Tip for those seeking Vampire Bites

Celestrael · July 2015

I'd post this in the "looking for bites" thread, but it'd get buried pretty quickly.

I've found that what's way more effective than posting on the forums (I had zero luck trying that route) is going to the vampire shrine and asking around (or frankly just standing there). When I showed up with the biter I procured by randomly messaging vamps I saw around while questing, I was literally harassed by people selling bites. It seems that they congregate there. I don't know if this is the case on every alliance/server/console but I can definitely confirm it for Aldmeri Dominion PS4 NA. There were some 20-30 players in the area with some offering bites ranging from 2k-5k which is super reasonable in my opinion.

Hope this can be a help to some people! Definitely report back those on other alliances/consoles if it works for you too.

Ranique · July 2015

There were some 20-30 players in the area with some offering bites ranging from 2k-5k

Keep in mind that scamming with werewolfbites and vampirebites is very common. So if you go this road I would advice strongly to only pay AFTER getting bitten.

Also I would strongly advice to take a different road.
On the pc it is very different then the console. People looking for a bite are rare and people with a bite available very common. some try to sell, but the spend hours and hours in map to find someone. The reason is that most people bite for free.

The reason for this difference is that it is a dissease and on the PC it is far more widespread.
So this will happen on the console too right?
But there is more. There are factors that help speed it up and factors that slow it down.

The people scamming and/or asking for money for a bite, don't want it to spread. It is why they often rather scam people than actually bite. That is also why they kill the npc spawns. In short, they have no interest in spreading the dissease, but all in controlling the market. By paying for a bite you are supporting that system, and for what? All they can do is delay it. Eventually (sooner than later) it will be widespread anyways.

So how to get a free bite??
Join a guild. There are werewolf and vampireguilds on all megaservers and alliances and they have dedicated themselfes to give out bites for free. They do have a waitinglist you have to join. The best part of it all is that it is free, and once you've joined the waitinglist you can stop stalking the shrine or the spawningzones, and start playing the rest of this wonderfull game.

Celestrael · July 2015

It's currently pretty rare on the console, you don't see that many vampires running around to begin with and there are tons of people that are looking for bites and not all that many people giving them out. I'm in a great guild with a handful of Vampires but their bites stay on timer and you can wait a pretty long while to get one.

My advice is just to help those people connect up in-game and get their bite under current (less than ideal) conditions.

In addition to your advice about not paying until you get your bite, I'd also suggest adding them as a friend on PSN and joining a voice chat with them first. As silly as it sounds, it's a bit of social engineering and I think most people are less inclined to talk with someone they are about to rip off. It kinda pulls back that shroud of anonymity. My transaction went off without a hitch, but I was aware that scammers do exist.

So my advice, compiled:

1) Check out the vampire shrine for your alliance, join the area chat, and ask around. They'll likely come to you.
2) Add the individual on PSN/XBL and start a party. Chat with them a bit. If they are dodgy/shady or resist doing this, keep it moving.
3) Either agree to pay after, or do half before and half after. Also I wouldn't suggest accepting a deal where you pay more than 8k for a bite.
4) Once you get your bite and level up vampirism to 6 and can share your gift, head back to the shrine when your timer is up and pay it forward! Whether or not you charge people for it.

Artfuldodger · July 2015

I would avoid sending coins to any person that I did not know. There are too many people who will take the coin then disappear. It's a shame because they have spoilt it for the genuine people who are honest and want to make a few quid in exchange for a bite.

symonator · July 2015

^^ report it, zos have said it's against the tos in recent threads.

Artfuldodger · July 2015

symonator wrote: »

^^ report it, zos have said it's against the tos in recent threads.

Ive read posts by people who have reported, apparently they do not do anything, some thing to do with the amount of complaints they would receive. Just glad I never ever got scammed, think that would have really annoyed me, I do feel for those that have been.

