Off-topic
Pardon my username. I don't remember signing up under it and it's actually not my legal name anymore, that would be Arin. I would change my username if I could.
On-topic
My character is a stealth-based Stamina Khajiit Vampire Nightblade. I spend over 70% of the game in stealth. Throughout my experience, I have thoroughly enjoyed the stealth and justice system, so I am very excited for the new Thieves Guild DLC. However, there is one detail that has perhaps been overlooked for a long time and only seldom addressed, and that is the sneak animation.
In ESO, the movement animations are handled in a way that they change depending on the speed the character reaches. This is apparent looking at the walk-run-sprint animations. While sneaking, the character has yet another set of animations that change after reaching a specific speed. At the slowest speed, there's a slow crawl. After that, a brisk, sneaky prowl along the ground. After that, however, can only be seen if the player is using the Night's Silence set or the Vampire passive abilities, which allows the character to move at an increased speed while sneaking, ignoring sneak speed penalties. This animation is simply a slowed version of the normal sprinting animation. It's not even a separate version of the animation, it is simply the same sprint animation that would play while sprinting, but since the character is moving at jogging speed in this case, it plays much more slowly than normal.
EDIT
I uploaded a video showing the issue in detail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrDAilMHAg
Issue also covered in this thread:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/170272/running-while-hidden-sneak-is-now-broken
This presents a problem, because sneaking at this speed looks awkward, since an animation designed for faster speeds is playing much more slowly, and also while the character is supposed to appear stealthy.
Footstep sound effects are amplified as well, especially on wooden surfaces, further taking away from the "stealthy" aspect. This would not be as much of a problem if my character were not designed around stealth, and especially since I plan on taking full advantage of the Thieve's Guild features and immersing myself in the new DLC's storyline experience.
There are rare moments when my character will decide to play the normal sneak animation at the enhanced speed, and I find myself wishing that this animation would play all throughout the game while sneaking, but after I stop moving or the game changes animations, it goes back to the awkwardly slow, loud sprint animation. There are some people who argue that the normal sneak animation would not suit the enhanced sneaking speed that the Night's Silence set and Vampire Passives provide, and I see how they can feel that way, but it can't be much worse than the sprint animation in place of it.
My solution would be to create an entirely new animation based on the normal sneak animation, but with less arm and upper body movement, to make it seem much less exaggerated, much like the transition you would see between jogging and sprinting. Less bouncing, more of a streamlined, speedy simplification of the jogging animation designed for higher speeds. I feel the sneak animation set needs something like this to make sneaking much more believable.
In my experience with 3D animation, subtle changes like this can make the experience look and feel a lot more appealing. And with the Thieve's Guild DLC around the corner, it would be the perfect time to fix this issue.
I welcome your opinions and feedback on this idea.
Please pardon my username. I did not sign up under it and I cannot change it. It is also not my legal name anymore.