Please give us Skill Styles for Werewolf Transformation

Erickson9610 · April 27

The upcoming Skill Styling system can solve one of the problems Werewolf players have — the lack of any customization for their Werewolf form. While I also think Skill Styles could be made for some of Werewolf's other skills, like Hircine's Bounty, I think the greatest potential is found in the ability to swap the fur color of your Werewolf form, and possibly even "polymorph" it.

Take, for instance, some of the existing fur colors that Werewolves across Tamriel can have:

Werewolf's fur color is currently tied to the morph of Werewolf Transformation that you pick — in other words, the cosmetic system is tied to the combat system. As an example, if you wanted your Werewolf form to have white fur, then you are obligated to pick the Pack Leader morph, even if you'd rather play with Werewolf Berserker. If you want brown fur, then you have to use the unmorphed skill. This also means that some fur colors, like gray, are inaccessible to players, due to there only being 3 versions of Werewolf Transformation to choose from.

Also note that some "polymorphs" for Werewolf exist, such as the "undead" and "skeleton" Werewolf models:

It's worth noting that there exists a collectible which changes the fur color of a different Ultimate ability. It's the Slate-Gray Summoned Bear collectible, and it changes the fur color of Feral Guardian and its morphs from brown to gray:

Plus, the functionality to support changing the fur color of Werewolf is already in the game. Because of how the morphs of Werewolf Transformation are distinguished from one another, it's also easy to tell at a glance which kind of Werewolf it is. For instance, this is a Pack Leader Werewolf with brown fur:

So, with all of that out of the way, here's some mock-ups I've made to illustrate how Skill Styles for Werewolf Transformation may look in the UI, using the fur colors of black, brown, gray, and white, as shown earlier in the post.

Werewolf Skill Styles in the Collections Menu:

Selecting a Skill Style for Werewolf Transformation from the Skills Menu:

And finally, here's what the 4 aforementioned Skill Styles might look like in the Skills Menu alongside each morph of Werewolf Transformation.
Werewolf Transformation:

Werewolf Berserker:

Pack Leader:

I would personally love to use gray fur on my main Werewolf character, rather than white or black. It would also be nice to be able to use brown fur without missing out on the benefits of Pack Leader or Werewolf Berserker. Plus, I have some Werewolf characters who have white hair in their human form, and so I'd like to keep their Werewolf fur color as white, despite what build I'm running.

Above all, the option to switch between fur colors at will is important to me — I do this all the time in other games where I can customize the look of my werewolf character. I would buy every available Werewolf Transformation Skill Style just to have some form of customization for the form that I try to maintain. "Werewolf-like" customization options for the human form (like the Werewolf Lord polymorph, the Beast personality, the Sable Man-Beast skin, and so on) are great for when I'm not in Werewolf form, but once I transform, I lose all of that customization. Skill Styling can give Werewolf players the freedom to customize the look of their Werewolf characters where they couldn't before.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin

huskandhunger · April 27

I personally would really like this as well. I run a Berserker wolf most days and I would enjoy being able to make the fur color the original brown color because I like it better how it looks and thematically my imperial has brown hair which I would like to match. Cosmetic adjustments would greatly enable player customization true to the play your way fantasy style elder scrolls players have known and come to love through out the years, while even enabling future financial incentives for Zenimax through potential crown store skin or ability color pack offerings that could work through the scribing system for a win win approach where both profit streams and player fantasy may mutually be increased for an even greater gaming experience.

Erickson9610 · June 6

Here's one way that I would implement these Werewolf Transformation Skill Styles:

By default, the fur color of Werewolf Transformation (and its morphs!) should be brown. That is, Pack Leader and Werewolf Berserker would both have brown fur, and so the fur color of the morph is no longer the prime distinguishing factor.

Then, the three other basic fur colors (black, white, and grey) could be unlocked via Werewolf achievements, so they're available to all Werewolf players. The achievements are:

Black Fur — Werewolf Corpse Devourer (devour 100 corpses in Werewolf form)
White Fur — Werewolf Sire (infect another player with lycanthropy)
Grey Fur — Wandering Werewolf (devour a corpse in all three alliance capital cities)

So, to have brown fur, you don't use a Skill Style. To have white fur, you must have earned the Werewolf Sire achievement, and then you can apply white fur as a Skill Style. Likewise, black fur and grey fur are earnable via their respective achievements.

