All my current ideas in one topic

[andro21]

as always, i play a game, beat it with vanilla everything, and then go off looking for mods to fix the issues i personally found to severely cripple my enjoyment of the game. most of the time, i find a handful of what im looking for, while other times, some stuff i didnt know i was looking for. but more often than not (as im sure is the case with many other people), i either dont find certain issues fixed at all, or just not fixed well.

having said that, these are the few things i still CANT BELIEVE is not perma-fixed:

 

the problems -

A. granted, this is NOT oblivion, where u can literally find urself playing for 400+ hours in a single playthrough. and finding the "best" this game has isnt exactly difficult (first playthrough equaled almost perfection, item-wise and quest-wise, for me [and in only 80 hours]). what i found to be the most annoying is that normal weapons and armor literally have no use at all once you start really getting into it. whats worse, most of them dont ever use rune slots. this begs the question: "why in the hell would anyone really want to keep a hold of those novice rune stones or journeyman rune stones? by the time ur able to place them, uve already got the expert, master, or grandmaster versions!"

 

B. and what if your a mage who wants to go down the arcane warrior or-- however unlikely-- shapeshifter specialization? even the blood mage barely has anything for itself. its as if Bioware decided that the warrior, healing mage, and rogue are all that matters, and for them? they get plenty of options for unique weapons and armor. unbalanced, ridiculous, and all-together short-sighted.

 

C. and while on the topic of being a mage (or even a warrior, in this case), why keep that class from being able to open locked chests and doors? PLEASE explain how that could POSSIBLY make sense when ALL the classes have stealing as an option???? are u mental bioware? so ur telling me a mage, warrior, and rogue can ALL steal coins and personals from an npc, but use their magic or weapon to bash open a lock or use a lockpick?! OF COURSE NOT! ......... sure, this is mainly an issue in the very beginning before u run off to lothering and pickup miss thief, but then ur basically forced to keep her in ur party the whole game for the sole purpose of cracking everything open (cause honestly, whos gonna waste points in cunning when ur not a rogue using arrows or dual blades?). it literally makes no sense at all. it really was done in this way JUST to try and force us players to go through the game more than once, just so we can see whats behind door number 2. thats some selfish marketing.

 

D. Ok. they have backpack upgrades. i wont get into the sense behind inventory space and how it should be handled in rpgs, but to not have a way to store anything-- even when at camp!-- is dumb, and it forces all these modders to have to create new npcs, bags of holding, etc, etc, etc. sure, they give u something like that in one of their DLCs (i believe), but im not spending more money for the convenience of storage, and i dont want a game-breaking item that holds an unlimited amount of crap, nor should a person have to tolerate a new npc at camp (crowded enough).

 

E. so lets say u do choose something OTHER THAN a rogue, even if the crap above bothers u. ur left with a single skill point every THREE levels, instead of every two, like the rogue has. im working off this being true, as ive read it from 2 different sources, but i dont know myself yet. if it is, the hell is that? what? does a rogue learn faster? as the player, u already have the coercion skill to put points into, but now u also get only 1 every three levels?

 

F. auto leveling and forced skills is annoying, to say the least. yes, there are mods that address these issues and do them perfectly, but its still worth mentioning. that, and other things, like arcane warrior having to sheath a weapon, no stamina potions, the tactics slots having way less options than there should be and the ones that are there seem to either not work (like for summoned rogue creatures) or not work well, and MANY other things that something like the Dragon Age Mutator DOES fix (although not perfectly). bloody hell, bioware... so many issues in SUCH a small game (in comparison to oblivion and fallout 3 and the like, i mean).

 

the fixes -

A. BETTER WEAPONS AND ARMOR MOD - tier 1 and 2 weapons should receive a single rune slot, tiers 3 - 5 should receive 2 rune slots, and tiers 6 and 7 should receive 3 rune slots. armor and shields should work similarly. tiers 1 and 2 armor/shields should NOT receive rune slots, tiers 3 - 5 should receive 1 rune slot and be restricted to defensive runes only (if possible), and tiers 6 and 7 should receive 2 rune slots (also restricted if possible).

 

B. BETTER MAGE CLOTHING MOD - more mage robes restricted to arcane warriors, blood mages, or shapeshifters. nothing crazy or game-breaking though. but taking each into consideration and balancing them based off of these consideration. also, adding matching item sets to clothing (whether or not they have item set bonuses wouldnt matter). meaning hood/helm, glove/bracer, robe, and shoe/boot. perhaps matching item sets for rings, belts, amulets, shields, weapons as well or instead of. basically, making the idea of a mage whos going to take aggression from the entire battlefield with their AOE spells and such actually be able to survive it without having to spam mass paralyze or something.

