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[JRandall0308]

Early Impressions of DAI MP By an ME3 MP Player

The purpose of this post is to give my early impressions of Dragon Age: Inquisition multiplayer (DAI MP), from the perspective of a veteran of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer (ME3MP).

I wrote this because I suspect there are number of people out there who played and enjoyed ME3MP but aren't sure if they would enjoy DAI MP.

 

My early impression is that DAI MP is only mildly entertaining. At this stage of its lifecycle, DAI MP doesn't feel as compelling as ME3MP. DAI MP feels like it takes some of the gameplay of an action RPG like Diabo 3 and some of the gameplay of ME3MP and blends them, not entirely harmoniously.

 

Organization

• Section 0 (below) contains some disclosures, sources, and assumptions I made in writing this.
• Section 1 answers the question, "What do you do?" in a game of DAI MP in a general sense.
• Section 2 describes the basic game mechanics.
• Section 3 is a miscellaneous section.

Through this document, I'm comparing one game to another. To paraphrase George E.P. Box, all comparisons are wrong, but some comparisons are useful. I hope that my comparisons of DAI MP to ME3MP are useful even when they are flawed.

Section 0

Disclosures

Spoiler

I've only played about 20 hours of DAI MP, mostly on Routine (the easiest difficulty) and little on Threatening (the medium difficulty). These are truly my early impressions.

My understanding and explanation of the DAI game mechanics may be flawed. We'll probably look back at this post in six months and laugh at how little I knew. That's OK. I would rather put out something now, even if it rapidly becomes obsolete, while there are still people making a decision about whether or not to get into the MP portion of DAI.

I wrote this in early December 2014, when the game was only a few weeks old. Presumably additional content (characters, maps, and so forth) will be added over time -- and won't be covered by my early impressions.

 

Sources of Information

The Unofficial DAMP Resource Library is my main source of information. A huge thanks to everyone who contributes to it!

I also actively read the DAI MP Reddit group.

 

About You

Spoiler

I assume you played and enjoyed ME3 MP! If you didn't, the comparisons I make to ME3 won't mean anything to you.

 

I assume you either played, or have basic familiarity with, the Dragon Age games. If not, some of the basic game mechanics might not make complete sense to you.

 

I assume you have basic familiarity with action RPGs.

 

About Me

Spoiler

Over the past year, I've played over 850 hours and over 2,220 games of ME3MP. This isn't to brag; it's to show how invested I was/am in that game.

 

I'm in my early 40s. My reflexes aren't what they used to be, so some of nuances of the games (like animation cancels) are difficult for me.

 

I played all of the Mass Effect single-player games.

I played Dragon Age: Origins, but not DA2.

 

I've dabbled with action RPGs like Diablo 3 enough to understand their mechanics, but I've never invested enough time in them to learn all the subtleties.

 

I play on XBOX 360. I don't think that makes much difference, but you'll see references to the game commands as they are on the 360 controller.

 

What I Do NOT Cover

Spoiler

I don't cover very basic information that you could discover for yourself by watching Youtube videos  or reading the official game website, which I strongly encourage you to do. (Here is an excellent introductory video by Darcblade15.)

 

I don't cover builds, tactics, or strategy.

[JRandall0308]

Section 1: What Do You Do?

 

What Do You Do In The Game?

Spoiler

Let's start out with a basic question you should ask about any game, whether it's a tabletop RPG or a computer game:

 

What Do You Do?

 

In ME3MP, you…

fight enemies using weapons and powers,

… so you can earn XP,

… … which you use to level up your character to make your powers different and stronger

… so you can earn credits,

… … which you use to buy packs containing different character and better weapons (as well as gear and consumables)

 

In DAI MP, you…

fight enemies using weapons and powers whose strength is tied to your weapons,

… so you can earn XP,

… … which you use to level up your character to unlock different powers (or rarely make an existing power stronger)

… … … so you can promote a character, starting over at level 1, but gaining a small but permanent bonus to all your other characters

… so you can earn gold,

… … which you use to buy chests containing random weapons (as well as armor, accessories, and consumables)

… … … so you can salvage your unwanted stuff, gaining crafting components

… … … … which you use to craft new characters, or weapon and armor mods

 

Power Strength Tied to Weapons

Spoiler

In ME3MP, your powers have their listed effects regardless of what weapons you equip.

 

For example, Incinerate Rank 6 (Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage) does 495 points of damage. That number ends up being modified by your Passive. Incinerate's damage can also potentially be boosted by certain weapon mods (Power Magnifier) or gear (Engineering Kit), but the actual weapon you use makes no difference.

