VAMPIRES NEED LOVE
I DO fully realize that Werewolves need even more love but I will leave that case to be made by those who are more knowledgeable about the class than I. And apparently a much needed overhaul is coming anyway. So I will be focusing upon my beloved bloodsuckers. I ALSO realize that "too many" people play Vampires. So a post detailing what I feel we need to make them simply MORE FUN to play may NOT be greeted all that warmly by those firmly in the "THERE ARE TOO MANY VAMPS ALREADY!" camp. On the other hand, much of what I would like to propose might cause a lot of folks, who currently play Vampires for their perceived PvP advantages, no longer be willing to play them...which would be just fine with me. But then again, maybe not. And my point isn't trying to figure out how to "thin" the vampire population in the first place. Frankly, it's unbearably elitist to tell people, "YOU shouldn't be able to play this type of character because you don't 'do it right' as far as I'm concerned!" So read on and judge for yourself.

Vampires, as they currently exist in ESO, are nothing other than another skill line, rather like the Undaunted. You get some different spells, some buffs and some debuffs. Sadly, there is NOTHING about the vampire skill line that makes it feel like you're playing a vampire, not even vampires as presented in the ES games that preceded this MMO. THAT is what I want to change. So here are my suggestions:

1. Give us back the ability to feed on sleeping NPCS! Yes, put some sleeping folk here and there in towns that our vampires have a chance to snack on and escape without waking them. If they do wake, either the fight is on or they scream for the guard...and the fight is on if we can't get away fast enough. This mechanic would be a beautiful potential part of the justice system.

2. Kick us out of the Undaunted. There is no way this rollicking group of monster hunters is going to let A MONSTER be part of their brotherhood. You want to be a vampire? No Undaunted skill line for you! The only caveat here is that vampires SHOULD have their own Persuade and Intimidate abilities. Why? Because they're VAMPIRES! What could be more terrifyingly intimidating or hypnotically persuasive? In addition, the Undaunted should be actively HOSTILE towards vampires. And as experienced monster hunters, yes they should know what you are! So you can't buy them drinks! If you try to talk to them, they should insult you. If you're Stage 4, they should actually attack you!

3. STOP making my vampire yell like an idiot for no apparent reason every time they turn into mist!!! And IMPROVE its animation. Make it actually LOOK like mist or fog. Get rid of the dumb red streaks it has in it since I morphed it.

4. Add an invisibility skill like the one Nightblades have and make the nighttime bonuses better and more noticeable. Right now I can scarcely tell the difference between playing my vamp during the day or at night. I'd be okay with making the daylight disadvantages worse IF day and night were of equal length and daylight disadvantages did not apply when in dungeons or buildings (i.e. away from sunlight exposure).

5. CHANGE THE COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS FEEDING ANIMATION! Seriously, whoever came up with that needs a boot to the head. To feed vampires have to sneak up on someone from behind. So why can't my vampire then jump on them and bite their neck? Yes, I KNOW that is a more complex animation than the horrible one we got foisted off on us but there's really no reason it CAN'T be done.

6. Give us preternatural speed. No, I'm STILL not over what you did to Night's Silence. No, I don't care that people cried about a perk that had ZERO impact on PvP. Give it back.

7. Change the Stages timeline. At a MINIMUM make Stage 1 last 2 hours. The feeding schedule required to maintain Stage 1 is completely ridiculous and illogical.

8. Give us an illusion skill that allows us to make our vampires look as they did BEFORE becoming vampires that lasts up through Stage 3 but disappears the moment a vampire hits Stage 4. You can even make it to where you have to be back to Stage 1 before it can be reapplied.

9. Have NPCs REACT to us being vampires at Stage 3. Bring back the spooked and/or insulting comments of the townsfolk. Make there be a random chance that vendors will refuse to deal with us (but the vendor the next stall over will be fine, this should just be an inconvenience, not a bar from content) and that guards will try to arrest us and either have to be persuaded or intimidated(or bribed!) into letting us go. It would be FANTASTIC if we could be thrown out of taverns and refused service.

10. Make Stage 4 have meaningful adverse consequences in towns. KoS to guards, townsfolk either flee or attack. Make there be inconveniently located vendors outside of towns that WILL deal with Stage 4 vampires, possibly at a higher price. Exempt vampires in Cyrodil from this.

11. Vampire only emotes. These NEED to happen! LOL 1) Snarl 2) Lunge 3)Mistform (the vampire dissolves into mist and remains a cloud of mist while WALKING but animation breaks when you run normally) 4) Vanish (the vampire actually vanishes and becomes invisible and this is maintained even while walking but breaks on normal run) 5) Cloudofbats (vampire briefly becomes a cloud of bats) 6)Vamplaugh (yes I want an evil sounding laugh where my vamp throws back their head and their fangs totally show as they laugh! Doooo eeeeet ZoS!!!)

12. Bat pet. Yes, a vanity pet that is a bat, only available to vampires, that will flit about them when activated. Even better if it's 2 or 3 bats!

As you can see, a lot of this is just fluff... but it's fluff that adds to immersion and makes it actually feel like you are playing a vampire instead of just a regular person with a bad skin condition. Some of it might actually make playing a vampire harder...but that's a good thing.