The Guildmasters

Well i’ve received my copy of the new Dragon Age 2 and I must say it’s awesome.

I’m not going to say it’s better than the first one, at least not just yet as i’ve only been playing it for about 4 days, but it is pretty cool.

For the most part nothing has changed, the battle system is the same as before as are the upgrades and items, weapons and tactics are all the same, just tweaked a little which is how you want it really, no new stuff to try to get used to.

Totally different main story which is a refreshing change even though there are plenty of references and characters that pop up which you recognize or remember from the first.

The game is much quicker than the first one, fighting is extremely fast paced compared to the first.

As you progress through the game quests become more lengthy and harder which was a good thing for me as in the beginning I started to think it was a little too easy.

One thing to keep in mind, before you finish the last part of the main quest at any time make sure you finish everything else first, companions to visit (who can give you quests), sidequests and secondary quests. If you don’t, once you finish the main quest and move on to the next section the previous subquests will not be available.

I love the fact that you can upload your previous character from the first one although I haven’t tried this yet. I will do this on my second playthrough.

If you want to platinum this one be prepared for multiple playthroughs like the first one.

Tony:)

As mentioned in a much earlier post on the blog Dragon Age 2 is now upon us, releasing March 8th.

While browsing the playstation store I noticed one of the new demos was for Dragon Age 2, i’m sure it wasn’t there yesterday but I decided to download it anyway.

The demo is huge, it’s a massive 1804MB and for just a demo that is fairly large, even on my high speed it’s taking a couple of hours, a little disappointing but I can’t wait to try it out. I just have a good feeling about this game, and after playing the first Dragon Age, which was a very cool game, i’m convinced that this demo will only confirm that my purchase will be worth it.

It seems I still have another 10% to download and then it’s got to install but by tomorrow night I should be able to give a first hand review of the demo and also give some insight into some of the features, weapons, abilities etc…

Until tomorrow then, good gaming.

Tony:)

For fans of the Dragon Age Origins this will be a have to. Dragon Age 2-Bioware signature edition is available for pre-order at amazon now. As usual comes with the pre-order price guarantee (meaning if they lower the price by the time your order ships you’ll get it for the lower price).

Here is the item description, also available for the PS3, scroll further down for the ultimate edition of Dragon Age Origins.

Item Description:

Dragon Age II is a single player role-playing game (RPG) for play on the Xbox 360. Epic sequel to the BioWare developed 2009 Game of the Year, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II continues the adventure with a new hero, Hawke, and utilizes the choices made by the player to affect a story that spans ten years worth of time in-game. Additional game features include: the ability to choose your character’s class and sex, a new cinematic in-game experience, a nonlinear narrative and the ability to import saved information from earlier Dragon Age games.

The Dragon Age II BioWare Signature Edition is only available before January 11, 2011 as an upgrade for pre-orders of the standard Dragon Age II game. This special edition contains loads of additional content, exclusives, and other perks. See the full list of content below.
Dragon Age II game logo
About Dragon Age II

Embark on an all�-new adventure spread across a ten-year span of years with an all-new hero in the multiple award�-winning Dragon Age saga. In Dragon Age II you are Hawke, said to have been one of the few to survive the destruction of your homeland. Forced to fight for survival, you gathered the deadliest of allies, amassed fame and fortune and sealed your place in history, eventually becoming in effect a legend in your own time. But legends are all in the telling.
A female warrior battling enemies in Dragon Age II
Revel in the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year, Dragon Age: Origins.
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Dragon Age II utilizes a nonlinear narrative, taking the form of a story-within-a-story that hinges upon your exploits as told by the storyteller, Varick. Yet like any good storyteller, Varick tends to exaggerate from time to time. When questioned on events related to Hawke, Varick may present a different scenario in which Hawke’s exploits play out. It is within these replays that the decisions of the players hold sway, as their particular versions of Hawke relive these events. Is the player’s particular version of Hawke, male or female? A warrior, a rogue, or a mage? Is Hawke good-natured or something less than a salt-of-the-Earth type? Is romance in the air amongst characters he/she associates with? These choices are all the player’s to make and each affect the the outcome of the story at all levels.
The Dragon Age II BioWare Signature Edition

