Also, I never get this guy's war table missions to pop up, but proof he's still alive:

Good catch. I never see the names of RTs except for the very obvious boss. By the time I do, they're all unknown bodies on the ground. 
I'm still in DDDA. I think Bioware should incorporate the dynamic combat of DDDA into DA4. Honestly, who hadn't wanted to climb onto the dragons and hit them in DAI instead of flapping at their legs and heads? The climb system of DDDA allows the player to climb and strike at weak spots of monsters; the wings, the eyes, the neck, the legs, the tail, the back, etc. Climb on the drake and he flies off with you on his back! Imagine the struggle ongoing in the air, this does happen in DDDA btw. Harpies can also carry you off but you can work free. A mage pawn with the right abilities will catch you before you go splat.
The other good thing is the classes. You can build a hybrid class combining skills of a tank, an archer and a mage. The mage archer is a fav. The class alone has range plus melee. Range and melee abilities are so good they outshine the archers of the DA series. Even the tank has interesting and better skills than the tanks of DA.
The reason I'm still playing DDDA despite some frustrating flaws are the above. I don't think I have discovered the complete range of abilities yet.