59 réponses à ce sujet

[Ferretinabun]

Yeah, best to get all the forms ASAP. The mouse comes in handy during battles - you can effectively stealth mid-fight if you're getting hammered. It's Combat Stealth in a rodent gift-box.

[Squidmaster]

Couple more questions. Am I gimping Shale by doing the dwarf quests too early? In my last run I did them last and I got a ton of high quality Shale armor and weapon drops. If I do it now they'll be flawed and such. Is that ultimately a problem?

I also just got Ageless, supposedly patched with game version 1.04, yet with no rune slots. People say the bug is fixed, but are they just wrong? What do I do?

Thanks.

[10cents]

You can still buy high quality crystals from the lyrium deranged merchant close to the deep roads entrance. Whenever you visit the commons he offers 6 random crystals (3x small, 3x large); quality depending on your level (for highest quality flawless you'll have to be around level ~18, 19 I suppose).
The only thing you miss out on, is the money you get by selling these crystals - and lets be honest, there's so much money in this game and Shale only needs 2 items to work properly which isnt expensive.

Ageless: you could try the tipps from the wiki click. But they never worked for me (apart the one with the toolset). In my games Ageless always has runes now, though Im not quite sure which of my mods is responsible for the fix.

[Squidmaster]

Huh. The patch notes say 1.04 fixes it, but I checked my game version, which says 1.04 and nothing. I might hunt for a mod. It concerns me though that maybe 1.04 isn't actually running. I installed a handful of other mods using the game's updater and they didn't initially run, until I had unchecked them, then rechecked them. Maybe the patch needs that too, only there isn't a button for it.

I have a question about Wynn. I am building her to heal, buff with haste, etc, and then maybe do some crowd control. She came with 3 points in earth so maybe I will take petrify and call it good instead of using my respec raven on her. In any event, given the way I want to use her, should I put anything in magic past the required minimums, or should I go hard into willpower so she can sustain haste longer and the like? Is it more efficient to do that, or to have her use a tactic to drink mana potions under 10 or 25%?

You talk about the game having a ton of money. I haven't seen that all that much. I know I can make the lyrium potions for cash, but in my current game (in which I don't have to buy class books and did some more things right for more money), I have about 2 gold coming out of the mage tower after buying 2 physical skill books and not a lot else.

[10cents]

I rarely get willpower over 25 points (without bonuses) - if you pump her magic instead, you can fill up half her mana with a lesser potion since magic affects potion effectiveness. Wynne is the companion with the highest possible amount of spellpower due to her plot skill, so maybe dont gimp her by going full willpower if you want some massive spike damage mixed into your support (Mana Clash!).
Plus Wynne gets additional willpower when you have good relations with her (and she isn't so boring to have around and prudish as everyone says; the banter with her, oghren and zevran is the dirtiest I've heard in this game). If you are still concerned about mana management, I suggest you turn off her sustainables after every fight so she has full mana for the next - or at least prior to big fights.
The mod Advanced Tactics adds a condition "game mode: exploration" that makes switching off sustainables after fights automatic - you can make it even more automatic if you do it this way:
self -> mana/stamina below 80% -> activate mode: indomitable (after the first ability consumed some stamina)
self -> mana/stamina below 60% -> precise striking and so on.

As for her spells:
Earthquake is a fairly good control spell if you send your 2H tank with indomitable (knock-down immunity) right into it while the enemy focuses him. Maybe throw in a grease spell and glyph of repulsion for extra rofls. I've rarely ever used petrify, cone of cold is way better for shattering and glyph of paralysis is better at disabling bosses.
Virulent Walking Bomb line could be another option. Since you already have stonefist (best tool for shattering at distance) and probably either petrify/cone of cold: petrify or freeze an enemy, use VWB on him and shatter right after with stonefist. He will blow up in gibs, damaging everyone nearby and infecting the enemies around him with VWB in the process, causing a devastating chain reaction. You may want to use Forcefield on your tank or whoever is nearby since anything more than 3 infected bombs will obliterate even Shale. It is a difficult spell to control and judge since a badly placed VWB can hurt your party more than the enemy - but the priiiiiiiize (i.e. gore)!
The sustainable Death Syphon can help you restocking mana during a prolonged fight with lots of enemies.

