26 réponses à ce sujet

[THMARINE]

Sorry, quite the newb here, just been playing a few days.  I have completed thru Lothering.  

However, I have not seen a lot about the DLCs - Warden's Keep and Stone Prisoner (for Shale) - and how to best fit them into progression. 

A few questions:

1.  Now a level 7 Elven Mage - should I do DLCs now?  If not, when during quest progression?

2.  What about Denerim side quests?  Do you go do some of those before going into main quest line?  Or wait until some other time?  if so when? 

3.  Would Mage Circle be easiest of main quests to start with?  (either before or after DLC and/or Denerim side quests)

I apologize if these same questions have been asked a thousand times.  My son gave me this game for Christmas and I have just started it.  I am just getting back into gaming and do not really know the best sources of info for this type of question.

I LOVE this game!
Thanks!

[Sidney]

1. Do the DLC's early. You get items and companions that help.



2. You can do the Denerim early on although some are quite hard and require higher levels/more of the city unlocked.



3. It is the best because you add stat points during the quest that will help later on.

[swk3000]

I like to do the DLC at the earliest opportunity, as it gives you some excellent equipment very early. Unfortunately, most of the items are for a Warrior or a Rogue. Mage's kind of got screwed. You can still do them and pick up some items for your other party members, but you won't really get much of anything for your Mage. It's pretty annoying, to be honest.



Regardless, as a completionist, I do everything as soon as it becomes available. I start off with the DLC, then head into Denerim and do all the side-quests there. By the time I'm done, I've hit level 12, and I head into the Mage's Tower.



I actually recommend making the Mage's Tower the first story quest you do when the time comes. You get 21 stat points for free if you thoroughly explore the Fade. As with the DLC, it's mostly geared towards a Warrior or a Rogue, but it's free points, so...

[caradoc2000]

Visiting Denerim ASAP is a must to pick up the XP booster belt - you don't actually have to do any side quests there at that time if you don't want to.

[THMARINE]

Alrighty, thank you all for your help. Sounds like I will start the DLCs first - but I will take caradoc's advice on the XP booster belt (once I know what that is).



Then try to figure out which Denerim quests are the easier ones - any advice on what I should do / not do in Denerim, before starting the main quest line at the Mage Circle?

[swk3000]

In Denerim is a shop called the Wonders of Thedas. The shopkeeper there sells a belt called the Archivist's Sash. Normally, when you activate an item that provides a Codex entry, you get 50 experience. If you're wearing the Archivist's Sash, you'll get 75 experience. It's not a required thing, but you can easily get an extra 5000 Experience out of it by the end of the game, if not more. It's more for people who want to do everything they can to get as many levels as they can. I've played through the game several times without it and hit level 23 easily.

[THMARINE]

Thanks swk3000, I think I will go get that belt.

[DWSmiley]

swk3000 wrote...

In Denerim is a shop called the Wonders of Thedas. The shopkeeper there sells a belt called the Archivist's Sash. Normally, when you activate an item that provides a Codex entry, you get 50 experience. If you're wearing the Archivist's Sash, you'll get 75 experience. It's not a required thing, but you can easily get an extra 5000 Experience out of it by the end of the game, if not more. It's more for people who want to do everything they can to get as many levels as they can. I've played through the game several times without it and hit level 23 easily.

Except it's a real pain to switch belts every time there is something to read and 5000 xp is less than half a level by the end of the game. 

The easiest quest order is Circle Tower first to get the attribute points.  It's handy that you can get all or almost all the cunning you need there to max out coercion.  Then the DLCs in any order, as they are not difficult and give great items.  After that you should be strong enough to go anywhere.

[Zy-El]

I always do SP to get Shale and the Helmet among other unique items. Then Warden's Keep to get the Warden Commander's armour and storage chest to put loot in. After that, I do the Circle quest to get Wynne and the Fade attribute points. It only seems logical to have Wynne and Alistair in my party when I Return to Ostagar - gains approval points for both NPC's.

Also, I usually visit all the vendors but don't do the quests. For instance, I visit the Dalish in order to access Master Varathorn who will sell unlimited elfroot, deathroot and venom. Very ideal for a rogue w/poison and heal poultices. Visiting the Mage Circle gives you access to the vendor who sells unlimited lyrium dust to make potions.

Denerim is good for getting side quests and it is also a central hub for getting rewards for completing quests.  Be sure get one level of Stealing to open up the Slim Couldry quests and visit the Noble tavern, see the barkeep for other quests.  Lots of early gold to be had!! 

Modifié par Zy-El, 25 mai 2010 - 03:34 .

[StealthyPanda17]

i'd wait on Return to Ostagar. the special gear you pick up there is levelled according to your own level.

[DWSmiley]

StealthyPanda17 wrote...

i'd wait on Return to Ostagar. the special gear you pick up there is levelled according to your own level.

You can level it up later by selling it to one of the Drydens and buying it back (PC version).  Doesn't cost much, @15 gp, IIRC.

[Rhys Cordelle]

It depends on your playstyle. If you like a challenge, don't do the DLC first. The gear is so good it makes the main campaign too easy. It's also kind of disappointing to go through the rest of the game picking up armor and weapons that don't hold a candle to what you got at the start.

[Sidney]

Rhys Cordelle wrote...

It depends on your playstyle. If you like a challenge, don't do the DLC first. The gear is so good it makes the main campaign too easy. It's also kind of disappointing to go through the rest of the game picking up armor and weapons that don't hold a candle to what you got at the start.

