Dragon Age: Origins.

[Tawmis]

I am in awe that you beat that dragon- and with no fatalities? By the time I had beat it - and spent, no joke, about 2 weeks trying to beat it - I ended up with one man standing (my warrior) and Wynne, who I was controlling to keep my warrior alive. Shalehelped greatly once I got Shalefor the second play through, with the fire immunity crystals, he/she/it managed to stand up against the dragonmuch longer and beat the snot out of Morgann's mother.

From the looks of it, you focus more on the "rush the enemy and whack it until it's dead" school of thought. With powerful enemies, like dragons, that'll get you killed fast.

Against the Dragon- what other way is there to beat it? It's health is extremely massive - I believe higher than anything else you encounter in Origins? And it's Mana pool for it's breath weapon seems pretty high. And I tried a lot of varied tactics, including constantly moving, depending on where the dragon was landing. Like I said, I tried all tanks, tried a tank w/two rogues and a healer, tried two Mages, a tank, rogue... tried nearly ever combo I could. It wasn't until I took over Wynnefor healing, and let the game control my Warrior, Alistar, and Zeveran, that I finally won. And just barely.

[Tawmis]

Correction, it was Shalewho was left standing in my party, along with Wynne. Here's me previously bitching about that SOB. And Andrea's useful way to beat the SOB.

[DeadPoolX]

I am in awe that you beat that dragon- and with no fatalities? By the time I had beat it - and spent, no joke, about 2 weeks trying to beat it - I ended up with one man standing (my warrior) and Wynne, who I was controlling to keep my warrior alive. Shalehelped greatly once I got Shalefor the second play through, with the fire immunity crystals, he/she/it managed to stand up against the dragonmuch longer and beat the snot out of Morgann's mother.

From the looks of it, you focus more on the "rush the enemy and whack it until it's dead" school of thought. With powerful enemies, like dragons, that'll get you killed fast.

Against the Dragon- what other way is there to beat it? It's health is extremely massive - I believe higher than anything else you encounter in Origins? And it's Mana pool for it's breath weapon seems pretty high. And I tried a lot of varied tactics, including constantly moving, depending on where the dragon was landing. Like I said, I tried all tanks, tried a tank w/two rogues and a healer, tried two Mages, a tank, rogue... tried nearly ever combo I could. It wasn't until I took over Wynnefor healing, and let the game control my Warrior, Alistar, and Zeveran, that I finally won. And just barely.

Okay, I'm sorry if this seems picky, but I have to say this: you're consistently spelling the characters' names incorrectly.

The names are:

• Morrigan (not Morgann)
• Alistair (not Alistar)
• Leliana (not Leila)
• Zevran (not Zeveran)

As for the dragon... instead of concentrating on the Warrior and how much damage you do in melee, try focusing on spells and ranged weaponry.

Archery does a ton of damage against dragons (especially if you use different types of poisons and/or arrow types). The downside is the dragon will then go after your Rogue(s), but that's why you have a Warrior -- to act as a shield and take a beating instead of the other characters.

Spells are also extremely useful against dragons (or any enemy). The best spells to use are those that immobilize the dragon or debuff it in some way. Cone of Cold, Petrify, Paralyze, Force Field, Crushing Prison and any of the Hex or Glyph spells work well too.

I don't know if dragons count as spell casters, but if they do, use something like Mana Clash. I've found Mana Clash to be so effective that I can kill nearly any spell caster in one shot. Obviously, a creature as powerful as a dragon wouldn't be killed so easily, but it'll still help.

Anyway... that's how I defeated the dragon without any fatalities. Those tactics might not work for everyone, but they did for me.

And no, I'm not putting spoiler tags around the word "dragon." The damn game is called Dragon Age, so it's bound to have some dragons. If it doesn't, the name is misleading.

[Rath Darkblade]

OK, this might seem like a stupid question, but where do I find Wynne? At the moment, my party consists of myself, Leliana, Alistair and Morrigan. It's a fairly good party, damage-wise, but I find that in battles against the Big Bads, one or two (at least) of my party almost always dies. (And last night, when I was going through Redcliffe Castle, my entire party was killed by a pack of Mabari dogs. A bunch of goddamn dogs. How embarrassing. Luckily I had a save).

Thanks for the advice, DPX! I'll try the account creation.

[DeadPoolX]

OK, this might seem like a stupid question, but where do I find Wynne?

You'll find her in the Circle Tower (or at least I did). It's where the Mages are kept.

[Rath Darkblade]

Okay, here's what I'd do:

1. Create an account.

2. Log into your account.

3. Register your game to that account.

4. Authorize the DLC.

If you still can't authorize your DLC, then try logging out and then back in. I don't know why that works for some people, but it does.

You can log out of your account once your DLC has been authorized.

Just so you know, you will always see your account email address at the bottom left-hand corner of DA:O's main menu. That's okay. It'll tell you if you're logged in or out.

About 99% of the time you can remain logged out. When dealing with DLC, however, you have to go online.

If none of the above works, then try looking at this FAQ for more answers. Hopefully that'll help.