Miqula · July 2015

It's pretty easy to get bit by accident if you just run around RM at night.. It might take a few nights but eventually a blood fiend or wolf will jump out and bite you for free... This is how we have gotten all our bites. It is especially helpful to pop by the shrines at night because less people / scammers are there and people will excitedly say they just got bitten... Then you know the spawn is out there and you can likely run across one.

Good luck

on Xbox one a lot of people are biting for free... So run around at night and stop at the shrine now and then. Either way it would t take long to get lucky one way or another without ever paying 1 gold.

Ranique · July 2015

Artfuldodger wrote: »

symonator wrote: »

^^ report it, zos have said it's against the tos in recent threads.

Ive read posts by people who have reported, apparently they do not do anything, some thing to do with the amount of complaints they would receive. Just glad I never ever got scammed, think that would have really annoyed me, I do feel for those that have been.

According to the rules even breathing when playing the game is not allowed, let alone that logging in is a violation of the ToS.
The reason is that ZOS can do whatever they want and find reasonable. It is a matter of trust that they do the right thing.

It is perfectly possible that they see the amount of grief caused by paid bites and are now seeing it as an offense, while it wasn't before.

But in the end, my first post stands. Don't pay for bites. If you dont pay for bites, you also can't be scammed. On top of it, the dissease spreads faster when people are biting for free.

kamikaze590 · July 2015

Why would anyone want to be a vampire? Everyone I know who is a vampire says that it sucks? Is being a vampire awesome or does it just suck?

Ranique · July 2015

kamikaze590 wrote: »

Why would anyone want to be a vampire? Everyone I know who is a vampire says that it sucks? Is being a vampire awesome or does it just suck?

I don't think it "just" sucks. But there are some strong cons.
The first and most important one is the vulnaribility for firedamage. As it is the most popular damagetype, in PvP, vampires are useless unless you are a dunmer to counter it (with the racial passive.
In PvE it is slightly better, but only if you stay out of the heat (so don't be a tank and for healers it isn't optimum either).
But the damage increase (+stamina/magica) and the life drain skill really makes up for the cons. Specially if you control the cons by playing a dunmer.

Aerathnor · July 2015

Having recently gone through getting one, I'd say to be careful around the vamp shrine (at least on XBone NA). The amount of scammers surprised me, and as soon as you started setting one up in area chat people would crowd your character hoping to have the biter "mistarget" it.

Like was said before, try to group up with the potential biter and work it out in group chat. You can avoid people mobbing you then. Also, be wary of low level vamps, it takes a fair amount of xp to get to rank 6 where they can bite so it's more likely that lower levels are just trying to scam you.

TequilaMoknbird · July 2015

Sort of reiterating some of above but thought I'd add my experiences.

- Like what Aerathnor said, be wary with low level vampires selling bites; it takes a lot of xp to level up a vampire. In any trade I would ask to see a screen shot of the persons skill tree to see that the ability to bite another player is unlocked and that they don't have a cooldown - it takes 5 seconds and a legitimate seller/trader should have no problem offering that.

- Be wary of opportunistic thieves at the shrines jumping in the way to steal what you have paid/traded or have organised to be given for free. This is why it's wise to do a group chat or organise the deal in messages, that and the shrines get damn noisy.

- If you are willing to pay or trade for a bite go visit the shrine a few times and linger before handing over anything of value. Educate yourself. That way you can watch what the going trades are and suss out who is there too frequently to be a legitimate biter. If you see someone offer a bite for 20k and then progressively drop it till they find a buyer, they probably just want your money. Same if you see the same person selling bites more than once in a seven day period. And again, low level vamps... risky.

- Only pay what you're comfortable paying... and possibly losing in the event you get a scammer. You will get it cheaper or free in a few months time, but right now bites are a commodity and more people want them than what there are vampires to give them, and so there is a market.

- Demanding that you pay only AFTER getting the bite is the same as the vampire player demanding the trade BEFORE they bite you. Ask, they might oblige your request but a more diplomatic approach could be a 50/50 trade before and after so both parties carry some of the risk.