Concerns about vampire changes, share yours.

MornaBaine

Yes I know a couple threads have touched on this already. But I’d like to flesh it out more and hopefully really get the attention of those making these changes. I would love to know if they have been paying attention at all to the feedback on vampires in these forums for the past 5+ years.

And, on the positive side, I AM looking forward to the Blade of Woe style feeding animations that have been brought up. That REALLY needs to be a thing. I am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic about the very briefly mentioned new abilities and I really hope the one whose name we don’t yet know is a gap closer like every NPC vamp in the game already has.

So we know that vampires will be getting some new abilities though we don’t yet have much in the way of info on what those are going to look like. And we know that they are “reversing” the way the vampire stages work. But so far I don’t think we have critical information on that either outside of, “You’ll have to drink MORE blood to get to/maintain Stage Four” rather than the reverse which is what we have now.

I’m not going to argue too much about whether or not this conflicts with the lore of previous TES games. The truth is there’s always been debate on that issue and the previous games have a lot of conflicts with each other as well. I think ZOS “covered” the issue well enough when they made the vampire strain we have in ESO a completely new one and gave it its own lore. Many roleplayers who chose to play their vampires as having the Noxiphilic Sanguivoria, the in-game strain of vampirism, were happy with how it worked.

But now we crazy RPers are forced to deal with a sudden “retcon” to the lore of the game itself. Suddenly the very nature of vampirism has changed with no logical explanation for this. This is not good world and lore building on the part of ZOS.

Now I know many people are excited by the addition of a “vampire lord” form (I believe it’s been said this will be a new Ult, no word on if its in addition to or replacing the current “bats” Ult), especially players of Skyrim who have long asked for this Ult.

Personally, I think it’s great that we have here an instance of ZOS actually listening to players and trying to give them what they ask for. My problem is with the fact that it’s badly and lazily done. Allow me to explain my reasoning.

They have said they are making changes to the vampire quest and my hope is that they are JUST talking about mechanics and not the story and the lore itself. But part of me is afraid they are going to try to justify these changes to the lore of their own game by altering the story of the quest as well. ZOS nobody likes retcons. Please don’t. And please don’t change THIS bit of Lamae’s dialogue in order to cover up the fact that you goofed when you didn’t give us a way for our vampires to look completely normal/mortal they way you also went back and changed Lamae’s appearance in the hope we wouldn’t notice you left out something we really should have had from the beginning.



For those of you wondering, Lamae originally looked like this:



What would have been far better is to have introduced a NEW strain of vampirism into the game, whether that be the Volkihar from Dawnguard or simply a similar entirely new strain as they did with Noxiphilic Sanguivoria.

Then, in the current vampire quest, there could be a bit of dialogue with Lamae Bal offering you a choice as to which form of vampirism you would like to have. After all, Lamae is the FIRST vampire and the lore is that she actually founded more than one strain of vampirism. So it would be completely lore appropriate for her to offer a choice like that. And, if you choose the Noxiphilic Sanguivoria you get the Bats Ultimate and if you choose whatever they choose to name the NEW vampire strain, then you get the Vampire Lord Ultimate. All other powers and passives remain the same between the two. So what if your vampire is already a Noxiphilic Sanguivoria vampire and you want to try the new one? Curing your vampire and obtaining a bite in game (either from another player or the regularly spawning bloodfiends) or via the cash shop so you can re-do the vampire quest and change to the new strain is a relatively simple process.

In addition, if you choose to keep the Noxiphilic Sanguivoria, the current settings for the stages and how you advance through them should remain the same as well. And if you choose the new vampire strain, THEN the stage advancement changes come into play for you. The game play between the two now becomes very interesting without making one OP over the other and is left to player preference. You know, playing the game the way you want to. And it honors the lore already established by the game.

Now, my next concern centers on the two different potions one uses with vampirism, The Double Bloody Mara (introduced first) and the Disastrously Bloody Mara which was introduced with this most recent Witches Festival. It’s important to know both the ingredients in these potions and their effects.



The Double Bloody Mara works this way:
It reeks of cold blood, herbs, spices, and alcohol. Down the hatch!
If you drink this as a Vampire, it will reduce your vampirism level by one stage, similar to feeding.

The Disastrously Bloody Mara works this way:
It reeks of cold blood, brimstone, wood smoke, and alcohol. Down the hatch!
If you drink this as a Vampire, it will immediately increase your vampirism all the way to Stage 4.

