Dragon Age Central

Thanks for all the feedback so far folks! It is something we're anxious to hear more from you on after launch.

Please make sure you continue this on the social site and let us know your thoughts after you've encountered them. I'd also recommend taking advantage of some of the site's new features like polls as maybe a good way to consolidate the top suggestions for what you'd like to see.

Specific to DLC quest givers - The intent is very much to keep the game immersion and consistency. These are the main quest givers for their respective DLC, first and foremost. Regardless of how you get the DLC (or not), you will still be encountering Felix to begin your quest for Shale, or Levi to start the Warden's Keep quest for example - that *is* their role.

As with any major quest giver they are relatively significant characters in the game world in their own right. The fact they are added after launch should not be used to confuse that - it is not acceptable for us, for example, if you would see a noticeable difference in quality, production value, game mechanics, etc as you experience DLC.

The only 'salesmanship' involved is what you saw Nathan post - which is basically there if you have not already downloaded the DLC up to the point you encounter the NPC, then they have a line in their dialog that directs you to do so.

By their nature as main quest givers, they give you a lot more information, context and flavor about the DLC or the quest you're about to embark on - certainly more than you'd ever get from just the simple text & icon description in the DLC store on any platform.

We considered this additional info to be a good thing to help you make a more informed decision on DLC, so opted to make that portion of the DLC free and available up front and separate it from the rest of the DLC quest. And yes, by doing so we also hope more players will want to try the DLC.

When there is new DLC available on the servers the game downloads the package of info - which includes the basic icon & text description to show on the in-game DLC store off the main menu, similar info for the in-game journal DLC section, as well as any additional content like this if there is DLC that makes use of that in-game - not all will, and not all will be NPCs. In fact you already have many more examples of DLC that does not have these NPCs, such as all the other retailer and promo items like Blood Dragon Armor.

It happens. Hardly worth dwelling about though.

Moving on.


LOCKDOWN!

I'll point out that at the Warden's Quest event 7 of 10 teams immediately went to the Mage Tower (once the story allowed them to) to try to get Wynne.

I think a healing mage is much more desired than you think she is.

You cold also make the arguement that we penalize dwarves by not making them able to be mages.

Dwarves are naturally immune to magic. It is a core feature of dwarves in Dragon Age. To say "They are uimmune to magic" but then not give them any magical immunity would be silly.

So basically, deal with it.

No delays. This is just false rumor.


LOCKDOWN!

We will be working to make the Social Site forums every bit as fun and enjoyable as these old forums have been.

Perhaps instead of complaining about how things are not good (Gorath Alpha) you should alert me or a moderator about problems so we can investigate. I just checked my list and the only PM I have from you is one about a glitch on the ME2 pages.

What's that expresion? If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the something something?

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.

She can. I've said so here:

Quote: 
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.

Also here:

Quote: 
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...

And this post itself.

Happy now?

Duplicate post.

End of line.

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

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

You are making assumptions.

Be careful when you make assumptions...

Quote: Posted 10/30/09 22:52 (GMT) by Specialissimus

It would be an odd choice for Valve if the decided not to preload.

You are assuming that the choice for a pre-load is entirely up to Valve; it is not.

Steam pre-load is a go.

Should start pre-loading world-wide sometime on November 1st.

Local regional unlock days are unchanged. You will be able to get the game on either of November 3rd, 5th, or 6th, depending on the region.

You're welcome.

/me scuttles back into my work-cave

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)

I trained him...

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.

My personal thoughts/opinions:

City Elf is the most "obviously" impactful. It hits you over the head(quite literally, if you are playing female ), and you notice. When we focus tested this origin, pretty much everyone came out loving it, or hating it. The "interrupted wedding" can touch some pretty deep notes with some people.

The Dwarf Noble is probably the most intricate, and if you're the sort who is going to go poking around and dig into the politics of the Dwarves, can be quite... interesting.

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.

Just to clarify:
Nibbles the Dog is his own class.
Shale is also her own class.

Both have their own unique talents and equipment.

The actual list:
Oghren - Warrior, Berzerker
Sten - Warrior, no specialization
Alistair - Warrior, Templar
Shale - Golem
Dog - Canine
Zevran - Rogue, Assassin
Leliana - Rogue, Bard
Morrigan - Mage, Shape Shifter
Wynne - Mage, Spirit Healer

There is one more warrior than any other class in this list.

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?

You break it by having a different GUI and interface flow between platforms.

Essentially, you can max out the canine talent tree at very high levels (if you are one of those people who will go out and do everything you possibly can).

The console GUIs don't support a "I'm not buying anything here" when you are levelling up (and yes, this means you cannot store points), and we didn't have time to fix the GUI or interface flow to support just Dog, so Dog got access to more talents.