the 'new' vampires rather than just assuming that it all worked as it did five years ago. There were massive changes in that patch.

Here are the relevant notes:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6779093/#Comment_6779093
and the UESP article about them:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Vampire

Vampire (and werewolf) were always intended as a more "late game" activity, which is why the shrines are in the last zone of each respective alliance. It is possible, though not intended, that players take a curse right off the bat since it will necessarily make the game harder. As such, you are kind of expected to have a character who has Lv 50 provisioning (which can be levelled that far in less than 20 minutes if you have the ingredients) or guildmates by that point in the game.

The reason they swapped the vampire stages was a mechanical reason, not a lore-based one. Before, players could not do anything to get their stage higher without waiting, and your stage would advance while not playing. With the new system, unplayed characters are in stasis and you can quickly jump to your desired stage. That was 100% done because this is not a single-player game and as such it may need to differ from the mechanics of the single-player games since you can't just "rest 3 days" in 2 minutes when it's a real world. Also, as the in-game clock is on a 5:30 cycle, it does make it unfair to try to plan for times when time-of-day strength is needed.

Incidentally, another thing that people who lean on "lore-friendly" like to forget is that there are other games in the TES series than Skyrim. The Skyrim Vampire system came from Oblivion, and it's actually not appropriate since that strain of multi-stage vampirism was solely a Cyrodiilic strain and the Skyrim strain should only be a single strain of Volkihars who have ice breath and can phase through ice. The Dawnguard strain is completely invented for Dawnguard, including the Vampire Lords. In Daggerfall, a vampire is essentially an alternate character with zeroed guild ranks and reputations. The major disadvantage is just taking damage during the day or in temples and needing to kill something every day. You can even get reinfected after curing. Morrowind's strain is specifically like ESO's stage 4, where you are not able to interact with most NPCs and can't really do much at all, and it cannot be retaken once cured.

Thanks for the detailed reply and links – I have read the U26 notes and the UESP article, and I do understand what the “new” vampires are trying to do.

I don’t really dispute that they had MMO / mechanical reasons. I get that you can’t just “rest 3 days” like in Oblivion or Skyrim, and that they wanted stages to be something you actively manage.
My issue is more that they chose a solution that feels bad both mechanically and thematically, when there were other options.

In the single-player games that actually use a multi-stage system (Oblivion / Skyrim), the general pattern is:

– Not feeding for a while → you advance to a higher, more monstrous stage
– Feeding → you drop back down to a “milder” stage so NPCs will deal with you again

ESO has taken that model – 4 stages, stronger powers + worse penalties as you go up – and then flipped the core loop so that feeding now pushes you TOWARDS the “monstrous” stage, while starving yourself makes you more acceptable to society.
That’s what I mean when I say it feels lore-breaking: not “Skyrim is the only canon”, but that the way feeding & stages relate to each other is basically reversed.

On the “late game” point: in theory I agree, shrines are in the last alliance zones and the curse is meant to be a serious commitment. In practice though, the game itself:

– Lets you buy Vampirism / the Vampire skill line in the Crown Store at any time
– Lets other players bite you wherever, with no level gate to the receiving player
– Sells convenience tools like the Basin of Loss in a Crown furnishing pack

So from inside the game, it doesn’t really behave like a strictly late-game system.
A returning or newer player can easily get the curse long before they have Provisioning 50, guild infrastructure, or any idea that they “should” treat it as endgame content.

That’s where my frustration comes from: if you hit Stage 4 just by playing and feeding “like a vampire”, what you actually experience is:

– Merchants and some important NPCs no longer talk to you
– The built-in ways down are either waiting 4 hours per stage or a rare Witches Festival gold recipe that also expects high Provisioning
– The “easy” fixes (housing fountains, etc.) are Crown furnishings or depend on knowing the guild-hall / Home Tours meta

I’m not saying they shouldn’t change things for MMO reasons. I’m saying they could have achieved those goals without inverting feeding logic and hard-gating the basic ability to get back down from Stage 4 behind event items, high crafting, and paid housing toys.
That combination is what feels unnecessarily punishing and, to me, out of step with how TES vampirism has generally worked.

wolfie1.0.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

You can also buy the armory for free from the crown store. Save your build with vampiric abilities (it will save you have it) on slot 1.

