Dragon Age

[sidereal]

I already did that, the problem is that the bad guys can cover 5-10 yards between battle starting and auto-pause kicking in plus your team effortlessly manage to fuck up their positioning in that period. This is often enough to fuck good aoe/cone positioning.

Also, the game likes to reset your position anyway.  My second attempt at the Revenant in the Dalish forest (with all the buddies) I spent five minutes getting everyone standing just where I wanted with hold position turned on, broke the vial, and, uh. . everyone was standing near the gravestone in a clump, mages with their backs to the baddies.  Thanks for that.

[Rasix]

That'll happen anytime there's a cutscene before a battle. There were some situations where I wanted to position before a chat, but once the cutscene kicked in it just auto-clumped me.  Kind of dumb, but it just meant my first action was sprinting people out of harms way.  

Lel never pulled out her sword/shield in my most recent playthrough, not once.  A fun tactic with her is to "attack lowest health" during a large part of the last area.  She just ends up clearing out those annoying grunt packs with ease.  

I kept my tactics pretty simple.  Just liked to use some to assist healing, buffing, and debuffing where necessary.  There's a few things to note: having all characters selected will turn off all tactics and don't position tactics in an order where something you want done will never be executed.

edit: actually, I really have no idea on the tactics are executed other than top to bottom.  I don't know if selecting a simple tactic like attacking a certain target could prevent you from being able to do other commands in certain situations.  Probably a bad assumption on my part.

[Ingmar]

I always put all my conditionals up at the top of the list just in case.

[Astorax]

Tactics are processed (generally) top to bottom.

The main problem is that the tactics respond to the "known" monsters...and some packs end up activating in tiers as THEY see your party.

So for example, you have a mob of 3 melee, 3 archers and 1 mage against you...the mage is in the way back and isn't initially triggered until you move forward that extra step.  The problem now is your NPCs are reacting to a group of 3 melee, 3 archers, and won't necessarily retrigger a tactics check until you issue a manual order, then unclick that hero.  So basically, if you have dog set to overpower nearest mage.   In the above scenario, dog wouldn't attack the mage until you click on dog, give him an order (to use an ability) and then once he completes THAT action, tactics would take back over and he'd go after the mage.

It's a bug that they're not totally sure how to fix without making tactics heartbeat, which would kill performance worse than it already gets hit.

[stray]

I take back the bad things I said about Sten. I finally got him in decent gear and he went from scrub to All-Pro. 


I was trying to figure out how I missed such a sweet drop like Lifegiver. 87 gold?? Now I know for sure I'm doin it rong  I guess I have to listen to Cab Calloway and kick the gong around, eh?

Yeah man, don't worry about gold. You always end up with plenty of gold to spare in the end, so that buy that sucka.

[Ingmar]

It does seem to be the case that there are more big ticket vendor items in the game than there is gold to buy them with, though.

[Yoru]

Thats nice but does it give you all the stat increases from running around?

No, but you could install the Talent Books mod and just give yourself the 21 attribute points if you liked (distribution here).

Are those points permanent? I could've sworn they disappeared when I left the fade. Maybe I just wasn't checking my attributes very closely.

[stray]

It does seem to be the case that there are more big ticket vendor items in the game than there is gold to buy them with, though.

That's definitely one worth buying though.. It's just a ring with nothing but goodsides.

With the Keep, I never felt a need to buy armor or weapons for myself. While my main party consisted of Wynne, Lel, and Shale -- probably the most affordable group there is.. None of them barely need a thing to be effective.

[tmp]

It does seem to be the case that there are more big ticket vendor items in the game than there is gold to buy them with, though.

Yes, playing with unexpanded inventory and spending some money on upgrading regular armour it seems pretty difficult to make enough money for more than 1-2 of these most expensive items. I rather like it, makes these items more rare and you get to try out different ones in various playthroughs.

[stray]

You should be getting good drops anyhow, and not need to buy things to upgrade.

Umm, well.. Actually, Rogues are kind of a pain to gear, I think. There's some Dalish and Crow stuff that's OK, but it seemed to be a rarer class of gear you come across. And then you have to spend a little on Poisons on top of that, etc..

Just about everywhere else, there's a decent Shield/Axe/Sword/Armor/Staff. What you don't find in loot is 87g rings or many (if any) grandmaster runes. And those skill point books are worth it too.

