Dragon Age: Inquistion

2014-12-10 08:45:06 am

twitch.tv/letterswords

I honestly think we will do enough damage that we shouldnt be too concerned about those fade-touched things that give hidden blades. Also, the video would be nice as i really havent done much of the flask of lightning clipping.

I think you might be able to still play multiplayer but it would be kind of complicated. You'd have to backup the entire game folder somewhere, then patch, and then when you wanted to play unpatched again you'd put the unpatched folder completely back and switch to offline mode. Also, i'm not sure if this is the only place where patch files go, but there is a folder in /dragon age inquisition/Update/Patch . Perhaps deleting those files would be sufficient (this would also presumably get rid of the day 1 patch we all are running on, not sure what the effects of that would be).

DashingSplash

2014-12-10 09:53:42 am

Yea, you are probably right. No need to go out of our way to get stuff like that as it is a speedrun. I'll make a video on the clipping today, as it seems I've found a rather reliable way to do it. It is similar to how I manipulated Sera through the bars in the Suledin Keep route.

I did look at the patch folder a few days ago, but I wasn't really sure if deleting the whole folder would be safe or not; as other files might have been added in different locations (though hardly seems to be the case as far as I can tell).

DashingSplash

2014-12-10 02:41:07 pm

The clip, and dupe in Redcliffe: http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5657090

letterswords

2014-12-10 10:48:32 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

Clip looks good, really easy definitely. I figured out the duping thing you show off a while ago, but good to demonstrate it anyways I guess. Since we still need to wait to get in there until after we get skyhold, I guess the best plan would be to just go there straight off before doing all the duping. We can probably delay picking up some of the other materials we would need for duping (to make the requisitions) until after skyhold as well so we can maybe combine some things together time-wise. Also, I guess if we end up needing power to get to crestwood (in my testing i already had enough when i got to skyhold, but I think that might not normally be the case) i guess we can get some there too maybe? It would be nice to find a way to clip in there before we get specializations though so we could potentially never have to go back to the hinterlands after getting skyhold. Also, may be worth looking into what other pre-defined spawns there are for fade-touched materials to see if there is something better?

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 12:49:03 am

Yea, you did mention that you'd managed to figure that out earlier in the thread, but I felt like while I was at it I could demonstrate it as we don't have that dupe down for others to see.

I did find a way in without using Flask of Lightning: www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5660284

I think Fade-Touched Silverite gives 5 Guard on Hit (and some other stats). I also read that there is about a 2% drop rate from Silverite ores in Emprise du Lion, so we would have to mine on average 50 of them; which, isn't good enough.

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 02:45:56 am

Btw, noticed that you can't import a world state if one is in offline mode. Is there a way around this?

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 05:35:32 am

I did a sort of test run, and got to Skyhold in about 2 hours with loading screens. The problems arised when I got to Skyhold: not enough power for Crestwood. I had 2 power upon arrival, so we need to gain 6 more power for Crestwood. I found a neat way to gather the power needed in The Hinterlands; which, we can do before going to Skyhold. We do the Rifts of Dwarson's Pass, and get the camp just northeast of the Crossroads. These might be easier to do after Skyhold though. Perhaps you know a better way to gather power at the arrival to Skyhold?

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 08:05:18 am

Also, the requisitions in Crestwood requires Velveteen and decorative gems aswell. /:

letterswords

Edit history:

letterswords: 2014-12-11 11:16:39 am

letterswords: 2014-12-11 11:16:38 am

2014-12-11 11:04:02 am

twitch.tv/letterswords

really? i literally never got a requisition that required that stuff and i did like 30 or so of them (and over those 30 it cycled between a group of 4 or 5 different ones). Maybe we need to quicksave or something when we first get there ? If this does end up being an issue it might be best at that point to start looking into gaining influence normally as duping like 7 or so different materials to quantities in the hundreds does take quite a bit of time. I really don't know what the best way to get influence (or power earlier on) is though so I guess we'll have to test it out.

I guess there's probably no way around the world state problem. However, the default world-state might suffice because IIRC it makes as few long-ranging decisions as possible (kills off a lot of people, no past romances, etc.) so hopefully that won't be a problem. Its probably a minor concern at best either way.

Also, nice job on the clip into the place without flask of lightning. Might be useful, but if we end up needing to go back to hinterlands then it won't really matter. Either way we can get inside which is definitely good.

really? i literally never got a requisition that required that stuff and i did like 30 or so of them (and over those 30 it cycled between a group of 4 or 5 different ones). Maybe we need to quicksave or something when we first get there ? If this does end up being an issue it might be best at that point to start looking into gaining influence normally as duping like 7 or so different materials to quantities in the hundreds does take quite a bit of time. I really don't know what the best way to get influence (or power earlier on) is though so I guess we'll have to test it out.

