Hello fellow MP enthusiast, I had made a similar thread about this very topic not too long ago, let me re-post my ideas here as well:
I wanted to make a post here, compiling all of my ideas/opinions about DA:I's multiplayer so other players could make more sense out of what I want for the game.
CO-OP CAMPAIGN
A Co-op Campaign, one where the host plays as the Inquisitor (The Warden, Hawke, etc.) and the other players control the party members. I use the LucasArts game Gladius as an example of this. In that game you could have other players drop-in, or drop-out as your part members and play the game alongside you, granted Gladius was a turn based RPG, but the co-op features I would like still stand. The host player would still have control over who s/he talks to, what items they purchase from stores, what quests to take, and who to side with; the other players are just along for the ride.
The ability to play the entire story with your friends filling the roles of party members would be a very ideal version of how the multiplayer should affect DA:I; having a local/split screen option would be even more awesome. Also if the DA team would like to have the player controlled party members have some input into how the story unfolds, why not give the person controlling the party member the option to comment on the Inquisitor's decisions. If DA 2 had this mode, picture the person controlling Fenris receiving a list of responses based on how the host player (Hawke) deals with the mages. Or it could even be a more evolved version of the system used by The Old Republic; where players pick how they want to respond to a situation and whoever wins the roll gets to reply.
NO MULTIPLAYER BASED CAMPAIGNS (SPARTAN OPS)
This might sound like a contradiction to what I said above, but allow me to explain. Having a: "Battles During the (Mage/Templar) War" would (IMO) be the worst possible use of multiplayer in DA:I. Look at the other games that have tried to have a multiplayer story; completely separate from the main narrative; they have had several issues.
Such game modes are shallow/watered down versions of the main game. The inventory, character customization, length and plot are all cheap knock offs compared to the actual story. The length of such campaigns are lucky to add four to five hours of play time using reused sections of single player maps filled with enemies and the only objectives being action oriented: KILL ALL THE BAD GUYS!
The characters in such game modes are mostly non-existent, and faceless;, and even when the characters do have a face they are mostly bland and generalized charactacatures of the races they represent. The dwarf would be a gruff fighter, the elf would be the wise mage, and the human would be the cocky rogue; there would be no real depth to the characters, and the plot would be mostly non existent. What little story there is given in a few lines of dialogue between killing mobs of bad guys.
The DA team could break convention and give us a truly unique multiplayer based campaign, but going by the trend of such modes I wouldn't be too confident of such a success. I hate it when developers (not Bioware but others who have done such game modes) say: "Engage in a rich multiplayer storyline that follows the events of the main game." when those "rich" stories are no more than scripted deathmatchs against AI bots.
Its all or nothing IMO, either give us a fully implemented co-op campaign or give us a ME 3 style Horde Mode; going the middle ground will just cheapen the experience.
CO-OP SURVIVAL (HORDE MODE)
Now I am all for a co-op story, don't get me wrong, but a Horde Mode offers something that the main game couldn't.
Before I go further on that point let me stop for a moment and tell you all about my stance on the DA and ME universes and the races/creatures that inhabit them. I am drawn to the non-human, alien characters in the two respective settings. Shale in DA:O, Legion in ME 2 hold more appeal to me than Alistar, or Miranda, not to say that I think the human characters are poorly done, just; I am a human in real life 24/7, so anything that is not human I find interesting.
I don't want to play only as a human, a human with pointy ears, or a short human with a beard, I want to play as the more exotic fantasy creatures; things such as Werewolves, Golems, Malibari, Sylvans, Disciples, etc.. And while it would be supremely awesome to play as such things in a co-op campaign, I wouldn't want the DA team have to write the story around why a Werewolf is in the Inquisitor's party. Horde mode allows me to play as these creatures alongside those people that like to play as human, dwarves, and elves.
Sure there would be (pretty much) no story involved with such a mode, but the ME 3 multiplayer is pretty successful at what it offers, and unlike the multiplayer based campaign mentioned above, this mode offers increased replayability and customization. Once you beat the five hour multiplayer story, what point is there in playing it again?
Okay, now that that is out of the way I can know get down to the specifics of what I would like to see in DA:I's Horde Mode. Most of these ideas are extensions of what is offered in ME3's game mode but I do have some notable improvements (IMO) that I would like to see added.
GIVE US AN ACTUAL STORE
The store in ME3's multiplayer is very fickle in how it treats the players, someone who sinks 5 million credits into the thing is given only ammo consumables and avengers; while another player would buy a PSP and receive a Harrier, and Typhoon in the same pack.
Now I understand Bioware / EA's reasoning behind making the store a virtual slot machine; the drive and desire to keep playing and (according to them) hopefully spend real world money on the packs in an attempt to unlock something of value. I am not against such a business model; especially when it means that all multiplayer DLC is free; but I would like to ask for (some) control on how things are unlocked given to the player.
One idea I had was that the store would contain two separate lists of purchasable items. One list would contain the random packs that we all love to hate from ME3, and the other list would contain specific items that could be purchased but at an increased cost (say 300 to 500% more expensive) then the random packs. Each of the two lists would be broken down into categories: Weapons, Armor, Relics/Accessories, and Races/Characters and then further broken down by rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare etc.). The random packs would obviously only contain random elements of the given category; no more hoping and praying for a Dwarf and getting a shield; but only would give one item per pack. The specific packs would allow you to pick any one of the items within each category but at an increased cost to the player.
