Animation/SFX changes I'd like to see for Werewolf in Update 50

Erickson9610 · February 16

Werewolf is getting both a combat and a visual refresh in Update 50, so I'd like to talk about some of the pain points I have regarding the visual and audio aspect of Werewolf before work on that refresh starts.

Pain Point #1: There is no biting attack.
One of the biggest parts of the roleplay fantasy of being a werewolf in a video game is the savage nature of your attacks. You tear through enemies with your claws and bite them savagely — except, for some reason, only NPC werewolves can attack via biting.

Pain Point #2: Shared animations and SFX between skills
Simply put, Carnage (the second cast of Pounce) uses the same claw swipe animation as Infectious Claws, and Piercing Howl uses the same SFX as Roar.

Pain Point #3: The heavy attack hits the enemy with both arms at the same time
I much prefer how Werewolf Behemoth's heavy attack looks, with one arm slashing the enemy shortly after the other. Werewolf's heavy attack looks like a big hug in comparison.

If I had to offer suggestions for how to fix these pain points, I'd suggest that Werewolf be given a biting attack that either replaces the claw swipe of Carnage (addressing points 1 and 2) or replaces Piercing Howl as the Werewolf equivalent of Biting Jabs or Engulfing Dragonfire. Failing that, maybe a biting attack could be added as a Scribing ability for Werewolf.

Important to note is that the icon for Carnage already looks like it would be a biting attack, so it seems like an animation swap there would make the most sense.

Finally, here's a wishlist of other miscellaneous animation-related requests I have for Werewolf:

The ability to sneak in Werewolf form. There are already animations for these, but we can't normally access them.
The ability to use emotes in Werewolf form. Certain emotes like /begone, /crouch, and /kneelpray all played special Werewolf animations back when we were allowed to emote while transformed.
Provided we get the ability to sneak, I want to see cinematic killmove animations for assassinating targets from stealth in Werewolf form. The killmoves you would do in TES V: Skyrim as a werewolf really made the experience incredible, and I'd love to see ESO's take on it.

I hope it's not too late to offer these suggestions!
@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Erickson9610 · February 18

I realize that many of my complaints were solved in the design of Werewolf Behemoth's toolkit, which is more modern compared to Werewolf's toolkit. Even outside of Stone Garden, the skills and animations complement the roleplay fantasy of being a werewolf of that size.

Knowing that the refresh effort is focused on modernizing the visual and combat aspects of skill lines and classes that need it the most does give me hope that good things are in store for Werewolf!

autocookies · 3:56PM

I am hoping that while doing the visual refresh that functionality issues are also improved.

1) Heavy Attack

With regard to Heavy Attacks, the first attack feels delayed and awkward to use (in my opinion). When you factor in the increased Heavy Attack speed from Ferocious Roar — Your Heavy Attacks are also 33% faster for 10 seconds after casting — it actually feels worse. The initial delay cuts into the duration of the buffed attack speed and doesn’t seem to apply to the first Heavy Attack.

It feels like you lose roughly 2.3–2.5 seconds at the start, meaning the buff is effectively active for only about 7.5–7.7 seconds instead of the full 10 seconds.

2) Brutal Pounce

I can’t speak for Feral Pounce, as I’ve never used it, but the second activation of Brutal Pounce feels problematic. The follow-up input can be inconsistent and disrupts the flow of combat.

3) Devour

Don’t get me wrong — I love the concept of Devour. However, in trials and serious content, spending time consuming a corpse to heal isn’t ideal. We already have a healer for that role.

The first thing I did was lower its priority below Orbs and other synergies. I can’t remove it entirely since I need it to maintain my Werewolf form, but spending up to three seconds doing no damage while everyone else is burning the boss feels bad. That said, it’s still better than dropping form and having to rebuild ultimate.

Devour:
Allows you to devour corpses to increase the duration of your Werewolf Transformation and restore your Health. Every second spent devouring a corpse adds 3 seconds to the duration of your Werewolf Transformation and restores 8% of your Max Health. Each corpse can be devoured for up to 4 seconds.

ZOS_Erin · 9:09PM

Thank you very much for compiling your thoughts about potential improvements to the Werewolf! After reading through your post, the team wanted to chime in on a few points:

We agree that not having a bite attack for the Werewolf is a missed opportunity and we are looking into ways to address it.
Based on feedback from our Dragonknight and Two-Handed refresh work, we are continuing to look at ways to provide unique animations in our skill lines while still reusing certain animations where it makes sense. We are keeping this line of thought in mind as we work through the Werewolf refresh as well as other classes in the future.
We agree that the heavy attack for the Werewolf looks a bit too 'friendly' at the moment, so we are working through potential options to address this.
On the topic of Werewolves being able to sneak and/or crouch, we have seen this request from our Werewolf players for many years. While we aim to consider community requests, it is not a simple process to just enable this functionality for Werewolves. It's more than just animations - it's about ensuring that behaviors, detection, logic, and interactions all function appropriately. Also, there are intentional 'gives and takes' that need to be considered for both the lycanthropy and vampirism playstyles. It is a complex effort to balance and undertake, so we want to level set that this is currently out of scope for the Werewolf refresh that will be happening later this year.
Cinematic kills are something we're actively discussing, but there are still some questions about where it makes sense for them to be used. We will provide more updates when we can.

Please continue to provide us with your thoughts and opinions - we hope that this insight is beneficial for leading further constructive conversations regarding the Werewolf refresh.

Erickson9610 · 9:17PM

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

Thank you very much for compiling your thoughts about potential improvements to the Werewolf! After reading through your post, the team wanted to chime in on a few points:
We agree that not having a bite attack for the Werewolf is a missed opportunity and we are looking into ways to address it.

Based on feedback from our Dragonknight and Two-Handed refresh work, we are continuing to look at ways to provide unique animations in our skill lines while still reusing certain animations where it makes sense. We are keeping this line of thought in mind as we work through the Werewolf refresh as well as other classes in the future.

We agree that the heavy attack for the Werewolf looks a bit too 'friendly' at the moment, so we are working through potential options to address this.

On the topic of Werewolves being able to sneak and/or crouch, we have seen this request from our Werewolf players for many years. While we aim to consider community requests, it is not a simple process to just enable this functionality for Werewolves. It's more than just animations - it's about ensuring that behaviors, detection, logic, and interactions all function appropriately. Also, there are intentional 'gives and takes' that need to be considered for both the lycanthropy and vampirism playstyles. It is a complex effort to balance and undertake, so we want to level set that this is currently out of scope for the Werewolf refresh that will be happening later this year.

Cinematic kills are something we're actively discussing, but there are still some questions about where it makes sense for them to be used. We will provide more updates when we can.

Please continue to provide us with your thoughts and opinions - we hope that this insight is beneficial for leading further constructive conversations regarding the Werewolf refresh.

Thank you for sharing this insight! I'm happy to hear that the dev team has seen and is discussing these ideas.