XD I LOL'd so hard when I seen this not sure why, I just did.

I'm just worried that nobody will want to play as a vampire, making that entire branch of playstyles a useless waste of space. People don't want to do things that have more downsides than upsides, which means that vampirism might as well not exist at all...

I've never thought of it like that... but by Todd, I think you're right.

Considering that vampires in Daggerfall and Morrowind took health damage until they died when exposed to sunlight, its obvious that the way vampires are now has nothing to do with lore.
Its all for the gameplay mechanics.

The OP has it wrong. You shouldn't feed to become stronger; you should feed to prevent yourself from becoming weaker.

Blood is life for the vampire. Without it, they wither and fail.


Well... Any vampire except for a Bethesda vampire, apparently.

Vampirism in Elder Scrolls... Is the only kind of vampirism in this type of game (Specially in this generation). Not even get me started of "all those" Werewolves Medieval Single Player Open World Games.

I wanted to become and vampire+ werewolf and STRONGER THAN BOTH, but I couldn't. meh.

A couple of things. . .

Some of these are my own interpretation of why gamesas made the decisions they did, so bare with me.

1) As far as I can tell, the basic reason you go *without* feeding to get your increased vampirism powers is that gamesas is making you make a tradeoff. See, the thing is, you get power you haven't 'earned'. So, what's the tradeoff? The longer you go without feeding, while you get more powerful, you also start to become more obviously a vampire, and if it progresses far enough (well, this is how it worked in Oblivion - I haven't tried Vampirism in Skyrim yet - keep curing myself at the altar, but I might give it a go eventually), then people will start recognizing you as a vampire, and attack you on site.

So, you make a tradeoff between being able to access the services of civilization, and getting the powers of a vampire.

2) Someone noted that the disease name changed in Skyrim. I suspect this is for Lore reasons. There is a book that has been in the past few Elder Scrolls games, which discusses vampires. It makes clear that different areas of Tamriel have different types of vampires with different powers, different feeding habits, etc. It makes sense that different types of Vamps result from different types of the vampire disease with different names. That's my guess anyhow, seems reasonable.

Fundamentally games are supposed to be fun or even movies fun to watch, it's entertainment. Because of this nothing has to follow strict rules or even guidelines of how things are supposed to work or if they are realistic or not, regardless people will whine no matter on which side the direction of something goes.

Both vampires and werewolves are popular fantasy horror even though it may not so accurately fit into a pointy eared elven fantasy setting.

For Skyrim my gripe is that Werewolves got a quest line or even an introduction too it where vampires are still a random occurance, why they did not set aside vampire quest line is beyond me, by giving the player a choice to become one or just stay a human servant throughout the quest, or even just make you a vampire at the end of it, if it's your choice.

Secondly, werewolves seem to not have any drawback whatsoever, you even gain 100% disease immunity. Vampires on the other hand have to constantly feed, if they neglect it you will eventually be auto attacked in cities, not to mention the lower health and no regen in the sun, sure you could counter this with potions.

If it was me, I would have created a vampire quest line with a choice, then unlock a vampire perk tree with abilities that run off health rather than your mana, but a bite/feed would have no cost and heal you for the other abilities, then have an ancient vampire/day walker perk at 90 vampire skill where all the penalties would be removed such as sun, fire damage and so on... which is really the "it's a game and it should be fun to play" factor. Other abilities could be celerity(10 second attack speed buff by 20% from a perk) or a 5 minute run speed buff. The same could have also been done with werewolves, heck they could have set them up as opposing factions so you could only join either one.

No, it was the same disease in Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblvion.
What is it called now?

they did, you cannot be both?


Sanguinare Vampiris

i liked the name, saved me from becomming one
i just saw the name, and run as fast as possible to a shrine for cure .P

They did by game design and not with writing, that's the difference.

The disease didn't have a name in daggerfall that I can remember.

Now, however, it's called Sanguinare Vampiris.

Eww how gaudy.
I like Poryphic Hemophilia better.

Maybe its a different strain?

This game really does dissapoint me on some points

While we're on the subject, my interpretation of Dragons is that they are lit from the bottom by neons, wear disco balls, and speak Yiddish. Also they are furry. And tiny.

I am upset that Bethesda didn't represent Dragons in the same way I view them and I find this unacceptable and am boycotting this game.

If I have a certain perception of a made up creature, I fail to see how anyone else can view it differently.

There should be trade-off to give more play choices, so you can play a human-like vampire with minor penalties/bonuses or a powerful vampire that has to avoid sunlight and fire:

All vampires: Gain drain, bonuses to illusion/feeding and resistances, can't gain health from food.

Stage 1 (just finished feeding): Access to vampiric powers, massive regen bonuses, severe weakness to fire (+75%), sunlight causes severe DoT.
Stage 2 (recently fed): Access to vampiric powers, bonus to regen, severe weakness to fire (+50%), sunlight causes small DoT that exceeds regen.
Stage 3 (it's been awhile): Vampiric sight, bonuses to illusion/sneaking, normal regen, weakness fire (+25%) and sun (cancels health regen).
Stage 4 (hasn't fed): More humanlike, no vampiric powers, penalties to regen, no weakness to sun or fire.

