Tried it last night and I honestly hate it. My guy finally got cornered and beat to death by a thrall (I couldn't hit him with my red hand because he was too close and had me pinned) and I'm not sure I want to even start it up again.

What's the blue hand supposed to do again? Third person makes aiming shots neigh to impossible. Took me twenty minutes to figure out how to turn back into a human, 'z' kept doing bats. How the heck do you bite someone? The floating around is annoying and I keep getting stuck on stairs.

It just seems like I have a lot more fun just sneaking and backstabing or sniping the old fashioned way.

I already beat the MQ in the Dawnguard. Is the vamp side different enough to be worth trying?

Thanks.

I asked the same about Skyrim as a whole.

Yes. It's brilliant.

It's ok... But there were some bad calls in design

Left hand brings back the dead unless you get vampiric grip or some other spell

The reason why it's just ok is cause there's no first person which would have been horribly easy. Just reskin the hands and go on with spell caster animations. They could have at least added first person for caster mode.

The size is also slightly too tall to be compatible with some parts of the game makin it difficult to navigate through buildings and doors.

The biting is a kill cam that's done when using melee attacks which I don't recommend cause you're not a werewolf

What?

I played it out just to check out the perks, and it was fun, but it would not be fun for me to play it through that way for realsies. I'm not even talking about some of the mechanics that may be questionable.
Call me a vampire traditionalist, but vampires aren't ranged magic-attacking beings - so the whole ball of life draining spell that you fire from one hand breaks too much from how I think of vampires. And their other main power? Raising corpses. Again, not what I think of. And no sneaking? I did like the two bats-related things - from the swarm to the sprint - were cool - although I think the bat swarm should be summonable, not constant. And generally speaking, even pre-DLC, just too much to manage - the whole feeding and gaining and losing spells and powers constantly is too distracting.
So, for me, fun to mess around with, but not to play through seriously and effectively.

Is it easier to navigate mountains as a VL?

No it's meant to depress and anger you.

You'll get used to the controls, Harkon does explain them very clearly, maybe you should listen next time. Not sure how you died, VL get a meaty health bonus and a very strong reliable ranged way of healing.

Why the hell are you on the games forum then.

For my mage, the vampire lord form feels overpowered at a high level (with no Serana nearby -- she decreases the power of your drain significantly, probably because vampire lords and their moody kids are quite strong, and together it would be overkill), with large health and magicka bonuses, two gargoyles, speedy movement, and no kill moves on you...

If you're cornered, drop into melee. You didn't forget that you could do that, did you? Those claws do some serious damage, even more when poisoned.

No, not really. The vampire lord jumps really gimpy and like a stiff log. If you bat form off a slope.. you fall and die... strange thinking that bats can fly.

I thought of a dozen ways how I could have gotten out of that mess afterwards but at the time it was just red ball, red ball, red ball and I kept missing. I was on the first quest the vamps send you on, with the chalise of blood.

How the heck do you poison your claws? I can't access my inventory when I'm in VL form.

The guy I'm playing is a Dunmer, about 34th level. Only questline he's done and finished is the DB. He has also done all 15 Daedric quests. Yeah this is my bad guy so I thought VL would be a perfect fit. While I know I need to use my vamp drain to earn perks I may just do things the old fashioned way for a while a just hit a few bandit camps when I get hungry. I want to at least continue this up to the point where I'm traveling with Serana again as I assume most of those parts are the same whichever side you choose.

I enjoy it with my Dunmer mage but if you're not skilled in magic then it isn't as fun. I do agree with people talking about the size, having to revert form to get through a doorway every few minutes can get tedious.

I think it was a great idea though, really made vampires something to be interested in rather than a bunch of weirdos with an annoying disease. Once you've gained all the perks then you can really experiment with different spells and abilities, overall I give it an 8 or 9/10.

Luckily mods fix most of these issues.

