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[Zeliard]

...wha?

I probably spent like 300 gold on crafting in my play through because of how incredibly powerful it was.

potions, lyrium potions, swift salves, the high level poisons which you can stack together? Awesome.

Crafting is huge. I don't know why anybody would play a rogue without giving them access to the various blade coatings.

 

[Confidence Man]

Just finished the Mage's Tower. Surprising that not one of my decisions influenced my companions at all, especially given how invested Morrigan and Alastair were in the whole Mages vs. Templar debate early on in the game.

Specifically the point where

Spoiler

you find a Templar posessed, and you have the option of leaving him alive with the demon or killing them both. I tried it both ways and neither Morrigan, Wynne, or Alastair cared one way or another.

In general it seems like after you get to the point where you can choose where to go the companions' responses to your decisions drops off dramatically.

 

[slayn]

I will say the one big problem I had with crafting, especially the salves and bombs, was that it had waaaay too much of a focus on the elements.

The game does not give the player anywhere near enough information to actually be able to make use of elements. The coatings for example which change your damage to, say, nature damage. What does that accomplish? What monsters are weak/strong to nature damage? After beat the game I have no idea whatsoever.

It would have been so much better if the bombs and coatings were tied to status effects instead. As such, I found the coatings and a lot of the salves to be sell fooder.

But the poisons and swift/rock salve were great.

 

[syllogism]

True story: I never bought or made a single potion

 

[AndyD]

...wha?

I probably spent like 300 gold on crafting in my play through because of how incredibly powerful it was.

potions, lyrium potions, swift salves, the high level poisons which you can stack together? Awesome.

edit:
also in regards to attribute points, for the most part I did this:
mages take magic and will
rogues take dex and cun
tanks take str and con

each class had 2 attributes that were "theirs." I think any sort of feeling of being stretched out comes from you trying to make a jack of all trades melee character. One who can tank, AND dps, AND use skills like coercion AND maybe do some CC.

You don't need willpower to tank at all really. Just enough to activate a couple modes like threaten and shield defense and use the occasional taunt.

The problem I think starts when you have cross classes. Like an archer type. It causes a warrior focused on dexterity not strength.

Also, I never use poisons and traps, maybe I should start and maybe they will make my life a bit easier.

 

[slayn]

Bows use dex right?

I would expect an archer warrior to be dex/will

you would need a minimal of strength for medium armor, high dex, high will for talents, no magic, minimal cunning, and no con.

edit:
the thing to realize about poisons is that you can use more than one. Going up against a boss? Mix 6 different poisons and use them all simultaneously. Seriously half my hotbar for my MC rogue at the end of the game was poisons and bombs.

 

[JudgeN]

True story: I never bought or made a single potion

Playing on easy?

Playing on Hard and I have used very single potion Ive made/bought. I sometimes wish vendors had unlimited potions like in other RPG's. Only been playing 10 hours or so and I did both DLC areas before starting the main quest, which probably wasn't a good idea:lol

 

[AndyD]

Bows use dex right?

I would expect an archer warrior to be dex/will

you would need a minimal of strength for medium armor, high dex, high will for talents, no magic, minimal cunning, and no con.

edit:
the thing to realize about poisons is that you can use more than one. Going up against a boss? Mix 6 different poisons and use them all simultaneously. Seriously half my hotbar for my MC rogue at the end of the game was poisons and bombs.

by default they use half str half dex I think. which is weird. which is why the mod makes it all dex or mostly dex.

I think part of the issue is also that people want to play the story and dialogue as well. Without str you cant intimidate well. Without cunning, you cant persuade. And so people put points into those as well on top of what they actually need.

So if you make a character that is the archer hybrid mentioned, he wont put enough into either str or cunning since neither directly benefits the fighting build.

I think when people mention unbalance they mean each point is pretty precious, and you cant spread out almost at all.

 

[Anerythristic]

You guys scare me I am playing a balanced Rogue. I think my strength is never more than 6 points below my dexterity. I librally switch from dual dagger to long sword or axe at the main hand depending on the fight.

I even have my constitution at like 22 at this point, I actually keep raising my constitution as I notice my Rogues life getting dangerously low in a major fight.

You guys seem to only be dumping points in dext. or cunning.

 

[syllogism]

Playing on easy?

