Dragon Age: Origins IV

[a wooden chair]

So return to Ostagar is still "This holiday season". Any ideas on what that even means?

[Tobin]

Technically, New Years is a holiday - though it would be a nice excuse to stay home for Christmas if it came out before Friday.

Was talking to my hubby about the game this weekend and laughed when he told me Alistair cock-blocked him. Said things were going well, then suddenly Alistair popped the question and Leliana broke things off with him (hubby was playing a female at the time).

In talking with him, he's really getting me interested in picking up the glyph spells. I had never tried them - but he makes happy use of the repulsion one. Said there were a few times he would pop a door open, drop a rep-glyph in the doorway, toss in an inferno, then shut the door and wait.

He was also a proponent of buying all the spell books - ("But you would get skill points if you just used the money to root-level." "Who cares? it's a free spell!")

I might give it a try - I have damn near 100g already, so a few books won't dent me too badly.

[a wooden chair]

Technically, New Years is a holiday - though it would be a nice excuse to stay home for Christmas if it came out before Friday.

Was talking to my hubby about the game this weekend and laughed when he told me Alistair cock-blocked him. Said things were going well, then suddenly Alistair popped the question and Leliana broke things off with him (hubby was playing a female at the time).

In talking with him, he's really getting me interested in picking up the glyph spells. I had never tried them - but he makes happy use of the repulsion one. Said there were a few times he would pop a door open, drop a rep-glyph in the doorway, toss in an inferno, then shut the door and wait.

He was also a proponent of buying all the spell books - ("But you would get skill points if you just used the money to root-level." "Who cares? it's a free spell!")

I might give it a try - I have damn near 100g already, so a few books won't dent me too badly.

I love me glyph spells. If you layer paralyze glyph on top of repulsion it creates a mass paralyze explosion. Very handy for when you want to freeze an entire room for AoE. Also, while it may tie in with that family time during the holidays thread I would love to escape to Ostagar instead of driving out to the christmas gathering and losing my wits.

[Relic]

Glyph of Repulsion is totally OP. Getting rushed by hordes of Darkspawn? No problem pop your glyph and calmy stand in the middle hurling death as your enemies bounce off of you. (doesnt work against Orange level enemies)

[Brude]

(doesnt work against Orange level enemies)

Many things don't, like Shatter. Shattered tons of Yellows, but no Oranges in my game.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Glyph of Repulsion is totally OP. Getting rushed by hordes of Darkspawn? No problem pop your glyph and calmy stand in the middle hurling death as your enemies bounce off of you. (doesnt work against Orange level enemies)

Oh, I'd assumed it was a one-use thing, that the first enemy to be repulsed would destroy the glyph. I am so going to install the detailed spell descriptions mod when I replay the game.

[Cuellar]

Yeah I need to read that shit too.

Right now I got my arcane warrior beating the snot out of everything. It is a tad rediculas... I was battling the high dragon solo for 75% of its life since it 2-shotted all my other guys. I wish I'd done arcane-blood mage, which would have been a seriously badass combo since I have no mana on my arcane warrior.

Is it just me or does cleanse use way too much mana to use besides as a free injury repair?

I've been stacking all the books. So far it hasn't helped... the more books I buy, the more spells I can't use since I have no mana, haha.

[Deluge]

Many things don't, like Shatter. Shattered tons of Yellows, but no Oranges in my game.

I pulled of Shatter once or twice on leveled monsters (I think they were Oranges) by using petrify. Still really rare, and I've never managed it with ice spells.

[Jon AS]

Oh, I'd assumed it was a one-use thing, that the first enemy to be repulsed would destroy the glyph. I am so going to install the detailed spell descriptions mod when I replay the game.

I thought so, too. Damn, now I want to create an Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer mage focusing on creation spells. He'd be kinda like a D&D Cleric.

Is it just me or does cleanse use way too much mana to use besides as a free injury repair?

I've been stacking all the books. So far it hasn't helped... the more books I buy, the more spells I can't use since I have no mana, haha.

Yeah, that's all I use Cleansing Aura for as well.

Regarding mana, what armour are you wearing? Be sure to use one that lowers fatigue, like the Superior Dragonscale Armor or the Warden Commander Armor (the latter also gives +50 stamina/mana).

On my first mage I increased both magic and willpower, but the more I think about it willpower seems as much of a waste of points as constitution is for warriors. Just mixing plenty of lyrium potions (and actually using them, I tend to save these kinds of things for "when I really need them", which is, of course, never) should offset the 50-100 points of mana I'd lose out on this way. And higher magic means higher spellpower means higher damage and lower chance of enemies resisting my spells.

[Galactus]

I loved the abondoned Denerim warehouse. Hardest fights thus far. (especially that room with an archer, a blood mage, and a couple of Mabari hounds, the archet uses the AOE stun, and then the blood mage does a Fireball/Chain Lightning Combo... Oh, and they're behind a barricade)

Eventually I beat them by having Morrigan sleep 'em.