 

By contrast in DAI MP, every power your use has its damage tied to your weaon's base damage.

 

For example, the Keeper (basic mage) starting power Chain Lightning does "Electric Damage: 250% weapon damage". If you equip a starting staff that has 20 base damage, then your Chain Lightning will do 20 * 2.5 = 50 electric damage. However if you equip an endgame staff that has (say) 60 base damage, then your Chain Lightning will do 60 * 2.5 = 150 electric damage.

Thus, in DAI MP, your powers' effectiveness is intimately tied to the quality of your weapons.

Sometimes in ME3MP, someone will use the catchphrase "you're playing the weapon, not the character" -- for example, almost any character can do well with the Claymore, one of the most powerful shotguns in the game.

 

In DAI MP, "playing the weapon" is literally true and cannot be otherwise. Your character's power is literally dependent upon the strength of your weapon.

 

Unlock Different Powers, Rarely Upgrade An Existing Power

Spoiler

In ME3MP, as you level up, you boost the strength and utility of your existing powers (at ranks 4, 5, and 6 of the power).

 

For example, Incinerate can be boosted at Rank 4B to increase its impact radius by 1.5 meters, or boosted at Rank 6B to increase damage to armored targets by 50%.

 

Each ME3 MP character has 3 powers, and will never have more, no matter how much you level up.

 

By contrast in DAI MP, as you level up, you gain access to different powers, or rarely to an upgrade to an existing power.

 

The DAI MP "power tree" is more like a "power spine", with passive abilities down the middle and active powers on the sides. For example:

 

[YouTube video of Keeper skill tree. Thanks to Antarctic Wildlife!]

 

A few active powers do have upgrades that make them stronger or more versatile. For example, Chain Lightning can be upgraded (Arcing Surge) to increase its distance (range) by 4 meters and increase the number of targets it hits by 2.

 

However, note that every power in DAI MP that can be upgraded has one and only one upgrade available to it.

 

Chain Lightning can only ever be upgraded with Arcing Surge to increase its range and number of targets -- you're not choosing between Arcing Surge and a hypothetical different upgrade that would make Chain Lightning do more damage to armor.

 

This is in contrast to ME3MP where at ranks 4, 5, and 6 you always had to choose between two different versions of the power's upgrade.

 

Also, in DAI MP, because you can only have 4 active powers on your hotkeys, most builds will (presumably) only spend points on up to 4 active powers and no more. Thus, while there are numerous powers available to a DAI MP character -- far more than to any given ME3 MP -- much of this choice is illusory.

 

Promotions

Spoiler

In ME3 MP, when a character reached level 20, you could promote it. This would reset all the characters in that class to level 1, with all of their points available to spend in building the characters up anew. (You also increased your N7 Rating, but that had no game mechanical effect.)

 

In DAI MP, when a character reaches level 20, you can promote it. This resets that character only (not all the characters in its class) to level 1.

 

Promoting also grants a small but permanent boost to every character: +1 Constitution for Warrior promotions, +1 Cunning for Rogue promotions, and +1 Willpower for Mage promotions. At this point in time we don't know if there is a cap on the number of promotions you can do, but if there is no cap, it would be theoretically possible to make your characters' stats much stronger through repeated promotions.

 

Gold

Spoiler

In ME3MP, each match earned you credits. The credits came from the objective waves (3, 6, and 10) with a small bonus for extracting on the extraction wave. Simply completing the objectives gave you the credits.

 

In DAI MP, you physically find gold throughout the game. Scattered around the maps are urns, vases, and other destructible containers that your character must smash open (an attack) to claim the gold inside (a button press, "A" on XBOX).

 

There are also treasure rooms behind special doors. Each type of door can only be opened by members of the appropriate class: walls can only be smashed down by warriors, locks can only be picked by rogues, and energy barriers can only be dispelled by mages. This appears to be the game's way to give groups an incentive to contain at least one character from each class.

 

Inside a treasure room, you might find a simple, unguarded treasure chest; you also might find additional monsters, or the treasure chest might be a special chest that summons a guardian (tougher monster(s)) that you must defeat before you can open it.

 

Generally, the gold found in chests is significantly (about three times?) more than that found in destructible containers. Treasure chests also sometimes contain a random item, but you won't know what it is until you complete the match.

 

You also earn gold for completing the objectives on waves 2, 4, and 5. [How does this amount of gold compare to what you find in destructible containers?]

 

[Clarification: all gold is shared among the team equally. It doesn't matter which character physically does the looting. For items, everyone on the team receives an item, but it may (probably will) be different for each person, based on the Random Number Generate (RNG).]

