Stage 4 vampire is arguably one of the oddest stages in the game right now when it comes to the pros vs the cons. While it can be fun using the invisibility sprint perk when you're actually in combat it doesn't become as useful as many would imagine it being. A lot can happen in three seconds that could interrupt you getting back into invisibility or pull you out. (For example in flight projectiles.) Here are the pros and the cons of the 4th vampirisim stage.

Pros:

• 24% cheaper vampire skills.
• 300 weapon and spell damage for 6 seconds upon leaving invisibility, stealth, or mistform.
• Up to 30% damage resistance based on your missing health. At 50% health for example you'd have an additional 15% damage resistance.
• Can turn invisible after sprinting for 3 seconds and sprinting costs 50% less.
• Ignores the sneak speed penalty and enters sneak 50% faster.

Cons:

• 20% increased flame damage.
• 12% increased non-vampire ability costs.
• Able to be damaged by the Prismatic weapon enchantment. The most powerful enchantment in the game.
• -100% health regeneration. That health bar won't move till you get healed.
• 20% increased damage from Fighter's Guild abilities.

Analyzing the pros vs the cons we can see that that many of the pros favor stealth and initiating fights. On paper this isn't an issue but after having played vampire for several weeks after Greymoor came out I've realized the only passive really helping me in these melee engagements for the long term is the stage 3 passive. This has led to me staying in stage 3 and not going the extra step to go stage 4. ZOS didn't want people to all stay at stage 4 so fair enough, but they also didn't want people staying at stage 1 and treating vampire like some extra skill line. They wanted vampire to be a play style so my proposal is to give the stage 4 vampire passive Minor Expedition which increases movement speed by 10%.

Hear me out on this before calling me crazy! One of the issues with the vampire skill line people point out is the lack of a gap closer for a melee focused skill line. Templars, Dragonknights, Nightblades, the Dual Wield, the 2 handed, and the Sword and Shield skill lines all have gap closers in them. Instead of dismantling everything ZOS has done they could just put Minor Expedition onto the stage 4 passive and it'd mean a lot. At stage 4 you're already fully committed to being a vampire and being just slightly faster means you can stay in range of your target due to the lack of snares in the vampire skill line, and be able to close the distance on that archer or sorcerer much easier. It'd also make the passive ability live up to its name "Unnatural Movement" and make being a stage 4 vampire a little more fun while still costing you a lot.

What do you all think?