AGGGGG. *beats head against wall*

OK, I created an account, and logged into it. The next step is where I'm having trouble... - "register your game to that account". Fine. It asks me for the game's serial number (e.g. 1111-2222-3333-4444-5555, only without the dashes)... I type in my game's serial number (without the dashes), and social.bioware.com tells me that my serial number is invalid. Eh? I try again with the dashes... invalid again. I try again without the dashes... invalid again.

What the #&*%!??! I just LOVE it when I buy a game, in good faith, and then the website doesn't believe that I paid good money for it and wants me to pay more. *grumble* The FAQ, unfortunately, doesn't cover this... it only covers what to do if this happens to the DLCs, not to the actual game.

Any ideas? Please? *smiles hopefully* Thanks!

[DeadPoolX]

If you've entered the numbers in correctly (and believe me, it's easy to get them wrong) then my next suggestion is to call or email BioWare's tech support. You could also try posting on the BioWare forums and see if they have any ideas. In addition, search for this problem on Google. You might come up with something useful.

Another thought (and this one is far more troublesome) is that someone bought the game, registered it and for some reason returned it. Normally I'd say that's impossible since most retailers won't allow you to return opened games, but you told me that in Australia (or at least wherever you bought your game) returning opened games is allowed.

You could also give me your information (account name, password and registration number) so I can try it myself. I'm not sure I'd get a different result and I'd completely understand if you'd be hesitant to give me any of that info.

Just so you know, I have no interest whatsoever in that info beyond getting your game to work. I already have a BioWare account and have no need of a second one, especially if it meant screwing over a friend.

[Tawmis]

Okay, I'm sorry if this seems picky, but I have to say this: you're consistently spelling the characters' names incorrectly.
The names are:

• Morrigan (not Morgann)
• Alistair (not Alistar)
• Leliana (not Leila)
• Zevran (not Zeveran)

Yeah, get used to me getting their names wrong (in terms of spelling).

As for the dragon... instead of concentrating on the Warrior and how much damage you do in melee, try focusing on spells and ranged weaponry.

Tried that. With two doing archery "Leliana" and "Zevran" ( ) with Wynne doing the healing, and my warrior with the taunt on to keep the dragon's attention. Wynne couldn't heal my guy fast enough to keep him alive. Either he'd lose health too quickly, or her mana wouldn't refill fast enough (even with potions).

Spells are also extremely useful against dragons (or any enemy). The best spells to use are those that immobilize the dragon or debuff it in some way. Cone of Cold, Petrify, Paralyze, Force Field, Crushing Prison and any of the Hex or Glyph spells work well too.

Normal dragons were not an issue. Ever. This one was different. I would have "Morrigan" debuff the hades out of it, because regular spells did very minimal impact against it. So she spent most of her time debuffing, when I was normally playing against it, Wynne was healing, Warrior was taunting and tanking... When "Morrigan" had enough mana, she'd throw a few spells at it....

[Rath Darkblade]

If you've entered the numbers in correctly (and believe me, it's easy to get them wrong) then my next suggestion is to call or email BioWare's tech support. You could also try posting on the BioWare forums and see if they have any ideas. In addition, search for this problem on Google. You might come up with something useful.

Hmm. I think I'll call Bioware, at least to begin with, and see if we can fix it that way. I've googled for it and can't find anything.

Another thought (and this one is far more troublesome) is that someone bought the game, registered it and for some reason returned it. Normally I'd say that's impossible since most retailers won't allow you to return opened games, but you told me that in Australia (or at least wherever you bought your game) returning opened games is allowed.

It is, but under very strict conditions. Not all shops will allow it (I know only one that does). Even the one that does will only allow it within 7 days of purchase, and even then, only if the game doesn't require online activation. So... very little chance of that.

You could also give me your information (account name, password and registration number) so I can try it myself. I'm not sure I'd get a different result and I'd completely understand if you'd be hesitant to give me any of that info.

Just so you know, I have no interest whatsoever in that info beyond getting your game to work. I already have a BioWare account and have no need of a second one, especially if it meant screwing over a friend.

All right. We might try that... I am a little hesitant about that, so I might try that as a sort of last resort. Let me try calling Bioware first and see if I can fix it that way. Thanks!

[Collector]

Perhaps the serial has been pirated and thus taken. I've had that happen to me before. I don't know Bioware's policy, but all I had to do in my case was call the company's customer support and they had me scan the box and email the scan to them for proof of purchase. They then emailed me a new S/N.

[DeadPoolX]

Heh. Whenever I see the phrase "proof of purchase," I think of those toy mail-a-way gimmicks they had in the 1980s. I remember getting two Transformers that way.

[Maiandra]

OK, a little late to all this, but I'm still putting in my 2 cents.

I've always been contrary to the idea that healers are essential. I also hate using buffing spells in combat, unless they're sustainable and can be turned on well ahead of time. Even in the older Bioware games I never took a pure Cleric with me. I prefer healing potions and relying on other tactics or each individual's abilities.

I also found rogues with high dexterity and a good longbow essential for the dragons. They can stay out of the range of the various dragon attacks and don't lose time by getting knocked down. Plus, if you position them on opposite sides of the dragon, if it goes after one of them, then one can keep attacking while the other retreats away from the dragon.

