I mean, really?
Do some things really have to get dumbed down that much?
Sorry, but this is not making things more simple anymore, this is a clear dumb down.
Vampires not being able to die on sun and removal of forced transformation for werebeasts... REALLY!?
When I heard about vampires being in TES, I thought that they will have an ability to freeze enemies with their breath (please don't be stupid and say that I can use ice shouts instead), that they are able to pass trough ice and have secret lairs in caves on bottom of the lakes, that you are forced to hide your true identity while above ground so people won't attack you and that you will start a whole new life as a vampire.
In the end, we just got a dumbed down version of Oblivion vampires (as if they were not pathetic enough already).

And werebeasts are even better!
There are no werebears even thought there should be, and you can turn into a werewolf as you wish!
How stupid is that!?
What's the point of having a curse if it's not bothering you in any way!?
And before any of you says that you can regenerate your HP only by eating NPCs and can't use inventory and etc. let me tell you that it still does NOT make it a curse!
It's like having a cancer which will kill me only if I tell him to!
Not to mention that your wereform scales horribly with your character and that in the end you are stronger in your normal from than in wereform. >_>
Also, it is [censored] idiotic that you can't play in first person as a werewolf (together with all other forced 3rd person crap during svcking blood as vampire, finishers, riding a horse, etc.).
I also think that we should be able to decide the color of our werewolf (black, brown, gray and white), but that's not that big of an issue atm.
Anyway.
Both vampirism and lycanthropy svck big time and are perfect example of series being dumbed down way too much.
Also, bonuses (am not sure one can call them that way, but whatever) you gain as vampire/werewolf are also pretty bad.
What are your opinions on this?
Also, how do you think this can be improved in your opinion?
Here is a rough concept of how I think that vampirism and lycanthropy should look like in Skyrim.
They are not perfect, but I think that they are step in right direction.
-Vampirism:
Spoiler
100% frost/poison/disease resistance, 100% fire weakness, takes 25 damage per second from sunlight, Nightstalker's Footsteps (+25% harder to detect), Frost Breath (will explain below), Icewalker (able to go trough ice - should work something like Oblivion's Water Walking spell; able to walk on ice, but if you walk down, you will dive under, and if you walk up while under the ice, you will emerge up) and Vampire Sight (just like now, it's a power which improves vision during night and can be toggled on and off) at all stages.
Frost Breath is a power which can be used as much as you wish, but uses MP, works like Frostbite (Destruction spell) and uses mouth for casting instead of hand and it doesn't benefit from any Destruction perks or improve that skill.
When enemy is low on HP, he will get frozen as if he was under the effect of Ice Form Shout.
When frozen, a vampire can svck enemies blood.
A vampire can also svck blood from sleeping NPCs.
svcking blood will also give a 100% HP/SP regeneration to a vampire for 60 seconds.
There should be 5 stages of vampirism; 1st stage is stage when vampire is well fed and has no penalties, 2nd stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for 24h and gains 50% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP, 3rd stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for another 24h and gains 100% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP, 4th stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for yet another 24h and gains 150% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP (yes, those 3 will start to decrease now), and finally, in case vampire doesn't drink blood for yet another 24h, he will gain 200% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP (this could be a good concept for sleeping/eating/drinking for HC mode also, but with different numbers).
A very important part of being a vampire in Skyrim is that vampires should have secret lairs on bottom of frozen lakes with their own society and quests.
A vampire should be able to walk normally and talk normally with other NPCs at all stages of vampirism.
Vampire doesn't have any benefits from food/drink and does not benefit from sleeping - you can still eat/drink/sleep though, only without benefits (in case HC mode gets implemented, vampires won't be affected by lack of eating/drinking/sleeping since blood is all they need).
Frost Breath is a power which can be used as much as you wish, but uses MP, works like Frostbite (Destruction spell) and uses mouth for casting instead of hand and it doesn't benefit from any Destruction perks or improve that skill.
When enemy is low on HP, he will get frozen as if he was under the effect of Ice Form Shout.
When frozen, a vampire can svck enemies blood.
A vampire can also svck blood from sleeping NPCs.
svcking blood will also give a 100% HP/SP regeneration to a vampire for 60 seconds.
There should be 5 stages of vampirism; 1st stage is stage when vampire is well fed and has no penalties, 2nd stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for 24h and gains 50% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP, 3rd stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for another 24h and gains 100% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP, 4th stage is when vampire doesn't drink blood for yet another 24h and gains 150% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP (yes, those 3 will start to decrease now), and finally, in case vampire doesn't drink blood for yet another 24h, he will gain 200% negative regeneration to HP/MP/SP (this could be a good concept for sleeping/eating/drinking for HC mode also, but with different numbers).
A very important part of being a vampire in Skyrim is that vampires should have secret lairs on bottom of frozen lakes with their own society and quests.
A vampire should be able to walk normally and talk normally with other NPCs at all stages of vampirism.
Vampire doesn't have any benefits from food/drink and does not benefit from sleeping - you can still eat/drink/sleep though, only without benefits (in case HC mode gets implemented, vampires won't be affected by lack of eating/drinking/sleeping since blood is all they need).
-Lycanthropy:
Spoiler
A werecreature in humanoid form should have gain 25% extra regeneration to HP/SP, 100% resistance to diseases, 50% resistance to poison, and have wolves or bears as allies (depending if you are werewolf or werebear) which will defend you if you get into trouble.
There will be a forced transformation once a week which will turn you into a werebeast, give certain bonuses and will last for 8h.
While in were-from, you will have all the bonuses from your humanoid form, but HP/SP regeneration bonus will be 100%.
You will also suffer from Bloodlust - will need to hunt down, kill and eat a certain amount of prey (doesn't matter if it's NPC or animal) in order to satisfy your bloodlust.
