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[Duress]

My rogue was pretty overpowered. Once an enemy got stun locked, it was over.

I never found any use for stealing. All I ever was able to get was coins.

And another thing, are drops random? I fought a revenant and he dropped a sword. I left and died without saving, fought him again, and he ended up having a shield. It was a good shield too! Good fortunes on me.

 

[water_wendi]

Spirit Healer eh? sounds intriguing.
I think I mean skills - and yeh, I meant that I had purposefully created redundancies in my group, hadn't even noticed. I will be much better prepared next time. Im a big fan of throwing flasks haha.
I have never succeeded at either stealing or disarming a trap either :/ My hero is human noble rogue, level 2 stealing and level 2 trapmaking

Stealing shouldnt be a problem. i was stealing from regular guys with one point in it on Nightmare. In Lothering the two points that Leliana has is more than enough to steal from everybody. i dont think i failed once with her.

Yea.. i hear you on redundancy. i dont know if high level im going to run into poisons i cant use because Alistair only has one point. i know there are recipes he cant craft.. but ive yet to see if i need to invest more into the skill with my non-crafter melee characters. Stealing i just let Leliana focus on. In town when i go on a robbery spree i pull her off the bench and go to town. Potions i let Morrigan continue with. Traps is me since im a rogue and the different ranks of Trapmaking also give bonus to spot traps which is helpful.

My rogue was pretty overpowered. Once an enemy got stun locked, it was over.

I never found any use for stealing. All I ever was able to get was coins.

And another thing, are drops random? I fought a revenant and he dropped a sword. I left and died without saving, fought him again, and he ended up having a shield. It was a good shield too! Good fortunes on me.

Stealing from named or special characters usually yields items better than coin or ingredients or basic potions. In Lothering i stole this 30 Strength crossbow from one of the merchants :lol

Drops do seem to be random. My latest run ive been making out pretty good. My first run i had so many freaking fire/ice arrows :lol

And yes stun locking is OP.. but its fun! i feel good when i can time my Dirty Fighting>dogs Dread Howl>Shield Pummerl>Dirty Fighting>Horror all while im backstabbing

 

[Snuggles]

Damn, I need to get back into this game ASAP. I got distracted by Demon's Souls but it's time I get back on my grizzy. I just got my Shale DLC to work and got that big fucker in my party, he's awesome but as silly as it may sound I get a little annoyed by his loud footsteps. "thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud" ....

 

[markot]

Yeah, his footsteps are abit annoying >.<

But he rocks so its worth it ^_^

Hehe, rocks, get it?!

 

[water_wendi]

Yep, it was the first thing I did. Was glad to get better gear. Dual wielding from the start.

I also lingered until guards stopped showing up. Do you think that's the glitch? Killing until they stop respawning.

Well it looks like it might be a console reset thing since thats what worked for avatar299. Just in case its something else (and since i cant see what is going on at your end) here is a short video of me leaving the room with the soldiers to the kitchen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZawcD5e5nU. Hope you get the problem fixed.

 

[Relix]

Installing the game in HDD. The loading isn't that long but it still gets to my nerves , especially when I die and have to reload :lol

 

[Odious Tea]

I have Arcane Warrior on my Mage, it's nearly useless and mostly for fun. It requires you taking points away from Magic/Willpower and dumping at least 2 or 3 levels into dex so you can actually hit things at a decent rate. The armor is off the charts though. But in this game since Armor isn't like in AD&D (higher armor only means less damage taken now, instead of no hit at all) it's pretty useless unless you also dump more points into Constitution.

My Armor and Defense is at 29 wearing Ancient Elven Armor chest and helm (haven't found the rest). The Defense is in the 80's. This is with Rock Armor and Arcane Shield I think i'ts called. Good tank if you build em right, just have to use spells to get attention (which...is easy ). But you won't have the instant aggro management of a proper warrior (taunt, threaten).

With a Spirit Healer it would feel pretty bad. You'd have ot choose between the two, and they both travel down very different paths IMO. I mean you could certainly do it, but why waste their talents on the front line by standing in the back trying to heal. And if you're in the heat of battle healing, you're gonna spend your little bit of mana you have left over from casting the stuff you need to actually stay alive.

The ability to do physical damage is directly proportionate to your AW ability that instatly gives you 50% fatigue. Which makes your spells cost 50% more. See where I'm going with this? But you do hit like a beast with 39 Magic (which is like STR, and I think the STR still tacks on top of that though I could be wrong).

