45 réponses à ce sujet

[wanderon]

Well we are off and running again - redid the Arishok as a full battle instead of the duel and it was much easier (and quicker) - no one died except the horn heads -

Sided with Merideth against those pesky mages and now I have to decide when during Act 3 to do Legacy and MotB - any suggestions about that would be welcome!

[wanderon]

Well we made some good progress yesterday and not a single reload altho the high dragon fight was very close to one. We typically carry at least 10-12 each elfroot, & restoration potions and almost that many health potions and have never come close to running out before unless we forgot to restock during a run of several quests.

Not so with the dragon fight especially near the end when the high dragon would swoop off to the cliffs (swooping is bad) and rain fire down on us as we battled a smaller dragon and dragonlings that would be bunched up on the valley floor. It was at this point in the action that we ran out of all our healing type potions and the party was down to just Hawke and Aveline.

We had about 5 or 6 Mythal Favor grenades left by now and the only other way we had to regain any health was Hawkes devour ability which also had a 120sec cooldown - this meant that when fighting the smaller groups in the fire rain one would stand and fight until they died while the other stayed back out of the fight once they got down to the last third of their health. When the fighter died the otherwould lead the dragon off a ways & revive the other with a mythals favor then both would fight again until one was down to a third or so and would have to back off and repeat the process.

When Hawke delivered the killing blow we were down to our last Mythals favor ! 

[Renmiri1]

<<  dupe >>

Modifié par Renmiri1, 14 août 2012 - 12:45 .

[Renmiri1]

 That was close! 

[wanderon]

We finished up most of the outstanding quests yesterday except Merril & Anders which I am still somewhat undecided on how to handle and grabbed Bethany Varrick & Aveline for a little family outing in Legacy - hit our first reload in a long time with the last Carta fight before entering the main compound (with the big bronto).

We had been spanking everything we ran into without much trouble before that and there may have been an overconfidence curse cast on us early so when I didn't get everyone off the trapped floor and out of the brontos path before the boss turned the traps on things went from bad to worse quickly. Our next try started off much better and we finished the fight quite easily.

So far no troubles moving onward and we are in the last dungeon now having just finished battling Janekas revenant with just a few battles to go before the final - (one of my least favorites in the game mostly becuase it's more about dodging effects rather than battling a foe)
 
I did some weapon damage type research and over the past couple days and finally realized that I have been unknowingly playing my warrior types with the least damaging option more often than not. (physical) when I could have been using the top 3 (spirit > cold > lightning) - so Hawke has been switching between Bloom (cold against carta) and Celebrant (spirit against darkspawn & revenants) which may have something to do with our current successes...

We will finish Legacy today and I'm undecided whether we will tackle MotA or not but I am leaning towards skipping it and moving on to the final confrontation in Kirkwall.

[caradoc2000]

How did you manage the hidden boss in Legacy without mages?

[wanderon]

caradoc2000 wrote...

How did you manage the hidden boss in Legacy without mages?

LOL wasn't aware there was one until you mentioned it and I spoke to Mr Google about it - I was wondering about those cryptic notes but thought they related to Corypheus...

Too late to try him out this time (can't get back there) altho perhaps I'll reload Legacy after I finish this group and give him a shot altho I am more likely to wait until the next party I take to Legacy.

That said the party for Legacy actually does have a mage - I started to leave Bethany behind but she sounded so sad at the intro when she said she would stand watch while we entered I reloaded and took her along since it's a family affair...

[coldwetn0se]

hehe....I was just going to ask what @caradoc2000 asked. That is seriously a mother of a fight (at least for me *chuckle*). I have never been able to win it above "normal" difficulty, but I have used a non-mage play through in that fight (Fenris, Aveline, Varric/Sebastian, and DW rogue Hawke).

I say play MotA. Since Talis is non-mage anyway, you are already on your way to a good non-mage/melee party. Bring a Maker's Sigh with you, and respec Talis; I use a build that @Arelex put together (slightly modified depending on who I else I was bringing). Works like a charm!

**EDIT**
Woops!  Forgot to add the link.

Modifié par coldwetn0se, 14 août 2012 - 05:45 .

