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[thementat]

I have been playing Dragon Age 2 for about a week now. I have a much better understanding of the game now and will start a new game soon. There are still some (a lot) issues (lots of them) I'm unclear about and was hoping to get clarifications from forum members who know more than I do:

• Jewelry (such as rings/belt/amulets) buffs for enemies dropping more coin/equipment. Does it only take effect if the kill was made by the character who made the kill or as long as any party member wears it that all that counts?
• Regarding the above, is there a cumulative effect (wearing two rings for enemies dropping more coin)?
• I think most merchants retain items and don't have them "rotated". Is that true (so I won't have to buy way in advance)?
• How do I know how powerful new runes going to be?
• When ordering new potions, I don't seem to need the ingredients. Do I just need to discover them and purchase a recipe? Does the quantity of ingredients I discovered/have make any difference?
• Friendship and rivalry: as opposed to DAO, each one increments independently from the other? When it reaches a certain level is it locked? How do I know it is locked/maxed-out?
• Does friendship/rivalry affect romancing?
• Just making sure, but there is no equivalent of gifts in DA2 like in DAO, Right (pity though, I liked the gifts)?
• Attack/defense jewelry seem to do very little. An attack ring of 20+ adds around %1 or %2 to my attack. Defense jewelry bonus is also similar. Am I missing something here? What exactly does the +20 attack/defense mean?
• I cannot seem to pick up equipment from enemy corpses while still in combat. Is there anyway to do so (sometimes I really need that extra potion I might get)?
• As a rogue, I never seem to have any problems with running out of stamina and I make use of special skills. This probably has to do with hits/kills bringing some stamina back. Do most people have the same experience?
• Does armor reduce damage up to a certain point? If I have armor rating of 100 does it mean that that I won't take a single point of damage if I got hit with 100 damage?
• I hardly find any items from loot, unlike DAO (still in act 1). Does this change later on? If not, don't see any point in enlarging the party's backpack.
• In most battles I hold position, setting tank in front and ranged in the back. If possible, I hold of choke points while ranged/area damage is done from behind. For whatever reason, it seems my tank never attacks nearby enemies. I have to explicitly do so. Am I missing something in the tactics? I don't want the tank to go after the target, but if hit or target is in melee range, attack should be initiated. Also, it seems like Merill never does range attacks with staff unless I instruct her to do so.
• I have a hard time understand spell damage. For example, Tempest: Electricity damage: 0.66x Base Damage every 4s Elemental force: 2x. What does that mean?
• For dual weilding rogue, does the combat system "roll the dice" for each hand for attack/damage/critical?
• Any difference between left/right hand weapon for dual weilding?
• How much damage does a critical hit do?
• What is the difference between backstab and critical hit?
• Elemental resistences: I can understand %40 fire resistance. But what does 106 fire resistence on a ring means?
• Regarding side quests which aren't completed by end of act 1 - will they be available in act 2?
• I have the following DLCs: legacy, exiled prince, mark of the assassian. Will playing them before completing the main quest overpower me or ruin the game in some way (getting too powerful equipment early on)?
• The Black Emporium offers a potion to respec a character's attributes and abilities. Generally speaking, in RPG games I find such a thing to be cheating, even if the game supports it. The choices you make should stay with you. However, when it comes to your companions, this is actually a different matter. Take Merill for example. As a blood mage, she should have had massive constitution to begin with and nothing in willpower. I think that new companions should be almost completely customized by the player when first met, apart for a few points in their main speciality - meaning, Varric should still be an archer, Fenris a two handed weapon warrior, etc. What are your thoughts?

Modifié par thementat, 15 août 2012 - 06:09 .

[EricHVela]

3. I've seen stock change based on the Acts in the story. I do not recall if certain items vanished from the vendors at the start of an act.

4. The rune's bonus power is shown when you are choosing which ones to use during the enchanting process before finalizing the enchantment.

5. You simply need to discover the right number of ingredients. If a recipe calls for 2 deep mushrooms and you've only found one so far, you cannot make it until you've discovered a second one. It does not consume the ingredients when ordering them. Be aware that ingredients do not respawn and will vanish at the end of an act if you haven't discovered it yet.

[EricHVela]

8. There are only companion-specific gifts. You cannot give them to other companions like DA:O.

[thementat]

ReggarBlane wrote...