 

C. BETTER UNLOCKING MOD - a couple ways to fix this. first, yeah, there are 2 mods that address this issue. no, they dont do them well. adding a new spell tree or even unlocking the deft hands talent tree? why? a mage already have like 6 times the number of things to choose from when compared to the rogue and only 25 levels to do it in. why add more? the game already has the classes completely unbalanced in this respect. even the warrior has more to put talents to choose from than a rogue. and why have a required level 7 spell/talent be the one and only way to unlock everything in the game and then charge silver to do it? im STEALING. im not paying for the broken lock, haha. honestly, how does that make ANY sense? pretty sure im not gonna damage the items either, being that a lock is pretty easily distinguishable from the rest of the chest/door. and besides that, by level 7, thief girl is in party and the only missed chests in the game are the one or two in the place u stay at denerim before the landsmeet. the real concern is to FIX the issue for pre-lothering (meaning by level 3, not 7), AND post lothering (so u dont HAVE to include thief girl). easy fix: either remove deft hands completely and tie its scripts to something like the stealing skill or coercion skill, change their names and descriptions, and leave it at that, OR, leave deft hands for rogues, and have arcane bolt unlock easy/medium locks and staff focus unlock the hardest locks as its upgrade for mages, and for warriors, have powerful open easy/medium locks and bravery open the hardest locks as its upgrade, change their names and descriptions, and done.

 

D. BETTER STORAGE MOD - u know enchantment kid? as in, the only person in the game who does enchantments (i think)? give him the storage option. not only will he be available at all times at party camp, but just before the last battle, guuuuesss who shows up? exactly. that kid would easily be the best choice here. no new npcs, no new items, just adding a zero cost buy/sell script to an already existing npc. no need to give him any voice or background or codex entries. no need to update him unless bioware sends out a new patch. best choice by far.

 

E. BETTER LEVELING MOD - this mod should really just give the mage and warrior class a skill point every 2 levels, just like the rogue. maybe it can be for just the player and not for companions if it makes it easier. the real concern here is just that if coercion is going to be a viable choice to spend skill points, ur main character is just going to be doing that and like one other tree of skills. no multi-tasking for him!

 

F. these are all basically fixed already. i just wanted to list them cause they made me angry at Bioware :)

 

so hopefully this long list of talking points gives some reference to modders to maybe jump in here and fix these things in the way i mentioned. would love to have some contact me about them and include me in their creation.

 

EDIT 1: id also like to see a reaver tome one can purchase. kinda dumb to be unable to unlock it without losing characters, although i get the concept completely. its a moral, roleplay, ethics kinda choice. having said that, a mod for those who dont want to play the game multiple times but still see what the reaver class is all about would be nice.

[Curious002]

A - I always sell those for money :)

 

B - Only issue I see is that Shapeshifter sucks. All other classes are IMHO fine.

 

C - Uh. Theres an advantages to having a rogue - or be one yourself. And you dont miss THAT much if you cant unlock doors and chests, really. Besides, you can skill stealing on ANY character if you like, and thats a major source of income, too.

 

D - Plenty of mods for this one around already

 

E - Skills suck BIG TIME in this game. Esp you cannot get extra skill points in any way, like you could in D&D with giving your Rogue more Int.

 

F - Well ... yeah.

[andro21]

yeah, im sure u do sell them for money, as they're useless otherwise... which is the point.

 

shapeshifter does suck, but that doesnt mean robe armor shouldnt be made.

 

there is a huge advantage to being a rogue, but it shouldnt unbalance the game in that way and u shouldnt also have to replay a game just to unlock chests or be forced to use leliana in ur party because of it.

 

like i said, there are mods that do this, but no, there are no mods that add it to that character in the way i said.

 

skills do suck, but being forced to have less of them if ur not a rogue is dumb.

 

ur missing the point of this topic. what i said was i do find mods that do things, but not well. thats whats out there right now. not well done mods.

[Curious002]

Err, theres 2 rogues in the game, and the other is very different from Leliana.

[andro21]

Err, theres 2 rogues in the game, and the other is very different from Leliana.

i know there is. i point being, however, ur forced to have a rogue if u want to unlock something, instead of having the choice to use a rogue if u want a strong bow or cloaked backstabber. its all about choice.