Hi all,
I have a history of playing Bioware RPGs since the Baldur's Gate days and it's my belief that I have a fairly good grasp of the way Dragon Age plays out. None the less, I've been unable to find my sweet spot with the difficulty levels.
Easy is trival. I can often slay a Boss without taking a single hit. However, "Normal" difficulty becomes a test in frustration for me. I'm finding it absolutely impossible without gross quantities of health and mana pots (Having completed the game tower and Redcliffe up until the castle courtyard so far, I've consumed about 50 lesser health, 30 reg. health, and 30-40 lyrium pots on my current play-through).
I feel like I'm making the game unecessarilly hard, but I'm not sure how I'm doing so.
My present group consists of a Mage PC with 4x Lightning, 3x Frost unlocked, including Spirit up until Force Field. Working on unlocking Crushing Prison. My companions are Alistair, Zevran, and Wynn.
An ordinary battle usually results in Zevran being two-shot by a white mob before he can soak up a heal and Alistair getting swamped by whites/yellows while my imponent DPS struggles to defeat them. Just how much friendly fire do you allow your DPS mage(s) to inflict?
The game difficulty level: Where's the "Sweet spot"?
Débuté par
KivinKujata
, déc. 07 2009 02:20
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#2
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 02:43
Rainen89
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Get blizzard, get mana clash then get mass paralysis. You do not need anything else. For killing large groups set up paralysis explosion. Glyph of Paralysis - Repulsion for instant Mass Paralysis (Has friendly fire so why you get mass paralysis as well.) Cast Blizzard-Tempest and have Arcane might on. Also keep everyone back in held position. (Blood wound as well, be nice to the desire demon.) Your goal should be to avoid friendly fire altogether. Mage does less direct damage than melee they're great because of CC. If you're struggling get two warriors - two mages. One of the best group set ups if you do not want to do a lot of micro managing.
One mage set to heal-CC other set to damage-cc (CC is always highest priority.) Warriors engage with whatever tools they have. Reccomend Templar/Champion.
Using blood wound. This is key and can be done very easily to avoid any frustration whatsoever. Simply put, use blood magic. Fire off Blood wound, as soon as blood wound is cast shift out of blood magic immediately, you do not even need to wait for the spell to fire if you selected it's target and your character does not need to move into position to cast it, you can shift out of blood magic and avoid the healing penalty.
If you see mage/caster of any kind, use mana clash immedaite death. Save crushing prison for assassins/elite warriors going after you or fellow mages. Use forcefield as a last resort.
If you're really struggling and want to be cheap have a warrior run in to a group of mobs use some aoe attack to get their attention (They should be wearing massive armor.) then cast forcefield on the tank. They will be immune and mobs will continue to hit target. You can then detonate the shield at any time with crushing prison resulting in "Shockwave" a so-so damage but nice knockdown follow up with a second forcefield and aoe damage. Either or you can do this without worrying about friendly fire. This works especially well when given doors.
TLDR: Mana clash and blood wound are paramount. Do not leave home w/o them.
One mage set to heal-CC other set to damage-cc (CC is always highest priority.) Warriors engage with whatever tools they have. Reccomend Templar/Champion.
Using blood wound. This is key and can be done very easily to avoid any frustration whatsoever. Simply put, use blood magic. Fire off Blood wound, as soon as blood wound is cast shift out of blood magic immediately, you do not even need to wait for the spell to fire if you selected it's target and your character does not need to move into position to cast it, you can shift out of blood magic and avoid the healing penalty.
If you see mage/caster of any kind, use mana clash immedaite death. Save crushing prison for assassins/elite warriors going after you or fellow mages. Use forcefield as a last resort.
If you're really struggling and want to be cheap have a warrior run in to a group of mobs use some aoe attack to get their attention (They should be wearing massive armor.) then cast forcefield on the tank. They will be immune and mobs will continue to hit target. You can then detonate the shield at any time with crushing prison resulting in "Shockwave" a so-so damage but nice knockdown follow up with a second forcefield and aoe damage. Either or you can do this without worrying about friendly fire. This works especially well when given doors.
TLDR: Mana clash and blood wound are paramount. Do not leave home w/o them.
#3
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 03:48
KivinKujata
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While I don't disagree with your comments on crowd control, I still feel like that isn't enough. Maybe I'm missing a lot of gear...somehow. Gear doesn't drop for me. At all. At Level 12, I have maybe three pieces that have stats. The only gold I've been able to earn was from the dragon cache, so buying those fantastically expensive pieces is out of the question.
