125 réponses à ce sujet

[Wulfram]

Promoted enemy mages at low levels are kind of stupid and annoying. I'm giving up on that apostate quest in the Hinterlands.

[ottffsse]

Promoted enemy mages at low levels are kind of stupid and annoying. I'm giving up on that apostate quest in the Hinterlands.

You can take them out if you have a mage with dispel a second mage with cc: ice mages can be paniked, fire mages frozen. A warrior that stun locks them with hook tackle and shield bash and a DPS character that shreds them while they are cced .

[Al Foley]

Tried this today, So my whole party was killed by a Mage whose Barriers never went down because he kept hitting us with Mind Blast in the 1st area of the Hintherlands....thats embarrassing

Honestly though this is something that I have been craving for DA as a whole.  Your party gets so many amazing abilities that the enemy mages cannot use...why?  I mean I generally do not like difficulty spikes but it only makes sense.  This and Even Ground are the only two trials I intend on using on my next playthrough of DA I. 

[Elhanan]

Honestly though this is something that I have been craving for DA as a whole.  Your party gets so many amazing abilities that the enemy mages cannot use...why?  I mean I generally do not like difficulty spikes but it only makes sense.  This and Even Ground are the only two trials I intend on using on my next playthrough of DA I.

Agreed; am using these now, and the variety of combatants and boosted XP have made replays more palatable than ever.

[Wulfram]

You can take them out if you have a mage with dispel a second mage with cc: ice mages can be paniked, fire mages frozen. A warrior that stun locks them with hook tackle and shield bash and a DPS character that shreds them while they are cced .

I was talking "first trip to the hinterlands" low level. Eventually they get OK, though they remain a slog.

[Elhanan]

One downside to Even Ground is that it affects all beasts including rams, nugs, foxes, and other sources that used to be commonly available for hunting with ease. Now try catching up to a 16th lvl pelt on the run....

[I MajorAssman I]

Fair-weather friends just showed me it's teeth, luckily it was long after the achievement popped. The combination of allowing the Wardens to join the Inq and sending them the mage for punishment was too much for Cole. Started whining about how I don't care about people and there is no way I'm begging Cole to stay. Gave him his walking papers. Told him I would miss him but I was just being polite.

[ottffsse]

I was talking "first trip to the hinterlands" low level. Eventually they get OK, though they remain a slog.

Yeah the first crossroads encounter is stupid unless you spec your toons very specifically. Basically you have to reload most likely after whittling down the health of the mage to get his barrier reset. But hook tackle on Cass and flash fire in solas or mage quizi helps.makes flashfier actually more useful early game than immolate. Up to skyhold.

[Avander]

I started a nightmare friendly/fire game with all trials enabled and I have to say after the prologue the game gets substantially easier.  As long as you are not going for trial of the fool my play through hasn't been any different from my normal nightmare playthroughs in fact it is going a bit smoother because:

 

1.  Golden nug lets me gear out everyone from the start, even tier 1 mat level 4 schematics are pretty OP.

2.  Upgraded horn of valor is amazing, and if you beeline for it with Cassandra and set tactics to prefer casting a lot of the issues with no potions disappear because you basically get a second health bar on everyone.

3.  I'm the weirdo who beelines dispel magic on all my mages even in prior to trials, so i never ran into the "I can't get through barriers" issue that other folks seemed to have a hard time with.

 

It is a bit more challenging and I like having to think about things (I disable most mage abilites and then cast them when appropriate instead of letting the AI spam them).

 

Edit:  Prologue is a pain though, especially the pride demon fight, took me a few times and a lot of micro to get though on my mage, I imagine it is even worse for rogues/warriors.

[Realyn]

...a bit smoother because:

 

1.  Golden nug lets me gear out everyone from the start, even tier 1 mat level 4 schematics are pretty OP....

 

Yeah, making the game more challenging followed by basically 'cheating' your way into OP items and then saying the trials make stuff easier.

