Leaks about game direction and pre-alpha (combat and design spoilers)

I bet those characters are such placeholders with no logic in placement. Some parts in a leak doesn´t have to make any sense.

While I don't expect (though would be pleasantly surprised by) playable origins in DAD I could see Grey Warden being a faction based race-neutral class-neutral background. Ditto things like Crow, Veil Jumper/Archer, and siccari.



But it could also be a specialisation you can acquire with the assistance of Davrin for example, or the classes might no longer be mage/warrior/rogue, grey warden could be a class. Or it could just be a placeholder.

But grey warden as one of the backgrounds you can pick would be cool.

Would the dragon be another red lyrium dragon like corypheus had? An archdemon? What if its Solas? If its solas then the attempt to chain it down the playtester stopped just short of probably won't work (though i don't like their chances either way).

Everything I've seen from these leaks looks great. It seems DA is moving more towards how ME plays, which I'm fine with. Ever since the removal of tactics from the series, combat has always felt clunky with the constant micromanaging of party members. The player character that was leaked looked to be a male elf, and it seems they finally figured out proper body proportions when it comes to male elves. Here's hoping the writer is competent, and if so they could have a winner on their hands.

It depends on whether they will stick to original depiction of Arcane Warrior. Originally, the Arcane Warrior spec allowed for tank builds by replacing the strength stat with a magic stat, allowing you to wear the heaviest sets of armor with no problem as long as you invested enough in the magic attribute. KE took a different route and was essentially just a mage in robes with a shield and sword made of magic. The AW spec in DAI multi is very similar to KC in single.

So I'm not sure where AW stands in the lore: is it essentially a copy and paste of KC, or is it a completely distinct specialization from which KC was merely derived, and KC's style evolved but was not copied? Other than using the protagonist's specialization and related abilities in gameplay as somewhat reliable representations in lore, I'm hesitant to do so for other characters. After all, we know that Templars and Seekers have different abilities, and Cassandra is a seeker who gets the Templar spec in gameplay.Iron Bull is the same way; he admits that he is not a Reaver but has Reaver spec.
  

I find it puzzling that BW not only drops items during development but repeatedly take full 180ies and extremely long dev cycles. Their last releases had the same shit happen and it showed in the results.

And now Walters is gonne, too. Who'll put this cart on the track now.

Leaving aside the game play implications, it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Grey Warden will be a specific background for an elf PC. In DAI our background was Dalish whether mage or not. The same was true of the other races. You were given a specific background that applied to your race whether you were playing a mage, warrior or rogue. So the dwarf was always a member of the Carta, the Qunari/Tal'Vashoth was always a mercenary and the human was always a Trevelyan noble.

Up to now I'd been working to a theory of making the Hero a background that could fit all races but what if it was more like DAI? So, rather than simply make the elf from a slave background (because that is what everyone associates them with in Tevinter even though not all slaves are elves), why not make the elf background something unexpected, like a Grey Warden. That would also neatly explain why Solas or his agents hadn't tried recruiting them. It would also give them an automatic status in places like Tevinter that a regular elf wouldn't enjoy. I have to admit that an elf Grey Warden is someone Solas wouldn't necessarily see coming.

Of course, it is equally possible that the Grey Warden background is one that is going to be offered for all races, along with other options. I just hope this wasn't just a remnant of the multi-player that was being tested to see if it was worth carrying over into the final game because I'm really excited about the prospect of going to Weisshaupt, particularly when it seems something big is going down there.

Another thing that was mentioned was the idea that the background hadn't been fully realised and may be this reflected something big affecting the fortress, like some sort of rift in the Veil (such as was apparent in the concept art from 2020). This got me thinking. What if Solas' ritual completes at the beginning of the game but doesn't have the desired effect he was hoping for? So instead of removing it entirely, it becomes highly unstable, with localised effects like the one that occurred at the Temple of Sacred Ashes in the finale against Corypheus. These would be particularly apparent in places where the Veil was already weakened, for example the Grand Necropolis in Nevarra, Arlathan Forest (which has concept art showing this) and Weisshaupt Fortress. So now it isn't just a question of finding Solas to stop him but finding Solas to fix his mess, or finding an alternative way of dealing with it.

I would be over the moon with faction based origins, it was a little bit sad you didn't get much of a tie in with your backstory in DA:I but if you're connected to an established group early on then that leaves room for so much adaptability. My fav part of DA:O was the adaptability of dialogue based on your origin and having that starting experience really helped me flesh out my PC in my head.

Looks fairly grim, probably because it's such a super early build. Hopefully it will see a lot of iteration before release.

I'm with you there. If they go all action I'm probably out. DA2 was poor, but at least you could pause and you could select other party members.