So I'm on Chasing Echos in the Vampire Questline for Dawnguard, and I realized (Well, it was obvious from the beginning) that being a Vampire Lord is completely contradictory to what a vampire is supposed to be, especially my Vampire Assassin.

A "Vampires" (According to Harkon I'm not even a True Vampire unless I'm using Vampire Lord) abilities augment Sneaking and Illusion Spells (Which is used for disruption and sneaking) which, used right, make a very effective sneak attacking Vampire who can take down foes while not even being detected. I mean, for crying out loud; During the Blood Chalice quest I just went invisible and killed the first Vampire during their speech and mauled the second one after he was incapacitated from a Paralysis potions. Vampire Lord is just about jumping around the battlefield spamming lifedrain at enemies or clawing them to death when failing that. No stealth WHATSOEVER.

My Vampires Equipment-v
Glass Bow (Legendary)
Mehrunes Razor (Legendary)
Chillrend (Legendary)
Full Nightingale Armor (Epic)

Favorites-v
Mehrunes Razor
Invisibility
Vampire Sight
Frenzy
Aura Whisper
Chillrend
Poison of Paralysis
Vampires Sight

So you can pretty much see how I play this character based on my Favorites and Equipment. Can anyone give me a situation where I should use Vampire Lord and not my normal stuff? So far its much easier just to Sneak Attack Critical everything.

Ummm.... no one is forcing you to use it?

If it doesn't fit your play style, then don't ever transform.

Vamp: Stealth, VL: Mage

My point is I gained a new ability (True Vampirism pretty much), but it doesn't even add anything to the normal Vampire playstyle.

And since I unlocked this ability I really would like to use it, but I just don't see any reason to use it..

The Vampire is leaned more towards magic. I mean, how often do you come across sneaky thief Vampires or Vampires in full plate with a warhammer in the game? It's entirely your choice whether or not to use it. Consider it more of an "oshi-!!" button for emergencies when you are spotted or something. You could just roleplay that the transformation is painful/unpleasant or your character doesn't like to use it.

Which i crap because in OB Vamp lairs had EVERY class in it. From Warriors to Assassins to witch hunters and battlemages, there were every flavor of Vamp and now they are all the SAME...why Beth???

But now you can stay in Human form and play as your Stealthy Vamp self, but when the [censored] hits the fan, you could go uber-mage-vamp-of-death on them.

So you get the benefits of Stealth plus Magic just by which form you choose for the situation.

Problem is, its faster just to use Embrace of Shadows or Invisibility and just snipe them from the shadows then sit there and get mauled while transforming.

If not that then theres Frenzy or Paralysis Potions.

I also dislike Vampire Lord form. It's just not -me-. And the normal-form vampire really didn't get much. A weird look and not getting attacked on-sight at stage 4. I really enjoy that second one, but everything else in the expansion makes me want to uninstall it, and then people will attack me again as they used to. So I'll probably also just get the cure.

Yes, Dawnguard makes me want to give up vampires altogether.

I still enjoy being a normal Vampire but I don't like the VL FOR MY STYLE OF PLAY and I also hate the fact that people don't even seem to notice I'm a stage 4 vampire.. I rather enjoyed being an outcast, now I'm just some dude with a disease...

I wouldn't mind some notice and refusal to interact, but being attacked outright is just annoying to me. I used to enjoy normal vampirism, and would have enjoyed it even more with the expansion, but the downsides are far too prevalent.

I thought it was fun having to escape after turning stage 4 without realizing it.. Thats just me, though, lol. But I agree with it having some inpact on how people react to you. And the only downsides that affect me is the decrease in stats. I have the Lady Stone and other equipement that enhances regeneration, so its not that big of a deal for me.

If that's what you want to do, then that's all you, bro.

But you're next to alone in that regard, so I don't think you'll find to many sympathetic voices. lol But it's your game, play it how you want to play it.


We got that... most everyone who has posted in your thread has pimped out that if VL doesn't fit your play style, then don't play it/use it.

If you think about it, we're on your side.

I guess I haven't really stated what it is I want.. I would just prefer that Vampire Lord give you some other bonuses besides that second form. Perhaps it slightly enhances normal Vampirism? Thats my point.

Well its the opposite for me, for some reason my stage-4 vamp is still being attacked by NPC's (fast traveled into whiterun and the gaurds and other NPC's attacked me like vanilla stage-4), even though i have dawnguard and i can see the changes that dawnguard made to my vamp.

Yeah, I don't care to change other peoples' opinions about the expansion. I just need to get my disappointment out. It's not that I expected more, but that I expected less; more subtle additions rather than such dramatic change of the game as a whole.