 

Sorry, but anyone who uses the Golden Nug, isn't fit to judge the Trials. And I don't mean to offend or anything, it's just a bit counter intuitive to first jack up the difficulty by enabling trials, only to basically make said trials null and void. It's the same as metagaming your way to tier 3 schematics in the vanilla game, by making a beeline to places the interwebz told you about to get OP schematics and scumming chests for mats/schematics and then complain Nightmare is too easy (happened a lot not long after release).

[Avander]

Yeah, making the game more challenging followed by basically 'cheating' your way into OP items and then saying the trials make stuff easier.

 

 

Fair point, but since it was added to the base game I wouldn't call it 'cheating.'   Honestly I think the Horn of Valor upgrade is even more OP than the golden nug but YMMV.

[Arvaarad]

I started a nightmare friendly/fire game with all trials enabled and I have to say after the prologue the game gets substantially easier. As long as you are not going for trial of the fool my play through hasn't been any different from my normal nightmare playthroughs in fact it is going a bit smoother because:

1. Golden nug lets me gear out everyone from the start, even tier 1 mat level 4 schematics are pretty OP.
2. Upgraded horn of valor is amazing, and if you beeline for it with Cassandra and set tactics to prefer casting a lot of the issues with no potions disappear because you basically get a second health bar on everyone.
3. I'm the weirdo who beelines dispel magic on all my mages even in prior to trials, so i never ran into the "I can't get through barriers" issue that other folks seemed to have a hard time with.

It is a bit more challenging and I like having to think about things (I disable most mage abilites and then cast them when appropriate instead of letting the AI spam them).

Edit: Prologue is a pain though, especially the pride demon fight, took me a few times and a lot of micro to get though on my mage, I imagine it is even worse for rogues/warriors.

The pride demon fight is surprisingly easy for rogues, even with all trials on. Stealth to shed aggro, then disrupt disrupt disrupt. There's an NPC warrior (or archer?) that hangs out in a far corner and quickly grabs all of the pride demon's attention, so the demon is very far away from the rift for most of the fight. Even when it summons shades, some well-timed stealth makes the shades latch onto Leliana or some other NPC. I believe both archers and dagger rogues start with a precision detonator, too, so they get a bit of extra damage when they detonate the pride demon's stun.

The harder part was the wraiths leading up to that fight, I skipped a lot of them. Promoted wraiths in the prologue are terrifying.

[Realyn]

Fair point, but since it was added to the base game I wouldn't call it 'cheating.'   Honestly I think the Horn of Valor upgrade is even more OP than the golden nug but YMMV.

 

Hence the quotes surrounding the word 'cheating'. Technically it's not cheating. However, it yields the same results; an unfair advantage.

[ottffsse]

Seriously there's s no need to use golden nug, it's not like a real ng+ where you drop in and immediately face lvl 20 enemies with ur level 1 (albeit with great equipment and some perks from previous run).

[Avander]

Hence the quotes surrounding the word 'cheating'. Technically it's not cheating. However, it yields the same results; an unfair advantage.

 

I mean, you do realize that you have access to tier4 schematics immediately upon getting to Haven and that it is trivially easy (but a bit tedious) to earn enough gold to purchase them straight off the bat without using the golden nug, right?  (I haven't crafted any armor for my guys, just weapons).  Honestly ALL crafted gear is a bit OP, perhaps they should include a "no crafting" trial...

[Elhanan]

Having schematics early is fine, but one still must have the materials to make something optimal.

And with some of the Trials chosen, one can meet some fairly formidable opposition early.

[Bigdawg13]

Yeah, making the game more challenging followed by basically 'cheating' your way into OP items and then saying the trials make stuff easier.

 

Sorry, but anyone who uses the Golden Nug, isn't fit to judge the Trials. And I don't mean to offend or anything, it's just a bit counter intuitive to first jack up the difficulty by enabling trials, only to basically make said trials null and void. It's the same as metagaming your way to tier 3 schematics in the vanilla game, by making a beeline to places the interwebz told you about to get OP schematics and scumming chests for mats/schematics and then complain Nightmare is too easy (happened a lot not long after release).

 

Not sure what "fit" to judge means.  Based on this, what is required?  Perhaps, based on the logic present here, I could suggest that to properly "judge" the trials that we all play with no gear and fight the game on nightmare with all trials enabled (as well as FF on).  Also, play blind-folded because anything that makes the game easy...would invalidated judgement of the trials.

