Why is Drain Essence being changed if Vampire Lords/Bloodscions rework is incoming in May?

Elusiin

Speculating, only two reasons I can think of:

A. They plan on keeping the current vampire abilities in the game, including bat swarm, but making the transformation ultimate have a separate set of skills like werewolf. Maybe we could see werewolf non-transformed active and passive abilities in the future too?? I much prefer this. Like how would magcro or magden survive anywhere in PvP without mist form lmao?

B. They're just removing the insta-stun so people switch it off their builds ahead of the ability being removed for the rework. Please no ZoS... :'(

What do you guys think?

Aliyavana

probably because vamp drain was abused by zerglings

Royaji

It will be rather amusing if vampire "re-vamp" (uhh) turns out to bit just a new ultimate and one more new skill with some rebalanced numbers and side effects on the old ones. Will ZOS go this low? Honestly, at this point I really don't know.

Dojohoda

I think that because Drain Essence has a stun, healing, and damage it gained popularity. Clearly players were removing an inferior skill for it and perhaps class/weapon skills have been stripped too much. Drain Essence has been like this for as long as I can remember. It can't be "bad" all of the sudden; Drain Essence simply shines compared to the nerfed skills of some classes. Drain Essence reminds us (me) that skill lines used to be better.

WoppaBoem

Dojohoda wrote: »

I think that because Drain Essence has a stun, healing, and damage it gained popularity. Clearly players were removing an inferior skill for it and perhaps class/weapon skills have been stripped too much. Drain Essence has been like this for as long as I can remember. It can't be "bad" all of the sudden; Drain Essence simply shines compared to the nerfed skills of some classes. Drain Essence reminds us (me) that skill lines used to be better.

It got a big buff with the dot meta and was never changed afterwards. Resulting in high damage over time + heal + stun + very low costs. So it was really buffed in damage and range with recent patches.

Noxavian

Elusiin wrote: »

Speculating, only two reasons I can think of:

A. They plan on keeping the current vampire abilities in the game, including bat swarm, but making the transformation ultimate have a separate set of skills like werewolf. Maybe we could see werewolf non-transformed active and passive abilities in the future too?? I much prefer this. Like how would magcro or magden survive anywhere in PvP without mist form lmao?

B. They're just removing the insta-stun so people switch it off their builds ahead of the ability being removed for the rework. Please no ZoS... :'(

What do you guys think?

Firstly: vampire drain and mist form are still going to be a part of the vampire kit as Rich said on a german stream.

However, these abilities are more than likely getting a rework along with the rest of the vampire skill line. For example, mist form is probably going to function similar to the "mist form dash" we saw in the trailer. The nerf to vampiric drain honestly seems like a bandaid fix to keep people satisfied until the rework comes out.

I would bet actual money on this being the case considering it makes no sense to keep both of these abilities exactly the same during a revamp.

Also i would bet money that bat swarm is going to get turned into a teleport/mobility ability similar to how it is shown in the trailer.

Thevampirenight

Well it seems like it still has its damage values they didn't decrease it but they did make the stun I think work at the end of vampire drain instead of at the beginning.
So they partly nerfed it and also fixed a bug with it.
It might work different when you are in blood scion form. I can see it being like the Skyrim drain where the drain was like one we had right now in humaniod form right now but it worked different in the Vampire Lord form where essense is drained out in like a glob drawn to the vampire lord so it might work similarly in Eso.
We won't know for sure how the blood scion form will work till at least the release of greymoor on pts. I do think they will do what they can to make it more feel like the vampire lord in Skyrim but I doubt it will work the same and have two modes. I think it will be one mode where you are landed most of the time but fly up while sprinting.

Also the Transformation might have a timer so we might see that with them as well.
Hopefully they will give us more information as time grows closer in how its going to work.

Dojohoda

WoppaBoem wrote: »

Dojohoda wrote: »

I think that because Drain Essence has a stun, healing, and damage it gained popularity. Clearly players were removing an inferior skill for it and perhaps class/weapon skills have been stripped too much. Drain Essence has been like this for as long as I can remember. It can't be "bad" all of the sudden; Drain Essence simply shines compared to the nerfed skills of some classes. Drain Essence reminds us (me) that skill lines used to be better.

It got a big buff with the dot meta and was never changed afterwards. Resulting in high damage over time + heal + stun + very low costs. So it was really buffed in damage and range with recent patches.

If it is strong damage-wise, then people might continue use it, but based on patch notes the damage isn't being nerfed in the upcoming version. The stun is being moved to the end of its channel, which, I think, is 3 seconds. I cannot speak for others, but I had the impression that the stun was the favorite part of the skill based on how many times I was stunned by it.

from patch notes: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/508802/pts-patch-notes-v5-3-0
Vampire
Drain Essence:
The stun from this ability and its morphs now occurs when the cast completes, rather than when it begins.
Fixed an issue where casting this ability in rapid succession could cause it to get stuck and cause various animation issues.