8. There are only companion-specific gifts. You cannot give them to other companions like DA:O.

So there are gifts? I haven't found any. How does one know if an item is a gift and how do you give it to a companion?

[EricHVela]

21. With the exception of the Exiled Prince DLC (and Legacy and MotA DLCs that are outside the main timeline), the sidequests become unavailable after an act finishes. All quests except the Legacy and MotA DLCs are unavaiable after completing the main story.

23. Play the game your way. If you think that the characters' builds make little sense, you have the option to correct that. If you want, you can play with the pre-determined starting builds and play again with your own starting builds via the Black Emporium.

[EricHVela]

thementat wrote...

ReggarBlane wrote...

8. There are only companion-specific gifts. You cannot give them to other companions like DA:O.

So there are gifts? I haven't found any. How does one know if an item is a gift and how do you give it to a companion?

You get a journal entry when acquiring the item. You will not be able to sell it. The journal will tell you to visit a companion and a dialog option (and sometimes automatic dialog) will give the item to the companion.

[thementat]

By the way, are commanders/assassins in mobs considered lieutenant level or bosses
What is considered a "normal" enemy? Humanoid? Are Qunari normal (they are pretty gigantic)?

Modifié par thementat, 16 août 2012 - 05:44 .

[caradoc2000]

thementat wrote...

[*]Friendship and rivalry: as opposed to DAO, each one increments independently from the other? When it reaches a certain level is it locked? How do I know it is locked/maxed-out?
[*]Does friendship/rivalry affect romancing?

Friendship and rivalry are not independent of each other, they are on the same scale. If you get 10 friendship and then 10 rivalry, these will cancel each other out. It is locked when it reaches maximum. It does affect romance in that you'll get a slightly different dialogue.

Modifié par caradoc2000, 16 août 2012 - 02:32 .

[thementat]

What exactly is a "normal" enemy? Humanoid? Are assassins/commanders/lieutenants considered normal?

[Sylvius the Mad]

thementat wrote...

-snip-

You have very effectively highlighted the gross lack of documentation for DA2.  BioWare didn't make any effort to tell us how DA2 works.

It's very irritating.

Maybe next time they'll write this stuff down for us somewhere so we won't have to guess at it.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Now to your actual questions.

Anything I skip I never figured out myself.

When ordering new potions, I don't seem to need the ingredients. Do I just need to discover them and purchase a recipe? Does the quantity of ingredients I discovered/have make any difference?

Each recipe requires a certain number of different source of each ingredient.  If you've only found one source of Elfroot, you can only order potions that require a single Elfroot source.

You do not need to carry the ingredients.

In most battles I hold position, setting tank in front and ranged in the back. If possible, I hold of choke points while ranged/area damage is done from behind. For whatever reason, it seems my tank never attacks nearby enemies. I have to explicitly do so. Am I missing something in the tactics? I don't want the tank to go after the target, but if hit or target is in melee range, attack should be initiated. Also, it seems like Merill never does range attacks with staff unless I instruct her to do so.

No character will do anything without your instruction while you have him selected.  If they're not doing anything even when they are not the active character, then I don't know what's going on.

I have a hard time understand spell damage. For example, Tempest: Electricity damage: 0.66x Base Damage every 4s Elemental force: 2x. What does that mean?

Base damage is the damage value listed on your character sheet.  It's affected by your primary stat (Magic, for Mages), and your equipped weapon (plus any buff items you might have equipped).

I don't understand the force numbers.

Elemental resistences: I can understand %40 fire resistance. But what does 106 fire resistence on a ring means?

It scales.  Check the resistances page on your character sheet for actual values.  The effectiveness of a 106 fire resistance ring will diminish (quickly) as you level up.

Regarding side quests which aren't completed by end of act 1 - will they be available in act 2?

No.

I have the following DLCs: legacy, exiled prince, mark of the assassian. Will playing them before completing the main quest overpower me or ruin the game in some way (getting too powerful equipment early on)?

The DLC equipment does tend to be quite powerful.  Legacy and MotA don't really fit within the game itself, so you can do them whenever you like and they won't really make sense no matter when you do.

Exiled Prince fits more seamlessly within DA2.