Except dragons are represented as they are in real-world history. Vampires are not.

But in the end that doesn't matter, what matters is that they're not FUN TO PLAY. That's all that's important.

Sorry, what?

Yes, I am aware that vampires don't actually exist, and they can be made to be whatever they want, etc.

All I am saying is, you become a "vampire" who doesn't drink blood, which is the entire stigma about vampires to begin with. People are afraid of vampires "because" they drink blood, not because they don't.

The main point I have here is, why become a vampire, if I don't have to act like a vampire in order to enjoy the fun of being a vampire. "Vampires" in this game seem to really just be necromancers who can't go out in the sun. Essentially, if you act like a vampire and drink blood, you become human, if you act like a human and don't drink blood, you become a necromancer. It's stupid. Just sayin.

I also think that if you want your vampire powers and people to treat you normally, you should have to work for it and go out and get your vampire potion (fresh blood), instead of just waiting for a few days. Seriously, anyone making the "It would be too easy and break the game" argument are morons if you think that "waiting a few days" isn't already too easy and game breaking. I drink some blood, fast travel to dungeon, "wait" for a few days inside the entrance, and then go on a rampage. Yeah, that's not broken.

On the flip side, if I had to drink blood in order to get my powers, I would have to feed before entering the dungeon, and then my powers dwindle the longer I stay there, if there is no source of suitable blood to feed on in the dungeon.

You can make all the excuses you want about why they did it this way, all I am saying is "vampires" who don't drink blood aren't vampires.

Surely you don't think TES invented dragons and vampires? Real world vampire and dragon lore has existed for thousands of years...

It is a different strain. In Daggerfall, the disease itself had no name, there was 9 strains/clans, and you didn't know you had contracted it until you recieved this dream while sleeping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flGomkYhsl0.
In Morrowind, it was known as Porphyric Hemophilia, but all 3 strains (Quarra, Berne, Aundae) had the same name.
In Oblivion, it was once again known as Porphyric Hemophilia, and it was a different strain than Morrowind's, the only clan was only known as "The Order". They recieved their ability to walk in the light from a deal with Clavicus Vile.
Judging by the name of the new strain in Skyrim, "Sanguinare Vampiris", the ability of the Vampires in Skyrim to walk in the daylight might also be the result of a daedric pact, one with the Daedric Prince, Sanguine. However, if that's the case, then you would think this particular strain of Vampirism would grow stronger from feeding, due to the fact that Sanguine is the Daedric Prince of over indulgence, hedonistic revelry and debauchery. A orgiastic blood feeding frenzy would fit right up his alley.

One of the major things that bugs me about Vampirism in Skyrim, is that you can't just keep yourself at a certain level of Vampirism. Like i wanted to stay at Lvl 3 Vampirism on my Female Dunmer Nightblade, but if i don't feed within 24 hours of hitting Lvl 3, she'll become Lvl 4, and be attacked by everyone. And if i do feed to avoid going to Lvl 4, she automatically get's put back at Lvl 1. I find Lvl 3 to be the perfect balance for her, she gains just enough powers, while the drawbacks just barely overcome her innate Fire Resist, and i'm not getting attacked by NPCs all the time.

This makes even less sense than the current implementation of vampirism. Not feeding effectively eliminates the curse.

Not feeding should weaken your vampiric bonuses, and increase your vulnerabilities. To prevent your character from becoming completely borked in the event that you forget or are unable to feed, they should have some sort of single-use short duration vampiric blood frenzy power when in a starved state.

Also, can we finally, after 3 generations of vampirism, finally have some form of combat feeding that isn't a spell? You'd think that with the addition of finishing moves this would be possible.

Except it's different depending upon each culture. The vampires in TES might not match completely up with the Eastern European mythos, but it certainly doesn't match up with the mythos from Africa or Asia. The dragons, like wise, mostly resemble European mythos where dragons are typically the harbingers of misdeeds or outright evil - as opposed to the Asian mythos where they tend to be much more benevolent and snake like.

Like others have said, Vampires become stronger as they forgoe feeding because Vampirism is a state between life and undeath. The more you feed on blood, the more "alive" you are, thus allowing you to blend into society. The less you feed however, the deeper into a state of "undeath" you go, giving you supernatural strength/resilience and powers, at the cost of becoming a social pariah.

No, similarly I don't think Vampires are well groomed teenage heart-throbs, and vampire slayers are blonde bomb-shells. Etc etc ad naseum.

My point is none of it is real, it's all fiction, re-told in many many many different ways. So Bethesda chose to re-tell this regurgitated tale in a way that fits their agenda. At least it's in the game. I'm more concerned about the lack of Morag Tong, an actual Elder Scrolls guild. I don't want to role play the perfect Vampire. I've heard there's another game you can do that...

Whining because it doesn't fit the picture you've plucked from the tales and decided to put on a pedestal is silly. Take it with a pinch of salt. You can be a vampire, or you can not be a vampire.