I guess there's probably no way around the world state problem. However, the default world-state might suffice because IIRC it makes as few long-ranging decisions as possible (kills off a lot of people, no past romances, etc.) so hopefully that won't be a problem. Its probably a minor concern at best either way.

Also, nice job on the clip into the place without flask of lightning. Might be useful, but if we end up needing to go back to hinterlands then it won't really matter. Either way we can get inside which is definitely good.

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 11:34:39 am

Yea, and I noticed that I hadn't looted any Plaidweave (I think that was one of the requisition materials, right?) either during the run. Velveteen can be bought in Val Royeaux, and the Druffalo Hide in The Hinterlands. So they ain't any problem to acquire. But, we still need Highever Weave for Emprise du Lion T3 weapons. The decorative gems should drop in The Hinterlands from rebel mages, and I might have accidentally sold it while duping, since it is a valuables item. To be honest, it goes rather quickly compared to other methods I would assume, or I might be wrong.

I'll see if I can screenshot the map over The Hinterlands, and show the route I took for the power, up until Skyhold.

Yea, it seems like a decent world import from what I've seen. But, probably not optimal. How long do you think the first version of a speedrun will be? 4 hours? I mean, I was at around 2 hours at Skyhold, and I had a pretty decent pace.

I'll have to look more into the Crestwood influence boost, and report back on a good method (if there is one). Also, the Crestwood route doesn't require you to get the key from the Mayor, as you can FoL through the locked door in the tavern. But, grabbing the fast travel to Crestwood village might be a good idea.

Yea, and I noticed that I hadn't looted any Plaidweave (I think that was one of the requisition materials, right?) either during the run. Velveteen can be bought in Val Royeaux, and the Druffalo Hide in The Hinterlands. So they ain't any problem to acquire. But, we still need Highever Weave for Emprise du Lion T3 weapons. The decorative gems should drop in The Hinterlands from rebel mages, and I might have accidentally sold it while duping, since it is a valuables item. To be honest, it goes rather quickly compared to other methods I would assume, or I might be wrong.

I'll see if I can screenshot the map over The Hinterlands, and show the route I took for the power, up until Skyhold.

Yea, it seems like a decent world import from what I've seen. But, probably not optimal. How long do you think the first version of a speedrun will be? 4 hours? I mean, I was at around 2 hours at Skyhold, and I had a pretty decent pace.

I'll have to look more into the Crestwood influence boost, and report back on a good method (if there is one). Also, the Crestwood route doesn't require you to get the key from the Mayor, as you can FoL through the locked door in the tavern. But, grabbing the fast travel to Crestwood village might be a good idea.

letterswords

Edit history:

letterswords: 2014-12-11 12:55:22 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-11 12:54:38 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-11 12:52:37 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-11 12:47:51 pm

2014-12-11 12:46:25 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

Length is pretty hard to estimate, but I'd say there's probably not much over an hour between when we finally hit our power requirements and the end of the game (so from lets say the warden quest in western approach to beating the game). How long it takes to that point is really hard for me to estimate. I'd guess we can definitely optimize the stuff getting to skyhold so it falls under 2 hours. How long the duping and stuff takes I really have no idea though. My rough estimate would be a first real run should be somewhere in the 4 hour range (if we spend a good amount of timing truly optimizing it), and with practice we should be able to get somewhere into the high 3 hour range (maybe 3:50 something?). Its too early to say for sure though, I think, but its certainly faster than my initial thought was when i first looked into the game (5-6 hours).

As far as resource drops, definitely plaidweave could be a problem since its a bit random, but maybe there's a war table resource mission we can do that rewards it (similarly, if there is one that gives embrium, could that also be faster than doing the whole old crestwood quest to unlock the vendor, maybe? It would require a lotttttt of messing with the PC clock.) I guess this would maybe work for highever weave too. If not, we can just throw some Tier 1 materials into the cloth slot; the only really essentially slot to have t3 materials for is the metal which is what determines weapon damage.

EDIT: Here we go: http://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/2ou74z/ive_done_nearly_9000_war_table_missions_to_see/

Crestwood resources does give Embrium (max of 6 if Leliana is used). I'm not sure if any of the others would be useful; doesn't look like there is any good ones for acquiring cloth.

Also, apparently plaidweave doesn't drop in the hinterlands but does drop from random human enemies in crestwood. So just kill a couple guys there I guess and it should drop.

Length is pretty hard to estimate, but I'd say there's probably not much over an hour between when we finally hit our power requirements and the end of the game (so from lets say the warden quest in western approach to beating the game). How long it takes to that point is really hard for me to estimate. I'd guess we can definitely optimize the stuff getting to skyhold so it falls under 2 hours. How long the duping and stuff takes I really have no idea though. My rough estimate would be a first real run should be somewhere in the 4 hour range (if we spend a good amount of timing truly optimizing it), and with practice we should be able to get somewhere into the high 3 hour range (maybe 3:50 something?). Its too early to say for sure though, I think, but its certainly faster than my initial thought was when i first looked into the game (5-6 hours).