This method ensures that there's no unnecessary Skill Styles (such as a brown fur Skill Style being used on the base Werewolf Transformation) and that players who once used white or black fur will be able to do so again without needing to buy them back from the Crown Store. It also makes grey fur available where it wasn't before.

Then, how would this system be monetized? Skill Styles for some of the other known Werewolf appearances could be sold in the Crown Store instead.

For instance, the "undead" or "skeleton" Werewolf models could be used as Skill Styles, which could then be sold in the Crown Store or in Crown Crates, preferably around the time of the Witches Festival (as that is generally the most relevant time for anything spooky). I personally would love to use one of those for my Necromancer Werewolf character.

Additionally, more Werewolf fur colors could be made, just like Skins for the human form. Imagine a fur pattern with tattoos on it like Balorgh has, or maybe there could be more natural fur patterns inspired by red wolves or timber wolves. Those would be very appealing to any Werewolf fan who values customization.

@ZOS_KiraS @ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno

tomofhyrule · July 5

Very selfishly bumping this once back up because we're getting a Skill Style for Roar in U43.

I would love this to come in. Werewolves haven't had much in a while, but this would be a great bone to throw to them. I really want to let my wolves pick their color because of their color and not because of a specific morph.

Erickson9610 · July 5

I plan to make a thread about Roar's new Skill Style in this section once we have access to the PTS and I can take screenshots of how it looks. I need to clear up the confusion about how it looks, as some people think it'll look like bad breath or bile (which is highly unlikely if you recall what the visual effect actually looks like).

Again, I'm super glad Werewolf received any Skill Styles at all, and so soon — that means some team at ZOS took our feedback into consideration. I do hope that we'll get Skill Styles for the Ultimate one day as well.

Erickson9610 · September 14

It's almost the next PTS cycle, so I'd like to take the initiative to give some inspiration for possible fur designs for Werewolf Transformation Skill Styles.

TES V: Skyrim is widely known for its modding community. In particular, there were quite a few texture and model replacements for Skyrim's werewolf form, such as these three by community member Foxcraft7:

The wolves in ESO (particularly the mounts) also have inspiring designs that could be adapted for the Werewolf model:

Of course, even more exotic Werewolf Transformation Skill Styles could be made, such as designs that come with tattoos/markings on the fur:

Once again, thank you ZOS for reading and considering these ideas!

Wuuffyy · September 15

I really hope they read this and are willing to implement. These design ideas/concepts are almost all already in the game and I personally wouldn't mind if the more flavorful ones are in the crown store (free profit)

Morvan · September 15

I honestly think they should get a whole visual revamp, the player werewolf looks terrible if you compare it with the behemoth for example.

tomofhyrule · September 16

I was so hoping they’d say something like this in the ESOLive…

Please ZOS, I don’t want to have to choose between styling my wolf the way he’s supposed to look and having my transformation morphed. Besides, I’ve got loads of Crowns I’d love to spend on something like that…

But yeah, here’s hoping for some werewolf love in general. I love playing mine, but oof… ‘underpowered’ barely even scratches the surface. But by Hircine if it doesn’t feel so much fun to bork bork around the game.

IncultaWolf · September 16

We won't be getting any werewolf skill styles this update, but definitely anticipate more in the future.

Erickson9610 · September 16

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I was so hoping they’d say something like this in the ESOLive…

IncultaWolf wrote: »

We won't be getting any werewolf skill styles this update, but definitely anticipate more in the future.

I'm a bit more hopeful for this feature now that some Skill Styles aren't just recolors, but include entirely new effects. Hopefully ZOS sees Slate-Gray Summoned Bear and uses that as an example to model Werewolf Transformation Skill Styles after.

How cool would it be to get Werewolf fur color options via Skill Styles and a Werewolf Grimoire on the same update?? That would solve so many issues with the playstyle.