Dragon Age II - Gen. Discussion and Info - Mark of the Assassin DLC 10/11 800 pts.

Well to say something totally against the feminine view point.(A friend just told me this and I'm posting it word for word to see other responses)

What is giving Hawke a sister who is rather well "developed" and doesn't know how to button up the top of her shirt? No one wants to see that in a game since there character can't appreciate it without being odd. (well maybe somebody from the mountain in West Virginia would but the rest don't)
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[quote name='Ryuukishi']On the gender/voice acting tip, here is an interesting tidbit:

http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=3920

I don't really understand the whole rant about evil BioWare (it seems only sensible to me that the marketing would focus on one version of the character), but it's intriguing to see female Shepard described as the "fan favorite" by Jesse Houston.[/QUOTE]Man o' man would they hate my guts on that site :lol:

Not to start some huge rant (especially about Mass Effect or anti-feminists):
Though I tend to enjoy Hale's performances (Bastila4life
 
[quote name='Hell Monkey']Well to say something totally against the feminine view point.(A friend just told me this and I'm posting it word for word to see other responses)[/QUOTE]

Yeah I have to agree that seems a little odd, to create this very attractive, sexed-up character design for a companion, in a game where you are encouraged to view your companions as potential romantic partners... except that this one is the protagonist's sister.

Then again, I have a theory that the cleavage-tastic, sexed-up Bethany will only appear in the exaggeration, and is meant to represent Varric's view of her and maybe his attraction to her, and in the scenes that are more from Hawke's perspective, she will seem more "sisterly," if that makes sense.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']It almost sounds like she's forcing the character too much, and I don't think her voice translates into a Lieutenant Commander for the military very well. It's the little things in Meer's VA that makes him perfect for what I imagine Shepard sounding like. The emotions that he shows are very subtle, and I'm very pleased with how they resonate throughout both games. I don't need Shepard to sound like Duke Nukem or James Bond (like a lot of people seem to want), because it just wouldn't fit with the rest of the game. [/QUOTE]
No question that the Meer Shepard and the Hale Shepard are different characterizations. Meer's Shepard comes off as laconic, even-keeled, maybe even a little nerdy underneath the military exterior. Hale is much more of the in-your-face, hardass action hero. I think that both really work though, as separate but valid takes on the character.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']No question that the Meer Shepard and the Hale Shepard are different characterizations. Meer's Shepard comes off as laconic, even-keeled, maybe even a little nerdy underneath the military exterior. Hale is much more of the in-your-face, hardass action hero. I think that both really work though, as separate but valid takes on the character.[/QUOTE]I can admit that Hale does have a bit of a cold, uncaring side to her VA but, for the most part, I think she just comes across as being bored (for lack of a better word). Then you put her next to characters like Garrus and Tali, and her character gets forgotten quick.

IMO, her performance in ME1-2 are nowhere near the level of some of her other roles.
 
Definitely getting pumped for this game. I threw down a preorder for both 360 and PC signature versions and I am having a hard time deciding which to keep. My DA:O playthroughs are all on the 360, so theres the import data, but I am going to be building a new gaming computer next month and I wouldnt mind being able to tinker with mods and such down the road. Decisions, decisions. Going to be the same story when ME3 hits... Though I have picked up ME1 & ME2 on PC to play through from the steam sales for $15 total.

Definitely going to be playing Lady Hawke. And regarding the ME voice actor comments, I just realized that even with my 100% completion, 4+ playthroughs of ME1, and 2 full playthroughs of ME2, I have no clue what the male Shepard even sounds like.
 
[quote name='gnargnargnar']Definitely getting pumped for this game. I threw down a preorder for both 360 and PC signature versions and I am having a hard time deciding which to keep. My DA:O playthroughs are all on the 360, so theres the import data, but I am going to be building a new gaming computer next month and I wouldnt mind being able to tinker with mods and such down the road. Decisions, decisions. Going to be the same story when ME3 hits... Though I have picked up ME1 & ME2 on PC to play through from the steam sales for $15 total.