That is really only true of the Warden's Keeep. The stuff, other than a helm that can't be part of a set, in Stone Prisoner isn't "great". Plus, you want to do SP early so you can get Shale for the game.

[Asdara]

One quick note about Shale: if it is your first playthrough you may want to wait to get him until after you do the dwarven segment. I won't spoil it, but not having Shale can allow you more choice in certain matters than you might otherwise think you have with him. However, the flip-side of that is he has a few insightful dialogs as you play through there that enhance your appreciation of him, so its a mixed bag.

[CHawk015]

I think you can go either way, I would just save the Urn os Sacred Ashes and Dwarves quest for last two. I think the rest of it you can pretty much do in any order.

[d3c0yBoY]

All my playthroughs normally involve me getting Shale first, then the Mage Circle, followed by the rest of the DLC. This allows me to nab Wynne and Shale before they get auto leveled. I don't care much for the dwarf. After all the sides missions are done, I hit up the main quest with adequate gear and experiance.

[Yrkoon]

DWSmiley wrote...

swk3000 wrote...

In Denerim is a shop called the Wonders of Thedas. The shopkeeper there sells a belt called the Archivist's Sash. Normally, when you activate an item that provides a Codex entry, you get 50 experience. If you're wearing the Archivist's Sash, you'll get 75 experience. It's not a required thing, but you can easily get an extra 5000 Experience out of it by the end of the game, if not more. It's more for people who want to do everything they can to get as many levels as they can. I've played through the game several times without it and hit level 23 easily.

Except it's a real pain to switch belts every time there is something to read and 5000 xp is less than half a level by the end of the game.  .

IF even.  You're getting an extra 25exp per codex.

assuming you wear the thing for the entire game  (which is not possible), I think we're looking about an extra  3000 exp... total.  Which is nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Not even a  third of a level midway through the game.

I recommend actually equiping a USEFUL belt and then donating elfroots to your dalish army if you really need an extra 3000 exp.

Modifié par Yrkoon, 27 mai 2010 - 10:57 .

[Asdara]

I've never found my warden so hurting for a stat boost that she couldn't wear the codex xp belt pretty much constantly - though I have developed a habit of putting it on in towns and taking it off in dungeons for something more battle-ish. Same as I do with helmets in and out of towns. It's all preference, but I read every Codex entry when I get them cause I'm a junky for that stuff, so I figure an extra 25xp per is just my perk.

[Elhanan]

I generally gain that belt early, but I do so knowing that it will hurt XP gained in Denerim later. Now with Mages, I have need for other belts, so I plan to visit Denerim late.

[Arthur Cousland]

I like to at least do Warden's Keep right after Lothering for the chest. Otherwise, you may find that you will run out of inventory space in the middle of one of the main questlines and have to either pass on loot or toss out stuff that you have. I usually like to stash my gifts in the chest, and anything else that I might use later but don't want to have to pay money to buy back if I sold it to a merchant.



On consoles, putting dlc gear in the Warden's Keep chest will upgrade them just like selling and re-buying later, though I think they upgrade quicker if you sold them. I got Cailan's armor/weapons upgraded to dragonbone via the party chest.

[Kastlefeer]

Do the dlc stuff first, it's easy enough once you've seen it a bit. Then the tower for the stats. I tend to dip into the elven area a bit up to the dragoon in the basement... You don't need coercion for any of that. The spiders under ostagar are a little tricky if you solo it, as is the crazy mage in the elf woods but I done it so can you

Modifié par Kastlefeer, 29 mai 2010 - 06:28 .

[Springwalker]

I usually do everything up to going to Denerim to meet with Brother Genitivi. I then do all of the DLC, except for RTO. Then I go to Denerim, do everything I can there and head to Haven to start The Urn of the Sacred Ashes. I do RTO right before I go back to Redcliffe to start the Landsmeet.

[Khumak]

Aren't some of the level ranges for the different areas set up such that if you do the areas in an "unexpected" order you'll get less overall xp? I don't remember where I read this, but I seem to remember seeing something about the mage tower and Redcliff having a lower level cap than most of the other areas.



If there's no level cap for any of the areas then the optimal order would probably be to save the areas with the most fights for last and do the areas with the most quests first. I don't think quest xp scales, but enemy level does. Denerim is a tough call. There's a lot of fights but you also can get the codex belt there. Personally I'm not enough of a min maxer to care about the codex belt, but even if I was I suspect that there may be enough combat in the Denerim areas that doing it first for the belt may be partly counteracted by the lower combat xp you'll get that way.

[Last Darkness]

Depends if you plan to get the Secret Companion/Loghaine or not. I suggest doing all the DLC early unless you plan to get Logaine then wait till after you have him and bring him to return to ostagar. Theres some "secret" dialog and information from his comments in that DLC.

[flagondotcom]

@Khumak--

I always go to Denerim early, get the Archivist's belt, and then do only the "town square" quests and encounters (including Brother whatshisname's house) since I've already locked in the level on those.



Doing the later parts of Orzammar later definitely gets more XP and gold, from higher leveled encounters and loot. And trying to get *into* Orzammar as less than level 9...well, it can be interesting.



Otherwise, after multiple playthroughs I don't think there's a completely wrong answer...it just depends on what you perceive as the right answer. If you want the Key to the City early...so be it. If you want to beat your brains out against Revenants at low level...so be it. My only notes are that the first time you do the Circle Tower after you get to the level where Templars get their AOE/Slam mages skill...it's an adjustment compared to doing it at level 7.