As far as resource drops, definitely plaidweave could be a problem since its a bit random, but maybe there's a war table resource mission we can do that rewards it (similarly, if there is one that gives embrium, could that also be faster than doing the whole old crestwood quest to unlock the vendor, maybe? It would require a lotttttt of messing with the PC clock.) I guess this would maybe work for highever weave too. If not, we can just throw some Tier 1 materials into the cloth slot; the only really essentially slot to have t3 materials for is the metal which is what determines weapon damage.

EDIT: Here we go: http://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/2ou74z/ive_done_nearly_9000_war_table_missions_to_see/

Crestwood resources does give Embrium (max of 6 if Leliana is used). I'm not sure if any of the others would be useful; doesn't look like there is any good ones for acquiring cloth.

Also, apparently plaidweave doesn't drop in the hinterlands but does drop from random human enemies in crestwood. So just kill a couple guys there I guess and it should drop.

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 01:52:46 pm

And, then we would have to disregard the loading times etc. I presume? Mine are rather lengthy. ö-ö 4 hours is pretty fast I would say. And, we have yet to find a really big skip aswell.

Ummm...This is very embarrassing, but I did actually look several times at the requisition quest without noticing that the requisition was for the Hinterlands. ö-ö I'm really embarrassed right now... ö///ö So, no Velveteen or decorative gems needed. And, I ended up with 49 power after doing the Crestwood requisitions. We would only need to gather approximately 30 Embrium using the War Table; which is like changing the clock 5 times. I bought around 90 Embrium, but still got 66 of them left. <--- This method will be faster than opening the dam, and then closing the rift. Also, I got my plaidweave from the Keep that's guarding the dam (random humanoid mob).

Checked the Crestwood resources out, and I get 6 Embrium with Leliana every time. So, 5 times would be enough, and give us a margin to play with.

We could use the Plaidweave instead of Highever Weave; it gives 1% Attack instead of 9%. Or, we could get the Plush Fustian Velvet from the War Table (11% attack). Which, means that we grab the schematics, travel back to Skyhold, grab the Plush Fustian Velvet, and go down to the smithy in Skyhold and craft staffs with 11% attack on them instead of 1%. Will not take much more time, and we will certainly save time from killing mobs I'm sure. Also, the Plush Fustian Velvet replaces the Highever Weave, and is actually better in every way. xD What luck! öAö

Just confirmed that Leliana gives 6 Plush Fustian Velvet on the Gather Cloth mission after capturing Suledin Keep. (:

Sorry for the unnecessary confusion. ö-ö

And, then we would have to disregard the loading times etc. I presume? Mine are rather lengthy. ö-ö 4 hours is pretty fast I would say. And, we have yet to find a really big skip aswell.

Ummm...This is very embarrassing, but I did actually look several times at the requisition quest without noticing that the requisition was for the Hinterlands. ö-ö I'm really embarrassed right now... ö///ö So, no Velveteen or decorative gems needed. And, I ended up with 49 power after doing the Crestwood requisitions. We would only need to gather approximately 30 Embrium using the War Table; which is like changing the clock 5 times. I bought around 90 Embrium, but still got 66 of them left. <--- This method will be faster than opening the dam, and then closing the rift. Also, I got my plaidweave from the Keep that's guarding the dam (random humanoid mob).

Checked the Crestwood resources out, and I get 6 Embrium with Leliana every time. So, 5 times would be enough, and give us a margin to play with.

We could use the Plaidweave instead of Highever Weave; it gives 1% Attack instead of 9%. Or, we could get the Plush Fustian Velvet from the War Table (11% attack). Which, means that we grab the schematics, travel back to Skyhold, grab the Plush Fustian Velvet, and go down to the smithy in Skyhold and craft staffs with 11% attack on them instead of 1%. Will not take much more time, and we will certainly save time from killing mobs I'm sure. Also, the Plush Fustian Velvet replaces the Highever Weave, and is actually better in every way. xD What luck! öAö

Just confirmed that Leliana gives 6 Plush Fustian Velvet on the Gather Cloth mission after capturing Suledin Keep. (:

Sorry for the unnecessary confusion. ö-ö

letterswords

2014-12-11 02:12:38 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

No worries, sounds good on the crafting plans. Definitely nice that we can avoid doing the crestwood dam stuff now. As far as how many times we would need to do the embrium one, I guess that's hard to say. Probably want to get enough so that there's a relatively low chance that we don't have enough if we get really bad luck with the requistions (we keep getting the one that requires embrium over and over). Maybe 40-50 embrium would be safe? So like 7 or 8 times doing the war table mission. Probably a good idea to quicksave a couple times during the crafting in case we are getting bad luck too.