 

To emphasize the contrast, in ME3MP, as long as you completed the match, you would earn credits. In DAI MP, you must not only complete the match, you must physically interact with the containers and treasure rooms/chests to get all the gold for that match.

 

Chests, or:

The Random Store is Alive and Well, and It's Still Obnoxious

Spoiler

In ME3MP, with the credits you accumulated from playing matches, you bought various types of packs. Each type of pack was intended to unlock progressively more rare items (although in practice you could get any rarity drop from any pack).

 

To unlock all the possible characters, weapons, weapon mods, and gear would take millions upon millions of credits. The randomness of the store made it a frequent target for hatred and for mock-serious rituals to appease the Random Number Generator/God (RNG).

 

In DAI MP, with the gold you accumulate from playing matches, you buy various sizes of chests: Small, Medium, or Large.

 

You can also buy a healing potion chest (which only contains healing potions), or a mixed potions chest (which contains some healing potions and some other potions). The potions chests are roughly analogous to ME3's Jumbo Equipment Pack in the sense that they only give you consumables, never permanent items.

 

The main difference in DAI MP is that, while there is still a rarity system, it is not tied to the type of chest. Any size chest (Small, Medium, Large) can drop any rarity, so the only reason to prefer one size over another is because of cost per item.

 

Current consensus is that Small chests are not a worthwhile investment because their cost per item (what is it exactly?) is considerably higher than that of Medium or Large chests, which have an almost identical cost per item (240 gold/item for Large, 241.7 gold/item for Medium).

 

The reason I stated that the DAI MP store is still obnoxious is because of how the rarity system interacts with the item level system.

Every piece of gear -- weapons, armor, accessories (rings, amulets, necklaces) -- can be Common, Rare, or Unique.

Every piece of gear also has a level, from level 1 up to level 23.

 

In general, higher level items are strictly better than lower level versions of the same item. This interacts… strangely with the rarity system. You can unlock a rare weapon whose level is much lower than the common weapon you're already using, in which case the rare weapon is almost entirely useless as an actual weapon for gameplay. (You can still salvage the obsolete rare weapon for crafting materials as explained in the next section.)

 

In addition, because of the item levels, it's never going to be possible to max out an unwanted weapon the way you could in ME3. In ME3, if you didn't like (say) the Eviscerator shotgun, you would eventually stop getting it from packs once it reached level 10. In DAI MP, it appears that no matter how many times you get (say) a Barbarian Maul, you will always have the potential to get another Barbarian Maul in future chests.

 

What's more, the restriction of weapons, armor, and (some) accessories to certain classes means that any given Rare or Unique you do get in a chest may or may not be something you can use for your favorite character. For example, only a mage can use a staff, so if you get the Level 23 Unique Staff of Awesome from a chest you can't use it with your favorite warrior or rogue. This is in contrast to ME3, where any weapon could be used by any character.

 

In short, the store in DAI MP feels even more obnoxious than the already obnoxious store in ME3 MP.

 

Salvage Unwanted Stuff into Crafting Components

Spoiler

In DAI, you can salvage ("Y" on XBOX) any item you don't want. Salvaging destroys the item and replaces it with some amount of crafting components, depending on the item's type and rarity level.

 

Crafting components come in three types: cloth, leather, and metal. Each type has various sub-types, and each sub-type does something slightly different when it's turned into an item, but for the purposes of this overview I'm only going to address the top level (cloth / leather / metal).

 

In some ways, this is a positive change from ME3 MP, in that you are no longer forced to sit on a giant pile of stuff you don't want and will never use. At least the useless junk you accumulate in DAI can be salvaged.

However, there appear to be practical limits on how much you will ever need to salvage. Once you've crafted every possible character, weapon, and armor, why would you need to salvage anything? Of course, this may be the equivalent of a ME3 MP player who has a "maxed manifest" -- after you've unlocked everything there is to unlock, you either keep playing anyway because you enjoy the game, or you don't.

 

 

Crafting Characters, Weapon Mods, and Armor Mods

Spoiler

This DAI MP gameplay system has no direct comparison to ME3MP.

 

In DAI MP, you do not (usually? at all?) unlock new characters through buying chests. Instead, you unlock them by crafting the armor that the character wears.

 

For example, to unlock the Assassin character you must craft the Assassin's Mantle, which requires 8 Leather, 4 Metal, 4 Cloth, and 4 Leather.

