# The Dragon Age thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 3, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156 "2009-11-03T12:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/221 "2009-11-12T22:12:42Z")
I also have to approve of Arcane Warrior. It’s not neccessarily better, but it opens up your options immensely. Staves are not really very powerful, though they are reliable, and as you level up you can focus very easily on just Magic + Wisdom for everything. You can eventually get to where you are a creidble warrior, much mroe survivable in a fight, _and_ able to use complex and cool powers. You _might_ not want to give it to your cohorts, but there’s no real loss for doing so. Nominally, it makes a good combo with most other subclasses, too. It adds physical might to a Shapeshifter (attack), turns you into a Cleric/Paladin with Spirit healer, while Blood Mage gives you nasty AoE abilities and improves your stats considerably. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/222 "2009-11-12T23:43:30Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Sweet. I think I understand now. Correction : apparently, the Shield + Prison combo doesn’t work on a party member, only on enemies, which limits its usefulness. For some reason, you can’t target a party member with the Prison. Feh, I say. If Alistair can cope with a fireball centered right on his codpiece, he should be able to handle mind-over-matter nastiness. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/223 "2009-11-13T02:22:14Z")
Ok, I’m getting my behind handed to me at Redcliffe during the night assault of undead. I make it fine through the first wave by the knights at the mill, but when I get called down to the chantry they just keep coming and coming and coming. I can’t take on them all, eventually they are so many that my healer gets mobbed. Should I be running back up towards the knights? How long do the undead keep spawning? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/224 "2009-11-13T02:25:50Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Ok, I’m getting my behind handed to me at Redcliffe during the night assault of undead. > > I make it fine through the first wave by the knights at the mill, but when I get called down to the chantry they just keep coming and coming and coming. I can’t take on them all, eventually they are so many that my healer gets mobbed. Should I be running back up towards the knights? How long do the undead keep spawning? That took me a couple of tries, too. I send a Tempest where they were fighting and hung back with the archer on the hill to make them drive the length of the field to come and eviscerate me…if they lived. Some did. I barely made it out of there. That was rough. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/225 "2009-11-13T02:33:16Z")
Don’t chase out at all . That triggers more, and you want the waves as long between as possible. Use crowd control AOE like cone of cold in close(that one rocks in redcliff because the NPC helpers can swarm the helpless spawn, so you want them alive), and earthquake and blizzard farther out on archers. Personally in my opinion, mages are the core of the game, and running without two (or three if possible) make the game much harder. Massive DPS is key, tanking really isn’t ineffective, and worthless in Redcliff. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/226 "2009-11-13T03:27:10Z")
I’m 45 hours in and according to the game I’ve completed 25% of the game and visited 58% of the locations. Awesome. I’m a dwarf noble warrior berserker and so far I’ve found it tough to do anything without Wynne in my party. I’m in the Brecilian Forest now and I finally have access to enough Elfroot to make a buttload of health poultices, so I may not need her as much going forward, but Wynne, Morrigan, Alistair and I are kicking werewolf and revenant butt right now. Misdirection hex (makes all enemy hits misses and criticals normal hits) and death hex (makes every attack against the enemy a critical) are great against the revenants. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/227 "2009-11-13T04:38:23Z")
This tactic setup is inspired by MMO, not going to list all, but mainly the important ones Allistar is mainly the tank. 1. Attack any elite or above mob 2. Attack main character’s enemy 3. Taunt Wyne: 1. Cast Earthfist on Allistar’s target (helps to keep Allistar alive) 2. Otherwise, attack main character’s enemy Morrigan 1. Mindblast on cluster 2 and above 2. Disorient on enemy archer 3. Winter Grasp/Lightning on main character’s enemy 4. Attack main character’s enemy Wardog 1. Dread Howl on cluster 2 and above My main is a DPS rogue. Allistar as tank, plus Morrigan and Wyne. I use all non-AOE stuns on manual, because you never know when you need them (Shield Bash, Riposte, Dirty Fighting etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/228 "2009-11-13T04:47:38Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > I just started playing and finished defending Redcliffe, but I really dont have a handle on tactics. Ive switched down to easy and feel like Im not getting the real game experience. What are some good, perhaps simple at first, tactics? Im playing a mage (heals, aoe, ranged) and currently play with Morrigan, Sten, and Allister. Im not playing Leliana in my group at all. Not sure if thats a bad idea. A rogue with dual wielding is a good idea because he put out some mean DPS. With Coup De Grace, he does backstab on any stunned, frozen or otherwise dazed enemies. However, Redcliffe is tough; I only won because I pull all the enemies to the knights (oh yah, you may have to do that a couple of times). I am tackling Redcliffe next as my second town, with Leliana, Wyne, Alistar and a DPS rogue. I don’t have a good feeling about this (I may swap Leliana for my dog, who can stun or Sten). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/229 "2009-11-13T11:49:15Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > A rogue with dual wielding is a good idea because he put out some mean DPS. With Coup De Grace, he does backstab on any stunned, frozen or otherwise dazed enemies. However, Redcliffe is tough; I only won because I pull all the enemies to the knights (oh yah, you may have to do that a couple of times). > > I am tackling Redcliffe next as my second town, with Leliana, Wyne, Alistar and a DPS rogue. I don’t have a good feeling about this (I may swap Leliana for my dog, who can stun or Sten). The annoying thing about Redcliffe enemies is that they seem all but immune to Nature damage. Which means no acid grenades and no Deathroot poison, which are the two big early helpers of the Rogue. In fact, with second level stealth you can even toss grenades from stealth, which is… insanely overpowered :). The enemies react and gang up on your position, but hardly ever unstealth you (assuming you’ve got high cunning), so they position themselves ideally for you to move back and toss a second grenade. Except