For those who dislike Werewolf as a concept, what is the reason?

coop500 · May 27

As a PSA, I won't be responding to comments in here. This is more just out of morbid curiosity, and hoping to understand why werewolf has historically always been very hated by the ESO community as a whole.
Poll is anonymous, to encourage honesty!

And please don't come in just to claim Werewolf isn't hated. It is, it's just not loud and in the open, but it very much exists. There's many people out there who hate this playstyle and it's players and will downvote/harass/target players just for playing werewolf. I just hope to perhaps shed some light as to why.

I doubt this poll will actually be successful in that, but who knows!

As a sidenote: This poll isn't about fans of werewolves who dislikes how ESO implemented them. This is about the players who don't play Werewolf and dislike that they're even an option in the game.

Vonnegut2506 · May 27

I don't like wasting an ultimate to turn into a hairy melee creature with only 5 skills and sub-par damage which will completely disappear any time I leave a delve, zone, dungeon, etc. Make it permanent with more skills and maybe it might be worth playing, but as it stands now it's just not worth it.

coop500 · May 27

Also put this poll up on Reddit, and got 80+ votes directly of people disliking WW on the ESO sub. All within less than an hour. So yeah, I know the WW dislike is real.

Taarente · May 27

honestly the wolf pack with its constant yapping and barking drives me insane.

Xarico · May 28

coop500 wrote: »

Also put this poll up on Reddit, and got 80+ votes directly of people disliking WW on the ESO sub. All within less than an hour. So yeah, I know the WW dislike is real.

Sure, it's real in the sense that there are people who dislike werewolves, but is the level of antipathy statistically different for any other group? If you had a poll asking people their reasons for disliking DKs, or Arcanists, or the Bosmer, you'd get votes and responses from the players who dislike such characters for one reason or another. Try advocating for a visual vampire rework without broken tattoos and outdated textures and you'll get plenty of people regurgitating some tired version of "it's a curse, it's supposed to make your experience unenjoyable in real life, don't like it = don't play a parasite." Try advocating for anything that buffs a major (sub)class, really, and you'll get opposition from people who believe that this will end up weakening their preferred option in the zero-sum game that they perceive.

(I have nothing against werewolves personally, my main ESO character is one)

Zodiarkslayer · May 28

When I think of Werewolfs, the first thing that comes to my mind is the smell of wet dog fur.
I know it's unfair, but I can't help it.
Also, it is a curse! Unnatural. An impurity.

And I am still thinking of the Skyrim quest line for the Companions. Some of that dialogue with Kodlak or the twins is still with me after 15 years. You know, the sadness, the longing for freedom, the burden of the curse and the relief when it is lifted.

icefyer_ESO · May 28

For me, not that I hate it, so much as it's so heavily tied to stamina and I tend to run magicka builds, so I barely have the resources to really use it, so I mostly just leveled it up for the free dyes.

Xarico wrote: »

coop500 wrote: »

Also put this poll up on Reddit, and got 80+ votes directly of people disliking WW on the ESO sub. All within less than an hour. So yeah, I know the WW dislike is real.

Sure, it's real in the sense that there are people who dislike werewolves, but is the level of antipathy statistically different for any other group? If you had a poll asking people their reasons for disliking DKs, or Arcanists, or the Bosmer, you'd get votes and responses from the players who dislike such characters for one reason or another. Try advocating for a visual vampire rework without broken tattoos and outdated textures and you'll get plenty of people regurgitating some tired version of "it's a curse, it's supposed to make your experience unenjoyable in real life, don't like it = don't play a parasite." Try advocating for anything that buffs a major (sub)class, really, and you'll get opposition from people who believe that this will end up weakening their preferred option in the zero-sum game that they perceive.