 

"Doesn't that add up to 12 Leather?" you're thinking. Not exactly. Each character armor unlock has four slots, and each slot requires a certain amount of crafting components all of the same sub-type. Within each slot, you must use a number of components of the same sub-type. You cannot mix (for example) Leather Sub-Type A and Leather Sub-Type B in a single slot -- you have to have 8 of Sub-Type A and 4 of Sub-Type B (or another 4 of Sub-Type A).

 

When you salvage unwanted items, there doesn't appear to be any way to control what sub-type of crafting material you get. Therefor, being able to craft a particular character's armor takes longer than you think it would, because (to continue the Assassin example) you don't just need 12 Leather in general, you need 8 of one sub-type and 4 of another sub-type. When you're sitting on a pile of 20 Leather but it's divided 7 sub-type A, 7 sub-type B, and 6 sub-type C, you will feel the frustration.

 

You can also craft weapon and armor modifications. These also require a number of crafting components in different slots.

[more info on what the mods do?]

[JRandall0308]

Section 2: Basic Game Mechanics

 

Classes and Characters

Spoiler

There are three classes in the Dragon Age games: warriors, rogues, and mages.

 

When you start DAI MP, you have access to the basic character within each class: the Legionnaire, the Archer, and the Keeper.

 

To unlock additional characters, you have to craft the armor for that character, as described in Section 1.

 

Currently, there are three advanced characters in each class, for a total of 12 characters. (1 basic + 3 advanced = 4 characters per class X 3 classes = 12 characters.)

 

 

Level Up

Spoiler

At level 1, your character starts with two active powers pre-selected, the first one in each of that character's two ability trees. (Don't worry; these don't count against the level up points you're going to accumulate.) This is in contrast to ME3MP where a level 1 character had no points assigned and you could freely choose how to assign them.

 

When you level up, you gain 1 point per level gained. Each point can be spent to unlock an additional power (or to upgrade an existing power, but upgradeable powers are rare). Essentially, 1 level up = 1 point = 1 power. This is in contrast to ME3MP in which successive levels of a power required more and more points. One implication is that a 20th level DAI MP character will never have any wasted level up points, while a 20th level ME3MP character could viably have wasted level up points if you choose a 6/6/6/4/4 (or similar) setup.

 

As you level up, you must commit ("Y" on XBOX) each point you spend before the game will allow you to spend additional points beyond that power. This confused me the first time I tried to level up!

 

Power Trees

Spoiler

In Section 1, I mentioned that DAI MP power trees are more like power spines, with a central line of passive powers that have active powers to either side.

 

The central line of passive powers are roughly analogous to the ME3MP passive track, but the DAI passives also give you defensive boosts (such as better stats or an armor bonus) that are roughly analogous to the ME3MP Fitness track.

 

Because some of the strongest powers are at the bottom of each spine, your character will be forced to accumulate the passives along the spine before he can unlock the power. This is in contrast to ME3MP in which you could forgo your passives or Fitness if you wanted to.

 

Active Powers

Spoiler

As mentioned in Section 1, you can only map 4 active powers to your controller. While you can possess as many active powers as you have the points for, for each match, you have to choose which ones are actually mapped.

 

For some characters, one or both of their starting active powers may be worth keeping for 20 levels, so you would optimally only want to accumulate two or three more active powers.

 

For other characters, your starting active powers may be overshadowed by active powers lower down the skill spine, so you will eventually stop using the starting powers. (Remember, those starting powers didn't cost you any level up points, so you're not losing anything.)

 

Cooldown, Mana, and Stamina

Spoiler

Each active power has its own individual cooldown. This is similar to how powers worked in Mass Effect 1, rather than the shared cooldown in ME2 and ME3. In DAI MP, you can string powers together in sequence as fast as you can activate them…

 

… as long as you have the mana or stamina to do so. Mana (mages) and stamina (warriors and rogues) are two different names for the same thing: a pool of energy that limits how many powers you can use before you're too tired to continue. When your mana or stamina is too low, you cannot use an active power even if that power if off of cooldown.

 

Mana or stamina recharges over time. It generally recharges quickly enough, even in combat, that you are typically limited by your cooldowns rather than your mana or stamina pool. However, there are some powers that deplete your mana or stamina as part of their cost, and some enemy attacks can also do so.

 

There are potions to restore your mana or stamina, and a few items can increase the size of your mana or stamina pool.

 

Auto Attack

Spoiler

In addition to your active powers, your character has an auto attack (RT on XBOX). You may use this a lot, depending upon the character.

 

Your auto attack applies damage based on your weapon's stats, including all its modifications (if any), combined with your character's stats. (More details are available in GhoXen's guide to attributes.)