Another idea would be to incorporate previous save files into the unlock system. What I mean by this is that when you log into the multiplayer for the first time, and you have a save from one of the previous DA games you are presented with a choice of "first dibs" unlocks based on the choices you made with that save. Did you side with the Werewolves? Well then you get the Werewolf class unlocked from the start. Did you side with the Mages in Kirkwall? Then you have you pick of mage specializations to choose from. For balancing issues only the first import used would grant the bonus unlocks; subsequent imports would grant small XP or gold rewards to the player. Granted this particular idea would require a huge (non-bugged) flag import system, but if it could be done not only would it allow the players to have control over what they unlock but also would be an interesting way IMO to allow single player to affect multiplayer.
NO CHARACTER KITS
ME3 multiplayer suffers extensively from this particular feature IMO, restricting players to only specific race and power combinations is not something I want to see for DA:I. The way I see it, classes and specializations should be unlocks, but not the available powers within each race and class; with the exception of the unique classes (Werewolves, Golems, Sylvans, etc.).
For example, if I unlock the Templar specialization for my warrior class, then that specialization should be fully available to all other warriors regardless of the race you are playing as. If the Templar spec was unlocked while I was playing as a human, but I decide to roll up a dwarf warrior, I want the Templar specialization available to pick. Don't limit the game down to unlocking separate classes for each race: Human Templar, Dwarf Templar, and Elf Templar, and please do NOT limit the available powers of a specialization based on race either. When I unlock a specialization I don't want Holy Smite to ONLY be accessible by the Human Templars; I want any race that become a Templar to be able to use Holy Smite.
Secondly, I would like to be able to customize what powers I bring into battle, and were on the face buttons (Xbox 360 player here) I want the powers to go. ME3 is maddening on certain characters with this issue; I want to have Hunter Mode for my Geth Infiltrator to be on the LEFT BUMMPER DANGIT, the limited powers available to each KIT is a hindrance especially if you have a group with all of the same class. I picture the multiplayer giving us six slots for powers (based off of DA's X, Y, B and RT + X, Y, B layout) so I would like to determine were my six powers go, and I would like the ability to "swap out" powers in between games for some other power. I don't like Holy Smite so I will remove that and substitute Mana Burn for example.
But if we are able to have a complete list of abilities to chose from (Warrior/Templar trees) then we could customize our classes to suit individual play styles and have variety between same classes. If I put all of my points into magic resistance and de-buffing, but hardly any into basic warrior talents then I would be awesome at combating mages and demons but suck against physical attacks. Likewise another Templar on my team could evenly divide his points into both warrior and Templar powers and is a more balanced fighter.
Essentially, I am asking for Bioware to allow us to make mistakes. Give us the freedom to customize our class in how we see fit; my full on Templar would rock against any magical enemies but get destroyed by anything else; but it would be something that I as a player choose to do, not because of some artificial limitation placed on my class so that we could have more unlocks for the store.
Below are a couple things that I would really like to see, in addition to all that is mentioned above:
Customizable faces, weapons, and armor for our multiplayer avatar
This is pretty self explanatory, bring the customization from single player into multiplayer. Mass Effect 3 MP lets you swap weapons, and armor colors around but for Dragon Age I would like to see interchangeable armor pieces, complete with different stats for said armor, and the ability to color those armor pieces. I would like players to be able to have no helmets (if they want), I would like to see facial customization of our characters as well.
I would love to see the ability to wear mismatched armor pieces not just full armor sets. That rouge, you just leveled up is finally able to wear that dragon scale breastplate, but you still don't have enough coin to get a full set so you make due with the banded leather leggings, and simple cloth gloves.
I would like to see the ability to customize what powers you bring into battle, let us the players decide how we want to spec our power sets. This way you can have greater potential variety of teams, even if every one is using the same class.
Let us combine powers (specifically magic powers) into the deadly "super powers" like we could in DA:O.
Mass Effect lets you chain together tech bursts and biotic explosions, which while helpful in dealing a little extra damage lack the awe inspiring epic-ness of Storm of the Century for example.
Allow players to chain these powers amongst themselves or with other players. Give the classes an incentive to work together, as well as a reward for using a diverse power selection.
Bring in the "non-human" races as well
All of the previously playable races (human, dwarves, and elves) have all been human-like in appearance. Elves are humans with pointy ears, Dwarves are short bearded humans; each got different stats of course, but other than that the similarities were meager.
I would like to see playable Golems, and Werewolves, etc. added to the MP roster. We already have a set precedent of both Golems and Werewolves working with the player in Dragon Age: Origins so having a playable Golem would not be lore breaking. I picture these non-human classes as being specifically effective in one area at the cost of less customization compared to the vanilla races.
Werewolves could be extremely deadly at close range, but would suffer from missile attacks, and would not have the flexibility of a melee specked human rogue. Golems would be effective tanks/support units but would be slow and an easy target.
With that being said, I would still like for the specialty races to be able to purchase and equip armor and weapons; nothing as varied as the original races but enough to let these classes survive on harder difficulties.
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