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

Concrete imformation on the new patch. Double post for great justice!

"UPDATE: Monday, April 11, 2010.

Hi everyone. I hope you had a good weekend. We're working with Valve right now on dotting the i's and crossing the t's for the Steam rollout. Based on our current estimates, we expect the 1.02 Patch to go live on PC/Mac sometime tomorrow (Tuesday, April 12).

On consoles, the 1.01 title update is progressing smoothly through final certification at Microsoft and Sony. No issues have been found and they're currently projecting release dates of sometime next week - we're working with them to see if we can pull those dates in any further.

Last Friday we discussed some of the universal fixes that we’ve made across all the platforms. Today we’re providing a high-level view of some of the platform-specific fixes that you can expect.

CONSOLES:
- The options menu now includes auto-attack.
- Armor values now adjust correctly when changing shields.
- Choosing a target at close range is now easier.
- Cinematics are no longer distorted on certain standard-definition televisions.
- Hawke no longer gains excessive coin and experience from rapidly and repeatedly completing a single sidequest.
- Various technical changes should improve performance, limit crashes, and address memory-related issues.

PC & MAC:
- Various issues specific to DirectX 11 no longer occur.
- It is now easier to select party members by clicking on their portraits when the level-up arrow is displayed.
- The game now functions correctly across different desktop sizes.
- The video options menu now allows a wider full-screen gamma range.
- Various technical changes should improve performance and limit crashes.
- We’ve improved our crash reporting and our ability to analyze those reports. If you’re still experiencing crashes, we encourage you to play logged in so we can identify and resolve your issues in the future.

This patch should address the bulk of the major issues that people are experiencing. We’re already hard at work on addressing further issues with our next patch and we’ll be setting up some specific threads in the various tech support forums to help capture any major issues that you’re still facing after these patches go live."
 
That was mentioned in a previous post (see: my link above).

"The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving."

It is unlikely that they will retroactively fix your attack speed, though if you're using the PC version, you can do that yourself. Console players may have to start a new game.
 
So nice to see that the 2nd patch for PCs and Macs will be live tomorrow and the first patch for consoles is still pending certification. :wall:

Thank you ever so much, Microsoft and Sony.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']That was mentioned in a previous post (see: my link above).

"The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving."

It is unlikely that they will retroactively fix your attack speed, though if you're using the PC version, you can do that yourself. Console players may have to start a new game.[/QUOTE]

Ah, good. No, I finished my first playthrough without too much trouble since I caught the glitch early enough. Just didn't want to have to play around it in my next playthrough.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']So nice to see that the 2nd patch for PCs and Macs will be live tomorrow and the first patch for consoles is still pending certification. :wall:

Thank you ever so much, Microsoft and Sony.[/QUOTE]
/me goes back to checking out DA2 mods.

Hey, rebalanced talent trees!

And God help me, I don't think I can resist this mod:
2623-2-1302406731.jpg
 
Double posting again, 'cause the patch is out for PC/Mac. I can finally start my second, non-pissing-off-Isabela playthrough.

Patch notes:
Dragon Age II 1.02
------------------------

AMD and NVIDIA have recently released new graphics-card drivers. Using old
drivers may cause Dragon Age II to crash, run poorly, or display graphics
incorrectly. Please visit your hardware vendor's website for further
information on obtaining new drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx

NOTE: Some plot fixes are retroactive, but not all. Players with plot-breaking
bugs may need to revert to an earlier save, particularly a save prior to
visiting the affected area during the current year in the game.

GAMEPLAY
- The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being
properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving.
- Anders's default set of tactics will now activate Haste when appropriate.
- Aveline's final armor upgrade is now available during "Favor and Fault."
- Aveline's Retaliation talent no longer imposes a delay when activated.
- The warrior's Rally talent now functions as described.
- The rogue's Lacerate talent now functions as described.
- Party members who are resurrected during a fight now rejoin combat properly.
- Hawke no longer gains random spells or talents after using the Maker's Sigh
potion, then saving and reloading.
- Potions, poisons, grenades, and runes can now still be ordered from the Hawke
estate after the main campaign is complete.
- Various minor gameplay issues no longer occur.

