Dragon Age!

[Juno]

One word:

Awakening.

I'm so frickin' excited I can't even contain myself. I finished my Elf Mage playthrough and now and going through again (more satisfactorily, I might add) as a Human Noble Sword-and-Shield Warrior. Cousland + Alistair/Shale/Sten + Wynne + Leliana is a beasting team, YEAH.

[Sage]

Hrm. BioWare DLC usually sucks so I am skeptical at best.

[Tyr]

It's an expansion and it should be fairly big, so I'm kind of excited for it.

[Psyren]

before i go through awakening i wanna get the ostagard dlc and get the kings armor

[Juno]

Shale is, so far, kinda disappointing, so I'm glad I got her for free.

Warden's Keep and RTO come when I have MONEY.

[Saz]

A lot of people think Shale is the best tank, I picked him up pretty late in the game just when I was starting to get happy with my team, so I decided not to use him.

I'm pretty much set with my team right now I think, my character is the tank, I've got Ogren as the damager, Leilana the archer (and lock-picker), and Morrigan as the mage. All I have to do is finish off the Dalish quest and then I'll have all the treaties sown up.

[Tyr]

I started over again with the Sacred Ashes trailer's setup (curse you Vad!!!!!111) and I'm starting to get the feeling that the makers genuinely wanted you to be 1h/shield warrior. There just seems to be so much more reason to be that than any other class.

[Super Buu]

Except that there's more warrior party members in the game than any other class, several of whom come pre-specced for tanking =P

[Tyr]

But they're all terrible. It's like the developers pre-determined to make you the tank ruined their stats, because Alistair always dies if he's taking any damage. Always.

[Kaden]

I hated being a shield warrior. Fuck that noise.

[Tyr]

I turned down the sound overall because of Alistairs agonized screams for help.

[Juno]

I had problems with people dying in my first playthrough.

This time I traded Morrigan's offensive magic for Wynne. I never lose health

[Dr. Cringle]

Alistair ain't a bad tank, he just needs love in the right places. You gotta give him the best armor so he can take a lump or two on the head better, and you have to tweak his stats in the right places (lots of STR for the best weapons and armor, and a crapload of dex for defense) It helps that you get him early on, so it's easier to mold his build to the way you want. Apparently some of the Reaver/Champion abilities help tanking as well, though I haven't gotten that far yet.

It's also a good idea to get a decent controller. My mage does alright with mind blast, crushing prison, and ice cone (though aiming is a crapshoot)

[Juno]

I tend to stray from Cone of Cold, Burst of Flame, and Shock despite the outstanding damage they do because they REQUIRE MY MAGE TO BE ON THE FRONT LINES. <.< That, like, defeats the purpose.

[Dr. Cringle]

Mind Blast helps with that. It keeps the mobs off your back for a second to give you enough time to cast that CoC. Crushing Prison also helps keeping those higher yellow or orange guys at bay while your tanks chip away at some frozen baddies. What makes Cone of Cold even more awesome is that if one of your tanks or damage dealers crit on a frozen baddy, he shatters instantly.

[Super Buu]

The big AOE attacks like Tempest and Blizzard are really not worth a point, though. At least on the console, it's impossible to keep all your characters out of the AOE, which is why I guess they turned off friendly fire on normal.

[Kaden]

I find them useful. Just drop them on archers or anything at range. They're definitely situational, though.

[Juno]

On Casual/Normal, AoE spells were the brunt of my magic offense when I played a mage. Even if they stunned my tanks, they also dealt consistent damage to certain rather stationary bosses.

[Super Buu]

I would cast a Tempest on ranged enemies well away from where my group was, and inevitably my dudes would keep on trying to run over and attack the guys in the middle of the storm. Morons =( Can't wait until my PC is upgraded to be able to run DA so I won't have to worry about stuff like that, and so I can install some mods for camp storage and party respecs.

[Vad]

I would cast a Tempest on ranged enemies well away from where my group was, and inevitably my dudes would keep on trying to run over and attack the guys in the middle of the storm. Morons =( Can't wait until my PC is upgraded to be able to run DA so I won't have to worry about stuff like that, and so I can install some mods for camp storage and party respecs.

That still happens on PC...