A good match for min/max playstyle would be blood mage. Personally I'm just keeping AW, though I'd like to get shapeshifter and play with that...but I'm pretty certain spells don't carry over into other forms unfortunately.

My Mage/Tank bounces between the two roles. Heavy into primal, so I can stand in the middle of a bunch of guys, cast firestorm and continue to attack them while my spell shield and AW ability to go halfway into the fade reduce the damage i take to nearly nothing. Which is great because enemies seem to focus on my Mage since he's always in front when a cutscene ends....

Hrm. Then I may try to savor my playthrough with my Warrior a little more. Something to think on. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Coldsnap]

present-Damager
behavior-Ranged

She can do a shit load of damage.

What skills/abilities do you have?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I can't wait to finish up the game tonight and get started on some of the other origin stories. I think I might go for a dual wielding Dwarf Noble warrior as my next character. Maybe I'll even make him a Rogue / Duelist. I just hope I can make Alistair into a competent tank. I also want to make a spirit healer magi so I don't have to use Wynne. I guess I could always turn Morrigan down the spirit healer path, but that would seriously gimp her damage output. Maybe I'll just try each of the origin stories and decide after I finish each one.

 

[painey]

for the stealing quests in Denerim.. the 4th? pickpocket is a guy who has 2 guards.. but he isnt there.. the 2 guards are, with 2 locked chests.. is this a bug or am i missing some event for him to show?

 

[Fredescu]

If we could just gather up all the armies in the back alleys of Denerim, we wouldn't need to bother with the Elves, Mages, or Dwarves.

 

[Sloegr]

Worth picking this up for $40 on the PC? I like that the DRM is minimal, and I liked BG 1 and 2 quite a lot, but DA's approach to DLC is making me hesitate.

 

[water_wendi]

Worth picking this up for $40 on the PC? I like that the DRM is minimal, and I liked BG 1 and 2 quite a lot, but DA's approach to DLC is making me hesitate.

Definitely. Dont sweat the DLC. The only one of note is the Wardens Keep which is just a questline worth 1 hour or so.. the storage container that is its star feature has already been taken care of by toolset creations. The other DLC, The Stone Prisoner, comes free with the purchase of any DA as long as its sealed so no worries there unless you buy used.

 

[Odious Tea]

If we could just gather up all the armies in the back alleys of Denerim, we wouldn't need to bother with the Elves, Mages, or Dwarves.

:lol

 

[bengraven]

What do you guys use Morrigan as?

A dirty dirty girl.

 

[Sinatar]

for the stealing quests in Denerim.. the 4th? pickpocket is a guy who has 2 guards.. but he isnt there.. the 2 guards are, with 2 locked chests.. is this a bug or am i missing some event for him to show?

Thats the chest you need the key to open, he's in an alley, check your map.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I saw someone mentioning earlier in the thread about donating supplies to the various factions of your armies. Whenever I talk to the representatives at my camp, they mention that they could use various supplies, but even if I have the items that they mention I can't seem to actually give them anything. I'm already past that point on my current game, but I would like to help equip my armies instead of just selling the stuff to vendors in my next game.

 

[KingHenrik30]

Stupid question incoming:

Playing the 360 version, how do i pause in battle to issue commands to my party? im assuming this is like a KOTR deal right?

Bump for help

 

[Fredescu]

Bump for help

One of the triggers. Note that you can change between holding it down while paused, or pressing once for pause and again for unpause, in the options.

 

[KingHenrik30]

One of the triggers. Note that you can change between holding it down while paused, or pressing once for pause and again for unpause, in the options.

thanks man

 

[Sinatar]

I saw someone mentioning earlier in the thread about donating supplies to the various factions of your armies. Whenever I talk to the representatives at my camp, they mention that they could use various supplies, but even if I have the items that they mention I can't seem to actually give them anything. I'm already past that point on my current game, but I would like to help equip my armies instead of just selling the stuff to vendors in my next game.

Interact with the supply crates in front of them.

 

[mr stroke]

present-Damager
behavior-Ranged

She can do a shit load of damage.

+1
I have been using her and me(mage) for magic+healing

higher level Fire+lighting spells do insane amounts of damage and can take out an entire group of enemies in two casts

 

[markot]

I hope they go for the GTA4 DLC model instead of the crappy way they seem to have begun.

Long stuff thats almost a mini expansion >>>>>> one hour quest and a new sword.

Like a Duncan centered DLC campaign, although you wouldnt use your character... itd still be interesting to flesh out the world and story!