 

Seriously though, anyone can rightfully judge the trials.  Saying don't use the Golden Nug to judge would be similar to a crafting-limited run. Sure it can be done, but it doesn't mean it's the only valid way to play the game.

 

The trials add difficulty no matter how you look at it.  Even with tier 3 schematics, you only have access to low level tier mats and a small selection of skills per party member and no specializations at the start of the game.  It doesn't take much to get royally spit up and chewed out by a low level promoted enemy who seems to have infinite barrier/guard.  Playing a non-tank warrior?  Oops, not enough dispels.

 

Sorry but the trials are a great asset for any playstyle.  Sure someone's "judgement" may not be beneficial to helping you gauge a trial's value, but that doesn't make it not valuable to the community.

 

If the forums have taught me anything, it is that there are a lot of different ways people play this game and find enjoyment.

 

The other BIGGIE (at least for me) on this topic is time.  Time is very valuable to most people.  And the golden nug is a time-saver.  And I'm not just talking about farming schematics (which come on...was a HUGE waste of time).  I'm talking about farming mats.  If you are playing the game tuned to a difficult format, you end up spending time farming higher tier mats.  Pre-skyhold that means you run circles around in Forbidden Oasis, or stealthing by the Fereldan Frostback to farm obsidian.  Post-skyhold you might jump to Hidden Wastes and carefully (and slowly) move through the huge waste of a desert landscape to pick up some tier 3 masterwork schematics!!!  Oh, and then you carefully farm tier 3 mats.  Or maybe you painfully and slowly farm stormheart out of Crestwood.

 

But guess what, now you can just use a higher tier crafting schematics and use the materials you have.  It has the same net return (or virtually so) but ends up saving me hundreds of game hours.

 

So yeah, Golden Nug + trials is totally judge worthy IMHO.  I welcome anyone's insight and turn none away.  ('cept you Zephyr...just kidding ).

[KnottSoFast]

I have Even Ground, Walk Softly, Travel Lightly and Take it Slow on Hard Difficulty (cant handle nightmare with trials D:)

[zeypher]

Playing with even ground, walk softly, no focus, grizzly bears on hard and having a blast. This allows me to run weird parties, currently running 2 2h warriors 1 rogue 1 mage and no tanks.

[Elhanan]

Having schematics early is fine, but one still must have the materials to make something optimal.

And with some of the Trials chosen, one can meet some fairly formidable opposition early.

Also, I recommend not to Farm and Camp for materials and XP; helps the immersion a bit. In Skyrim, I would also restrict Fast Travel, but the areas in DAI are huge, and I am addicted and guilty.

[PapaCharlie9]

Seriously though, anyone can rightfully judge the trials.  Saying don't use the Golden Nug to judge would be similar to a crafting-limited run. Sure it can be done, but it doesn't mean it's the only valid way to play the game.

No argument, different strokes and all that. Maybe "fit to judge" wasn't the right wording.

I took Realyn's post to be about level setting and context. If I say, "Trials are easy," without context, that's pretty meaningless. If I say, "Trials are easy after I synced Tier 4 schemas for all classes," now that has some meaning. If I say, "First PT ever and I had all Trials on, NM, beat the game in a few hours," well, I'm either a leet pro or a damn liar.

The value judgment comment missed the marked, agreed, but there's still a point. Posts that make claims about Trials being X or Y without providing context are bound to confuse people. Sure, don't believe anything you read on the internets applies, but during this period right after a lot of major changes to game mechanics are introduced, when people are hungry for details before investing a lot of time (to your point), a little more context to avoid confusion doesn't seem like asking for too much.

[Cydh]

I missed the heat of the nug debate (nicely defused, PapaCharlie9 & BigDawg), and honestly, I choose my own challenges and difficulty setting, and I expect people to do the same and choose their own challenges and difficulty. The game is large and fun enough to have fun at various levels. I have fun trying to survive, and I don't have fun trying to survive when I feel like I don't have options. I don't like being limited to four buttons (hence my personal dislike of multiplayer mode), so the only thing left for me to do is to try and fight my way through the early game as fast as possible.