Playing on Hard and I have used very single potion Ive made/bought. I sometimes wish vendors had unlimited potions like in other RPG's. Only been playing 10 hours or so and I did both DLC areas before starting the main quest, which probably wasn't a good idea:lol

I played on hard and the last fourth on nightmare. I did the DLC areas first as well.

 

[taylor910]

Only been playing 10 hours or so and I did both DLC areas before starting the main quest, which probably wasn't a good idea:lol

Because it made it too easy?

 

[Shake Appeal]

You guys seem to only be dumping points in dext. or cunning.

I dumped all of mine in strength and dexterity until I could dual wield longswords.

 

[Philthy]

This may have been mentioned a million times, but.. Is the DLC worth getting? I bought the standard version from Steam. I'm playing on Normal, and find it challenging, but not over the top yet. I've just gone into the Mage tower after Lothering.

It's kind of low class to see some guy in my camp with a quest ! above his head and then says you can continue his quest if you purchase the DLC. Pulls you right out of the freakin game. How about just not having anyone there until you buy the DLC?

 

[Tobor]

You guys scare me I am playing a balanced Rogue. I think my strength is never more than 6 points below my dexterity. I librally switch from dual dagger to long sword or axe at the main hand depending on the fight.

I even have my constitution at like 22 at this point, I actually keep raising my constitution as I notice my Rogues life getting dangerously low in a major fight.

You guys seem to only be dumping points in dext. or cunning.

You shouldn't be putting very many points in constitution. Mine's at 14 or 15 I think. And give up on the daggers. Once you unlock the ability to wield two main hand weapons, never look back.

 

[JudgeN]

I played on hard and the last fourth on nightmare. I did the DLC areas first as well.

You are a tactical god, I'm getting having a enjoyable but difficult time on hard.

Because it made it too easy?

Na, used up all of the little healing items I had. I had to bump the ending of Warden Keep to easy

Spoiler

Fighting 4 waves of demons because I could not win on hard with 1-2 healing items

I can't imagine how hard this game is on nightmare.

 

[Vinci]

YI can't imagine how hard this game is on nightmare.

Pretty damn hard.

 

[Confidence Man]

You guys scare me I am playing a balanced Rogue. I think my strength is never more than 6 points below my dexterity. I librally switch from dual dagger to long sword or axe at the main hand depending on the fight.

I even have my constitution at like 22 at this point, I actually keep raising my constitution as I notice my Rogues life getting dangerously low in a major fight.

You guys seem to only be dumping points in dext. or cunning.

With one of the talents (Lethality?) attack damage is modified by Cunning instead of Strength.

 

[Tokubetsu]

With one of the talents (Lethality?) attack damage is modified by Cunning instead of Strength.

Yeah, there literally is no point to put pts into STR after you get that. Get your str to like 24/25 tops and then itemize to 27 so you can equip some of the later swords/weapons. that's it.

 

[lorddarkflare]

Yeah, there literally is no point to put pts into STR after you get that. Get your str to like 24/25 tops and then itemize to 27 so you can equip some of the later swords/weapons. that's it.

I would suggest that he itemizes to 31 to equip the axe you get in the camp shop.

 

[Mindlog]

Not being balanced is sort of part of the fun in an indirect way, as it promotes wonderfully masochistic game difficulty mods that are tuned to give challenge to powergamer builds.

I think some of the spells in the game are just a little too good ( notably Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, Force Field, and Mana Clash), but outside of that and the tankmage silliness it's pretty balanced.

I'm not sold on Blizzard/Tempest being so bad outside of the way LOS requirements on the PC version work so that you can cast it "over" a wall. If you're just using it to make a choke/kill point you can do that almost as well with traps.

Tankmage is so rad :lol
I wish my dog could be a mage. 4 mage party to breeze through the game.

I only now noticed that combat training increases the damage a mage can take before a spell is interrupted. This would have been nice to know earlier.

I'm playing the deep roads again and I knew this would happen. I'd get 1/2 way in and realize I missed a key pickup so I can't do a quest. Now I have to trudge back through the levels trying to find 1 freaking item gahhhhhh.

 

[lorddarkflare]

Pretty damn hard.

Not very.

If you micro, set up your gambits properly, and chose the correct party members, the game is easy on Nightmare.