that don’t work in Redcliffe :mad: The waves did me in too a couple of times, and I was nearly ready to give up on my character entirely on the Revenant one (dunno if it’s because they all died during the village defense, but only the knight leader showed up at the castle’s gate. Which made his comments about how “my men and I will hold the courtyard !” hilarious). What finally worked was giving Morrigan the basic Heal spell, which once triggered a 50% health and combined with a truckload of Health poultices at 25% can keep Alistair barely alive while he takes on most of the load. Meanwhile, Doggie rushed any archers while my main backstabbed and stunned whoever had the lowest health (the mutt and Morrigan also AoE Stunned, whenever she didn’t have to Heal). Once all the average Joes are dusted, we all ganged up on the Revenant and made it juuuust before Alistair kicked the bucket. Many breeches were soiled. The rest of the town’s defenders didn’t fare as well. Not one made it through the night :o. But hey, I got all their armors to sell back to the smith I covinced to make them, so, you know, silver lining 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/230 "2009-11-13T15:58:44Z")
I heard from a friend (who is an extreme powergame) if all the townsfolk survived the Redcliffe battle you get a special helm. How he did this is he completes the Lothering irregular quests, gotten Shale, finished Warden Keep and do the Mage Collective quests. He did Redcliffe as his first town at level 11. Of course, there is scaling, but it means that Allistar could tank better. Have you tried firebombs, **Kobol2**? I forgot I have them and would try to acquire some more. I also spot something which I want to try out at Redcliffe. There is a barrel of lamp oil in the general store. I wonder what that does. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/231 "2009-11-13T16:21:47Z")
Score! The lamp oil in the general store contributes to the defence of the town! ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/232 "2009-11-13T16:57:31Z")
sheesh the oil do nothing for the villagers. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/233 "2009-11-13T18:39:40Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Have you tried firebombs, **Kobol2**? I forgot I have them and would try to acquire some more. I also spot something which I want to try out at Redcliffe. There is a barrel of lamp oil in the general store. I wonder what that does. Don’t have them, or the recipe for them, on that character yet. I spent all my alchemy stuff on health poultices, since combat without Wynne tends to require lots of those. And of course, the last save before the grand waves is ages ago. You’d think after PC gaming for 15+ years, I’d have learnt to save more often and in different slots, wouldn’t you ? The barrels of lamp oil are a poisoned gift : if you mention the to the knights’ captain (the one who wants extra blessings from the Chantry mother), he’ll put them between the first row of barricades, to be lit on fire in the first waves’ path. Which sounds good - except the knights (and your melee warriors, if you’re not babysitting them) will all charge right into the burning lake to melee there. A brilliant plan, with obvious results. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/234 "2009-11-13T18:55:53Z")
Oh my god that stupid fire! On my battle the skelies were smart enough to AVOID it by going around it, the knights, however, were happy to go right through it, sometimes staying in it while they attacked skelies standing outside the fire! Maybe I didn’t explain the plan well enough to them before hand. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/235 "2009-11-13T19:22:18Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Score! The lamp oil in the general store contributes to the defence of the town! Have to go find that one. About to do the fight. Also, just found out there are two people in town who can help in the defense - an elf and a dwarf. Let’s see if it makes a difference this time. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/236 "2009-11-14T02:22:08Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Oh my god that stupid fire! On my battle the skelies were smart enough to AVOID it by going around it, the knights, however, were happy to go right through it, sometimes staying in it while they attacked skelies standing outside the fire! Maybe I didn’t explain the plan well enough to them before hand. Would be better if you stand in front of the knights and soak up the aggro… Yah, it’s a bad idea after all. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/237 "2009-11-14T02:28:14Z")
Dude. That fucking dragon at the top of the cliff before getting to Andraste’s ashes. That is one ROUGH fight. I can’t even get half of the health bar down. Also, destroying Andraste’s ashes is one rough fight too. I can’t lick that one either. Then again, two of my party members started stabbing me with pointy metal objects. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/238 "2009-11-14T03:03:10Z")
Woot! The first high rez texture pack is now available for download: [http://social.bioware.com/project/539/&v=comments#details](http://social.bioware.com/project/539/&v=comments#details) [http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8790/tenthdt.jpg](http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8790/tenthdt.jpg) [http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/4552/domdh.jpg](http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/4552/domdh.jpg) [http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3301/cartdh.jpg](http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3301/cartdh.jpg) [http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8413/hdtext.jpg](http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8413/hdtext.jpg) [http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/9289/hdtextdoor.jpg](http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/9289/hdtextdoor.jpg) Nice! Looking forward to what else the community comes up with. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/239 "2009-11-14T04:16:11Z")
Wow! I just discovered the projects tab on the community site. There are already some cool mods: Some cool new armor sets and magical weapons, A “less blood” mod, a respeccing mod, A hardcore mod, and more! ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/240 "2009-11-14T07:13:32Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Dude. That fucking dragon at the top of the cliff before getting to Andraste’s ashes. That is one ROUGH fight. I can’t even get half of the health bar down. Also, destroying Andraste’s ashes is one rough fight too. I can’t lick that one either. Then again, two of my party members started stabbing me with pointy metal objects. That dragon is bad enough. Garzagg the demon is much harder, still trying to figure that one out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156.md?page=13)