Banderblitz

I say as a general acknowledgement ALL vampire types are significantly more fun and balanced to play as and against than previous oldvamps. Alright, so I've said my complaints alot but now I'm going to post them officially. Overall vampire is SIGNIFICANTLY better than oldvamp in all regards except for a few minor things. Although I havent had the chance to play and fight against each personally, I can definitely give what experience I have with them individually. Now let the essay rants begin. Gargantua: I can say I haven't been able to really play as OR against them, they seem by far the most unpopular, but from what I've heard and seen, they're significantly lacking and largely just, a bully shove you down type of antag, which is a nice theme and all however their one large weakness which happens far more often than we'd like to admit is anyone with the ability to bolt just being bolt happy and instantly ruining their reign. For being so terrifying they can pry open doors, and charge down people in an instant they should probably have a way to deal with a bolted door besides shadowstep and HOPING they go in the right direction. I've seen some people say to make it cost more and take longer to force open and break a bolted door which seems like a good choice considering it still wouldnt be as instant as hemomancer or umbraes get out of jail free cards. On the side of them being rather underwhelming to play as, I cant make an opinion because as I've said, I had no experience playing as OR against them. Umbrae: I havent had a chance to play AS one, but after having seen them NUMEROUS times, I can safely say they are the equivalent of oldvampire in terms of gameplay with FAR less obnoxious stunning capability. Now, in terms of balance, I'd say they're fine at what they do, however in terms of hunting, they are not very fun to chase at all due to them having ZERO fighting capability besides what golden bolts they have looted and glare. To improve this, maybe give their trap an actual knockdown and or mute so it becomes somewhat usable, if an officer is in a chase and hit by one, all they have to do is simply wait the duration of the blind while removing the snare themselves and they are perfectly fine. The snare itself really doesnt work in any way other than buying the vampire a few seconds, which the blood could better be spent on just teleporting away. Also, to somewhat alleviate Umbrae only running, possibly give them back the ability to summon bats, while additionally nerfing their ability to teleport in the darkness accurately, this would give security more room to actually capture an umbrae and give them the ability to actually contest officers past glaring them. In my experience with umbrae it almost always ends with them dying to lethals at ANY power level or them playing the oldvamp game of running for two hours to the point where security wants to stop trying which needs to significantly be considered in umbrae balance. Simply put Umbrae is extremely uninteractive, and not fun to try to capture or kill when you're expected to do so. Hemomancer: This, I've had some unpopular opinions about and I've begun to reconsider some of them them as well. I have played hemomancer once, to great success and felt that overall their ability to fight is well, overkill. Bloodclaws in tandem with glare allows you to instantly hardcrit even officers without them being able to say anything. While yes, a stun is usually a death my opinions on this, it is problematic in this way; A: The person who is glared is unable to speak before they are in hardcrit, even security officers. B: The weapon itself is not very loud. C: It makes the vampire stronger in the sense that is absorbs blood from the target. D: It is far FASTER than draining a person normally, albiet less efficient, however with the new CAP to blood it allows you to deal with an officer once, retrieve their stuff faster than a vampire of another type, move on with your objective or plans and then be able to retrieve more blood in the same manner again at a later time. All of this in tandem with the glare silencing makes hemomancer seem like a big issue, which is slightly offset by its bloodcosts being rather high which would be the case except some of the vampire's OTHER abilities also are a tad bit loaded. Claws: 30 blood cost - As described above; recommend a higher bloodcost to make it the less, 'go to and be stronger' ability to use Tentacle: 10 blood cost - Makes the targets slowed momentarily in a 3x3, not a significant power, useful, not overly so, priced appropriately for what it does, possibly increase its price to make it additionally a disarm (where all they would have to do is pick up their weapon, no additional stun, slow, weaken, or knockdown) Blood Eruption: 100 blood cost - Makes all bloodied tiles erupt and cause significant damage and stamina damage; Both are not needed, one OR the other will suffice, depending on how the veiw of hemomancers is expected to be, either keep the damage if they're expected to be murderous, or stamina if the murder seems overkill. The skill itself has a high cost which is fine for what it could do either way, it also isnt a guaranteed hit on people, it requires setup, or properly watching where your opponents are standing to make use of it, and regardless of whether you hit or not, it's a significant cost. Bloodrites: Toggle 10 blood per second, minimum of five(ish?) seconds; This ability is to put it plainly overtuned as of the time I had played (which was two days after the testmerge and no balances had been made yet), It heals far too much, can connect to far too many people, and it doesnt really cost much blood for the amount it heals. It needs a healing reduction and or a target cap added to it, plain and simple. It can quite literally make a vampire unkillable as long as it is toggled if there are enough targets. Blood pool: Forgot the blood cost for it but, it's short, fast, and has a decent cooldown, a properly balanced mobility skill all and all considering it still makes contact with walls and can only be used to go under doors, its useful, but not overly so to where it is used instantly. While this rant is largely weight towards hemomancer, its because its the only type I have had personal experience playing as and my rant ONLY includes vampire abilites, not any additional things such as department goodies you may get for your department or anything you make post roundstart. I say as a general acknowledgement ALL vampire types are significantly more fun and balanced to play as and against than previous oldvamps.