Gaming, sports in particular, is playing well for Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA). Double digits look good on their Wall Street game board. With more than 300 million registered players worldwide, Electronic Arts has its game on scoring a 12.8 surge in share price.

The Sims, Dragon Age, Plants vs. Zombies keep the numbers rising, but Madden NFL is in the spotlight now with the Super Bowl on tap for this weekend. Electronic Arts simulated the game, updating the rosters and showing the Seahawks vs. Patriots on Xbox One. It gives the game to MVP Tom Brady. How can you go against Madden’s impressive predictive record … 8-3 in the last decade, but did the prediction come before or after “deflate-gate”?

EA’s financial picture played out well in fiscal 2014 which pegged net revenue at $3.6 billion for the Redwood City California based gaming company. Quarterly non-GAAP revenues came in at $1,428 million. Mobile gaming scooped up $139 million of revenues overshadowing last year’s figures by 13 percent year over year, pulling in 160 million monthly active users for the quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said: “Our ongoing digital transformation, including live services like EA SPORTS Ultimate Team, coupled with ongoing cost discipline, enables us to deliver consistent cash flow and earnings growth.”  You can add to their cash flow by buying Madden NFL 15 Xbox One at Target for $39.99 on sale.

EA’s GAAP earnings for fiscal year 2015 are expected to be $2.35 per share. Zack’s says EA’s game portfolio, new consoles and a large mobile segment form the basis of this positive outlook.

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Dragon Age: Inquisition is -25% off over at online retailer Amazon.

Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day discounts Dragon Age: Inquisition to a very appealing $44.99, which is a steal for a newly released high-profile AAA game.

The deal is good for all platforms–PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC–and is only available for today only so be sure to snag your copy as soon as possible.

Inquisition has proven to be BioWare’s latest and greatest open-world RPG adventure set in the landmark fantasy series, incorporating an incredible amount in-game content to explore. The developers went so far as to claim that Inquisition will take over 200 hours of playtime to complete, and based on my personal experiences in the game, I’d say this is pretty accurate.

As for the game’s dynamic combat systems, Dragon Age: Inquisition affords a vast amount of strategic and tactical customization.

For more on how to make the ultimate party be sure to check out our skill combos combat guide to find out everything you need to know about spell synergies and what skills are worth picking up.

This one is definitely game of the year material–even after dozens and dozens of hours you’ll still find something new and exciting across your adventures in Thedas. Dragon Age: Inquisition is a must-have for any gaming generation, and for just $44 there’s never been a better time to buy then now.

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Creating the ultimate dream-team party in Dragon Age: Inquisition is something that all players want to experience, and in BioWare games, mixing and matching party members is half of the fun.

Finding that perfect balance between Rogues, Mages and Warriors can be a long-winded process full of experimentation and testing. Sometimes you won’t know if a particular skill is worth getting, or if a passive is too good to be true.

In a sprawling RPG game like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it helps to know what you’re doing and be on the top of your game as soon as possible–otherwise you’ll feel the need to re-spec or even restart the game and lose your progress.

If you want to go toe-to-toe with towering dragons and take on the fiercest demons of the Fade, you’ll need to arm yourself with knowledge. Luckily we’ve come across an immensely handy guide courtesy of Reddit user Legacy_Raider, which reveals the dynamics of spell combos.

We’ve broken down the basics and fundamentals of combos, and tell you everything you need to know about status effects, detonators and the resulting bonus chaos so you can take on the biggest and baddest in Thedas.

Anatomy Of A Spell Combo

Certain skills in Inquisition are must-haves that can set up devastatingly powerful combos that wreak havoc on foes. Experimenting with class abilities can lead to some pretty surprising results (like Whirlwind with Static Cage) and decimate baddies with substantial damage bonuses.

But first we have to understand what status effects are, and how they work in tandem with “detonation” skills to pull off high damage.

Every class–Rogue, Mage and Warrior–has its own set of skills that inflict varying status effects as well as specific detonation skills. Combos essentially begin with incapacitating an enemy with a status effect followed up with a “detonator ability”.

Essentially combos are just a specific rotation of skills that deliver bonus damage and affects when properly executed, and keeping things simple is the key to understanding how they work.

Status Effects: Combo Starters

There are four basic status effects–Stun, Sleep, Freeze and Paralyze–and below we have a breakdown of the classes and skills that inflict them. Note that these abilities are also synonymous with “incapacitating” effects and the “disabled” status.