The Black Emporium offers a potion to respec a character's attributes and abilities. Generally speaking, in RPG games I find such a thing to be cheating, even if the game supports it. The choices you make should stay with you. However, when it comes to your companions, this is actually a different matter. Take Merill for example. As a blood mage, she should have had massive constitution to begin with and nothing in willpower. I think that new companions should be almost completely customized by the player when first met, apart for a few points in their main speciality - meaning, Varric should still be an archer, Fenris a two handed weapon warrior, etc. What are your thoughts?

I completely agree that the respec options for the PC are something I won't use, but also that the companions should be fully customisable.  I'd even go so far as to say that we shouldn't be bound to those weapon selections.  I quite liked making Sten an archer in DAO.

[Renmiri1]

Vendors change stock per Act. On Act 2 the gallows enchants girl has a backpack, on Act 3 the guy on Hightown market near the stairs has a backpack. They keep the stuff you sold them on the act, not sure if it stays after that act is done.

Gifts generate quests, where you give the gift to the proper recipient.

The more coin buff is cumulative. I get a lot more coin if i have it runed on boots, helmet, gloves, etc..

[thementat]

I found out how to pickup loot during combat! When the radial menu is up and you are close to a loot/body, highlight it and hit the "A" button (on the xbox). The character will pick it up. If the radial menu is not open, the character will perform an attack.

This is so super helpful as every now and then I deplete my potions.or having that extra mana potion is useful.

[thementat]

* Is there any weapon speed difference between a sword (one handed) and a mace?
* Does elemental damage provide additional effects? Does frost damage slows opponents? Does lightning depletes mana/stamina? Any effects for nature/spirit/fire damage? Or it is just plain damage.

[nightscrawl]

Nice BSN name choice, OP.


1, 2, 3 - I suggest you browse the money guide (also look through his guide on tactics, linked in his sig). Even if you aren't going to use the actual guide for gaining more money, there is great information about how those gear bonuses work.

6, 7, 8 - Ooh boy. As Sylvius says, here is where lack of documentation really hurts the game, especially with a meta system like F/R.

They are not independent. It is a sliding meter scale with friendship on one side and rivalry on the other.
F <--------------- 50% ---------------> R

It does lock when you reach 100% friendship or 100% rivalry. There are minor color variations (F is blue and R is red), and the more you veer to one side the darker (blacker) the other one becomes. When the arrow is all the way on the left (or right) and the opposite side is black, you are at 100%.

It affects the romances in this way: the level of your F/R is a trigger to obtain certain companion quests that have an impact on your relationship(s) with them. Those quests are usually the Questioning Beliefs quest, and they are important in moving your relationship forward with a given companion.

I will use Fenris since I have the most experience with him. In Act 2 once you hit a certain level of F/R, Questioning Beliefs appears in your log. This quest dialogue allows you to learn about his past and establishes some personal issues about him. Completion of this quest is required before his main personal quest in Act 2 (Bitter Pill) in order for the romance dialogue lines and scene to trigger.

As far as gifts are concerned, there are gifts for everyone throughout the game, some have two. These are an opportunity to score some high numbers of F/R points, both in giving the gift itself and with your response in the following dialogue. Don't waste them!

Another important thing to keep in mind is that friendship or rivalry are not good and bad. It's not like light and dark sides in Star Wars. You can have romances with companions whether F or R and their final commitment when you make The Choice at the end is not determined by F/R -- the important thing in this regard is that you have the meter maxed out and have completed all of their quests.

The ONLY thing that F/R has an influence on (in addition to some minor skill bonuses) is during companion dialogue. It basically establishes the kind of relationship you have with the person. Some companions are dramatically different based on this (Anders). Friendship is more of an agreeable, supportive relationship; rivalry can either be "agree to disagree" or more aggressive. I strongly encourage you to try out the various types with the companions and see which you like best for that person. For me, rival Anders is the only way to play.

Finally, you do want to aim to max out the meter as you play.

11 - Yes. Warriors have a similar "return stamina on enemy death" ability as well.

13 - This really depends. If you have a rogue and you go around looting anything and everything including all locked chests, crates, rock piles, etc your bags can fill up. The various "junk" loot that is in the trash section of your inventory also takes up bag slots.

17 - No. There are no main-hand / off-hand advantages. So in that light you will always want to use your two best weapons. With rogue specifically, I switch left/right hand weapons based on appearance on the back, as some models look a bit odd depending on what side they are on.

