Dragon Age 2 - News Roundup

If you think the promo items are too powerful then IGNORE THEM. I completely forgot about them in DA:O until I played a second time and in neither case was the game "ruined".

I forgot about the dragon armor. I had that too. I'm pretty sure I couldn't even use it until really late in the game though. I agree that it would have been nice to have a quest or simply a search involved to get it though.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass one way or another about the promo stuff. I think it's a marketing gimmick aimed at kids and OCD types. I am interested in the Black Emporium though… I'll probably pre-order for that just to have the extra options. Heh, maybe I'm a little OCD now that I think about it…

Didn't BG2 have some kind of store with exotic magic items that was only available as a pre-order or something? I think they patched it later on so everyone got it… I remember hearing something about that, but I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by Ovenall
Didn't BG2 have some kind of store with exotic magic items that was only available as a pre-order or something? I think they patched it later on so everyone got it… I remember hearing something about that, but I'm not sure.

There were 2 bonus merchants for BG2. My collector's edition came with a a bonus disc that included one or both of them. They were easy to find online though.

I liked the way they implemented the bonus stuff in BG2. You still had to purchase the items from merchants, instead of having them just magically appear in your inventory like some of the stuff in Dragon Age.

Yeah, lots of mod makers have figured that out, too. With weak items (like the puny ring that added 1% to your xp) you can just dump them on the player but with stronger stuff, like that Dragon Armor, it's better to make the player do something to earn it.

I think purchasing high end magical gear is a bit of a lame gimmick… but yeah, having to buy it is better than carrying a full set of plate armor in your inventory until you're high enough level.

Depending on how you structured your character, the "Blood Dragon" armor that you got by getting the super-duper-deluxe-dork pack of DA:O was wearable fairly early in the game. It changed the difficulty of the game rather significantly, in my opinion, and I felt a little cheap when I first put it on and stopped pausing the game for a time, while I hacked through mobs like they couldn't touch me…because they couldn't touch me.

Like I've always said; I don't necessarily care if Bioware makes little trinkets to sell to the drooling fanboys who would otherwise just find some other way to cheat or use an exploit. But couldn't they use the time a little wiser, say by making "Witch Hunt" suck less?

Originally Posted by Ovenall
I think purchasing high end magical gear is a bit of a lame gimmick…

Why? Would it make more sense if it could only be found in the back of caves?

Here is what I started with in my inventory or could bye at (totally) bargain price at the camp merchant:

Bergen's Honor (best helm in game)
Type: Massive Helmet
Material: Dragonbone (Tier 7)
Requires: 42 strength
Armor: 3.75
Fatigue: 3.90%
Stats: +2 armor, +6 attack, +25 physical resistance
Where: Promo (Collectors Edition)

Band of Fire (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Ring
Stats: +3 constitution, +25% fire resistance, +10% spirit resistance
Where: Promo (EA Store)

Dalish Promise Ring (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Ring
Stats: +1/+2 health regeneration in combat, +15% to Healing Received, Reduces hostility
Where: DLC (free)

Blood Dragon Plate Helmet (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Massive Armor
Set: Blood Dragon Armor
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 38 strength
Armor: 3.15
Fatigue: 3.75%
Stats: +1 armor, +10 health
Where: DLC (free)

Blood Dragon Plate (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Massive Armor
Set: Blood Dragon Armor
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 38 strength
Runes: 0
Armor: 18.38
Fatigue: 26.25%
Stats: +3 strength, +3 willpower, +3 armor, +50 health, -10% fatigue
Where: DLC (free)

Blood Dragon Plate Boots (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Massive Boots
Set: Blood Dragon Armor
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 38 strength
Armor: 3.15
Fatigue: 3.75%
Where: DLC (free)

Blood Dragon Plate Gauntlets (useful all the way to endgame)
Type: Massive Gloves
Set: Blood Dragon Armor
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 38 strength
Runes: 2
Armor: 2.63
Fatigue: 3.75%
Where: DLC (free)

Formari Tome (very good item)
Type: Tome (Grants a skill point)
Where: DLC (free)

