Dragon Age Difficulty

[Looney]

I completely agree with this. Micromanaging in this game is like herding cats. They dont even obey their default behaviour settings most of the time. When in battle and having to pause every "round" is just stupid.

Then you're doing something wrong. Because i don't do that. Pretty much the only time i switch to the chars is to cast their buffs and to position them on hard fights like dragons (which needs to be out of the breath weapon). Other than that, they heal, crowd control, defend, use pots, etc all by themselves.

I like the fast combat of being a warrior and rogue. If i was playing a caster i would probably need to hold the fight more to position my spells, but since i don't i rarely 'hold' during combat. And this is on hard and nightmare.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Earthquake + Tempest won me many a-battle.

Though my greatest victory came when all of my group was dead except for Wynne, I had 8-9 enemies all around me and I still ended up winning the fight. I had to pause like every half second, but it was still badass.

 

[Grabo]

Well, nice thread.

I was thinking I'd become sloth-like or something after lvl 11..
Have been using 2hwarrior (my main : is Powerful Swings bugged? 40+ str at 12 and he misses everything, and 2htree is almost maxed) (Where are the magical 2hweapons? Daggers and 1hswords abound, but 2h?)

and Leliana and Alistair and dog. Redcliffe village was a bit hard, the dogs in the castle even harder (aoe stun + acid flask and shock bomb ftw) , mages tower was relatively easy (

Spoiler

except the revenant..8 healthpoultices + wynne

) , and now hunting for the urn has been..well, 30% resist does nothing. After a whole lot of swearing, I got to Kolgrim&co, and there I had to turn back.

So, returned to Denerim to do some side quests, but suddenly I bite the dust in every encounter. I try to use traps, I use aoe stun with bombs, the game rolls in 1 sec intervalls thanks to me micromanaging, and I still die horribly even with health poultices. I've run out of shock bombs and frozen lightning isn't sold by any merchant, and they never restock by the way?

Since I can't seem to get anywhere from here, I shall have to run on Easy for a while, or go back to the tower (hope I don't get ambushed along the way) and tell Wynne I changed my mind.

 

[JoshGuru7]

Have been using 2hwarrior (my main : is Powerful Swings bugged? 40+ str at 12 and he misses everything, and 2htree is almost maxed) (Where are the magical 2hweapons? Daggers and 1hswords abound, but 2h?)

and Leliana and Alistair and dog.

This should be a workable party on Normal difficulty if you build it right. Get Leliana focused on crowd control (bard for CC/ranger for pet) w/ distraction and captivating song and in this group you're ideally making her an archer. Alistair needs to be taking all of the aggro off the others (threaten, taunt, leading into fights) and your main gear focus should be on his armor to minimize the number of health pots he'll need to chug.

I can see where this party would be going disasterously wrong if Alistair is still not a certified tank and you don't have any crowd control. That would mean you have four relatively squishy characters running around with no healer each requiring enormous numbers of health pots to stay on their feet.

As for the two-handed warrior spec, this post explains it pretty well (including why you're missing): http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/66/index/357296/1

 

[Grabo]

This should be a workable party on Normal difficulty if you build it right. Get Leliana focused on crowd control (bard for CC/ranger for pet) w/ distraction and captivating song and in this group you're ideally making her an archer. Alistair needs to be taking all of the aggro off the others (threaten, taunt, leading into fights) and your main gear focus should be on his armor to minimize the number of health pots he'll need to chug.

I can see where this party would be going disasterously wrong if Alistair is still not a certified tank and you don't have any crowd control. That would mean you have four relatively squishy characters running around with no healer each requiring enormous numbers of health pots to stay on their feet.

As for the two-handed warrior spec, this post explains it pretty well (including why you're missing): http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/66/index/357296/1

Thanks for the tips.

Alistair currently has the standard Templar armour (he's 11 or 12; haven't find anything grossly better yet, besides, it looks the coolest), and is mostly shield-specced, but has the aoe taunt ability. How could he get more 'certified'?
Leliana is specced in rogue and 2w fighting abilities..and she's the only thing that does consistent damage (when coming from behind), so I don't know how I'd survive with her as an archer? And distraction is one target, while captivation is pbaoe?

Good to know I should have specced into the armor-breaking things first in the 2h tree..
rr. Well 'easy' is too easy, and I don't really feel like fetching Win; so find a respec mod or reroll.

 

[Ika]

Well, nice thread.

I was thinking I'd become sloth-like or something after lvl 11..
Have been using 2hwarrior (my main : is Powerful Swings bugged? 40+ str at 12 and he misses everything, and 2htree is almost maxed) (

I believe DEX is considered when taking into account accuracy. 40+ STR at level 12 sounds like a LOT... what is your DEX?

 

[Grabo]

I believe DEX is considered when taking into account accuracy. 40+ STR at level 12 sounds like a LOT... what is your DEX?

