The Glade 4.0

My first play-through when the game came out was a Dalish DW rogue. I rolled around with Allister, Leliana, and Morrigan. I got a new PC and started playing through again. I'm using many of the popular mods. I created an Alienage female rogue again (because of the Phoenix armory mod) thinking I'd go archery. I gravitated back to DW and the exact same team as before (what can I say, I like a harem). It was like old times, except I was shredding everything ridiculously fast with the weapons/armor from that Phoenix set. Pretty to look at, but holy crap; overpowered.

I stopped a couple days ago and realized I wanted to experience more of the game. I want to play-through again as a human, but I want a semi-balanced team. I'd really like to have a lot of personality in my group too. Any recommendations for what kind of class to roll up and a crew to pal around with?

I use the re-spec mod liberally so I won't rule out certain characters based on their spec.

As an aside, I only have the Shale and Lel's Song DLC's. My reading of the others is that they're all rather weak. Anybody agree or is there another one I should get?

(and yes, I'm aware that DA2 comes out next month)

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The Dude abides.

I found Warden's Keep extremely useful. Return to Ostagar was neat, too, but not nearly as useful to the rest of the game. I have no idea what they cost, so i cannot comment on how useful they are. Darkspawn Chronicles was boring, and I never even finished Golems of Amgarrak...extremely boring.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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"The Stone Prisoner" is categorized as DLC, but honestly, it's actual game content. Don't play through the game without it.

"Warden's Keep" and "Return to Ostagar" aren't as inherently incorporated as "Stone Prisoner," but I wouldn't play through the game without them.

"Witch Hunt" finishes out Morrigan's story, so that's another crucial one.

Those are the four that are must-haves. They add to and support the main campaign, be it through gameplay, story, or both.

"Leliana's Song" is a very well-done prologue and fleshing-out of Leliana's backstory. It's very good, but if you're only wanting the bare minimum of DLC, you can technically skip it. If you play a rogue, though, you'll be missing out on a kick-ass piece of armor.

"The Darkspawn Chronicles" is great if you want to vent some frustration, as you get to kill all of the main characters and have evil rule the day, but it's a trifle. Fun if you've got the money, skip it if you don't want to spend it.

Never played "Golems of Amgorakk." I have it, I've just never played it. Phe played it and said it was hard, but short, and didn't add a ton to it.

Edit: are you considering Awakening DLC?

My recommendation is just to stop now. I forced myself to finish the campaign, and have absolutely no interest in ever playing it again, nor any of its spawn. The story was fine, too bad it was wrapped in a completely uninteresting game otherwise. And not uninteresting due to neglect, but willfully a piece of crap.

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Yeah - I have Awakening already queued up.

"Warden's Keep" and "Return to Ostagar" - Why wouldn't you play through without them?

Shuyung,
I said I've already played through the game, so it's not like I don't know what I'm getting into here. Yeah, the dwarf part was flippin' horrible and I hated the Landsmeet. But I thoroughly enjoy the first parts and the final battle is fun.

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The Dude abides.

He's referring to the way all fights are set up to essentially be an endurance test which you have little means of sustaining.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

meh. sustaining them is fine if you mass generate enough cash to make sufficent poltices/lyrium potions. just means you need to spend a lot of time tradeskilling

On normal difficulty, I always ended up with stacks of looted potions and poultices I didn't use. The only fight that really ended up posing a challenge I had to make several attempts at (first time through) was the High Dragon.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

This.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Yeah, totally what Taly said.

But funny though, I just shredded that high dragon at like level 16. Seemed like way too early to be able to do that kinda thing.

Anyway, any more recommendations on party setup besides the one I have been using?

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The Dude abides.

Allistair has great banter with Wynne, as does Shale. So you can't really go wrong replacing Morrigan with Wynne(especially since shapeshifter is absolute dogshit but spirit healer is super awesome. Also, Morrigan is a ****.)

