One of the main themes discussed is that for a werewolf, half of the horror/violence is not external but internal. That the damage you can wreak on those around you should be as terrifying, in some ways, to the character/player as to those that might be on the brunt end of it.
You're placing far more emphasis on this than the book does. The changing is only jarring the first few times. Afterwards not so much. Spiritually attuned werewolves change once a scene or they feel discomfort, low harmony werewolves feel no pain from shifting at all. Lunacy is a natural part of the order, there are even gifts allowing a werewolf to change the kind of lunacy he or she inflicts.
They go on mechanically at some length, to make gauru as attractive as possible. To make it a first resort. The Wolf-Man battle form in Forsaken 2.0 is vastly more powerful (on an order of exponetial magnitude) vs the Forsaken 1.0 form. You heal all non-agg damage a round. Enemies get like half their Defense. It's intense.
To be clear, Enemies of lesser rank use down and dirty combat rules, meaning they only count their dexterity or wits as their defense. This does not include supernatural opponents or spirits of a higher rank or mortals with a template or pretty much anything you would most likely be fighting. They also automatically fail any social roll not based on intimidation and any mental roll that isn't perception based or a resistance. Additionally, the rules are very clear that they have to attack an opponent or the thing nearest to them if no opponent is available. None of this spend willpower to control your rage shit like before. So it's not all sunshine and flowers like you want to present it.
But it's still undercut by the inclusion of dalu/urshul who serve very little purpose in the grand scheme of things. They are 'safe' forms, with only benefits attached and no real risk of losing self control. It encourages a more blase, toolbox like approach to one's shapeshifting. It becomes banal, and rings hollow when they devote repeated paragraphs to how storytellers should play up the bone-cracking, flesh-displacing horror of changing forms, and how players should always be reminded of how bizarre and strange it is. That's hard to do when they're changing forms 20+ times a night. Ultimately, hishu and urhan lose out. The two forms that DO have immensely strong thematic components. Why be a wolf, when you can be a big strong wolf?
Again, you're reading far too much into the shapeshifting thing. The book does not spend that much time on the shapeshifting hurts bit. It even explains that it doesn't hurt for low harmony, spiritually attuned wolves are required to shift and balanced harmony wolves only feel pain the first few times. While it's jarring, per the book, it feels right. So it's something you attune to. Dalu and Urshul have their place. Urshul can't communicate with humans but can speak first tongue and can apply tilts to physical prey. Dalu can move among humans but also gain the ability to force people protecting prey away from the prey. Hishu applies a penalty of your PU to a person's roll to track you if you're in a populated area. Urhan allows you to interrupt other people's actions by spending essence (essentially it's werewolf celerity). So get real. They all have great benefits. The fact that you are not aware of how to use them does not mean that the benefits don't exist.
In the same way, I think they undercut the conceptual theme of the werewolf's true monster being themselves, by adding a bunch of even more horrific Shadow-related monsters for them to fight.
WoD's theme has always been that there are bigger, scarier things than you out there. So no. No it really doesn't.
It's true that Forsaken 2.0 does mitigate this aspect of the game already. In fact, the Bone Shadows are the only tribe with a duty to hunt spirits and most werewolves will never enter the Shadow. In many ways, Bone Shadows are the Uratha of Forsaken 1.0. You can't even step over at loci anymore.
False. Read the book bro. All werewolves have attachments to the spirit world. In fact, the Irraka are the only werewolves this time around with a spirit gift to step sideways into the shadow. Would you like to actually read the book and come back to us?
So Forsaken 2.0 already emphasizes Wolf-Man and de-emphasizes the Shadow. I pretty much just took it to a Mountain Dew-esque extreme. So as to not clutter up my player's brain bandwidth with themes that felt already half left by the wayside, and only lingering for the benefit of veterans.
Forsaken 2.0 emphasizes the shadow to an extreme. The entire origin story is about the shadow. You realized this right?
