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

Maybe they did it in order to separate what that version of DA4 was going to be from the previous games. It could have been an in universe thing, Varric talking to a new protagonist, or it could have been Bioware using Varric as a mouthpiece to talk to the players. That's the thing, I don't know, you don't know, no one knows, and 3 years later we still don't know. All we have is speculation on what each of our feeling is.

The title reveal in that teaser was just "Dragon Age", however. No hashtag tease, no number, no subtitle. I remember that was what really confused everyone at the time, why call it just Dragon Age? Obviously older fans already knew what the game was going to be, new players would at least know there were previous DA games, so why market it as just the main series name? It was strange. In hindsight, it felt like an attempt to create something new but still recognizable, not a "look at our SP game" but "look at our new game, ooo Blight, ooo archers, ooo Varric, ooo magic, ooo Solas".

If that's your take, fine. Mine's different, obviously. The only ones who can actually tell us the truth will likely keep mum on things for years, if they ever decide to tell us.

Anthem showed sign it was going to be a flop from its development, it wasn't a complete surprise it was going to end up the way it did. Still, EA pushed on it so I'm not sure EA tops weren't out of touch with reality for a long time after Anthem. I mean, DA4 was rebooted to be MP and use Anthem's code base despite the massive red flags during Anthem's development. It took years after that for them to say "fine, Bioware, make your stupid SP game".

Come on, that was just them saying "Don't expect the Inquisitor to return", because after the way Trespasser was left, despite what they maintained they intended to the contrary, many people (particularly casual players who weren't aware of anything previously said to the contrary by Bioware) assumed they would still be playing the Inquisitor next game. So, they used the "rule of 3" to emphasise this was not to happen. 1] Time for a new hero; 2] no magic hand; 3] no ancient prophesy (we were called the Herald of Andraste because of the prophesy of Drakon). Now casual players who weren't aware of the behind the scenes turmoil would be expecting a single player game, so from that PoV "new hero" does seem to confirm it but it does seem odd that we had a whole plethora of information from mid 2020 to roughly mid 2021 and then very little, even though they promised more in 2022, before the confirmation they were reverting to the single player game. Why not reissue some of the stuff from 2020 that they now know they are going to run with? Why not reiterate that the 2020 trailer definitely showcased factions we would be working with? Still, I believe it is still there on the official site in connection with DA:D, so finger crossed it does relate to the single player game.

I've seen Hogwarts Legacy gameplay to clear my head about the leak debate, then I look down on the right... and the game has the 4 abilities quickslots which look almost identical to the ones in the leak - which made me think about Dragon Age again. Argh
By the way, regardless of what they'll do with Dreadwolf - what would be some cool ways to be able to access all (or most of) your & your companions abilities on the fly without a classic hotbar?