885 réponses à ce sujet

[Peter Thomas]

lunarknightmage wrote...

Peter, again, thank you very much for answering all of our questions!!

1. I'm glad to hear that lightning damage will also stun.  Will that effect, and the other elemental damages/effects, also apply to weapons that do elemental damage ( either innate or added through runes )?

Like, if I hit an enemy with a staff or sword that does lightning damage, would that also stun the enemy?

This hasn't been finalized yet, but it will probably be only the primary damage type of the weapon/ability that has the chance of a secondary effect.

2. I know that you can't comment on the exact specializations yet, but are the plans to make the spec talent trees "deeper" than in Origins?

In Origins, each spec only gave you 4 additional talents/abilities, along with any stat bonus you got when choosing the spec.

Will the specs in DA2 offer more talents in their trees than the 4 per spec in Origins?

Or has that not been determined yet?

I can't talk about specialization specifics, but each specialization should have a tree of about the same size as the 6 default trees for each class.

[Peter Thomas]

Hayes1987 wrote...

Could you elaborate on this "unresistability" feature? I'm not sure I understand your meaning.

The current plan is that flat damage and magic resistance (not spirit resistance) is only half as effective against it.

[Peter Thomas]

distinguetraces wrote...

Peter Thomas wrote...
The elemental damage types remain, but specific secondary effects are slightly different [...] Cold is speed reduction.

Both attack and movement speed?

Yes.

Earth is about impact strength.

What does this mean?

Every attack that hits you has a certain amount of force behind it, depending on how much damage it does. Abilities based on earth count that damage as higher for determing if enemies get knocked around by it. For example (not real numbers), a hurlock hit for 30 damage by an earth ability might react as if he got hit by 50 damage from a normal sword.

Spirit is about unresistability.

Complete unresistability?

As I explained in a previous answer, the idea is that flat damage and magic resistance (not spirit resistance) is less effective against this type.

[Peter Thomas]

Wulfram wrote...

What role will healing potions and other consumables play, and will they be as easily available as they were in Origins?

We really want to tone down the amount of potion use in DA2 and are currently balancing ways to do that. Shared potion cooldowns, longer cooldown, restricted numbers and availabilities, passive regeneration, etc. We are investigating a number of ways.

[Peter Thomas]

Jacks Smirking Revenge wrote...

First off thanks for answering these questions. I'm a big gameplay min/maxer guy, and this is one of my areas of concern for this game . So thank you very much!

Now onto to the questions!

#1: Since there will no longer be any fatigue. Will there be a a limit on sustained abilities, or is it just a matter of how much stamina/magic you have? Like for example an Arcane Warrior uses like five or six sustained abilities putting them near 100% fatigue and hindering their mana pool, but once you had gotten some good pieces of gear. You could run those sustains and have maybe 80-150 mana in reserve, but the fatigue would hinder that to the use of maybe one or two spells. Without fatigue couldn't a class in theory have six or seven sustatins running leaving them with about 20-40% of their mana/stamina pool. Which is more than enough to chain abilities and spells thanks to spells such as Deathblow, Feast of the Fallen, Dark Sustence, Blood Magic, Spellboom, Mass Rejuvenation, etc. I guess a more pinpoint question would be: Are there any consequences to having a lot of sustained abilities running other than a smaller mana pool since fatigue/cost increase of spells is removed?

I had mentioned in a previous answer that the amount of mana/stamina reserved by an ability will be a percentage of your total pool. This will limit the number of sustained abilities, since you can only have up to 100% (if you don't want to be able to do anything else).

#2: You have mentioned staff deathblows do they only occur off of Staff hits(melee hit/staff projectile) only, or do they happen after a spell as well. For example I cast Shock(and I have a staff equipped) at a group of darkspawn and kill one will that trigger a deathblow? Like the one you mentioned early of the player shooting flames out of the staff, but of course for Shock it would be electricity. Or did you mean that the deathblows will only trigger for the projectile/melee swing of the staves not the spells themselves. Basically do I have to "auto attack" with my staff to get deathblow animations, or will they also trigger off of spells like; Cone of Cold, Flame Blast, Shock, Winter's Grasp, etc?