21 - No. Bartrand will verify with you before you head into the Deep Roads in Act 1. When he tells you to finish up everything, he means it. Aside from a reload to a previous save, there is no going back. There is a similar point in Act 2 as well.

22 - This depends on your goals for a game like this. There are some items that are very powerful from the DLC. If you feel that use of such items is "cheating" you don't have to use them. In that case, you can just enjoy the DLC for the story aspects.

23 - I highly value the Maker's Sigh respec potions. I prefer the option to respeccing so much that I used a mod in DAO to do that as well. I want to build my characters like I want to build them. When you start the game your PC, your siblings, and all companions as you acquire them have preset skills. Maybe I don't want my mage to have Mind Blast. That right there is a wasted point. Respec potions allow me to make the character that I want to make, not how Bioware thinks I should make them.

thementat wrote...

* Does elemental damage provide additional effects? Does frost damage slows opponents? Does lightning depletes mana/stamina? Any effects for nature/spirit/fire damage? Or it is just plain damage.

It's just plain damage. The key thing is to use the correct damage type to go along with the enemy resistances. For example, the spider type (a minor boss in Act 2) is vulnerable to electricity, so having your mages use electric staves as well as having a primal mage is helpful.

Modifié par nightscrawl, 21 août 2012 - 02:53 .

[thementat]

Regarding rivalry/friendship, I'm probably %65 into act 1 and Bethany has the slider all the way to the left (friendship). Are passive friendship/rivalry skills automatically turned on when the maximum is reached?

"Nice BSN name choice, OP." - thanks, but what is BSN?

[nightscrawl]

thementat wrote...

Regarding rivalry/friendship, I'm probably %65 into act 1 and Bethany has the slider all the way to the left (friendship). Are passive friendship/rivalry skills automatically turned on when the maximum is reached?

"Nice BSN name choice, OP." - thanks, but what is BSN?

Bioware Social Network.

I think their passive friendship or rivalry ability is turned on when the bar is about 75%, but I'm not sure about that. However, this does not apply to siblings, who do not have a special/unique tree. If you look at Fenris's unique specialization, Tevinter Fugitive, you will see icons there for friendship or rivalry and the bonuses those confer. Here is a list for all companions, minus the siblings.

The siblings get their own specializations later on in the game for certain (non spoiler) reasons, but they are not unique to them. Bethany gets an additional mage spec and Carver gets an additional warrior spec.

[thementat]

nightscrawl wrote...

thementat wrote...

Regarding rivalry/friendship, I'm probably %65 into act 1 and Bethany has the slider all the way to the left (friendship). Are passive friendship/rivalry skills automatically turned on when the maximum is reached?

"Nice BSN name choice, OP." - thanks, but what is BSN?

Bioware Social Network.

I think their passive friendship or rivalry ability is turned on when the bar is about 75%, but I'm not sure about that. However, this does not apply to siblings, who do not have a special/unique tree. If you look at Fenris's unique specialization, Tevinter Fugitive, you will see icons there for friendship or rivalry and the bonuses those confer. Here is a list for all companions, minus the siblings.

The siblings get their own specializations later on in the game for certain (non spoiler) reasons, but they are not unique to them. Bethany gets an additional mage spec and Carver gets an additional warrior spec.

I'm fairly certain Bethany had a friendship/rivalry thingy. And regarding the "non spoiler" (in Parenthasis), I thought Carver is dead.

[nightscrawl]

--- minor SPOILERS for Bethany/Carver ---

thementat wrote...

I'm fairly certain Bethany had a friendship/rivalry thingy. And regarding the "non spoiler" (in Parenthasis), I thought Carver is dead.

Well the siblings have a F/R meter yes, and it's primary function is the same as the other followers: to show the type of relationship you have with them. However, you don't get any passive bonuses for the siblings as you do the other companions, which was my point.

This is the non-spoiler forum .

And uh... well since you asked, Carver is dead because you made a warrior or rogue (non-mage). If you had made a mage Bethany would have died instead. Part of the reason for that is class balancing, and the other part is emotional hook. They wanted an emotional hook and used the class choice to determine which sibling dies. Making it dependant on that means that you might have a different experience (the Carver relationship is much different) the next time you play.

[thementat]

I finally got assassinate talent yesterday - OMG! Finally a really boss killer (or near kill). In battles I now freeze the boss followed by hex and death mark, and then do a nice assassinate which depletes a huge amount of his health. Followed by nightmare/petrify. In many cases that does the job. I can finally go and help Anders with the templars.