[edit] To top it off, I kept every single piece of "storied"/named gear in my keep inventory. I didn't sell any of it - and I still had about 90 gold at the end of the game before the Archdemon. If I sold that shit, it would have been two or three times as much gold at the very least. So I don't know what you guys are complaining about. If you were inclined to sell things you didn't need, you'd have a fuckton of money.

[Rasix]

In my latest play through I bought every skill and talent upgrade book available.  I bought every backpack extension.  The jewelry Stray mentioned and a few other expensive pieces.  I still ended the game with over 150g pocketed after buying a lot of crafting materials (that I didn't use).

Btw, lyrium smuggling is very profitable if you're willing be a bit of a bastard. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish on my newest play through without some careful planning.

[Segoris]

Btw, lyrium smuggling is very profitable if you're willing be a bit of a bastard. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish on my newest play through without some careful planning.

Is there a way to do it more then once? I was able to get a lower buying price in the dust town and higher selling price+dagger in the tower, but would love if there were to be another buyer to rip off

[Rasix]

You did go back to dust town and collect your errand fee right?  You can inflate that also.

[Ingmar]

I haven't tried smuggling yet, I always just pick a fight with the guy and take the 20 gold off his corpse. 

[stray]

Btw, lyrium smuggling is very profitable if you're willing be a bit of a bastard. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish on my newest play through without some careful planning.

Just getting the Mage Tower/Wynne out of the way as quick as possible is a good plan. She really doesn't need much gear - For me, she was wearing the same robes during the whole game. I also get Shale out of the way early. Whether you want the golem as a tank or beating ass, it works. That's two characters who won't suck you dry.

[Rasix]

Oh, I don't think Wynne will be around for long. 

[stray]

Heh well I just assumed, since you apparently played a smuggling prick on the other playthrough   I thought perhaps you wanted a group of ninnies on the new playthrough.

If I play again, it'll be evil dwarf, but I really enjoyed playing a good guy. I kept screwing around with many characters, and that just clicked. Having Shale prevented me from being completely lame however.

[Segoris]

You did go back to dust town and collect your errand fee right?  You can inflate that also.

Yeah, I was hoping there was a hidden 2nd buyer though. Oh, the sweet riches that would bring in 

[Segoris]

Yeah, Shale adds a lot of greatness to any party. Almost all of my favorite conversations between NPC party members involved him, and his kill-everything attitude is just  . I especially love the threat from Morrigan to turn into a bird hovering out of reach waiting until she has to crap, at which point Shale agrees to shut up.

[stray]

I got him to around 60 con, and he tanked the Archdemon like a champ. Never died once, even when Wynne finally died. Stone Aura is awesome too, and he can take a beating with it on as well. I never used him for much else, and tended to equip him with only the green crystals (I think they added more con and physical resistance).

[edit]

[Segoris]

Damn that's a lot of con. How much hp did he have? It must have been roughly 550 or so and what, ~60 physical resistance?

[stray]

483 health, and 56 resistance check. Armor 23. A few pots here and there kept him standing easily. He didn't do a lot of damage though. I tried my best to get things clustered on shale, and just beating on them with my warrior.

[edit]

[tmp]

The dialogues in this game just keep on giving.

(city elves get together)

- You're not cooking, are you?
- For that, I should go make you my special Denerim-rabbit stew.
- The one you make from rats?
- "Rabbits of the city," Cousin. Really, you've been away too long if that doesn't sound delicious.

[Segoris]

483 health, and 56 resistance check. Armor 23. A few pots here and there kept him standing easily. He didn't do a lot of damage though. I tried my best to get things clustered on shale, and just beating on them with my warrior.

[edit]

I'd love a stat of dmg reduction in the profile just to see how high that one playthrough is for Shale.

- "Rabbits of the city," Cousin. Really, you've been away too long if that doesn't sound delicious.

Hah, I missed that one. Nice.

[stray]

483 health, and 56 resistance check. Armor 23. A few pots here and there kept him standing easily. He didn't do a lot of damage though. I tried my best to get things clustered on shale, and just beating on them with my warrior.

[edit]

I'd love a stat of dmg reduction in the profile just to see how high that one playthrough is for Shale.

Yeah that'd be nice. Although I didn't fully play with him as tank. Sometimes Alistair. And even when it was just Shale, Leliana had a bear too. My own warrior had 40 con, not exactly a tank.. but he had 56 dex, heavy armor, so he didn't go down much. And then there was Wynne healing. A pretty well protected group.

[Strazos]

Damn, 56 dex on a warrior?

