[Gothos]

I think the Quick Heal uses the weakest one automatically.
Just ditch the weaker potions.

Anyway - that attack there isn't a class combo - assassinate is just that strong on it's own.
On the mage, so far the biggest hit I've done was Chain Lightning on a Staggered target - 2500-ish. Not as impressive as rogue!

Spoiler

Also, fighting the Arishok was fucking hard as mage.

[Obdigore]

yes arishok and the high dragon were the two hardest fights... the high dragon was only hard because I screwed up on healing.

[Gothos]

I found the High Dragon pretty easy to be honest. Comparably, at least. And that's saying on my rogue (went with Aveline, Fenris and Merril). I guess that a well made high-level Aveline is an iron tank.
The Arishok... well, if you depend on class combos, you're in for some nasty trouble. As a Force Mage with all the bonuses to physical force and 100 fortitude I still got thrown around by his charge, and couldn't for the love of me ever knock him down, I think I only managed to delicately knock him back a few steps with a stonefist... once. Thankfully Petrify worked.

[Cause]

I was forced to abandon the Duel against the Arishok and use my whole party. My mage was more of an AoE Killing machine then High Damage vs one target and his health and as Gothos says ability to stay on his feet was minimal. Even with my whole I found it hard and really only survived because of an exploit. I had Isabella there as a helpfull NPC and she cant be killed so long as one of my party was alive. So Avaline tanked and ran and ran while Isabella did an occasional backstab when not getting tossed to the floor.

Speaking of Force Mage I was very disappointed with the specialization. The extra hundred fortitude did not often help keep me on my feet and fist of the maker was almost always resisted by everyone! It has few sacrifices (none really) for what you gain but you dont gain much.

[Gothos]

Mages are surprisingly weak in this game in general, compared to Origins. On higher difficulty levels, I only see them as healers/buffers for the party, and maybe with crowd control. No spell combinations, comparably low damage and extreme dependancy on status effects from warriors and rogues make them... rather odd.
For control, however... Gravity Well from Force Mage is great for lowering incoming damage if you can keep enemies within it. It even actually roots at it's centre, and that even worked on the Arishok (though, his Charge breaks him out of this and ignores snares). I took Force Mage mainly because it was new from Origins, and yes, I'm very disappointed. Unless you can get a Stagger, Fist of the Maker is limited to perhaps interrupting spellcasting... However, the passive 100 Fortitude is kind of good. My mage can remain on her feet even if charged by an ogre. Arishok is kind of a... special case. It's also a real pity that Hawke can't convert to the Qun. I found myself agreeing with the Arishok a lot as the game went on, and I was sorry I had to kill him. Perhaps DA3 will have siding with a Qunari invasion as an option in handling the peculiar situation Thedas finds itself in.
On my rogue I had little difficulty beating the Arishok, just run around and wait for Assassinate/Twin Fangs+Evasion, eventually he'll drop dead.
I'm looking forward to a playthrough as a warrior. Two Handed seems absurdly overpowered right now, and Sword/Shield might be nice for never having to bring Aveline with you, even if her personal tree is incredibly strong for a tank.

[Obdigore]

Go Primal - I killed most of Arishok's friends with a burst of 3 spells as they ran down the stairs. The second fire thing (rain?) to stun them, then fireball in their midst, then fist of the maker and all of his melee people are dead. I ran up to take care of his 3 ranged on each size and he was beating the crap out of my rogue.

You guys were able to have the fight be him vs you? Mine was always my party versus his. I love the cinematic when you kill him as a mage.

Spoiler for the end of the game:

Spoiler

Im playing through as a warrior and I just cannot bring myself to side with the templars. Ever.

Anyway, started a new game as a warrior and am doing the chick-power party. Me, My Sister, Aveline, and the Female Rogue whos name I cannot remember. Working well so far. Doing the charge spin thing as a 2H warrior against a bunch of low-health enemies is hilarious, they just burst into clouds of blood.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 14 March 2011 - 01:04 PM

[Gothos]

I think you mean Elemental - Primal is Chain Lightning, Stonefist, Petrify and Tempest
In any case, yes, both playthroughs I had the option to duel him. Basically it comes from having his respect from the various encounters - I think having Fenris with you also helps as he's quite good with their customs. You can duel him if he admits you're a Worthy Outsider.
But seriously, the duel just has to be the hardest thing in this game, 'clever use of gameplay mechanics' aside.