 

[BanShunsaku]

I hope they go for the GTA4 DLC model instead of the crappy way they seem to have begun.

Long stuff thats almost a mini expansion >>>>>> one hour quest and a new sword.

Like a Duncan centered DLC campaign, although you wouldnt use your character... itd still be interesting to flesh out the world and story!

I think the "Other Campaigns" option in the main menu (PC version) is a sign of good things to come!

EDIT: Actually on second thought this is probably where user-created stuff will be...

 

[Fragamemnon]

EDIT: Actually on second thought this is probably where user-created stuff will be...

That's been the interface element Neverwinter Nights/NWN2 has used for user-created content, so yes that seems likely.

 

[hermit7]

How would a party of Dog, me (a rogue, unsure on specialization), Sten, and Morrigan/Wynne on healing be?

My idea is that I could stun with Dog and do backstabs, and have Sten tank?

 

[bengraven]

I was really hoping for more mods by now.

 

[water_wendi]

How would a party of Dog, me (a rogue, unsure on specialization), Sten, and Morrigan/Wynne on healing be?

My idea is that I could stun with Dog and do backstabs, and have Sten tank?

If you build Sten up as a tank it should be fine. The thing with Dogs stun is that its on a 40s cooldown and lasts for about 3s. So its more a situational thing than something to be relied on constantly.

 

[Dipper145]

What do you guys use Morrigan as?
I'm trying to find a place in my party for her because she isn't so bad to look at. I currently have her under the "Dehabilitation"

I use Morrigan as a healer/dps just like myself since I play as a mage. The only specialization really decent for a mage is the spirit healer one, so I've used that.

 

[eznark]

Holy hell, courtyard Revenant is kicking my ass.

 

[Danne-Danger]

If we could just gather up all the armies in the back alleys of Denerim, we wouldn't need to bother with the Elves, Mages, or Dwarves.

I wonder what that archer enounter would be like with the dex/bow hotfix...

 

[water_wendi]

When Pulls Go Bad

Here a hint when you are swarmed by a ton of wolves early in the game.. i won by

Spoiler

... no i didnt

.

 

[Pyke Presco]

So, the reason I found the game so difficult on the first play through was that I didn't approach it with my WoW experience, but instead with my Mass Effect experience (only western party-based RPG I can recall playing, the rest was solo like Witcher, Oblivion, etc). Only problem with that is you cannot play this game like Mass effect, where you can just kill everything and your party is only really there to chill out while you handle the baddies.

Once I started reading the thread and seeing the terms Tank, DPS, etc it all made sense. Doing a second playthrough and mixing up strategies is making it so much better. I now look at the game's dungeons as instances in WoW as opposed to a dungeon run in Oblivion, and it finally clicked. I can now play on normal with relative ease and can struggle through some fights on hard (though a single Revenant will still bend me over and fuck me from hell to back before he's done, and boss fights tend to take at least a couple wipes to figure out properly.)

On my first run I had Dog, a dual-wielding warrior, Morrigan(with arcane warrior spec, not spirit healer) and Ohgren as my main party, with no skills in traps, none in poisons, everybody on herbalism or something retarded like that, and I had to play on easy because that shit was impossible(no res spells, Morrigan's tactics were still focused on dps as a secondary function, when it really should have been nothing but heals, etc). Now I play with two mages, one for heals while the other is a mix, Sten tanking using taunt every chance he gets, and a rogue to handle DPS (soon I'll set up as a ranger and have a pet to DPS/secondary tank) and everything is clicking so much more. Pulling mobs, worrying about who has aggro, setting up traps and poisons to inhibit the enemies...my god, it makes the combat slightly easier but more importantly its like 5 times more interesting to play.

 

[Dipper145]

When Pulls Go Bad


Here a hint when you are swarmed by a ton of wolves early in the game.. i won by

Spoiler

... no i didnt

.

Isn't that the quest in lothering one of the first ones you do? Don't you have to fight the big wolf pack? Or is it two packs? I don't remember it was too long ago.

I don't think I've done any pulling in this game, I just charge in there as my mage and nuke everything to death.

Of course, if I weren't playing on normal I suppose that strategy would change greatly.

 

[Visceir]

Finished the game, final playtime was 57 hours. Think I'll wait for some mods and DLC before I start another playthrough.