Definitely going to be playing Lady Hawke. And regarding the ME voice actor comments, I just realized that even with my 100% completion, 4+ playthroughs of ME1, and 2 full playthroughs of ME2, I have no clue what the male Shepard even sounds like.[/QUOTE]

Go for the 360 version now, and wait for a sale on Steam down the road for the PC one.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Go for the 360 version now, and wait for a sale on Steam down the road for the PC one.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like a good plan. Still kinda kicking myself for not jumping on DA Ultimate for $25 during the holiday sales.

I must say, between this, The Witcher 2, ESV: Skyrim, Hunted: TDF, and potentially ME3, there is a lot that I am looking forward to this year.
 
It seems a new review from a foreign magazine has brought some spoilerific information to light (you were warned): http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/5739457

Due to the latest news Merrill will undoubtedly be a welcomed staple in my party. However for now I'd like to take a moment of silence for the apparent absence of Arcane Warrior. Force Mage had better be worth it. ;'(

Meh @
news of a Grey Warden related quest as well because if it doesn't involve or shed light upon the whereabouts of my imported warden then I honestly couldn't care less. The Blight is old news and he never wanted to become one in the first place. Duncan was simply his get the fuck out of Azkaban and run free card. Unfortunately everything didn't work out as initially planned.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Due to the latest news Merrill will undoubtedly be a welcomed staple in my party. However for now I'd like to take a moment of silence for the apparent absence of Arcane Warrior. Force Mage had better be worth it. ;'([/QUOTE]Though I'll spend a week grieving the loss of my Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage build, I can admit that it was probably too good (read: broken) in DA:O and these new builds may provide more of a challenge :lol:
 
However for now I'd like to take a moment of silence for the apparent absence of Arcane Warrior. Force Mage had better be worth it.
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nnnNNNNNNOOOOOOooooooooo...........*

Gonna miss my magical bloody sword'n'board tin can.
 
It's probably for the better. :) Kind of silly honestly to create a class that combines the strengths of a warrior and a mage and not expect it to break the game.

I've read that they're also rebalancing the rogue so it has more of its own identity rather than just being Warrior Jr.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']Though I'll spend a week grieving the loss of my Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage build, I can admit that it was probably too good (read: broken) in DA:O and these new builds may provide more of a challenge :lol:[/QUOTE]

I can't argue with fact but that is essentially what made it so utterly rewarding to use! With the right gear and spell set it instantly transformed every mage into a boss soloing final boss character on nearly every difficulty sans Nightmare where the game wasn't taking your bullshit anymore and even THEN it could barely handle you. I delved through almost every build possible before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the ambrosial armageddon that was AW/BM. It's only flaw was rendering the traditional mage build an obsolete snore fest. It made the game twice as fun to play on my 'anti-hero' mage profile.

A walking S&S super tank that can wield fireballs and heal itself even when overwhelmed by high dragons - what's not to love?

I have no doubt in my mind it won't take more than a month for the Origins tacticians to uncover its brethren but for now I imagine most will main BM/SH at launch. I don't blame them. I plan to do the same if I have to wait for/unlock FM.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']I can't argue with fact but that is essentially what made it so utterly rewarding to use![/QUOTE]Oh, don't get me wrong, I never used another class after I had Arcane Warrior and Blood Mage available to new characters :lol: It was waaay too good not to use.
 
I managed to stumble upon some confirmation of what DLC will be included and reflected in import saves:

[quote name='David Sims']You import a single save file into DA2. If you want to know what data is being imported, trace that save game back to its genesis; that is when you created a new character. If you created an Orlesian Warden then that is a new character and the genesis of a save game. There is no import history for such a save game. An Origins save game imported into Awakening does however have a full history of Origins decisions.



If you took your end of Awakening save and imported it into Golems, then took your Awakening save and imported it into Witch Hunt, the new Golems save game would have no knowledge of Witch Hunt data and the Witch hunt save would have no knowledge of the Golems data. You must import your save games in a single chain tracing all the way back to origins to be able to import all data (Origins->Awakening->Golems->Witch Hunt).



