Dragon Age Central

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:06 (GMT) by flamechamp23

I still have yet to recieve a confirmation directly from bioware posters here that says "absolutely morrigan can take the spirit healer spec at level 14." Bioware hasn't confirmed this absolutely.

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A couple things to note/summarize:

All NPCs start with one specialization allocated. You can choose any unlocked, class-appropriate specialization for their second one once it is available to be allocated.

The player starts without any specializations allocated. You get to allocate both of their specializations.

All mages have access to Heal, Regenerate, Rejuvenate and Mass Rejuvenate. Morrigan does not start with any of these, but can learn them as she levels up. Any mage can heal but only a spirit healer excels at it.

Depending on how you play, and what difficulty you are playing on, you can play without a spirit healer.

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While it was originally intended that certain people would refuse to learn certain specializations, we decided to not go with this implementation. If you have unlocked it, anyone can learn it.

That said... the act of unlocking certain specializations may cause issues with some party members...

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 22:14 (GMT) by Tiuwaz

Shale - Golem - Warrior Role
Dog - Canine - Warrior Role

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 21:39 (GMT) by Darthain

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 21:34 (GMT) by Nathan Frederick

Shale is also her own class.

Now you are just baiting us, MEAN (you have been taking lessons from Chris haven't you)

Quote: Posted 10/29/09 17:51 (GMT) by The Vile Mr Dark

Hey guys,

I know that we haven't gotten to play DA:O yet so I was wondering if there was a chance to maybe get a dev response to this question. My professor, who I've made good friends with, just got an xbox360 and was asking me what kind of games are really good for it. Aside from the classics on Xbox360, I also want to introduce him to DA:O because, as a lit prof, he would definitely get really into the story.

My question is: which one of the origins do you consider to be the most interesting in terms of dramatic scope, plot twists, etc? Again, I'm really only looking for answers from people that know what they are talking about as opposed to, "The _______ origin seems cool from the previews/videos." I know getting this question answered is a long shot but I figured that it won't hurt asking. I want to get my prof really hooked fast into the game.

Cheers and thanks so much.

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:21 (GMT) by Dave of Canada

Oghren - Warrior
Sten - Warrior
Alistair - Warrior
Shale - Warrior?
Dog - Warrior?
Zevran - Rogue
Leliana - Rogue
Morrigan - Mage
Wynne - Mage

Scary, especially since I'm going to play a Warrior.

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:40 (GMT) by Althernai

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:06 (GMT) by Nathan Frederick

1 - Nibbles is his own Class. He did gain access to the Warrior talent tree on the consoles, in order for him to not break the console level up system at high levels. On the PC, he's purely a canine.

I don't understand how it is possible to break one levelup system at high levels and not the other if the rules are the same. Do you somehow get more talent points when playing on the console?

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 21:04 (GMT) by Zirithil

Man I can't decide either...Too many interesting characters, too many necessary characters that are boring (The old hag, Wynne).

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:36 (GMT) by JamanMosil

Thanks for the clarifications, Nathan. Just curious, since the descriptions in the game won't be a precise guide of the spells/skills' effects, will there be a patch that will update the wording/descriptions?? Because if the descriptions really are this vague, I suppose it's going to be a lot of trial and error in determining the effectivness and impact of specific spells/skills. Again, thanks for the info!

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:09 (GMT) by Aether99

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:06 (GMT) by Nathan Frederick

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 18:01 (GMT) by telephasic

Since we have a Dev answering *a lot* of questions today.

1. Is dog a warrior, or just a thing of his own?

2. Does dog have specializations?

3. Obviously Dog can't have regular talents - does he have unique canine talents?

4. Does dog have skills?

5. Can we increase the attributes of dog when he levels up?

I shall hereby refer to him as "Nibbles" in reference to the rest of the thread.

1 - Nibbles is his own Class. He did gain access to the Warrior talent tree on the consoles, in order for him to not break the console level up system at high levels. On the PC, he's purely a canine.

2 - Nibbles does not have specializations.

3 - Nibbles has unique canine talents.

4 - Nibbles does not have any skills.

5 - You get to allocate Nibbles' attributes as he levels up.

not going to jump to conclusions so instead im going to ask. In reference to number one. So his talents that are on the pc are different on the console?

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 20:03 (GMT) by Baki667

At least now we know the reason:

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 19:33 (GMT) by Nathan Frederick

Quote: Posted 10/29/09 01:43 (GMT) by Baki667

Is there any information how exactly buffs work? Do they give a flat bonus (modified by some things oc, like spellpower), or do they give a relative (%) bonus?

This would be of great importance for things like haste or weapon enchantments.

Lets say a mage with 25 spellpower adds a flat +5 dmg bonus with flame weapons. This would be a far greater benefit for dual wielders than 2 handers since they got a fast / slow attack speed. If the Bonus is like 30% then both would benefit equal. Same counts for haste. If that lowerst the swing timer by 0.5 sec again a dual wielder would benefit far greater.

The short (and smart-***) answer: Yes.

The longer:
There are buffs that scale based on spellpower.
There are buffs that give a flat bonus.
There are buffs that give a scaled/percentage based buff.

I unfortunately don't think the descriptions neccessarily reflect which are which, as we were tuning what spells did right up until we had to lock the text down (It takes a lot of time to translate a million+ words into multiple languages, and then test them all afterwards), and then we were restricted to further tweaks keeping the "function" of the spell as it was written, so balance concerns (or functionality ones) had to be within "the same general idea".

Here is the link:
Click Here

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 18:01 (GMT) by telephasic

Since we have a Dev answering *a lot* of questions today.