Noxavian

Royaji wrote: »

It will be rather amusing if vampire "re-vamp" (uhh) turns out to bit just a new ultimate and one more new skill with some rebalanced numbers and side effects on the old ones. Will ZOS go this low? Honestly, at this point I really don't know.

I genuinely hope this isn't the case.

We already know they're keeping a mist form and vampire drain ability, but I would HOPE with a "revamp" that means they'll be changing how they function, but keep the "drain" and mist theme.

For example, I believe the new mist form is going to be turned into an offensive dash ability like we saw in the trailer. No clue on drain though. Chances are the ability would be getting reworked in a similar way. It'll still drain life, but in a different/updated manner.

Bat swarm is totally going to be the new "mobility" ability I feel. Mist form will probably work similar to a targeted streak.

UppGRAYxDD

This is a great time for ZoS to add a magicka AoE stun (similar to turn evil) to the vampire tree...

BigBadVolk

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Well it seems like it still has its damage values they didn't decrease it but they did make the stun I think work at the end of vampire drain instead of at the beginning.
So they partly nerfed it and also fixed a bug with it.
It might work different when you are in blood scion form. I can see it being like the Skyrim drain where the drain was like one we had right now in humaniod form right now but it worked different in the Vampire Lord form where essense is drained out in like a glob drawn to the vampire lord so it might work similarly in Eso.
We won't know for sure how the blood scion form will work till at least the release of greymoor on pts. I do think they will do what they can to make it more feel like the vampire lord in Skyrim but I doubt it will work the same and have two modes. I think it will be one mode where you are landed most of the time but fly up while sprinting.

Also the Transformation might have a timer so we might see that with them as well.
Hopefully they will give us more information as time grows closer in how its going to work.

maybe a stam form where u dont hover and a magicka form for hovering and ranged style :thinking:

tsaescishoeshiner

Since Flame/Shock Clench were nerfed, vamp drain has been (ab)used in PvP for its stun that is janky to break free from. Moving the stun to the end of the ability might be a way to help with that

Vanos444

What my guess is,
We have 2 vampire ultimates.

Bat swarm is a default vampire skill. So no feeding buff is required to use that ultimate.

Vampire overlord, can only be activated if you're vampire stage 4.

Canned_Apples

'Cause ZoS.

x48rph

People were slotting it on magcro and magden for the stun mostly since you could block cancel it and still get the stun. Guess ZOS decide that they didn't need a viable instant stun anymore so now it's good luck with flame clench for them.

Saelent

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

This is a great time for ZoS to add a magicka AoE stun (similar to turn evil) to the vampire tree...

Isn’t that what the protection rune skill (I forget the name) in the fighter’s guild skill line basically became? Doesn’t it now fear enemies?

Heimpai

Saelent wrote: »

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

This is a great time for ZoS to add a magicka AoE stun (similar to turn evil) to the vampire tree...

Isn’t that what the protection rune skill (I forget the name) in the fighter’s guild skill line basically became? Doesn’t it now fear enemies?

Yes, turn evil is the morphed circle of protection that fears

idk

Aliyavana wrote: »

probably because vamp drain was abused by zerglings

So because we do not like a skill those who use is are zerglings. Glad we got that cleared up.

Seriously OP. It would seem that skill was not performing as they intended and the skill was causing issues. Just because a skill line is going to be reworked in a few months does not mean we should keep it working improperly.

Unfadingsilence

Elusiin wrote: »

Speculating, only two reasons I can think of:

A. They plan on keeping the current vampire abilities in the game, including bat swarm, but making the transformation ultimate have a separate set of skills like werewolf. Maybe we could see werewolf non-transformed active and passive abilities in the future too?? I much prefer this. Like how would magcro or magden survive anywhere in PvP without mist form lmao?

B. They're just removing the insta-stun so people switch it off their builds ahead of the ability being removed for the rework. Please no ZoS... :'(

What do you guys think?

Honestly I used the drain on my magicka NightBlade ganker setup it was stupid broken especially with the amount of damage I was putting out even when testing my setup on the target dummy's I was hitting 150k damage in 1 sec even without the drain but please enjoy my video
The wait is over!!! Magicka NightBlade Ganker Build video please enjoy ✌
https://youtu.be/FG-at8Z_ZNg

Grianasteri

Im loving all the vampire chat across the forums. Hyped for blood drinkers yo!

I recently respecked a long dormant magblade/healer into a full blooded (pun intended) vampire magblade dps and I have been absolutely loving it. Before, I only tinkered with magblade as a healing option because a couple of years ago I was maining heals and experimenting. Now I am more experienced and capable, a fully fledged magblade with a nod into a vampire theme (using Essence drain), is a thing of beauty! I even found I had a flying bat pet laying around I had no idea about! Perfect!

Cant believe it took me so long to properly sample a magblade. (Ive had a couple of fully fledged stamblades for a while, for pve and pvp). And they are just perfect for a vampire feel/theme.

Imagine my delight upon seeing the entire vampire thang is going to be reworked. I cant wait!