DashingSplash

2014-12-11 02:19:35 pm

And I that liked that skip so much! ;A; Oh well, this means we are going faster. (: We still need to loot that Plaidweave though, and get to Crestwood Village for duping of Plaidweave (unless we find Plaidweave before Crestwood; which, would be ideal). Yea, I suppose 7 or 8 times would be safer. The requisition requires 3 Embrium, and we seem to need around 45-49 requisitions. I think there is a low chance we would fail with 40 Embrium, but there is a chance for it.

I guess we will have to go Plaidweave hunting! öAö/ Perhaps there is a spot that guarantees it.

letterswords

2014-12-11 07:12:38 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

Certainly possible on the plaidweave having a guaranteed drop somewhere. Even if it doesn't it shouldn't be too hard to find some enemies to fight. We need to go a decent distance into Crestwood anyways getting to the cave with warden Loghain/Allistair/Stroud in it, so we probably will run into some enemies along the way.

Also, I went through the rest of the game to confirm my suspicions about the decisions/imports. They definitely appear to make a difference, but I'm pretty sure the default world state will work fine for the optimal choices. Also, the final boss wasn't too difficult, but was somewhat long, mostly because I didn't have the optimal party (no cole) and Sera didn't have a full focus bar so I couldn't make much use of her. He is level 18 though, so he hits pretty hard and can wipe the party out pretty fast. Vivienne was withstanding him, but I think we will have to maintain control of her as much as possible in that fight.

DashingSplash

Edit history:

DashingSplash: 2014-12-13 11:39:00 am

DashingSplash: 2014-12-13 07:27:04 am

2014-12-13 07:25:23 am

Yea, that's true, and we could probably get it from the Dam Keep if anything.

Hmmm, I did finish the game on my level 19 mage. And, I also found a skip in the first Coryphemuss encounter; which, teleports you from the first encounter with Coryphi-mitten, to fighting Coryphi's dragon without walking there: http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5674032
I messed up the first encounter, but found a rather interesting thing anyway...I got Coryphess down to 0 health...Whereas, he usually teleports rather early. It ends up making progress impossible unless one reloads. But, I havn't been able to replicate it, so it shouldn't be a problem.

To be honest, as far as I can tell: somehow acquiring Fade-Touched Ring Velvet or Fade-Touched Plush Fustian Velvet (for Hidden Blades) is most likely worth it, as it will simplify Samson, and the final encounter...And everything in-between. Saving time everywhere.

DashingSplash

2014-12-13 10:21:29 am

Also, just tried the Temple of Mythal again, and it seems like jumping down after Samson is faster than the rituals (who would have guessed <-- Sarcasm). I also tried to clip through every door, and you can't do that as it won't load the ancient elf; however, once the ancient elf has been loaded you can clip through doors until you face Samson. Maybe I should try to clip through the door and try to jump down where Samson later jumps down. Perhaps, that'll trigger something? One less group to take care of. Also, letting Morrigan use the well removes the fight against the dragon at the Shrine of Mythal.

Regarding the fight against Samson, if you use the Inquisitor focus ability (with 3 focus bars) on the enemy group directly as the fight starts (Fight starts -> Tactical View -> Place Focus ability -> Switch to Sera), all the adds will die immediately -- leaving only Samson; which, should go down rather quickly with 3 focus bars on Sera.

DashingSplash

2014-12-13 10:37:43 am

Seems like you can't clip through any doors before you have your meeting with the ancient elf and his archers, as you can make all your way to Samson without anything spawning/triggering etc. if you do decide to clip before ancient elfy; however, you can get out of bounds doing this, but it doesn't give anything as far as I can tell.

letterswords

2014-12-13 01:39:28 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

So now that you've beaten the game, I'll explain what I figured out then. We don't want an import where you do the ritual with Morrigan to keep yourself alive in DA:O, as that results in an extra sequence after the Temple of Mythal where Morrigan's son gets kidnapped by Flemeth. Also, if Morrigan drinks from the well, she just gains the ability to turn into a dragon, so when you go to that altar in the forest instead of having to fight a dragon you just have a short conversation with Flemeth there and then you can go fight Corypheus. Also, that doesn't seem to make any meaningful impact on the final boss encounter (slightly different cutscenes but you can skip those anyways). I also noticed that unsurprisingly like you mentioned jumping down is faster than doing the rituals in the Temple, and if you side with the Templars you get a different boss at the end of the Temple (but siding with mages still is probably faster, i think, even if that boss is easier than Samson).

I guess we probably should look into where the fade-touched materials are, if it can make a huge difference. I'm pretty sure it doesn't stack though (as the fade touched obsidian and other stuff doesn't stack from what i've heard) so I guess you'd go 1 fade touched obsidian/1 ring velvet or whatever in the rogues' daggers and then i guess maybe obsidian in vivienne's staff (so she can tank better) and i'm not sure what in the inquisitor's staff (it might not really matter).