Incapacitating Effect –> Class –> Skill (Skill Tree)

• Stun –> Warrior –> Pommel Strike (Two-Handed Tree)

• Sleep –> Rogue –> Knockout Powder (Subterfuge Tree)

• Freeze –> Mage –> Winter’s Grasp // Flask of Frost (Tempest Rogue)

• Paralyze –> Mage –> Lightning Bolt (Storm Tree)

The above skills are essential abilities to pick up for all classes in some mixture or another. It’s advised that you spread out and vary your party members, but they’ll all need some form of combo starter skill. You can’t go wrong with any of the above, but the passives can get a bit tricky.

Let’s just stick with combos for right now.

Detonators: Combo Finishers

Now that we know how to start a combo, let’s explore some basic finishers.

Just like the status effects, detonators are typified by the class they belong to and are made up of three basic types: Impact, Precision and Eldritch. All of these lead to different combo outcomes and can afford tremendous strategic advantage.

Detonator –> Class –> Skill 

• Impact –> Warrior –>
  • Lunge and Slash
  • Shield Bash (Weapon & Shield Tree)
  • Mighty Blow, Whirlwind (Two-Handed Tree)
  • Spell Purge (Templar)

• Precision –> Rogue –>
  • Longshot (Archery),
  • Twin Fangs, Death Blow (Double Daggers Tree)
  • Shadow Strike (Subterfuge)

• Eldritch –> Mage –>
  • Mind Blast, Dispel (Spirit)
  • Energy Barrage (Storm)
  • Immolate (Inferno)
  • Spirit Blade (Knight-Enchanter)
  • Stonefist (doubles as Impact, Rift Mage)

Combos are all about strategy, and to effectively use them, you’ll need to hop into the freeze-frame tactical menu to plot your party’s actions. Having full step-by-step control over your party is essential to pulling off the combos, and the RTS-style tactical view is a fantastic way to learn the basics of this craft.

Learning the flow of battle is paramount to successful execution of spell synergies, but with time you’ll get the hang of it.

Now let’s move on to the advanced course in spell combos 101.

Combo Effects

Incapacitating skills set the bomb in place, detonators light the fuse and combo effects are the resulting explosion.

The most amazing thing about combos in Dragon Age: Inquisition is that status and detonator spells can be mixed and matched to deliver different explosive results. This is the advanced course, and we’ll be taking a look at the true dynamics of spell combos as tactical tools of destruction.

After successful detonation, certain combo sets will hit enemies with powerful afflictions that can weaken baddies, dish out huge elemental damage, or even send them in a crazed panic of fear. These debilitating statuses are the key to tackling strong bosses or playing on higher difficulties.

Essentially the formula is like this, along with a breakdown of each of the combo effects and what they do.

Incapacitating Spell + Detonator = Combo Effect

• Basic Combo –> Moderate bonus damage, no bonus status effect.

• Rupture –> High damage over time (DoT) that ignores armor, similar to a bleed effect.

• Shatter–> High cold elemental damage.

• Nightmare –> High damage, inflicts Panic effect (enemy stops attacking and moves randomly around the battlefield).

• Discharge –> High AoE lightning damage to enemies within range.

• Weakness –> High damage bonus and inflicts Weakness effect (target’s attacks do less damage)

Now that we know all the basics of the incapacitating spells, detonators and the combo effects, let’s go over some sample combos and their respective results in battle. Every detonator will trigger different outcomes, all of which can be the difference between life and death in those tough situations.

It’s best to start out with the simple combos like Pommel Strike + Lunge and Slash, then work your way to using Mage skills like Winter’s Grasp and Lightning Bolt to start off your combos.

One of the more effective starter synergies is just Winter’s Grasp + Shield Bash, which works incredibly well if the opponent is shielded or heavily armored. Varric or Cole’s Knockout Powder is an excellent combo starter as well, as it puts baddies to sleep and allows you to kick off the bleeding effects of Rupture or terrorizing them with Nightmare.

If you happen to unlock the Templar specialization, he can actually combo off of his own skills: the  Wrath of Heaven ability–which delivers a Stun AoE attack–can be detonated by the Spell Purge attack, dealing huge damage.