To be honest, I hate playing as a vampire in general in Skyrim. Hated it even more pre-Dawnguard cos if I didn't feed the NPCs attacked me constantly, which to me made it seem entirely pointless to play as one permanently, especially given that you get weaker and lose your powers if/when you feed (seriously, wtf? O_o).

Playing as a werewolf is kinda fun, but is a pain in the ass when you randomly can't fit through doors and such (cos cos we all know a werewolf can't crouch, yo).

Also, while we're [censored]ing about first person vs. third person too (cos whoever decided to force you into third person when in VL/Beast form needs a slap), am I the only person who finds it impossible to hit anything with a bow when mounted cos the arrows don't actually go exactly where you're aiming, or am I doing something horribly wrong here?

Funny thing, it hit me not too long ago that 3rd person works more or less like 1st person You see, while Yes the over all perspective changes, your targeting reticle remains at the center of the screen. So just as you would in 1st person, if you aim the reticle at your target your still going to hit him. I'm not being a smart ass, I'm just offering my input. Once I started looking at it this way, targeting in 3rd person became much more fluid.

The red in your right hand is Blood Magic. Its an aoe health drain which does do a considerable amount of damage (if Serana isn't following you). This remains constant.
Your left hand is Night Magic, and blue usually by default when you initially shift. This is the hand that you can change as you unlock new spells. That blue spell is Raise Dead, but only works on lower level mobs. As you get perks you'll unlock a Summon Gargoyle, Vampiric Grip, I think another Raise Dead spell that works on higher level guys (i think), and a neat Paralysis Spell that's always fun and handy when fighting groups.
Your "shout" button by default executes your Bats ability. You can change this via the Favorites Menu to use Vampire Sight, and as you perk up you'll gain the Superior Reflexes ability.
Bites can only be done in melee. It functions much like the "kill cam" events you get when your fighting, and your last power swing turns into you cutting their head off. Instead in Lord Form you'll grab and bite them. In the beginning I had a hard time getting the timing down, but now I'm biting like crazy. FYI: expect Serana to kill half of the guys you plan to kill/bite for perk points before you can. It gets a bit annoying and tedious, but stick with it.

When you initially shift, you'll be hovering. Hit the "sneak" button and you'll drop to your feet. On your feet you'll drop the magic and enter "melee mode". If you find yourself cornered again I'd suggest doing this. While your hits are not as powerful as a Werewolf, you'll still be able to do enough significant damage. As you progress through the Vampire quests you'll gain artifacts that will help boost a few of your abilities while in Lord Form. Those coupled with your fully perked tree will make you very strong and very dangerous.
If your life is low enough that you feel like your going to loose this punching match, hit your shout button for Bats, and you should pass right through him and come together a distance behind him. I can't remember for certain if you can pass through NPCs, since I don't use it often enough to remember, but aiming to the left or right should pass you through the gap on either side. It's a good escape tool. Not flawless, but a good one.

A few pointers: Choose your battles and run if you must, especially in the beginning. Your sprint is pretty significant so you should be able to out run most NPCs. By "choose your battles" I mean don't fight during the day unless you know you can take them, and never allow them to gain ground on you while you hoover (especially if your stuck with serana). If they get close, drop to the ground and melee. Keep moving. Swerve left and right, Werewolf tactics like circling is fairly handy...so try and fight in more-or-less open spaces, or in areas thick with obstacles you can take advantage of, like in a tree thick forest. If it's a pack of Dawnguard attacking you, watch for their crossbows (hence the swerve) and use cover while taking out their 2-handed wielder (that one smarts Dx ), then dash either close the gap with the crossbows or keep circling and casting your drain life.
If you're stuck with Serana, abuse her companionship. Draw fire from ranged while she burns them down, or let her tank the heavy hitters while you float in circles. Or, let her draw all the attention and let her soften them up, then swoop in for the kill. That's the only way I can play with her around and survive.

I thought the same as you in the beginning, but I decided to stick to it and fill out the perk tree if nothing else than for the achievement on my Xbox360. Along the way I figured out how to make the form work. Now that I'm fully perked and "trinket'd" I'm just as efficient as any Werewolf...I just have different tactics.