Looks like the game softlocked because you were killing him too fast the first time, which could be an unfortunate problem. Also, i'm pretty sure its better to just let mark of death auto trigger when it runs out rather than trying to perfectly time it because it was taking some time away and you probably could've gotten in the same amount of damage or more by just spending more time unpaused and autoattacking. Also, maybe throwing in the mark of the rift from the inquisitor plus mark of death from cole and thousand cuts with sera would make certain fights even easier. you'd have to kind of plan out when you used your focus though.

So now that you've beaten the game, I'll explain what I figured out then. We don't want an import where you do the ritual with Morrigan to keep yourself alive in DA:O, as that results in an extra sequence after the Temple of Mythal where Morrigan's son gets kidnapped by Flemeth. Also, if Morrigan drinks from the well, she just gains the ability to turn into a dragon, so when you go to that altar in the forest instead of having to fight a dragon you just have a short conversation with Flemeth there and then you can go fight Corypheus. Also, that doesn't seem to make any meaningful impact on the final boss encounter (slightly different cutscenes but you can skip those anyways). I also noticed that unsurprisingly like you mentioned jumping down is faster than doing the rituals in the Temple, and if you side with the Templars you get a different boss at the end of the Temple (but siding with mages still is probably faster, i think, even if that boss is easier than Samson).

I guess we probably should look into where the fade-touched materials are, if it can make a huge difference. I'm pretty sure it doesn't stack though (as the fade touched obsidian and other stuff doesn't stack from what i've heard) so I guess you'd go 1 fade touched obsidian/1 ring velvet or whatever in the rogues' daggers and then i guess maybe obsidian in vivienne's staff (so she can tank better) and i'm not sure what in the inquisitor's staff (it might not really matter).

Looks like the game softlocked because you were killing him too fast the first time, which could be an unfortunate problem. Also, i'm pretty sure its better to just let mark of death auto trigger when it runs out rather than trying to perfectly time it because it was taking some time away and you probably could've gotten in the same amount of damage or more by just spending more time unpaused and autoattacking.  Also, maybe throwing in the mark of the rift from the inquisitor plus mark of death from cole and thousand cuts with sera would make certain fights even easier. you'd have to kind of plan out when you used your focus though.

DashingSplash

2014-12-13 05:08:26 pm

Morrigan had a son in my import, and her son never got kidnapped by Flemeth. /: Perhaps, there is something else that triggers it? I think we should stick with the mage route, atleast that's what I'll stick to.

Yea, the only problem is locating them; which, might prove hard. Especially, if there is no guaranteed spots where we can find it like with the Fade-Touched Obsidian. Problem is though, I just went for a testrun, and got to Skyhold at 2 hours and 9 minutes (with loading screens), and captured Suledin Keep at around 3 hours. But!, the tier 3 schematics I bought doesn't allow me to put in the Fade-Touched Obsidian. I was at level 7 when I bought it, and tried to level up to 8 to see if that was the problem; alas, it wasn't so! I'm rather confused as to why it doesn't work. Do I need to grab something? Or is minimum level 9? /: Perhaps, making weapons without Fade-Touched materials are necessary until one reaches level 9? Think I saw Mr. Ogam craft masterwork at level 9.

Btw, I think we need to write down the route etc. as I made a few minor mistakes, and the route wasn't all that optimal. I know what to grab in the Hinterlands at the first visit and all, but we just need a path for it. I'll see if I can write the Hinterland route down.

Morrigan had a son in my import, and her son never got kidnapped by Flemeth. /: Perhaps, there is something else that triggers it? I think we should stick with the mage route, atleast that's what I'll stick to.

Yea, the only problem is locating them; which, might prove hard. Especially, if there is no guaranteed spots where we can find it like with the Fade-Touched Obsidian. Problem is though, I just went for a testrun, and got to Skyhold at 2 hours and 9 minutes (with loading screens), and captured Suledin Keep at around 3 hours. But!, the tier 3 schematics I bought doesn't allow me to put in the Fade-Touched Obsidian. I was at level 7 when I bought it, and tried to level up to 8 to see if that was the problem; alas, it wasn't so! I'm rather confused as to why it doesn't work. Do I need to grab something? Or is minimum level 9? /: Perhaps, making weapons without Fade-Touched materials are necessary until one reaches level 9? Think I saw Mr. Ogam craft masterwork at level 9.

