Can you be a warewolf in E.S.O.?!
I don't think werewolves should be generalized as the Companions by default and vice versa but yeah the possibility of being a werewolf has been confirmed for a while now. What I want to know is how much freedom is there in turning into a werewolf.
Like say you and your werewolf group of friends turned in the middle of a 300-man fight over a fort. Would that really be allowed while staying marked on your alliance's side or could your alliance now start fighting against you? My guess is that those in werewolf form won't be marked to others as part of any alliance and anyone can attack them, but the werewolves do see other werewolves' alliances (since you know, smell) and are restricted from attacking their own alliance for obvious reasons.
I seriously doubt that lycanthropic or vampiric players will be held in any different regard by their own faction, that would be a nightmare for coding and balancing in PvP, as well as PvE. So expect for them to either be reduced power in PvP, or simply not allowed. They could allow the full power, as there will be distinct disadvantages to being in those states of being, so it may just flow per usual and nobody think twice about it.
Yes you can
Bethesda has confirmed that players in the game will be able to become both Werewolves and Vampires, although not at the same time. Most interestingly, the Werewolf and Vampire traits are actually upgradeable skill trees in their own right! Players will be able to invest points in each tree, gaining new abilities and strengths as they progress.
Correct me if I'm wrong but a major political faction using of werewolves in open warfare would be pretty damn lore-breaking last time I checked. And if they're gonna block werewolf form in Cyrodiil they might as well block it pretty much everywhere since wherever you are the average citizen is more than likely gonna alert the town guard after a werewolf. Now since it's already gonna cause chaos amongst NPCs it might as well have an effect on players so they can heroicly join the town guard in defeating a werewolf player (and the werewolf could only attack players who have striked their first blow on it to prevent indiscriminate player-killing) who's in turn having fun ravaging a town.
The game stays Elder Scrolls -like and won't restrict you from having fun in your own way. Everybody wins.
Everybody wins . . . -ish. Balancing werewolf forms in the way we are used to them in out single player environment into an MMO is near impossible. The mechanics will most likely change. Same thing for Vampirism. I believe the abilities will be blocked in PvP because it certainly wouldn't be fair for my already strong Orc warrior to change into a strength- and speed-enhancing lycanthrope against your High Elf restoration-using magic weilder. I just don't see how that would work well.
As for PvE, it's always a different game than PvP, and I don't know that they'll have World PvP. I think that's the point of having Cyrodiil sectioned off the way they do (and the join mechanics set up the way they are). So attacking a player (werewolf, vampire or otherwise) may not even be allowed in the game. Keep in mind they're trying to create an experience like TES and add a bunch of players around you experiencing TES, too - some for the first time. We can speculate all day how it'll work, but the truth is probably that we're both wrong, lol.
Yeah I get you, we can't actually know much of anything yet. I just hope they'll make good use of the extra time they have now and make the right calls on everything to get the feel-o-game meter closer to the 'TES' side than the 'MMO' side.