In case you don't, you will get weaker in both your human and beast form (1st stage of weakness will remove the bonus regeneration, 2nd stage will add 50pt penalty to total HP/SP and 3rd will add 100pt penalty to total HP/SP).
Also, while in were-form, you will gain 75% damage reduction (both physical and magical attacks), but will have 150% weakness to silver (silver will also stun HP and SP regeneration for 10 seconds).
You will also gain a Howl of Rage ability which works just like current one and will get Lycantrop's Senses, a constant ability which will give you night-eye and detect life in huge radius while in were-form.
Eating will improve HP/SP regeneration by additional 100% for 60 seconds.
Difference between werebear and werewolf is that werebear will gain 150 HP bonus and 50 SP bonus while in beast form, and werewolf will gain 50 HP bonus and 150 SP bonus while in beast form.
Also, while werebears will have faster movement and attack speed, they will not be as fast as werewolf's.
Damage of a werewolf is 20 base damage plus 2 additional damage per level, and 40 damage plus 2 additional damage per level for a werebear.
Other bonuses:
- Crimes committed as a werebeastdon't give you bounty.
- Can perform a leaping power attack that insta-kills most opponents.To do this, perform a power attack while sprinting towards the target, in Beast Form.
- Can occasionally pick up (by the neck) and throw humanoid enemies great distances, as well as biting off their heads, both for an instant kill.
- Can use power attacks with either claw which does a great deal of damage and sends your opponent flying.
- Achieving a critical hit will make you do a execution (similar to slow-mo kills but not in slow motion). These will kill your opponent instantly. (This is good for defeating powerful enemies quickly without endangering yourself.)
- Can't loot the corpses of anything you kill.
- Can't pick up items.
- Can't use Weapons, Spells, Items, Equipment, Shouts, or Powers.
- May have trouble fitting through doorways.
- Can't speak with anyone.
- Almost everyone becomes hostile (some other werewolves will sometimes not object to you changing in front of them).
- Can't use the character menu.
Unlike current Skyrim lycanthropy, you can sneak, regenerate in battle, and get resting bonuses (you won't get them only if you don't satisfy your bloodlust).
In case the word about you being a werebeast gets out (ie. you are seen transform), you will get a 1000 gold bounty on your head and will be randomly attacked by werebeast hunters (when bounty is paid, hunters will stop hunting you).
In case you kill all the witnesses, you secret will be safe.
Having Hircine's Ring equipped will remove forced transformations and give you an ability to transform once a day (it will last only 4h instead of 8), and will remove Bloodlust.
There will be a forced transformation once a week which will turn you into a werebeast, give certain bonuses and will last for 8h.
While in were-from, you will have all the bonuses from your humanoid form, but HP/SP regeneration bonus will be 100%.
You will also suffer from Bloodlust - will need to hunt down, kill and eat a certain amount of prey (doesn't matter if it's NPC or animal) in order to satisfy your bloodlust.
In case you don't, you will get weaker in both your human and beast form (1st stage of weakness will remove the bonus regeneration, 2nd stage will add 50pt penalty to total HP/SP and 3rd will add 100pt penalty to total HP/SP).
Also, while in were-form, you will gain 75% damage reduction (both physical and magical attacks), but will have 150% weakness to silver (silver will also stun HP and SP regeneration for 10 seconds).
You will also gain a Howl of Rage ability which works just like current one and will get Lycantrop's Senses, a constant ability which will give you night-eye and detect life in huge radius while in were-form.
Eating will improve HP/SP regeneration by additional 100% for 60 seconds.
Difference between werebear and werewolf is that werebear will gain 150 HP bonus and 50 SP bonus while in beast form, and werewolf will gain 50 HP bonus and 150 SP bonus while in beast form.
Also, while werebears will have faster movement and attack speed, they will not be as fast as werewolf's.
Damage of a werewolf is 20 base damage plus 2 additional damage per level, and 40 damage plus 2 additional damage per level for a werebear.
Other bonuses:
- Crimes committed as a werebeastdon't give you bounty.
- Can perform a leaping power attack that insta-kills most opponents.To do this, perform a power attack while sprinting towards the target, in Beast Form.
- Can occasionally pick up (by the neck) and throw humanoid enemies great distances, as well as biting off their heads, both for an instant kill.
- Can use power attacks with either claw which does a great deal of damage and sends your opponent flying.
- Achieving a critical hit will make you do a execution (similar to slow-mo kills but not in slow motion). These will kill your opponent instantly. (This is good for defeating powerful enemies quickly without endangering yourself.)
- Can't loot the corpses of anything you kill.
- Can't pick up items.
- Can't use Weapons, Spells, Items, Equipment, Shouts, or Powers.
- May have trouble fitting through doorways.
- Can't speak with anyone.
- Almost everyone becomes hostile (some other werewolves will sometimes not object to you changing in front of them).
- Can't use the character menu.
Unlike current Skyrim lycanthropy, you can sneak, regenerate in battle, and get resting bonuses (you won't get them only if you don't satisfy your bloodlust).
In case the word about you being a werebeast gets out (ie. you are seen transform), you will get a 1000 gold bounty on your head and will be randomly attacked by werebeast hunters (when bounty is paid, hunters will stop hunting you).
In case you kill all the witnesses, you secret will be safe.
Having Hircine's Ring equipped will remove forced transformations and give you an ability to transform once a day (it will last only 4h instead of 8), and will remove Bloodlust.
There.
Like I said, I doubt it's perfect, but I think it's a good improvement over current ones.
Feel free to give any suggestions for improving this!
Oh, and here is one song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvZrZICjg0M and one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTgtkLDGz2I (lyrics in descriptions).



