Could use a little WEREWOLF info . . .

[ruvuk]

. . . but I'd aprreciate it if anybody responding would not tell me too much. I think it'll be obvious where I am as a werewolf, so if there are some nice surprises ahead, don't tell me what they are--just tell me to keep going. :smile:

 

I finally got past my hangups with the idea of playing as a werewolf. I'm not doing anything EVIL as a werewolf, and I have fun as a big wolf. But I'm starting to wonder if being a werewolf will ever amount to much.

 

I can tell that the times I remain in the beast state are getting longer, and that helps. And I know that if I can kill a bad guy and feed on him, that'll give me more time.

 

Aela and I have gone out 3x and retrieved the 3 Totems, and they're all in the Underforge. When I click on the totems to "pray," I get the blue magic effects that make it look like I'm getting something . . . but I don't see anything added to Active Effects, so I dunno. I've tried praying to all 3 of the Totems at one go.

 

So, now I'm wondering if I'll ever get to stay in the beast state for very long. And I'm wondering if I'll ever get strong enough as a werewolf that I won't have to run off when fighting with a group of bandits. (I fight awhile; use up some health potions; seem to use stamina just to slug the bad guys.) If there are maybe 3 or 4 bandits, I can kill them all and feed on them, but that's my limit.

 

If I kill a bandit and get the [e] prompt to feed, and then the [e] prompt disappears before I can feed, so that mean the killed body had gotten too old for feeding?? I was trying to click on a dead bandit who was in some tall grass when this happened.

 

And, while I'm asking . . . the Companions' quests seem to be done, and I'm left with mostly petty jobs that involve killing animals and escaped prisoners. I've been doing these little jobs because I thought they might have to be done before Aela would be ready to find another of the Totems. I'm tempted to stop asking the Companion leaders for "work" because it's all just busy work. (I can't figure out why the tough Nords can't kill the occasional bear or wolf w/o help from the Companions.)

 

I'm hoping that I can keep playing as a werewolf and that the beast state will eventually become strong enough and long-lasting enough that I'll be able to think about doing things with it. But if that's not going to happen, better to know sooner than later.

 

Thanks a lot for reading. And for your time if you have some info for me.

 

Ruv

 

 

[avallanche]

I'll try to respond without give many spoilers...

- The totens affect your howls. Each one will change the effect of your roar. There's only 3. No point keep you looking for then.

- The companions questline will eventually leading you to a decision about the Lycanthropy, but you should try get work from other members as well.

- The vanilla werewolf, unfortunately, becomes pretty weak at later stages of the game. This is probably a disappointing news, but like you said, better sooner then later.

So if you really want to continuing playing with it in high levels, your best option would be mods. There is a lot of great mods for werewolves out there that will give you exactly what you are looking for.

Edited April 24, 2014 by avallanche

[DeltaWulf]

The Companions questline is all there is to the werewolf stuff, it's mainly just something to use as another piece of "equipment". It sounds like you're done with their stuff if you have all 3 totems and are on the errand quests.

Pressing Z while in werewolf form will use your equipped howl. In vanilla, I'm pretty sure you can only have one totem howl at a time though, so using all three of them will only cycle through the howls.

If you sprint and use a power attack, you'll do a knockdown attack that sends enemies flying, and also if you hold down left+right click. Try different clicks for different moves, since the basic left and right click attacks are pretty weak without knocking the enemy around. Feeding both heals you (with the perk) and extends the duration, so do it often, even when in combat. It also increases your werewolf experience, so be sure to open your skills menu occasionally to see if you have any new perk points unlocked while fighting.

The reason you couldn't eat that bandit is because the grass was in front of him. Grass is really buggy when it comes to activating things. Sometimes it's a good idea to hold E and drag things out of it if you can.

I'd recommend getting a werewolf mod if you plan on using it extensively, because the vanilla version is incredibly weak past maybe level 40-50. Your basic gear you'll have by then will be stronger than the werewolf form.

[ruvuk]

@ avallanche & DeltaWulf: I really appreciate the info, and it saved me a LOT of time figuring out some of this stuff just by chance. No fooling. I had NO idea that I could howl as a werewolf; I'd have never tried the Power key while in the beast form if you guys hadn't told me about it. So thanks for taking the time to clue me in. I'm eager to go howl now, too. <lol>

 

What I'm hearing is that, more or less, there's nothing much ahead for me in the Companion's quest line. I'll keep adding to my werewolf time for the experience, but I do that on my own. And I'll go look at the werewolf mods for sure.

