Just started playing this. Any newb tips?
 

I started as a mage and have played through Haven. I think I need to go to the Hinterlands next. I'm enjoying the exploration and crafting so far, but I find the combat mildly tedious. I generally hate the party-banter stuff so will play solo as much as I can and try to keep all the companions neutral. Anybody know of any good mods that either A) Allows you to create companions or B) kills all the lovey-dovey crap and/or gets rid of approval?

I don't know if either one of those is possible, but I can tell you that Knight-Enchanter is probably the strongest class specialization in the game for soloing. It's a bit tedious to solo, but far from impossible once you get a talent that creates barrier based on the damage you do (in the KE skill tree).

Also, crafting is incredibly powerful, especially later on. A high quality staff with +Guard on hit makes you almost immune to damage when coupled with Fade Cloak, Spirit Blade and the barrier building skill. Oh yes, and if you go that route, be sure to grab Energy Barrage to quickly build Spirit Blade stacks, Guard and Barrier, as it counts as staff hits.

The only direct method I know of to control Banter is the Cheat Engine table..not sure if it can outright disable it though..you'd have to check yourself. Other option is to choose people that don't have any of your disliked banter types.

Mage combat is going to be tedious until you hit Skyhold to get your other trees and master crafting. Just like most any other game..you start out weak and boring then ramp up.

Playing solo would be why you find combat tedious..I'd imagine. Not sure why you hate the party banter..it's part of the story which is really the only great thing about DA:I everything else is repetitive or can be found elsewhere…

There was some talk that the KE class got nerfed some. When did you last play this build?

I'm playing with the party, but I enjoyed wandering Haven alone. I've played some of the Hinterlands w/o the party after clearing most of the Templar/Mage groupings. The banter hasn't been as bad as it was in the first game. I'm still running with the original group and haven't met anyone else that can be a companion.

I did a test run of the next main quest location after the Hinterlands and there doesn't seem to be any combat there, so I'm going to play it for real tonight. I'm hoping to find better craft stuff, but I'm only level 4.

I wonder if DAI can be modded to remove all the shitty MMO like quests and only leave the main quest and interesting side quest? :)

I started DAI at release but gave up since all the tediums got to me.

It was nerfed and it is still the most OP build in the game (they just changed how the sword work really). If you want survival (aka how to solo a dragon) sword&shield warrior isn't that bad either, but doesn't hit as hard as the KE.

Thanks, guys. I'll keep playing around with it. Sounds like KE is a no-brainer though.

KE are overpowered, so to keep the combat interesting I didn't build one.

1. While on main quest areas, set difficulty to the hardest possible
2. While in Hinterlands freeroaming and doing chores, set difficulty to supereasy and if possible 1shoting brears
3. DO NOT LEAVE HINTERLANDS before clearing it first (except the dragon, he's a bit hard to kill early).
4. Regardless of gender you play, IMO in your first run you should romance Iron Bull. Yea, basically a cowhorned creature that caused the game being banned in India. Because, to them it's not a game but god knows what, whatever it is, it's bannable, such as the politics. So show your teeth. Balls. Guts. Middlefinger. Anything. Just protest!

Crafting is actually pretty bleh in the first third of the game. The new weapons/armor pour in so fast it's not worth taking the time, IMHO.

If a side mission is boring to you then simply DON'T DO IT. There's *plenty* of content in here to level up with, especially if you got the GotY edition.

One important gameplay mechanic: once you step into a zone, the zone locks to your level. Some zones have sub-zones that I believe have an independent level setting.

That's not quite accurate, zones have level range and some creatures are level locked in them. For example, the Hinterland is level 4 to 8, but there is a Rift and the Dragon who are higher than that (level 10 and 12 I believe).

Also, Trespasser added an option to make the game level-scale everything.

Right now. I'm about 75% through DAI at the moment, having just replayed DAO and DA2. I'm having a blast. I'm actually running a bit of an odd build now, because I got tired of resistances being an issue. My active skills at the moment:

Knight-Enchanter:
- Resurgence
- Spirit Blade
- Fade Cloak (+Decloaking Blast)

Spirit:
- Barrier
- Dispel

Winter:
- Winter's Grasp (+ Winter's Ruin, requires Trespasser DLC)

Inferno:
- Fire Mine (+ Searing Glyph)

Storm:
- Energy Barrage (+ Energy Bombardment)

It's a bit unusual, but it's working quite well, and there's really not a great deal I can't handle.