[wanderon]

Well we made it through Legacy without another reload but I do hate the whole pillar to pillar silliness in the Corepheus battle 

Still undecided about MotA - bottom line is probably that if I don't do it I should finish the game today or at least before work tomorrow while if I do MotA It will probably be Sunday before I finish... 

[Renmiri1]

MotA will be easy without mages, just bring tons of potions and don't open the chest on the altar

[coldwetn0se]

Opening the chest is fine, but don't take the book if you don't want the "consequences"....hehe (which I always do. I like the consequences. Especially with a DW rogue. Smackdown!!)

[wanderon]

Re MotA: I don't think I've ever beaten that battle at the altar - in fact I think both times I played MotA it was losing that battle that encouraged me to turn the difficulty down to normal and after losing it again on normal just walk away and leave it there for the rest of the action...

I'm not a big fan of MotA - it's Ok but it doesn't gel well with the Champion story IMO making it less attractive to play as an integral part of the DA2 experience (not as seamless as Legacy anyway) and I hate the stealth part altho I suspect I could choose the other option there and not have to deal with it but both Hawkes I took there so far would have been a real stretch to do so and stay in character.

As for my current run I decided it would be better to reluctantly finish the Merril and Justice quests before heading to the Gallows and I am finding the battles in them quite difficult - we barely made it through the Dalish both outside the cavern and down at the base of the Mt and would not have made it without sucking down a crapload of potions and a few Mythals Favor.

Perhaps its becuase I used the auto-level for both Anders and Merril and have been mostly letting them make their own decisions in battle since my party concept is no mages. No doubt a self run generic leveled mage is a bit less effective than a relatively well built Fenris but it was still surprising to me after we waded through Legacy without much trouble.

We did the finale "Evil under Kirkwall" too since we got back (from the A---- scrolls quests) and that was tough but I sort of expected it to be while I don't recall the Dalish or the thugs involved with Anders "special ingredients" to be so the last time I did them so I'm not sure whats up with that.

[wanderon]

Tough battles continued with the rest of Anders search for ingredients - Anders had to run into a room the monstrous spider couldn't fit in to wait for a lyrium potion to reset so he could raise the rest of the party from the dead to finish off the beast -

Really? Spiders  almost wiped out the party? Hawke was taking massive damage from the big guy - he'd suck down a potion that took him to full health and 2-3 attacks later he was almost dead.

In any event we got it done - refused to help Anders get into Chantry - finished up the rest of the companion & side quests and I'll make up my mind in the morning whether to do MotA or just load up on potions & grenades and head for the Gallows.

I might have to go look at the weapon selection at Blackies - now that I've discovered that weapons doing physical damage are at the low end of the damage totem pole I may want to see about something else for Hawke (who was planning to weild Empress Point). I have Celebrant (spirit) and Bloom (cold) with 1 & 2 slots respectively and damage in the high 30's but thats it for non-physical choices.

[coldwetn0se]

@wanderon - Those three weapons you mentioned are my favorites. Here is something funny about physical; a decent physical weapon can still do plenty of damage since I don't believe there are any enemy types that are immune to it (like some enemies being immuned to electricity, cold, fire, ect..). The build section of the forum has some really good info on weapon types (much better than I can give *wink*)

As for MotA, if it doesn't fit with your RPing, then I can totally understand you not playing it. The Alter fight with the Skyhorror can be handled pretty well, but I found if I don't want to play on 'casual' for that fight, I HAVE to respec Tallis. The link I posted in my previous post gives great builds for Tallis based on you and your party (might have to alter if you use a unique party, but still a very good build thread.)

One last thing (that may be obvious, but thought I would ask); do you use runes in your armor? Some of these fights can go much better if you prepare for them (though I understand if that takes away from the roleplaying aspect). I generally (RP wise) have no problem preparing for some excursion, since you have at least a bit of in game info before heading out for a fight (good examples: uses fire warding when you have previous info of a place known to attract dragons; i.e. Bone Pit/High Dragon. MotA is also a good example, since you know you are going "hunting".) Anyway, please forgive me, if I am prattling away about things you already do...heh.