Think of the decision data like an item in your inventory. Jokes aside about DLC items and Awakening imports, imagine you got an item at the same time you made the decision and never disposed of it. If the item would be in your inventory in the save file you import into DA2, then the decision will be imported. If the item wouldn't be there because it's in a different branch of your save game tree, then it will not be imported. There is no world state/decision tracking on a per character basis that transcends individual save files.[/QUOTE]

Always nice to know all that DLC I bought is still of some use even when I'm not actually playing the game (which reminds me I still have at least 7 more achievements to finish up).
 
So basically since I played one character through Origins, Awakening, and Witch Hunt I should import that auto save from the end of Witch Hunt? If I play Golems and want that info in there (why would I?) then I would have to play Golems and Witch Hunt again, right?
 
What's the consensus for Golems then? I never played it because the dwarves/golems storyline was my least favorite thing about Origins and I certainly didn't want to pay $5 to go through that again. I did buy it for $2.50 though just for the achievements and I feel like I need to play it to complete my review of the Dragon Age DLC. I really don't want to have to go through that and Witch Hunt again though.
 
From my understanding since Awakening is the only DLC that actually stores Origins decisions for DA2 all players have to use that end game save as the basis to import the remaining DLC saves. You certainly don't have to play Golems then import THAT save to Witch Hunt for its end game save to matter if you have no interest in an all DLC inclusive final game save.

In your case the chain would follow as such: Origins > Awakening > Witch Hunt > DA2 w/ all three.

A completely viable scenario that would include decisions from all three properly imported to DA2 using the end game Witch Hunt save. So long as your Awakening save is the import you used to start Golems or Witch Hunt you aren't forced to play through both unless you want ALL (Golems & Witch Hunt) of those DLC related decisions carried onto DA2.

Mine would follow the original chain since I've played through them all - Origins > Awakening > Golems > Witch Hunt > DA2 +w/ all DLC reflected.

This is the mandatory order the main game and DLC apparently MUST BE played in order for all of those decisions to be carried over to DA2. Of course if you don't care about the DLC or never bought it you can just use your end game Origins save to import and be done with it.

What you CAN'T do however is import any stand alone end game DLC saves lacking an Awakening origin e.g. Origins > Golems or Witch Hunt > Awakening > DA2 w/ all DLC reflected. Awakening HAS to be the middle man if you want to import ANY DLC related decisions to DA2. If you just have Awakening then that would be the end game save you'd want to import to DA2 i.e. the most recent save.

Sucks for those that skipped it altogether but from what I understand that is how it's going to work for now.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Speaking of DLC here's a new interview concerning the future of DA2 DLC: http://pc.gamezone.com/editorials/item/dragon_age_iis_mike_laidlaw_discusses_downloadable_content/[/QUOTE]
"Parody" rather than "parity" when he refers to Origins' graphics. :lol: Maybe that's a Freudian slip.

Also: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284717

Heads up for anyone who's getting the game for PC from Amazon. They've changed the price from $60 to $50 (which it probably should have been the whole time), but are not automatically price-adjusting Signature Edition preorders, since their system considers the Sig Edition and the normal edition to be different items. CAGs in the Deal Forum thread are having mixed luck getting Amazon to manually adjust their orders.
 
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[quote name='MSUHitman']What's the consensus for Golems then? I never played it because the dwarves/golems storyline was my least favorite thing about Origins and I certainly didn't want to pay $5 to go through that again. I did buy it for $2.50 though just for the achievements and I feel like I need to play it to complete my review of the Dragon Age DLC. I really don't want to have to go through that and Witch Hunt again though.[/QUOTE]

As for your original question (sorry I completely missed it) IMO it does indeed suck but thankfully a lot less than Witch Hunt did (which completely tanked imo). I too couldn't care less about Dwarven history or race itself (obvious exception to Orgren which grew on me in Awakening) in general and achievement hunting for the Harvester boss fight was a royal pain in the ass. The storyline is somewhat decent, the items (aside from the sash/belt/whatever it was) are forgettable and your party is intentionally bad if only to stack the odds against you acquiring the boss achievement.

