Walk into a bar.....
Sorry for the title, but couldn't think of a better title that illustrates what this post is going to be about, and to help with the formatting of it.
WARNING: MASSIVE POST
For those who might not know what QoL means: "Quality of life (QoL) is the general well-being of individuals and societies. QoL has a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, politics and employment." Basically a QoL change, would be a feature, addition, tweak, etc. That isn't necessarily a balance change, but serves to improve the well-being of the players.
That said, let's get right into it.
QoL Suggestions
1) Armor Enhancements: I personally have played at least 100+ hours (conservative estimate since I don't know the exact number), and have yet to actually empower my armor with any enhancements, due to the fact that they are consumed, and I personally like changing the color (or even the type) of my armor from time to time. Thus not feeling positive on what I want to consume it on. There are a couple ways in which I think this could be "fixed".
Idea A) Make all color variations of an armor the same armor. By this I mean, for example, all different versions of Deathbringer's Hide, would instead just be one Deathbringer's Hide. That when you press a certain key (whether it be the equip key or something else) you get a menu to choose from with all color variations available (that you've still had to unlock/craft). When you choose a variation, all armor enhancements would be on it as well.
I have yet to actually play the SP again after they added in the color dying for armors. So not sure how it works in comparison to my idea, but hopefully they could just apply what they did there to MP.
Idea B ) Make all variations of that armor, enhancement interchangeable. So if you augmented your Deathbringer's Hide with an arm enhancement, you can now freely take that off and put it on another variation of Deathbringer's Hide, but only Deathbringer's Hide.
I'm not suggesting having freely interchangeable armor pieces amongst all armors like how SP does though. Since you do need something to craft/earn towards, and this would be an avenue for which to do so that I wouldn't want removed.
2) Stackable Items: Plays in a bit for my suggestion on armor enhancements, but instead for all multiples of an item (i.e armor enhancements, weapon enhancements, runes). Except for weapons, since it's doubtful you have so many of the same exact stats and type that you would need it there.
Idea) Make it like how crafting ingredients/potions already work. So if I have 10 Enchanter Mail Arms, instead of seeing Enchanter Mail Arms 10 times. I instead see 10x Enchanter Mail Arms. This would help clear up so much clutter, and make navigating different menus a lot more plausible, and user friendly (especially when you tend to hoard like me).
3) Rotate Character: When unlocking a new armor or armor variation, it would be nice to be able to see the entire model. Instead of one fixed angle. Especially if it's the Legionnaire or Templar, and you can't see past their shields. Which at that point, becomes a sort of crapshoot on what was changed aesthetically.
Idea) Allow the user to rotate the character whilst in the inventory screen, and when at the MP main menu (not the lobby when you're waiting for a match to start).
4) Elemental Mines: Now this would be a sort of balance change as well. I simultaneously like, and dislike this skill greatly. The main deliberate (more on that in a bit) reason I dislike this skill, is the way in which it is cast. It feels cool to throw out a batch of mines all over the place, but the efficacy of it leaves much to be desired. Most of the mines end up not being detonated (deliberately) since they tend to stick to walls, or at odd angles. Especially if an enemy is acquired, and you proceed to throw mines directly at them, and none at the potential larger mass of the enemy. Immensely irritating if you just wasted all of your stamina doing so.
Idea) Make Elemental Mines a circular template cast ability, similar to Immolate. This unfortunately wouldn't allow you to cover as much ground in the same indiscriminate manner as previously, nor spam it quite as fast should you be using Flask of Fire. Yet your ability to tactfully place these mines to maximum effect would be vastly superior. You could actually cover a hallway or doorway without 80% of your mines being wasted. You wouldn't have to worry about being targeted onto an enemy, nor have to run around leading melee units onto all of your mines to get the most out of them (or as I do sometimes, bump them whilst in stealth).
This would also have the side-effect of making this ability more powerful however, since the majority of your mines will now be hitting their target.
