Combat woes

[kmansp]

Combat for the most part is fun, except that enemies seem to only focus on you the player. This is especially irritating early on if you are playing as a mage and there's no melee help. I thought it would get better once I got the assassin dude, but OMG... enemies and bosses alike just ignore my party members and go after me. I enjoy a challenge, but I feel like all I'm doing is constantly dodging. Even if I'm out of range or around a corner out of line of site, enemies will walk right past my allies to go for me. It's extremely annoying! Am I missing something?

Edit: For anyone else frustrated with this, you CAN modify this somewhat within the game settings. If you navigate to settings, gameplay, and within there look for advanced gameplay, you can fine tune things such as damage received, damage dealt, etc. What you are looking for is something called aggression, and you can tune that down. It's not perfect, but it helps tremendously. Still very annoying that enemies will lock on to you and forgo your nearby allies that are pummeling them. It's the worst with dragon and boss fights.

[VexedVirtuoso]

I'm having this experience as a mage as well. One of your companions (Davrin, the Grey Warden) has a taunt ability, but I haven't gotten there yet so it's been a struggle.

[Tenoshii]

It's not a traditional party system like you are used to. Your companions are more like "summons" or "pets" that you see in isometric ARPGs (like Diablo/Path of Exile/Last Epoch) that can't be attacked or take damage.

In combat they function as a cosmetic auto-attack + a player controlled special attack.

[B Unit]

They don't attack your companions because they are invincible. They don't even go into a downed state. You are the only one that can take damage so the enemies focus on you.

[Cooptimus Prime]

I've (Elven Mage, mostly staff, have barely touched the orb and dagger) only really had an issue with enemies focus targeting me if they're ranged. The melee ones seem to go for my party if there's sufficient distance. Not to mention you can kite them pretty easily.
That said, if distance is the key to getting them to re-target, I can see why that would be problematic for melee builds.

[kmansp]

Originally posted by Tenoshii:

It's not a traditional party system like you are used to. Your companions are more like "summons" or "pets" that you see in isometric ARPGs (like Diablo/Path of Exile/Last Epoch) that can't be attacked or take damage.

In combat they function as a cosmetic auto-attack + a player controlled special attack.

I actually like how they added/changed the combat wheel with the "summoned" companions, but this really sucks if party members can't keep enemies off my back for even just a few seconds. It kind of kills the fun as a ranged character/spell caster.

I felt they did it pretty right in Inquisitor- party members could distract targets but it didn't mean you were always safe. Sometimes they would do area attacks, break off, etc.

Sigh. Hugely frustrating.

[Tenoshii]

Originally posted by kmansp:

Originally posted by Tenoshii:

It's not a traditional party system like you are used to. Your companions are more like "summons" or "pets" that you see in isometric ARPGs (like Diablo/Path of Exile/Last Epoch) that can't be attacked or take damage.

In combat they function as a cosmetic auto-attack + a player controlled special attack.

I actually like how they added/changed the combat wheel with the "summoned" companions, but this really sucks if party members can't keep enemies off my back for even just a few seconds. It kind of kills the fun as a ranged character/spell caster.

I felt they did it pretty right in Inquisitor- party members could distract targets but it didn't mean you were always safe. Sometimes they would do area attacks, break off, etc.

Sigh. Hugely frustrating.

Yeah I hear ya.

You'd think with all the focus on "AI" technology these days you'd be seeing more versatility with it in NPC party-based games.

[BarbiesPhatKitty]

I literally can't do anything cause im just being bombarded by attacks like ♥♥♥♥♥ please. God forbid I get a hit in before the 4th enemy surrounding me hits me and none of them sundder cause they're tanky qunari. This fight is basically just a q/shield practice round cause nothing else gonna get them.