I actually kind of like Shale's buff mode. Right now I roll with my rogue, Alistair, Morrigan, and Shale.

[stray]

56 dex, and 47 strength.. and 40 con. He was a dual wielder, so the accuracy was important. His basic damage if I recall was 47 per swing (I think each hand?). Not sure what crits could do. He hit hard and often enough on basic shit that I barely even saw crits.  

[edit] Err.. Snipped some unnecessary build details. Ironically, I played this character to roleplay and didn't care how it panned out in combat. It just happened to work out right.

[Raguel]

re: gold. I don't know how much I had in my first playthrough, but I doubt I had 80+ gold at any one time. Course I had a ton of stuff back at the keep before the climax. If I sold off everything I probably could have gotten the ring.

I'm trying not to waste money this time by not purchasing item upgrades and making my own pots (although I haven't done the math on that; it better be cheaper this way, lol). It's kind of tough with the ranger,but Alistair holds agro well and I got Morrigan wtfpwning adds, so it's all good.


Right now I'm farming Uldred for xp and rubies  . Apparently he keeps coming back for more if you don't leave the Tower (well, he might come back anyway, I haven't tried it yet).

[caladein]

Thats nice but does it give you all the stat increases from running around?

No, but you could install the Talent Books mod and just give yourself the 21 attribute points if you liked (distribution here).

Are those points permanent? I could've sworn they disappeared when I left the fade. Maybe I just wasn't checking my attributes very closely.

They are indeed.  You'd notice it more if you had gotten to a specific value (16 Cunning or 20 Strength are two plateaus that spring to mind) and then did the Circle of Magi tower.

[stray]

re: gold. I don't know how much I had in my first playthrough, but I doubt I had 80+ gold at any one time. Course I had a ton of stuff back at the keep before the climax. If I sold off everything I probably could have gotten the ring.

The most I had at once was like 174.. and like I said, I pointlessly hoarded loot in my keep inventory too. I could have had a bit more. Are you sure you're scouring each level and looting? I know it can be laborious sometimes, but it's worth it imo. Worth it to have a lockpicker in the group too.

[Raguel]

re: gold. I don't know how much I had in my first playthrough, but I doubt I had 80+ gold at any one time. Course I had a ton of stuff back at the keep before the climax. If I sold off everything I probably could have gotten the ring.

The most I had at once was like 174.. and like I said, I pointlessly hoarded loot in my keep inventory too. I could have had a bit more. Are you sure you're scouring each level and looting? I know it can be laborious sometimes, but it's worth it imo. Worth it to have a lockpicker in the group too.

First time through I had no rogues at all. I didn't do much in Lothering; instead I basically went straight to Redcliffe, and then the Circle. I don't remember if I killed the assasin or just let him go.   I also left a lot of loot behind because I didn't buy backpacks until I was around 15+ or so.  I'm taking the time to loot everything in sight now ;)

Speaking of which, I may have been wrong about Uldred. He may only come back (after you reload the zone) if he still has loot on his body :)  I don't think he's worth the effort in terms of xp. wasted a bunch of pots on him

[Velorath]

re: gold. I don't know how much I had in my first playthrough, but I doubt I had 80+ gold at any one time. Course I had a ton of stuff back at the keep before the climax. If I sold off everything I probably could have gotten the ring.

I'm trying not to waste money this time by not purchasing item upgrades and making my own pots (although I haven't done the math on that; it better be cheaper this way, lol). It's kind of tough with the ranger,but Alistair holds agro well and I got Morrigan wtfpwning adds, so it's all good.


Right now I'm farming Uldred for xp and rubies  . Apparently he keeps coming back for more if you don't leave the Tower (well, he might come back anyway, I haven't tried it yet).

I've got close to 300 gold right now near the end of my second playthrough.  I'm usually too lazy to go back to the keep to store shit, and there's not much reason to store stuff that's not being used anyway.  Haven't found much use for gold really, besides buying skill and attribute books, backpacks, and maybe some crafting stuff here and there.

[Hawkbit]

I'm just finally starting to get into this game and I don't want to wade through spoilers for 60 pages. 

Is the DLC worth getting?  I got the stonekeeper thing with my box, but the extra dungeon one I still need to buy.  At what level do you actually get to use it?

[caladein]

I did Warden's Keep my first playthrough straight after leaving Lothering and it wasn't so bad.  It did inspire to go and get myself a healer though.

[stray]

Yes, I'm afraid to say... It's worth getting. Not just for the utility and power you gain, but the storyline elements are done very well.