The Edge (best dagger in game)
Type: Dagger
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 26 dexterity
Strength Modifier: 0.85
Damage: 6.00
Critical Chance: 4.50%
Armor Penetration: 7.00
Runes: 2
Stats: +5 damage, +3% critical strike chance, +4 attack
Where: DLC (free)

Plus a couple of lesser items already mentioned (+1% XP Ring, many pockets belt)

Here is what I got after doing the Wardens Keep and Stone Prisoner DLC:
(I did these early on so I could get Shale and the party chest, though I admit you at least had to put some effort into getting these, as they were directly related to a quest. Though the cost/benefit scale was way off, with it being highly beneficial at little cost. Also, you can pick all these items up straight after Lothering)

Dead Thaig Shanker (second best dagger in game)
Type: Dagger
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Requires: 26 dexterity
Strength Modifier: 0.85
Damage: 6.00
Critical Chance: 4.50%
Armor Penetration: 7.00
Runes: 2
Stats: +5 cunning, +0.5 armor penetration, +6 attack, Interrupts spellcasting
Where: DLC The Stone Prisoner

Harvest Festival Ring (useful until endgame)
Type: Ring
Restriction: Warrior or Rogue
Stats: +2 strength, +2 dexterity, +4 attack
Where: DLC The Stone Prisoner

Starfang (hands down, best longsword in game)
Type: Longsword
Material: Starmetal (Tier 8)
Requires: 31 strength
Strength Modifier: 1.00
Damage: 11.90
Critical Chance: 3.40%
Armor Penetration: 4.20
Runes: 3
Stats: +3 dexterity, +3 damage, +2.5 armor penetration
Where: DLC Wardens Keep

Grey Warden Plate Helm
Type: Massive Helmet
Set: Grey Warden Plate Armor Set
Material: Silverite (Tier 6)
Restriction: The Warden
Armor: 3.15
Fatigue: 3.75%
Stats: +3 defense, +5 mental resistance, +5 physical resistance
Where: DLC Wardens Keep

Warden Commander Armor
Type: Massive Armor
Set: Warden Commander
Material: Varies (Tier 2-7)
Armor: 12.25 to 21.88
Fatigue: 23.1% to 27.3%
Stats: +1 armor, +0.5/+1 stamina regeneration in combat, +15% critical/backstab damage, +10% physical resistance
Where: DLC Wardens Keep

All of these items was directly related to me doing promotional stuff (DA Journeys, clicking on links, simply just getting free stuff, etc.), pre-ordering, buying from the EA store and buying collectors edition.

Then there is all the later DLC. If you purchase the "ultimate edition" today, you'll receive a lot more overpowered crap, which is either put in you invo, available for purchase on the cheap or easily (cost/benefit wise) obtainable from doing side quests.

You can simply choose to ignore it, but a blind monkey stumpling around Ferelden would find these items, so it is very hard. Plus, as I stated earlier at the time of DAOs release I hadn't a clue, and was very excited about the prospect of getting free and promotional stuff, in game. So as far as I'm concerned, EA/Bioware can stick their promo/pre-ordering/"premium edition" stuff up their arse, this time around. I'll take a copy of the bare-bone/sytripped-down/slim/lite edition of DA2, thank you.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I liked the way they implemented the bonus stuff in BG2. You still had to purchase the items from merchants, instead of having them just magically appear in your inventory like some of the stuff in Dragon Age.

In my case, the stuff of the CE of Dragon Age still must be bought by a merchant …

And the armor just wasn't available for my Dalish [Danish ???] hero, since he just relied rather on dexterity than on strength … And strength of 42 just wasn't possible throughout the half of the gme … And I had to spend all of that money rather for other items …

So, in my case, I never had much of the ability to use these items … Which means that I rather started to play an "ordinary" gme …

The case was at least in part differently for bonus items of Two Worlds I : They were also unavbailable for my character (I rather don't call him "hero", becauser in my opinion he just isn't one) because of requirements (especially strength, but some oher items were useable from the start on …