 

[Sloegr]

Definitely. Dont sweat the DLC. The only one of note is the Wardens Keep which is just a questline worth 1 hour or so.. the storage container that is its star feature has already been taken care of by toolset creations. The other DLC, The Stone Prisoner, comes free with the purchase of any DA as long as its sealed so no worries there unless you buy used.

That's good to hear. I have a hard time believing all the hype for the game, to be honest. If I end up liking it half as much as BG2, it'll be money well spent.

 

[kitzkozan]

So, the reason I found the game so difficult on the first play through was that I didn't approach it with my WoW experience, but instead with my Mass Effect experience (only western party-based RPG I can recall playing, the rest was solo like Witcher, Oblivion, etc). Only problem with that is you cannot play this game like Mass effect, where you can just kill everything and your party is only really there to chill out while you handle the baddies.

Once I started reading the thread and seeing the terms Tank, DPS, etc it all made sense. Doing a second playthrough and mixing up strategies is making it so much better. I now look at the game's dungeons as instances in WoW as opposed to a dungeon run in Oblivion, and it finally clicked. I can now play on normal with relative ease and can struggle through some fights on hard (though a single Revenant will still bend me over and fuck me from hell to back before he's done, and boss fights tend to take at least a couple wipes to figure out properly.)

On my first run I had Dog, a dual-wielding warrior, Morrigan(with arcane warrior spec, not spirit healer) and Ohgren as my main party, with no skills in traps, none in poisons, everybody on herbalism or something retarded like that, and I had to play on easy because that shit was impossible(no res spells, Morrigan's tactics were still focused on dps as a secondary function, when it really should have been nothing but heals, etc). Now I play with two mages, one for heals while the other is a mix, Sten tanking using taunt every chance he gets, and a rogue to handle DPS (soon I'll set up as a ranger and have a pet to DPS/secondary tank) and everything is clicking so much more. Pulling mobs, worrying about who has aggro, setting up traps and poisons to inhibit the enemies...my god, it makes the combat slightly easier but more importantly its like 5 times more interesting to play.

Completely agree with you.

My WoW experience is really kicking in and the game is becoming easier.It's still somewhat hard,since I currently lack healing and large pack of mobs can rip my main character(as the main tank) in a matter of seconds if the heal doesn't come fast enough from Morrigan who's doing both healing and dps. :lol

I need a mage as a dedicated healer and the other as a CC/aoe nuke to clear the trash.

This is the first Bioware game where I truly enjoy the combat,even if it's rather cliche since it's the classic mmorpg staple of having a tank,heal and dps.It's nothing new,but it does work like a charm even in a single player rpg.

 

[Pyke Presco]

Completely agree with you.

My WoW experience is really kicking in and the game is becoming easier.It's still somewhat hard,since I currently lack healing and large pack of mobs can rip my main character(as the main tank) in a matter of seconds if the heal doesn't come fast enough from Morrigan who's doing both healing and dps. :lol

I need a mage as a dedicated healer and the other as a CC/aoe nuke to clear the trash.

This is the first Bioware game where I truly enjoy the combat,even if it's rather cliche since it's the classic mmorpg staple of having a tank,heal and dps.It's nothing new,but it does work like a charm even in a single player rpg.

That experience basically describes my entire first playthrough. Morrigan mixing up her spells so that heals werent coming fast and furious when I needed them meaning wipes unless the difficulty was dumbed down to easy, and I didnt really feel like microing through her tactics trees to make things better, I just picked a preset and kept the game moving forwards.

Now though, it clicked and I get it, and like you said, having two mages, one for crowd control and off heals with the other focused on healing does the trick much better. And yeah, I actually love the combat in the game now that I've figured it out. I just needed to get the right mindset for it.

 

[epmode]

This is the first Bioware game where I truly enjoy the combat,even if it's rather cliche since it's the classic mmorpg staple of having a tank,heal and dps.It's nothing new,but it does work like a charm even in a single player rpg.

I've been wanting a single-player MMORPG-style game for ages. Threat generation, aggro and crowd control are interesting mechanics, especially if your strategy isn't entirely in the hands of your typical WoW mouthbreathers.

 

[jabipun]

What the fuck?


(X360)
I can't load my game. It says that I'm missing DLC Feral Wolf Charm (bitch, I'm not missing shit). It also gives me an error saying the EA serves can't be contacted (preventing me from redownloading the Wolf Charm).

I never deleted that DLC from my HDD.

I also don't know if when the EA servers go back up - how it's going to work. Since the gamestop code (I already used it). So even when the servers go back up, the code I have won't work.

