Ya know, there's this one thing that's always bothered me about Mass Effect and now DA... People treated Specters in ME as supermen of a sort. But really, you're visually just another soldier in battlearmor and carrying a gun. Not that remarkable, right? Same issue here in DA. I come up on some wounded soldier and he somehow knows that I'm a Grey Warden. But uh, how would he know that? I look just like any conscripted bum with a suit of armor and a shield and sword. How does my appearance look like a Grey Warden? Not to mention, I wasn't technically a Grey Warden yet. Shouldn't a Grey Warden look like some uber knight with shiny bling or something? I just, I dunno what to think here. There's absolutely nothing to distinguish a Grey Warden from any regular soldier. Why would any NPC talk about Wardens in hushed tones of reverence, when there's no visual indicator that a Warden is among them? I don't get it. KOTOR was a different matter cause it's obviously easy to tell a Jedi with a lightsaber from any regular soldier wielding some vibroblade. I was thinking about this too actually. In ME I figured you were the first human Specter and it was kind of a big deal. If the humans of the future are as obsessed with celebrity as they are today then there are probably Commander Shepard posters and action figures all over the Systems Alliance . However in DA there really is nothing to distinguish you from Joe Average. Also, apparently sketch artists in Ferelden are spot fucking on cause I swear every bounty hunter / random thug can spot you out of a crowd in an instant.

This is what gets me. This stuff worked before. Warden's Keep worked. Shale worked. Blood Dragon Armor worked. It all worked fine. Then after installing the first patch, Warden's Keep stopped working. I reinstalled it. Wouldn't work. I reinstalled the game itself. Then Shale completely broke, wiping out all of its learned talents. Now Shale won't even reinstall. This is clownshoes territory here, and coming from Bioware is inexcusable. I'm not having any problems but you can't look at the ridiculous DLC launcher/log in system and not think "this is a disaster waiting to happen". What happens when you want to play but don't have interweb access? You can play just fine, I've found. No issue with that at all.

This is what gets me. This stuff worked before. Warden's Keep worked. Shale worked. Blood Dragon Armor worked. It all worked fine. Then after installing the first patch, Warden's Keep stopped working. I reinstalled it. Wouldn't work. I reinstalled the game itself. Then Shale completely broke, wiping out all of its learned talents. Now Shale won't even reinstall. This is clownshoes territory here, and coming from Bioware is inexcusable. I'm not having any problems but you can't look at the ridiculous DLC launcher/log in system and not think "this is a disaster waiting to happen". What happens when you want to play but don't have interweb access? You can play just fine, I've found. No issue with that at all. Yeah, but you don't have access to the DLC to begin with.

I've had a couple of instances where I was locked out of my saves because "the owner of required DLC content must be logged in". This was despite me actually being logged in. Fixed it by quitting and starting the game a couple of times, but it does worry me about what happens when my internet connection, or their servers, go down.

Haven spoilers, in which I morrigan so much Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Guardian: Alistair, you're a whiny little girl! Leliana, you're an attention-starved nutjob! AND YOU, MORRIGAN... Morrigan: wtf spirit, stfu. Guardian: shutting up, sorry. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Did you pour the blood in or just do it normally? If so, does Leliana attack you? Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Wynne does.

I finally got Shale working again, but of course his talents are still fuckered. Since I truly do not feel like downloading the toolset again just to fix his stuff, I'm going to not even bother with him this playthrough.

This is what gets me. This stuff worked before. Warden's Keep worked. Shale worked. Blood Dragon Armor worked. It all worked fine. Then after installing the first patch, Warden's Keep stopped working. I reinstalled it. Wouldn't work. I reinstalled the game itself. Then Shale completely broke, wiping out all of its learned talents. Now Shale won't even reinstall. This is clownshoes territory here, and coming from Bioware is inexcusable. I'm not having any problems but you can't look at the ridiculous DLC launcher/log in system and not think "this is a disaster waiting to happen". What happens when you want to play but don't have interweb access? You can play just fine, I've found. No issue with that at all. Yeah, but you don't have access to the DLC to begin with. Once the DLC is downloaded, you can still play with it. I never log in because I just get constant error pop ups while I'm trying to play and it's never stopped me from using the DLC.

I've had a couple of instances where I was locked out of my saves because "the owner of required DLC content must be logged in". This was despite me actually being logged in. Fixed it by quitting and starting the game a couple of times, but it does worry me about what happens when my internet connection, or their servers, go down. Then I'm sure we're fucked. Of course, the question is how do we even tell if the DLC shit gets worse? This is about as bad a system as I can imagine already.

Haven spoilers, in which I morrigan so much Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Guardian: Alistair, you're a whiny little girl! Leliana, you're an attention-starved nutjob! AND YOU, MORRIGAN... Morrigan: wtf spirit, stfu. Guardian: shutting up, sorry. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Did you pour the blood in or just do it normally? If so, does Leliana attack you? Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Wynne does. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler They both do. I had them with me when I did it to unlock Reaver.

I'm gonna have to reload an old save to unlock the Reaver.

So i got Wade to make me all the armours he is able to, now this Herren prick wont let me browse his wares, is Felon Coat possible to get then ?

Oh ho ho, Red Cliffe spoilers. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler I LOVE it when I'm so awesome and the villain knows it too. Not only did I get a free talent from the demon (after unlocking blood specialization and reloading), I forced her to also let the boy go.

2 seconds of one conversation with Morrigan: +20 approval 5 minutes of one conversation with Alistair: +1 approval Grrrrr.

2 seconds of one conversation with Morrigan: +20 approval 5 minutes of one conversation with Alistair: +1 approval Grrrrr. Alistair always gives small approval increases, but he seems to have a lot more opportunities to raise his approval than most other party members do.