Pre�-order Dragon Age II before January 11, 2011 and receive an automatic upgrade to the BioWare Signature Edition – a special, collector’s edition version of the game that contains loads of additional content, exclusives, and other perks. This special edition version of Dragon Age II is only available for pre-order before January 11, so pre�-order now. The full BioWare Signature Edition contents include:
Contents of the in Dragon Age II: BioWare Signature Edition
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* A full copy of Dragon Age II for Xbox 360
* A download code for a bonus character and missions
* A downloadable game soundtrack
* An exclusive in�-game digital armory featuring multiple weapons
* Additional downloadable items

Game Features

* Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make
* Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land
* Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior
* Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go
* Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style
* Story-within-a-story nonlinear narrative style

Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition details:

* Includes The 2009 ?RPG Of The Year? Dragon Age: Origins, The Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening Expansion Pack, Plus All Nine Additional Content Packs
* Critically acclaimed winner of more than 50 awards including over 30 ?Best Of 2009? awards
* A tremendous $114 value at one low price
* Critically acclaimed winner of more than 50 awards including over 30 ?Best of 2009′ awards. A tremendous $112 value at one low price.

Hi all,
It looks like I will have to carry on with my experiment for handouts by NPC’s over the weekend as there isn’t enough players online to run quests with at the moment.

Anyway this post is for those of you who need those hard to get dragon items, you know, the ones that only seem to get dropped if you break the dragons tail or back or if your extremely lucky enough to get them in the reward screen at the end of King Of Dragons Quest.

Well if your not quite strong enough to take a dragon out on your own and can’t find anyone to run the quest with you here is what you can do.

First you want to start KOD either 1, 2 or 3 depending on your rank, level and items your after, doesn’t matter if you can’t solo this quest as it’s just for the items you need.

Next you can kill some elementals on your way to the dragon you need, let’s say it’s the Wind dragon, it’s a bit of a hike and you’ll probably need your combo up to break his tail, then what? You don’t get the item drop, or you get only 1 and you need 3, so you go back, quit the quest and try again, wrong, don’t quit the quest.

For those that don’t know if you don’t kill the dragon but break his tail, run away, collect a few items from collect points, build your combo up again, after a few minutes his tail will reset and you can break it again.

This quest is an hour and thirty minutes long, in that time you can pretty much break the dragons tail as many times as you like without restarting the quest. And if you can kill a dragon then near the end of quest time take him out for more bonus item drops.

You can’t do this with the Ancient Dragon as he is the final boss and you can’t run away i’m afraid.

Just a tip to get dragons stuff quicker for those who didn’t know.

Tony 🙂

Just lately i’ve been struggling to get the drops I need to complete certain things, I don’t mind as i’m still meeting lots of new friends and great players and still learning stuff.

At the moment I have the whole set of Shadow Armor apart from one piece, the whole set of Shogun Armor apart from one piece, the whole set of Warlords armor apart from one piece, you see where this is going? And I also have the full set of Knightlord Armor except for the most important part, the armor itself, which happens to be the only top part of armor that has added STR

This last part requires two fire dragon skulls + and this has got to be the hardest drop in the game for me, i’ve eventually managed to get pretty much any rare drop I need apart from those damn skulls. Last few days saw me running King of Dragons 3 more than 30 times, I didn’t really expect a skull + from there as there is only one fire dragon but I also ran Theatre of the Gods 3 14 times, I almost expected a skull + here as there are three fire dragons but nothing. Finally I decided the best place for skull+ drops was going to be Dragons Heat 3, I ran this 30 times and with two dragons I sort of expected at least one in 30 runs, I realize the drop rate for a fire dragon skull + is probably 1% but with two dragons in a quest I thought i’d see one.

The thing that made me wonder if there is a glitch where skulls + just isn’t dropping is that other players were saying they had been running this quest all week long with not one drop so if anyone has had any fire dragon skull+ drops this last week I would appreciate it if you could let me know which quest and how many times you had to run it before it showed.