Deathblows can trigger off of basic attacks, and also off of abilities. The exact scope of the deathblow system and the number of them have not been finalized yet.

#3: I was reading through the answers topic, and when you mentioned the statistics I noticed none of them said "increase damage". Was that just understood, or will we be getting our offensive boost through spells, gear and sustained abilities we aquire as we level up and get stronger? I assume cunning no longer will increase armor penetration since it is for now the defensive attribute. Do magic, strength, and dex stilll increase damage passivly, or do they have only a more specialized purpose like you indicated; magic=resistance to magic, strength=higher impact/resistance to impact, dex=critical chance?

They increase damage passively for the class for which they are the primary attribute. Magic, for example, increases magic resistance for all classes. If you are a Mage, it will also increase your base damage which, in turn, increases the damage of all your abilities.

#4. Will pro/cons of using certain weapons still be present. For example 1h axes having a higher modifer than a longsword, but the longsword had better base damage. Or mauls/maces having higher armor penetration.

The exact stats of specific item has not been finalized yet.

[Peter Thomas]

Bryy_Miller wrote...

Can you tell us what the default decisions for the prior games are?

This is a story/plot related question.

[Peter Thomas]

andar91 wrote...

Everytime I think I'm out of questions I think of more.

I realize you can't talk about specific abilities, but this is a question about the elemental damage spells such as fireball, inferno, and the other ones that we don't know about yet. Will there be significant differences between the different elements to encourage us to pick specific ones or are they all basically different ways of inflicting damage? I guess this kind off links back to my question about damage types.

In DAO all the different elemental damage spells felt similar. They had similar shapes, did pretty much the same thing, but had a different color. We've tried to differentiate the elemental spells more. Each one requires that a Mage using that element play slightly differently. Fire has the potential to do the most damage and affects the largest area, though it is a bit random. Cold affects the smallest area and needs to be closer range, but can slow or stop people. Earth has the highest impact and... er... I can't talk more without revealing specifics. Electricity affects areas (though smaller than Fire) does only average damage, but its effects happen rapidly and it ignores friendly fire. Spirit... is a bit of a special case that I can't talk about now.


Your two-handed question had been answer previously. Basically it comes down to balancing.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 12 septembre 2010 - 01:14 .

[andar91]

Peter Thomas wrote...

andar91 wrote...

Everytime I think I'm out of questions I think of more.

I realize you can't talk about specific abilities, but this is a question about the elemental damage spells such as fireball, inferno, and the other ones that we don't know about yet. Will there be significant differences between the different elements to encourage us to pick specific ones or are they all basically different ways of inflicting damage? I guess this kind off links back to my question about damage types.

In DAO all the different elemental damage spells felt similar. They had similar shapes, did pretty much the same thing, but had a different color. We've tried to differentiate the elemental spells more. Each one requires that a Mage using that element play slightly differently. Fire has the potential to do the most damage and affects the largest area, though it is a bit random. Cold affects the smallest area and needs to be closer range, but can slow or stop people. Earth has the highest impact and... er... I can't talk more without revealing specifics. Electricity affects areas (though smaller than Fire) does only average damage, but its effects happen rapidly and it ignores friendly fire. Spirit... is a bit of a special case that I can't talk about now.


Your two-handed question had been answer previously. Basically it comes down to balancing.

Sorry to reply without a question, but I have to say that this sounds absolutely fantastic.  This was exactly what I was hoping for and I can't wait.

[Peter Thomas]

Atmosfear3 wrote...

 My questions pertain purely to combat so I hope you can enlighten all of us.

Are characters allowed to attack and move at the same time? DAO felt too much like two kids with nerf bats, standing on platforms trying to knock each other down like american gladiators.

When you attack you play an attack animation, preventing all other animations (like movement). No circle-strafing.

Will attack speed be increased across the board to promote smoother combat? I suppose this may be an animation question as well.

This is an animation question, but for players, the animations have the impact event front loaded so it takes effect right away.