I found myself leveling way too fast, so I restarted and turned the slow-leveling trial on from the start. I've been using a frost staff and winter's grasp +Winter's Ruin as my main damage. I'll also throw an immolate on my frozen targets. I've got barrier and dispel too. I'll work up to fire mine as that seems to be the best damage spell in the game. I play fodder battles on normal and then play the tougher battles on hard and that seems fairly fun.

There is a lot of respawning in the game and it doesn't seem that you can turn it off or even slow it down. Once I get the horse again, I'll just ride past most of the respawn crap.

I find the templar/mage questline to be extremely boring, so I'm just ignoring the whiny companions and taking my time in the Hinterlands. If I'm level 20 when I choose sides, that's fine with me. I love the hoarding aspects and like playing with the gear.

I guess I have to forward the questline at level 10, so that I can get Skyhold and the advanced classes. After that, I'll probably try to finish every single quest that isn't the main quest :) I'd love to slow level gains down another 2/3 or so as there seems to be a ton of low-mid level content. If anyone knows of a way to do this, let me know.\

Aha! http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonagein…ion/mods/307/?

You'll out-level content, but not to the extent you think. I've cleared 8 out of 10 areas in my current run, and I'm level 20, with no level slowing whatsoever. The first 10 levels are fast, and then it slows to a crawl, which I actually find a bit annoying. 4-5 hours per level is a bit much.

Fast leveling is not the game's problem.
That other thing is.

Not sure if I've already told you (did post before though).
Main story areas, turn the game difficulty on hard.
Filler areas that are Hinterlands 1, 2, 3, 4… etc just drawn differently, turn difficulty on easiest possible so you walk over boring filler.
At least till (and if) someone makes norespawn mod.

Joxer, I've been basically doing as you suggested. Instead of setting the level lower, I just found a cheat that gives you a bunch of great gear in the tutorial. I use that gear when not following the main quest and swap out with level appropriate gear for the main quest.

Following Maylander's Mage-Build suggestions, I'm not having any trouble with the mobs in the main quests. I'm just past the area where you pick up the gay mage, Bakdorian :biggrin: I'm gonna get his disapproval as high as I can so he bails. I tend to go with the grey warden, Cassandra, Varric, and Vivien most of the time. I rotate the others in sometimes. I've not met Cole yet, is he a dual-wield guy? Is he Templar path only? The other two thieves are bow-zos.

Cole is a doubledagger thief which means outside of a few main quests - useless. Just like other thieves.
You'll meet him regardless of the path.

For Dorian I'm not sure how to get his disapproval maxed. Maybe you can do something during meeting with his father but other than that… Not sure. Unless you'll lead him everywhere so he can react on your actions which would be silly since when it comes to mages Vivienne is overpowered.
In fact I'm not sure how to get anyone angry enough to leave or refuse to be around. Most of my choices were not liked by Solas and he was still there till the end.

About the gear "trick", yes, absolutely. Walk over irrelevant annoying trashmobs and play properly those juicy parts that aren't filler.

How is Vivienne any different than anyone else? Her stats seem about the same as Solas, and Dorkian…Does it happen later? I out-damage the other mages by a mile, but I've got the best mage gear of the group, naturally :)

DPS?
You don't need to kill something superfast. You need "invulnerable" people.

And she's bloody KE. :D

Double-daggers useless!? Hell no! I had Sera and Cole both doing the double-dagger thing. Both were dishing out massive damage. Of course they take damage more that way, too. I would typically play with my mage plus one other, though, so shields were plentiful. I made sure I researched all the healing potions/grenades ASAP, too.

The mages are all the same until you open up the advanced classes. Dorian gets the one that has the walking bomb spell in it. That matched what I picked so Dorian didn't get used much except when I was clearing out lower level stuff. (Plus I doubt the AI will be smart enough to pick out targets that are just about to die as well as I can with my "everybody shoot at my target" command.) Viv gets the one with the sword and Solas gets the one with the… ummm… other stuff what's I've forgotten now.

Not doubledaggers per option - rogues are IMO useless in DA:I.
Sorry.

They're probably planned to be glass cannons but there's no nuking or high DPS and they're still dying supereasy. Sure, with micromanagement in tactic mode… Wait. Who plays every fight in tactic mode on PC?

Not me! I still kept them alive enough. Actually, the most likely character to die for me was Bull. Then the three rogues. Varric and Cole were often the ones to raise him up in the late game, too, using a healing grenade. (Sera always brought bees, naturally.)

Rogues can be fantastic with DW, but only after you get them daggers with +heal or +guard, so they stay alive for more than a few seconds. There's an incredible dagger in the Black Emporium that'll really make Cole a killing machine (costs a lot though). Until then, I tend to stick with Sera or Varric. And yes, Bull dies a lot on higher difficulties. It's a shame, as it's a pretty fun character.