Money is scarce in the beginning. If you have stealth + stealing already, go to Denerim to make the Crime Wave quest from Slim Couldry - easy money and little danger. Later in the game the enemies begin dropping better armor that sell for more. The only items you really need would be The Rose's Thorn for your rogue, Staff of the Magister Lord for your mage and Spellward for your tank (maybe Lifegiver as well). Together they cost like 350 gold which you can easily accumulate if you keep selling all those useless enchanted arrows and stuff. I've never used potent lyrium crafting to make money and always had hundreds of gold left unspent by the end.

[Tapkoh]

I would not abandon the magic stat at all. It makes spells more powerful and makes it some spells (like those for cc) harder to resist. In Origins, investing in willpower is not as efficient as just giving someone +stamina/mana gear, if you have / find any. I'd say always put at least 1 point in magic and if you feel you need more mana, then put the 2 in willpower. Otherwise, go 2:1 favoring magic until you are comfortable with your mana pool.

Most of my money in game comes from selling DLC items. The Reaper's Cudgel (mace) in particular from Golem of Amgarrak sells for over 300 gold in Origins. That's worth more to me than the weapon itself. Other than that (given that not all have that), I sell a lot of stuff over the course of the game. Just about everything I loot I eventually sell. I keep only what I know for sure I am going to use. Sidequests pay out well. Most of those will give you at least 1 gold. There is a guide on the wiki for more help.
http://dragonage.wik...ey_making_guide

[Squidmaster]

Interesting. I thought the Golems of Amgarrak was a stand alone campaign.

Hey, I thought of something recently regarding my main character. Since I went with a heavy cunning build instead of dex, is there any reason to use daggers as my main weapon, assuming I have the strength for something else? This wouldn't apply later so much but at the stage I am at, I can use a number of larger weapons in the same level range as my daggers. I have the talent to make cunning act as strength, so what is the difference there?

[Ferretinabun]

I suppose not. One of the big advantages of daggers is the armour penetration it gives you, but you can get this through cunning instead if you fancy using other weapons. The other big plus is speed, but alone that shouldn't make too much of a difference. With lethality and a cunning build you can do some pretty decent dame with bigger weapons.

[Squidmaster]

Odd, I had thought I had posted a question about the dual weapon talents but it isn't appearing here. Maybe it didn't successfully post and I didn't notice.

My question is this... how do the first line of dual weapon talents interact with backstabbing and the playstyle I have chosen? I notice the guide in the sticky suggests taking those talents (the ones to increase off-hand damage and the like) quite late in the process. I also read somewhere that older game versions used to use only the main hand for backstabs, so it is possible the guide is simply out of date. What's the reality?

[Ferretinabun]

You do just use main hand for backstabs. That said, you won't just be backstabbing everything all the time. I'd say at least the first 2 levels are pretty necessary. If you're determined to maximise back-stabbiness then I suppose you could let the later two slide, but I generally thing they're worth the investment. It's the middle line of the Dual Wield tree a DW rogue can cheerfully skip without missing much.

[Squidmaster]

Huh. That isn't what the wiki says. Here's a quote:

"Backstab damage calculation is done separately for each weapon though the animation shows you hit primarily with the main-hand weapon. This is noticeable if you equip a high damage main hand weapon and a low damage off-hand weapon. You will see the damage numbers vary a lot."

What it doesn't say is whether the off hand weapon is counted as being in the off hand for the backstab specific purpose.

I wasn't sure about that middle line, but I do have it up to Riposte, which is paying off well for me. The resumption of attacks starts much sooner than with Dirty Fighting, and I can open with it out of stealth it seems.

I am also curious about attacks out of stealth. Is the initial attack a critical hit or a backstab? The stealth description makes that entirely unclear. My testing suggests that some rogue specials work to get a critical out of stealth, which would suggest the former, but then some other attacks, such as Dual Weapon Sweep, never seem to generate a crit out of stealth.

10cents, I am also wondering how you use the "saved targets" aspect of Advanced Tactics.  The mod is a great idea and I like it, but I would like to be able to exploit this element.  It seems like it could allow me to cast heal on my allies AND myself, for example, and thus save a few slots, but I don't see a way to setup saved targets.

Modifié par Squidmaster, 12 novembre 2011 - 12:56 .

