Magic in DA4

Duel wielding mages and crossbows on warriors would be awesome. Not sure what would fit for a rogue though. Maybe some sort of magical cross over, with enchanted traps and bombs?

Entropy Hrungr Rogues are a proper bunch of trolls!   

Hrungr: good job on getting your companions to listen! I tried, especially in Redcliffe castle where they drop heavy hints i.e. "They're rehearsing for the choir, let's go all sneaky on them", but I only managed a good setup a couple of times. The rest of the time... well, I'd have had more success barging in, jumping up and down, then as soon as they start throwing tomatoes at me, disappearing into the shadows. Not as troll-ish, unfortunately.

Abilities: for magic in particular, but not only -- if we're restricted to 8 active abilities, I'd like to be able to switch between a couple of setups easily. Say, critter-spells and boss-spells. Crowd-control or Heavy-Hitter. Etc. A bit like switching weapons in combat. I think it's even more important for mages than for other classes. I understand I can't learn every spell in the Book of Beyond-Shadow, but the eight skills bit is super-restrictive.

Ideally I'd also like my companions -- and again, mostly the mage ones -- to be selective when using their skills. I don't want to fine-tune the spells they can use whenever I fight something with a particular resistance. What I mean is, if my mages fight a fire dragon, they should naturally avoid casting fire spells.

Core Classes & Specialisations :

I'd be happy with the usual trio of classes
OR
A set character ie like Hawke, defined by name etc, but if it's set in tevinter, I'd like the character to be blessed with magical capabilities. From there, your choice in skills will dictate your defined class.
So for example, say if you choose weapon skills and elemental magics, you will unlock the specialisation as a Battlemage. If you focus on rogue skills and spells of illusions and hexes, you would be a Arcane Assassin. If you focus on all the magic skills, you would eventually become an Enchanter.
However unlike in andromeda, no swaps, your choices reflect on who your character has become, as such, companions and NPCs will refer to you by your chosen skills. Of course, if the option of learning blood magic comes, I'd like to see that also reflect your choices.
For example,
Battlemage might be given the chance to instead drink dragons blood, giving us even more close range abilities to rend foe with sword or magical talons. Eventually, your mastery of elemental and the Dragons blood would give you the capability of unleashing your own draconic breath attack.
Are you an Enchanter, seeking the edge on your enemies in the game? The dark path of blood magic is yours. Bolster your skills by summoning demons, dominating the minds of foes and boiling their blood. Do you wield this power for good like tevineter heroes of folklore? Or will you embrace darker traditions.
As an Arcane Assassin your blood magic has been honed in forging the perfect predator. Your strikes drain the life force from your foes, whilst they weaken you feed and grow stronger. You use your powers to become invisible to the enemy, giving you the opportunity to sink your blades deep.

OR
I wouldn't mind seeing a character where you choose your race and essentially your faction.
An Elf might be one of the Dalish, A dwarf who has followed Valta and is learning of their ancient heritage, or are you human of tevinter?
Thus I'd like to see the usual trio of classes but with the specialisations being unique to each faction.
Tevinter human
Warrior- Reaver or Abilities like Fenris has.
Rogue- Duelist or Magekiller/ Assassin.
Mage- Blood Mage or Battlemage.

Dalish Elf
Warrior- Sword/shield Emerald Knight or Dual Wielder Style that's elegant.
Rogue- Tempest or Ranger/ Hunter.
Mage- Keeper or Arcane Warrior.

Dwarf
Warrior- Beserker or Guardian.
Rogue- Artificer or Legionaire.
'Mage'/ awokened '- Earthshaker or Warden (a class that uses sort of runes or glyphs that heal or empower allies and debuff foes).


Schools/Spells:
I'd love for the elemental spells to consist of Flame and Ice, and for Primal to use Stone and Storm spells.
I'd also like to Hexes return, with powerful debuffs or corrosive abilities in Entropy.
Creation I'd love to see healing, glyphs that repulse, and plant type magics that entangle people (maybe upgrades with poison damage or longer duration being held)
Spirit magic id like to see mana clash, drain mana, summon wisp and a summon spirit that either attacks or can emit healing to you when you attack someone (whereas creation magic heals you and the party, the spirit version is a little more selfish).

Combat:
Finishers would be great. Especially based on the last attack.
Sword cuts them in down
Blades shred
Magic either reduces to ash, or turns to ice and shatters or stone burst from the ground entraps them in a stone tomb.
Also cinematic would be nice, but might be odd. If I'm a Mage that specialises in Stone magic, I don't want to see my enemy wreathed in flames, or my sword and shield tank whip out a massive zweihander of anime proportions to carve up an enemy.

Novas:
I found nova abilities to be an interesting addition to the game but am happy whether they appear in a next game or not.


Pie-In-The-Sky:
Most of my ideas hahahahahaha

Yep, I would like to see a return to the 4 schools.

Shapeshifter is a cross class tree though... A mage who can tank in bear form or melee dps.

Nice thread, Hrungr!

I'd like to see both hybrid classes and a greater number of specializations. I'd like to be able to play as magical warrior, rather than as a mage who swings a weapon, for instance.

I honestly hate DA's gameplay. I think it's horrific. I'd much prefer this be a true Action RPG, rather than the stiff, pseudo-tactical mess it's become. I know that a total redesign like this will never happen; so I just enjoy the series for it's great lore and over-arching story.