Of course on Casual it's barely little more than an hour to complete if you blaze through the main storyline along with some minor exploring. Pretty short DLC overall. I'm just extremely skeptical as to what if any bearing the ending will have on DA2 hence my apprehension to recommend you play it with the intention of importing. If the consequences in DA2 involve the Deep Roads, Fade or Orzammar again I personally want nothing to do with it. The Fade and Orzammar were the only two stages of the game I dreaded in Origins. I haven't the slightest idea how they thought both weren't even the TINIEST BIT long winded.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']What party do you have in Golems? Is it your original group or just a bunch of dwarves?[/QUOTE]

The latter plus a Golem and an NPC Bronto. It's the standard "f*ck you" package; a garbage assortment of new but relatively useless characters: Jerrik Dace (Dual-Wielding Ranger Duelist), his terrified brother Brogan (Berserker Reaver), their mascot played by an NPC Bronto and one hell of a joke Golem (it has Chain Lightning for f*ck sake - it's essentially your makeshift automated mage).

Oh, and you have to search for more scrolls to 'upgrade' the golem's abilities. All of their stats are intentionally screwed up e.g. you can't tank with the golem because its stats are tied into Willpower and Magic. They also provide you with one respec tome to use with YOUR Warden for the Harvester fight (trust me you WILL use it when going for the achievement).

Arcane Warrior/Blood Mages won't have that much of a problem with him nor his peanut gallery. Everyone else is more or less screwed for a while until enough trial and error or running for their lives leads them to victory. I lost count of how many times I died before I said fuck it (after experimenting with damn near every build and idea I thought of) and went for psuedo-AW/BM build on my first canon mage focusing on Harvester alone trading in AOW spells for good ol' fashion raw continuous dmg (curses, hexes, crushing prison, etc.).

The boss itself is an utter joke. One on one anyone could take him. It's the near endless supply of Elite and Ultra Hyper Combo using horde of Skeletons it spawns and keeps ON spawning that will drive you to the brink of insanity. Don't bother reviving anyone and just focus on survival and Harvester. Those clowns won't survive long regardless of how much time you've spent babysitting or the amount of dedication you put into fixing the damage done by the devs.

Good luck if you plan to hunt for the achievement. Otherwise this is one DLC you won't regret passing up. Trust me.
 
My apologies for the double post but it appears I got in the Dragon Age Legends closed beta for Facebook and they sent me five extra beta keys to give away. Now rather than post them here for the lurkers to steal I'd prefer actual contributors get a fair shot at it. If you're interested just send me a PM. Don't bother if your post count isn't above 50 or your join date is this year. I'm not in the business of servicing moochers... yet.

If I have any left or demand isn't high enough THEN you'll get your shot as I will post them here in plain sight. Get at me. I won't wait long as there is a huge chance I'll forget about them altogether in the next couple of days. I rarely use my FB unless threatened or adequately guilt tripped.
 
If you are early enough in your DA:O playthrough and you want the Harvestor on Hard achievement, then dupe the Tome of the Mortal Vessel several hundred times (you can only have 99 at a time when doing this) and jack your stats up. My wife got the achievement with roughly 200 across the board (I did it with 300+, after failing with my lvl 34 rogue over 2 dozen times).

Hands down, the Golems is the worst DLC for this game. The feasts and festivals is better!
 
Yeah, I don't disagree with any of that. I personally enjoyed the Deep Roads setting and the dwarf culture/lore in the game, so at least it had that going for it. But the characters are worthless, Harvester is just frustrating rather than a legitimate challenge, and overall there's just nothing going on in it. The 100 GS was definitely most rewarding aspect of the whole experience.
 
Just a general reminder I've got three (maybe four) beta keys left for Dragon Age Legends because I'm still not sure if I'm going to use mine. All I ask in return that you guys hit up this thread with your honest opinions of it. If they included codes for free DA2 items or weapons I'd be all over this, but since I haven't seen nor heard of such I'm still up in the air.
 
Christ, 3 boss-level skeletons was overkill. But you folks do know there was an altar that auto-kills the skeletons right? Though it doesn't show up all the time. I found that room with the 4 boss-level Golems with 2 Elite ones crazier. Thank god for the teleport altar.

I think the easiest build to get through Nightmare GoA is to use an archer build with the ability Accuracy sustained and all your points pumped to Dex. This build guarantees you will be unhittable while dealing damage 70+ per shot.
 
