159 réponses à ce sujet

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

How do tanks generate threat besides taunt? Is it the armor they wear, the damage they do? If a tank is attacking a boss and there are 5 enemies behind the tank, how does the tank keep aggro on the enemies behind him since hes not hitting them?

Taunt, Goad, threat transfer from Battle Synergy. Otherwise he'd need to spend part of his time damaging the enemy to keep threat on him. Other party members can also avoid targeting those enemies so they don't generate threat on anyone else.

A Warrior by default will get more initial threat and generate more threat through damage than other classes.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

Peter not sure if you can answer this one, I know no real info has been released on equipment but. Can you give a basic answer to requirements on Equipment. All im looking for is the basic heaviest armor general comparison vs DAO.

For instance, DAO rank 7 massive armor had a requirement of 42 Str. Is DA2 Less, same, or more then that? I've been getting the impression its less with added requirement of Con. Kinda wondering how close I am on that assumption.

Information hasn't been released on exactly what requirements are for armor. Applicable stats vary for each type. This was a cross-class restriction. For the Heavy armor (don't remember if it's called Heavy or Massive... internally it`s called Heavy), the stats required are indeed Str and Con. If a Mage wants to go around in Heavy armor, he`ll pretty much need to invest all his points in Str, Mag and Con. Not that bad a choice for a Blood Mage, actually.

There are no tiers anymore. The strength of the armor is determined by an internal 'level' of the item, on the same scale as the player's level. As level goes up, so do requirements. Also, as the power level of the item goes up (number and strength of properties), the requirements go up as well. At the nominal max level of the game, the requirements are lower than what you gave in your example. At max max level, with the most powers an item can have... an epic item like that might have a higher requirement.

Oh and 1 more question, you've mentioned before about how player/companions don't miss they get 'glancing blows'. Question is, do MONSTERS miss vs player/companion or do they also get glancing blows? Or is that kinda dependant on rank of monster? For instance normal or critter mooks miss, and Elites/Bosses get Glancing Blows?

Also, do monster skill use (not base attack) auto-hit like player abilities do?

Enemies do not autohit with abilities. AoEs (because you walk into them) do generally autohit. Enemies can miss. Enemies also have a chance that a hit will be just a glance, but the chance decreases as the difficulty goes up.

[Peter Thomas]

Atmosfear3 wrote...

Question:

For abilities that get upgraded to say cause stagger like Pommel Strike, when it reads STAGGER chance: 100% vs. stunned targets, does that mean you can only stagger an enemy with pommel strike thats already stunned (by someone else) or does it apply the stagger effect because pommel strike is a stun ability in itself?

That was worded that way by someone else for consistency. It means that a target affected by the stun of base ability is automatically staggered as well. So... if you're stunned by it, you have a 100% chance of becoming staggered.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

And Peter thanks a ton for all this but, heres another question heh... heh. Health - do classes gain HP via level, or is it just a base value based off class + con + item bonuses? In a Giantbomb quick look showed a warrior with 263 HP at lvl 9, 22 Con so that was 203 HP via other sources. Demo HP doesn't scale with lvl but I mean, thats the demo. All kinds of wonky stuff in there. Though I'm still guessing its a static HP value based off class (like warrior starting with 150 or something), and growth is Con/Talent/Item based?

classes have varying initial stats. They don't gain Health or Stamina per level, only from attribute points and equipment.

[Peter Thomas]

Utoryo wrote...

Peter Thomas:

A Warrior by default will get more initial threat and generate more threat through damage than other classes.

But I remember earlier that someone from Bioware (either you or Mike) said that when possible enemies would target party members with less armor first (unlike DA:O where it was most armor first), not simply warriors. Has this changed? If so, are there still enemies with specific behaviours (e.g. assassins) that tend to attack your mages/rogues first? How large is the area being considered by enemies to decide which party member to attack (in absolute terms or relative to DA:O)?

Different creatures can have different AI tactics and seek out specific things first, but threat generation as a system works the way I stated.