QUESTS (SPOILER WARNING)
- "Duty" will now appear on the Chanter's Board even if the player accepted
all of the board's quests before installing the Exiled Prince premium content.
- The journal for "Duty" will now update if the player left the Docks (Night)
area immediately after killing the Flint Company mercenaries.
- In "Finders Keepers," the door to Woodrow's Warehouse will now open if the
player steals the location to the warehouse from the harbormaster's office.
- In "Finders Keepers," if the player leaves Woodrow's Warehouse before finding
the crate, it is now possible to return to the warehouse to complete the quest.
- In "Herbalist's Tasks," the varterral's heart is now available even if
the player killed the varterral before receiving the quest.
- Merrill no longer refers to the aftermath of "A New Path" before the plot
has been completed.
- Varric is no longer confused about which character Hawke has been romancing.
- Various minor story-scripting issues no longer occur.

PC/MAC-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY
- Varric's Embellishment talent no longer incorrectly refers to movement speed.
- It is now easier to select party members by clicking on their portraits when
the level-up arrow is displayed.
- The game now functions correctly if the Windows desktop is set to 150% size.
- The video options menu now allows a wider full-screen gamma range.
- Various issues specific to DirectX 11 no longer occur.
- Various technical changes should improve performance and limit crashes.
 
If you're playing the PC version, you can edit your save to get rid of the bug...

EDIT: Rather notably, DAO-to-DA2 save imports are still bugged. BioWare's said this'll probably be a next-patch issue, but in the meantime, PC users can go here for a workaround and an explanation of what the fuck's up with the imports in the first place.

Have I mentioned that I'm playing this on a PC yet?

EDIT2: Bioware also had this to say about the Isabella/Sebastian friendship bugs: "I'm being told that a retro-active fix is in the testing process as of today but as I'm sure you're all painfully aware this process is rather lengthy. Assuming it goes over properly it will be included in the next patch but this won't be for about a month (approximately how long it took from launch until today). These dates and fixes are all subject to change so don't expect them to be exact."

EDIT3: Hmm. According to the console, the Nathaniel Howe sidequest is still bugged out. I can more-or-less get around it via the console, but that's still lame.

Also lame? All this god damn fighting. I'd forgetten how much the new combat system pissed me off.
 
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how did these warping characters get past development? (when youre talking to someone there body looks like its entering a black hole)
 
I, um... that particular bug's news to me.

While you were clicking this spoiler, eight more spiders descended on top of Varric and Anders because fuck you.
 
So do I wait another month for the patch that fixes everything retroactively w/Isabella glitch, or do I replay almost all of Act 2, losing about 15 hours of progress?
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Doesn't it seem like it's time to announce/release some new DLC? I want a reason to get back to my mage playthrough.[/QUOTE]

I'd say now that they have the patch out that's next on the agenda. Announcing DLC for a game with as many problems as DAII had might have seemed a bit impolitic. :D
 
True enough. Maybe they've learned their lesson?

Not counting the launch DLC, the first DA:O DLC (Return to Ostagar) was announced 16 days after launch, and after a delay ended up going live a little over two months after launch. Going by that, I suppose they're a bit behind where they were with DA:O, but I suspect we'll have an announcement of DLC within the next month.
 
Well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind:

Dragon Age II Item Pack #1

Looks like weapons and armors (though it doesn't specify exactly what's included) for warriors, mages, and rogues-- $3 per class set or $5 for all three sets.

I'll probably wait to pick this up until there's some new quest content to use it in.

ETA: List of the contents. Actually quite a lot of stuff.
 
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[quote name='Ryuukishi']Well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind:

Dragon Age II Item Pack #1

Looks like weapons and armors (though it doesn't specify exactly what's included) for warriors, mages, and rogues-- $3 per class set or $5 for all three sets.