 

Some characters have an auto attack cycle in DAI MP is roughly analogous to the light melee cycle in ME3MP. That is, the character will make a few basic swings or staff blasts before a more visually impressive version of the attack is unleashed. (It is unclear if the culmination of the auto attack cycle actually does more damage.)

 

Field of View and Camera Control

Spoiler

The DAI MP field of view (FOV) is pulled back much farther than the FOV in ME3MP. This means you can see more of what's one screen at once, but it also means that your character, as well as enemies, are smaller.

 

You control the camera with the left stick. With auto-center enabled (in the options menu), the camera does a decent job of keeping up with you, but if your character moves into a corner, near a big enemy, or near big scenery (trees, for example), your view can become obscured.

 

Visual Interface Screw?

Spoiler

With the sheer amount of spells and weapon energy effects being tossed around in the game, it can become difficult to see what's going on. Area effect spells cast by your allies or by enemies can obscure your view, and the trail that energy effects leave on the screen can build up to also obscure things.

 

This can be particularly problematic when combined with the camera getting caught in a corner.

 

No Targeting Reticule; Enemy Indicators and Lock-On Instead

Spoiler

DAI MP does not feature a targeting reticule. Instead, each enemy has a small cross indicator to help you pick the enemy out of the background. (Destructible containers also have this indicator.)

 

You can lock on to an enemy (right stick click on XBOX) and from that point on, your powers and auto attacks will target that enemy until it does. Note that while locked on, your FOV narrows and the camera pans to the right, so you can lose track of enemies approaching from out of view. You also appear to move more slowly while locked on.

 

Radar, But No Minimap

Spoiler

Your DAI MP character has radar. It works just like the radar in every other game: a circular area with red dots to pick out enemies.

 

The radar also includes indicators for doors. As described in Section 1, much of the gold is behind locked doors -- these are indicated on your radar as a question mark ( ? ). Normal doors are indicated by a door icon.

 

However, the radar is not a minimap. It doesn't show you outlines of the walls or give you any indication of the distance between you and the icon. That door icon you see could be just past the dog-leg in the corridor, or it could be two entire rooms away.

 

Sprint

Spoiler

Your character can sprint (left stick click on XBOX), although this might be more accurately described as a slow jog. The DAI MP sprint is nowhere near as fast as the ME3MP sprint.

 

Sprint is a toggle: one you toggle it on, your character continues sprinting until you do something else. (You don't have to click-and-hold the left stick on XBOX; just click it once.) However, doing something else, including bumping into a wall or another character, will drop you out of sprint.

 

One major implication of DAI MP's sprint being relatively slow is that you cannot easily run away from enemies in DAI MP, because you're not much faster than they are.

 

Jump

Spoiler

Your character can jump ("A" button on XBOX). I don't think repeatedly jumping (bunny hopping) actually gets you anywhere faster than just moving.

 

You can jump to evade certain attacks, notably the Demon Commander's (a boss) attack.

 

You can jump up on crates, pedestals, and so forth. Certain enemies might have trouble getting to you if you're on an elevated level, but the number of ranged enemies in the game means this isn't likely to be gamebreaking.

 

I'm waiting for someone to figure out how to glitch the game by jumping out of the map!

 

No Evade

Spoiler

In ME3MP, the basic human characters had one of the best evades in the game (combat roll). In DAI MP, no character has an evade by default. You have to choose an evade power when you level up. Some of the evade powers are good and you'd probably choose them anyway, but some of them are not worth taking just to have an evade.

 

The lack of a built-in evade does make DAI MP play considerably differently than ME3MP. In DAI MP, you cannot solely rely on fast reflexes and a slick evade move, unless you deliberately build your character to feature one.

 

Health, Barrier, and Guard

Spoiler

Your DAI MP character has several bars of health, similar to the bars of health in ME3MP. In DAI MP, your health is green until you are almost dead, when it turns red. (This can become confusing because enemy health is always red. I've attempted to attack a badly wounded ally instead of an enemy!)

 

Unlike in ME3MP, partially depleted bars of health in DAI MP do not refill. For example, if your DAI character has 100 health divided into 5 bars of 20, and you take 10 damage, then you'd have four full bars and one half-full bar.

 

Unlike in ME3MP, you do not have any type of regenerative shield or barrier that overlays your health. All damage you take is done directly to your health… unless you have (the DAI version of) Barrier or Guard.

 

Barrier is a blue overlay to your health bar. It's one of the Keeper's (basic mage) starting powers. Barrier absorbs damage up to its listed amount, but only lasts a short time, several seconds. Think of the Volus Shield Boost in ME3MP.