I swear the world's biggest morons handled the DLC in this game. You first have to input your code for it, then you have to boot up the game and download it from the menu, which then kicks you out so you have to reload your save, go back into the menu and donwload the other dlc - and then rinse and repeat.

 

[epmode]

What the fuck?

I can't load my game. It says that I'm missing DLC Feral Wolf Charm (bitch, I'm not missing shit). It also gives me an error saying the EA serves can't be contacted (preventing me from redownloading the Wolf Charm).

It's a little crazy that you actually need to be logged in to the game servers at all times or you're unable to use your DLC.

Pirates win again I guess.

 

[markot]

Just wait a minute and try again, happens to me sometimes with the DLC.

And yeah it is pretty crappily set up and co so far >.<

 

[laserbeam]

What the fuck?

I can't load my game. It says that I'm missing DLC Feral Wolf Charm (bitch, I'm not missing shit). It also gives me an error saying the EA serves can't be contacted (preventing me from redownloading the Wolf Charm).

I never deleted that DLC from my HDD.

I also don't know if when the EA servers go back up - how it's going to work. Since the gamestop code (I already used it). So even when the servers go back up, the code I have won't work.

I swear the world's biggest morons handled the DLC in this game. You first have to input your code for it, then you have to boot up the game and download it from the menu, which then kicks you out so you have to reload your save, go back into the menu and donwload the other dlc - and then rinse and repeat.

The dlc method really is atrocious. Especially considering looking around the net All of the DLC has already been cracked.

Again legit users get to deal with all the hassles while pirates can use the dlc without server checks etc

 

[Danne-Danger]

I swear the world's biggest morons handled the DLC in this game. You first have to input your code for it, then you have to boot up the game and download it from the menu, which then kicks you out so you have to reload your save, go back into the menu and donwload the other dlc - and then rinse and repeat.

Yeah no shit. I had to work for around 4 hours in order to find a fix for my DLC. Turned out that the service for downloading it wouldn't start and I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get it running, official support didn't help with any of that.

In addition there's that infamous memory leak that's bothering me, the fact that I have to disable 2/3 cores to make certain areas load properly (dwarven city etc.), and I'm still facing random crashes during combat (which the devs seem to think is related to audio drivers). Oh and the “couldn’t connect to dragon age servers” sign keeps popping up if I’m not logged out.

I'm thinking of just shelving it and waiting for the next patch, the amount of issues I've been running into with this game is insane.

 

[epmode]

Again legit users get to deal with all the hassles while pirates can use the dlc without server checks etc

And not only that, pirates are able to use all of the exclusive DLC items at once, which is pretty much impossible for legitimate owners.

 

[Vinci]

I was so put off by the DLC method that I'm simply saving it for another playthrough. I can't be assed to screw around with this Mickey Mouse crap and I'm hoping that they'll hire someone competent to fix it up - or at least the mods will pop up by then and I will no longer give a damn.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Come to think of it, if you have a saved game with DLC activated on it, you pretty much have to logged in to the Bioware Social Network and have your DLC authenticated each time you boot up the game to be able to load your game, don't you? It seems like it takes a few seconds to authenticate DLC after booting up the game and I will often get an error if I immediately press the "resume" button. I guess that means that I cannot play the game offline at all once I activate the DLC and that is pretty shitty considering this is a single player-only game.

I might have to find that DLC crack just so I am not inconvenienced should my internet connection or EA's servers be down in the future.

 

[Twilight Princess]

having wynne in the party is like having your mom tagging along

 

[Deleted member 17706]

having wynne in the party is like having your mom tagging along

I think I'm going to just

Spoiler

kill her and barge my way into the tower

on my next character which I plan on turning into an evil berserker dwarf.

 

[Danne-Danger]

Come to think of it, if you have a saved game with DLC activated on it, you pretty much have to logged in to the Bioware Social Network and have your DLC authenticated each time you boot up the game to be able to load your game, don't you? It seems like it takes a few seconds to authenticate DLC after booting up the game and I will often get an error if I immediately press the "resume" button. I guess that means that I cannot play the game offline at all once I activate the DLC and that is pretty shitty considering this is a single player-only game.

I might have to find that DLC crack just so I am not inconvenienced should my internet connection or EA's servers be down in the future.

I'm playing logged out and am having no issues with the DLC. When I was logged in I needed to activate the authentication service each time I started it up.

So yeah, the social network stuff is nothing but a huge pile of shit. To put it lightly.