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I like Morrigan a lot more after watching the final two seasons of Stargate SG-1.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Meh. She's still a ****.

Also, after playing the game about 50 times and never really finding a good spot on my team for Dog, I got a mod that makes Dog a permanent member of the party. Sure, you'll have 5 characters instead of 4 and stuff isn't balanced around that, but Dog is statistically weaker than other characters due to his limited skill set and equipment. It's kinda like having the ranger subclass(maxed out) without actually having it. Dog has some good interactions with other party members, but his best are still in camp(The Sten/Dog interaction is **** fantastic)

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I play a mage, and I support myself with Shale, Leliana, and either Alistar or Wynne.

Zevran and Morrigan can be switched out as well for variety.

Shale Sten, Dog, and dwarf? Do not want. Boring and not useful.

I don't understand these words used together.

Shale has some of the most fantastic dialogue in the party!

Raltar: I love the mod where you get to bring Dog with you everywhere.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

God, Imma dumbass. I meant Sten is boring as hell. Much, much <3 for Shale (I pick 'er up as soon as possible, and she never leaves my party).

Sten has the unfortunate position of only getting one specialization(unless you download a mod) which makes him less useful overall. Plus, he's kinda forces him into two handed weapons which aren't as good as dual wield for damage(or as good as sword and shield for defense). Ogren has the same problem. This, of course, can all be changed with mods that refund all of your skill points.

Ogren is pretty funny, though. But you get him so late in the game that you barely get to use him(unless you do the dwarf area first, which barely anyone does unless they are specifically going after Ogren). He has super awesome banter with Wynne and Alistair.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I want my tanks to ... TANK.. since only Alistair really is an effective sword & board tank......

Dual wield warriors do fine at tanking, it's just that none of them are built that way. But like I said, there is a mod that lets you respec everyone and Awakening has an official item you can purchase to do it. Personal preference makes me not want to dual wield warrior because dual wielding looks absolutely silly when wearing heavy armor.

Dragon Age 2 is fixing these issues by limiting warriors to sword+shield and two handers only(both styles offer high AoE damage, but mediocre single target) while rogues are limited to bows and dual wield(low AE damage but very high single target damage). So, yeah. No more dual wield or archer warriors for Dragon Age 2. Not that any of the warrior specs or the base warrior skills helped archery at all.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Think Shale, Oghren, Wynne, and myself (mage) could be sustainable? I use the unlock spell mod so chests aren't a concern for me.

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The Dude abides.

I just started playing through this game for the first time...

I decided on a Dwarf Noble Warrior, working towards the holy path. It has (thus far) been really boring. Granted I JUST became a Gray Warden.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

The more mages you have with crushing prison and similar spells, the easier the game gets.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Started playing thru again recently, to prepare for Dragon Age 2, and I'm really having fun. Here are some of the mods and DLC I've found useful/fun.

-Extra Dog Slot (Thanks to this thread)
-No Helmet Mod (removes the ridiculous looking helmets from your characters)
-Lock Bash
-Stone Prisoner DLC (essential, IMHO. And Shale is awesome!)
-Warden's Keep DLC (essential, and not just for the storage chest. You can also use it to "upgrade" certain items to higher Tiered materials by selling them to the Armorer then buying them back.)
-Return to Ostagar (not essential, but pretty good, and some awesome items)

I haven't used The Phoenix Armory mod yet, but it sure does look awesome. Really, really cool textures and design for the armor and weapons. I also particularly like the Grey Warden Runic Armor set. Very well done, even if overpowered.

As far as gameplay, etc. here are some of my observations. Arcane Warrior spec is extremely fun, and highly overpowered. There's just something about casting a fireball or inferno in a room full of darkspawn, then wading in wearing full plate and whacking things about with a sword and shield. With all of my sustainable spells on, I'm virtually untouchable. Of course, my mana is crap, and my fatigue is way too high, but I can always switch to Blood Magic and cast a couple of spells that way. Speaking of which, forget crushing prison, Blood Wound is the best spell in the entire game. It's basically an AoE Crushing prison. And I don't seem to have nearly as many resists versus bosses. That spell alone is worth spec'ing into Blood Mage.