Go get it cured and save that as slot 2.

Now you can just turn off vamp completely when you just want to do trader stuff

Honestly, this is the best and most new player friendly solution for ya. And its a free service.

wolfie1.0.

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Remember, the big vampire overhaul happened in U26, so if you last played before that, you may want to read up on the 'new' vampires rather than just assuming that it all worked as it did five years ago. There were massive changes in that patch.

Here are the relevant notes:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6779093/#Comment_6779093
and the UESP article about them:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Vampire

Vampire (and werewolf) were always intended as a more "late game" activity, which is why the shrines are in the last zone of each respective alliance. It is possible, though not intended, that players take a curse right off the bat since it will necessarily make the game harder. As such, you are kind of expected to have a character who has Lv 50 provisioning (which can be levelled that far in less than 20 minutes if you have the ingredients) or guildmates by that point in the game.

The reason they swapped the vampire stages was a mechanical reason, not a lore-based one. Before, players could not do anything to get their stage higher without waiting, and your stage would advance while not playing. With the new system, unplayed characters are in stasis and you can quickly jump to your desired stage. That was 100% done because this is not a single-player game and as such it may need to differ from the mechanics of the single-player games since you can't just "rest 3 days" in 2 minutes when it's a real world. Also, as the in-game clock is on a 5:30 cycle, it does make it unfair to try to plan for times when time-of-day strength is needed.

Incidentally, another thing that people who lean on "lore-friendly" like to forget is that there are other games in the TES series than Skyrim. The Skyrim Vampire system came from Oblivion, and it's actually not appropriate since that strain of multi-stage vampirism was solely a Cyrodiilic strain and the Skyrim strain should only be a single strain of Volkihars who have ice breath and can phase through ice. The Dawnguard strain is completely invented for Dawnguard, including the Vampire Lords. In Daggerfall, a vampire is essentially an alternate character with zeroed guild ranks and reputations. The major disadvantage is just taking damage during the day or in temples and needing to kill something every day. You can even get reinfected after curing. Morrowind's strain is specifically like ESO's stage 4, where you are not able to interact with most NPCs and can't really do much at all, and it cannot be retaken once cured.

Thanks for the detailed reply and links – I have read the U26 notes and the UESP article, and I do understand what the “new” vampires are trying to do.

I don’t really dispute that they had MMO / mechanical reasons. I get that you can’t just “rest 3 days” like in Oblivion or Skyrim, and that they wanted stages to be something you actively manage.
My issue is more that they chose a solution that feels bad both mechanically and thematically, when there were other options.

In the single-player games that actually use a multi-stage system (Oblivion / Skyrim), the general pattern is:

– Not feeding for a while → you advance to a higher, more monstrous stage
– Feeding → you drop back down to a “milder” stage so NPCs will deal with you again

ESO has taken that model – 4 stages, stronger powers + worse penalties as you go up – and then flipped the core loop so that feeding now pushes you TOWARDS the “monstrous” stage, while starving yourself makes you more acceptable to society.
That’s what I mean when I say it feels lore-breaking: not “Skyrim is the only canon”, but that the way feeding & stages relate to each other is basically reversed.

On the “late game” point: in theory I agree, shrines are in the last alliance zones and the curse is meant to be a serious commitment. In practice though, the game itself:

– Lets you buy Vampirism / the Vampire skill line in the Crown Store at any time
– Lets other players bite you wherever, with no level gate to the receiving player
– Sells convenience tools like the Basin of Loss in a Crown furnishing pack

So from inside the game, it doesn’t really behave like a strictly late-game system.
A returning or newer player can easily get the curse long before they have Provisioning 50, guild infrastructure, or any idea that they “should” treat it as endgame content.