We don’t know if these potions are going to be changed but I am betting that they are not going to be. And the important thing here is to pay attention to the ingredients needed for them. The recipes for these potions are obtained only during the Witches Festival and while the market is pretty much well flooded with the Double Bloody Mara recipe now, the newer Disastrously Bloody Mara is, of course, still far harder to come by.

The older potion, the Double Bloody Mara, is composed of ingredients that are easily farmed in game. But the Disastrously Bloody Mara, which takes you straight to Stage Four, the stage considered “best” for gameplay by many players, has an ingredient, “Dragons Blood” that is literally locked behind a paywall. Sure you can buy it at very high prices from traders in game but if you like to or need to farm your own ingredients then you HAVE to have the Elsweyr Chapter. And the gameplay to get it is far more difficult and (here’s the important thing) time consuming to obtain. Don’t imagine for a moment that this is NOT by design and working completely as intended by ZOS.

We also don’t yet know if the timer of the various stages is going to change. I hope not but if the intent is to keep players chugging Disastrously Bloody Maras to maintain their preferred stage then there’s a good chance it will indeed be shortened from its current six hours. And while I HOPE that doesn’t mean that they are going to return to the original ludicrously short times we had to deal with originally, such a change is still going to have a dramatic impact on gameplay...and not to the player’s benefit.

Now for those of you who will say, “Just wait for PTS to see if your fears are founded!” well, most of us know that by the time something hits PTS it’s too late. Changes are never made to anything once they hit PTS UNLESS an actual bug with the way things work is discovered. NEVER has a change been made simply because players made it plain that they did not LIKE how something was working and asked for changes. It took us literal YEARS to get the stage timer changed on vampires. And with the way ZOS has decided to simply churn out new content and ignore older problems I’m pretty sure that trend is going to not only continue but get worse.

Will bringing our concerns to the fore NOW help? Honestly, probably not. ZOS has demonstrated little concern for the preferences of players when it comes to vampires. They can change my mind by not ramming these largely unwanted changes to vampirism down our throats and keeping the good things from the current vampire system while ALSO finally giving us a few of the simply cosmetic things we’ve been begging for since launch like…

A “mortal” skin that can return your vampire to their pre-vamp appearance at will. Yes, it can be a cash shop item as far as I’m concerned though I’d be far happier if it were added as Stage 0 so long as they keep the six hour stage timer as well. That’s the main one.

Fixing the vamp skin overlay so that tattoos show properly.

Fixing the vampire skin so that your original chosen makeup default shows properly instead of being completely washed out.

And, although I have no hope for it actually happening, a NEW vampire skin that merely gives you the pale skin of Stage 1 WITHOUT the gross veins AND allows you to retain your original eye color. Put THAT in the cash shop and I will buy it ZOS, promise.

ZOS I get it that you want to fan service the Skyrim and Dawnguard fans. I really do. It doesn’t even actually bother me because you’d be crazy if you didn’t. There’s too much money to be made there and I’m honestly kinda surprised you didn’t do Dark Heart of Skyrim right after Morrowind. But please, I’m begging you, don’t spit on the lore you’ve already established for your own game while doing so. And PLEASE show us that you’ve actually been LISTENING to the players of vampires who have been supporting your game all these years even while lamenting the haphazard state of vampires in their original and even current incarnations.

So dear readers who have borne with me this long, please share your own concerns about the upcoming changes to vampires. Hopefully @ZOSGinaBruno can get permission to ally some of our fears.

MaleAmazon

Honestly, all I care about is being able to retain the normal appearance. At all stages. I use my main (magblade) to craft, quest, PvE etc, and don´t have her as a vampire since I can´t bear to look at that skin texture. Make it a permanent 'glamour' alteration spell, for all I care.

Looks > skills.

wsmith97ub17_ESO

Did not read, just get rid of the terrible looking stage 4 acne.

FierceSam

Love the proposed changes. Vampires should have to feed to keep up those passives.

Don’t be silly re the drinks. Elsweyr sells for less than the price of a couple of real ones, so it’s hardly “locked” unless you feel that game developers should work for nothing while creating content or that the $10 you spend on the base game should entitle you to upgrades for life for nothing.

Additionally you can buy the ingredients or the drink itself from many, many guildstores so the price will reflect how easy it is to farm the ingredients and learn the recipe. It is not hard to earn enough in game gold to easily afford this by doing whatever you enjoy doing in game.