If we consult the table above, a Stun starter combined with an Eldritch detonator kicks off Weakness, and for an added bonus, Spell Purge also dispels and de-buffs baddies of all their bonuses.

Another amazing combo is using Knockout Powder on group of clustered enemies then rampaging in with a two-handed Warrior’s Whirlwind ability. This will combo off of the entire group, dealing impressive damage across the board.

Static Cage also works exceptionally well with Whirlwind.

The former is a spell from the Mage’s Storm tree, and essentially traps enemies and paralyzes them in a given space. Once paralyzed, two-handed Warriors can jump in and stir up a frenzy with Whirlwind, rending the poor hapless souls to bits.

To take full advantage of these synergies you’ll want to pay attention to enemy strengths and weaknesses. These can be seen at any time when you use the tactical menu, where you can hover over a demon or Red Templar and see their stats.

Should an enemy not have any weaknesses, well you can just fire up a recipe like Pommel Strike (Stun) + Mind Blast (Eldritch Detonator) and Weaken them yourself.

At their core combos are strategic advantages that can sway any battle in your favor. Using the right conjunction of spells at the right time can lead to an ultimate victory against the strongest foes of Thedas.

With the power of combos every party member has the capacity to be a huge asset for the entire team. Be sure to pick up all of the combo starters and check through the detonators to find which you like the most. But be careful as you’ll want to invest in passives to round out your characters.

Now that you know the basics of combos be sure to give them a try! At first it’ll be slow-going, but once you get all the rotations and Tactics down pat, battle will flow like a finely tuned machine.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two with this guide, and be sure to let us know in the comments section below if you’ve found any other interesting character class skill combos!

The post Dragon Age: Inquisition Skill Combo Guide appeared first on VR World.

With Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare is pulling out all the stops.

The team is crafting what looks to be the most epic adventure into the heart of the fantasy franchise, complete with a massive array of content across the sprawling mythical land of Thedas. Inquisition heralds the triumphant return of the hundred-hour plus RPG completion time–something that’s been noticeably scarce in next-gen gaming.

In a recent interview with Polygon, BioWare’s producer Cameron Lee says that Inquisition‘s main story will run about 20 to 40 hours. This window is traditionally the timeframe needed for the team to deliver a “really vast, epic story”.

“We want to give our players a real world to explore — we want to give them a BioWare story,” Lee told Polygon. “A really vast, epic BioWare story. That’s what we do, and it normally takes 20 to 40 hours anyway to tell the story we want to tell.”

But there’s more to Inquisition than the story. Much more. So much that it might take you up to 200 hours to fully master.

Inquisition has a healthy smorgasbord of extras that all vary in size, shape and scope. Sometimes players will come across side missions that reveal new depths of the game’s many societies. Other times they’ll spend a whopping amount of time simply exploring the many environs of Thedas for loot.

The dazzling array of dialog choices has always been a mainstay for BioWare games as well. This content adds in key inferences in character personalities and ultimately adds more depth to the characters themselves. The intimate romance options add more significance to the personalities of party members, and adds a spark of the human element to gameplay.

One of the most exciting new features in Inquisition is that it’ll feature multiplayer for the first time in any Dragon Age game.

The new co-operative mode allows friends to team up in four-player groups for some dynamic dungeon-crawling action.  In the co-op mode you can rank up their characters, unlock new skills, and revel in some pretty fantastic loot. But there’s a catch–multiplayer progress won’t carry over to your singleplayer campaign. As Lee says, there’s “no gameplay connection between them”.

BioWare wants to make a world that deeply involves players in terms of immersion and size, and based on what we’ve seen so far in game trailers and interviews, it looks like they’ve hit their mark. Inquisition looks like a grand adventure that taps into the heart of Dragon Age‘s magic, and ultimately delivers the experience fans have been waiting for.

With the controversies surrounding Dragon Age II and the not-so-popular ending of Mass Effect 3, BioWare seems to have gone to the drawing board to redefine their approach. Inquisition may be the fruits of that labor, especially in an age where meaningful gameplay times are shrinking and being compromised for replayable multiplayer action.

Dragon Age: Inquisition looks to be a breath of fresh air not only for the series, but for the current trends of gaming altogether. Although bigger games are more costly, there is a very real demand and market for them, and hopefully we’ll start to see more RPG’s of this nature hit next-gen consoles in the future.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is slated to release on November 18, 2014 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. For more information be sure to visit the game’s official website.

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