Spoilers for DA2 DLC and very mild spoilers for Mass Effect inc.
If you didn't do Arrival in Mass Effect 2, the consequences of the actions are still felt in Mass Effect 3 because the rescue of Kenson was carried out by 103rd marine division. This asks a question that I'm pretty sure has never been answered in any official capacity: Which DLCs will happen whether you completed their campaign or not? Will Bioware honor the choice to not play, or buy these DLCs as much as they would honor the choices that occur within and without these DLCs?
For example, I liked Legacy. It presented a clear reason for any of my Hawkes, regardless of motivation, to deal with the threat in the Vimmarks. The ramifications of ending Corypheus' threat are noticeable, and there is some foreshadowing that delving into the Grey Warden prison caused more problems than it started. Without metagaming, however, all that Hawke would know is that there is an immediate threat to his own life and that of his family (if any survive at the point the DLC was completed in the narrative) and s/he has every reason to investigate.
What if the DLC was never completed? Does the game assume that Hawke went into dungeon and killed Cory? Or, if at the last possible point, when Hawke was given the option of returning to Kirkwall, was that a seperation of narrative and story to allow the allow the player to sell some of the junk he had picked up before going past the point of no return? If the DLC was bought, do the assassins continue to harass the Hawkes and make attempts on their life, perhaps even gaining the blood necessary to free Corypheus somehow?
What if the DLC was never even bought, or even started? Did the Carta threat never materialize? Or did it happen, and Hawke just chose to ignore the threat off-screen? We know without a doubt that the "Blood of the Hawke" was a necessary part of the Carta's plans, so can we assume that the shenanigans that took place in the Grey Warden prison couldn't have happened with anyone else but Hawke actually being there?
Mark of the Assassin was a different story. There is plenty of reason for Hawke to refuse Tallis' plea for help to join in on (what s/he believes to be) a jewel heist, no metagaming necessary. The justification for every Hawke to have to follow her on her mission is paper thin. However, there is no way to deny her the help she asks for (I imagine it would seem pretty silly to pay $15 bucks for 5-6 hours worth of DLC that you never even play) so, even though I have the DLC installed, I never really started the quest on many of my Hawkes.
This DLC has me worried however. I know how Bioware loves Tallis, so do they have Tallis attempt to infiltrate Chateau Haine on her own, perhaps dying in the process? Or even worse, succeeding in obtaining the "Heart of the Many," completely invalidating any reason for Hawke's involvement in the first place? Does she just abandon her quest and search for other ways to atone for her failure in Redemption? Even more, does Prosper use the "weapon" given to him by Salit to have a mass execution of Qunari, and does Duke Prosper live to continue just being an awesome character with a kick-ass accent?
Worst of all would be to make Hawke's involvement in the DLC canon, whether or not the player actually played the DLC or not. I am not too worried about this, however, because completion of the DLC actually restores the status quo (if you don't count the death of a lot of the Chateau's soldiers and Prosper) so it is more likely that if there are consequences of the DLC, they will take the form of something not happening rather than something actually changing. I would be very impressed, however, if abstaining from completing this quest actually opens up new content in Inquisition, perhaps in the form of meeting the (awesome) Duke Prosper de Montfort and seeing him lead his own little "Inquisition" against the Qun in Orlais.
*Not including Dragon Age: Origins DLC since it's already confirmed that if any of the story dlc wasn't completed by the player, it was completed by an Orlesian Warden (and the fact that the Origins DLC was much less personal and related to the Hero of Ferelden himself as it was to Post-Blight conflicts).
What are your thoughts, BSN, on the consequences of completing and not completing the DLCs of Dragon Age 2? Better yet, is anyone aware if any of the questions in my OP have already been answered by Bioware in some fashion?
EDIT: I'm sorry if the original topic name was misleading, I've changed it to better reflect the discussion I'd like to create here
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