That’s where my frustration comes from: if you hit Stage 4 just by playing and feeding “like a vampire”, what you actually experience is:

– Merchants and some important NPCs no longer talk to you
– The built-in ways down are either waiting 4 hours per stage or a rare Witches Festival gold recipe that also expects high Provisioning
– The “easy” fixes (housing fountains, etc.) are Crown furnishings or depend on knowing the guild-hall / Home Tours meta

I’m not saying they shouldn’t change things for MMO reasons. I’m saying they could have achieved those goals without inverting feeding logic and hard-gating the basic ability to get back down from Stage 4 behind event items, high crafting, and paid housing toys.
That combination is what feels unnecessarily punishing and, to me, out of step with how TES vampirism has generally worked.

There are a lot of mechanics that dont follow TES lore. The entire class system, heavy attacks restoring resources... amount many others.

Also, you can avoid the issue at low levels using the armory system. You get an apartment and armory station for free and 2 slots for free.

So you can swap between vamp and non vamp at little cost.

The other solution is to simply join us werewolves who dont have this problem

Estin

Provisioning is one of the easiest skills to get to level 50. Can be done with 5000-10000 gold. That's far from endgame and only requires a quick google search. Here's the link to Alcast's 1-50 guide.

Now you just need purifying bloody mara which is something super cheap to get and make. If you're looking for something to buy, aimlessly wandering to random guild traders will not help. Instead it's always best to use the game's most popular trader browser for anything you want to buy. Here's a link to Tamriel Trade Center's site for Purifying Bloody Mara on PC EU. As you can see, the average price for the recipe is 3000 gold. At the same time, here's Frost Mirriam. The average price is 10 gold per frost mirriam, and people usually sell in stacks of 200, so it's on average 2000 gold.

If about an hour's worth of work is too monumental a task, you can use the Home Tours and browse for homes. Usually anything under the tag Stronghold or Tavern tend to have a Basin of Loss which reduces your stage by 1. When you find a home that has it, favorite the home so its permanently in your list.

The game is a MMO, so it's not going to be solo player friendly outside of quests. You have to interact with the MMO systems in order to make things easier on yourself. Playing this game like an Iron Man from OSRS is a nightmare because of all of the limited time event items and expensive cash shop amenities. It just doesn't work because this game is more of a true MMO than OSRS (I'm just using that game as an example). If you interact with the MMO systems, you would find that everything is easily in reach.

TX12001rwb17_ESO

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

How is it lore breaking? I admit I don't much pay attention to the lore but it seems from the bit of lore I know that the general population doesn't much care for vampires so merchants refusing to do business with one would fit. I also wouldn't call it game breaking but I agree it can be a major annoyance. It becomes a minor annoyance once you find a house with the basin.

And it becomes less of a hindrance as you level your characters skills. Until then the merchants in Cold harbor and Cyrodiil are vampire friendly.

It breaks with lore and official ingame mechanics in previous Elderscrolls titles, in the way that feeding normally reduces vampirism, not increases it. And vampirism stages comes due to STARVATION - Not Feeding. It used to be lore-accurate, but now it's the opposite.

Except in ESO your part of the original bloodline, not some weak Bloodline who gets weaker when they drink blood so they barley qualify as Vampires because Afterall shouldn't Lamae Bal, the original Vampire be the one to decide what a Vampire is and is not, it is not lore-breaking, you're an actual Vampire as determined by the first Vampire and well they arent.

virtus753

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Reducing your stage is not the only way to be able to interact with NPCs. Mesmerize them.

Which requires Vampirism Skill Rank 6.
I'm quite below this skill rank.

Not being at Rank 6 solves itself, typically sooner rather than later.

It takes 506,125 XP to reach Rank 6 from nothing in the skill line, per UESP. That's a hair over 125% of 1 day's enlightenment. The line levels itself as you level your character. It should be rather quick on a level 50 character, and there are multiple sources of quick xp to help you get there if you're not yet (e.g. random normals).