[Brude]

For a long while I used the Ancient Elven armor for my Arcane Warrior, but it proved to not be giving me enough protection so I eventually made a mix-and-match set from various heavier armor pieces I had. I think two of the pieces were Legion of the Dead armor (breastplate and one other piece). Not sure what the rest was.

I didn't have too much trouble with mana, but maybe my Willpower was just that high? I almost always did 2 points Magic, 1 point Willpower when I leveled, occasionally filling in Constitution later on to make her more survivable, especially after I made her an AW. The Legion armor also adds +3 Willpower, so that doesn't hurt.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

I loved the abondoned Denerim warehouse.

Was that in the Alienage? If so, I think I beat that fight by using Blizzard and...and...hell, I don't remember. I think it was the sleep/waking nightmare (or maybe sleep/horror?) combo as well. The mage and archers basically didn't do anything until their tanks were dead, and I think maybe most of the archers died before the blizzard ended to.

[Daeric]

If its the fight I'm thinking of I set most my people on stay around a corner and then ran Morrigan around the corner and fireballed them and then ran back around and beat up the people I had aggro on that followed, then it was simply the case of running up and smashing the barricade to splinters.

[Galactus]

I tried that at first, but I didn't have fireball. I "solved" it by casting sleep/nightmare and this also let me get closer with my Cuisinart.

[Tobin]

Was that in the Alienage? If so, I think I beat that fight by using Blizzard and...and...hell, I don't remember. I think it was the sleep/waking nightmare (or maybe sleep/horror?) combo as well. The mage and archers basically didn't do anything until their tanks were dead, and I think maybe most of the archers died before the blizzard ended to.

I love that Inferno doesn't require true LOS - run up to the doorframe, pop the door open, wiggle the targeting circle until I see everyone light up, cast - they don't even see me.

It would be more glorious if I could find a good +fire staff...

Hubby has the rep-glyph on both his mage and Wynne - said he actually had a few fights where guys were ping-ponging between them and never got close enough to hit anyone.

[Minaku]

My Arcane Warrior always wears massive armor. It's not even a choice. She's a heavy plate DPSer, and they need heavy or massive plate. She's currently decked out in Warden Commander, though I though about giving her Dragon Scale armor. Ended up giving that to Alistair, and keeping Warden Commander. Juggernaut's on the back burner for now, though I may eventually decide that the resist is worth it and pop it back onto Alistair, or wear it myself.

My secondary spec is Spirit Healer, and I know everyone talks about Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage but Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer is FUCKING OP. It is ridiculous. I don't actually need my team, they just make fights more fun. I have a ton, a TON of mana, and betwee passive mana regen, lyrium potions, and regen spells I don't usually have too many mana issues. It helps to have a huge mana pool when you're running 4-5 sustained spells at once and want to do things like inferno and fireball. Then I still have enough mana left to spot heal if Wynne's gambits aren't working, or if she needs a helping hand. It's not a problem for me to toss in a group heal or a regen if she's just used them and they're on cooldown.

Thanks to Tobin I got the Glyph of Repulsion on Wynne. Fights go like this now: Wynne uses haste, then we find a choke point. Repulsion goes down there. Then the three of us go to work: I cast inferno, Morrigan casts Blizzard, Wynne casts Earthquake. Then Morrigan casts Tempest. Alistair smites any unfortunate soul who manages to get through the door, then we kill him. If that doesn't work, Morrigan will cone of cold and we will shatter. If there are more guys to deal with, she can crushing prison and force field for a quick knockdown or shock them to oblivion while I cackle from my chair about how rigged mages are.

Edit: Tobin, I know my mage is wearing a ring and a necklace that gives her an overall +25% to fire damage. If I felt like breaking the warden set I could put on my cinderfel gauntlets for a whopping +40 all told, I believe. Again... *mad cackle* And Morrigan has +cold +lightning as well.

[Lord Slum]

I just finished, this is up there with asides the baldur's gate series, fallout 3, morrowind & oblivion. Of course planescape torment is beyond everything but damn Dragon Age!

And shattering is possibly with both petrify and freeze spells from my experience.

[Brude]

And shattering is possibly with both petrify and freeze spells from my experience.

It is...what I've just never been able to do is shatter an Orange boss. Maybe it's possible, but I never was so lucky.

[Jon AS]

It is...what I've just never been able to do is shatter an Orange boss. Maybe it's possible, but I never was so lucky.

I suspect it isn't. It's like a lot of harder enemies in various D&D games tend to be immune to the myriad of "save or die" spells, only in DA it doesn't feel quite as lame as shattering is pretty much the only instant death effect the game has.

On the other hand I wonder what determines chance of shattering for yellow foes. Is it pure luck, or does having a higher magic score improve your chances?

[Slurktan]

And shattering is possibly with both petrify and freeze spells from my experience.

I can't remember the full name of the spell but its like Crushing Prison. That also shatters iced foes.