I'll probably wait to pick this up until there's some new quest content to use it in.[/QUOTE]
Talk about Rogues completely getting shit on with that armor, yeesh!

The Warrior and Mage set, though, look pretty appealing - too bad the price tag doesn't :whistle2:#
 
Yep. Not buying that even if the Mage robes are sexy as fuck. Give me an Anders alternative and I might get back to playing this game Bioware kthx.
 
Some notes from BioWare community guy Fernando Melo on the DLC and patch situation...

Fernando Melo wrote...

I'll try to address some of the more common points from the posts here...

Where is my story dlc?
For what it is worth we are continuing to work on story dlc, it's just that these have been pushed back in order to give them the time necessary to properly address not only the feedback from DAO DLC (which was always the plan), but also what we can address (within the limits of DLC) from the post launch DA2 feedback. So basically, these will take time - we'll talk about them officially when we get closer.

Why item packs?
Very simply, these were quite successful in both DAO and ME2 both in terms of sales and also usage data, indicating that the demand is there. So while we get that a lot of our forum users prefer story content (which we also enjoy, hence also working on that), make no mistake that there is indeed an audience out there that loves to customize their characters as well as do their replays with premium gear, so these have a place in our DLC plan. And while I would have loved to have us release a story dlc first, see above for why that was not possible.

Game needs more fixes
We absolutely recognize that there are players that are still running
into issues on DA2. PC patch 1.02 and consoles update 1.01 came out roughly a month after game launch and were the first major patch, delivering over 100 fixes but its not possible for these to address everything.

What they did address was most of the high volume & impact issues we could detect from our gameplay data that players can opt in to send, and that we could execute on quickly - trying to balance effectiveness of the patch for as many players as possible, with timeliness to get it to their hands.

That's not to say we're ignoring everyone else - far from it. We didn't stop there, and the patch team has continued working on other issues as reported by you here and are currently in the process of testing the next major patch, which contains even more fixes than the previous one. The next patch addresses many of the issues that took longer to pin down and thus did not make it into the 1.02/1.01 patch. You can follow that progress (and contribute to it) on the tech forums for the appropriate platform.

Hope that helps,
F.
Click to expand...
 
So I've restarted at the beginning of act 2 post patch and it still seems like Hawke attacks slower? Is there anything I can do to see if I'm ok now? Should I take a video off my phone & post on twitvid so one of our experts could weigh in?
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']So I've restarted at the beginning of act 2 post patch and it still seems like Hawke attacks slower? Is there anything I can do to see if I'm ok now? Should I take a video off my phone & post on twitvid so one of our experts could weigh in?[/QUOTE]

Oh are you saying that you reverted to an old save and are still bugged?? This may be the case.

I never saw the attack speed bug until my save file got corrupted and I reverted to a previous save. Then my attack speed dropped dramatically.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']So I've restarted at the beginning of act 2 post patch and it still seems like Hawke attacks slower? Is there anything I can do to see if I'm ok now? Should I take a video off my phone & post on twitvid so one of our experts could weigh in?[/QUOTE]
If you're playing on PC, I can help.

Otherwise...
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Not necessarily surprising, but Dragon Age III development outed on Twitter.[/QUOTE]

...Uh-huh.

There's nothing I want to see less of than confirmation of a full blown sequel BEFORE any new substantial DLC has been released. Especially one that may return Hawke as the PC protagonist instead of the Warden or a new one entirely. Bioware is making it extremely difficult for me NOT to criticize the utter hell out of them right now.
 
This was more-or-less guaranteed form the start, so I can't really complain.

Well, except for the "protagonist Hawke" thing. Three games, three protagonists, gol-durnit!
 
Is the framerate a lot more bearable this time around compared to Dragon Age 1? I hated the framerate it made it absolutely unplayable for me (PS3 version that is). How is this one holding up (360 version)?
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']...Uh-huh.