A single scatter-shot (I think that's what's being fired) drops my entire group, Alistair included, down to below half health. A yellow merc in the Dererem alleys can three shot Alistair. This is on normal difficulty.
A single scatter-shot (I think that's what's being fired) drops my entire group, Alistair included, down to below half health. A yellow merc in the Dererem alleys can three shot Alistair. This is on normal difficulty.
#4
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 03:51
Rainen89
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Archers are not easy which is why you can neutralize them in a couple ways. Templar knockdown followed by mage casting mass paralysis at same time will solve it. Archers-mages are priority targets, simple as that melee is less of an issue.
#5
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 04:02
bonscott87
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Controlling archers is pretty easy. I have Wynn cast Earthquake which knocks 'em down while Morrigan casts Tempest. That keeps them out of the fight and nearly dead while my character and Allister take out anything that comes out of the Tempest. Wynn and Morrigan keep pounding the archers/mages from long range with their staves or arcane bolt.
Rinse/repeat.
Rinse/repeat.
#6
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 04:39
rumination888
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If an elite in denerim can 3-shot Alistair, then he's not equipped to tank at all.
One of the problems with the difficulty spikes is the fact that massive armor doesn't drop early in the game without using DLC. Warriors have a hard time surviving without excessive potting unless they're in massive armor. You can't even buy the non-magical kind because no non-DLC store sells them!
The only thing you can really do is either use Blood Dragon armor, or swap Alistair out for Shale.
One of the problems with the difficulty spikes is the fact that massive armor doesn't drop early in the game without using DLC. Warriors have a hard time surviving without excessive potting unless they're in massive armor. You can't even buy the non-magical kind because no non-DLC store sells them!
The only thing you can really do is either use Blood Dragon armor, or swap Alistair out for Shale.
#7
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 05:29
Gliese
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From reading the OP I can only conclude that you don't pause the game enough to micromanage, that's the only thing I can come up with that could be holding you back.
To give a tip on another great spell: Sleep, it has a huge radius and is very fast to cast. It doesn't last all that long early on but it's perfect to give you some time to unleash something more powerful like blizzard mass paralysis etc in the frequent scenario where your group is surrounded by enemies.
Btw grenades can be your friend.
To give a tip on another great spell: Sleep, it has a huge radius and is very fast to cast. It doesn't last all that long early on but it's perfect to give you some time to unleash something more powerful like blizzard mass paralysis etc in the frequent scenario where your group is surrounded by enemies.
Btw grenades can be your friend.
Modifié par Gliese, 07 décembre 2009 - 05:35 .
#8
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 05:47
Xantor_Stromgate
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Ol' Xanny's a fan of the Bum Rush - War Cry tech!!!
#9
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 05:57
Iron Ranger
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Grenades are impressive, use a few back to back of different types can destroy mobs of NPCs
#10
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 06:03
Tonya777
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As a mage the "Sweet spot" is on normal , for the AoE fun w/o the worry of friendly fire , though the game is totally beatable as a mage on nightmare the whole time , but what I did as my mage was normal the whole time then nightmare on the last boss just to prove a point lol
#11
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 06:06
KivinKujata
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@bonscott87,
Thanks for the tip. That's feasable for me, since my PC has tempest.
@rumination888,
If there's a DLC that improves the itemization a bit, particularly tanking gear, I'd like to hear of it. What should I be looking for?
ninja edit: I don't have blood dragon armor, unfortunately.
I've used Shale in a play-through on Easy difficulty and was really pleased with her, but I was hoping for some variety with Alistair. It seems that I'm making the game frustratingly difficult by doing so.
@Gliese,
I'm paused almost constantly. It's the only way I can survive more than four seconds in battle... All the same, my characters get shredded seconds after I release the pause.
Your recommendation of Sleep is definitely in line with the pro-crowd control comments I'm hearing. I think I'd better scrap my campaign and rethink a mage with less DPS and more Zzz.
Thanks for the tip. That's feasable for me, since my PC has tempest.
@rumination888,
If there's a DLC that improves the itemization a bit, particularly tanking gear, I'd like to hear of it. What should I be looking for?
ninja edit: I don't have blood dragon armor, unfortunately.
I've used Shale in a play-through on Easy difficulty and was really pleased with her, but I was hoping for some variety with Alistair. It seems that I'm making the game frustratingly difficult by doing so.