 

About the lycanthropy decision: I put the extra witch heads in one of the barrels in Jorrvaskr. I did the Companion's quest that freed Kodlak Whitemane from Hircine's realm (something like that) so that he could enter Sovngarde. My guess was that, later on, when I'd had enough of playing the werewolf, I could return to Ysgramor's tomb with one of the witch heads and free myself from Hircine. Is that right? Or do I need to do something else? (No worries about spoilers here.)

 

Again, thank you for your help with this. . . . now, gotta run, . . . gotta go howl!

[BrettM]

Yes, you can cure yourself with one of the heads. Before that, however, you might want to check with Vilkas and Farkas, since they will each ask for your help in curing themselves, which is done the same way.

 

I haven't checked, but are you sure the barrels in Jorrvaskr are safe? You don't want to lose those heads.

[ruvuk]

Great to know for sure that I can get free of Hircine when I'm ready. And that's interesting that Farkas and Vilkas will eventually want to get free of the beast state. The surprising part is that I really have no interest in giving up my romps as a werewolf; the only negative for me is that I don't get restful sleep, but that's no big deal. Heck, I'm a pretty nice werewolf to have around; I only kill the bad guys and try not to do anything that might upset the townspeople.

 

I'm looking forward to finding a good werewolf mod. Sure, I don't want to die and get stuck with Hircine, but I'm never going to end the game by dying, right? (I know I can die in a game--I got myself killed lots of times when I was starting out--but even when you die, the game just makes you go back in time and do over whatever you screwed up.) When I've finally had enough of Skyrim, maybe then it'll be nice to get my house in order and die for keeps.

 

A last note that you guys might find interesting/funny/nutso: I didn't like the coal-black werewolf that came with the game, so I've been working on a retex for my guy that will match his skin and hair colors. <lol> UPDATE: Just looked at some of the werewolf mods, and included there were fur color mods in every color including purple (no joke). I should have known. :smile:

Edited April 26, 2014 by ruvuk

[avallanche]

The lycanthrope decision that I mention was indeed the possibility not only to cure yourself, but also cure Farkas and Vilkas.

Theres a lot of good mods to you to chose that changes status / armor gain, perks, sweep attacks and a LOT of other goods stuffs. With these you can make a proper werewolf in late stages, and most are fully customizable.

I also highly reccomend you to check the Heart of the Beast. The sound overhaul really make a difference when playing, and its probably already have the eye / body textures that you are looking for.

[ruvuk]

@avallanche: I appreciate your following up on my thread. (With a zillion things to do related to skyrim, a lot of the little stuff never gets done, and I'm probably worse than most about staying on top of things. So no fooling about my thanks.)

 

About the werewolf retexturing, . . . I found some really good mods, but none of them was a good fit for me. I'll keep slogging-along with my own work, but I think I'll be able to same some time if I use some of the other modders' work to help me with the normals. (One of these days, I'm going to kick my tail and go find or buy a program that'll do normals for me. Right now, I do them by hand. A lot of stuff just can't be done, but I've learned some tricks, so I do OK when I have the time needed.) I will help me LOT to use the others' normal files for the fur. If I can do what I'm hoping, it'll be great fun to show those guys what I was able to do with their help. :smile:

 

And about all the fancy werewolf upgrades, . . . honestly, some of them are kind of intimidating. <lol> Maybe that sounds off, but it can take a lot of time and hassle to get some of these mods installed. There may be conflicts that have to be sorted out. Seems like there's always something. After reading your postings the other day, I looked through a lot of ww mods and finally figured I'd start with a couple of really simple ones that I was sure I'd like to use. One mod removed the time limit on the beast state. The other mod made it possible to use the Power Key (shout) twice to return from the beast state. Great! . . . But I got a ctd when opening the game after installing those two. Damn. <lol> I'm guessing that there was a requirement for one of the mods that I didn't catch when reading the mod descriptions. Still, I really thought those 2 simple ww mods would be a painless way to get started.

 

I'll keep on 'til I get some good mods. I'm curious to see the Heart of the Beast mod that you recommend, so I'll go have a look at it now. Be great if I could get it installed, too. <lol>