So, i don't think this has been talked about officially, but i'm hoping that TES: O retains the feeding mechanics of previous TES games when it comes to Vampires/Werewolves. For instance, if you go too long without feeding as a Werewolf character, you begin to lose health. While Vampire chars get the option to keep themselves fed so they can maintain their mortal guise/appearance, or completely forgo feeding to embrace their undead nature. This way, Lycanthropy/Vampirism is not just benefit/penalty/new abilities, but is also a playstyle changer.

Now, alot of people have stated that the Vampire feeding mechanic in Oblivion and Skyrim was backwards, saying that "Vampires should get stronger as they feed". I disagree. It makes perfect sense if you think of Vampirism as in terms of a disease (which it is).

Vampirism is a disease that slowly (or quickly, depending on feeding habits) progresses over time. The disease's progression can be slowed, or regressed through the consumption of fresh blood, so you can maintain your mortal appearance and blend into mortal society, at the cost of not recieving the majority of power associated with being a supernatural undead being.

However, if you forgo feeding, your Vampirism progresses. The more advanced the state of Vampirism, the less mortal you become, and you become more of a supernatural undead being, with all the bonuses/penalties that implies (greater strength, endurance, speed and resiliency, with a greater weakness to sunlight/fire and being a social pariah on account of obviously being a murderous monster that smells like a carcass).

However, as Vicente Valtieri in TES IV: Oblivion pointed out, you cannot stall the progression of Vampirism indefinately. After three or four centuries of "unliving", it progresses to the point where fresh blood will no longer work to slow or regress it. This is when Vampires become truly deadly, as they can go on a murderous, all-you-can-eat buffet killing spree, without sacrificing any of their power. Hence one of the reasons why older Vampires are so dangerous.

Vampires cannot starve to death in TES, as seen with Lord Lovidicus (whom did not feed for decades) and Serana (she did not feed for milennia while entombed).

um, Skyrim never had that werewolf thing, and only other game was morrowind (i THINK) that had werewolf as a possible form. Also, Vampires and werewolf was never really balanced and so to be actually useful will HAVE to be in an MMO or few people will use it.

Werewolves/Wereboars were in TES II: Daggerfall, and they had to feed on an "innocent" to maintain their health. Werewolves did have to feed in Skyrim in order to regain Health, since their health regen was practically turned off while in form (unless you wore the Ring of the Hunt).

but it was not a required part to survive as a werewolf, just to regain health when it was low. In Skyrim, you can never feed on anyone and be perfectly fine.

That's because the Companions had a special pact with Hircine for a special variant of Lycanthropy, one which allowed them to retain control (and not required to feed). Their's was a very unique circumstance.

Vampirism stages based on feeding would be balanced. A low stage Vampire wouldn't be as powerful as a full stage Vampire, yet he could still interact with NPCs and use his Vampire abilities, while being less prone to the vulnerabilities of a higher staged Vampire.

While a full stage Vampire would be alot more powerful, but he wouldn't be able to interact with as many NPCs (at least not without drawing the Guard's attention), and he'd not only suffer more penalties under direct sunlight, but he'd also take more damage from Fire and Fighter's Guild abilities.

In fact, one of the things that people [censored]ed about so much concerning Werewolves in Skyrim, is that there was pretty much absolutely no drawback for being one. Not being able to get the "Well Rested" bonus was a joke of a penalty.

I'm still on the fence about wether to be either. There just isn't enough info yet for me to make a decision. I wouldn't mind if they kept vampirism in line with how it's been in the single player games though.

I'm quite enthusiastic about wanting to play a lycanthrope in TESO, I pray to the holy coconut that the mechanics for it (and vampirism as well, because, you know, I'd feel sorry for those guys if it weren't as well) pretty much as you said, or at the very least like Skyrim's. Combat balancing to two forms is fine, I'm cool with that.

Skyrim's lycanthropy was great fun but the part of the game dedicated to it was a short fuse, there wasn't a lot of objective content and there was no traditional character struggle as a werewolf, you can argue that this is because the Companions have unique blood but in the end that still boils down to gameplay cuts.

All I know is before I choose to go either route I'm going to see what silver weapons do to them.

there should be a weekly quest through one of the guilds where u get to hunt vampires and werewolves like in pvp quests, that would be pretty cool - kinda like how in other games you get quests for killing a number of certain pvp lvl players

and to revert back to human u have to do a pretty long hard quest, gotta make it count

I personally kill everyone I feed on for funsies afterward, though not barring that I do not like the idea for an mmo.