The problem with the altar (aside from making it there in the allotted time to activate it) is that in the second stage of the fight (mobile spidey Harvester) it deactivates for good so you can't rely on it. Admittedly some builds were certainly better equipped for the fight than others. Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact coding in enemy respawn points is by far one of the laziest and arguably worst methods to artificially increase any game's difficulty.
 
In my personal opinion:

God Tier
Awakening - A must buy.

Top Tier
Leliana's Song - A must buy regardless of your personal interest in the character.

Middle Tier
The Darkspawn Chronicles - A must buy but only at that price.

Bottom Tier
Golems of Amgarrak - Buy at your own risk.
Witch Hunt - Buy at your own risk I AM NOT KIDDING HERE.

I wouldn't waste time in buying Awakening and Leliana's Song or just Awakening if you can only afford one. DC is more or less mindless "What if Alistair grew a pair and you didn't survive to babysit his simple ass?" hack-n-slash fun but guaranteed fun none the less. Golems and Witch Hunt were a huge disappointment to me so even at those prices I'd urge you to buy at your own risk. WH especially given the amount of time spent on it and marketing hype spewed out from the mouths of the writer(s) (mostly Gaider) themselves. It's more or less a one hour long commercial for DA2 so don't expect any of the "answers" Morrigan gives you to be ground breaking privileged information or even vaguely interesting for that matter. The two party members they've saddled you up with save it from being a total catastrophe. Well written and perfectly voiced IMO.

As of now I still have two beta keys left for the closed beta of Dragon Age Legends for those of you interested. If I don't get rid of them today then I'll post them here some time tomorrow.
 
Are they all on sale?

Best to worst IMO:

Awakening
Stone Prisoner
Warden's Keep
Return to Ostagar
Darkspawn Chronicles
Witch Hunt
Leliana's Song
Golems of Amgarrak
 
Gaider can be full of shit.

In a unrelated note, it annoys the hell out of me when people start to kiss up to Gaider or Laidlaw whenever they post on the Bioware forums by calling them with "Mr."

I know DA2 will be a great game but I still didn't like how Bioware completely abandoned Origins, what with the promise of 2 years DLC gone. /end rant
 
[quote name='glemtvapen']Gaider can be full of shit.

In a unrelated note, it annoys the hell out of me when people start to kiss up to Gaider or Laidlaw whenever they post on the Bioware forums by calling them with "Mr."

I know DA2 will be a great game but I still didn't like how Bioware completely abandoned Origins, what with the promise of 2 years DLC gone. /end rant[/QUOTE]

Can be? LOL. The guy literally goes out of his way to toy with the fanbase there. Most of the time he seems to pride himself on being a living breathing buzz kill. Not that some of them don't deserve a good tongue lashing but when 90% of the devs there attract the very same wild speculation they supposedly loathe by playing every imaginable angle of development THAT close to the chest (blatant denial, constant disclaimers, misconstruing common criticisms as personal attacks, etc.) I hold no sympathy for the sea of nonsensical tirades they've chosen to wade through.

Although I appreciate their presence there no one is holding them at gunpoint requesting they continue to mingle with the unsavory side of the community. I wasn't fond of how they handled their Origins promise either but eh... so be it. Calling their foul isn't going to change anything (though it in combination with a few other things has convinced me to adopt a "believe it when I see it" approach to sequels and future titles). I'd rather not be labeled an irrational elitist of some sort by disagreeing with the status quo to dare bother mentioning my opinion on the topic there or anywhere else for that matter anyway. I can easily imagine better ways to spend my time.

[quote name='glemtvapen']http://dragonage.bioware.com/addon/

New DLC tied to Dead Space 2. Ser Isaac of CLarke's Armor. Pretty cool-looking.[/QUOTE]

Some of the best news I've heard today that's for sure. Greed compels me to whine inside at the lack of a weapon but the amount of extra swag this game has going for it is ridiculous.
 
So! According to the insert in the Awakening packaging, today is the day when something related to the Dragon Age franchise will happen.

It's probable that today was the intended release date for DA2, but since that's obviously not happening, maybe BioWare will do something else for us instead. Demo?
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Are they all on sale?