Also the Rally description says "Mana/stamina regeneration rate: +200 for companions" - that's HUGE whether it's in absolute or percentage terms (and the upgrade makes it +400). I know it's the 'rate', but Deep Reserves only has a +10% permanent rate boost, and it costs an entire ability point! Is it a typo, has it been changed since then, or am I missing something?

That stamina generation number is an abstraction. The +200 is for 10s. You gain a large bonus for 10s with an active ability, or you get a smaller passive bonus at all times.

Stamina, Mana and Health regeneration are all percentage based. The reason for abstracted numbers was because the decision was made not to show low fractional values. +10 is something like +0.25%/sec regeneration rate.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Are you saying that how good a piece of equipment is depends on when you find it? Or does the equipment actually level along with you? Is the level of equipment set, does it evolve with you, or only evolve based on what level you are when you find it?

Random gear is levelled when you find it. Uniques have a set level. There are some pieces of equipment in the game that level with you.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Question For Peter: What is the standard rate of stamina regeneration per second in battle? Is it the same for mana? I know that you said that deep reserves is +10 stamina regeneration, which mathematically comes out to .25% stamina regeneration per second, which means 1% stamina regeneration every 4 seconds. That means in 28 seconds, deep reserves regenerates 7% of your stamina bar.

Varies per class. Warriors and Rogues have other methods of regaining Stamina as well. Mages rely on passive regeneration rates. Warriors also get Stamina back when they kill someone, and also have the Bolster tree. Rogues regain Stamina every time they successfully hit an enemy.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Warriors regain stamina by killing someone, and rogues get stamina when they hit someone? Are both of these talents or passives which are built into the class? Does deep reserves function as I described? 7% stamina over 30 seconds seems a bit underwhelming. Especially considering Varric's passive regen talent is +50 which comes out to roughly 35% regen per 30 seconds. Thanks for the answers.

Those methods of regaining Stamina are inherent to the class.

The passive bonuses for classes other than the Mage are meant to be extra bonuses, not the primary method of regaining Stamina.

Originally Warriors were supposed to start with Bolster, but it was deemed a bit esoteric.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Thanks for all the answers Peter. Looking forward to March 8th! A few more questions whenever you have the time: Was lightning changed from leeching stamina into having a chance to stun or does it do both now?

Electricity damage just stuns. Creatures don't use stamina or mana. They don't share player abilities, so there is no need to balance for that. It also is a matter of how to communicate mana levels to the player. Enemy ability use is based on their AI tables and ability cooldown rates.

[Peter Thomas]

nightcobra8928 wrote...

question: what is the normal rate of stamina regeneration for warriors?

i'm asking so i can compare the usefulness of "deep reserves" which adds 10 to that value.

I don't have database access here, but Deep Reserves is supposed to effectively double a Warriors passive stamina regeneration.

[Peter Thomas]

iOnlySignIn wrote...

Question for Peter because I'm tempted to invest into both the Archer and the Dual Weapons trees like him:

Can Rogues change weapons during combtat? If so, then how do they do it? Hotkey? Inventory screen? How long is the weapon-changing animation, compared to say, Lacerate?

If I'm required to access the inventory screen to change weapons, then I'll never invest into both trees, because that would break the flow of combat. I hope it's like Mass Effect, where a small anmiation plays when you change weapons with a hotkey.

Perhaps the DA:O players here can enlighten me. How do you switch weapons in DA:O?

You need to use the inventory screen. It was a GUI/UI decision early on to remove quick weapon swapping.

There was a short delay after you switch weapon sets (might be a bug, might be background loading of a different animation blendtree).

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

I'd love to know the base regeneration rate of both characters, and also what the bonus % regeneration Warrior and Rogue get. Peter's said Rogues get regen for base auto-attack as a basic class feature, and then you get a passive like this:

3. Follow-Through
Requires: Level 7
Requires: Back-to-Back
Points required in Scoundrel: 2
The rogue thrives on continued momentum in combat, dashing from one attack to the next. The rogue now regains more stamina than normal from every basic attack.
Stamina regeneration: +1% per basic attack
Type: Passive ability

So that's an extra 1%, if they have 1-2% base, lets say 1%, thats 2% of there stamina per non-special move attack. Warrior's seem to get a base bonus regeneration based off killing things. That could be an interesting combination thing where killing off a few guys at once gives you enough to use another big move.

