Elyu wrote: »

As I've commented on other threads, and is a very similar sentiment to that expressed by the OP:

Vamp and WW should both operate as optional skill lines that you can mix and match with other skill lines, no different to any other skill line in game - with the possible exception of being 'cursed' with either of them would leave you slightly vulnerable (as vamp already has) and changes the 'flavour' of other skills (e.g. sorc summons a bat companion instead of a winged twilight).

But yes, you shouldn't have to build around that 1 skill line in order to create a useful build, rather there should be several ways to utilise the skill line in new and interesting ways.

Speaking of Vampire, In TES V: Skyrim, Vampire Lord was a transformation power that locked you into using only certain Vampire Lord skills, but it still let you continue to use regular Vampire skills outside of form. Werewolf, on the other hand, has never had any skills you can use outside of form.


Throughout the history of the franchise, Werewolf form always locked you into using Werewolf skills/attacks, but some games were much better about giving werewolves something in their human form as well. For instance, TES II: Daggerfall gave werewolves +40 to Strength, Speed, Agility, and Endurance, and +30 to Hand-to-Hand, Climbing, Running, Stealth, Swimming, Jumping, and Critical Strike, regardless of which form the player was in. Werewolves still received further buffs upon actually transforming, becoming immune to iron and steel weapons while transformed. The drawback was that you had to kill an innocent once every 15 days, else your Maximum Health gradually drops down to a minimum of 4 Health, in addition to being forced into Werewolf form every full moon.

Compare TES II's implementation to TES V's implementation — werewolves in TES V: Skyrim didn't get any bonuses to their human form, and they also were denied the well-rested bonuses from sleeping due to their beast blood. Werewolf in TES V: Skyrim didn't scale well with the rest of the game, especially in Master difficulty, so they quickly fell behind in defensive capability. With only nerfs to their human form and an underwhelming beast form, why would anyone become a werewolf in TES V: Skyrim?

At the very least, Werewolf in ESO doesn't give you any downsides for being a werewolf in human form, and it even gives you +15% Stamina Recovery for slotting the Ultimate... but the underlying design issue with Werewolf in the series hasn't been fixed.


All iterations of Werewolf throughout the Elder Scrolls games have suffered from the same design problem: if the customization of your armor/weapon/spell choice is fundamental to the main gameplay loop, then locking players into a simplified version of that via a werewolf transformation just takes away the nuance of that game's combat system.

The issue just gets worse in games like TES V: Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls Online, where Werewolf in those games simply doesn't scale well with the power level of the rest of the game. At that point, there's nothing you can do, because you lose access to the rest of the combat system by transforming.