[nightscrawl]

thementat wrote...

I finally got assassinate talent yesterday - OMG! Finally a really boss killer (or near kill). In battles I now freeze the boss followed by hex and death mark, and then do a nice assassinate which depletes a huge amount of his health. Followed by nightmare/petrify. In many cases that does the job. I can finally go and help Anders with the templars.

While mage is my canon class, rogue is by far the most... entertaining? I suppose that's the best word.

Check out AreleX's awesome rogue guide. There is great info on rogue mechanics as well as tactics you can use with each companion.

Along with Assassin, you can pick up either Duelist or Shadow. Since the 1.03 patch I think Shadow pulled ahead, but I prefer to stick with Duelist, mainly for Vendetta. As she describes it...

If Assassinate is Our Lord & Savior, then Vendetta is His begotten son. This is your 'IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE TEMPLAR HUNTER' button. If I had to draw a comparison, it's most akin to the Vanguard Charge from Mass Effect 2; Instant contact from as far as you can target them. This ability is a TON of fun to use, and pretty damn powerful, too; you can capitalize on a stagger from anywhere on the screen once you get Blood Feud. Vendetta is Backstab's intelligent, successful, good-looking, non paste-eating brother.

Hehe... Of course, if you use the respec potion you can try both and see which you like best ;D.

[AbsoluteApril]

thementat wrote...

I found out how to pickup loot during combat! When the radial menu is up and you are close to a loot/body, highlight it and hit the "A" button (on the xbox). The character will pick it up. If the radial menu is not open, the character will perform an attack.

be careful, there's a quest or two where the game bugs if you do that and won't let you complete the quest.
Wayward Son and Fools Rush In will bug if you loot too early.

[thementat]

nightscrawl wrote...

thementat wrote...

I finally got assassinate talent yesterday - OMG! Finally a really boss killer (or near kill). In battles I now freeze the boss followed by hex and death mark, and then do a nice assassinate which depletes a huge amount of his health. Followed by nightmare/petrify. In many cases that does the job. I can finally go and help Anders with the templars.

While mage is my canon class, rogue is by far the most... entertaining? I suppose that's the best word.

Check out AreleX's awesome rogue guide. There is great info on rogue mechanics as well as tactics you can use with each companion.

Along with Assassin, you can pick up either Duelist or Shadow. Since the 1.03 patch I think Shadow pulled ahead, but I prefer to stick with Duelist, mainly for Vendetta. As she describes it...

If Assassinate is Our Lord & Savior, then Vendetta is His begotten son. This is your 'IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE TEMPLAR HUNTER' button. If I had to draw a comparison, it's most akin to the Vanguard Charge from Mass Effect 2; Instant contact from as far as you can target them. This ability is a TON of fun to use, and pretty damn powerful, too; you can capitalize on a stagger from anywhere on the screen once you get Blood Feud. Vendetta is Backstab's intelligent, successful, good-looking, non paste-eating brother.

Hehe... Of course, if you use the respec potion you can try both and see which you like best ;D.

I'm leaning towards duelist  - I find shadow to probably be too overpowering and "unrealistic" (yes, unrealistic in the world of D&D style). I would really like to boost my defense with a few talents there as my defense is pretty low (still level 10 though).

[thementat]

AbsoluteApril wrote...

thementat wrote...

I found out how to pickup loot during combat! When the radial menu is up and you are close to a loot/body, highlight it and hit the "A" button (on the xbox). The character will pick it up. If the radial menu is not open, the character will perform an attack.

be careful, there's a quest or two where the game bugs if you do that and won't let you complete the quest.
Wayward Son and Fools Rush In will bug if you loot too early.

Thanks! Will take into consideration. Should I avoid looting bosses and just loot "regulars"?

[thementat]

I love assasinate! Finally there is a pretty good chance I can take out those nasty assassins rather quickly. Anyways, I always like watching the amount of damage I inflict. On two occasions, I noticed there two damager numbers indicating physical damage. Once it was around 700 and the second one was 600, and the second time it was 2,400 and 2,300 or so. As far as I can remember, even a dual weilding rogue has a single damage number appear when hitting a target. Could this be due to my %10 chance of lacerate?