 

But I still want to be challenged, like, really challenged. Between partying until level 8 (which is when interesting warrior builds open up) and soloing with the Golden Nug, I chose to solo with the Golden Nug. I don't regret one bit this choice: the game is far harder than I anticipated already. This level 6 is excruciatingly long, and even with the nug, some fights are preeetty hard, too.

 

To give you an example, I just closed a mundane level 6 Rift north of Redcliffe Farms, one that meant "free power" in the normal game. It took me like five tries. The fight can be summed up like this: first you fight the Envy Demon along with two wraiths, then when you're done you fight two more wraiths and two more Envy Demons. Without pillars, of course. Of course.

 

Am I spoiling myself or am I somehow unable to judge how difficult the trials are? Who cares, I'm having fun

[ottffsse]

I did do wicked eyes now at lvl 14 in those modes and trials on with Quizzy and Sera. Using at best tier 2 crafted armour still and some good uniques like deathward sraff . I go tier 3 after finishing this and here lies abyss because that seems how game was intended, given that you get those t3 dragon schematics just after. That was pretty much for my skills breaking point especially that last rift in wicked eyes. Which I had to reload like 5 times. I chose to do this as I was interested in if I can go through the quest just with sheer firepower and no tank like Cass to distract mooks and also did not spec Quizzy with ice mine to tank. It would have been easier to do so but it was thrilling to "kill them before they kill us". Approach. Lightning cage, horror, Sera goes ballistic with flask of fire and 10 leaping shots/ long shots in a row. Harlequin was down just as Quizzy gave her last and went into similicrum. In the rift fight it was the other way as Sera got burned and jumped on by demons eventually and Quizzy had to end that fight.

[robotnist]

IDK how i missed "Trials" options this long!?!?!? when/what patch were they released? lol... anyways, just noticed it last night, i started a new game and as someone said on page one of this thread, "Even Ground" makes playing some of the lower level areas fun again and i TOTALLY AGREE!!!

 

one of the biggest issues for me is I have so much fun playing the Hinterlands that i usually hit lv 10 before i leave them then i'm too high to enjoy the other areas.

 

i think i might use half XP as well as even ground, because i like a certain amount of difficulty, but i am so anal about exploring maps that i end up leveling too much for my own good. 

 

anyways, it goes without typing, CHEERS BIOWARE!!!! and thanks again.

i mean, i'm just ALWAYS playing a Bioware game. DAO never leaves my CD drive, that and ME are both in my top 5 fave games of all time. ME 2 and 3 are fun, but they will never equal ME1 in my eyes. and i really enjoyed DA2 and played through it MANY times. it's kind of like, if DAO is a novel, and DAI is a graphic novel, then DA2 is a straight up comic, and thats cool w/ me.

 

ok, i derailed and summoned an old ass thread, i'm going to punish myself with more DAI!!!!

[PapaCharlie9]

IDK how i missed "Trials" options this long!?!?!? when/what patch were they released? lol... anyways, just noticed it last night, i started a new game and as someone said on page one of this thread, "Even Ground" makes playing some of the lower level areas fun again and i TOTALLY AGREE!!!
 
one of the biggest issues for me is I have so much fun playing the Hinterlands that i usually hit lv 10 before i leave them then i'm too high to enjoy the other areas.
 
i think i might use half XP as well as even ground, because i like a certain amount of difficulty, but i am so anal about exploring maps that i end up leveling too much for my own good. 
 
anyways, it goes without typing, CHEERS BIOWARE!!!! and thanks again.
i mean, i'm just ALWAYS playing a Bioware game. DAO never leaves my CD drive, that and ME are both in my top 5 fave games of all time. ME 2 and 3 are fun, but they will never equal ME1 in my eyes. and i really enjoyed DA2 and played through it MANY times. it's kind of like, if DAO is a novel, and DAI is a graphic novel, then DA2 is a straight up comic, and thats cool w/ me.
 
ok, i derailed and summoned an old ass thread, i'm going to punish myself with more DAI!!!!

Patch 10/Trespasser. No worries, glad you found Trials and are having fun again!