So, it seems that a solo rogue or mage run may be viable. After looking around in the toolset and toolset wiki I stumbled across this. Code:     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------     // Georg: This deserves some explanation:     //     //        One of the core issues when designing the combat system was always     //        the fact that the story called for sequences during the game in which     //        your main character acts solo.     //     //        Characters reliant on special abilities, such as rogues, would require     //        them to be very effective in order to beat enemies that a standard tank     //        can plow through. However, if these abilities would maintain the same     //        effectiveness in a full party, most encounters would turn into a stunfest.     //     //        The solution is to add 1 second flat to each detrimental effect duration     //        lasting at least 1 second for each unoccupied slot in the party - before applying     //        rank and difficulty modifiers. This also makes solo play a bit more viable.     //     //        This is in addition to the diminishing returns on quickly successive stuns.     //     // ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It appears that this scales through all parts, not just stuns. I may eventually go for a solo run afterall.

A rogue with combat stealth could probably solo most of the game with enough health pots, even on hard. Some optional bosses might be too tough though.

So, it seems that a solo rogue or mage run may be viable. After looking around in the toolset and toolset wiki I stumbled across this. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Code:     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------     // Georg: This deserves some explanation:     //     //        One of the core issues when designing the combat system was always     //        the fact that the story called for sequences during the game in which     //        your main character acts solo.     //     //        Characters reliant on special abilities, such as rogues, would require     //        them to be very effective in order to beat enemies that a standard tank     //        can plow through. However, if these abilities would maintain the same     //        effectiveness in a full party, most encounters would turn into a stunfest.     //     //        The solution is to add 1 second flat to each detrimental effect duration     //        lasting at least 1 second for each unoccupied slot in the party - before applying     //        rank and difficulty modifiers. This also makes solo play a bit more viable.     //     //        This is in addition to the diminishing returns on quickly successive stuns.     //     // ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It appears that this scales through all parts, not just stuns. I may eventually go for a solo run afterall. Using my rogue MC was a blast in the parts designed for solo play Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The fade sequence and Orzammar arena , and once I got momentum, I often didn't even bother moving the rest of the party up for anything less than a half dozen people

Someone in this thread asked if it makes a difference to go to certain areas of the game first. From what I experienced, the game becomes easier if you do the recruiting in a certain way. The mages tower for example is relatively easy when you're right out of Ostagar and it gives you a ton of permanent stat boosts that can mean the difference between getting 4th tier abilities/spells early or not. You can also get Templar Armor for Alistair, which is pretty good. Redcliffe and the Forest seem to be somewhere in the middle and Orzammar is the hardest (obviously). Now for something completely different: Either my game is bugged and set to easy without me knowing or I'm just THAT good. I'm playing on hard with Shale as my tank, Dog, Leiliana and myself as a prima/healing mage. I never really had any problems until now. I did the mages tower and Redcliffe and the only really hard fight was in Denerim during Leilianas quest. I also have the archery fix installed. I honestly have the feeling something is wrong with my game.

From watching my roommate play, I have the idea that this game is really easy to play poorly. That is to say, it doesn't teach you much about how to be successful at it's combat. If you're a veteran of the bioware school of micropause combat you'll do much better on the higher difficulties than if you have no previous exposure to it. Roomie will let combat go for 15-20 seconds at a time, either watching or playing his characters on the fly. And I sit there fidgeting, not wanting to criticize a dude but goddamn I would have issued like a million commands in that time

A rogue with combat stealth could probably solo most of the game with enough health pots, even on hard. Some optional bosses might be too tough though. I can't see how that'd be possible. Even on easy with combat stealth, it wasn't until very late in the game that I could stealth during a boss fight. And if you ever got picked up by and ogre or dragon, you'd be fucked.

So, it seems that a solo rogue or mage run may be viable. After looking around in the toolset and toolset wiki I stumbled across this. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Code:     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------     // Georg: This deserves some explanation:     //     //        One of the core issues when designing the combat system was always     //        the fact that the story called for sequences during the game in which     //        your main character acts solo.     //     //        Characters reliant on special abilities, such as rogues, would require     //        them to be very effective in order to beat enemies that a standard tank     //        can plow through. However, if these abilities would maintain the same     //        effectiveness in a full party, most encounters would turn into a stunfest.     //     //        The solution is to add 1 second flat to each detrimental effect duration     //        lasting at least 1 second for each unoccupied slot in the party - before applying     //        rank and difficulty modifiers. This also makes solo play a bit more viable.     //     //        This is in addition to the diminishing returns on quickly successive stuns.     //     // ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It appears that this scales through all parts, not just stuns. I may eventually go for a solo run afterall. Using my rogue MC was a blast in the parts designed for solo play Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The fade sequence and Orzammar arena , and once I got momentum, I often didn't even bother moving the rest of the party up for anything less than a half dozen people Same here. The biggest obstacle to me starting a new game is the fact that I wouldn't want to be a rogue twice in a row. But they're so awesome. There was one section later on, where it was the perfect, "I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!" moment. If I start over anytime soon, it might be as a solo rogue.

Have these threads slowed down to reasonable yet?

Last thread lasted 4 days. So, it's a lot better than multiple a day.

So. Shimmering Shield is like flipping God Mode on. Cool balance Bioware broskis. Not that I'm complaining. Tanking as a mage with 12 constitution is quite the experience.

I have some arcane warrior questions. Should I just go all out for magic and con and go blood mage as well? And assuming I do this, is there any effective limit to the number of sustains I can run with blood magic up? Can I just run them all as long as I don't actually try to use any mana?