I could easily see that kind of momentum being built up.Which leads me to believe while Reaver plays with the Warriors health to give bonuses, Berserker may do the same but for stamina. Least I hope so, would be pretty crazy to get some kinda momentum going with all that.

So yeah Peter, if you could give us base % regen rates, and what % rogue/warrior get for there base-attack/killing would be sweet.

I don't have the numbers open, but for passive rates, the Mage is higher than the other 2, and has access to more talents/gear that raises regen rates.

Rogues... that talent is supposed to double their regen from attacks, but there is an issue I can't discuss about that.

Warrior I believe regain 2.5-5% of their stamina per rank of the enemy killed (critter, normal, lieutenant, boss, elite boss). Don't remember which number it was balanced to in the end.

[Peter Thomas]

Zhel_Ryn wrote...

Still loving the information in this thread ^.^:

Punishing Lance: When it says weaker enemies, will this be 'weakened' (low health) or rank (critter/normal)?

Rank. Weaker meaning critters and normals.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

I got a question actually Peter I think you can answer, Stamina and Mana 'Reserve' on sustained abilities. It makes it sound like its sectioning off a % of max mp/sp like the static cost of old sustained abilities but we've been told its the new fatigue before. So my question is how exactly does that work? Does it just section off % of your bar, does it make skills cost %more, or both?

There is no fatigue. Reserve sections off a percentage of your total mana/stamina pool that you can no longer use/regenerate.

[Peter Thomas]

andar91 wrote...

Lightning spells ignore friendly fire.  And Winter's Grasp and Stonefist should be safe, as they're single target spells as far as I know.

Even though it was in in the earliest demos, there is an issue with the description of Winter's Grasp's upgrade. it makes the attack a small AoE. You can see in the demo in the exaggerated part it will freeze/damage multiple enemies around the target.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Peter does the game allow respec for Hawke or companions in any way. Also, I have noticed that Bethany comes with 1 default ability (fireball), aveline with 2 (shield defense, taunt), and Fenris with 3 (mighty blow, rally, control). Does the amount of default abilities your companions have when they join your party vary by companion, or vary according to the level which you find them? If you are able to respec your companions, do they keep those default abilities?

Some are given abilities to help define their character. I don't have an exact list right now, though.

On respecs... Mike has commented on that before. I can't elaborate further.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

Here's a question that came up recently about injuries. How each one reserves 20% maxhp, is that addactive, that being, 4 injuries in NM end up being 80% of your maxhp locked away?

Yes.

[Peter Thomas]

Nighteye2 wrote...

Peter, in your playthrough on Nightmare, how much did you have to fight the camera? How big of a bother was the lack of a proper isometric view?

In some cases it made placing AoEs at the perfect spot a bit more difficult, or targeting really really far away on a slope, or things like that. But enemies affected by an AoE get highlighted, so it's not really hard to see who's affected. I do like having a top-down camera, but once you've played with the current one for a bit, it's really not much of an issue. YMMV of course.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

When using sustains, is stamina regeneration still based upon your total health pool, or only your total available health pool after sustains? For example the ability "Unite" is a 100% stamina refill over the course of 10 seconds. If a party member had sustains on that reserved 50% of his stamina, would "Unite" refill his available stamina in 5 seconds, or in 10 seconds?

Total Health pool. So if that gave an actual bonus of 10%/sec regeneration, it would fill up 10% per second up until 50%, then you wouldn't notice any further regeneration unless you were using abilities. The regeneration is still there, just doesn't have an effet since you're at your cap.

[Peter Thomas]

Adhin wrote...

You mean Stamina regeneration is based off Max stamina (regardless of sustained) not your health pool, right? Or is all regeneration based off hp, that doesn't seem right =P

Er... dammit. Yeah. Noon is too early on a Sunday...