Will characters be allowed to have two specs? (i.e. I weapon switch from sword and board to a 2hander and both my talents and hotkey bar changes to the appropriate spec). There were too many times in DAO where after recruiting a party-member I would never bring them along for any mission minus the character-specific ones because there would be an overlap of classes and roles (i.e. having two tank warriors in the same party).

Is your question about specializations? I can't answer that right now. Otherwise it sounds like a UI question about flipping between ability/weapon sets.

Will cooldowns be adjusted to promote more engaging battles as oppose to the current "spam-all-abilities-then-auto-attack" till its dead routine?

Ability costs, cooldowns and regeneration rates are still being balanced.

Will stamina/mana be a more abundant resource than DAO? It was not particularly fun to use 3-4 abilities as a warrior with 1 sustained then not having any stamina to use new moves. Like I mentioned in question 5. I think WoW has the best system in which abilities cost an appropriate amount and has a low to medium length cooldown so that those abilities are always at your disposal albeit not immediately upon using.

Every class has different ways to regain mana/stamina, as well as potions. To start, Warriors through the use of an ability, Rogues through attacking, and Mages through passive regeneration. Ability costs will be balanced and it is one of the considerations a player needs to make when deciding what to do. Will you cast 1 big ability or 2 small ones? How long will it take to regain the mana/stamina to do something else? How long will I be unable to use this ability for? Abilities will also increase in strength throughout the game and have less overlap, so considering the exact nature of the ability would factor into whether its cost was worthwhile in a given situation.

[Giggles_Manically]

After playing the Redcliffe Night Battle I have some questions.



Will enemy AI still run right past a warrior waiting for them and leave the warrior chasing them while they go after some random NPC?

Also are the number of combatants fighting on screen at once going to be higher in part 2, than in Origins?



Thanks.

[Hayes1987]

Peter Thomas wrote...

Hayes1987 wrote...

Could you elaborate on this "unresistability" feature? I'm not sure I understand your meaning.

The current plan is that flat damage and magic resistance (not spirit resistance) is only half as effective against it.

So basically spirit damage is harder to resist than others because it would take that specific stat insted of general spell resistance?

[Peter Thomas]

Andat wrote...

If these have been asked, er, well, oops (I didn't spot them though I only read the BW posts up to p7)

#1: default weapons
So if I equip a shield on my warrior but no sword, he automatically gets a basic sword? And if I do the reverse (choose a sword but no shield), he would automatically get a basic shield? Could make for some interesting prison escape sequences. "Erm, Bob, where exactly were you keeping that wooden shield and arming sword this whole time? Wait, I don't really want to know. I guess it was the one place the guards didn't want to search.... But /HOW/ did you get the shield up there!?! I'll never see you the same way again...."

Edit: yes there was a question in there somewhere, I just hid it.

Used to work for ladders in the 80s.

#2: Any chance you could tell us how the framed narrative system works? So suppose there's a sidequest to defeat the Dragon of Varlonghateohataoroaageaornegatehafonsaga - how do we choose that quest and how does that fit into the main game?

This is a plot/story related question.

[Peter Thomas]

flagondotcom wrote...

So, does this mean that crossbows do not exist, crossbows can only be used by Rogues, crossbows do not require Ranged Weapon talents, or some fourth possibility?  (Apologies if I somehow missed more extensive discussion on this.)

Only Rogues can use Archery style weapons. I can't be more specific than that.

[Peter Thomas]

RENEGADEXVIII wrote...

Will shapeshifting exist in DA2...if so,how will DA2's incarnation of shapeshifting differ from origins?

I can't talk about specializations right now.

[Peter Thomas]

spartanmax52000 wrote...

will they mention the hero of ferelden and his deeds or a statue in the same image and armor as the warden you create ?

This is a story/plot related question.

[Peter Thomas]

Balder84 wrote...

You mentioned that there will not be a Arrow/ammunition slot...so will there be skills like for example Fire Arrow , and anti mage Arrows? - you know to make up for the lack of variety of effects and stratagy that having various ammunition would bring. Are there any other changes for archery combat?