[10cents]

Only simple attacks out of stealth generate backstabs, abilities do not matter. The mod Combat Tweaks changes that a little: it makes the effects of riposte/cripple/punisher always apply when attacking from a backstab position (be it stealthed or just flanking).
Other than that you might be better off attacking once, use riposte and get another backstab on the stunned target via coup de grace. Dont be afraid to experiment with your talents - you said you have the respec mod: see for yourself if you prefer the attack moves from the 2nd line over the backstab damage.

As for the mainhand only thing: I am very certain that the offhand weapon doesnt attack while backstabbing. I usually put defensive runes in my offhand and still always see the offensive runes from the mainhand being applied with every backstab. So it is either that the offhand somehow influences the damage the mainhand backstab does (which is kind of silly regarding the animation) or the wiki isnt right.

Cant help you on the "saved targets" matter. Maybe it has to do with the "secondary targets" column that you find among the right side (hard to explain). I for one do not rely on tactics too much and only use it to activate / deactivate my sustainables and for a few unimportant spells. I'm not a control freak, but it is hard to leave YEARS of baldur's gate 2 fighting (pause, pause, pause...) behind ;D

[Squidmaster]

Man, there is a lot of conflicting info about this game out there. A couple sources are saying that the weapon damage alternates between the two weapons but that the runes only count from the main hand weapon. Hopefully that is the truth of it.

Which offhand weapon would you recommend? I have a choice of 3, each of which has advantages. The Dragonbone Crow Dagger adds to backstab damage, which is most of my damage (the cap on bonus damage is 200%, right?). The Thorn of the Dead Gods adds flat damage, and the Dead Thaig Shanker adds a juicy 5 to cunning, which doesn't increase my overall damage by enough to offset the Thorn, but does when added to my other players as well. That is my current choice, but I kept the others around.

I am approaching a decision about Oghren as well. Do I want him wearing the Warden Commander Armor even given that he is not the tank? I currently have him using generic dwarven medium armor, but have my eye on the medium or heavy version of the Wade sets as well in the not too distant future. I guess the question there is whether the fatigue penalty is offset with the Warden set's other bonuses and the 50 extra stamina.

I also wonder if you can change your game difficulty mid-game. I did this (normal to hard) and I *think* it worked, as I get more misses than I did and taunt seems less effective. It's not easy to tell though because Wynn isn't blowing more heals and such in general.

Modifié par Squidmaster, 14 novembre 2011 - 04:06 .

[Tapkoh]

Squidmaster wrote...

Interesting. I thought the Golems of Amgarrak was a stand alone campaign.

It is. However, the stand alone campaigns (Leliana, Witch Hunt, Golems, Darkspawn) have goodies for the main campaigns too. If you earn certain achievements within them, then you instantly get some items in your inventory for characters you load from / make for Origins and Awakening from that point on.

You can change game difficulty on the fly.

[10cents]

Offhand weapon: If you cant decide on basis of their stats - choose the better looking one. If the Rose's Thorn is better than you mainhand weapon go for the Crow Dagger, otherwise it's Rose offhand of course. You can put the +Cunning dagger into your second weapons slot - the amount of cunning/spellpower is only calculated once when the spell is cast. Changing gear after that doesnt affect the spell anymore. So you can switch to your secondary weapons for a slight increase in cunning, activate your sustainables (Song of Courage etc) and swap back.

If your caster has Rejuvenate, I wouldnt bother with fatigue or stamina. Just keep Indomitable on at all times and activate the rest of his sustainables when he has used up some stamina.

[Squidmaster]

Ah yes, I forgot about the weapon swap option. I guess that more realistically makes the choice between +6 attack and 15% backstab damage.

I have been using both Rejuvenate and Mass Rejuvenate with Wynn, the first when Oghren reaches 50% stamina, and the second when anyone in the party reaches 20 or 25%. It seems to work great.

I am curious about some of Oghren's abilities. I know the sunders strike twice, so I have them on high priority. Should I have him ever use Mighty Blow? Should I even take Critical Strike? I have the 3 points prior to it already.

[10cents]

Critical Strike yes, if you have the points to spare. Good for shattering.
You'll need to pick Mighty Blow anyway to unlock 2H sweep. Apart from Destroyer they are all useful talents. I usually pick Indomitable + Sunder Armor first and then work up to 2H sweep - after that next goal is usually Sunder Armor (strikes twice).