1. Is dog a warrior, or just a thing of his own?

2. Does dog have specializations?

3. Obviously Dog can't have regular talents - does he have unique canine talents?

4. Does dog have skills?

5. Can we increase the attributes of dog when he levels up?

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 17:11 (GMT) by Adhin

WARNING! Wall of Text ahead!


My first character will be a Human Rogue who's going to be heavily focused on melee. I'll work on lock picking early, and ill have to kind of plot around but ill be stopping at 36 DEX on the dot just for the DW Mastery passive talent. Other then that he'll only have 2 points the other DW talents. Looks like 'all' rogues get Dirty Fighting FOR free.

As for Stat requirements It looks like I'll only need 14 STR (maybe 16 late game) to use Medium armor (my goal) and 2 axes or 2 Swords. Looking over the Giantbomb quick looks and other such things I noticed something kind of interesting and I'm ASSUMING due to how the stats are given out. Basically there's 5 kinds levels of options right? Cloth, Light, Medium, Heavy and Massive. and from what I saw Light (leathers) had NO requirement (makes sense).

Now Medium had 14, and Heavy had 18 and going off that we can all assume (rather accurately if you think balance wise) that Massive will require 22 STR. I would imagin weapons work 'almost' in the same way, though from the video the 1h Sword the guy was using only had a 11 str requirement. Also should be noticed his starting armor had no requirements but was Medium, im pretty sure thats a 'unique' to the starting stuff (and maybe 'class only' stuff which is very, very rare we've all been told).

So basically im going to start off with 14 STR, throw down with medium armor very early on and work on Dex till its 36, while upping cunning as I go for the deft hand stuff AND for dmg once I get that sexy lethality talent. Once I'm at 36 DEX it'll mostly be CUN and CON.

Which brings me to Health and people going 'lawl rogues can't be close'. From whats on wikis and other info passed around from folks gouging into the files (so no telling if its 100% accurate). Fighters get 6 HP, Rogues 5, Mages 4 and 'everyone' gets 5 from CON points past 10. Think about that, EVERY point you throw in CON = 1 lvl of rogue in HP (not counting resistance which are also very sexeh).

So really what it comes down to for 'tanking' is Armor. And that is ultimately why I believe they decided rogues shouldn't get 2H and Sword/Shield. 2H is heavy, heavy focus on STR which means what? Massive Armor, Massive Armor means awesome tankage. But with just 14 str (super easy) you can at LEAST have Medium with your higher dex and the 20% dodge, Rangers get +1 CON and a passive HP Regen talent (yumy!).

Anyways heres the talents I plan to have in general sense. This only accounts for 20(+1) total points which is obtainable by lvl 19. Sooner if there really are bonus point from story progression or rare 1 time loot/quest rewards.
------------------
Dirt Fighting (FREE), Combat Movement, Coup De Grace -
Below Belt, Deadly Strike, Lethality, Evasion
Deft Hands (lvl 1), Imp. Tools, Mech. Expert, Mastery
------------------
DW Training, Finesse, Expert, Mastery
DW Sweep, Flurry, -
------------------
Summon Spider, Wolf, Bear, Passive Regen

So 21 points total, 1 free (Dirty Fighting). I Start with Deft Hand and a Combat move, specially one that allows me to hit multiple enemies. Why? Well early on its going to be stupidly easy so you might as well SMACK the small groups of monsters all at once instead of getting a bonus to off hand dmg or something else.

Past that it becomes very, very tricky. I want so many things 'as soon as possible' that its kinda a *** to pick what I want. For instance, Deft Hand line? Sooner you get it the less backtracking you'll do (which I wouldn't do anyways) to get chest you missed, if you can even for some of them. DW Mastery is a must above all else for lvl 12 so I can start using 2 axes or 2 swords. There's also a chance they have light maces and hand-axes which allow off hand use and if this truly is the case, ill stop at 3 in the line for awhile and wait till lvl 15-16 (I really don't like daggers ).

Obviously Lethality is a early must. And I'd also like Flurry. I'm sure there will be a lvl mildly early (after 4) where I'll be able to nab it with out having to make a heavy choice. Flurry will let you do the 3 quick attacks (straight dmg). So while not as good as the 4th talent in the other DW row, it'll work wonders for 3 fast back stabs.

And I am babbling WAY to much. But ill go ahead and say, stat wise (again), STR: 14, DEX: 36, CUN 22 and leave for awhile, probably some will, no magic, and by late, late game I can bet you CON will be my highest stat (or at least matching DEX with CUN being the other close one).

Sorry if I scared anyone with the wall.

Quote: Posted 10/29/09 01:43 (GMT) by Baki667

Is there any information how exactly buffs work? Do they give a flat bonus (modified by some things oc, like spellpower), or do they give a relative (%) bonus?

This would be of great importance for things like haste or weapon enchantments.

Lets say a mage with 25 spellpower adds a flat +5 dmg bonus with flame weapons. This would be a far greater benefit for dual wielders than 2 handers since they got a fast / slow attack speed. If the Bonus is like 30% then both would benefit equal. Same counts for haste. If that lowerst the swing timer by 0.5 sec again a dual wielder would benefit far greater.

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 17:47 (GMT) by MindAflame

From what I've heard, it's clear that your origin affects dialogue quite a bit in your travels. My question then, is does your class also affact them to some degree? If yes, does your specilization have any speech options to be unlocked as well?

For example, woould there be any instance where my dialogue choices would be different if I was a human rogue, rather than a human warrior? Or perhaps different if I was a human rogue (assassin), rather than a human rogue (bard)?

Thanks