As for the spoilered part,

Spoiler

I sided with mages last time, now I'm going to side with Templars for completionist's sake. Which is funny considering I'm a mage. And that I have full Friendship with Anders right now. But quite honestly, this game does a lot more for showing you that mages without control are a bad idea. There's maleficarum and abominations all over the place, and they're generally total assholes, murderous lunatics and power-hungry murderers. If not for Meredith's apparent insanity, I'd think to side with the Templars every playthrough in this game.
And Anders.... don't get me started. He's absolutely insane. The shit he pulls off in the endgame is just beyond anything I'd accept. He's as bad as Meredith, and he doesn't have a cursed idol to blame for it.

And: you mean Isabela. She's a surprisingly durable combatant with her special tree.


By the way, are you guys also disturbed by the ridiculous swaying of hips by every female in this game? Seriously, with Flemeth and Meredith it's seriously creeping me out.

[Tapper]

Obdigore, on 14 March 2011 - 01:03 PM, said:

Go Primal - I killed most of Arishok's friends with a burst of 3 spells as they ran down the stairs. The second fire thing (rain?) to stun them, then fireball in their midst, then fist of the maker and all of his melee people are dead. I ran up to take care of his 3 ranged on each size and he was beating the crap out of my rogue.

You guys were able to have the fight be him vs you?

Yup. But since you lacked Isabella on your play through, that may be the cause.

Currently doing the "duel" (read: kiting until your cooldowns are back up) on my rogue - hate how my stamina regen is completely messed up now... I never run out of stamina in regular fights (in fact, it builds up faster than the time it takes for my cooldowns tick away) with the what's-its-name talent from the Scoundrel tree and Bloodlust from the assassin tree - except when you're only using abilities and running for your life the remaining amount of time. I'd hate to have that fight on Nightmare.

@ Gothos: Assassinate is god - definately the most OP assassin skill available. Got my first few 1.2k hits and I'm only level 16 at the moment and do not even have the cunning-bonus-to-crit-damage from that assassin talent yet... that will really wipe the floor with my enemies.

[Gothos]

For Stamina regen - it's a bit different than in Origins. Rogues replenish stamina from regular melee hits. Warriors only replenish stamina from killing enemies. It makes Willpower a much more desirable attribute than in Orginis, I think - and good, really. Between 40 cunning for Master picks/traps and 41+ dexterity for the best daggers, you really want to spend some points on willpower and constitution to stay in the game.
Also, Stamina Draughts!

Isabela may be the culprit, as on my mage playthrough I didn't have enough rival/friend with her for her to come back after she dashes off, but still could duel him - admitting she's done what she's done to the Arishok does earn you his respect, as does standing up to him for her life.


Bonus mini-rant: don't you just hate it when rogue enemies do Evasion+Stealth just as you use a skill on them, and they take no damage from it AND your cooldown is taken? Hate it hate it hate it. Same for mage enemies doing the teleport.

[Tapper]

Gothos, on 14 March 2011 - 01:36 PM, said:

For Stamina regen - it's a bit different than in Origins. Rogues replenish stamina from regular melee hits. Warriors only replenish stamina from killing enemies. It makes Willpower a much more desirable attribute than in Orginis, I think - and good, really. Between 40 cunning for Master picks/traps and 41+ dexterity for the best daggers, you really want to spend some points on willpower and constitution to stay in the game.
Also, Stamina Draughts!

Isabela may be the culprit, as on my mage playthrough I didn't have enough rival/friend with her for her to come back after she dashes off, but still could duel him - admitting she's done what she's done to the Arishok does earn you his respect, as does standing up to him for her life.


Bonus mini-rant: don't you just hate it when rogue enemies do Evasion+Stealth just as you use a skill on them, and they take no damage from it AND your cooldown is taken? Hate it hate it hate it. Same for mage enemies doing the teleport.

Re Stamina: 'zactly. But the real stamina problems are for warriors, I think. Too many %s they have to sacrifice to tank or aid dps, hefty ability costs and very little regen.

I run only Precision as a persistent ability (for the extra crit chance), which means that the 6 points or so I sank in Stamina ought to be enough in regular fights. So far, it has been. Isabela and Varric have a stamina of 20 or even higher, in comparison - but both run several persistent thingies.

Only ran into issues with the Arishok.

Re cooldowns: Or if they zap away to backstab you just before your own animation starts.

[Cause]

Aveline is invincible. Between Shield Defence, turn the blade and her personnel tree she cant be killed!