There's nothing I want to see less of than confirmation of a full blown sequel BEFORE any new substantial DLC has been released. Especially one that may return Hawke as the PC protagonist instead of the Warden or a new one entirely. Bioware is making it extremely difficult for me NOT to criticize the utter hell out of them right now.[/QUOTE]

It's very likely that beginning on a new project occurs right away for anything, be it video games or movies. It's usually just kept in the dark and some games are worked on for years before any public awareness takes hold or is embraced by press releases, trailers and such.
 
Patch 2 is supposed to be out next week:
"Hi everyone,

I promised you more detail about this patch and I apologize that it's taken me until Thursday to deliver on that. First off, a quick note about expected timelines - I've confirmed that the patch will not be out in time for this weekend. That said, PC, X360, and possibly PS3 Europe are all trending well for sometime next week. PS3 North America remains uncertain at this point and we've confirmed with TransGaming that, due to some work they still need to complete on the launcher, the Mac version remains highly unlikely for next week.

At any rate, there's lots of good stuff coming with this patch - almost 200 fixes, as I mentioned last week and our patch notes will attempt to do a better job of calling those out than we were able to on Patch 1. There's never a 1:1 correlation between bugs logged and fixed within our internal tracking system and the individual entries that get called out in the patch notes, just because patch notes are really all about describing the symptoms whereas bugs sometimes focus on causes. But we've made an effort to call out the symptomatic changes you can expect to see in a little greater detail.

So what are some of the hot button, big ticket items that we've addressed in the upcoming patch? We'll release the proper patch notes soon but, in the meantime, here's an overview of the big picture:


Failure to Launch - Some PC users were still encountering some strange edge cases that were fundamentally preventing them from being able to launch the game. Some Windows administrator accounts were receiving errors about insufficient priveleges - it turns out that was due to a corrupted file in the Windows OS so we changed our code to fail more gracefully when it encounters that problem, allowing the game to continue. This same issue was also causing an error regarding an AWC.dll file and that has also been fixed. A variety of other launch issues were also fixed. Importantly, a lot of these fixes have made their way back into some of our central EA technology, ensuring that these edge cases are addressed across a wide range of recent and upcoming EA titles.

DirectX 11 - Outside of the patch, AMD and nVidia have both released new drivers that greatly improve the speed and stability of the game on various cards and configurations. If you don't have the latest, definitely get them. On our side, we've added some additional checking and error messaging to our options page, preventing users from selecting certain settings if they don't have the drivers they need. Also, we had a wierd case where the full-screen gamma settings weren't saving properly and were interfering with your choice of DirectX 9 vs DirectX 11 renderer, resulting in a lot of confusion around precisely which renderer was in use.

Crashes - Did you know that when you play logged in on some platforms, if you crash, you're presented with an option to send us an error report? Thanks to all of you who've done so, we've been able to track down and resolve a variety of crashes. We found one that was tied to the animation of the shimmer effect you see on corpse loot, for example, and another that was tied to how arrays were sometimes used and cleared in scripting (this particular one was most evident in some combat that would occur in the Lowtown Night area). So thanks to all of you who sent in those automated error reports - it really does make a difference!

Achievements - The Epic, Supplier, and Archeologist achievements were all experiencing some logic errors and not unlocking reliably in all cases. We dug in, figured out what the problems were, and fixed them one by one.

Character Corruption, Slow-Mo Hawke, etc. - Not only did we find and correct a lot of these issues at the source (some of which was already tackled in the previous patch) but we also went in and added some code to the "Load Game" process to ensure a retro-active fix for everyone and to catch any other rare cases that might have slipped through.

Broken Plots - We made a bunch of fixes to plots like "Who Needs Rescuing," "Friendly Concern," "Act of Mercy," "A Murder of Crows," "A New Path," "Bait and Switch," "Demands of the Qun," "Dissent," "No Rest for the Wicked," "The Captain's Condolences," "The Last Straw," "Wayward Son," and more. We've also tweaked some banter, how some Rivalry/Friendship points are assigned, and corrected a lot of the references to events imported from your Dragon Age: Origins playthrough.

Traps - Trap behavior no longer gets out of synch with the visual effect and we also decided they shouldn't cause injuries (a neat idea in theory but it wasn't fun in practice and was never properly communicated within the game).

