I think you missed OP's point. The point is that many of us with WW characters don't want it to just be a stamina regeneration buff. I'd be fine with getting no benefit while in non-WW form if WW form was better. And by "better" I don't necessarily mean uber powerful, I just mean that I don't want to be thinking "wow, I just popped one of the most expensive ultimates in the game and it was noticeably less effective than if I had stayed in non-WW form and used a different ultimate." Having said that, I also agree with OP that WW form has come a looooong way since the days when it gave you a whopping 2 skills, and you couldn't even stay a WW for the duration of any significant fight.Why?
Because you get +15% Stamina regeneration with absolutely zero down side while in human form.
Caius Drusus Imperial DK (DC) Bragg Ironhand Orc Temp (DC) Neesha Stalks-Shadows Argonian NB (EP) Falidir Altmer Sorcr (AD) J'zharka Khajiit NB (AD) |
Isabeau Runeseer Breton Sorc (DC) Fevassa Dunmer DK (EP) Manut Redguard Temp (AD) Tylera the Summoner Altmer Sorc (EP) Svari Snake-Blood Nord DK (AD) |
Ashlyn D'Elyse Breton NB (EP) Filindria Bosmer Temp (DC) Vigbjorn the Wanderer Nord Warden (EP) Hrokki Winterborn Breton Warden (DC) Basks-in-the-Sunshine Argonian Temp |
I think you missed OP's point. The point is that many of us with WW characters don't want it to just be a stamina regeneration buff. I'd be fine with getting no benefit while in non-WW form if WW form was better. And by "better" I don't necessarily mean uber powerful, I just mean that I don't want to be thinking "wow, I just popped one of the most expensive ultimates in the game and it was noticeably less effective than if I had stayed in non-WW form and used a different ultimate." Having said that, I also agree with OP that WW form has come a looooong way since the days when it gave you a whopping 2 skills, and you couldn't even stay a WW for the duration of any significant fight.Why?
Because you get +15% Stamina regeneration with absolutely zero down side while in human form.
Say, that's an interesting idea. Until your animal bloodlust is sated, you stay a beast. I kind of like it.starkerealm wrote: »I'll throw my random thought on the pile for this. Make it a toggle, force us to generate ultimate again to turn it off, so we're trapped as a wolf for X amount of homicidal rampage fun time after we trigger it. Then use Blood Rage to reduce the Ultimate Cost both ways, or apply a damage buff for being at reduced health, or whatever.
Caius Drusus Imperial DK (DC) Bragg Ironhand Orc Temp (DC) Neesha Stalks-Shadows Argonian NB (EP) Falidir Altmer Sorcr (AD) J'zharka Khajiit NB (AD) |
Isabeau Runeseer Breton Sorc (DC) Fevassa Dunmer DK (EP) Manut Redguard Temp (AD) Tylera the Summoner Altmer Sorc (EP) Svari Snake-Blood Nord DK (AD) |
Ashlyn D'Elyse Breton NB (EP) Filindria Bosmer Temp (DC) Vigbjorn the Wanderer Nord Warden (EP) Hrokki Winterborn Breton Warden (DC) Basks-in-the-Sunshine Argonian Temp |
starkerealm wrote: »I'll throw my random thought on the pile for this. Make it a toggle, force us to generate ultimate again to turn it off, so we're trapped as a wolf for X amount of homicidal rampage fun time after we trigger it. Then use Blood Rage to reduce the Ultimate Cost both ways, or apply a damage buff for being at reduced health, or whatever.
Ruze is a veteran of the PC Beta, lived through the year one drought, survived the buy-to-play conversion, and has stepped foot in the hells known as Craglorn. He mained a nightlbade when nightblades weren't good, and has never worn a robe. He converted from PC during the console betas, and hasn't regretted it a moment since.
He'd rank ESO:TU (in it's current state) a 4.8 out of 5, loving the game almost entirely.