 

Guard is a grey or silver overlay to your health bar. Guard is generated by various warrior powers, including one of the Legionnaire's (basic warrior) starting powers which allows him to block with his shield and turn that incoming damage into Guard instead. Guard is permanent until depleted -- you could walk through the entire map with Guard up, assuming you never got hit.

 

You can have both Barrier and Guard at the same time. Barrier overlays Guard which overlays Health.

 

Enemies can also generate Barrier and Guard, and certain powers can do extra damage to (or completely bypass) Barrier or Guard. However, in contrast to ME3MP wherein almost all enemies have Shield/Barrier and/or Armor, in DAI MP you're not facing an endless array of enemies with Barrier or Guard -- most enemies are Health only.

 

Healing

Spoiler

As noted, your health does not regenerate. Instead, you use one of a few ways to regain health.

 

Certain powers can allow you to regain health. This is the primary shtick of the Reaver character (although it's currently buggy).

 

Certain weapons or weapon mods can allow you to regain health on hit or health on kill.

 

Prior to each objective wave (see below) you will encounter a healing font. This fully heals the entire party.

 

You have two healing potions, which heal you a large amount. (It will be a full heal at low levels.) Think of these like Ops Packs in ME3MP. Currently, DAI characters can only carry two healing potions; I speculate this might be increased later, similar to how it was increased in ME3MP.

 

Certain other potions can allow you or the entire party to regenerate X health for Y seconds. Generally Y is a very small number.

 

If your character takes too much damage and drops, you cannot revive yourself. You can crawl slowly, and another character can revive you ("A" button on XBOX). In addition, you can only drop three times per entire match. After the third time, your character goes into spectator mode ("enters the Fade") and can no longer participate in the match. You character will be revived at the end of a wave, just like in ME3MP, but because you've already had your "3 strikes and you're out", the next time you drop you will once again enter the Fade. So try not to drop!

 

The lack of a Medi-Gel equivalent in DAI MP makes the game feel quite different from ME3 MP. You need to be a lot more careful with your health. In DAI MP, it's also far more worthwhile to use a potion proactively to prevent dropping because of the limit on the number of times you can be revived; in ME3MP there was no penalty for dropping numerous times in a match.

 

Maps

Spoiler

Currently, there are only three maps, but I'm confident more will be added in the future. There aren't any major differences in the maps other than cosmetics.

 

The maps are big but linear. In ME3MP, even the biggest map was relatively small compared to how fast your character moved. In DAI MP, I suspect that it would take several minutes of time to traverse the entire map end to end (which you normally wouldn't do) -- that's how big the DAI maps are.

 

Thus, in DAI MP, you spend a significant amount of time just moving forward to the next group of enemies. (I suspect part of the reason for the size of the maps in DAI MP is to hide the loading of new map areas and enemies.)

 

The DAI MP maps are linear in the sense that there is only one starting point and one ending point. There may be branches along the way, but ultimately you're going to arrive at the same destination.

 

No Right-Hand Advantage Or Hard Cover, But Yes Soft Cover

Spoiler

There is no right-hand advantage in DAI MP -- you can't obscure your character model behind an obstacle and still shoot enemies.

 

You also cannot go into hard cover in DAI MP.

 

But you can walk behind an obstacle (soft cover) to break the enemies' line of sight (LOS) and cause their projectile attacks to hit the obstacle instead of you. There are a lot of nasty ranged enemies in the game, so this is an important tactic, especially given the lack of regenerative health.

 

Enemy Factions

Spoiler

There are currently three enemy factions: Demons, Red Templars, and Venatori. A full description of the enemy factions is beyond the scope of this document.

 

Each faction consists of a mixture of mooks (basic enemies), tougher enemies, sub-bosses, and bosses, just like in ME3MP.

I'm not sure how many enemies can be on screen at the same time. It feels like more than 8 (the limit in ME3MP), but that not be true.

 

Enemies seem to spawn out of your line of sight, typically behind a door or around a corner. Because of the size of maps it will probably not be possible to block spawns like you could in ME3MP. The exception to this might be on Wave 5 (see below) where it might be possible to spread your party out enough to force the enemies to spawn in certain locations.

 

Waves and Objectives

Spoiler

Each match consists of five waves, separated by doors. The next wave will not start until you open the door, and you cannot open those particular doors until you've finished the prior wave, so there is no danger of triggering an entire wave early.

 

Waves 1 and 3 are normal waves. Enter an area, see some enemies, and kill them. Don't forget to loot, including the special rooms.