All of this is assumed that hopefully Elemental Mines gets fixed, which is why I mentioned up above, that this is my main deliberate reason for disliking the skill. The bug (hopefully) for posterity's sake, is that sometimes when you throw mines. They either blow up inexplicably within a short time of being thrown, or detonate far too earlier when an enemy is coming near. One of the more frustrating bugs I've encountered in this game personally.
5) Remove Sprint Key: For the longevity and continued existence of my left analog stick, please remove the sprint key. I'm sure this might not be a big deal on PC where it literally is a key, but I do not like the idea of pressing down my analog stick at least 50 times during a match, and while at an angle.
Idea) Remove it please. Not only does it make some characters a chore to play (Virtuoso, Duelist, etc.) since you're using abilities constantly, and thus stop sprinting constantly, and thus have to press sprint constantly, and sometimes multiple times due to it potentially not detecting the initial press. It also makes the game feel clunky, and extremely tedious. For illustrative purposes, I will list everything I can think of that stops sprint.
-Attacking
-Abilities
-Picking up gold
-Picking up buddies
-Jumping
-Climbing
-Let go of key by accident
-Open treasure rooms
-Destroying pots
-Capturing Objectives
-Picking up torch (for noxious fumes event)
Can't think of anymore currently, but you get the point. There is a lot of stuff that stops sprint, so the fact I have to press a key to activate sprint, means I'm doing so quite frequently, which is tiresome personally. Especially since SP didn't have it, and it felt great to not have to do so (I still pinged like crazy, but that was my choice. and not as frequent).
This also has the added benefit for Bioware, not so much so the people who do this. Of removing attack canceling, should that be an area of endeavor of Bioware, then removing a sprint key would be in your interest as well. 
Postmortem Sprint Key: If L3, or assuming Shift for PC has to have a function. You could potentially make it either, jump, or mark target. Since in the heat of battle, it's kind of hard/inconvenient to press up on the D-Pad (not sure what PC would be), and L3 would definitely make it more viable. If you choose jump however, it has the added benefit of removing the need for suggestion 6, and making X/A a little less "god" buttony. 
6) Make Template Abilities Smart Cast: By "template abilities" I mean abilities in which you have a manually controllable targeter (template). Such as Immolate, Blizzard, Grenades, Static Cage, etc. This is really only useful to console users I would assume, and only if the sprint key doesn't get assigned to jump.
Idea) Instead of having to confirm the cast of a template ability, you simply let go of the abilities key. For example, you would press and hold Barrier's key (for me R1), and move the targeter over where you want to cast it. Once satisfied, let go of the key, the ability would then be cast. Without having to have you by accident jump around, cancelling the ability, and potentially getting killed.
The confirmation key (in the consoles case, the jump key) could be then relegated to cancelling the ability should you wish to not cast it. This would make combat feel much more fluid, and get rid of the jumping mages you might see from time to time.
7) Character Stats Page: A stats page similar to SP's would be highly appreciated, since it would allow you to more accurately gear your person. If you already have what you deem enough crit chance, then you would maybe want a different affix, such as boosting a skill's damage, stagger chance, etc.
Idea) On the character select page (Triangle, or Y for consoles), make pressing R3 (maybe right-click for PC?) bring up a separate window detailing all the stats of that character. This would also have the benefit of, if you're trying to determine which character to craft, you can choose a little more wisely.
8) Make Ring of Pain a Mobile Aura: Saw this mentioned elsewhere, but figured to include it here as well since I like the idea a lot. This also would be a bit of a balance change. Being mobile/aggressive is a key part of the Reaver's playstyle. Having to stand in an immobile circle for maximum efficacy, feels counter-intuitive to the apparent playstyle design of a Reaver.
Idea) Make Ring of Pain a lot like Lady's Wrath. Where when you activate the ability, it's a circle that moves with you. Instead of being on the ground. Would assume you'd see it become a more essential part of a Reaver's kit than what it might be currently.
9) Have Weekly Balance Changes on MP Main Menu: This sort of plays into my Pet Peeve, but is different as well. If a player doesn't frequent the forums (like I just saw someone mention in a post about chests), they would be completely unaware of any changes made to the game from this awesome new addition.