Werewolves have come a long way since last year and for the most part are ok. By "a long way" I mean having a full skill bar, the ability to heal in combat, and perhaps the ability to break out of cc (that last one may have helped a bit). However these changes have done little to define what the ww is supposed to be in game, and currently they work as either a short term dps buff (a powerful one at that) or a blender for trash mobs. There is little, serious incentive to use the transformation, and as someone running 6 ww's (5 of which have the ultimate slotted at all times) I often find its use cumbersome and difficult to justify.
Why would I want to use this ultimate as it is now? It cost 21 skill points to maximize, takes all the utility and skills you have gained and locks them away, restricts you to purely melee combat and in pvp makes you an easy target. The only reason many are running ww now is so they can get the free 15% stamina regen buff, and as an avid user of the transformation that doesn't seem right. Hopefully the following rant will be something interesting to read or at least get a constructive conversation going.
QUESTIONS FROM ESO LIVE (3-27) : ColorFirst I would just like to shout out to the recent ESO Live questions since those seem to be on peoples minds. The first, regarding the color change for the Berserker transformation. We have seen black furred werewolves in game, and even the pack master who brings us on the quest had black fur for a while. Pack Leaders properly change color so the ability to have the change is there, and the black fur textures are there as well.
In some lore books and in the game icon it is implied that Berserker's have black fur. Right now the only difference between an unmorphed and Berserker ww is the bleed damage, which without an addon is not the easiest thing to notice. As a player it feels underwhelming to use the Berserker transformation, and when the "running on all fours" animation required you to 'put away' your claws there was attention brought to it and it was changed for live. I would hope that the ability to have Berserker's have a different fur color would be a simple enough fix.
ToggleThe other question that was brought up was if the transformation could be a toggle. It was brought up that the changes to Blood Rage were intended to allow longer lasting transformations. After several long play sessions in wolf form I can say that for in combat the passive does add a good amount of time. However there are a few problems with that, both in the idea of the change and in keeping ww on a timer.
First the problems with Blood Rage. Lets say you are fighting, say, one lone powerful enemy, their attacks are both slow and easy to dodge (say, a dwemer centurion). First, the Blood Rage will not be procing frequently given the slower attacks so the added time is minimal, but also this mob uses plenty of aoe attacks that it clearly defines, then winds up the attack, then waits for you to move, then attacks. In eso the idea of combat is to be fluid and movement is one of the big points. But with Blood Rage you are telling me to jump into the red, to not block attacks that cause dots, because I should be jumping into damage every 3 seconds. The current implementation of Blood Rage doesn't fit the "feel" of the game and is less and less effective the more powerful of an enemy you fight (against large groups of trash mobs it works fine).
But why not a toggle? You invest so much into ww, and honestly it can be quite fun. The problem is you need to throw your face in the ground so often that it feels more like a chore to play. When I use the transformation I feel like I have someone shouting in my ear GOGOGO at all times, I have no time to wait, no time to talk to people, no time to loot or regen resources or let my allies catch up. I just need to keep GOING. If I stop or wait or anything but kill and eat I am, well not directly punished by the game, but if my intent is to maintain the transformation then yes, being social, regening resources, waiting for people to catch up are all, well, punishments.
And the game can stop the timer, near the shrine, in the hunting grounds, while feeding. And the game has several ways of giving time, if you take damage, eat, heavy attack near a Pack Leader. Any of the above methods could be applied to keep the transformation active at all times, and since you can use the ultimate again to turn it off any of these changes, made permanent, would make the transformation a toggle.
First I want to defend making ww into a toggle. It is fun, interesting, and different from most other things in the game. That is good, however being tasked with shoving your face into countless enemies (and hoping the corpse doesn't despawn before you are done) makes it hectic to use. I did see the video that was posted of a ww doing 33k dps, and also noticed the heavy resource requirement, sacrifices to survivability, and non-ww buffs required to achieve it. Making the ww a toggle wouldn't be that bad of a thing power wise despite this. The non-ww buffs would time out so you would need to drop form to regain them, the heavy resource requirement and hit to survivability would be the same, and with more time people could focus on sustained rather than burst damage.