Also, it's worth pointing out that NPCs only get their class specializations once you reach Skyhold, so that might be why it's a bit confusing that certain characters are supposedly a lot more powerful than others. Initially, they're all the same. I actually think this is something they changed in later patches, because I really seem to remember having Vivienne as a KE early on, and Cassandra as a Templar etc. Anyway, they'll get their specializations at Skyhold, like I said. Might want to re-roll a few of them then using the resetting amulets.

Since you get to build the NPC's as you see fit, I just kitted Iron Bull out as a sword and board guy with lots of guard. He seems to fill the role well as he must have some naturally high constitution/strength. I'm still fairly early, as far as levels go though. I've done most of the hinterlands and quite a bit of the Forbidden Oasis and I've just conscripted the mages. I'm almost level 8. I'm going to finish any quests up that deal with Haven and then go tackle the Breach.

His specialization is Reaver though. Blackwall has the tanking spec technically (totally overkill). I used Cassandra has tank for the whole game personally. That dispel is very useful to deal with rifts too.

Ah Specializations. I forgot about that. Since I keep restarting so many times, I still haven't passed level 8 or so. I just did a dungeon tonight that was hella fun. It was called Valammar and I had a blast down there. I think I've done most of the Hinterlands now except for the big beastie.

Yes, and you can't choose who gets what specialization. Like I said: It's all unlocked once you reach Skyhold, and it makes a rather big difference in how they're played. At any rate, you can buy amulets that reset talents, so it's not a big deal. You can always sort it out later on.

Yeah, I bought several of those amulets. It seems you end up with a lot of money if you explore everywhere. I have about 20,000 gold.

You end up with a lot of money because outside of some crafting schematics, a few mounts and a crafting materials that are vendor only there is nothing to spend money on.

I've also noticed that the game seems set up to not give you treasure of your class. I have about 40000 swords and about 5 staves. I've bought all the best staves that are purchasable; at least in the areas I've been to. I'm curious to see how many areas open up past Skyhold. I've already unlocked the Hinterlands, Fallow Mire, Forbidden Oasis, Storm Coast, Val Royeaux and the Black Emporium. Are the areas after Skyhold as large? It seems like half of the game map is the Hinterlands…

One of the best staff in the game is a reward for completing a war table mission you unlock once you find all the Tyrdda (sp?) stanza in the Hinterlands…and it's not level locked.

There is six areas that you can unlock after you get Skyhold, four of them are 100% optional. Two of them are really close to the Hinterlands in size. All those maps are larger and have more content than the Storm Coast though. So while the Hinterland feels like half the game, it really depends if you do the optional areas or not…

Goody. I'm not much into the main quest. It seems like the same exact story as Origins except we call them demons instead of dark spawn. I would have liked a conflict that wasn't Chantry, Templar, Mage based. It is okay, but nothing special.

However, I really enjoy the loot collecting. I have the staff you mentioned Azarhal; it isn't as good as my crafted staff, but I haven't added any pieces to it yet. My big quest is collecting the shards as that is a lot of fun and allows you to uncover most of the maps while looking for the pieces. I just hit level 9 on the Skyhold quest, so I may go try to kill the Hinterlands dragon. I haven't killed a dragon yet and I have good fire resist gear; at least for my mage. Maybe I should wait till level 10 though. I think you guys said that I get a specialization then. If so, I could respec and put a bunch of points into that.

The best equipment comes from looting dragons. While you can always do them later when a bit more skilled, just don't skip 'em. Yes, they're sidecontent and optional, but since when we're a bunch of casuals carin only for the main sotry here?

Fire resist against hinterlands dragon is great, but you also want Ice mage (didn't I mention Vivianne?), Ice staff and anything with ice effect on your pardie.

And I have no idea how you can have a better crafted staff than Tyrdda's staff at the point you are in the game. You need to unlocked certain schematics, tier 3 materials and masterwork slot which are unreachable until you get Skyhold and open new maps to make something better…unless the dev nerfed it. :/

The Hinterland Dragon is considered one of the hardest dragon fight in the game despite its low level.

Archers dish out ridiculous damage once levelled up and properly equipped, and you dont need to walk up to the target. Tier 1 bows are useless, but tier 2 (can be bought in Val Royeaux) and up (even if made from tier one materials) are fine. The high level abilities essentially allow you to open fights by taking out one enemy. It's a while since I played, but IIRC my PC managed over 6000 damage with that opening shot.

It was kinda boring, handling trash mobs just by holding down the F key.