I can't comment on specific abilities. There will be a variety of Archery weapons, though, not just normal bows. It still remains to be finalized, but there is also the rune system.

[Peter Thomas]

JoHnDoE14 wrote...

Will mages still be able to cast spells without a staff ??
 (Apologies in case it was asked again)

Mages will always have a staff. Even if they don't have a particular item equipped, they will have a default staff.

[Peter Thomas]

Freddah wrote...

This may be a somewhat noobish question. However I am rather conserned. If I played Origins two times on the same chr. and made different moral choices, which ones would be importet to DA2?

This is a story/plot question.

[Peter Thomas]

Logabob wrote...

1. Will the amount of loot be similar to that in origins, or will it be like ME2 where you have a few weapons obtained at key points in the game?

Treasure will be similar to, but less than, DAO. Mostly this will be a reduction in the amount of junk or filler loot.

2. In ME2, each character had a fixed costume. In DA2, will we be constantly swapping out armor or will characters stick to a single costume for most of the game ala Morrigan?

Your character will have all the inventory slots available in DAO (except the ammunition slot) and the changes in items will be reflected in his appearance.

[Peter Thomas]

falloutseriesfan wrote...

Will weapons actually clash in combat?

Combat is not choreographed except in synchronized animations like deathblows, so in general, no.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 12 septembre 2010 - 02:52 .

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

So the info about default weapons brought another question to my mind.



Will there be default armour too?

[Peter Thomas]

AbounI wrote...

Peter, can we expect to see/read/hear an upcomming podcast where you will talk about the gameplay and the work of your department?

Ah, no... not likely. I'm not very photogenic, I'm afraid.

As the game is a framed narrative, what's the impact in your work?IE, when Varric tells at the first time the Lothering story to Cassandra, it's volontary exaggerate.Only his second version is quite realistic.So does it mean two different gameplay versions with different capacities and abilities allowed.

No, one is just an extension of the other. When Varric starts to get carried away, there are some overrides that kick in, but other than that, it's the same.

What can be the influences of such things in your work?Do you have to do twice the job to adjust each time the general balanced difficulty?

You're referring to the parts where Varric gets carried away? No, we've done our best to make sure that the actual systems changes are very specific, otherwise we would have to do twice the work. As long as the feel is that desired by the narrative, we've done our jobs right.

[lunarknightmage]

Peter Thomas wrote...

ZerbanDaGreat1 wrote...

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but anyway; is the Hawke we saw in the trailer an actual ingame class with real abilities, whether it was a close-combat mage or a warrior who somehow had blood magic, or was it just a demonstration of the kind of abilities offered in DA2?

From my recollection of the trailer, he fought hand to hand, sent a wave of flame at a target, shot a bolt of lightning at a target, activated blood magic and ripped a target apart. Each of those is a Mage attack, ability or deathblow as currently designed.

This really does give me hope that we will be able to build a close-combat battle/melee mage, similar to trailer Hawke!!

another question, just to clarify........

1.  Unlike weapons, the current plan for armor is that it WON'T be restricted to certain classes.  Is that correct?

So, a mage can wear armor, like the trailer Hawke does, and won't be restricted to just mage robes.  Would that be correct?

So, it won't be:

Mages can only wear robes.

Rogues can only wear light armor.

Warriors can only wear heavy armor.

Is that correct?

thanks again, Peter.

[Dave of Canada]

I'm not sure if this is gameplay / plot but... I'm a min/maxer that loves building the strongest characters that I possibly can, this is normally possible in a lot of RPGs through gameplay and knowing the good builds that people use all the time. Unfortunately, Origins didn't work this way. My kind-and-thoughtful Warden, if he wanted to have the best possible stats in the game, had to scrounge through the Fade and do things that didn't fit his nature (such as sacrificing the elves for +1 constitution) to make sure he got every single point available.



My question is this. As a min/maxer, will I be able to get through the game just fine using builds and such without having to resort to doing things I would never do otherwise simply to have my character at his / her toughest?