Lower But dex affects how much you get hit and raises Attack rating, whilst str raises Attack rating by the same degree (and determines damage I think) - and I'm fairly sure Attack rating is the only thing that determines how often you hit.

 

[JoshGuru7]

Alistair currently has the standard Templar armour (he's 11 or 12; haven't find anything grossly better yet, besides, it looks the coolest), and is mostly shield-specced, but has the aoe taunt ability. How could he get more 'certified'?

You'll want to get better armor for him (Blood Dragon, Warden Commander, Juggernaut) but Shield Wall, Shield Expertise and Shield Mastery will make a huge difference for him in the meantime. As far as stats you'll want to pump his STR to 42 so he can equip the best stuff, then 26 DEX for your shield skills and the rest CON. Some people prefer pumping dex instead of con but I think con works better on the difficult fights.

Good to know I should have specced into the armor-breaking things first in the 2h tree.. rr. Well 'easy' is too easy, and I don't really feel like fetching Win; so find a respec mod or reroll.

Another option would be to replace Dog with Morrigan if you still have her around. That would allow you to keep Leliana as a back-stab specialist and would give you access to a much broader range of crowd control (sleep, horror, cone of cold are good early targets). I like 2h warrior builds a lot but the trick is to keep the aggro on your tank. Having a mage also allows you to make your tank much tougher with the following technique:

Spoiler

Have your tank enable threaten, then taunt all of the enemies. As soon as he has taunted everything, have your mage cast Force Field on him and the enemies will be unable to hurt him while the rest of your group picks them off one at a time.

 

[ProfJohn]

Grabo, the game is very unbalanced towards a party with 2 tank like characters.

I was facing the same problems as you and then started over making my OP a mage and it became a MUCH easier game.

I got back to the same point was I was in the first game in about half the playing time. I was dying a lot less in battles and was able to get past enemies that I could not defeat in my first go around.

 

[Grabo]

Thanks very much both for your replies.

I shall try respeccing my chars (except Dog, he's a star already) - especially Laliana for archery and more bard and hit my head against that wall a little more and see what happens.

(Slain computer, maybe )

 

[NoSoup4You]

Did they boost archers in the last patch? Leiliana seems to be doing decent damage all of a sudden but I'm not sure if it's because I just got Marjoliane's Recurve or if it's the patch...

I didn't see anything in the patch notes but maybe I missed it?

 

[Looney]

Grabo, the game is very unbalanced towards a party with 2 tank like characters.

No it's not. I'm on nightmare and i have 2 tanks and 2 rogues, and i'm tearing through everything. That's right, NO HEALER.

 

[Ika]

Did they boost archers in the last patch? Leiliana seems to be doing decent damage all of a sudden but I'm not sure if it's because I just got Marjoliane's Recurve or if it's the patch...

I didn't see anything in the patch notes but maybe I missed it?

I think they did. I noticed both my archers (Leliana and my main char) were doing about 10+ more damage per hit. I also noticed I was getting completely DESTROYED by legions of enemy archers after I patched.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Bows were bugged before patch, taking str + dex into damage consideration, alongside with daggers.

Now daggers and bow class weapons only calculate based off your dex score. As rouges naturally should have high dex; it adds considerably more damage now.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

That's odd. The last I had heard, the bow fix was not in 1.02.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I don't know how you guys are playing without a mage, on nightmare difficulty no less. Even on normal I can't see it. Clearly I'm not setting up my tank character properly...

 

[Tequila]

Grabo, the game is very unbalanced towards a party with 2 tank like characters.

I was facing the same problems as you and then started over making my OP a mage and it became a MUCH easier game.

I got back to the same point was I was in the first game in about half the playing time. I was dying a lot less in battles and was able to get past enemies that I could not defeat in my first go around.

2 warriors is fine if one goes DW and have one mage especially Wynne. My DW zerker warrior in blood dragon armor is a monster. Having a hard time deciding if he or my DW STR rogue is more fun.

I play on nightmare and in both cases one mage is just right. Two mages makes it too easy. 2 warriors 1 rogue and 1 mage is perfect setup as long as the warriors are not gimped 2Hander spec.

 

[Grabo]

No it's not. I'm on nightmare and i have 2 tanks and 2 rogues, and i'm tearing through everything. That's right, NO HEALER.

Given what has been written by others (no mage in the party makes things rather difficult even on 'normal') and my own matching experience of this, I have trouble believing that you 'tear through everything' all the time. Even if that's true, it seems false to say there is no imbalance just because you (1 person) manage it.
The fact that you need to resort to caps to, as you believe, reinforce a point, just further undermines said point.

 

[sourceninja]

I have beaten the game on normal with shale, myself as a rogue, allister, and lilliana.
Honestly, with careful use of bard songs, potions, and traps combined with NOT RUNNING INTO EVERY FIGHT made it stupid easy.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Am I missing something with Dog? I almost never used him in my groups because he didn't seem to offer anything other than the AOE stun. Is his damage THAT good to leave out my rogue or mage?