[Squidmaster]

With my team I actually don't have a shatter setup. I had a ton of it last game and I haven't chosen frost talents for Wynn as of yet, at least. I haven't need it to be honest. 3 melee with haste has been ca-razy. It is much easier than my last game with 2 mages, archer and tank.

I have Mighty Blow as you say. I just don't know if I should have Oghren actually use it, or if it is better to pass it over to save stamina for better things in the general flow.

[Ferretinabun]

Mighty Blow is most useful early on in the game, but it never stops being worth it, in my opinion. If you want to save your stamina, you could limit it's use to elites...?
2H sweep certainly does some impressive damage, though you might not get a great deal of use out of it if Oghren isn't tanking, or at least has some threat-generating abilities. You might want to consider taking Taunt just to make use of this if you have the points to spare...? (I'd suggest Threaten since you'll want that line for Bravery and Death Blow anyway, but I have a feeling it doesn't work properly. Can someone confirm whether this was patched?)

[Squidmaster]

I think Oghren is doing as much or more than my hero is at this point. He doesn't have to waste time moving to flank, and a lot of the time now as I move my hero into position his target is dead by the time he arrives.

I bumped the game up to Nightmare but it is hard to notice a real difference. Are the difficulties not that separated?  I feel like maybe the actual problem is that once you hit a certain level, the monsters don't keep leveling up with you that well.  I noticed this in my last playthrough, when I had survival that was showing levels.  They were always at least 2 below mine by the time I had the detection available.

I have been meaning to ask if there is a forum for mods, and a forum for tactics setup strategies. The former would be more likely I figure.

Modifié par Squidmaster, 17 novembre 2011 - 03:23 .

[10cents]

Yeah, not all creatures level up like you do.
"For example, Redcliffe Village/Castle has an upper limit of level 10-11 for normal enemies and below, level 12 for lieutenants, and level 14 for bosses. " wiki. There are mods though, that increase the max level of enemies to 20 or increase their stats.

Moving to get in backstab position is kinda annoying - thats why I love archer rogues so much:
the tanks taunts and runs past the enemies -> all of them expose their back to my rogue who doesnt need to move an inch to keep pumping out damage. If you havent noticed, Advanced Tactics can make moving into flanking position automatic. I think it was under the skills tab (where you find Combat Training etc).
Another remedy would be using paralyzing stuff like poisons, abilities or runes to stun the target and backstab via coup de grace aka facestab. Having paralyze runes and a couple of deathroot extracts (different poisons are stackable in the vanilla game) on top of a hasted + momentum dagger rouge renders everything not resistant to stun in a deadlock.

[Squidmaster]

I suspected as much. I need to find a mod that increases their levels. That would be a lot more fun. I feel like I am playing on Nightmare just to try to offset the level disparity, but it isn't working. Monsters still die at the same speed (though I can occasionally miss without buffs now, and I get spell resists.)

I have a dagger question.  If I place Duncan's Dagger in my off hand, do I get the 10 damage vs. dragons with backstabs?  It seems like I would based on the way general + damage is applied, but I can't think of a way to prove it.

I also wonder if there is a list of the set bonuses Shale gets with matching crystals.  A simple search yielded vague guesses.  It is clear I get more resistance, but that's all I can see.

Is there a forum for mods or do I need to post in ones like this off topic?

Modifié par Squidmaster, 17 novembre 2011 - 11:44 .

[10cents]

There is a forum on dragon age nexus, though you might be better off just looking for mods yourself since the forum is kind of dead.
I use this mod: http://www.dragonage...file.php?id=354
It has >optional< files that increase max level and stuff - I am not quite sure if you can use these optional files without installing the main files, you can try though.

[Squidmaster]

I have been reading the notes about the mod you mention. It sounds like it is up my ally in terms of concept, but it also sounds like it would make the game a lot easier. Does it buff monsters to compensate for all the ability buffs? I see some abilities are nerfed, but most are buffed it appears.

[10cents]

Some are buffed, others are made interesting again (Stunning Blows, Shattering Blows, Stinging Swarm). I think it is a fair trade off since those tweaks also apply to your enemies. You dont want to meet a hostile mage casting chain lightning... it is obscenely powerful and has a good chance of killing your party.
I agree that a few buffs are totally unecessary, but oh well - the rest is good.