The only issue I have is the conflict with the Blade of Woe mechanic, which exists now. They currently use exactly the same mechanic, which is not great game design at all. If ZOS can work out a way that they use different mechanics - so maybe feeding is a skill not a ‘free ability’, that would be perfect.

MornaBaine

FierceSam wrote: »

Love the proposed changes. Vampires should have to feed to keep up those passives.

Don’t be silly re the drinks. Elsweyr sells for less than the price of a couple of real ones, so it’s hardly “locked” unless you feel that game developers should work for nothing while creating content or that the $10 you spend on the base game should entitle you to upgrades for life for nothing.

Additionally you can buy the ingredients or the drink itself from many, many guildstores so the price will reflect how easy it is to farm the ingredients and learn the recipe. It is not hard to earn enough in game gold to easily afford this by doing whatever you enjoy doing in game.

The only issue I have is the conflict with the Blade of Woe mechanic, which exists now. They currently use exactly the same mechanic, which is not great game design at all. If ZOS can work out a way that they use different mechanics - so maybe feeding is a skill not a ‘free ability’, that would be perfect.

I preordered this game, Imperial Edition...and bought it 5 times for others. I preorder the chapters and get the collectors editions. I buy most of the zone DLC. And I maintain at least one sub and sometimes two. Trust me, ZO$ gets my money in spades. I definitely support the game. And I sure as hades don't get any special privs for it. LOL

My point in bringing up the drinks is so that people will be AWARE of what is going on and so they can make their own decisions regarding what is acceptable to them personally. And, especially, how it's likely to affect their gameplay.

Iccotak

But now we crazy RPers are forced to deal with a sudden “retcon” to the lore of the game itself. Suddenly the very nature of vampirism has changed with no logical explanation for this. This is not good world and lore building on the part of ZOS.

eh not really - people just blow that out of proportion in my opinion.

I'm glad for all the changes being made

I think the only thing that still needs to be done is update the visual appearance of the vampires.

Also a New Vampire skill line is redundant - Keep it simple.

ShadowHvo

Very well written post OP, I hope that Zenimax takes it to heart and listen to those of us who're actual fans of their work, rather than the larger crowd whom just want an Underworld/Twilight ripoff.

[Edit to remove bait]

kargen27

I want vampires to look like this:



Or just don't fade the tattoos.

MEBengalsFan2001

I like the idea of two different skill ones. One like it is now and the other with it requiring you to feed. In fact, the lazy one, the current one, should be adjusted to be a bit weaker for its passive bonuses and stronger for its passive disadvantages. The feeding one should be what we have now for passives. This way you can pick between being a lazy I won't feed vampire or you can be the other of I'm going to feed vampire.

I'm the lazy sort when it comes to things like this so chances are I'll probably stop being a vampire and change my race back to Breton.

idk

I think multiple lines, as OP suggests, would be a bad idea. Just more that needs to be balanced

Granted, I am not a fan of reversing feeding because it makes more sense we feed to remain young and beautiful and the more we hunger the more ravenous we should become. However, I will wait to see what actually comes of these changes to make my real opinion.

Siohwenoeht

Well written OP. My vampires aren't blood scions/vampire lords, they feed on criminals and bandits to walk among mortals, and starve themselves to become stronger for battle. And if the changes happen like we can assume, they will be retired, relegated to just crafters or extra storage.

Nemesis7884

my only concern is that i wont like the new skill line...
I really hope it will be a skill line that is nice for stamina and magicka and has something fun and useful for everyone to use so a lot of different player types and build can incorporate it if they want to thematically play a certain type of vampire....

Gnortranermara

Well, there's two ways to implement Blood Scion: with its 5 active skills all packed into the Vampire skill line's ultimate (like Volendrung - all skills automatically unlocked, unmorphed, and no leveling requirement), or as a separate skill line with its own ultimate (like Werewolf). There is only one benefit to doing it the Volendrung way (it gives them a single point of control over all 5 "morphs" usable for the flying and grounded forms, so there would be no need to make animations for wrongly-morphed skills that'll be derpy and useless anyway). But a Werewolf style implementation would be so much better all around. It would give players a choice whether or not to take the extra skill line, and that choice could be used to differentiate two different "strains" of player vampirism. For instance: regular vampires could keep the old feeding mechanism while Blood Scions reverse it. Plus Blood Scion can have its own passives if it has its own skill line, opening up cool options for the devs to differentiate them in other ways.