Also, has anyone used Shale as a main tank? How good is he at holding aggro?

 

[Grabo]

I have beaten the game on normal with shale, myself as a rogue, allister, and lilliana.
Honestly, with careful use of bard songs, potions, and traps combined with NOT RUNNING INTO EVERY FIGHT made it stupid easy.

Well, someone else said something about Shale:
(And why are people who 'tear through' a 'stupid easy' game also abusers of capital letters? )

I've noticed that the "I don't use two mages" statements are almost always followed with "I use Shale". Shale is also overpowered, from everything I've seen. Do a game with no mages and no Shale, then I'll be impressed.

I myself have no experience with him.



Avoiding fights? Not if I can gain experience by fightning, at least this first time around

Raistlinz: I stick with Dog because I'm waiting for the day he gains Overpower. I just hate being the victim of that ability; especially as Indomitable ain't so darn indomitable as far as that attack is concerned. + , there are some cool spontaneous dialogues the others have with him : )

 

[sourceninja]

Well, someone else said something about Shale:
(And why are people who 'tear through' a 'stupid easy' game also abusers of capital letters? )



I myself have no experience with him.



Avoiding fights? Not if I can gain experience by fightning, at least this first time around

Raistlinz: I stick with Dog because I'm waiting for the day he gains Overpower. I just hate being the victim of that ability; especially as Indomitable ain't so darn indomitable as far as that attack is concerned. + , there are some cool spontaneous dialogues the others have with him : )

I used caps because I was yelling.

I am not telling you to avoid the fights. I'm telling you to not run into them. Setup traps, pull smaller groups, etc. With proper use of poisons and traps you can turn a large mob into a small annoyance.

I have also beaten the game with Loghain (allister up until the end), myself (dorf warrior), Leliana, and zevran.

I made zevran go bard as well. I was pure dps, used allister to tank until I took Loghain for the last battle. It was no big thing. It got harder with the switch to Loghain because the game didn't give him enough strength to wear the armor I had planned for him (although it was funny to see allister declare himself king in his underwear).

Tactics was always stealth, traps, pull, cluster, bomb, repeat.

 

[Grabo]

I used caps because I was yelling.

. It was no big thing.
.

Why are those who 'beat a red-headed stepchild for a game with five fingers cut off' also a smidge arrogant and loud?

Thanks for the clarification on avoiding fights or not however. As for 'pulling smaller groups', many times that's strictly impossible.

As for other things, the spoiler tag can be pretty neat.

 

[sourceninja]

I'm sorry, I just can't figure out why this game is so hard for people. I've beaten this game 4 different times now with different classes and setups.

Yes, it is easiest to do with 2 mages. It is harder to do with no mages. Overall on normal difficulty the game is a cakewalk. The problem is people simply want to diablo 2 this game, that is why they are losing. They lack any ability to use any though in the encounter.

Yes there are encounters that you can't easily pull, but it's still possible in most cases. You can run around a wall, back into a previous room, etc. In the instances where you have no choice, the game is usually easier on you (like at the end of the game).

A perfect example is in skipping fights. Who cares about experience? The game scales, so if you can use persuade to get out of a fight, and it makes sense in the context of your role playing, go for it.

I've played this game over and over because I like the story and I want to experience it from different role playing points of view. With the exception of the first 15 minutes when I tried to treat it like diablo 2 I have not found anything overly difficult or impossible. The game for the most part is on rails more then I would like and baby steps you though it. It does get a little harder if you jump off their rails (like trying to help the dwarfs first), but overall even that wasn't very hard.

 

[exar333]

I'm sorry, I just can't figure out why this game is so hard for people. I've beaten this game 4 different times now with different classes and setups.

Yes, it is easiest to do with 2 mages. It is harder to do with no mages. Overall on normal difficulty the game is a cakewalk. The problem is people simply want to diablo 2 this game, that is why they are losing. They lack any ability to use any though in the encounter.

Yes there are encounters that you can't easily pull, but it's still possible in most cases. You can run around a wall, back into a previous room, etc. In the instances where you have no choice, the game is usually easier on you (like at the end of the game).

A perfect example is in skipping fights. Who cares about experience? The game scales, so if you can use persuade to get out of a fight, and it makes sense in the context of your role playing, go for it.

I've played this game over and over because I like the story and I want to experience it from different role playing points of view. With the exception of the first 15 minutes when I tried to treat it like diablo 2 I have not found anything overly difficult or impossible. The game for the most part is on rails more then I would like and baby steps you though it. It does get a little harder if you jump off their rails (like trying to help the dwarfs first), but overall even that wasn't very hard.

It is because many people have never really played a roleplaying game. They run into a huge cavern and aggro every enemy within a mile. Ask that same character about stealth, traps, and resistences and you probably get a blank stare...