As far as tanks go, I've found Alistair to be the best tank in the game, aside from a Dwarven Warrior player made character. You get him early enough that his initial talent points aren't essentially wasted. Although, I don't suppose this matters much if you have a re-spec mod. He's already a templar, which has some nice AoE abilities, plus gives him access to the Knight Commander's armor, with a whopping 40% spell resistance. With this and The Spellward amulet (30% spell resistance) it's not too hard to get him to 100% spell resistance. That's HUGE. Also, I've used him as my main tank in 2 playthroughs, and I found he was much more successful as a 2 hander, instead of Sword and Shield. 2 reasons: Indomitable, and 2 handed sweep. Keep Indomitable and Threaten sustainables up at all times, run in and 2 handed sweep an entire crowd to gain aggro on the entire bunch. Throw in a taunt if necessary. Great success. This is an excellent topic on the subject, btw. Obviously, other 2 handed warriors can tank, as well, but it's just easier to build Alistair that way, as you get him so early. Shale also makes a decent tank, if you build her correctly. She's also very versatile, in that she can switch to many different support roles, just by switching stances.

Wynne is by far the best healer in the game. I've tried playing without her in my group, and I just can't. She's such a great group member. She's already a spirit healer, and you can also take Arcane Warrior spec with her, as well. Very effective, as long as you don't go with heavy/massive armor. Medium armor works pretty well, especially Wade's Superior Dragonskin armor set. You get stamina regen (which is mana regen on casters), and the full set gives you -25% fatigue, so your spells don't end up costing too much to cast. You can keep her staff equipped, so you don't have to cast Combat Magic, which also helps with her mana pool and fatigue total. She's just a lot more durable with medium armor, Rock Armor, and Arcane Shield up. It really helps. Plus, Wynne has some of the best banter with several party members. Very memorable conversations with Alistair, Shale, and Oghren. Highly recommended.



Just finished the dwarf treaty (my last treaty before the Landsmeet) with this exact party. Very effective, IMHO. Might have something to do with my overpowered Arcane Warrior, though, heh.

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"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

You can basically make any party work. But depending on the difficulty, not having Shale or Alistair to tank(or your warden PC) and not having Wynne make things a bit more difficult. It can get much easier if you have the Dog slot mod and have a ranger in your party(I've never had more than one ranger as I always respec Leliana to dual wield making assassin or duelist a better choice in addition to her bard, so I don't know if all three rogues can have companions out at the same time if they are all rangers, but that would be a little extreme).

If you could have three rangers all with their companions, you could have 8 characters at a time with the dog slot. Sure, the ranger companions aren't as strong as a recruitable character, but they are still pretty damn strong if you fill out the entire talent line to get the empowered summons.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I tried doing that party and ended up giving up on them in frustration. Sten was hella bland. Wynne I just found boring. I finished out my Alistair/Morrigan/Leliana group. Respec mod made using Morrigan doable. I hardened Alistair and Leliana and went for making Alistair king and made Loghain take one for the team.

As for mods, good grief. I probably had around 50 or 60 installed. Check out this post: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/920668-d ... s/57833715

He only has a handful that I don't have and I had others he doesn't.

Only thing that frustrated me was losing so much gear going from Origins to Awakenings. Those extra space mods unfortunately didn't work in Awakenings which forced me to re-do the ending with all the equipment I wanted to keep. I ended up stripping everybody just before my character delivered the killing blow. Kinda funny watching them do things in their undies. I found a cunning-based archer with a Phoenix Armory bow friggin owns like nothing else.

I'm pretty close to finishing Awakenings now. It's been pretty fun so far. Oghren and Anders were good fun.

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The Dude abides.