I just don't bother with it, it was fun at first finished the MQ and then started using it just as something to do got all the perk tree but after didn't bother with it at all. I moved over to the PC and playing it again I have only been in VL form once at the start of the quest. I know we got lumped with 3rd person because they wanted to show off how creative they are, I just wish they had of put that energy elsewhere.

As for Vampires in general at least on the PC you can reverse the effects of feeding so that you get stronger the more you feed, I wouldn't have worried if stage 4 still had hostile NPC's since you get lots of motivation to be well fed all the time.

Really! Wow!

You see ?
It is amazing

Arrows arch in the game. When aiming for a headshot at a distance, try aiming at the throat. Another thing, it seems if you move the bow around for a moment after the shot, it moves the arrows flight path for whatever reason.

I prefer the crossbow alot more as it's far more accurate.

anyway yes it is a lot of fun especially after your fully upgraded. Plus by that point you have a full understanding on how to be the most effective in any combat situation. A completely leveled VL is damn near invincible. Good times all around

Mods shouldn't be an excuse for Bethesda to continue their bad design decisions.Me too. After the initial hype wore off I can't see what is supposed to be fun about it. It's just repetitive. Do the same type of quest's at the same dungeons, with the same enemies, with the same architecture, with the same loot to sell for more pointless money to spend on pointless house upgrades. "Oh you want me to find your fathers shield in a draughr dungeon? I'm absolutely ecstatic about it. Not." "Oh you want me to steal that staff from the inn for you? Well I think not! I shall report you to the Jarl! What? I can't? Then I'll tell the innkeeper what you want me to do! I can't do that either? Well... Then I'll buy the staff off of the innkeeper? No? ..." Great fun, really.

As to "why am I here if I don't like Skyrim(TES)?", I'm here cause I want to see what people think of Bethesda's design and see how it's going to influence Fallout.
If People are going to be fine with this repetitive mess or if they are actually up in arms. Sadly, I think Fallout 4 will be Skyrim With Guns as bethesda don't care about lore, fans or what a franchise was designed to be. Money is all that speaks to Bethesda. Still, I am curious to look around the TES section every once in a while to see what people have to say about the design decisions Bethesda made.

OP... go back to a prior save and do it again. This time, DO the TUTORIAL, read and listen without skipping dialogue. ALL of your problems can be attributed to not having knowledge of the skills used as a VL which can only be because you didn't pay attention when Harkon was explaining things to you.

VL form, for me, is a blast to play. But, I can understand how it wouldn't be fun for others. With the new VL form, there is also more reason to explore actually RPing a TES vampire. Before DG, there were very few significant bonuses to being a vamp and the detriments FAR outweighed those bonuses, making playing a vamp, unless you WANT to decimate human populations, very tedious. The revamped vamp is a much more fun PC to play, given a chance and a little skill. The choke is a hoot to play, dragging an enemy to you through the air, like Telekinesis, but for "people", not objects. I use it all of the time in lieu of raising things.

I like it at lower levels, it allows me to do things I normally could not.
I play a vampire necromage and first thing I do is get my restoration to 70.
That leaves me quite vulnerable compared to NPC's who only level attack skills.
But with Vampire Lord form Im able to go against Falmer and worse.

It takes some getting used to controlling the form.
Right hand drains life initially and left raises dead.
Each time you kill with the drain life spell you gain progress towards a new perk.
There are quite a few Vampire Lord perks and some are quite handy.
I like the telekinetic grab to take hold of and throw enemies off cliffs.
I also like mist form, it allows you to make deep drops without taking damage, similar to become ethereal.

The only thing I really dislike about Dawnguard vampires is that NPC's no longer become hostile at stage four.
Having a need to feed as a vampire grounded me in the world and facilitated roleplaying.
This sort of streamlining/ dumbing down is exactly what Skyrim does not need because too much of it has already happened since Morrowind.