Btw, I think we need to write down the route etc. as I made a few minor mistakes, and the route wasn't all that optimal. I know what to grab in the Hinterlands at the first visit and all, but we just need a path for it. I'll see if I can write the Hinterland route down.

ogam

2014-12-13 06:29:22 pm

Recruiting Dagna should let you socket those fade-touched materials.

letterswords

Edit history:

letterswords: 2014-12-13 07:15:18 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-13 07:13:54 pm

2014-12-13 07:12:04 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

Route as I see it so far:
Prologue stuff (heading up to the breach and such with varric/cassandra/solas)
Haven stuff, go to Hinterlands.
Hinterlands: I'm unclear on best way to get power. But best intial thing to do is clear the crossroads, go west towards the horsemaster, get access to horses. Grab whatever power you can on the way there. Once you hit 4 power you could go to Val Royeaux I guess since if we do mages we have to come back to hinterlands anyways. I think we probably could also hit whatever else we need to on the west part of the map now too before going to Val Royeaux
Val Royeaux, then grab Vivienne and Sera (+1 power each).
Initial mage quests (heading into Redcliffe and such). Buy the random materials we need for duping now, and also get anything else (iron, for example) we need for duping from Hinterlands. I think a good source of power too is that random Keep with the crazy people in it where you close the rift and rceruit an agent that's to the east of the crossroads. I guess we want to get enough power here to do both Mages and the part where Corypheus attacks Haven; maybe even enough to get to crestwood afterwards as well? I guess we need to know how much power we end up with.
Mages quest.
Corypheus attacking Haven quest (leads into Skyhold)
Crestwood- meet up with warden, duping to hit rank 6 influence
Skyhold->operation "Power for a Price"->change PC clock to finish instantly.
Get a bunch of power from Farris the Representative (just buy the cheapest ones; the more expensive ones don't give more power, just more influence)
Go to Emprise Du Lion, get materials + keep + schematics
Go back to Skyhold, craft gear
Go to Western Approach, continue with Warden stuff.
Do Adamant Fortress & Fade and the Orlais Palace stuff (not sure which is easier to do first, but my guess would be the Palace).
Temple of Mythal and rest of game

And yeah, what ogam said about Dagna. I'm pretty sure the operation to get her (something like Recruit the Arcanist) requires 0 time and appears immediately when you reach skyhold.

You probably had the human baby with Morrigan instead of the old god baby. The human baby doesn't get kidnapped.

I'll probably try to stream some routing of the Hinterlands stuff in the next couple days so we can get a better idea of what to do.

Route as I see it so far:
Prologue stuff (heading up to the breach and such with varric/cassandra/solas)
Haven stuff, go to Hinterlands. 
Hinterlands: I'm unclear on best way to get power. But best intial thing to do is clear the crossroads, go west towards the horsemaster, get access to horses. Grab whatever power you can on the way there. Once you hit 4 power you could go to Val Royeaux I guess since if we do mages we have to come back to hinterlands anyways. I think we probably could also hit whatever else we need to on the west part of the map now too before going to Val Royeaux
Val Royeaux, then grab Vivienne and Sera (+1 power each). 
Initial mage quests (heading into Redcliffe and such). Buy the random materials we need for duping now, and also get anything else (iron, for example) we need for duping from Hinterlands. I think a good source of power too is that random Keep with the crazy people in it where you close the rift and rceruit an agent that's to the east of the crossroads. I guess we want to get enough power here to do both Mages and the part where Corypheus attacks Haven; maybe even enough to get to crestwood afterwards as well? I guess we need to know how much power we end up with.
Mages quest.
Corypheus attacking Haven quest (leads into Skyhold)
Crestwood- meet up with warden, duping to hit rank 6 influence
Skyhold->operation "Power for a Price"->change PC clock to finish instantly.
Get a bunch of power from Farris the Representative (just buy the cheapest ones; the more expensive ones don't give more power, just more influence)
Go to Emprise Du Lion, get materials + keep + schematics
Go back to Skyhold, craft gear
Go to Western Approach, continue with Warden stuff.
Do Adamant Fortress & Fade and the Orlais Palace stuff (not sure which is easier to do first, but my guess would be the Palace).
Temple of Mythal and rest of game

And yeah, what ogam said about Dagna. I'm pretty sure the operation to get her (something like Recruit the Arcanist) requires 0 time and appears immediately when you reach skyhold.

You probably had the human baby with Morrigan instead of the old god baby. The human baby doesn't get kidnapped.

I'll probably try to stream some routing of the Hinterlands stuff in the next couple days so we can get a better idea of what to do.

DashingSplash

Edit history:

DashingSplash: 2014-12-14 11:44:19 am

DashingSplash: 2014-12-14 08:37:48 am

DashingSplash: 2014-12-14 05:58:52 am

DashingSplash: 2014-12-14 05:57:56 am

DashingSplash: 2014-12-14 05:47:21 am

2014-12-14 05:43:56 am

...*Facepalm* Why didn't I think of Dagna. I was like: "Hmm, recruiting Dagna...Well, we won't need her since we are not going to destroy Samson's armor." Thanks for making that clear for me, Mr. Ogam! (: Totally forgot.