Hell, i got to the revenant in redcliffe today, and he was cake (i could have done it withiut Wynne)

 

[Anerythristic]

Thanks for the tips, but doesn't Axe or Longsword use only Stren. for damage calculation?

What exactly is the skill that lets you wield two main weapons?

 

[lorddarkflare]

Tankmage is so rad :lol
I wish my dog could be a mage. 4 mage party to breeze through the game.

I only now noticed that combat training increases the damage a mage can take before a spell is interrupted. This would have been nice to know earlier.

I'm playing the deep roads again and I knew this would happen. I'd get 1/2 way in and realize I missed a key pickup so I can't do a quest. Now I have to trudge back through the levels trying to find 1 freaking item gahhhhhh.

Which pickup?

 

[Vinci]

Not very.

If you micro, set up your gambits properly, and chose the correct party members, the game is easy on Nightmare.

Hell, i got to the revenant in redcliffe today, and he was cake (i could have done it withiut Wynne)

From a more casual viewpoint, I mean. I'm lucky when I can play the thing for an hour here and there. From my perspective, Nightmare is doable but very challenging. For example, I wouldn't know 'the correct party members' if I tried to think it through carefully. I just do whatever is fun at the time.

 

[Mindlog]

Which pickup?

Spoiler

IIRC I have the head and the torso. No legs. It's the quest where you put them together on the alter then a demon spawns.

Or something. I just remember I'm missing 1.



*** Went to check. I'm missing

Spoiler

The legs which are found in Aeducan Thaig

.

Nope, no drop with it just killing a demon.

 

[lorddarkflare]

From a more casual viewpoint, I mean. I'm lucky when I can play the thing for an hour here and there. From my perspective, Nightmare is doable but very challenging. For example, I wouldn't know 'the correct party members' if I tried to think it through carefully. I just do whatever is fun at the time.

I know what you mean. I was afraid of NM unitl i tried and saw how easy it was.

I think i was lucky with my setup.

 

[Tokubetsu]

Spoiler

IIRC I have the head and the torso. No legs. It's the quest where you put them together on the alter then a demon spawns.

Or something. I just remember I'm missing 1.

Wow, pretty sure I only got

Spoiler

The head.

. Any cool loot for doing it? I hate the deep roads.

 

[slayn]

For rogues I'm pretty sure the highest dps way to go is to put almost all of your points in strength and use an axe in your main hand and a dagger in your off hand.

The problem with lethality is that it only takes over the damage portion, not the attack portion. I could be wrong, but I suspect a high cunning rogue might have accuracy problems.

Also, when backstabbing you only use your main hand weapon. So you should think of your offhand weapon not as a weapon, but as another equipment slot that adds to your main hand. And daggers that add +x% to crit damage are the way to go. In addition, you will backstab faster with an axe/dagger combo than you will with an axe/axe combo.

The reason for an axe is that it is as fast as a longsword, but has high damage and has a much higher ability modifier than daggers. So an axe wielding rogue gets more out of their strength than a dagger wielding rogue gets out of their dexterity.

Also, only base damage and attribute damage gets multiplied for crit/backstab damage. Anything else that adds damage just gets added at the end. So for example, an axe that gives +3 strength is waaaaay better than an axe that gives +3 damage.

 

[Zeliard]

How do you actually trigger the fight with the hermit in the forest?

And what's up with that Revenant that's at the tombstone near him? He's much harder than the other ones. I'm assuming he just doesn't scale.

 

[Vinci]

How do you actually trigger the fight with the hermit in the forest?

I think I exhausted all possible conversation options with him, then was able to attack him. Can't recall at the moment though.

 

[Basileus777]

How do you actually trigger the fight with the hermit in the forest?

And what's up with that Revenant that's at the tombstone near him? He's much harder than the other ones. I'm assuming he just doesn't scale.

Put your hand into the tree stump and he'll attack you.

 

[slayn]

How do you actually trigger the fight with the hermit in the forest?

And what's up with that Revenant that's at the tombstone near him? He's much harder than the other ones. I'm assuming he just doesn't scale.

for the Revenant:

Spoiler

There are a collection of tombstones in the forset that each activate a Revenant. and they have specific drops which combine to be the juggernaut armor, one of the best armor sets in the game. So it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't scale at all.