Adding mage-bane to my arrows and using weapon-damage sustainables (like frost weapons) seemed to help. I used my one mage to cast spells that would immobilize the dragon or damage it, plus the hex line of spells to weaken it. Whatever warrior I had with me usually was just a distraction to the dragon.

I did have to try a few times to do it, but I found that technique FAR more useful than relying on the warrior to do the damage (I gave up on that after a couple tries with the first dragon I encountered). It seemed clear from pretty early on that the archers were actually doing the most damage. My rogue didn't even have archery as her weapon skill, but her dexterity stat and her good bow still allowed her to deal a good amount of damage.

I pretty much never relied on a healer character and I was playing on normal difficulty. Sure, I had problems at times, but overall, I didn't think it hampered me. It's just about using different tactics. I relied on my mages more for damage or immobilization spells. I think I just don't like the idea of one character whose only role is supporting the others.

By the way, I pared down the darkspawn on the bridge in the deep roads by first having Morrigan cast blizzard and tempest on them (from as far away as possible) and fighting the survivors in waves. The best part was where she cast blizzard on the archers at the end of the bridge and they were all dead except one by the time the spell died down.

[AndreaDraco]

Those tactics, Maia, are perfectly reasonable, if they fit your playing style, but how do you deal with threat? With a single mage casting hexes and damaging spells, mobs are bound to target the mage only because of the threat he builds, far mor high than Threaten + Taunt. And if the mage goes down, you lose not only the ability to heal from time to time but also the ability to cast crowd control spells, which are easily the most useful in the game.

Anyway, I agree with the warrior. Unless you're making a two-handed warrior, the sword & shield one is pretty useless when it comes to damage. His only purpose is to draw the enamy's attention while mages and rogues deal heavy damage.

[DeadPoolX]

Those tactics, Maia, are perfectly reasonable, if they fit your playing style, but how do you deal with threat? With a single mage casting hexes and damaging spells, mobs are bound to target the mage only because of the threat he builds, far mor high than Threaten + Taunt. And if the mage goes down, you lose not only the ability to heal from time to time but also the ability to cast crowd control spells, which are easily the most useful in the game.

Playing as a Mage, it's my experience that Leliana in DA:O and Nathaniel in DA:A are the ones whom the enemy targets first. Archery causes far more damage (in most cases) than spells in a short period of time. Sure, if the battle lasts a long time the Mage is bound to draw attention to himself, but if playing quick-and-dirty, the Rogues are often targeted first.

I don't cast many hex spells, although I do make frequent use of crowd control spells. I make sure I'm careful to remain behind the other two classes. More often than not, I concentrate on damage spells and rarely cast any healing spells. I just don't need them and if my party needs to heal up, I've got tons of potions to do the trick.

Part of the reason I see healing spells as unnecessary in most cases is because those spells take up slots (and mine are full) and take a little while to cast. Instead of using up a spell slot or two -- which could otherwise go to different types of spells -- and spending the time to cast a healing spell, in which time I'm no longer casting damage or crowd control spells, I see quaffing a few healing potions as a more efficient use of time.

I have two healing spells: Heal and Group Heal. Do you know how often I've had to use them? Maybe three times at most. Healing spells just aren't a priority when other methods are readily available. This is also assuming that a party member's health gets low enough to even need healing in the first place.

For argument's sake, let's provide the worst case scenario, where a party members "dies" in battle. We all know that death doesn't really occur. Anyone who's been "killed" gets up as soon as the battle is over. Taking that into account, it doesn't really matter if a party member "dies." So long as at least one person is still standing, you can win just about any battle.

I actually tested that theory. Using spells that cause friendly fire and ignoring any assistance my party members might have needed, I purposefully got my team "killed." In the end, I was the only character still alive and you know what? I kicked ass.

Could I win against a dragon going solo? Probably not. However, there aren't many dragons in the game. Including the Archdemon, there's about three I can remember (and you've got NPC backup at the end when fighting the Archdemon anyway).

Anyway, I agree with the warrior. Unless you're making a two-handed warrior, the sword & shield one is pretty useless when it comes to damage. His only purpose is to draw the enamy's attention while mages and rogues deal heavy damage.

This is why I use a two-handed sword when switching to Arcane Warrior mode. I figure I might as well do the most damage possible. My sustainable spells provide me with lots and lots of protection. Add in the absolutely fantastic set of massive armor I've got and there's simply no need for a tangible shield.

[Tawmis]

The only problem with potions ... and I can't remember if this is the case for Dragon Age, because I haven't touched in the game in what feels like forever... But isn't there a "recharge" time for potions? So say Character A swallows a health potion - he can't swallow another health potion for like 30 seconds (or is it 60 seconds?)

But in the end, it is all dependent on people's playing style, and what they have mastered. I usually don't point too much thinking into it - I am very much a damage dealer with physical damage vs damage with spells. So I'd rather have a Warrior (me), Warrior ("A"), Rogue ("L" or "Z") and Healer (Wynne). Because, as DPX said, I typically beat the snot out of things with blades, then have Wynne just hang back and heal.