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

So whats the force effect of ice if its not being frozen? Or lightning for that matter? According to the description of fortitude, its purpose is to help prevent the loss of control of your character due to knockback animations or elemental effect animations. We know burning is the effect animation for fire, but what is it for ice if its not freeze? And lightning is stun isn it? Fortitde should help prevent those, but maybe it doesnt. Thats why this is a good question and would love to hear from Peter about it.

The force effect for cold is a short animation that mimics the player being frozen for a second or two and breaking free. That's different from a freeze/paralysis effect that's applied to the target. Fortitude only affects damage reactions.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 27 février 2011 - 09:22 .

[Peter Thomas]

iOnlySignIn wrote...

Thanks! I'm still not giving up on an inventory screen-less melee Archer though. So my question is, does Rogue abilities from trees other than Archery and DW have the same exact effect no matter what weapon you're equipped with?

Say, you Rush a small group of enemies who are close to you and your Rush has been upgraded to Blitz. Does it do the same damage/force whether you're equipped with a bow or dual weapons?

Also, when enemies get to melee range, an Archer Rogue switch to a melee animation instead, which seems to have much higher number of attacks per second than the archery animation. Does an Archer Rogue's DPS increase at melee range? How does that compare to a DW Rogue's base DPS without using any DW abilities (Lacerate, Unfogiving Chain)?

The damage number in the ability description while wielding a bow is the damage it will do. Only a few abilities alter their damage multiplier based on the weapon you're wielding.

The Archer melee attacks still have their damage based off the bow, but because they're faster, the damage is reduced by a factor. The DPS should be approximately the same as at long range.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

Question about friendly fire: Player abilities seem to do massive amounts of damage as levels go up, multiple times the amount of health a player or his companions have. I am assuming friendly fire is scaled down in some way so that a single shot of friendly fire doesn't instantly kill your companions, correct?

No. As damage goes up, you'll need to be increasingly careful with your abilities. At the start it's not so big a deal, but if you have the super ultra mega attack late in the game that does 1000 points of damage, you really don't want to be hitting friends with that.

[Peter Thomas]

Sabresandiego wrote...

At level 6 my mighty blow is doing 360 damage. Scythe is doing 225 damage. That would one shot any companion I accidentally hit, or take the majority of their life even after armor, including Aveline who has 175hp at level 6! Looks like 2 handed is going to be a rough class to play on nightmare considering they are AOE focused. It is also hard to not to hit your tank with abilities like mighty blow, scythe, and whirlwind, since all the enemies will be bunched around the tank if you are doing it right. 

Do abilities do full damage or glancing damage to companions? If my math is right, at level 10 if you accidentally hit a teamate with whirlwind they will be killed instantly...

Full damage, in keeping with the FF on Mage abilities.

Damage numbers in the demo may not match those in the final game. At higher levels, though, yes, a full power ability set off next to someone may kill them. They do get armor/damage reduction, though.

[Peter Thomas]

iOnlySignIn wrote...

[Thanks! I'll choose between Kung Fu Archer and Stealth DW then. Or perhaps a 2H Warrior for the simplicity of not having to angst over switching weapons. :-S

Question for Peter: How often do you switch weapons during combat? Do you think it's reasonable for a Rogue to sometimes switch to the weapon they have not invested a single talent point in (e.g. empty Archery tree, but still switch to bow and arrow in some cases)?

For example, for the second Ogre fight in the demo, the optimal way for any Rogue (whether they have any DW/Archery talent) IMHO is to finish of the Hurlocks using DW, and then take off the Ogre at a distance using a bow simply because the Rogue is so easily hurt/knocked back at melee range by the Ogre.

Most of the Ogre's attacks only affect in front of him. A Dual Weapon Rogue can move out of the front arc and attack him that way.

Switching weapons was situational. I usually kept my Archer in the back firing at enemies. If one got past the tank, I'd switch to DW to deal with them faster, then back to Archer.

One thing I did frequently in the endgame was to use all my abilities in a long chain on a single hard target. Something like this:

Pinning Shot (maybe)
Assassinate
Vendetta
(switch to DW)
Twin Fangs
Backstab (maybe)
Explosive Strike (maybe; needs to be built up)

That sequence can take a sizeable amount of health off someone.