 

[Psy-Phi]

You guys scare me I am playing a balanced Rogue. I think my strength is never more than 6 points below my dexterity. I librally switch from dual dagger to long sword or axe at the main hand depending on the fight.

I even have my constitution at like 22 at this point, I actually keep raising my constitution as I notice my Rogues life getting dangerously low in a major fight.

You guys seem to only be dumping points in dext. or cunning.

There's not a single person in my game that has a constitution above 18. I'm level 16, parties 15/16, warriors have 18. Mages have whatever they started with (my mage has 16 though, due to me being an Arcane Warrior and beatin shit up face to face.

Con doesn't seem that important in this game. It's what I'll dump points into after every char can wear what I want them to wear.

Seems you're too used to playing MMO's where life > all stats?

But seriously, the only person that dies in a battle are my rogues. Because my tank is too dumb with the AI only and I get sick of micromanaging the entire thing (love when I see my chars just standing there).

 

[Zeliard]

I think I exhausted all possible conversation options with him, then was able to attack him. Can't recall at the moment though.

I think I may have screwed up, because I managed to trade for two items with him, but with the third one I didn't have anything to trade for and sort of tried bullshitting him. After that, he refused to talk to me anymore. :lol

Put your hand into the tree stump and he'll attack you.

I think I tried that but it didn't do anything of note. I'll try it again, maybe it'll trigger after I've already spoken to him.

for the Revenant:

Spoiler

There are a collection of tombstones in the forset that each activate a Revenant. and they have specific drops which combine to be the juggernaut armor, one of the best armor sets in the game. So it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't scale at all.

Ah, good to know. Yeah, that would definitely explain it. That was by a large margin the toughest enemy encounter I've faced so far.

 

[Anerythristic]

There's not a single person in my game that has a constitution above 18. I'm level 16, parties 15/16, warriors have 18. Mages have whatever they started with (my mage has 16 though, due to me being an Arcane Warrior and beatin shit up face to face.

Con doesn't seem that important in this game. It's what I'll dump points into after every char can wear what I want them to wear.

Seems you're too used to playing MMO's where life > all stats?

But seriously, the only person that dies in a battle are my rogues. Because my tank is too dumb with the AI only and I get sick of micromanaging the entire thing (love when I see my chars just standing there).

I don't know I was dumping points into Con. and I am playing the Rogue character slowly, I'm a little over 20 hours and I think in my entire party the max. number of injuries on any character is 2, I attributed that to Constitution.

Thanks for the tips, but doesn't Axe or Longsword use only Stren. for damage calculation?

What exactly is the skill that lets you wield two main weapons?

Honestly can anybody answer these, I just don't want to gimp this Rogue character, I like him.

 

[slayn]

axes and longswords both only use strength *for damage*. So do daggers, actually, unless you are on PC using the dex hotfix. Everything uses both str and dex for accuracy.

The far upper right two weapon talent lets you use two 1 handed weapons and lowers stamina used for all two weapon talents by something like 3%. I see that as more for fighters than rogues though. A rogue you want to keep a dagger in your off hand for the faster attack speed.

Don't trust the dps listed on your character screen in game for duel wielding. It is wrong.

edit:
I should mention that having a rogue with a mix of high str/dex/cun is perfectly viable. If your MC is your only rogue, you probably want 25-30 cunning for lockingpicking and persuasion, a minimum of 26-30 dex for talents (especially momentum, get this asap), and then whatever amount of strength based on what you are trying to achieve. Probably a minimum of 20 strength for high tier medium armor.

I don't think the talent that lets you duel wield large weapons is any good for rogues at all, but that is just my opinion. I consider that a warrior talent more than a rogue one.

 

[Arde5643]

So I'm trying to bed Morrigan and as such don't really care about how I do it, but in regards to her "personal quest":

Spoiler

Is anything bad gonna happen since I didn't kill Flemeth?

In regards to Morrigan's personal quest:

Spoiler

Flemmeth will take Morrigan's body at the end if you didn't kill her

 

[Tokubetsu]

In regards to Morrigan's personal quest:

Spoiler

Flemmeth will take Morrigan's body at the end if you didn't kill her

I didn't see that in my ending.

