Will Dreadwolf require being constantly online? Is the Dragon Age Keep going to be used?

One of my gripes is that they haven't at least given some indication of what spec PC and associated graphics card you will need for the game.    Surely they could release that information now they have passed Alpha.

However, you do make a good point about whether you need to log on every time in order to play the game. In the past I have always purchased a physical copy of the game so I have something to fall back on if it is no longer available on-line but with DAI and ME3 I still had to log on in order to play. With another more recent game by another developer, I purchased the physical disc only to discover that it really bore no relevance to whether I could play the game or not because I needed a Steam Account in order to do so and the game program was downloaded from there, the disc merely providing a key code. There was no mention of this in the system requirements when I purchased it on Amazon. Sadly, the days of purchasing a game and only having to connect with the Internet for updates are long gone.

Bear: What I would mention is that I recall some months back some warning being given about access to old games by Bioware. I think it had something to do with Origin Accounts. May be someone else can recall the specific information but I'm pretty sure DAO was mentioned. Perhaps your problem is connected with this.

Dreadwolf will almost certainly use the Keep. Direct save import isn't going to be a good option a decade after the previous game came out, and it was pretty buggy even when transferring from DAO to DA2. (Not that there weren't a few import bugs in DAI, but a lot less than before.)

The alternative is some kind of check list in the game itself, but I think using the online service they already built is more likely at this stage.

God I remember when I initially heard that DA4 may be multiplayer only. After my skepticism of "that can't possibly be the case" passed, I was about ready to drop Dragon Age entirely. By all means add a multiplayer mode on the side. But I'd be damned if I bought a Dragon Age game where even the main campaign was multiplayer only. 

I just hope the backlash was loud enough and early enough in development to where they got the hint. I wouldn't be surprised if we see multiplayer-only missions or something in the game regardless though. 

Dragon Age: Origins has always had an online sign-in, that is how they manage ownership of the DLC even back when the game was first released. It isn't required all the time, just frequently enough to call in to verify DLC ownership.

Dragon Age Keep will more than likely be there for direct save imports from what has been said in the past are problematic at best. First you cannot adjust what you are importing forward and there are chances it doesn't import correctly such as Conrad Verner interactions in Mass Effect 2 and there are others.  Along with leaving people that might switch platforms out of luck for a save import.

As far as it being 100% online unless there is some online component that is required and I don't think even Andromeda required 100% online, but if you were disconnected you lost access to the Apex Missions and multiplayer until connected. The only way I see BioWare making it online only is if they go the route of Anthem which I doubt is going to happen now.

I don't think I've ever finished any DA game in 30 hours, unless you just ignore everything and rush towards the end.

I feel a tad conflicted about the so-called "MMO style quests" because in actuality...ALL game quests can essentially be reduced to fetch quests. Always. Because there is always an (un)official set of checkmarks or item requirements that games look for simply on account of how games work. And when you look at Dragon Age's side content, you can find a lot of good stories. Like an overeager apprentice turning to blood magic, more depth into how and why the Freemen operate, and even additional info on how Coryphaeus's more distant cells are conducting their less important operations. Unfortunately, all of those tidbits are usually only found in codex entries players find along the way. Plus the occasional character dialogue when X enemy is defeated.

But the main thing that separates Dragon Age's content from, say, the then-recently-released Witcher 3 was all in the presentation. However superficial (and expensive) it appears, I think part of why Witcher 3's quests were so well received in comparison was because even side quests were treated like main quests....that is to say, they had cutscenes and additional dialogue from the main character. And that really seems like the main difference at the time rather than a radical change in the quest structure itself. The Witcher 3's quests were still MMO-like in nature when broken down to base components, but the key difference is they shoved the story in front of the player instead of leaving it around for players to find (or in Dragon Age's case, ignore or overlook).

I mean let's be honest; if the interesting parts of a quest's storytelling is hidden in text-based codex entries, most players will never bother to find look through it. At the end of the day reading is just considered an outdated mode of storytelling in open world games, even the story itself is perfectly sufficient.