Here’s a thought:

We work all our lives only to retire, why do we do this? Apparently so we can save and enjoy our retirement doing something we’ve always wanted to do, whether it be golf, football, soccer, fishing or whatever. Personally I don’t understand the need to kick a ball around all day, and it makes even less sense to me why millions would watch someone else kicking a ball around all day, but that’s fine with me, each to his own and as long as your enjoying life that’s great, whatever your passion.

Me? I love gaming, and i’m not waiting until I retire just so I can play games, so why would you think i’m weird for playing games 5hr a day but don’t think it’s weird to play golf for 5hrs? You work 8hrs a day and don’t enjoy it? Something wrong there.

Bottom line is enjoy your life, it’s too short, if it’s hard to find the time to do the things you enjoy most it makes it all the more fun when you do get the chance, you’ll live longer too, less stress. Better still why not make money doing what you love doing? It can be hard but what a life.

Tony:)

After hitting Guild Rank 15 I started working on the item binding, this has turned out to be more difficult with some items, as many rare item drops needed to bind weapons and armor can be as rare as half a percent, more are at a 1% drop rate making it frustrating at times for some because you have to run the quest so many times just to get one item.

One of these rare items are the Aged Dragon Skull, making this one more difficult is the fact that the Ancient Dragon can only be found in one quest and that is King of Dragons.

I found a slightly easier way to pick up the Aged Dragon Skull after searching online and seeing some people making comments that this item drop can be got on King of Dragons 1, this seemed unlikely because of the low Guild Rank required to run this quest, it was thought by most that Aged Dragon Skull could only be acquired from King of Dragons 2 or 3.

Anyway I decided to run KOD 1 and put this to the test, I can solo this quest but it takes about 30 minutes or so because you have to kill four other dragons before getting the Ancient Dragon, it’s a good quest to run on solo as you get a ton of items all of which can be used, and even if you don’t use them you can sell them for a fair amount.

Well my first two runs didn’t produce a skull but it did give me pretty much everything else in the Aged Dragon stuff, wing, tail, claw etc..My third run saw me getting hold of an Aged Dragon Heart, another rare drop. On my fourth run I did actually get the Aged Dragon Skull.

Statistically this is the best way to acquire the Aged Dragon Skull simply because if there is no players running KOD 2 or 3 you can still get it from KOD 1, another plus is that when I do this quest solo I seem to get a ton more items in the reward screen. I have picked up another 3 Aged Dragon Skulls from KOD 1 since so this has now definitely been confirmed for those who wasn’t sure.

One other point is that I don’t believe it is possible to get an Aged Dragon Skull in the reward screen, it’s only possible to get it as a drop by breaking the tail of the dragon.

I have found the most effective way to ensure a drop from the tail is when the battle first starts I use demon aura or you can use Inspire to give your attack a boost then head straight for the tail and hit it with a 15 AC combo, this (for me) has guaranteed a drop every time.

By doing it this way, even if the Ancient dragon manages to defeat you it hasn’t been a waste of a long quest, you at least managed to get the tail drop which is what you want the most.

Will post more on other hard to get items as and when I find them.

Tony🙂

Another epic looking RPG is Dragon Age:Origins, released on 3rd Nov this sounds like a huge game, with supposedly up to 60hrs of gameplay you can bet that will add up to a couple of hundred hours for those that enjoy this kind of game.

Here is the game description:

Shape your own destiny in this massive RPG that lets you craft your own story from its very beginnings. Play as a member of an ancient order that has protected the land for centuries. Betrayed during a crucial battle, you must hunt down the traitor and bring him to justice. Choose your character's origin and experience your early days as you learn how your status and perspective shapes your world. The story of a clever commoner will focus on subtlety and wordplay. A noble background will surround you with helpful resources - and expose you to those who would take everything you have. Choose your world and see where your epic leads!

There is a lot more info on this game if you decided to click through and check the game out, too much for me to put here.

I'm not really sure why it's always $10 cheaper on the PC version, you would think with virtually every household with a PC but not a games system they would make the console version cheaper, there must be a method in the madness.

The keep price at Gamefly on this game is only $48.99 so there are even more benefits by being a member, you should check out my review of Gamefly, it's always better to play before you pay.