After announcing the co-op multiplayer for Dragon Age: Inquisition earlier today, BioWare released a ton of new details in a new multiplayer FAQ, including how you “will be able to unlock up to twelve characters across the three Dragon Age: Inquisition classes: Warrior, Rogue and Mage.” They won’t stop with just twelve though, as more characters will be released post-launch.
Revealing that multiplayer and single-player “were developed side by side,” BioWare added, “Since the two environments are near-identical, every improvement spread to both parts of the game.” Multiplayer will also be separate from single-player, as BioWare’s goal “is not to affect your SP campaign. We simply want to give our fans the chance to play with their friends for the first time in the Dragon Age universe.” Because of this, you won’t be able to transfer items between single-player and multiplayer.
You also won’t be able to trade items between players, with BioWare stating:
Dragon Age multiplayer won’t have an auction house or another system to transfer items between players. If you are unhappy with an item, you can salvage it and get crafting materials. Better weapons give better crafting materials. You can use these materials craft new items in-game or at your Inquisition HQ. [Ed. note: Inquisition HQ is a PC/tablet/smartphone app that will allow you to access all of your multiplayer characters and their inventory. More details to come in the following months.]
The reason BioWare decided to add multiplayer to Inquisition is due to them wanting “to give Dragon Age fans the opportunity to play with their friends for the first time in the franchise.” They then explained how multiplayer has been in development for over two years:
After Mass Effect 3 MP’s success, we created a special team with veterans from the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises. Our lead MP designer and lead online programmer have been on the Dragon Age franchise since Dragon Age: Origins. The addition of designers, programmers, artists, audio, QA, and production from Mass Effect 3 MP will help us ship a really fun co-op game that suits our franchise.
And here’s why it’s four-player co-op instead of a full multiplayer campaign:
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we wanted to focus on five key aspects: Open World, Story, Characters, Visuals, and Inquisition. We also have a new engine (Frostbite 3), and we had to create many new tools to support the huge amount of cinematics and localization that a BioWare title requires. A full MP campaign would have been another layer of complexity, and we decided it wasn’t the right time for the franchise to take on that feature.
While the multiplayer itself won’t be behind any sort of pay wall, there will be in-game purchases:
Platinum is the name of the currency that you can buy with money. Our philosophy for MP—and we are adamant about it—is that you can buy anything with gold coins, which is the currency you get from dungeon-crawling. There will be no pay wall.
They then dodged the question of whether or not people who pay will get an edge online:
First and foremost, our goal is to make a fun dungeon-crawling experience that you can play with your friends. There will be no pay walls in Dragon Age multiplayer. Everything is accessible with gold coins. You can use premium currency, but you don’t have to.
Although Dragon Age: Inquisition won’t feature exclusive multiplayer achievements/trophies, there will be a challenge system:
There will be no exclusive MP achievements. Achievements are one way to keep players engaged, but with Dragon Age multiplayer, we have other ways to improve engagement. We will have a full challenge system implemented at launch, letting you pursue and track dozens of different challenges. Completing a challenge may also give you a reward. The challenge system will also be used to implement weekly operations. Every week, we will launch a new operation. Complete the operation, and you will receive a reward.
Overall, the multiplayer level cap will be 20, but once you hit level 20, “You can promote your character, which will give you an extra attribute point for your MP characters. Promoting a character will also give you more Prestige points for the leaderboards.”
Still have questions about multiplayer? Check out the FAQ.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be available on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.
[Source: Dragon Age (1), (2) via IGN]
