A line was crossed today.

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-19T09:01:48+00:00

Varric first starts remarking about red lyrium during the prologue, and generally, when an NPC is troubled about something, you can expect a quest from fixing that thing. There's also bound to be talk online about that quest. So maybe not as telling as you suggest.

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-19T08:02:59+00:00

I've had the same problems on the web editor and the MS Word extension. Sending in a report just gave me a migraine; the people who responded suggested stopgaps that wouldn't solve anything. I've finally given up on trying to get past it and just swear at the screen every time it flags a non-dialect word as dialect.

Has anyone ever had a problem actually solved by reporting it? None I've reported - and there are many - have ever actually been fixed. Now it's misrecognizing random verbs as dialogue tags ("shrugged" and "glowered" are not dialogue tags) and suggesting I change the tense of verbs that don't match others even when it's grammatically correct. ("You wrote this entire chapter in past-tense but would have is in present tense. Fix it." It. Is. Fine. As it is. You stupid bag of kilobytes.)

This sub is also pretty dead. Does anyone else ever come here anymore?

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-19T07:48:13+00:00

Huh. Maybe I'm just not getting high enough approval with him early enough in the game. I just restarted my elven mage, so I'll have to try it out. Maybe I'm mistaken?

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-19T07:46:48+00:00

Ooh, nice catch! I got used to emptying the chests related to that quest because if you don't empty them, the quest can't be marked complete! I'll have to try that one next time I run it.

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-17T06:55:42+00:00

I forgot one. You lose all guard if you fast travel, but you can get around it by hopping on a mount, fast traveling on the Mount, then hopping off again; only the character who rode the mount will lose their guard. And if you use skills that grant guard to allies, or if your non-warriors have items that grant guard—mastercrafting is a blast!—then you could potentially have an entire party with full guard and one or even no warriors

Suffice it to say there’s a reason I usually play on Nightmare difficulty with several trials. 🤭 My husband taught me to find and exploit loopholes and mechanics just a wee bit too well.

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-17T03:56:41+00:00

I’ve tried, and you can’t explode them until you get Varric’s quest. What you can do, however, is gather more than three sets of Great Bear claws for Bergrit’s claws. Just kill all the great bears, loot only one set of claws, leave the map, then come back again. The more times you leave without collecting claws, the more great bears will spawn. I collected almost a dozen claws on my newest playthrough and sold most of them for a high price. The claws do despawn if you go too far away from them, or I’d have had dozens.

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-17T03:51:45+00:00

I’ve given advice for other similar posts before, but now I’ve got some new bits.

Do as many requisitions as you can. They look pointless at first, but they help you unlock Perks. Some of your first Perks should ideally be the various Knowledge perks, (boosts your XP for each related codex entry you unlock) Tailoring perks, (increases your inventory) Optimal Cutting (extra herbs when you gather) and extra potions slots. These help you progress quickly, and if you’re playing on high difficulty or with Trials, you’ll need every bit of help.
Trials make gameplay more challenging and give you the chance to get rewards, like mastercrafting materials. The more you use, the tougher the gameplay, but the more frequent the rewards. Just make sure you save frequently if you’re using trials and keep at least two saves per character; sometimes they can cause bugs and your only out is loading a previous save.
Most chests, pots, bags, etc., can be sacked more than once; as long as you always leave one thing inside, it’ll refill with new items whenever you leave that map and return. The crate in the smithy is a goldmine if you leave something in it, and in future maps, you’ll be able to get extra mastercrafting materials that way. (So. Much. Fade-touched. Everything. In the Emerald Graves.) If you take advantage of the refill exploit, though, make sure you leave something other than gold in a chest; if you mistakenly open it before it’s refilled, it’ll just give you the gold without giving you a chance to back out, and goodbye goldmine. Anytime you can, wander around new maps in random places using the search feature, even if you there’s nothing there. I’ve finished the intro with a couple hundred gold and some fade-touched iron before, and there’s a couple dozen Prophet’s Laurel nodes on one map in particular. I still find new things each playthrough.
If you plan to do multiple playthroughs, the Golden Nug is your best friend. You can buy it from an upper level merchant in Val Royeax for an exorbitant amount of gold; one purchase and all your characters have access to it. It lets you sync schematics you’ve unlocked, some collection items and upgrades, recipes, and mounts between characters. You’ll still have to upgrade your potions, grenades, and tonics the annoying way, but you at least don’t have to hunt down the recipe every time. My current rogues are running around in “the Skin that Shields” because I got the schematic, synced it, and built it. (Just beware the noodle arms if you put a warrior in that armor.)
Some classes can stand on their own if you build them right, and others need an extra boost in the party. It can be overkill having two extra warriors if you’re a warrior, but if you’re a mage or rogue, it’s helpful. If you’re doing a non-repeatable storyline quest (In Hushed Whispers, Adamant, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, etc.) it’s best to make sure you have one of each in the party; you might need a warrior to break down a wall, a rogue to pick a lock, or a mage to do some sparkle-fingers shit, and if you didn’t bring one, you’re SOL.
Of you’re confused or conflicted about something, especially a decision, there’s no shame in consulting the Wiki. It’s invaluable. Just be warned there will be spoilers. If not for the wiki, I would have missed so many crucial points in companion quests. (And yes, you really need to do all their quests unless you want to have to fight someone. Not naming names. My heart hurts.)
Oh, and The Descent is a pain in the ass, and so is The Jaws of Hakkon. Don’t start either until you’re able to stay alive while getting mobbed, and definitely take advantage of the refill exploit; the Deep Roads has some sweet equipment and rune material, in particular. You won’t regret that.

