Whatever happened to shapechanging

I mean, it hasn't been an option for player since DAO. It's still a thing in the world - in fact, we're about to meet another shapeshifter in game, the Dalish Veil Jumper Irelin.

If I had to guess why they haven't brought it back, it mgiht be that it sounded cool but in practice it just wasn't that fun to play. Every other DAO Mage specialisation was better. As for why that is, I imagine it's difficult to balance a bunch of different forms, and none of the ones available to us really compared to the raw power of a DAO mage. There are ways to make a good shapeshifter build, but they involve spending maybe 10% of the time actually shapeshifted, which seems to be missing the point a bit. Also, we could never do any of the fun stuff Morrigan gets to do like turning into a bird, let alone a dragon.

This was the problem with the shapeshifter, we never got to transform into anything that was strong enough to offset not being able to cast spells at the same time. If we could have transformed into a dracolisk and spat fire at people (as the ones the Archon breeds do) that would have been something, or be able to fly above the battlefield and beat our opponents to the ground with our claws and wings, as dragons do, then it would make it sufficiently effective that we could forgo the casting of spells. However, other than aesthetics and a cool sounding specialism, there never seemed to be sufficient reason to take it over one of the others.

Now years ago I played a D&D video game in which we were facing an enemy that was only vulnerable to bludgeoning attacks. All my party had blades or bows and magic wasn't effective. Then all of a sudden one of my companions turned into a massive white tiger and several blows with its paws later the battle was won. It was amazing because he had never let on about his special ability but frustrating because he instantly dropped all his gear on the transformation, so we had to pick it all up and return it after he transformed back. Thus, we only used his ability sparingly from then on in specific battle situations but it was worth having.

That is what was missing from the specialism in Dragon Age, a usefulness against specific foes not vulnerable to anything else. This was the case with Morrigan in DAI but never during our time in DAO.

Yea hI neve rused i tmuc hbecause o fth eamoun to ftime i ttakes t ochange form .I twas a cool idwa in concep tI think but nothing more. Plus I think i twas said even in DAO that it's a rare form of magic that not many mages know about let alone know how to perform .Whic hexplains I think a bit why we don' t have the option

And even though Irelin is supposedly Dalish, it's also possible there's more going on with her, like a connection to ancient elves. It seems that shapeshifting was quite common in ancient times and certain forms (dragons) were gatekept by the Evanuris.

My issue with shape-shifting in any rpg I've ever played is that it tends to be really good at low levels but mediocre at high levels, because spellcasting always becomes better than being able to punch stuff as a bear or something.

Tbf, Veil Jumpers operate in Arlathan forest and she might've simply uncovered some kind of ancient elven knowledge about shapeshifting.

There's precedent with some mages rediscovering the Arcane Warrior that way.