Items - We had some items that were supposed to be class-specific and weren't, we had some where the damage type didn't match their elemental bonuses, and we had some where the item properties interacted with certain abilities in uncool ways. The Maker's Sigh potion was causing a variety of issues and exploits (if you gave it to an archer, it would alter your inventory capacity... Huh?). Item use within the tactics menu was also improved. All of this should now be much happier.

Runes - When a party member changed their armor, the runes would often vaporise never to be seen again. We fixed that little five-finger discount and made Varric go stand in the corner until he's willing to apologise for what he's done.

DLC - We made sure that your storage chest carries over properly to the Hawke estate after you complete the main campaign and also got rid of some edge cases where it would have items in it but not open until you left the area and returned. Even better, your Mabari Hound from the Black Emporium content now follows you more reliably and has a new interaction with Fenris during your fourth year in Kirkwall. We also fixed a timeout that was occurring when players with a large number of promotional items would attempt to log in.

Audio Balance - We weren't happy with how loud combat audio was in comparison to exploration and dialog so our audio team did some fine-tuning on that.

Gameplay Options - We now offer PC users two new settings in the Gameplay Options menu. One allows you to enable persistent highlighting on useable objects, similar to holding down the Tab key, while the other allows users experiencing performance issues to select a faster but less accurate mouse targeting method.

There's obviously lots more in there as well. I've asked Mike Laidlaw to write up an article covering another section of the patch notes that I haven't even touched on yet and I'll post that as soon as it's ready - hopefully sometime tomorrow so you have lots of info going into the weekend. In the meantime, hang tight and we'll get this patch out to you across the various platforms as soon as we can.

Thanks!
Rob"
 
Wow, sounds extensive. It's too bad all of these issues were present in the game in the first place, but getting them all fixed is the next best thing. :) I'm looking forward to when they have some new quest content to add to the game so I can resume my mage playthrough.
 
Patch 1.02 is out today:
Dragon Age II 1.02
------------------------

NOTE: Some fixes are retroactive, but not all. Players with plot-breaking bugs may need to revert to an earlier save, particularly a save prior to visiting the affected area during the current year in the game.

GAMEPLAY
- In many fights, enemies now move less quickly at the start of combat. This slower initial pace makes tactical positioning more useful and important.
- If the force of an enemy attack interrupts a party member's current action, the party member now resumes the action once he or she has recovered. This means, for example, that party members who have been instructed to consume a health potion will now do so as soon as they are able, and do not need to be told to consume a health potion again if they are interrupted.
- Enemies are now much less likely to explode into body parts upon death.
- Attacks that hit a stealthed assassin are now more likely to disrupt stealth.
- Abilities that apply a silence effect now also cancel the target's current action in addition to preventing the target from using further abilities.
- When an enemy wakes from a sleep effect due to suffering damage, other status effects that were applied by the same ability that caused the sleep effect are no longer removed at the same time.
- Items that bear the property "100% of basic attack damage vs. enemies that attack in melee" no longer harm the user when equipped in conjunction with abilities like Blood Magic or Sacrificial Frenzy that reduce the user's health.
- The items known as Final Thought, Sataareth, Sundering, and Trepanner's Gift now have damage types that match their elemental damage bonuses.
- The items known as Allure's Crook, Corrupted Acolyte's Staff, Defender of the Wall, Void's Hammer, and Volcanic Shield can now only be equipped by the appropriate classes.
- The high dragon's fireballs no longer track moving targets.
- Pride demons can no longer be affected by their own Crushing Prison spells.
- The size of the area affected by an ability is now explicitly described as diameter or radius (usually diameter).
- When a party member's armor changes after consummating a romance, runes inscribed on his or her old armor now carry over to the new armor.
- Using the Maker's Sigh potion on an archer no longer alters inventory capacity.
- It is no longer possible to create more than one Elixir of Heroism.
- It is no longer possible to simultaneously enable sustained modes that are
supposed to be mutually exclusive.
- In some cases, enemies would freeze while entering combat. This no longer occurs.
- In some cases, saw traps or spike traps would throw party members back even when the trap was not visible. This no longer occurs.
- The Special Deliveries chest can no longer get into a state where it contains items but cannot be opened.
- The storage chest is now present in the Hawke estate after completing the main campaign.
- If the Black Emporium premium content is installed, the mabari hound now follows his master more reliably.
- Various character-corruption issues now correct themselves automatically when you load your game.
- Various minor gameplay issues no longer occur.