I was once told by another player that the vampire skill line was balanced for a level 40 character, in terms of leveling. Underleveled characters will find it rather slow, but that's part of the challenge of leveling in general - and leveling this line specifically - early on.

frogthroat

Purifying Bloody Mara (drops your vamp stage by 1) and Corrupting Bloody Mara (increases your vamp stage to 4) are indeed gold recipes, but they are surprisingly common. I think the recipes are something like 4-6k in guild stores, basically nothing. If you are in a guild, check the guild bank -- at least my guilds have multiple of each recipe in the guild bank.

If you want to reduce a stage for free, you can use Basin of Loss or load a different build from armory.

• Basin of Loss - use home tours or check your guild house for one. Make a note of that house that has it. Every time you need to drop a level, go to that house and drink from the basin. It will probably have a thrall next to it if you need to increase your vamp level.
• Save vamp build in the armory and save a non-vamp build in the armory. When you need to go from stage 4 down to stage 1, just load a non-vamp build and then vamp build again. That will start you from vamp stage 1.

spartaxoxo

spartaxoxo wrote: »

You can also buy the armory for free from the crown store. Save your build with vampiric abilities (it will save you have it) on slot 1.

Go get it cured and save that as slot 2.

Now you can just turn off vamp completely when you just want to do trader stuff

I just want to reiterate that this is 100% free and instantly usable. It is by far the most new player friendly option. No leveling or currency required.

SolarRune

I've not had chance read everyone's reply, but isn't it the case of using mesmerise on npc that won't speak to you and then they will, sorry been a while since I've been a high stage vamp.

Minnesinger

InfinityIncarnate wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

The bloody Mara drinks and recipes are also found on guild traders. Especially with the Witches event happening so recently, they should be pretty cheap.

It is a good idea to have your crafter learn the recipes even if they are not a vampire. The drinks are not levelled so you can have your crafter churn them out for other characters.

Also most guild halls will have the Vampire furnishings available, so you don’t need to pay real money for them.

ZOS is trying to encourage players to socialize with others (this is nominally an MMO), so those would be the quickest way to get what you need.

I haven't found the drinks on any guild trader yet.

This assumes you have a dedicated crafter - I don't, and I assume most don't either.
The drinks are indeed very level gated - it still requires AT LEAST 1 at that crafter level.
I have the recipe, just not the required ranks yet.

I haven't found these furnishing in guild halls yet.

Despite the fact that they MAY be available - they seem incredibly difficult to find.
..and while it's a commendable for ZOS trying to get players to socialize, it's an AWFUL way to do it, through gating remedies, something that used to be base mechanic for the actual skill line.

In my opinion, not only is it LORE-BREAKING, but also GAME-BREAKING.
It's beyond unreasonable to gate it this hard.

There are recipes on sale- The cheapest is 2500 gold (PC NA),

https://us.tamrieltradecentre.com/pc/Trade/SearchResult?IconName=event_halloween_2016_spooky_recipe.png&ItemID=11624&ItemNamePattern=Recipe:+Purifying+Bloody+Mara

Edited the price

joshisanonymous

You can currently buy the drink for 66g on average. You don't need the recipe or the mats or anything like that if other people have made it and are selling it.

Also, if all this is inconvenient, just don't be a vampire. Being a vampire should come with cons. This is one of them.

Erickson9610

joshisanonymous wrote: »

Also, if all this is inconvenient, just don't be a vampire. Being a vampire should come with cons. This is one of them.

It being a curse doesn't justify poor game design.

If anything, the quickest solution would be to make Mesmerize be automatically unlocked without the need for a skill point; just swap its position with Eviscerate and refund the skill point to anyone who already has it, the way you don't need to spend a skill point on the base morph of Werewolf Transformation. That way you will always have access to a way to mitigate the effects of Stage 4.