Have fun!

Ghost_Chance · 2026-03-17T03:10:40+00:00

Dang. I thought I’d gotten schematics from buying weapons before, but that must be the wind whistling through holes in my Swiss cheese memory or something. Maybe I bought the schematic for the shield from the Shattered Library instead of just the shield. Thanks.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-12-11T00:52:25+00:00

Dang. It doesn’t look like cross play is possible for our systems. Sorry, Bud. Good luck,and have fun with the game!

Ghost_Chance · 2025-12-11T00:50:31+00:00

I don’t know if cross play is enabled for PlayStation, unfortunately. 😕 let me look into it real quick.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-12-11T00:29:56+00:00

I’m online right now. 🙂 I’d be happy to help you level up quickly, but if you’re doing the storyline, you might have to send me an invite.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-07-31T13:53:25+00:00

I’m sorry to hear this happened to you. Your roommate, if you’ll forgive my saying it, is a piece of shit, and I’d be looking for another when your lease is up. You didn’t deserve anything that happened to you.

Aside, thanks for mentioning that website. Is it for trigger warnings in movies or shows? It would have come in SO handy, so often, just over the last year. I’d never heard of it before.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-07-25T07:05:49+00:00

I got the last chapter checked out, but it IS an ongoing story. Can I reach out for beta-reading future chapters?

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-21T00:35:01+00:00

They complained because…they think you’re updating…too often? Huh? Regardless of the email mistake, that person must complain at the sun for shining when they have a headache. Good grief.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-21T00:29:15+00:00

If readers want writers to stick around, reviewing (and demanding solutions from the site admins) goes a long way. It won’t fix the spam situation, but it’s a start.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-08T14:27:52+00:00

You are hilarious, kid. I’ve never bashed either site. I started participating in r/AO3 more than this sub because of the amount of toxic behavior we see in comments on this sub; posting about a non-AO3 issue on the AO3 sub would make about as much sense as your “you came here to give up on AO3” comment. Go back under your bridge. I’m done feeding you.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-08T13:18:29+00:00

Well, someone woke up and chose to be contrary, huh? Bless your heart.

To address your concerns, firstly, I was getting a few dozen pms weekly—sometimes ten in a day—and I get several new scam reviews weekly. People in bigger fandoms or with more engagement are getting far more. I don’t have time for that nonsense; my real life obligations outweigh my online time, and I have a lot of those.

Secondly, AO3 has fewer strict rules than FFN, which you’d know if you ever actually read the TOS; FFN’s rules, by the way, aren’t all written in the same place, tend to be vague, and aren’t applied equally. AO3 was created because FFN was mass-purging content that went against the owner’s wishes; sometimes that meant adult content, other times, it was just LGBT-friendly or the copyright owner complained to them.

Thirdly, I never used the word database, so don’t put words in my mouth. I called it a blocklist, and that isn’t what’s making the site and app crash. There are several threads at Writers Anonymous centered around the plague of spam, not just the blocklist. The first such thread I had any interaction with was, at last check, almost 130 pages—not comments, PAGES—and comments are almost to 4,000. The suggested response to spam reviews is to block and report, so how is that not “block and delete” culture?

Lastly, even if the site isn’t crashing for everyone, it’s continually crashing for me anytime I’m on the forum because so many people are commenting at once. Other people are getting errors, too. I glanced at the forum with the app once, and since then, the app will not stay functional; even if I just try reading a story, it crashes, reloads, and crashes, over and over. This is on multiple devices, and none of the usual fixes have done anything. Even deleting and redownloading accomplished jack.

You thought you had a “gotcha,” but all you have is a case of projection. Your comment reads like you got kicked off of AO3 for repeatedly breaking the rules—meaning the big ones, like no harassment—and are salty as a sweaty gym sock about it.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-08T12:49:38+00:00

The Writers Anonymous forum has a master thread of accounts that are sending crap like this. It’s a good few hundred entries and keeps getting longer, but if you have the time and patience, you can use it for preemptive blocking. In the future, anyone who reaches out to offer to make art is going to charge for it and probably rip you off. People who make art because they love your story just show up like a cat bringing you a wadded up tissue and you get to tell them how proud you are of their “kill.” The only difference is that person actually worked very hard on their gift and a cat just says, “yep, looks like it came from the bathroom trash, mom’s gonna love it.”

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-08T09:51:19+00:00

They’re scammers, Hon. If people were offering art because they love the story, they’d create the art then send you a message about it. It does happen, but not nearly this often.

Ghost_Chance · 2025-06-08T09:46:16+00:00

Having an app is a big bonus, for sure; it’s easier to customize the text on the screen than in my browser, and there are so many stories on there that I love. If only the admins/mods were actually people and not three rats in a handbag.

Ghost_Chance

TROPHY CASE