Showing posts with label party-members. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party-members. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

What team/weapon makeup should I use from Chapter 11 on?

Question

I can't decide on the team I want to go with from chapter 11 and forward.

I hate Hope and Snow so I do not want them in my party.

I love Sazh as a SYN and he's the only cool male character in the story, so I would like to include him and buy him flowers.

Which two ladies should I pick to keep him company?

And once that's decided: what roles and weapons would then be best suited for that party?

Edit:

So... after some more research I think I have decided:

  • Fang as COM/SEN/RAV with Taming Pole for COM
  • Vanille as MED/SAB/RAV with Healer's Staff for MED (and possibly Belladonna Wand for SAB later on)
  • Sazh as SYN/COM/RAV probably with Spica for SYN (but suggestions are welcome)

How's that?

Answer

Leader: Fang (anything will do, as long as it is not the stagger lock weapon)

Companion 1: Lightning (I like lifesaber)

Companion 2: Vanille/Hope (Vanille's staff for debuffing (forgot name))

If you really want to use Sazh, then I recommend you replace Lightning for him.

Paradigm: Com/rav/rav
          sab/med/sab(or syn)
          com/com/rav
          def(or com)/med/med
Consider: def/def/def
          sab/syn/syn(or sab)

You will want to change the team sometimes for missions, but that's another tale. With that team you should be able to emerge victorious (it was my setup when I killed the final boss).

Good luck ;)

Thursday, September 1, 2011

How many party members are there in Dragon Age 2?

Question

So far I have discovered only four: Varric, Bethany, Aveline and Merril. Are there any more?

Answer

There are 10: 6 mandatory, 2 optional, and 2 via DLC/Signature Edition.

Mandatory

These companions you get along the way of the main quest line:

Bethany and Carver: acquired at the start of the game

Aveline: acquired during the Prologue

Varric: acquired at the start of Act I

Anders: In Act I, after Tranquility quest

Merrill: In Act I, after Long Way Home quest

Optional

These companions require you doing something extra to secure them:

Isabela: Complete Fools Rush In quest

Fenris: Complete A Bitter Pill quest

DLC/Signature Edition

You get these through DLC (or the Signature Edition, which includes some DLC):

Sebastian: Acquired through The Exiled Prince DLC

Mabari Warhound: Acquired through The Black Emporium DLC. Acts as a fifth party member like Ranger pets did in Dragon Age Origins, not a full-fledged companion.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Once I replace a party member in Baldur's Gate, can I ever get him back?

Question

Playing Baldur's Gate 1 in BGT

When I meet a new NPC and he asks me or I ask him to join the party, if my party is full, I can remove one of the previous members. But while some stay wherever I left them, others just leave out of the screen (Khalid for example), is there a way to get them back later on, if I want to, or is the NPC gone forever ?

It is kind of strange, since you can't event see the new guy's stats before making your decision.

Answer

This is coming entirely from my memory, so please forgive me for any mistakes:

Most party members will stay where you put them (or if you say 'No' to them when they want to join). There are a number of exceptions though:

  • If you remove Kivan, he stays gone for good.
  • If you remove Shar-Teel, she stays gone for good.
  • If you say 'No' to Jaheira and Khalid the first time, you can never get them again.
  • Furthermore, if you kick out one of them, the other goes as well.
  • If you say 'No' to Edwin with Dynaheir in your party, you can never get him again.
  • If you say 'No' to Viconia the first time, you can never get her again.
  • The same goes for Branwen and Yeslick
  • If you make Xan leave by being rude, he's also gone forever.

Basically, whenever a party member leaves beacuse of arguments or disagreements they are gone for good.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Good races/class combination for tank, healer and damage dealer in WoW

Question

I am new to WoW and I invited two friends to play WoW with me and we are going to take the tank, damage dealer and healer roles for partying.

However, I thought to be a Tauren paladin and one friend chose Undead mage (my other friend will start playing tomorrow). The problem is that he was born at the other side of the world.

How can we choose three good race/classes combinations that fulfill the three roles and that are born close to each other so we can party since the beginning of the game?

I would like to know the combination for both Horde and Alliance.

Answer

So there's two real issues here.

How to start near your Friends

The first is a question of start location. In WoW, this is wholly dependent on your race. As of Cataclysm, each race has it's own unique start location, which means that if you pick different races, you will not be 'born together'.

HOWEVER

It is extremely easy to get to the capital cities, and you reach these at about level 5, after completing your starting zone. And once you're in one capital city, it is very easy to get to any other capital city.

So my advice: if you don't mind playing separately for the first five levels (should take about an hour or so, if you go slowly), play whatever race you want.

All roads lead to Orgrimmar, the Orc capitol -- if your friends play Undead, there's a zeppelin in the undead capitol to take you to Orgrimmar, and if your friends want to play a Blood Elf, there's transport from the blood elf capitol to the undead capitol, and from there you can get to Orgrimmar the same way. Tauren also have a zeppelin (from their capital) to Orgirmmar as well, these days. Thanks, Powerlord

The Alliance has similar arrangements with Stormwind as the hub.

On the Tank / DPS / Healer trinity

First off, every class can do damage. While you might hear grumblings on the forums that one class or the other is 'better', Blizzard generally does a good job at keeping people even. Never let someone else convince you the class you picked is 'bad'. Blizzard does not make 'bad' classes. But everyone has a personal preference, and invariably these preferences clash, and so you get the "Nerf Wars" chorus, summed up by the pithy:

"Dear Blizzard--

Paper is fine. Please nerf Rock.

Sincerely, Scissors"

Damage Dealers

While all classes can deal damage, there are four classes that can exclusively deal damage. That is to say, they cannot tank or heal -- they simply don't have the options. These classes are the following:

Mage

Warlock

Hunter

Rogue

Healers

Likewise, there are 4 classes capable of healing, totaling 5 unique subsets of healer. They can cast heals on other players, resurrect dead friends, and otherwise mitigate death and damage. These classs are as following:

Priest (Discipline)

Priest (Holy)

Paladin (Holy)

Shaman (Restoration)

Druid (Restoration)

Tanks

Finally, there are 4 classes capable of tanking. This means mitigating damage, taunting mobs into hitting you first (and the party later), and other 'defender-y' things.

Warrior (Protection)

Paladin (Protection)

Druid (Feral Combat)

Deathknight (Blood)*

The Deathknight is a special case, as they are not available to players just starting out. The class becomes available when one of your characters reaches level 55.

Class Conclusions

As you may have noticed, Paladins and Druids showed up on both the "Tank" and "Healer" lists. They are good candidates if you or your friends want to potentially fill any of the roles.

My personal suggestion is that selecting any of the 6 'hybrid' classes is a good choice for starting character, just in case you want to switch roles later. The other thing is that though these classes can spec for these roles starting at level 10, they generally won't be needed while leveling up via quests etc. Three DPS specs will likely progress much faster than a dedicated tank, DPSer, and healer. The exception is if you want to run a dungeon (called an instance) with your pals, where the three roles are strongly encouraged (more so at the highest levels).

However, starting at level 30, your character can purchase the ability to alternate between two separate talent configurations (often referred to as 'dual spec') which means you and your pals can stick as 3 DPSers while questing, and break into your roles when you go dungeon diving. Depending on the exact class, this may require at least carrying around a spare shield in your inventory.

In Conclusion (TLDR)

WoW is a very social game, and any three classes will work well together. Likewise, it is quite easy to meet up, so don't let starting in different areas prevent you from playing what you want.

It's your character. Play what you want. WoW will make it work.

There's little worse than sinking time and money into a character you're only half invested in.