Something like that seems to be the route yea. I do have a route in which we have enough power to unlock Crestwood; I did actually record my route all the way up to getting Plaidweave in Crestwood (with commentary) : http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5680127
Sorry about the really loud in-game sound...And, my awfully low voice. Will try to fix that till next time. However, there is one section where I had to go for 5 minutes, and like 20 minutes of it I had my microphone off (by accident -.-). However, nothing fancy that you should know about that part. Well, I did notice that the party Varric, Dorian, and Solas is really good until we actually have need of the party Sera, Cole, and Vivienne.

Considering the time I lost because I had to fix something irl, and the fact that I went to Redcliffe before going back to Haven this route shall give us a sub 2 hours Skyhold, and certainly a sub 3 hours Suledin Keep capture. (: However, I don't think it will be a sub 4 hour run, but I could be wrong.

Grabbing the Archer's Lance skill for Varric and poison allows him to poison and damage several enemies at once; which, is great. And confused me at 25:55. xD

...*Facepalm* Why didn't I think of Dagna. I was like: "Hmm, recruiting Dagna...Well, we won't need her since we are not going to destroy Samson's armor." Thanks for making that clear for me, Mr. Ogam! (: Totally forgot.

Something like that seems to be the route yea. I do have a route in which we have enough power to unlock Crestwood; I did actually record my route all the way up to getting Plaidweave in Crestwood (with commentary) : http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5680127
Sorry about the really loud in-game sound...And, my awfully low voice. Will try to fix that till next time. However, there is one section where I had to go for 5 minutes, and like 20 minutes of it I had my microphone off (by accident -.-). However, nothing fancy that you should know about that part. Well, I did notice that the party Varric, Dorian, and Solas is really good until we actually have need of the party Sera, Cole, and Vivienne.

Considering the time I lost because I had to fix something irl, and the fact that I went to Redcliffe before going back to Haven this route shall give us a sub 2 hours Skyhold, and certainly a sub 3 hours Suledin Keep capture. (: However, I don't think it will be a sub 4 hour run, but I could be wrong.

Grabbing the Archer's Lance skill for Varric and poison allows him to poison and damage several enemies at once; which, is great. And confused me at 25:55. xD

letterswords

Edit history:

letterswords: 2014-12-14 11:38:44 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-14 07:27:06 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-14 07:24:52 pm

letterswords: 2014-12-14 07:23:45 pm

2014-12-14 07:23:07 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

I messed around a bit with your route and tried to do some of it from memory, but forgot things so i definitely did it slower than you. Here's some of the thoughts I have:

You should really get immolate and go for fire mine asap on the inquisitor, it'll increase your damage output tremendously. It worked really well for me.

ogam pointed out that there's a tier 2 staff (and other weapons) schematic in val royeaux. It requires ~20 metal and ~10 cloth (off the top of my head) and 750 gold. We can just dupe some of the iron we would later do in advance and get any random cloth. It has 55 dps with iron as the metal, which seems to be significantly better than anything else we could get pre skyhold. Maybe it would be better like I thought initially to just go straight for the horses and 4 power and hit Val Royeaux ASAP. Another reason why I think that might be a good idea is Blackwall. You say that you think its no longer necessary, but if we switch the order around a bit, we could hit the camp by the lake where he is after having visited Val Royeaux, which means his quest will trigger and we can hit it at the same time as we'd hit that camp. Probably save time over some random thing we do to get power (maybe a particularly out of the way rift)?

Finally, I'm actually not entirely convinced siding with the mages is faster. We have to do all the pre-stuff in Redcliffe, and the mission itself in the future is longer than I remembered, meaning I think its possible the Templar mission is actually faster. We really need to do a more thorough test. I've heard there is another guaranteed fade touched obsidian, but unfortunately it is way in the back of the area where the Hinterlands dragon is supposedly, if it ends up that the diversion to Redcliffe (since we have to do the rift and such) would be slower than just running through the dragon area. Alternatively, we could eschew the fade-touched obsidian and go for like pure dps or something and find another type of guaranteed fade-touched drop?

EDIT:
Had a couple more ideas:
Did you test out doing the random quests in the Crossroads and whether they are worth it power-wise and timewise? I didn't and was wondering if you had since you kinda completely skipped out on them.
Also, it might be worth it to do a couple requisitions in the hinterlands in the early game. It would be somewhat dependent on luck and potentially save-scumming to get the right requistions but it might be to some extent faster than doing rifts and such.

Finally, something that might be helpful: perhaps instead of sticking around doing requistions in Crestwood we only do enough to hit enough power to do the palace mission in Orlais. If we then do that mission we can pick up a big amount of influence there and then hit level 6 influence off of that. We'd reduce the amount of items we need to dupe and time spent doing requistions. I guess we'd need to figure out exactly how much influence we get off of that mission, but I do recall it being quite a bit. We'd also have to do that mission without the benefit of the tier 3 weapons from emprise du lion but there isn't a ton of combat so maybe it would still work out faster?

