I think we need developer comments on Vampire changes

Faulgor

In the past we got developer comments in patch notes, elaborating on the the thought process for certain changes.
While there are some this time, they are very sparse, and that makes giving feedback a bit harder.
Especially in the case of vampire changes.

Just last update we had the vampire revamp, that introduced a lot of new skills - some better, some worse. And while there have been a lot of discussions asking for buffs and changes to underperforming vampire skills, at least Blood for Blood made vampires a worthwhile consideration for magicka DPS.
With the significant nerf to this skill, the main reason why anyone was a vampire falls away, to the point I'm worried there are only drawbacks to this feature and the whole development spent on the skill line overhaul was a waste of time. I certainly don't see anyone being a vampire in PvE if these changes go live.

So, I would really like to hear from our developers what their vision is in regards to vampires, and how they would like us to give feedback on one of this year's main features.

• What is your intent with vampires in general and these changes in particular?
• Do you just not want people using Blood for Blood as a spammable in PvE?
• Are you happy with the Perfect Scion morph? If so, why?
• What are your metrics telling you about the vampire stages people use?
• etc.

SlimeBro1

1. Also please tell us why the vamp NPCs have very cool bat themed abilities, yet us as a part of Lamae's line which is known for summoning bats have little to do with them? Why not just give us the bat swarm gap closer NPCs have? Maybe even the big Bat AoE that follows a target too.

2. Are you happy with vampiric drain as an ability? Why was it nerfed from the pre-pts version? Thoughts on the stam morph?

3. Why do all of the vampire themed sets introduced in this chapter revolve around tanking and/or stamina dps? What was the design decision there?

4. Are you happy with vampire having only 1 damage ability that is a melee magicka skill? If so, why not add a ranged morph option since magicka is typically a ranged skill line? If the line had a gap closer it'd make sense why it was melee focused. But I'm just curious on the design choice behind this.


Some feedback from the devs would be very nice @ZOS_GinaBruno. It's better than us being left to wonder what is going on.

Faulgor

SlimeBro1 wrote: »

1. Also please tell us why the vamp NPCs have very cool bat themed abilities, yet us as a part of Lamae's line which is known for summoning bats have little to do with them? Why not just give us the bat swarm gap closer NPCs have? Maybe even the big Bat AoE that follows a target too.

2. Are you happy with vampiric drain as an ability? Why was it nerfed from the pre-pts version? Thoughts on the stam morph?

3. Why do all of the vampire themed sets introduced in this chapter revolve around tanking and/or stamina dps? What was the design decision there?

4. Are you happy with vampire having only 1 damage ability that is a melee magicka skill? If so, why not add a ranged morph option since magicka is typically a ranged skill line? If the line had a gap closer it'd make sense why it was melee focused. But I'm just curious on the design choice behind this.


Some feedback from the devs would be very nice @ZOS_GinaBruno. It's better than us being left to wonder what is going on.

That's really my issue, we can come up with all these cool ideas of what we think vampires could or should be, but without knowing what ZOS wants to do with them we are just building castles in the sky. That's unhelpful for them and disappointing for us.

ManM

I suspect there is still a disconnect on the fundamental premise behind ESO's vampire. Thematically, they seem to want vampirism to be a solo experience of overland content. To close the gap, you sneak or mist and just walk. There is no urgency. The channel and heal of vampiric drain is fine relative to the damage put out by most world bosses. Blood for blood now blocks outside healing, which is right in line with the paradigm. You are vampire. You are fiercely independent, because you are a cursed outcast.

So basically, I don't expect them to make any changes to promote the viability of a vampire in group content.