(I have nothing against werewolves personally, my main ESO character is one)

Yeah... On the Vamp front I'd love it if you had a way to toggle the skin overlay off. I spent a while with khajiit fur patterns, eye color, etc, only to have it completely obliterated, so I just use the Blackmarrow necromancer tattoos to cover it up. I ended up getting told the same thing, how the ugly look was part of it and to suck it up despite the lore having examples all the way in Oblivion of a vampire strain that looks so close to normal that you can't even tell, or for example Bosmer vampires in one strain look totally mortal except if you see them by candlelight, so the setting's own lore has multiple cases of precedence for it. You'd think vampires inducted by the OG herself would be powerful enough to hide their skin and eyes under an illusion if nothing else.

moo_2021 · May 31

It needs the ultimate to transform and can't last forever.

So how do we build for it? make an ultimate farming build and do useless things until we can transform and then what? everything would be suboptimal. There is nothing outside of werewolf that syngerizes with werewolf.

I'd rather have a weaker werewolf that can be activated any time and then stay permanent. Being forced back to human form should take a special debuff, not something naturally happens.

AzuraFan · May 31

They just don't appeal to me, probably because I see them as cursed beings.

Mesite · May 31

People don't want werewolves in the game because they are werewolves in real life and don't want anyone to draw attention to the possibility. Or because where does all the hair come from so suddenly.

But I think it's unfair that vampires get to use there skills without transforming. I'd like to be able to use my claws for a brief transformation like in Diablo 4.

Danikat · May 31

I'm not sure if you want people like me to vote, or which option I'd pick if I did but my take on it is I'm indifferent to werewolves.

If another person in my group is playing a werewolf I don't care, I assume they have their reasons and it works for their build, just like any other skill choice.

For myself I'm not against the idea, but they've also never appealed to me enough to actually make one. It was the same in the other TES games, it always seemed like too much hassle, until Skyrim where I stumbled into the quest line to become a werewolf because it's almost impossible to avoid, and went through with it after finding out that if you don't choose to transform the only effect is disease immunity, which is occasionally useful. I don't think I ever transformed after the scripted first time, because it was easier to fight with my normal skills (especially in the quests where you're going after werewolf hunters, who were horribly unprepared for fighting anything except a transformed werewolf). It's the same in ESO. I don't mind the idea in theory, but I've never had a reason to actually make a character a werewolf, so I haven't.

If it makes you feel better the only reason I made a character a vampire is because back in the day it was the quickest and easiest way to unlock a black dye.

SwordOfSagas · June 1

If you think about it, back in medieval times no one liked them because they actually believed werewolves were real and a massive danger. Maybe it's a lingering subconscious thing? But I've always liked them in ESO, Some of the funniest times were at the werewolf and vampire shrines when they used to have crowds of people talking and looking for bites.

AScarlato · June 1

I'm curious in these polls who actively dislikes werewolves and doesn't want them in the game, as opposed to just not being interested in playing one themselves.

I have one werewolf who is probably 4th on my list of most played characters but according to my DPS tracker my DPS goes down when I morph so I don't even use it.

BretonMage · June 1

It's kinda fun watching other players playing werewolves but I wouldn't like to be one myself. I think of the wet dog smell mainly, but also don't like changing from my usual form. I don't like being a vampire either for physical reasons (grey skin, undead etc).

TX12001rwb17_ESO · June 1

moo_2021 wrote: »

It needs the ultimate to transform and can't last forever.

So how do we build for it? make an ultimate farming build and do useless things until we can transform and then what? everything would be suboptimal. There is nothing outside of werewolf that syngerizes with werewolf.

I'd rather have a weaker werewolf that can be activated any time and then stay permanent. Being forced back to human form should take a special debuff, not something naturally happens.

You do know there is an overhaul in a week that will make it so you can stay in form whenever your out of combat

DoofusMax · June 1

I haven't played a were-critter in any of the main Elder Scrolls games. Didn't particularly care for them there and don't particularly care for them in ESO. I did Vampire fairly often in Daggerfall back in the day and also for a few playthroughs of Morrowind, but maybe once in Oblivion. I probably sided with the Volkihars a couple of times in Skyrim, but it didn't otherwise appeal outside of seeing how the story ran on that side of the street. I've got a couple of Vampire characters in ESO, but it's mostly for stealth benefits. Even then, those characters are hardly ever higher than Stage 1, so it's mostly for the red eyes and maybe a bit of dialogue.

