Werewolf Update From The Combat Refresh Team

Hi All. Below is an update on the Werewolf Refresh from the Combat Refresh Team. As a reminder, the Werewolf refresh will be available to test next week on PTS.

Greetings! The Combat Refresh team would like to give a quick update on what to expect for the Werewolf refresh coming to the PTS next week. We’ve been hard at work making sure it’s up to snuff and we’re very excited to let you sink your teeth into all the new stuff that’s been updated! To recap, here is what to expect with the Werewolf refresh that we’ve already brought up through previous developer streams and reveals:

• Two new Werewolf models, one male and one female. Female characters will automatically use the new female model.
• New animations, visual effects, and sound effects for almost every Werewolf action including but not limited to:
  • Locomotion (movement, jumping, etc)
  • Core combat mechanics (Block, Roll Dodge, etc)
  • Abilities

• A new ability tied to your Ultimate to cast while in Werewolf form, which lets you unleash the beast for a duration and grants a handful of stark power bonuses
• A completely overhauled way to manage and sustain Werewolf form, now using Ultimate to both activate and sustain the form. Ultimate is now enabled and heavily awarded through certain Werewolf actions and overall you will find it significantly easier to maintain Werewolf form in most cases.
• And two new mechanics we’ve added, named “Prowl” and “Slaughter” - which we’ll touch loosely on, but we want you to go on the hunt and sniff them out yourself!
  • Slaughter is a synergy-based ability, operating similarly to things like Blade of Woe or Vampire’s Feed
  • Prowl is a mechanic override for Crouch, which is designed to help utilize Slaughter more regularly, as well as a tool to help you hunt those who would prefer to remain hidden. Your nose knows! While this is not ‘true’ Crouch or Stealth, we hope that Werewolves appreciate the chance to be a bit more sneaky.

When we first showed off the updated model for the Werewolf, we saw a lot of positive feedback with some reservations that largely boiled down to three core criticisms: the size and bulk of the model, the mangy appearance of the model, and the methods of sustaining Werewolf form. Based on that feedback, we’ve made some notable adjustments to try and improve the Werewolf refresh. Some of the most noteworthy adjustments are:

• Increased the size of the model by roughly 20%, making it substantially larger. This will ensure that you loom over normal player characters and humanoid enemies.
• Adjusted and added more fur to the model based on feedback that noted how the previous iteration felt like it was mottled and bare.
  • There is more fur coverage overall along the back, shoulders, and forehead.
  • The tail is now bigger, floofier, and blends better into the fur on the Werewolf’s back.
  • The fur along the spine now covers more area, helping to add some extra size and aura.
  • There are performance constraints that we had to work within in regards to adding more fur to the model. While we know that some of you really wanted to see a model completely covered in fur, we cannot match the fur coverage from the Werewolf’s cinematic design due to run-time limitations.

• The color of the skin now more closely matches the color of the fur and the fur now blends more seamlessly into the remaining areas where there is exposed skin.
• While we didn’t go into all the details of sustaining Werewolf form in any of our reveals, we did see a lot of discussion around the cost out of combat. After pawing with the idea for a while, we’ve made the cost of sustaining Werewolf out of combat a nonfactor (it is now completely free instead of being reduced by 75%).
  • The cost was originally part of an intentional gameplay design that tried to enforce the need to constantly be on the hunt. Hircine will not be entertained unless the chase continues, after all. This pressure helped lean into the fantasy that Werewolves are fast, aggressive creatures that need combat to maintain their form – but ultimately the reality of gameplay clashed with this, creating more experiences of frustration than highlighting the positive sensations we wanted.

Lastly, on the note of another larger topic we’ve seen for Werewolves, crouch and stealth. This is something we’re not adding to the Werewolf in the traditional sense, as there’s a lot more than meets the eye with getting those systems to function and be supported between content interaction, blending every unique animation (and having those animations be loaded in Cyrodiil, which cuts into how many unique animations we can make for other classes), and a handful of other things. It’s also something that we’re not keen on enabling for balance or identity’s sake – we want to keep Werewolves direct, imposing, and terrifying as they rip apart their foes – which means we need to keep messaging clear and readable for PvP while focusing on the big and loud. Prowl is our compromise to this difference of desire and intent, as it lets you get some sneak-adjacent benefits by making you harder to detect by monsters, which was mainly done to ensure you can actively use the new Slaughter synergy.

That about wraps up the coverage of what we’ve directly changed based on your feedback we heard between our reveal for the Werewolf and what’s coming in PTS 1. There’s still plenty more to discover that we haven’t discussed, but we want to make sure we leave some meat on the bone for you when PTS rolls around. As always, we’ll continue to monitor your feedback as you get to experience it firsthandpaw throughout the PTS and launch. Thank you as always for your time, passion, and support in making Elder Scrolls together. See you in Tamriel!