@Gliese,
I'm paused almost constantly. It's the only way I can survive more than four seconds in battle... All the same, my characters get shredded seconds after I release the pause.
Your recommendation of Sleep is definitely in line with the pro-crowd control comments I'm hearing. I think I'd better scrap my campaign and rethink a mage with less DPS and more Zzz.
#12
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 06:21
Tonya777
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Sleep FTL
Mass para/Cone of cold/Blood wound FTW!
Mass para/Cone of cold/Blood wound FTW!
#13
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 08:00
K1dlcarus
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Funnily enough on my second proper run through, I'm finding the game significantly easier on nightmare than my first run which i did on normal. I'm playing a warrior sword+board tank atm so playing alistair would only be slightly harder due to lower levels and less bonus skills. Having said that, I am using the blood dragon armor currently.
I guess the main differences are that my stats are more focused now - 42 str and the rest in dexterity for tanking - getting all the shield spells with a focus on getting the offensive ones first, doing the mage circle first out of lothering in order to get the fade bonuses.
like some of the posters above suggested, paralysis explosion makes things slightly easier, an occasional ice cone here and there - I've got about 3 characters that do shatter combos which is great for getting rid of white mobs, i have to say though that most of the time i just let my mages do single target damage as i find the threat easier to manage that way.
I think i'm doing quite ok mixing up my skills so that i don't feel i'm cheesing myself through the game on nightmare.
I guess the main differences are that my stats are more focused now - 42 str and the rest in dexterity for tanking - getting all the shield spells with a focus on getting the offensive ones first, doing the mage circle first out of lothering in order to get the fade bonuses.
like some of the posters above suggested, paralysis explosion makes things slightly easier, an occasional ice cone here and there - I've got about 3 characters that do shatter combos which is great for getting rid of white mobs, i have to say though that most of the time i just let my mages do single target damage as i find the threat easier to manage that way.
I think i'm doing quite ok mixing up my skills so that i don't feel i'm cheesing myself through the game on nightmare.
#14
Posté 07 décembre 2009 - 10:37
CBGB
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There's no one set of companions or spells you need, but these general tips may help.
- Use Crowd Control.
Mages have the most options, but there's no one spell you need. If not Force Field, then Paralyze. If not Paralyze, then Horror. If not Horror, then Petrify, etc.
CC doesn't even have to come from a mage. Allistair can fully occupy two equal-level enemies with Threaten toggled on, leaving me free to concentrate on other things (for more than two, I have to help him).
Archery is its own kind of crowd control, as it can pull one enemy at a time.
Even the short stuns available to each class are a good way to open a fight. Same with traps.
- Have a tank.
That's not strictly necessary, but if you're finding the game challenging, it's a big help. Putting a warrior up front who can mitigate damage from archers is a good idea.
Taunt is hugely useful, especially when you can buff or heal the tank.
- Have a heal spell or two available.
I use them more than potions, and they can fill gaps in your timer for health poultices for hard fights and completely replace them in others.
- Have a mage, or two.
While I disagree with the postings here that say mages make the game too easy (there's no end of what people find too easy; I just read a post by a player who used a clever setup with four tanks on Nightmare and found it... you guessed it, 'too easy'), they're the most versatile support class. Start with Crowd Control and the basic Heal spell, then add either more damage or more protection as you find your party needs.
- Use Crowd Control.
Mages have the most options, but there's no one spell you need. If not Force Field, then Paralyze. If not Paralyze, then Horror. If not Horror, then Petrify, etc.
CC doesn't even have to come from a mage. Allistair can fully occupy two equal-level enemies with Threaten toggled on, leaving me free to concentrate on other things (for more than two, I have to help him).
Archery is its own kind of crowd control, as it can pull one enemy at a time.
Even the short stuns available to each class are a good way to open a fight. Same with traps.
- Have a tank.
That's not strictly necessary, but if you're finding the game challenging, it's a big help. Putting a warrior up front who can mitigate damage from archers is a good idea.
Taunt is hugely useful, especially when you can buff or heal the tank.
- Have a heal spell or two available.
I use them more than potions, and they can fill gaps in your timer for health poultices for hard fights and completely replace them in others.
- Have a mage, or two.
While I disagree with the postings here that say mages make the game too easy (there's no end of what people find too easy; I just read a post by a player who used a clever setup with four tanks on Nightmare and found it... you guessed it, 'too easy'), they're the most versatile support class. Start with Crowd Control and the basic Heal spell, then add either more damage or more protection as you find your party needs.
