Well.. decided to see what the hype was all about and created a werewolf character. Pushed forwards to the Companion's and advanced the quest to become a werewolf and opted to head out into the world for adventure. After being reduced to a shag rug after multiple reloads, I deleted the character.

Now.. I'm not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly, and honestly not sure WHERE to put this, but I figured the spoiler section simply for the fact that the discussion could be conducted without need of spoiler tags, etc.

My findings:

Werewolves... svck... or at least my playing of them.
They take far too much damage and do not deal enough damage in combat to be effective. (Adept Level)
They get hung up on every piece of scenery on the screen.

I advanced the character to about 18th level, and simply could not get past a simple bandit encounter. Any of my other characters would have mowed through these enemies like they weren't even present.

I looked for suggestions and tips for the playstyle, but the only thing I could find was how to become a werewolf. Well.. I got that part down. So, I'm going to simply ask for any suggestions or tips for conducting combat, interacting with the scenery, perk tips, or other things that might make me want to make another one again.

Fun Facts:
I play on PS3 so modding is not an option. Therefore, Dawnguard is not an option, though I'm thinking with the perk tree, it might make it a little easier. Not sure on this though.
I'm fairly well versed in the game, over 900 hours on six different playthroughs.

This isn't a werewolf game, it's a game about a hero that saves the world. That's the MQ. Sure there are other things you can do (and become) but that isn't the focus of the game so the game isn't going to be built around that.

Curious, did you get the WW Totems and use them? Aela gets helps you get those without Dawnguard.

yeah, all I can say is before Dawnguard, being a werewolf just wasn't worth it. The perk tree definately makes it a more viable play style.

Yeah, and I figured since I'd saved the world four times already, it had been saved enough. FIgured on this play through I would do something.. oh.. I don't know.... different? You know... with that whole.. open play style world concept...

As for the totems? No... It frustrated me enough to simply put the controller down before I actually broke it after the dozen or so times I died from a bunch of freaking bandits.

this. before dawnguard i became a WW just for the disease immunity without any of the drawbacks of being a vamp. After dawnguard and perking up my WW i have fun roaming the land as a savage beast, mauling and feasting on all in my path be it man or beast...i even went claw to tooth with an ancient dragon and came out victorious but sadly couldnt feast on it

There's no hype to speak of before dawnguard. The hype you're referring to is after. After dawnguard I could take out Legendary dragons which are two steps above ancient. Before? Arrows were your frikkin Kryptonite after level 30 or so.

To bad you deleted your character... Once you get Dawnguard, the werewolf skill tree that unlocks can make you quite powerful. I greatly enjoy being a werewolf character. However it does depend on your humanoid build. If you don't have a lot of points to health or stamina, being a werewolf is going to svck. And did you feed from your kills? That regenerates health. I cleared whole bandit hideouts in beast form.


And this. Before Dawnguard I did the same thing. And the same thing after lol.

And cause we're on the topic.

http://i.minus.com/ibgxY4TkSe4Mf3.jpg Fear her roar.

My werewolf character hasn't yet done the Totem quest's , but he doesn't seem to be a real wuss either . I play on the 360, but I have Dawnguard, which I guess makes a difference. Though I had to wait til I got my 2nd perk point to even place the 1st as I didn't know you had to do it while in were-form...Duh on me. He's lvl 16 with 1/2 points going to health and 1/2 to stamina, he's 2h heavy and that's the way I usually work that.

I don't want to sound mean but your werewolf char doesn't fail... You do. Being a werewolf is hard, specially without Dawnguard, but it is still possible to slaughter hundreds of guards, bandits, etc as a werewolf.. You just need to know how to fight/hunt as a werewolf.

Wow.. so obvious.. I don't know why I didn't think of that!! Oh.. wait.. I did.. I was asking for suggestions... not critiques of my playstyle... I KNOW.. I svck as a werewolf... THAT.. might be the reason why I could not overcome a simple bandit encounter. Perhaps this whole werewolf thing has just been out of proportion.. and I'll keep on making my werewolf killers and go out and hunt the things.

Thanks to everyone who gave constructive ideas.

Here a few tips for you. Use Power Attacks to make sure your enemies are on the ground thus rendering them useless and at your mercy. Also, keep in mind of dodging as many attacks as possible as well as using your Howl of Fear to scared the weaker ones away (Shout/Power Button).

Thank you.. I appreciate the ideas. So, basically if I'm reading this correctly.. A high stamina for continued power attacks. Since I'm fairly sure that you cannot use weapons, items, armor while in shifted form. It's going to go off your base stats and 18th level might have not given the chance for the character to "flesh out" so to speak.

Werewolves rely heavily on speed. Your defense is poor, so if you stop moving with enemies around, you're dead. Standing power attacks burn far too much stamina, so stick to pounce attacks to bring enemies down, which burn less stamina (activated by attacking while sprinting). Use fear howl liberally, and avoid high-level forsworn and draugr deathlords like the plague (who can literally one-shot a 500+ health werewolf with their bows).