If the transformation was a toggle people could make more effective use of their investment into the skill tree, find the places where it could be useful and most importantly get to enjoying the transformation. I have several personal ideas on how to make the skill line have more utility and be more interesting but I encourage people who have links to bring them up as many other ideas have come up in the past and deserve another look.
Ideas
There are three types of changes I am thinking of for the ww. The first are general changes to make some morphs more interesting to use, the second are changes if the transformation became a toggle and the third are ones that would likely require a larger amount of resources to develop.
Basic Morphs
- Transformation - If the timer remains the Pack Leader an Berserker both have interesting roles. However it would be nice to have some kind of incentive to use the transformation mid combat, since stunning yourself in the middle of a fight doesn't seem that bright. NPC werewolves who transform gain a massive healing buff that keeps them alive, so, as suggested in another thread (missing link) you could provide a damage shield or health regen buff for the transformation to make up for the inconvenience of stunning yourself mid combat.
- Pounce - Who takes Brutal Pounce? As a ww I value time so much that the mild AOE damage of Brutal Pounce is kind of worthless. This is the same problem between Crystal Fragments and Crystal Blast, a choice of something useful vs mild AOE. I would suggest that Brutal Pounce get something while keeping the concept of AOE, perhaps a damage shield per number of targets hit, or even a taunt so you could have a ww tank. As of now the splash damage is, honestly, nothing when compared to bonus time.
- Hircine's Bounty - The Rage morph works very well and the 10% bonus damage is very noticeable. However Hircine's Fortitude doesn't feel like it heals that much. With Hircine's Rage and Claws of Life I can get some very good healing but the HOT provided by Hircine's Fortitude doesn't amount to much over its duration. Perhaps giving it a stamina regen buff to define Rage as the burst morph and Fortitude as the sustained morph could help, or perhaps a synergy that could share the HOT with nearby allies. Thinking pack mentality here, working as a group.
- Roar - Rousing Roar provides a decent buff, if not for long, and with the number of DOTs you can have as a ww the short buff can greatly buff your damage. However, Ferocious Roar doesn't seem to measure up, from my own personal experience. You need to kill your enemy in a very short time window, to make nearby enemies easier targets. I know it has its uses, but the disorient will likely be broken by a DOT almost instantly and again, from personal experience it doesn't provide much. I would suggest Ferocious Roar gain whichever change doesn't go to Brutal Pounce, either a damage shield or some form of taunt, but I would also be interested in other peoples experience with this skill.
- Piercing Howl - Both morphs function well, Howl of Agony helps with Rousing Roar an Howl of Despair makes packs of werewolves fairly powerful.
- Infectious Claws - Claws of Life provides a strong heal and Claws of Anguish is nice for pvp, my only question is, can't Infectious Claws proc defile since it deals disease damage?
- Pursuit - Works well enough at keeping stamina up.
- Devour - I would like the timer to be gone since the "feed once per corpse" thing is working. I would also like there to be some way to still get time if the corpse despawns or respawns, this is a problem in both pve and pvp.
- Blood Rage - This encourages me to disregard established game play norms and if anything I would suggest this be changed to "when dealing damage."
- Savage Strength - Good passive to make ww stronger, however the tooltip for the main transform list bonus armor but you don't really get much, so having a small bit of bonus armor here could help.
- Call of the Pack - Good intent with the change and a lot of potential, but in hind sight not as helpful. If you have a group of ww's together and they want to roam as a pack, whoever transforms first will have plenty of time, but whoever turns last will only have 30s. Nothing divides a pack better than having one member need to sit back eating whenever possible since they don't have the same amount of time to work with. I would suggest the transformation buff be available for some time after the transformation, allowing the user, and their un-turned allies to benefit from the passive.