QUESTS (SPOILER WARNING)
- "Who Needs Rescuing" can now be completed.
- "Friendly Concern" is now available after consummating a romance.
- In "Act of Mercy," Thrask can no longer die, which could block completion.
- In "A Murder of Crows," it is now always possible to fight the varterral.
- In "A New Path," Merrill no longer remains locked in the party after the quest.
- In "Bait and Switch," the chest in the abandoned house can now always be opened.
- In "Demands of the Qun," Aveline's guards no longer turn hostile if the player declines to enter the Qunari compound during the day and then returns at night.
- In "Dissent," it is no longer possible to loot Ser Alrik's body before the appropriate time. This ensures that the quest can always be completed.
- In "No Rest for the Wicked," Isabela now always begins the opening conversation at the appropriate time.
- In "The Captain's Condolences," it is now possible to ask Aveline about her father even if she is not currently in the party.
- In "The Last Straw," Anders now responds much differently if he is a rival.
- In "The Last Straw," Aveline no longer attacks Meredith when the party is supposed to be stunned. This prevents a subsequent issue where the game could freeze after loading the post-campaign save.
- In "Wayward Son," it is no longer possible to speak to Thrask after speaking to Samson. This ensures that the quest progresses correctly.
- If Merrill's clan members die, she no longer speaks as if they were alive.
- If Anders is a rival, giving him the Tevinter Chantry Amulet now results In
rivalry points instead of friendship points.
- If the Black Emporium premium content is installed, a new conversation between Fenris and Hawke's dog is available during the fourth year in Kirkwall.
- Alternate Merrill/Aveline banter is now available if Merrill's clan is killed.
- Various references to the events of Dragon Age: Origins are now more accurate.
- Various minor story-scripting issues no longer occur.


FUNCTIONALITY
- Users with a large number of promotional items were timing out when attempting to log in. This no longer occurs.
- Combat audio has been rebalanced so that it is no longer louder than exploration and dialogue audio.
- In the tactics menu, actions that use Items no longer become blank.
- Various minor art issues no longer occur.
- Various technical changes should improve performance and limit crashes.


XBOX 360-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY
- The Epic achievement was not unlocking properly for some users. This no longer occurs.
- The Supplier achievement now always unlocks after finding at least 66 resource varieties, including resources purchased from the Black Emporium.
- A codex entry that helps unlock the Archaeologist achievement is now easier to acquire in the Viscount's Keep during the first year in Kirkwall.


BALANCE
NOTE: Title Update 1.03 introduces significant changes to the
overall balance of the game, improving the strategic elements and
making combat and class progression more engaging and enjoyable for
players. Here is a detailed summary of the balance-related improvements:

General Combat
- Enemies’ basic attacks now apply much less force, which means that party members’ actions are not interrupted as frequently.
- The secondary attribute requirement for equipping armor or shields (constitution for warriors, willpower for mages, and cunning for rogues) is now significantly smaller.
- The rate at which rogues regenerate stamina while performing basic attacks has been significantly increased.
- Traps no longer inflict injuries.
- Enemies now gain more health as the game progresses.
- Enemy assassins now have less health.
- Lieutenant-rank and boss-rank enemies now have less health.
- Lieutenant-rank enemies can no longer lose more than 40% of their health from a single hit, and boss-rank enemies cannot lose more than 20%.
- Enemy commanders now occasionally throw stun grenades while encouraging their troops to concentrate attacks against a single party member. Previously, this behavior was limited to nightmare difficulty.
- Values for armor and elemental resistances now cannot exceed 95%. The game displays values of up to 100%, but characters now suffer 5% damage from an attack even if they show 100% resistance.
- The DISORIENT effect now applies a 50% penalty to enemy defense, as described in the codex, instead of only 25%.
- The Rune of Valiance now provides a +2 bonus to all attributes instead of a variable bonus that could rise as high as +7. As well, equipping and unequipping multiple pieces of armor that each bear a Rune of Valiance no longer results in incorrect attribute scores.
- Items that improve the Blood Magic cost ratio now provide 0.25 mana per point of health instead of 1 mana.
- On hard and nightmare difficulties, status effects now persist on enemies for a slightly longer duration.
- On nightmare difficulty, enemies now inflict more damage than before.
- On nightmare difficulty, party members no longer suffer friendly-fire damage from warriors’ basic attacks.
- On nightmare difficulty, party members can no longer suffer more than 75% of their health in damage from a single friendly-fire attack.

Warrior Changes
- Aftershock upgrade to the Tremor talent now has a 30% chance to STAGGER normal enemies instead of 40%.
- Claymore upgrade to the Cleave talent now has a 10% chance to STAGGER normal enemies instead of 40%.
- Cleave talent now increases damage by 75% instead of 100%, while the cost has been increased from 20 stamina to 30 and cooldown from 20s to 25s.
- Shield Bash talent no longer automatically STAGGERS enemies within range of the attack who were not targeted directly. The primary target is still automatically STAGGERED, but other normal enemies within range have a 40% chance to STAGGER.
- Shield Defense talent now increases threat generation by 100%.
- Sunder talent now has a 20% chance to STAGGER enemies on a critical hit instead of 50%. As well, the talent now only STAGGERS enemies if the warrior is wielding a two-handed weapon, as originally intended.
- The Berserker's Berserk talent now calculates the damage bonus differently, substantially increasing the ability's effectiveness.
- The Reaver's Blood Frenzy talent and Fenris's Veneer of Calm talent now provide a maximum bonus of +50% damage instead of +100%.

Rogue Changes
- Rogues now regain 1% of their stamina per hit with dual weapons or 2% per hit with a bow.
- The Ambush talent now functions as described.
- The Burst Shot talent now inflicts approximately 50% more damage (and 3x physical force instead of 2x).
- Brand talent now provides a 25% bonus to warriors' and mages' critical chance instead of 10%.
- Disorienting Shot upgrade to the Pinning Shot talent now always DISORIENTS the victim, regardless of whether the victim was pinned in place.
- The Inconspicuous talent now extends the reduced threat generation to other rogues and mages within a 10m diameter.
- The Lacerate talent now provides a 10% chance to re-apply the damage from any ability over 5s, instead of a chance to apply a fixed amount of damage.
- The Merciless Strike upgrade to the Explosive Strike talent now applies 300% damage vs. STAGGERED targets instead of 400%.
- The Pinning Shot talent now pins the victim for the correct duration.
- The Pinpoint Strikes talent now includes a 100% bonus to attack for the duration of the ability.
- The Assassin's Assassinate talent now has a 50s cooldown instead of 40s. The Annihilate upgrade now applies 200% damage vs. BRITTLE targets instead of 400%.
- The Shadow's Decoy talent and Sebastian's Guardian Angel talent now have a 45s cooldown instead of 30s.
- The Shadow's Disorienting Criticals talent now functions as described, and provides a 50% bonus to critical damage when obscured instead of 25%.
- The Shadow's Pinpoint Precision talent now provides a 50% bonus to critical damage instead of 25%.