Some of the Focus abilities were effective, but I wouldn't call them fun. They simply weren't accessible often enough to be enjoyable. Plus, there's that whole "I hate the gameplay" issue.

I kind of like that they've kept everything blood simple with just 3 classes, but I wouldn't mind if they went the Mass Effect route and also offered up 3 hybrids as well (Warrior/Rogue, Warrior/Mage and Rogue/Mage).

I would play the shite out of a Rogue/Mage! Especially if we're in Tevinter.

Going to tevinter gives a good excuse to introduce these classes since they're mages aren't going have the same restrictions on training and movements that the southern circles have. If a mage wants learn to wield a blade whose going to stop them? Who'd even want to?

Core Classes:  
Would you prefer it be kept the same as in previous games (Warrior / Rogue / Mage) or would you like to see that expanded to include new base classes?
Hybrid Classes perhaps? Introduce a Warrior-Mage, a Mage-Rogue, and a Warrior-Rogue base class. DAMP explored some of these themes with its classes.
No need to introduce new classes. They should focus on the current classes, because there are specializations. Tricks can be done on specializations.

Specializations: 
As we're heading north in the next game, are there certain specs you'd like to see?
Blood Magic specializations (Blood Mage, Reaver, Blood... Rogue)? Fade-Based? Tevinter Military? Ancient Elven? Titan-Based? Qunari?
Blood Mage of course. I also would like to see the return of spirit warrior. And I love that only one specialization could be chosen, and every specialization is more distinct from each other.

Schools/Spells:
What were your favorites in DAI?
Any from prior games you'd like to see back?
Did you like the Ability Tree structure in DAI? Would you change it in some way?
Any ideas you've wanted to see, or have seen in other games, that would work well in DA?
I love Shield Block, Spirit Blade (v1.10), long shot.
Fireball, silence, and bard songs.
I like the ability tree structure in Trespasser. I would like to be able to change the upgrade during combats.
I wish we could make more use of the team-collaboration. I want to build some formations, like 2 melee at front and 2 ranged at back, or 1 melee at front, two melee at flank and 1 mage at back. Well, that must require very good AI scripts.

Combat:
How did you like the feel in DAI?
How about Mana & Mana Regen? Reliance on Barrier? What would you change?
Would you prefer a more action-oriented approach on the battlefield (more mobility, active magical blocks/evades, perhaps shake up how basic attacks are handled) or more "hands off"?
Armor & Weapons? Anything new you'd like to see here?
Cinematic finishers (aka "Glory Kills")?
The best in the franchise except the stupid AI.
Mana is too much like stamina. They should work by different mechanisms. I would like mana being similar as in previous DA.
I wouldn't mind a more action-oriented game but I still hope there are abilities. I think I can accept as few as six abilities.
Maybe spear. And different weapons, like swords and axes, should be more distinct when striking.
A few may be welcome. I'm not very interested. However, I would like that you and one of the companions finish an enemy together.

Novas:
Did you like DAI's Focus Abilities and how they were handled?
What would change (frequency/power/how Focus is accumulated)?
Any new Nova powers you'd like to see?
Like that. They need to be balanced. For instance, the focus ability of the assassin is too weak.
One way is to let combos accelerate the accumulation. Another way is to nerf it while accelerate the accumulation. I also hope the focus ability does not occupy one ability slot.
Mount and Blade?

One more thing: I think the enemies, at least most of the humanoid ones, should use the same abilities as us. That feels more consistent with lores.

What would I like to see:

1.) The PC should have different abilities from the companions

The PC should feel special. We decide his face. His hair, his eyes, his everything. They shouldn't feel just like part of a crowd I can switch around. There's nothing wrong with switching to a mage when my PC is a warrior, that's fine. But remember that I made that warrior, just as many other players made their own. They should feel different.

2.) The PC should have an extra, unique ability. But make it a mundane one

BioWARE had the right idea with the Mark, and I really liked the way it was presented during the Fade quest. But it was still a weird, mystical thing. I'd much prefer a mundane thing based on the PC's past. Set a past for the PC and give some skills based on it. If, for example, we were Antivan Crows, give a few unique skills useful to any class (like a boost to attack for a short period) that referenced it.

What I want explored is the uniqueness of magic both it's rewards and dangers.
Since we're likely going to be in Tevinter, the most pro Mage (at least in terms of human nobility) country in Thedas, certain content and situations should be more favourable towards mages.
I also want more risk involved, despite being an active demon magnet barely any demons showed interest in the Warden, Hawke and the Inquisitor. If they do introduce a day/night cycle and if our Mage PC goes to sleep we should be able to traverse the Fade, giving us unique opportunities and dangers.
It's important not to diminish other classes so certain paths or situations should be forbidden for mages. For instance no sane Mage would ever willingly join the Qunari, and an Elven rogue/warrior would have little love for Tevinter.
Probably not going to happen, but it's nice to speculate.

It'd be nice to see more fun melee options (like Hawke's Blade-Staff, or Tevinter Spear-Staff), or just fun weapon options period.

For example, maybe take the Rock Armor/Ice Armor idea to the next level and have spells that allow you to rampage around the battlefield like a giant golem or elemental. Fire/Ice/Storm/Necromantic?

I also loved this visual of (Crushing Prison?) from the DA2 trailer. Reaching through portals to rip enemies apart...? That needs to make a comeback.