I messed around a bit with your route and tried to do some of it from memory, but forgot things so i definitely did it slower than you. Here's some of the thoughts I have:

You should really get immolate and go for fire mine asap on the inquisitor, it'll increase your damage output tremendously. It worked really well for me.

ogam pointed out that there's a tier 2 staff (and other weapons) schematic in val royeaux. It requires ~20 metal and ~10 cloth (off the top of my head) and 750 gold. We can just dupe some of the iron we would later do in advance and get any random cloth. It has 55 dps with iron as the metal, which seems to be significantly better than anything else we could get pre skyhold. Maybe it would be better like I thought initially to just go straight for the horses and 4 power and hit Val Royeaux ASAP. Another reason why I think that might be a good idea is Blackwall. You say that you think its no longer necessary, but if we switch the order around a bit, we could hit the camp by the lake where he is after having visited Val Royeaux, which means his quest will trigger and we can hit it at the same time as we'd hit that camp. Probably save time over some random thing we do to get power (maybe a particularly out of the way rift)?

Finally, I'm actually not entirely convinced siding with the mages is faster. We have to do all the pre-stuff in Redcliffe, and the mission itself in the future is longer than I remembered, meaning I think its possible the Templar mission is actually faster. We really need to do a more thorough test.  I've heard there is another guaranteed fade touched obsidian, but unfortunately it is way in the back of the area where the Hinterlands dragon is supposedly, if it ends up that the diversion to Redcliffe (since we have to do the rift and such) would be slower than just running through the dragon area. Alternatively, we could eschew the fade-touched obsidian and go for like pure dps or something and find another type of guaranteed fade-touched drop?

EDIT:
Had a couple more ideas:
Did you test out doing the random quests in the Crossroads and whether they are worth it power-wise and timewise? I didn't and was wondering if you had since you kinda completely skipped out on them.
Also, it might be worth it to do a couple requisitions in the hinterlands in the early game. It would be somewhat dependent on luck and potentially save-scumming to get the right requistions but it might be to some extent faster than doing rifts and such.

Finally, something that might be helpful: perhaps instead of sticking around doing requistions in Crestwood we only do enough to hit enough power to do the palace mission in Orlais. If we then do that mission we can pick up a big amount of influence there and then hit level 6 influence off of that. We'd reduce the amount of items we need to dupe and time spent doing requistions. I guess we'd need to figure out exactly how much influence we get off of that mission, but I do recall it being quite a bit. We'd also have to do that mission without the benefit of the tier 3 weapons from emprise du lion but there isn't a ton of combat so maybe it would still work out faster?

DashingSplash

Edit history:

DashingSplash: 2014-12-15 07:52:11 am

2014-12-15 07:42:26 am

I did some testing today, and here is the result: http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5686526 and http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5687509

What to take from this: get Fade Step for the Fade-Touched Obsidian at Dragon; Get Onyx at Templars in the West; no need to try to grab silk, or lambswool for requisition, but if one manage to loot both then awesome!; no need to attack mobs in prologue that ain't necessary (such as rifts etc.) Watch the videos, they are a bit lengthy, but answers plenty of stuff; no cloth vendor in Val Royeaux before Skyhold.

I did try the Templars, and I'm a bit...Uncertain if this kind of route is faster in the end, but I'll try it out a few more times to refine it etc. Also, improve the route a bit. We can grab an agent in Val Royeaux; which, gives one power very quickly. To unlock Blackwall, you'll have to enter the chantry after Val Royeaux. As can be seen in the second highlight, I wasted a lot of time doing stuff that shouldn't have been in the run, and I missed Fade Step; which, ruined the whole run at dragon.

That's a good way to do it. We'll just have to try Orlais Palace out, to see how much it grants us.

I did some testing today, and here is the result: http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5686526 and http://www.twitch.tv/dashingsplash/c/5687509

What to take from this: get Fade Step for the Fade-Touched Obsidian at Dragon; Get Onyx at Templars in the West; no need to try to grab silk, or lambswool for requisition, but if one manage to loot both then awesome!; no need to attack mobs in prologue that ain't necessary (such as rifts etc.) Watch the videos, they are a bit lengthy, but answers plenty of stuff; no cloth vendor in Val Royeaux before Skyhold.

I did try the Templars, and I'm a bit...Uncertain if this kind of route is faster in the end, but I'll try it out a few more times to refine it etc. Also, improve the route a bit. We can grab an agent in Val Royeaux; which, gives one power very quickly. To unlock Blackwall, you'll have to enter the chantry after Val Royeaux. As can be seen in the second highlight, I wasted a lot of time doing stuff that shouldn't have been in the run, and I missed Fade Step; which, ruined the whole run at dragon.

That's a good way to do it. We'll just have to try Orlais Palace out, to see how much it grants us.