 

[whatevermort]

There's not a single person in my game that has a constitution above 18. I'm level 16, parties 15/16, warriors have 18. Mages have whatever they started with (my mage has 16 though, due to me being an Arcane Warrior and beatin shit up face to face.

What about Shale? I used him all the time, and he needed the constitution. Plus, it starts at around 25 or something, doesn't it?

 

[Woo-Fu]

What about Shale? I used him all the time, and he needed the constitution. Plus, it starts at around 25 or something, doesn't it?

Shale is a crappy tank, in my experience, regardless of its stats. It works ok as DPS melee and in that role it doesn't need extra con. I set it to Ranger and Aggressive and it killed the rest of the party with friendly fire, lol. Have to go over its tactics carefully.

 

[Zeliard]

Shale's very effective as a tank when you use him as an off-tank along with someone like Alistair, since Shale has some very useful unique talents like the Stone Aura party buff, which is easier to use when you've also got someone else there tanking. Along that same tree you can add armor bonuses to Shale when he's in Stone Aura, so with his high CON, you can basically have him buffing the entire party at the same time as he's aggro'ing enemies.

I've had those two dual-tanking for most of my game (ever since the world map opened up), with one mage and one rogue, and things have gone quite smoothly (PC version on Hard with the dex hotfix).

 

[Psy-Phi]

What about Shale? I used him all the time, and he needed the constitution. Plus, it starts at around 25 or something, doesn't it?

Forgot about Shale. Never use him, no idea what his stats are. But yes, he's useless. 10 wolves nearly killed the man. My Arcane Warrior can stand there against 10 wolves and not fret.

Next time I play though I want to take Shale with me through Orzimmar just to see if anything unique happens throughout that are of the campaign.

 

[slayn]

Shale's very effective as a tank when you use him as an off-tank along with someone like Alistair, since Shale has some very useful unique talents like the Stone Aura party buff, which is easier to use when you've also got someone else there tanking. Along that same tree you can add armor bonuses to Shale when he's in Stone Aura, so with his high CON, you can basically have him buffing the entire party at the same time as he's aggro'ing enemies.

I've had those two dual-tanking for most of my game (ever since the world map opened up), with one mage and one rogue, and things have gone quite smoothly (PC version on Hard with the dex hotfix).

same
MC rogue, Alistair, Shale, and Morrigan was my party for the whole game.

Shale starts out kind of crappy largely because all his talents build upon themselves. You really have to finish a talent row with him before he becomes good.

 

[lorddarkflare]

Shale is a crappy tank, in my experience, regardless of its stats. It works ok as DPS melee and in that role it doesn't need extra con. I set it to Ranger and Aggressive and it killed the rest of the party with friendly fire, lol. Have to go over its tactics carefully.

Nope.

Shale is the best tank in the game. The only issue is that he is so good at taking aggro, he can get overwhelmed if you do not prepare.

One good to remember is that he gets the best from matching sets of large/small crystals.

 

[bengraven]

In regards to Morrigan's personal quest:

Spoiler

Flemmeth will take Morrigan's body at the end if you didn't kill her

Why the fuck did I highlight that spoiler.

That's it, no more thread for me until I'm done. And I have a long way to go.

 

[Ventrue]

Enchantment?

 

[Median]

Enchantment?

Enchantment!

 

[Basileus777]

Nope.

Shale is the best tank in the game. The only issue is that he is so good at taking aggro, he can get overwhelmed if you do not prepare.

One good to remember is that he gets the best from matching sets of large/small crystals.

Late-game when you get access to the best equipment, Alistair is probably a better tank than Shale. With no real armor, Shale takes a lot more damage from attacks than someone in massive armor. It balances out though because he's great at drawing aggro and so good early on.

 

[Doytch]

Late-game when you get access to the best equipment, Alistair is probably a better tank than Shale. With no real armor, he takes a lot more damage from attacks than someone in massive armor. It balances out though because he's great at drawing aggro and so good early on.

Yeah, I finished around level 22, and I gave him the Dragon armor, the Lifegiver ring from the Orzammer merchant, Topsider's Hilt and the Redcliffe shield from the armory. Had high-400s health and was always the last to die.

But like a lot of people, I used him to tank, Shale to DPS in offense form, Morrigan for CC/heals and mine as archer.

 

[MirageDwarf]

Enchantment?

1. I want some enchanting done.

ENCHANTMENT!