Best to worst IMO:

Awakening
Stone Prisoner
Warden's Keep
Return to Ostagar
Darkspawn Chronicles
Witch Hunt
Leliana's Song
Golems of Amgarrak[/QUOTE]

totally agree

[quote name='Ryuukishi']So! According to the insert in the Awakening packaging, today is the day when something related to the Dragon Age franchise will happen.

It's probable that today was the intended release date for DA2, but since that's obviously not happening, maybe BioWare will do something else for us instead. Demo?[/QUOTE]

hmmm....thanks for the info. i didnt know about this. im at work so wont be able to check it out until later
 
Going to keep checking the marketplace today and tomorrow.
If that was the old release date, I wouldn't be surprised if MS accidentally put out some of the preorder DLC early.
 
It sounds like another wild rumor cooked up by their forum community. I'm not going to bother getting my hopes up for a demo (even though I want it badly) but I suspect whatever it is most of us won't be that impressed by it. I suspect more item DLC, a character reveal, another trailer or a demo for ANOTHER game.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']It sounds like another wild rumor cooked up by their forum community. I'm not going to bother getting my hopes up for a demo (even though I want it badly) but I suspect whatever it is most of us won't be that impressed by it. I suspect more item DLC, a character reveal, another trailer or a demo for ANOTHER game.[/QUOTE]

i would agree but that insert from awakenings was real....a buddy on another site found this info today

Dragon Age 2 Demo maybe?

http://www.nave360.com/dragon-age-ii-demo-out-february-1st/

Although seems a bit odd that they'd predict a demo release so long ago...

Bioware Forums guess at a Character creator utility.

The Dragon Age twitter did say today would be exciting, so news is coming for sure..
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Kotaku reports that the Facebook game Dragon Age Legends is now accepting closed beta signups... even though some of us signed up several days ago and have been playing since then.

ETA: Checked my email and I have a new closed beta key that arrived today, along with five more keys to give to friends. I'm going to try and redeem the new key today and see what happens.
 
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To compliment Ryu's post: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/260/index/5897928/1#5897928

Unless they have something else planned for today... I knew it. This is exactly why I roll my eyes whenever Bioware plans one of these "SUPER SPECIAL TOP SECRET ULTRA AWESOME" events. They still don't seem to understand our definition of noteworthy news differs from theirs to an alarming degree.

None the less the Jade Empire armor does look awesome... but where the fuck is the damn sequel? At this rate I'll be in my late thirties before they get around to announcing it. ;(
 
I tried logging into the game, and it loaded up without prompting me for a new key or anything. I also checked my registered game promotions on BioWare's social site and I don't see anything about the Jade Empire armor. Or is the armor only for Legends, not DA2?

I admit to being pretty lost when it comes to this Facebook stuff... :p

If anyone wants a key for it though, PM me since BioWare emailed me some to give away.
 
My bad. I forgot to add that it's only available for closed beta testers AFTER the open beta is announced. From what the Kotaku article says it's only for our Legends character as well which makes this announcement all the more "MEH" worthy.

I'd be much happier if they'd nix the NPC cool down rate altogether so I could solo it. The only reason I play it is for the DA2 item unlocks. Having to literally wait for hours to progress in the main quest is bullshit. Not everyone has Facebook let alone uses it religiously or even got into the beta in the first place. If I have to wait until after the game launch to get a crack at those items I'll won't bother.
 
I played as far as when the tutorial abruptly ended and I was dropped into a castle-maintenance screen with no hint of what to do or how to do it. This is after a battle tutorial which held your hand through literally every individual mouse click, so I'm not sure if there was supposed to be additional tutorial stuff that failed to load for me, or what. The DA2 item unlocks would be nice to have but I think I'm pretty much done with the game. :p

Also, yeah, if this is all that BioWare has planned for today... pretty lame! It would be one thing if they had come out and said, "Sorry everyone, when we printed those cards we thought that 2/1 would be DA2's release date, but we had to delay it." No big deal, stuff happens! But they haven't done that, so... seriously BioWare? A closed beta of a Facebook spinoff game is what you saw fit to announce a year in advance? :lol:
 
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