During a time of constant vampire attacks and the rising threat of whole cities being slaughtered by an increasing strong vampire force...

One of the new loading screens said something like "the people of skyrim now don't attack you as a vampire like they do a werewolf".

Now as a whole, I'm pleased with the DLC, but I am disappointed with the stage four vampire changes. Feeding is now pointless, the fire weakness is too small and people accept you as a vampire.

What are people's thoughts regarding the changes?

Yeah this is one of the first things I will mod back in when I get it

Indeed, I shall reverse the feeding so you get stronger not weaker.

Tbh I was looking into splitting vampirism into 2 strains but I'm unsure of that would be possible without breaking the game

Another thing i don't like is that blurred vision everytime there is sun. That irritates me

Agree.

I miss stage 4 hostility.

It gave you a reason to feed and to keep track of what stage you are.
I haven't fed since I got Dawnguard, no reason to, the sunlight and fire penalties are barely noticeable to a midlevel+ character.

I've never used the new feeding features because feeding is just an rp mechanic now whereas it used to be a nice little extra gameplay tactic for vamps.
The fun I've had hitting stage 4 in crowded public spaces and escaping unnoticed.

Either give us back stage 4 hostility or buff sunlight penalties.

It's daft that it's now more visually obvious than ever that you're a vamp but people don't attack you at any stage (VL doesn't count).

I'm not ofey with the Skyrim mod tools, I was with Oblivion and morrowind and the Geck. How easy would it be to split vampirism into two strains? The infected one and the volkihar one

I'm actually glad that the stage 4 thingy is gone

Well this is okay, you should be affected by the sun.

I'd prefer something like this:

Stage one - 30% fire weakness, 20% frost resistance, -25% regen rates and -20 to all stats in sun, no sun damage, vampiric drain 5 dps, 5% damage reduction from physical attacks, 5% speed increase and jump height.

Stage two - 60% fire weakness, 40% frost resistance, -50% regen rates and -30 to all stats in sun, 1 sun damage per second, vampiric drain 10 dps, 10% damage reduction from physical attacks, 10% speed increase and jump height.

Stage three - 90% fire weakness, 60% frost resistance, -75% regen rates and -40 to all stats in sun, 2 sun damage per second, vampiric drain 15 dps , 15% damage reduction from physical attacks, 15% speed increase and jump height

Stage four - 120% fire weakness, 80% frost resistance, -100% regen rates and -50 to all stats in sun, 3 sun damage per second, vampiric drain 20 dps, 20% damage reduction from physical attacks, 20% speed increase and jump height.

You could add other little things like when wearing a hood, you take 1/4 sun damage for example. Maybe unarmed bonus and claws instead of fists.

My character is level 81...and a half..lol and I personally find myself feeding a lot, not only because the new feeding animations are epic but also for the reason that...high level mages and legendary dragons are deadly even with items that cause you to regen magicka very fast even during the day, nuff said.

My character slaughters most things but when I happen upon a arch pyromancer or legendary dragon an epic battle worthy of song ensues.

Don't know why Bethesda decided to make stage 4 folk-friendly. Took away from the little immersion there was to begin with.

What immersion isn't there?

Back before the newer Vampire movies which depicted Vampire as being hurt by the sun Bram Stoker's Dracula (if I recall correctly..might be an older book/movie) depicted vampires as being merely weakened by the sun and no one noticed he was a Vampire until it was too late which means Skyrim is more true to Vampire Lore even though the Vampires should take damage from the sun crowd would like to say it isnt.

You'll have to forgive me LBxFinalDeath, for I generally don't follow vampire lore, therefore wouldn't know the answer to the question of what a vampire might look like going without being fed for 72+ hours. Perhaps you would, though?

That's another thing I never understood. How are vampires able to even survive without feeding? Shouldn't they die after starving themselves from their only source of food for so long?

e: I know, I know. Undead dying is a mind-boggling concept that I myself am struggling to grasp.

Well that's just it, their undead which means that their metabolism functions differently. I always compare them to reptiles, a reptile can go extended periods of time without feeding so I assume that vampires work kinda the same way in that you feed and then your able to go a month without feeding unless you wanted too. ( for example )

Going off older Elder Scrolls games a vampire that doesn't feed goes insane and if they continue to not feed after going insane they enter a coma like state, they don't actually die from not feeding unless you consider being comatose dead.

Example: Grey prince's father and Count Hassildor's (I think thats his name) wife.

In theory a Vampire can live without feeding but they eventually become immobile (coma state)

So if you're roleplaying which I know a lot of players do indeed do, you have to feed unless you want to roleplay an insane vampire on the brink of entering a coma-like state.

Only way for a Vampire to die as such is to be slaughtered like how the player character usually treats the enemy thin-blood vampires he/she finds in a cave.

Yup even if no one releases a stage 4 hostility mod on the PC my character will still feed anyway cause as you said if you are roleplaying and you don't feed as a vampire you would go insane/go into a coma.

A rabid / schizophrenic vampire

Wait you guys really mean that as a vampire I should be slowly be going insane seeing how I've gone about 2 months or more without feeding I just thought that they would enter a hibernation state.

Yes, you should be like one of the thin-blood vampires that scream at the player character when they see him/her.

"I NEED YOUR BLOOD!"

"YOUR BLOOD IS MIIIIIINEEEEE!!!"

and such.

The whole way vampires work is wrong. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1393917-an-idea-of-how-vampires-and-werewolves-could-have-been-done-thread-2/ has some great ideas. It's in the cheats, hints, and spoilers section so think twice before clicking on the link if you don't want to see any spoilers.

SWEET!!!! Now I have a new direction to go on I never feed just to make him ugly but now I have an even better reason to not feed
But what about the VL powers? You always have that drain health spell in your right hand, so doesn't that technically count as feeding?

REL_Dovahkin did a great job on that, really put some thought into both the vamps and the werewolves.

Its strange, the Vampire Lord form might not have been thought out by Bethesda entirely or perhaps they over-thought it lol...feeding with blood drain and the power bite in VL form doesn't carry over to your normal form, I suspect its because it actually changes your character's race so feeding as that race doesn't carry over when you switch to your normal Vampire form.

Makes no sense, I mean where does all the blood your vampiric body was filled with beforehand go?

Good question.

My feelings are a resounding "meh."
If I wanted a hardcoe vampire role playing experience that made me feel like a monster, I'd track down my buddy who has the older World of Darkness books, and we'd get out basemant dwelling emo groove on with some like minded friends.

Maybe if you don't become a volkihar vampire, just a regular one you can still be attacked.