Idea) Upon reading. and closing the weekend challenge/event, the weekly balance changes would then pop up directly after. Hopefully since he already has to type the changes out, this could be a relatively simple addition for, in my opinion anyways, a crucial addition to assisting player awareness to the evolving landscape of Dragon Age's MP component.
Request
Could the Dragon Age HQ be made to be more like the N7 HQ in terms of tracked data? Such as total time played, matches played, total challenges completed, times extracted on routine/threatening/perilous. I personally find it a bit fun/interesting to be able to look back on a game I've played, and see how much time I've spent with it, whether it be short or long. I just think it's a neat addition to have.
Question
Is there any plans down the road to utilize multiples of rings? Or am I just wasting space/potential resources by not salvaging them? I hope there is, because being able to forego a more nuanced ring set-up for a direct one could be an interesting decision for the player. For example, instead of buffing both Earthshaking Strike, and Mighty Blow, you instead would only want to massively buff Mighty Blow, since perhaps you find it more useful.
Pet Peeve
Now this isn't a pet peeve unique to Bioware, but figured since I'm making so many suggestions, I might as well make this, since it irritates me so much lol.
Hidden patch/weekly balance changes. I hate them. I truly do. If something gets fixed, or changed I want to know about it. Since I could have potentially suffered whatever bug it might have been, such as completely holding off on bleeding weapons due to them being bugged. Then they got changed to sunder, but it was never said. I just happened to stumble across it.
Or for a more recent example, over 60 odd weapon schematics being added to the game from Luke. Now I appreciate that this happened, but I had to read from users that happened to stumble across it, to know it's there. It's entirely reasonable that somebody who has been playing this game for a while, and may not check the forums, stopped checking the weapon crafting area a long time ago. And would never be aware they got added, thus diminishing his gameplay experience, and sense of choice. It could even be the reason somebody quits playing the game, and if all they did was check the patch notes for a reason to jump back in, some major improvements/changes might never be conveyed to them.
I'm assuming that there's lists/files of documented issues within the game, and somebody has to go over that list, and tell others that this thing got fixed. Otherwise everybody might just keep fixing the same "issue" over and over, without anybody knowing right away.
If I'm wrong on how this works, please correct me (Bioware employees specifically please, since it might change studio to studio), but what I don't understand is why that assumed checklist of bugs/fixes can't make it's way to us, the players? Maybe a bit cleaned up, but at least mention the change (and please not the vague, X ability was changed. Doesn't really help much lol).
Now to play "devils advocate" slightly, I can understand how this could be fun for a developer or player as well. Like an Easter egg of sorts, searching for what might not have been documented. Or seeing if people noticed your change.
However for me personally, any sense of "fun" that this might elicit, is completely negated by the sheer frustration I get from this practice. If a player does enjoy this sort of "Easter egg hunt", couldn't they just potentially not read the patch notes. Or have the patch notes include a "spoilers" tag over some fun additions to the game? This might not help the developers sense of "fun" unfortunately though, which sucks, but I hate this so much please. 
In Conclusion
Firstly, if you happened to read the whole thing, thank you very much. I realize it was a beast of a post, and appreciate you taking the time out to do so.
Secondly, this isn't obviously a complete list of all things I would want changed/improved on this game, but it was the stuff bugging me currently, and for which I finally gathered the necessary willpower to post. I've been stewing on it for a little bit, so unfortunately (as surprising as it may be) I actually forgot a couple QoL suggestions I wanted to make, and in the process decided to make suggestions 6, 7, and 8 instead.
Lastly, what sayeth you BSN community? Yay or Nay to anything above? Suggestions, comments, tweaks? Affirmations/confirmations from Bioware employees? 
I'll try to respond, but I have a feeling a post with so much opinions in it. Might conjure up a lot of opinions itself, so it might not be feasible for me to do so.
Also if there's any typos, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna proof-read this whole thing for them lol.
tl:dr: Nope, sorry! 
Retour en haut
Ima steal you for ME4MP, when it comes out 