Should I play a warrior or rogue on my next warrior. I think A two handed Hawke and Fenris with Aveline and then a mage or ranged fourth character could be fun or the same except with me as a rogue.

I also wonder how you play this game without your trust dog. Its like having a free extra tank come to the party. I would have died a lot more without him, and yet people who buy second hand wont get him.

Spoiler

I agree the game definitely focuses on evil mages. Even the first enchanter turns to blood magic in the end. I was a little upset since how on a Moral stand point I definitely wanted to support the mages and yet every time I helped them they went crazy, turned to blood magic or tried to kill me later. When the first enchanter used blood magic I was furious.

Incidently I also found it ridiculous that I was an apostate mage, openly using magic all the time, and yet templars would just greet me hello and go about their day. More focus should be placed on your own struggles with the templar.

This post has been edited by Cause: 14 March 2011 - 02:40 PM

[Obdigore]

@Cause - I agree with the spoiler

Spoiler

I could see the first enchanter go all abom if you were losing, but I handily destroyed the templars that charged in - fighting the first enchanter was much harder. My problem with helping the templars, although I wanted to on this playthrough, is that many of them are just so flippen bloodthirsty and it seems like they are much of the problem, pushing mages into blood magic to get away from them. The circle in Ferelden was much better in this regard, I thought. I was expecting to see Wynne again for some reason, but I guess not...

Do you guys have to spend a specialty point on your dog? It seems like I cannot select him, although he is there under the Garrett Tree.

I'm playing two-handed warrior, and although exploding enemies with magic was fun. Doing the Scythe through about 5+ low-health enemies and watching them explode in blood and gore behind you is a great feeling.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 14 March 2011 - 02:51 PM

[Cause]

The dog will be under sustained talents though he costs absolutely nothing to summon or maintain.

[Tapper]

Oh boy. Look, I just Assassinated an Ogre. One shot kill. Look at the 13k Assassinate hit, and cry
 2011-03-14_00004.jpg (283.81K)
Number of downloads: 0

This post has been edited by Tapper: 14 March 2011 - 10:20 PM

[Gothos]

Oh my. I never got quite that high, though I guess you could with upgraded Mark and Hex stacked. Also, I see Brittle? I never quite remember if Assassinate gets a class combo.


In other news, just finished as mage. Still a few achievements to unlock! Gonna go warrior tomorrow, 2handed.

[MTS]

How do you screenshot? Not long ago my archer rogue (fucking awesome class btw) assassinated a petrified/Mark of Death'd abomination for ~36000 dmg. Print screen didn't seem to work though, so I missed it...

[Gothos]

F12 (with Steam)

This post has been edited by Gothos: 15 March 2011 - 09:20 AM

[Slow Ben]

They dont show the damage numbers on the 360 like they did in Origins.

Disappointing.



Anybody else have any problems with glitches.

Spoiler

During Merrills quests I go with her to get the Elven dagger so she can fix the mirror, give it to her, and the quest ends. The next time i go see her she's crying in front of the mirror and i'm consoling her. Is this just really bad storytelling or did mine mess up?

[Tapper]

I'd say that's a glitch. The Act 3 quest to rescue a nobleman's daughter is also bugged (on PC at least) - she is nowhere on the map everytime I clear it yet the quest persists. I had one CTD during the act 3 quest to the Roads (incidentally, where that screenie came from - and yeah, Brittle + Assassinate combo, although I am not sure at all Merril had the upgrade to frostbolt or whatever it is that makes frozen targets Brittle

Spoiler

in that case, it was computer controlled Bethany-the-Warden being a sweet girl and setting up the combo

[Gothos]

Slow Ben, on 15 March 2011 - 01:38 PM, said:

They dont show the damage numbers on the 360 like they did in Origins.

Disappointing.

Try enabling it in options, I had to as it was disabled by default on the PC.
Also, get a PC.

Quote

Anybody else have any problems with glitches.

Spoiler

During Merrills quests I go with her to get the Elven dagger so she can fix the mirror, give it to her, and the quest ends. The next time i go see her she's crying in front of the mirror and i'm consoling her. Is this just really bad storytelling or did mine mess up?

Spoiler

What did she cry about, that it doesn't work or what? There's plenty of wrong in her personal questline in general, I'm not much surprised she's crying, but can't help you if I don't know what she's crying about

@Tapper - what quest to rescue a nobleman's daughter?