Toggle Changes
- Transformation - Pack Leader is probably the hardest one to change since the old Call of the Pack was changed likely since detecting other ww's nearby was not practical for whatever reason. I am thinking that some sort of regen buff could be added here, with each nearby ww adding to the number of buffs given, sort of like how owning one enemy scroll in pvp gives one buff, and grabbing the other adds to it. So it could be something like 1 ww, stamina regen, 2 ww health regen, 3 ww minor evasion (5% dodge chance), 4 ww minor protection, 5 ww minor expedition.
- Pounce - Feral Pounce could be changed to either an armor debuff or snare, something to make the target either prone to heavy damage or unable to escape from the damage.
- Devour - Rather than providing time we would move the 15% stamina regen buff to here. You devour then gain the stamina regen for, say an hour. WW's get the regen buff still but you need to use the transformation to get it.
- Blood Rage - Similar to the heavy armor sets that buff weapon damage when taking/dealing damage. Since this is Blood Rage I would prefer it works when dealing damage (you see the blood and fight harder for the meal), however the "on taking damage" thing still works. But in essence this would be a buff you would get once fully in combat, an i'm thinking either a strong health regen when getting hit or a damage buff when dealing damage, with either low magnitudes or low duration's with proc chances and cooldowns between procs (so there are times where the buffs aren't up).
- Call of the Pack - This could be a real interesting one if done well, how about make it so when you transform, werewolves nearby get a synergy (could put restrictions so they need werewolf on bar and/or have the ultimate needed to use it) and if they use it they transform at the same time and the group could get a short term buff, something along the lines of a burst heal or perhaps a damage buff. Something to make turning as a pack interesting and rewarding.
Other IdeasThe ability to sneak (these are werewolves we are talking about, kind of hard to hunt prey when you can't sneak up on them).
Eating corpses cuts resurrection*
These are just ideas, and hopefully something worth chewing over. I hope i'm not alone in thinking the werewolf should be something more than "an ultimate" (read, DPS buff) and that we can come up with ideas to make the skill line more interesting to use and more widely useful.
Say, that's an interesting idea. Until your animal bloodlust is sated, you stay a beast. I kind of like it.starkerealm wrote: »I'll throw my random thought on the pile for this. Make it a toggle, force us to generate ultimate again to turn it off, so we're trapped as a wolf for X amount of homicidal rampage fun time after we trigger it. Then use Blood Rage to reduce the Ultimate Cost both ways, or apply a damage buff for being at reduced health, or whatever.
ruze84b14_ESO wrote: »My preference would include the 'stay in werewolf form, weak to magic/poison/silver, forced to melee and unable to enter town' unless you've built up enough ultimate to transform back. That said, while in ww form, tanky as hell to physical damage, fire, etc.
That's actually the main reason why I have a bunch of WW characters too. I really enjoyed the entire Companions storyline in Skyrim, and because of that I really enjoyed being a WW in Skyrim (even though I almost never wolfed-out). I'm a WW in ESO primarily out of nostalgia for the Companions in Skyrim.jmaldona29 wrote: »I'm a werewolf because... Well... I wanted to be a wolf.
Caius Drusus Imperial DK (DC) Bragg Ironhand Orc Temp (DC) Neesha Stalks-Shadows Argonian NB (EP) Falidir Altmer Sorcr (AD) J'zharka Khajiit NB (AD) |
Isabeau Runeseer Breton Sorc (DC) Fevassa Dunmer DK (EP) Manut Redguard Temp (AD) Tylera the Summoner Altmer Sorc (EP) Svari Snake-Blood Nord DK (AD) |
Ashlyn D'Elyse Breton NB (EP) Filindria Bosmer Temp (DC) Vigbjorn the Wanderer Nord Warden (EP) Hrokki Winterborn Breton Warden (DC) Basks-in-the-Sunshine Argonian Temp |