Mage Changes
- Walking Bomb now inflicts damage equal to 50% of the victim's maximum
health upon explosion, within a 4m radius, instead of 100%.
- Arcane Wall upgrade to the Arcane Shield spell now continues to provide a 20% defense bonus to the mage, as described. Previously, the upgrade reduced the bonus to 15%. Other party members receive a 5% bonus.
- The Chain Reaction upgrade to the Chain Lightning spell now applies 300% damage vs. STAGGERED targets instead of 600%.
- Death Syphon spell now drains multiple corpses more quickly.
- Entropic Cloud spell now applies for 30s instead of 15s (against normal enemies), but the cost has been increased from 35 mana to 50 and the cooldown from 40s to 50s. The Death Cloud upgrade now applies damage every 2s instead of every 4s.
- Fireball and Firestorm spells now both inflict approximately 40% more damage and apply 3x elemental force instead of 2x.
- Misdirection Hex spell now applies for 15s instead of 10s (against normal enemies).
- Petrify spell now applies for 12s instead of 15s (against normal enemies).
- Sleep spell now applies for 15s instead of 10s (against normal enemies).
- Spirit Mastery skill now includes a 10% bonus to critical chance instead of 5%.
- The Spirit Strike upgrade to the Spirit Bolt spell now applies 300% damage vs. DISORIENTED targets instead of 200%.
- The Winter's Blast upgrade to the Winter's Grasp spell now notes that it affects nearby enemies.
- The Blood mage's Blood Magic spell and the spirit healer's Healing Aura spell are now mutually exclusive.
- The Blood mage's Blood Magic spell now reserves 70% of the mage's mana instead of 50%.
- The Blood mage's Blood Slave spell now enslaves the victim for a longer duration. As well, if the spell is ineffective, the victim's current action is now canceled. The Blood Spatter upgrade now inflicts damage equal to 75% of the victim's maximum health upon explosion instead of 100%, within a 4m radius. As well, the spell description now displays this information.
- The Blood mage's Grave Robber spell now affects a 12m diameter instead of 6m in order to make the ability more useful.
- The Blood mage's One Foot In upgrade now inflicts 100% of the mage’s maximum health in damage instead of 10%.
- The Blood mage's Paralyzing Hemorrhage upgrade to the Hemorrhage spell now applies 500% damage vs. STAGGERED targets instead of 900%.
- The Force mage's Fist of the Maker spell now inflicts approximately 50% more damage. The Maker's Hammer upgrade now applies 600% damage vs. STAGGERED targets instead of 900%.
- The Force mage's Unshakable spell now provides a +50 bonus to fortitude instead of +100.
- The Spirit healer's Group Heal spell and Anders's Aid Allies spell now restore 25% of party members' health instead of 30%. When upgraded, Group Heal restores 40% of health instead of 50%.
- The Spirit healer's Healing Aura spell and Anders's Panacea spell now provide a +100 bonus to health regeneration instead of +50, and a +200 bonus when upgraded instead of +100. As well, the diameter of the spell has been increased from 6m to 10m, and from 8m to 15m when upgraded. In addition, a rare case in which the spell previously provided an abnormally high rate of health regeneration no longer occurs.

Companion Specific Skill Changes
- Anders's Swift Justice spell now reduces cooldowns to 90% of their normal duration instead of 80%.
- Aveline's Bodyguard talent no longer allows her to absorb the damage from Anders's Martyr spell.
- Aveline's Immovable talent now provides a stacking 8% bonus to damage resistance per hit instead of 2%.
- If Bethany or Carver rejoin the party near the end of the game, they now learn the Force Mage and Templar specializations, respectively. Existing save games from after the Deep Roads Expedition will not receive the benefit of this fix.

Should I restart a second time, this time from before the Deep Roads expedition, so Bethany has Force Mage at the end of the game? Is it that important? I had her almost maxed out on Elemental when I ended Deep Roads.
 
So I beat this today and absolutely hated the ending. The story in this was not even half as good as Origins. I hope they can really get a better story together for the third game.
 
[quote name='CaptainJoel']So I beat this today and absolutely hated the ending. The story in this was not even half as good as Origins. I hope they can really get a better story together for the third game.[/QUOTE]
:applause:
 
[quote name='Hell Monkey']:applause:[/QUOTE]
:cry:

So anyone think we'll get some DLC news during E3? Or does BioWare want everybody to just forget that this game exists?
 
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