Has DA gotten easier since it's release? Also, why so much "ma

[Jiggalopuff]

Hai Guyz,

 

 

My first issue...

When I first played through Dragon Age about a year ago, it seems as though I was always begging for potions, and most battles were extremely challenging, despite being set on Normal mode. I took an 8 month haitus from the game(I finished my first OC and Awakening playthrough just a few days ago), and the last time I played, which was on hard mode, I rarely even touched any of the potions, and I only used herbalism to complete quests. I know that some patches have increased potion drops, have they done other things to decrease difficulty? To me, the most challenging aspect of the game is trying to deal with the poorly thought out tactics A.I. system(E.G. having my rogue stab someone once, then run away instead of finishing the job).

Second Issue

Also, Is it me, or is there way too much "massive" armor in the OC, especially with the DLC content? I have no problem putting all of my fighters(Oghren, Sten, Alistair, Justice, even Sigrun), into massive armor, but it seems all other types of armor are scarce. This to some extent forces me to dump all of my points into strength, instead of constitution in order to meet the strength require of the high level armors.

[xetaria1]

Second Issue

Also, Is it me, or is there way too much "massive" armor in the OC, especially with the DLC content? I have no problem putting all of my fighters(Oghren, Sten, Alistair, Justice, even Sigrun), into massive armor, but it seems all other types of armor are scarce. This to some extent forces me to dump all of my points into strength, instead of constitution in order to meet the strength require of the high level armors.

 

As far as the massive armors go only your sword and shield warriors should really be using them since massive armor adds a significant amount of threat. You should only deck out your two handers in massive armor if you aren't using a weapon and shield guy like Alistair. Two handers and dual weapon guys probably won't have an issue with the strength reqs anyway, but the really terrible design of the Weapon and shield skill tree becomes evident here. To be an effective "tank" a Weapon and shield guy does need to put most of their points in strength and constitution. But to get all their abilities they need to sink a lot of points into dexterity, which for pretty much all other purposes are wasted points. Consequently most weapon and shield types have difficulty being especially effective until very late in the game. Either they don't have the abilities they need or they don't have the armor.

[wolfman1911]

I noticed it too. I attributed it to the extra levels gained from the DLC. I used to have it on XBox, with no DLC. I remember the Archdemon being a tough fight, but my last playthrough I steam rolled over it almost before any reinforcements had been called in.

[Jiggalopuff]

You should only deck out your two handers in massive armor if you aren't using a weapon and shield guy like Alistair.

Assuming of course that there is lighter armor available. All the high-level armors are massive. The only medium or heavy armors I have seen were Wade's armors. Whereas There were at least 3 sets of massive armor after return to Ostragar. Even Awakening was all about massive, and my rogue ran around in mage robes. I used the Warden-Commander's armor from the Warden's keep DLC for a little while(on Alistair, since he lacked the strength requirements for the other massive armors), but eventually he grew into the juggernaut plate I found in the Brecilian forest. In the OC, I never used more than 1 fighter in the party, as I preferred using Leliana(Leliana and my character both as Bard/rangers were epic wins), and Wynne(who was by far the best healer in the party, and usually much more powerful than Morrigan).

 

I remember the Archdemon being a tough fight, but my last playthrough I steam rolled over it almost before any reinforcements had been called in.

 

 

The Dalish elves make quick work of the Archdemon. If you don't have the Dalish elves, fighting the AD will be a bit harder, as the only other ranged squads available are the mages, who don't last long against the Darkspawn hordes.There can also be a few other variables that could make fighting the AD a bit easier.

 

[Sync182]

I remember the Archdemon being a tough fight, but my last playthrough I steam rolled over it almost before any reinforcements had been called in.

 

The Dalish elves make quick work of the Archdemon. If you don't have the Dalish elves, fighting the AD will be a bit harder, as the only other ranged squads available are the mages, who don't last long against the Darkspawn hordes.There can also be a few other variables that could make fighting the AD a bit easier.

 

I dunno about that...

 

 

Yes, the elves can make the AD easier, but I've never used them: I've always used the mages against the AD and so far I've always had at least a couple of them survive. I've also been very sure to use the ballista against the AD when it moves to a location you can't attack directly, and trap skills are used to fix them should they jam. ;)

 

 

Extra mods you've installed can also make the game easier, too - probably without you realising it so much.

 

Don't forget that, technically, you're also metagaming after the second play-through: you more-or-less know what's coming, so you plan ahead for the encounters. ;)

[Thandal]

Don't forget that, technically, you're also metagaming after the second play-through: you more-or-less know what's coming, so you plan ahead for the encounters. ;)

This is so true.

 

Knowing what's coming allows you to select the exact right party and/or use their skills and items in ways that make what had been a tough fight, easy. My first real obvious experience of this was in battling Zathrian on the side of the LotF. He kicked my Party's ass the first time around. Took several attempts to survive that fight. In my second playthrough he yielded within the first minute-or-so! :laugh: All because I knew both his specific weaknesses and what could be safely ignored in what was going on around me.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Playing any game is always hardest before you've gotten up the learning curve. After the first playthrough, you have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't, what abilities and classes are overpowered and which are less-than-useful. On the second or third, you probably know where the strongest enemies pop up and where you need to save to avoid losing hours of progress to a party-wipe.

 

I had trouble the first time around because I didn't realize just how powerful mages were and party wiped almost every time I ran into more than one at a time. Second and third times I made a priority out of teaching one of my mages mana clash to deal with them. Now that I have everything figured out I interrupt their spells with long-range power attacks then kill them normally; I stopped using mana clash because it made mages too easy to kill. Critters with overwhelm/grab were also a problem; now I almost never have a problem with it because I keep knockback powers queued up in tactics for at least two party members and just don't use those powers unless they're needed when facing anything with grab or overwhelm.

 

On the first playthrough of an RPG, you're having the story told to you. After that, you're the one telling the story. You can learn what the game is going to do and plan for it, but the game will never know what you're gonna do. ;)

 

Also, they patched the game. On my first playthough I was using a dual-wield rogue and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't doing enough damage even though my dex was ~40 by the end of the game. Once the daggers got fixed, they no longer sucked and it got much easier to play a dual-wield rogue.

[Swiftrz]

the really terrible design of the Weapon and shield skill tree becomes evident here. To be an effective "tank" a Weapon and shield guy does need to put most of their points in strength and constitution. But to get all their abilities they need to sink a lot of points into dexterity, which for pretty much all other purposes are wasted points. Consequently most weapon and shield types have difficulty being especially effective until very late in the game. Either they don't have the abilities they need or they don't have the armor.

 

I'm glad you get Alistair early enough where you can switch his style if you haaate the Sword/Shield tree (like I do!) Most often I turn Alistair into a duel-wielder, he's a beastie with duel weapons, and it only takes a couple of DW talents to allow the switch to happen. He's usually switched over before Lothering is finished for me, if not right after the Tower (depending if I start with Duel Sweep and Flurry or not).

 

And so I'm not totally off-topic: I too feel that there are massive armor sets all over the place. Most often I don't bother finishing collections (Effort, for example) and the DLC sets like Cailan's go into my storage chest at Soldier's Peak and stay there. We need more light and medium armors! Oh well, I guess that's the joy of having access to armor mods :thumbsup:

[Sync182]

DEX isn't wasted on a sword-n-board warrior; don't forget that DEX boots your Defence rating as well.

 

The sword-n-board tree only requires 26 DEX, then you can dump into STR and CON (don't forget the 16 Cunning for those Combat Tactics slots!).

 

I've never re-specced Alistair, nor have I changed him to DW; I've left him as sword-n-board and never had a problem with him that way.