And seriously, not every vampire should be automatically god-modded by devs into being a Blood Scion. It should involve some sort of extra something so that not everybody automatically gets it. At a minimum, Lamae should only offer the Blood Scion form to level 50 players with level 10 Vampire, for instance. Maybe some other requirements, too.

kaisernick

MaleAmazon wrote: »

Honestly, all I care about is being able to retain the normal appearance. At all stages. I use my main (magblade) to craft, quest, PvE etc, and don´t have her as a vampire since I can´t bear to look at that skin texture. Make it a permanent 'glamour' alteration spell, for all I care.

Looks > skills.

It also doesnt help that using abilties increase the stage so even if vampire skills were good currently i wont use them as id have constantly feed.

if that stays the same ill be very dissapointed unless they do add some glamor to hide the effect, i mean its not lore breaking either as the imperial clan can actually do such a thing.

DarknDarker

i find it funny when people think that this means they're going to actually start feeding. odds are they'll do that for a bit, then switch to downing bloody maras whenever they need to feed instead.
aka, the same problem as now, only with one extra step.
and that ignoring the fact that they're doing to vampires, what turn orcs into pigs would be doing

Sephyr

Noxavian wrote: »

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWn. It's funny that you think ZOS is actually going to listen to you. Hopefully people like @ZOS_GinaBruno understand that the OVERWHELMING majority of players love the new vampire rework and are excitedly waiting to see what it reveals.

Imagine being this paranoid over something we don't know the full details on.

You're literally creating a problem out of nothing, they ARE NOT going to go back on their word because of a few people who think they know lore better than them. Deal with it.

Honestly the bolded part can't be emphasized enough. People are forgetting that our 'headcanons' aren't solidified in the actual lore, no matter how well it matches up. People also forget that lore is and has been subjected to be added to or changed all together. As a player AND an avid RPer, I accept that because it's in the culture of any game setting.

That being said, my only concern is that this whole thing is being overhyped. We haven't seen anything yet so I'm not willing to make a stance on it until I see the new and improved skill tree along with animations. Until then it's purely conjecture. But anything to get out of this passive skill line that's just eating my skillpoints.

karekiz

I hope they tear apart the "Additional Racial Passive" skill line.

bellatrixed

I pretty much am just concerned they haven't addressed vampire appearance at all. They literally hurl face and body markings at us from all directions, but they show up as pale blue on vampires. WTB normal tattoos and the ability to hide vampirism at least out of combat.

ArchMikem

MaleAmazon wrote: »

Honestly, all I care about is being able to retain the normal appearance. At all stages. I use my main (magblade) to craft, quest, PvE etc, and don´t have her as a vampire since I can´t bear to look at that skin texture. Make it a permanent 'glamour' alteration spell, for all I care.

Looks > skills.

If you care more about looks, then just dont be a vampire.

Shardaxx

Just a comment on the current appearance of vamps, if you use the Arctic Rime skin, you look 'almost' normal even at Stage 4.

[Deleted User]

Hello everyone,

With we having to remove or alter a few posts for flaming and baiting, we're going to have to ask that you keep the Forum Rules in mind when posting on the forums. While opposing views are always welcome, be sure to stay constructive when discussing them.

Thank you for understanding.

Noxavian

Sephyr wrote: »

Noxavian wrote: »

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWn. It's funny that you think ZOS is actually going to listen to you. Hopefully people like @ZOS_GinaBruno understand that the OVERWHELMING majority of players love the new vampire rework and are excitedly waiting to see what it reveals.

Imagine being this paranoid over something we don't know the full details on.

You're literally creating a problem out of nothing, they ARE NOT going to go back on their word because of a few people who think they know lore better than them. Deal with it.

Honestly the bolded part can't be emphasized enough. People are forgetting that our 'headcanons' aren't solidified in the actual lore, no matter how well it matches up. People also forget that lore is and has been subjected to be added to or changed all together. As a player AND an avid RPer, I accept that because it's in the culture of any game setting.

That being said, my only concern is that this whole thing is being overhyped. We haven't seen anything yet so I'm not willing to make a stance on it until I see the new and improved skill tree along with animations. Until then it's purely conjecture. But anything to get out of this passive skill line that's just eating my skillpoints.

Very well said. I agree completely! You'd think as roleplayers they'd be happy to have a new option available to them or something. If they don't like the new way of things that's the beauty of RP, they can pretend nothing changed.

And yes, I find making threads like this to be extremely stupid and over concerned considering it's not even on PTS yet.