Happy gaming!

[wanderon]

@ coldwetn0se feel free to prattle away - thats why I post these things to begin with becuase I like to see what others are doing with the same situations

To be honest the RP issues with playing MotA are actually pretty minor - mostly that it's difficult to see why Hawke would be interested in going off to steal some gem and then once the real "plot" unfolds there are pretty limited options for RPing what your Hawke might do/ say/ feel - in relation to what choices he has made in DA2 re: the qunari as well as the moral dilemmas etc.

I've only done it twice and I don't recall exactly what levels/Act I was in but both times I felt I was underpowered once I got there (both times at the altar IIRC) and turned the difficulty back to normal and left it there rather than end up in a reload fest - I might have mentioned before I'm not much of a fan of the "reload until you get lucky" school of play...

I do use runes etc altho I'm not much on restructuring the partys gear for each major quest - I prefer to work towards a good overall set-up and maybe just switch a weapon out here and there - I do like getting the "more money runes" going early on and once I found out how the Dougal scenario worked I take that option every time now since it appears to give you a free ticket to the deep roads show and an extra battle to boot ( I have not noticed that you lose any cash when you come back "paying him off")...
 
Speaking of weapon switching I wish the warrior had the archery option too - having a character thats mainly melee but competent at archery is right up my alley - Pretty much every member of my BG and NWN2 parties had both ranged and melee options -

I also liked it better when ranged meant a selection of weapons too - bow, xbow, sling, throwing knives & axes and that they had different properties but I guess that was before they had to simplify things to work on consoles too...

[wanderon]

Yesterday the party  started the final straw in motion  after siding with Meredith - we fought our way to the gallows finsihed the courtyard and then died fighting the arcane horror just before Sandals shop and realized the last save was entering the courtyard. I hate it when that happens...

This morning I toyed with the idea of going back to an earlier save and doing MotA but upon further review we just moved on with the Final Straw instead as I couldn't think of anything special the party would gain from MotA that might be of assistance except maybe a level and if I just want to see how we handle it I can always do it later- 

 We managed to get to Sandals shop this time and then fought our way to Orsino and took him down altho we did use up a few Mythals Favor along the way and those pesky arcane horrors were a pain in the patootie 

 I spent about 120g buying potions and grenades before leaving Hawkes estate so we should have plenty left for Meredith but won't get to deal with her until Sunday.

Once thats done I will have to decide whether it's time to set DA2 aside for a while or start deciding on a new campaign or maybe go finish my last Origins character thats about halfway through.

[Renmiri1]

You should try a mage Hawke with Carver Warden someday.. Is one of my favorite variations of the story. Carver dialog / banter rocks!

[wanderon]

Well the final battle with Meredith was sort of underwhelming - we did not have a single party member die (except dog once) and only needed a handful of potions to kick her templar patootie all over that courtyard.

Hawke went with Celebrant and Fenris weilded Bloom Aveline had the Mt something axe (spirit damage) - when the first couple of statues came along they didn't seem to be doing any damage at all to us - I'm guessing it was the constant stagger effect from 3 warriors smacking on them at once altho the Fell poison might have helped .

I'm starting another game with a male hawke mage - probably going SH/FM - - I'll start a new thread to discuss my companion options once I get them to Kirkwall...

[Renmiri1]

So did you like being Viscount ? I got so surprised when Cullen kneeled and offered his sword! I wasn't expecting it at all, was pretty cool to get it:D

Modifié par Renmiri1, 19 août 2012 - 05:18 .

[wanderon]

Actually I was wondering what was going on when first Cullen and then the rest of the templars kneeled - I thought maybe I'd end up with a title but I don't recall Varrick saying anything about Hawke actually becoming Viscount in the epilogue altho he does mention the city begging her to rule...

Ahhhh I just checked my achievements and apparently she did indeed become Viscount!

[Crimson Moon]

I have already think of mage as being glass canon, but DA mages are either tough nor a good damage dealer. One of the things I would like to see change about mages are a significant buff, consider how easily they die on harder difficulty.