 

Waves 2 and 4 are objective waves. Objectives are not (directly) timed. You do not have to complete the objective to continue the match (a big difference from ME3MP!), but failure to complete objectives costs you a significant amount of gold.

 

(Wave 5 can also be considered a special type of objective wave; see below.)

 

So far there are three objectives:

 

Escort. You have to escort someone from the Inquisition through a few rooms. The escortee is a physical person (not the disembodied drone in ME3MP), so he can take damage; if he is killed, you fail the objective. You can buff the escortee with Barrier or similar, and he generally does a tolerable job of staying out of harm's way -- he doesn't run right up into enemies' faces at least.

 

Target. An enemy commander is on the field and has to be killed. This will be a sub-boss or boss enemy. This is the easiest objective.

 

Object. "Something" on the map has to be recovered -- ancient artifacts, a cache of weapons, a lost heirloom. Move to the "something" and hold down "A" (on XBOX) until you've recovered it, which takes about 10 seconds. If you ignore the object, the enemies will eventually destroy it, but (at least on the lower difficulties) you've got to go out of your way to have that happen.

 

Wave 5 can be thought of as a mixture of the Target objective with a Survive objective. You enter the final section of the map and must "plant the Inquisition flag". Once you do so, a large number of enemies spawn and attack you. Enemies continue to spawn for a while, until you kill them all. There is no time limit.

 

At least one of these enemies will be the boss of that faction, a boss that typically has (potentially) devastating attacks and may go through multiple stages (the Red Templar Commander).

 

Opinions are mixed on the best way to complete Wave 5, depending upon map and enemy faction.

[JRandall0308]

Section 3: Miscellaneous

 

Miscellaneous

Spoiler

[rough notes for now]

 

Difficulties -- I haven't played enough to get an accurate read on this yet. Routine feels like Silver (not Bronze), but probably because I'm so new to the game.

 

From the lobby, you cannot see anything about the other players' characters other than their level. You cannot see what weapons, armor, etc. they have equipped, so there's no way to know if that Level 1 Keeper is a guy who just started playing today and has the basic level 1 staff, or a grizzled veteran with a Level 23 Unique Staff of Awesomeness.

 

The person who creates the lobby cannot randomize the map -- he has to pick one of the three. However, when searching for a match to join, you can put it on random. That's weird.

 

There is currently no way to choose which enemy faction you'll face. You won't know until you spawn into the game.

 

The loading takes just as long as ever. Sigh.

 

Conclusion

 

I hope this information helps people. Please post your comments and questions, and I'll respond.

 

Remember, my purpose is to compare one game to another.

 

I'm not going to pretend I know enough about DAI MP to give build or tactical advice, so please ask those questions in a more appropriate thread.

 

Thanks for reading!

[JRandall0308]

Change Log

 

2014-12-16

• added {spoiler} blocks to make this easier to read on mobile devices

 

2014-12-05

• added hyperlink to YouTube video covering basics
• gold / items - clarified these are shared among the team regardless of who physically does the looting

 

2014-12-04

• typo corrections
• added hyperlinks
• crafting - slightly more detail added
• health - clarified that even after you drop 3 times, you'll be revived at the next wave

 

2014-12-03

• initial post

[MaxCrushmore]

So far 'reserved 4' is my favorite

 

JK .. good job

 

FYI - you can roll new armor for the MP kits, whether that be the starting white one, or an upgraded version

[Drogonion]

Wow, this post took some effort.  Kudos on that.  I was fan of the ME3 MP, and still am.  I am having fun in the DAI MP also.

[LemurFromTheId]

Please elaborate.

[Mindtraveller]

I never played ME3MP but I'm sure this is very informative for people who haven't decided yet. Nice job

 

Just one small note. After dying 3 times you can indeed no longer be revived by teammates, but everyone will be revived if your party reaches the next checkpoint.

[Robbiesan]

 

I never played ME3MP but I'm sure this is very informative for people who haven't decided yet. Nice job

 

Just one small note. After dying 3 times you can indeed no longer be revived by teammates, but everyone will be revived if your party reaches the next checkpoint.

 

 

 

Yep, and the big downside to falling three times is that's all you have (3), so if that already happened before the final fight, if you fall there, it's Fade time for you.

[Robbiesan]

Great post OP.  As someone who logged quite a few ME3MP hours, I can really appreciate the comparisons.  Thanks for the effort you put into this.

[iphan4tic]

My advice to any avid ME 3 MP players is thus:

 

Keep playing ME 3 MP until DAMP gets and update, maybe 2, then try it again.