[darkesong]

Dude, same! I'm playing a mage as well and I literally just dive roll until the fight's over and occasionally cast a spell when my mana's back up. Like how is this fun T_T?? I'm constantly getting gangbanged by every enemy, I wish there were more skills to buff running away cause that's literally all I have time to do xD fighting Desmal right now and I had to pause, my freaking hand is cramping up from slapping the space bar for like 8 minutes straight

[Mentally Unstable]

As flashy as the combat is, it is also devoid of depth for the reasons others here have mentioned.

There is no danger/consequences/stakes. Your companions can't die. Remember in origins where you would loathe putting one of your favourite companions in danger for fear of losing him/her?

And because of the lack of danger to companions, they shifted it all to the player instead. So the player always ends up being the "tank" even if we are playing a mage.

And because companions can't die in combat, they further neutered their effectiveness. Their regular attacks barely do anything on higher difficulty levels. As such, the entire burden of combat ends up on the player, thus making it feel onerous. In origins, our companions performed the same as us and could actually become more powerful than us if we wanted it to be that way.

Combined with having to spam basic attacks to charge up the bar for special ones, it is an exercise in tedium.

That's why I can't help but laugh at all the "return to form" hyperbole. Those people don't even know what the original "form" was to begin with.

[Purple Sauce]

Originally posted by B Unit:

They don't attack your companions because they are invincible. They don't even go into a downed state. You are the only one that can take damage so the enemies focus on you.

^

They programmed them to be this way because if they attacked your allies you would just start cheesing them. Which is stupid because you should have 4 companions and they should take damage.

[darkesong]

Originally posted by Purple Sauce:

Originally posted by B Unit:

They don't attack your companions because they are invincible. They don't even go into a downed state. You are the only one that can take damage so the enemies focus on you.

^

They programmed them to be this way because if they attacked your allies you would just start cheesing them. Which is stupid because you should have 4 companions and they should take damage.

Honestly I wish they would take damage if the alternative is THAT I DON'T ACTUALLY GET TO FIGHT lol. In boss fights I legit barely get to hit them since I can't stop running and dodging for casting animations, my companions do the majority of the damage cause I'm constantly just kite-tanking.

[BarbiesPhatKitty]

I swear to god its like the game sets you up to fail. You'll get the big enemy down to like 2 more hits and then all of a sudden you can't dodge like you're supposed to be able to. I'm just screaming at my screen move and it won't even though I'm not knocked or anything like wtf. I will break all my equipment over this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game it's so frustrating.

[RedMint]

So is this what those 'Soulslikes' are like? Where bosses are just incredibly hard, with massive, never-ending life bars, while they can almost one-hit you to death?

Because I LOVE the Dragon Age games but I HATE the Soulslike games. If they've turned Dragon Age into a Soulslike, I'm out.

And honestly it's starting to feel that way, because I can't get past a certain boss as a caster because he focuses ONLY on me, keeps hitting and interrupting my powers, while my 'teammates' are really doing nothing. Once one of them heals me, I just have to run around in circles until they get their heal back. I did this for about 40 minutes the other day, FINALLY killing the boss, only to discover that was round ONE with that boss, he came back in a different form with an even BIGGER life bar. And of course he killed me, and now I would have to do it all over again.

This is a game breaker for me.

[Tenoshii]

Originally posted by RedMint:

So is this what those 'Soulslikes' are like?

Nothing soulslike about this game's combat. It's a typical action combat model where the illusion of difficulty is captured by health and damage modifiers to enemies rather than challenging and more difficult combat mechanics.

[76561199802160085]

Originally posted by kmansp:

Combat for the most part is fun, except that enemies seem to only focus on you the player. This is especially irritating early on if you are playing as a mage and there's no melee help.

Full play with warrior, max-1 difficulty and slower timing. Replay with mage 21, same difficulty setting.

Mage has multiple melee options.

And for me, enemies don't focus only on main character.

I even quoted unexplained cases of enemy in combat with a companion and constantly shoot at the enemy changed nothing, usually this changes their aggro.

But my current feeling is warrior is easier to play with a build focusing fairly well on resilience, something not available for mage.