What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Congrats!

I envy you, seriously.

And here's a round of applause: *applauds*

Congrats! (What was the exam for?) Nothing like getting a heavy weight off your chest!

I'm a Sonographer (Ultrasound tech). I already had one speciality (abdomen/general) and today I sat for my Vascular speciality. It doesn't get me a pay raise, but since I am a full time traveler (work all over the United States) it opens up job sites I didn't have the option to apply for. Which means I can be a bit more picky ( want to see Hawaii and Alaska next year by working in those places!)

Oh heck, understand that! There were times leading up to and even during the exam where I was like, "yep. I failed."

I did! Makes me glad he's romancing Cass, cuz then he'll be shirtless at some point, right? *Waggles eyebrows*

I totally feel you. This exactly how I felt about my thesis this past spring. It was a painful panic inducing slog that at once seemed to go one forever and yet not be enough time. I never ever want to have to do anything like that ever again.

Just keep at it! Get as much done as you can as soon as you can is the best advice I can give.

Aneira

It occurred to me as I was trying to make that sexy elf's brother for myself, that kaly must be using mods. That tattoo isn't available, and then I really started looking at him, and I'm guessing the beauty marks and air brushed model complexion are also mods too. I'm not feeling up to mods in DAI yet, although I've become pretty good at using DA2 mods, so this gentleman here is the closest I could get to a handsome elf.



I don't know. I think I'm about as good at male elves as I am at Qunari. :/

Your male elf looks good as is.  Mods for DAI are actually pretty easy.  Install the DAI Modmanager.  Modmanager then activates the mod.  You just have to beware of those mods that don't work with the DLCs.

Better gear (tier 3 schematics with tier 2 materials) helped Zevia and the gang actually beat the Hinterlands dragon this time on hard/even ground with only 3 health potions used. I know plenty of people can do much better, but it was a first for me to beat a dragon while at a lower level than said dragon

Also, Zevia told Josephine that she was rather long-winded. It didn't sound as harsh as I expected it to once the line was voiced, though.

Finally got another flirt option with Bull after the drinking scene, and also need to pick a specialization. I will probably go with assassin.

Congrats!    The dragon fights are fun!  I love the preparation involved:  crafting gear with the right resistance, the right resistance potion, and powerful weapons to which I add the dragon runes.  This PT, I tried, for the first time, to kill the Hinterlands Dragon before the battle of Haven.  With tier 2 schematics to make armor with tier 1 materials, it didn't turn out well...   I had to make a return trip after arriving at skyhold.

phoray

I like your elf even if he looks different.

But as the dwarf said, modding is not too difficult. I learned that recently. I tried mods before in my third and fourth PT, one of them was a hair mod and nothing worked (because I made a mistake) and I gave up. Tried again a few weeks back and guess what, I currently have six mods or so installed. (I know there are people with a lot more than that. ^^) So it does work. Although I have yet to try again with that hair mod.

Could be worth a try if you really want him to look like kaly's elf.

--I finished WHWM with "Team Outcast." Bull/Varric/Dorian. Bull is Tal-Vasoth; Varric is a surface dwarf; Dorian is Dorian. I managed to finally get the halla statues unlocked in such a way to see the poor solider tied up on the bed. I was instantly reminded a bit of the sequence in DA2 during Sebastian's loyalty quest. "Felicate me!" I told the solider to keep his mouth shut about Celene. Gaspard is exiled and Celene now rules. My character couldn't kill Gaspard. If something happens to Celene, he's the only one left.

--Bull made me laugh my ass off at one point.  We're just entered the Royal Wing when Bull cracks, "So we're going into a place that even Leliana said was dangerous.  This party just livened up!"  Also, upon seeing the tied up solider and hearing the poor guy's story: "Classic honeypot."   

--Bull is gonna be in my party for the remainder of the game except for the final boss in Descent.   Then I take no one but ranged so I can control a mage and have another as backup. It'll be Valena/Solas/Varric/Dorian for that.  I'm going to make Dorian run his little Vint butt off and go lightning for the fight.    For JoH, it'll be Bull/Solas/Dorian for most of it.  I'll leave Cass at home this time.  As an aside, taking her through JoH was fun in a kinda mean way.  She freaks out a few times.  Not that I completely blame her.

--Anyway, I went back to Skyhold and decided to start Blackwall's quest before I moved onto the last zones in the game. I went to VR and everything was fine. Got back and ran into a very nasty bug.

So I judged Blackwall and gave him his freedom. I manually saved the game. Then I had to judge the Dutchess. At first I sent her to the Clositer. The entire party didn't like that decision and neither did I. I reloaded and went to judge her again. I watched about 2 minutes of a black screen with the DA symbol down at the bottom. It then kicked me out and left everyone standing around in mid-judgement.  The quest diamond was gone.

I tried reloading then going downstairs to change thrones. I had read that can help. It didn't help me at all. I tried a few different thrones and no dice. I didn't make a manual save before doing the WT mission to get Blackwall back to Skyhold.  Instead, I had to go back to my Milestone save from when I first returned to Skyhold.

Then I did the Dutchess judgement (common work for the common people) and it went just fine. I have to go through the Crossroads scene again but at least the throne is no longer bugged. If that bug happens, kiss any progress you've made since the bug started goodbye. It triggers once you reload a save right before a judgement.

This is a known bug after Blackwall's judgement in particular. I'd recommend saving before any series of judgements if you have a few backed up. Also, doing too many in a row can trigger this bug as well. My advice is to do only one or two at a time, then go quest or whatever outside of Skyhold. I'm glad I only lost 10 minutes instead of hours of gameplay.  

I do have to go back and redo Blackwall's quest chain.  I have to talk to everyone again, repurchase dragon bone for my end game axe and go get Vivienne's personal quest.  Then once I get Blackwall back I'm hitting up the Lost Temple of Dirthamen and dropping off bear butts I mean pelts to the Dalish.

Non story zones remaining: Emprise du Lion, Emerald Graves, Hissing Wastes.
First DLC zone I'm going to do: Frostback Basin.

I got everything caught up. I also knocked out the Wicked Grace scene. I still wish I could have heard the stories. It's honestly one of my favorite moments in any BioWare game I've ever played.

Bull has a new 2H axe.  For fun, I put a Fade-touched material that has a 10% chance of Hidden Blades on hit.  He makes everything in his path go splat.

Varric, Bull and Dorian all need new armor for the endgame. Poor Varric is in the same armor he's had since Haven. It's a good schematic but with Tier 1 mats. He's finally outgrowing it. Leather has been a royal pain to get ahold of unless I farm for it or go to the BE. I know I'd have better luck in the Emerald Graves but I'm holding off.  That's thanks to the Avenue of Angry Giants.  Nothing like pulling half of a damn area without intending to.  I'm getting the mats for the superb corruption rune before I go there.

It's a whopping 8 degrees (F) outside. -13(C). It was snowing earlier. The skies have cleared up and it's supposed to hit -4(F) tonight. I think some coffee with irish cream and going to Emprise du Lion sounds fitting.  

Edit: I remade my first character Garnet Cadash earlier.  However, I had hit the 50 save limit for the PS4.  I looked at Rowan and realized I had waaay too many saves for her.  So I did some cleanup and Garnet went through.  She's going to wait until after I finish Valena.  If I replay the game for the 3rd time in three weeks.