[Draining Dragon]

That's... large.

[dkly037]

Section 1 was informative for a me as an ME 3 MP player.

[EnemySpinach]

"(This makes me wonder what was the point of dividing the DAI health bar up into sections -- it could just as well be one big bar.)"


Let me explain, then:

I noticed in single player that my mage's health bar was broken up into 4 chunks while Cassandra had 6.

Logical conclusion: It's a visual aide, to tell at a glance, comparatively, how hurt someone is. For example, if each health bar was worth 100 HP, for example (I don't know the actual numbers) and someone with 5 total was missing 1 but someone with 10 total was missing 5, the former would still have less health than the latter.

[PurpGuy1]

In the crafting section, you may want to mention that "8 Leather" isn't enough; it has to be 8 of the SAME TYPE of Leather.  So if you have like 5 Soft Leather and 3 Smooth Leather you don't meet the requirements for 8 Leather.

 

I just made these names up and I don't know how many subtypes there are of each crafting component but it is kinda bullshit

[J. Peterman]

[J. Peterman]

In the crafting section, you may want to mention that "8 Leather" isn't enough; it has to be 8 of the SAME TYPE of Leather.  So if you have like 5 Soft Leather and 3 Smooth Leather you don't meet the requirements for 8 Leather.

 

I just made these names up and I don't know how many subtypes there are of each crafting component but it is kinda bullshit

 

I lol'd at smooth and soft leather.

[JRandall0308]

Thanks to everyone for reading and responding.

 

 

FYI - you can roll new armor for the MP kits, whether that be the starting white one, or an upgraded version

 

I'm not sure what this means.

 

 

 

Just one small note. After dying 3 times you can indeed no longer be revived by teammates, but everyone will be revived if your party reaches the next checkpoint.

 

 

Good point. I added comments to that effect.

 

 

 

"(This makes me wonder what was the point of dividing the DAI health bar up into sections -- it could just as well be one big bar.)"


Let me explain, then:

I noticed in single player that my mage's health bar was broken up into 4 chunks while Cassandra had 6.

Logical conclusion: It's a visual aide, to tell at a glance, comparatively, how hurt someone is. For example, if each health bar was worth 100 HP, for example (I don't know the actual numbers) and someone with 5 total was missing 1 but someone with 10 total was missing 5, the former would still have less health than the latter.

 

Interesting. I'll have to see if the same holds true in the multiplayer.

 

I'm still not sure what the point is, because there is no way (other than restorative mist potion?) to heal someone other than yourself. So if I look at your character at the start of the match and you have 8 bars of health compared to my character's 5 bars, I guess I know your character has more total HP but I don't see how I can act on that information in any meaningful way.

 

 

 

In the crafting section, you may want to mention that "8 Leather" isn't enough; it has to be 8 of the SAME TYPE of Leather.  So if you have like 5 Soft Leather and 3 Smooth Leather you don't meet the requirements for 8 Leather.

 

I just made these names up and I don't know how many subtypes there are of each crafting component but it is kinda bullshit

 

I clarified that.

 

Also regarding the sub-types, I continue to be too forgetful to look them up in game or to memorize them. From now on it will always be Soft Leather and Smooth Leather to me.

[cato potato]

Great post, OP.

 

Although it has pretty much convinced me not to get DA:I.

[J. Peterman]

Great post, OP.

 

Although it has pretty much convinced me not to get DA:I.

 

That's a shame. It's fun.

[cato potato]

That's a shame. It's fun.

 

It just doesn't really seem like my type of game, I still might give it a try when the price drops though.

 

Do you think it'll last, Boogie? Is there enough variety to keep you interested for long?

[andy_3_913]

It just doesn't really seem like my type of game, I still might give it a try when the price drops though.

Do you think it'll last, Boogie? Is there enough variety to keep you interested for long?

He's got a shed load of 'L2P, scrub's awaiting

[J. Peterman]

It just doesn't really seem like my type of game, I still might give it a try when the price drops though.

 

Do you think it'll last, Boogie? Is there enough variety to keep you interested for long?

 

With new content periodically, I think it definitely will. Probably not as long as ME3 did, but I consider ME3 an anomaly.

[corporal doody]

EXACTLY THE THREAD I WAS LOOKING FOR.  thanks for this.

 

 

im just bummed at the "powers/skills depend on weapon" dodad.  I hope they dont do this in the next ME game.

 

ME3MP i could go a full match without firing a round from my weapon.

 

PS4 comes in today. so i can start playing this.