Noxavian

ArchMikem wrote: »

MaleAmazon wrote: »

Honestly, all I care about is being able to retain the normal appearance. At all stages. I use my main (magblade) to craft, quest, PvE etc, and don´t have her as a vampire since I can´t bear to look at that skin texture. Make it a permanent 'glamour' alteration spell, for all I care.

Looks > skills.

If you care more about looks, then just dont be a vampire.

This is what I dont get. If people find vampire ugly, just dont be one

Gnortranermara

Noxavian wrote: »

This is what I dont get. If people find vampire ugly, just dont be one

What is it exactly that you're not able to grasp? People like cosmetics. People like combat effectiveness. People like roleplay. People like different elements of the game, and sometimes people like multiple elements, and sometimes those people want to build a character in a way that isn't possible due to unnecessary restraints that could be easily removed in less than 12 sec by a competent dev that actually believed in the "play as you want" philosophy and wanted to leave maximum options open for all kinds of players.

Seriously: what's so hard to understand here? I mean, you get that other people can have different values and preferences to your own, right?

Noxavian

SidewalkChalk5 wrote: »

Noxavian wrote: »

This is what I dont get. If people find vampire ugly, just dont be one

What is it exactly that you're not able to grasp? People like cosmetics. People like combat effectiveness. People like roleplay. People like different elements of the game, and sometimes people like multiple elements, and sometimes those people want to build a character in a way that isn't possible due to unnecessary restraints that could be easily removed in less than 12 sec by a competent dev that actually believed in the "play as you want" philosophy and wanted to leave maximum options open for all kinds of players.

Seriously: what's so hard to understand here?

Whats so hard to understand here: You don't **need** to be a vampire. It is an **option**.


Though I can agree with the body markings, I personally wish they'd just glow as normal.

Djennku

The issue I keep seeing in all these vampire threads, is that they are pure speculation based on what was mentioned in the livestream. It is still too early to judge the reVamp because we have no solid information on how these changes will look like, and even then, we can't really know until after much testing how the new system will play. Until then, these threads accomplish absolutely nothing.

I personally am really looking forward to the new changes, especially the new feeding system, as it makes playing a vampire a more immersive role. ZoS has done very well with the continued development of the game since launch, and I expect the new content to be as great as they've had prior with the new chapter.

ShadowHvo

Noxavian wrote: »

Very well said. I agree completely! You'd think as roleplayers they'd be happy to have a new option available to them or something. If they don't like the new way of things that's the beauty of RP, they can pretend nothing changed.

And yes, I find making threads like this to be extremely stupid and over concerned considering it's not even on PTS yet.

The problem with that statement is that it isn't the case at all, it doesn't add a new option, because roleplayers could've just done that prior without anyone batting an eye. There are so many different strains of vampirism that you could simply say that you roleplayed as one, which worked like that.

However this proposed change doesn't add an option as you suggest, but rather retcons the current and existing option, into something which it isn't, and has not been until these changes see the light of day. Which I still hope that they won't.

It's an active bastardization, a ruination of what people knew, and cared about. If these changes go live, a roleplayers cannot simply change their character in any believable way to "stick to the old ways", since that will no longer be canon, and thus utterly demolish any credibility the character has going forward.

The only option for them is to, in one way or another, void 5 years of character progressions when it involves a core subject such as this.

It's frankly a rather selfish change, which really does show, if going live without a good solution or change, that Zenimax doesn't care for the integrity of their own universe and setting.

An easy solution would simply be to have the new vampirism be an entirely new strain of vampirism, since then they indeed can do anything they please. But that isn't the case as we know it, so people will fight against the demolishment of what they've loved and treasured for literal years.

Whenever you think its stupid or not, is to me, irrelevant. We're fans who're passionate, who live and breath as characters in this universe as a hobby, and we have a voice, too.

Noxavian

Djennku wrote: »

The issue I keep seeing in all these vampire threads, is that they are pure speculation based on what was mentioned in the livestream. It is still too early to judge the reVamp because we have no solid information on how these changes will look like, and even then, we can't really know until after much testing how the new system will play. Until then, these threads accomplish absolutely nothing.

I personally am really looking forward to the new changes, especially the new feeding system, as it makes playing a vampire a more immersive role. ZoS has done very well with the continued development of the game since launch, and I expect the new content to be as great as they've had prior with the new chapter.

BROOOO this guy gets it.


I'm personally really looking forward to it too man! I can't wait to learn more details about it.