Dojohoda · June 1

Despite leveling a werewolf for the achievements, I never tried learning how to properly play a werewolf. I don't know why.

SwordOfSagas · June 1

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

When I think of Werewolfs, the first thing that comes to my mind is the smell of wet dog fur.
I know it's unfair, but I can't help it.
Also, it is a curse! Unnatural. An impurity.

And I am still thinking of the Skyrim quest line for the Companions. Some of that dialogue with Kodlak or the twins is still with me after 15 years. You know, the sadness, the longing for freedom, the burden of the curse and the relief when it is lifted.

I'm pretty sure guards in Skyrim used to say something about wet dog smell when you walked near them while having lycanthropy, maybe that's why?

Nordstern · June 1

They were an absolute carry in pvp and will be again next patch. Just annoying.

Emeratis · June 1

For me I prefer the shapeshifter fantasy of werewolf more than the scary beast fantasy. ESO's version of werewolf feels too limiting and I lose the identity of my character as a person. I think other werebeast/changeling/etc cosmetics would help some for me but even for my character who is a werewolf in story, combat wise one bar and having to completely build for werewolf form instead of the ability/option to do some cool combos/form switches was what I was hoping for a werewolf overhaul/rework but alas...In another game I play two characters I enjoy switch between cat/spider and humanoid and both forums have power and synergy and you can stay in one form if you prefer but you can also feel good switching between forms for some interesting combos and that is what I was hoping for more. I will conceded given combat balancing frustrations it would be more difficult to manage balance wise but again other games do it just fine.

So yea, I have the weird I like it conceptually but I'm not getting the fantasy I prefer out of werewolf or werecreatures I can get in other games. TES/ESO werewolf has always felt a bit too limiting/boring for me which makes me sad because I want to like it. Does not help that in game we have Selene who has been featured in two dungeons and shows some of that fantasy is possible from a combat and a design standpoint.

CatalinaWineMixer2 · June 1

Im not against the Werewolf. It has its uses but it doesn't really go well with my characters which are primarily magicka based. My main character was always a High Elf (or it used to be until Subclass), I don't know what I am half the time anymore because I have to use Subclassed junk. Or characters that are not mine. The other issue is they keep punishing Ultimate in this game. Like nerfing my Pillager Gear and the new mythic (which I dont like either).

I think the Werewolf refresh is pretty cool and it's an improvement over the old one. I find their howling distracting and im worried thats all we will hear everywhere we go until U51 now. Most of the Werewolves Ive encountered weren't playing well in dungeons and other things but that could potentially change with the refresh perhaps.

I wouldn't want to see Werewolves or Vampires diminished or taken away but I never really was super into them. Its not overly intrusive like Subclass either so seeing them around here and there at least adds some variety to the 'laser show' since everything has been a beam fest for a year. Using them to accomplish certain things doesn't cross my mind very often either but again that could possibly change. We do hold trial runs where we are all Werewolves and Vampires. The rework might add some flavor to things like this.

Danikat · June 1

I would like to see more were creatures in ESO, even if they were only enemies, like the werebats.

I've always wondered about the werelions in Elseweyr, considering it's also inhabited by non-cursed, non-transforming cat people. There doesn't seem to be any uncertainty in lore that werelions exist (unlike for example weresharks) but I wonder how different they look to khajiit. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the stories about them are actually people getting attacked by khajiit bandits or angering a pahmar-raht or something.

(I'd like the weresharks to remain ambiguous though, because I think it's a fun idea in a world were people know for a fact werebeasts exist in many forms to have one where most people insist it's just a silly story sailors made up to frighten travellers.)

The Elder Scrolls Online

For those who dislike Werewolf as a concept, what is the reason?

For those who dislike Werewolf as a concept, what is the reason? 53 votes