Crom_CCCXVI

PVP TRADEOFFS

Along with incentive to be a Vampire, there should be incentive not too. In the PvP community there is very little incentive to not be a vamp with regen, damage mititagtion, mist form, Accel Drain is a great skill

Maybe a Vampire Hunter set? with significantly increased damage VS Vampire, that or bring back the power in those glyphs?

Thevampirenight

ShadowHvo wrote: »

Noxavian wrote: »

Very well said. I agree completely! You'd think as roleplayers they'd be happy to have a new option available to them or something. If they don't like the new way of things that's the beauty of RP, they can pretend nothing changed.

And yes, I find making threads like this to be extremely stupid and over concerned considering it's not even on PTS yet.

The problem with that statement is that it isn't the case at all, it doesn't add a new option, because roleplayers could've just done that prior without anyone batting an eye. There are so many different strains of vampirism that you could simply say that you roleplayed as one, which worked like that.

However this proposed change doesn't add an option as you suggest, but rather retcons the current and existing option, into something which it isn't, and has not been until these changes see the light of day. Which I still hope that they won't.

It's an active bastardization, a ruination of what people knew, and cared about. If these changes go live, a roleplayers cannot simply change their character in any believable way to "stick to the old ways", since that will no longer be canon, and thus utterly demolish any credibility the character has going forward.

The only option for them is to, in one way or another, void 5 years of character progressions when it involves a core subject such as this.

It's frankly a rather selfish change, which really does show, if going live without a good solution or change, that Zenimax doesn't care for the integrity of their own universe and setting.

An easy solution would simply be to have the new vampirism be an entirely new strain of vampirism, since then they indeed can do anything they please. But that isn't the case as we know it, so people will fight against the demolishment of what they've loved and treasured for literal years.

Whenever you think its stupid or not, is to me, irrelevant. We're fans who're passionate, who live and breath as characters in this universe as a hobby, and we have a voice, too.

I don't think everyone rps the ingame strain. Some might but others might have their own home brewed vampirism or use other strains seen in other games. Players do have a lot of choice still even if they change it they don't need to change their characters. They can just pretend it works the way it does now. Or maybe play it off as being a weaker form of the condition or a variant condition of the strain we have now. We roleplayers can adjust to anything they do. I am happy they are at least altering vampirism to feel more like vampires.

Some might like the way it works but others don't like the feeding animation and others don't like the looks of certain stages. I'd rather we look good when well fed instead of ugly though. But that is my personal opinion even with the changes. I do like the looks of stage two so it might still give me reason to go out and feed. If Bloody Mara is made to reduce the stage instead of increase it I could use it to make myself continue to look Stage two. Instead of the stage three and four look.
But I will not be happy if they don't give us fangs. I do want my vampires to have actual fangs. So hopefully they are adding those.

ShadowHvo

Djennku wrote: »

The issue I keep seeing in all these vampire threads, is that they are pure speculation based on what was mentioned in the livestream. It is still too early to judge the reVamp because we have no solid information on how these changes will look like, and even then, we can't really know until after much testing how the new system will play. Until then, these threads accomplish absolutely nothing.

I personally am really looking forward to the new changes, especially the new feeding system, as it makes playing a vampire a more immersive role. ZoS has done very well with the continued development of the game since launch, and I expect the new content to be as great as they've had prior with the new chapter.

We do have solid information however, claiming that it is pure speculation is outright wrong.

Rich already confirmed the following:
- Stages will switch, 1 will be monstrous and 4 will be mortal.
- You need to feed to increase in stages from 4 to 1, which unlocks more passive the closer you get to stage 1, similar to live but in reverse.
- The Vampire Lord is the new ultimate, and the vampire will receive 3 new abilities together with the existing drain and mistform. (We don't know if batswarm is reworked to be one of the new 3 abilities. They call it scion instead of Lord, but it was said to be identical to the Vampire Lord.)
- The visual appearance of the stages remain the same, but switched around. The most powerful stage is still the most monstrous, with the weakest the most mortal.
- Feeding is just like the Blade of Woe, you click X to initiate animation and get fed. (We don't know if it will stun them like on live, or kill them like the Blade of Woe)
- Vampires will be integrated into the justice system, similar to Necromancer.

That's a lot of concrete information, and yet the biggest change that we fans are angry about is the very unnecessary switchero they're doing on stages, and how they function. They can literally keep all the cool new additions, and still keep stages as they're, while giving an incentive to feed thanks to the Justice System.