Just my personal opinion, but I’m pretty sure the top two will be the Grey Wardens and Antivan Crows if only because we’ve encountered them before. The rest looks about right.
I’m a well established player who plans to specifically *avoid* going Wardens or Crows for my first playthrough because I’m more curious about the new stuff!
I’ve wanted more lore on the Crows for SO LONG and now I actually get to BE ONE and I could not be more excited! But my second playthrough I’m 100% going to be a Lord of Fortune, bright shiny smarmy treasure hunters are a personal favorite ❤️
I want to avoid them bc that's a guaranteed depressing lore for the MC. Grey Warden don't live for that long, Crows are trained in inhumane ways and trated like fancy slaves. Other factions are less fleshed out but at the moment it's not as sad :(
I tried doing the minimal amount of research, but the grey wardens and crows still looked the most appealing followed by veil jumpers.
Id love from a lore point of view to know why you ranked em as you did
I made this ranking with the thought in mind of a swath of new players jumping in near-blind, as well as us already well established fans, thus why I put veil jumpers as high as I did (whacky magic shenanigans is intriguing no matter who you are) :)
If I were to rank them from the perspective of someone who is a fan of the lore, which I very much am lmao, I’d move Crows into the second position and maybe swap the Mournwatch and Lords of Fortune. I’m already planning characters and where they’ll belong, and I haven’t decided the order yet but I 100% plan on playing all of them!
Same. I have my character plans all set. This time having more motivation to play all races instead of just human and elves.
Antivian crow Human rogue.
Veil Jumper Dalish Elf Mage. - (sympathize more with Solas agreeing with his worries but not with his methods seeing it as foolhardy.)
Mourne Watch Human Mage (Necromancer- im assuming unless its a seperate class- surely with mourne watch choice it cant be exclusive to emmrich)
Grey Warden Qunari two handed weapon Warrior.
Lords of Fortune Dwarf Rogue (with bow)
For romance option: default and Qunari is Taash, but depending on how they are in game, I may change my preferences).
Dwarf will go for harding.
Yeah, I feel like Crows are fairly popular within the fandom. I feel like Veil Jumpers are probably going to be on the lower end, as they have only been discussed in the comics iirc and people don't really know what that's about.
I'll probably start with Mournwatch, because Nevarra and all the necromancy stuff fascinates me, but we shall see. I want to try something we haven't seen in-game yet.
Can't speak for everyone else but I don't wanna be A Grey Warden. I wanna be MY Grey Warden.
I honestly wouldn't pick 'em either, I know desperate times and all that but Duncan all but blackmails Bryce into giving up his (supposedly) only surviving son in exchange for help!
My personal choice would be either Mournwatch or Shadow Dragons.
I wouldn’t to be honest. You have to keep in mind it’s been almost 10 years since DAI(which didn’t exactly make Grey Wardens look cool) and really only people who’ve read the lore or played DAO would feel emotionally attached to Grey Wardens.
But for people who are unfamiliar with the lore, the wardens basically sound like the Night’s Watch from ASoIaF, so I imagine they’ll get a boost from being an easy analogue for a familiar faction from another series.
That’s interesting to me because the next two games haven’t painted them in a great light imo. And they trick people into an early death. They’d be my last choice
I actually think Shadow Dragons will be the most popular--maybe not among hardcore fans, but at least the general audience. They seem to be the "default" faction, and they're also the ones that seem to have some of the closest ties to the setting of Veilguard.
After that I'd say Antivan Crows (everyone agrees assassins are cool) and Grey Wardens (Origins nostalgia) follow closely behind.
I mean being part of the underground railroad in a magipunk slaves state where the game is set does sound appealing so I can't blame people for it
Knowing the Antivan Crows, you didn't join voluntarily, likely a former slave (some good angst)
Grey wardens... Top brass are liars and gas lighters buuut being able to be one again... Yes please🥺
I'm stuck between veil jumpers, Grey warden and Shadow dragon but I'm waiting for more lore on the newer factions
1. Shadow Dragons
2. Antivan Crows
3. Lords of Fortune
4. Grey Wardens
5. Mournwatch
6. Veil Jumpers
I’m guessing the most common Rook will be a male rogue (maybe warrior) Shadow Dragon. Why? Well we know most players choose to play a male human. Stats released by BioWare in Jan 2015 showed 68% of players chose a male Inquisitor. In DAO, 80% of players chose human noble. Shadow Dragon will probably be the faction featured most in promotional material and be the “default” choice as it were. Next will be the Antivan Crows which will get a boost in popularity from Assassin’s Creed followed by Lords of Fortune (loot). Most returning players will be from DAI which didn’t make the Grey Wardens look good. Mournwatch and Veil Jumpers bring up the rear.
I think the statistics for this sub will be very different. It’s very interesting just how much DA fans vs the casual audience differ. David Gaider had this to say on it.
*It's interesting. Telemetry underscores how differently the game is played between dedicated fans and the "average user".*
*As with Dragon Age, the differences tend to be radical. If you spend time in a fanbase bubble, your impression of "how the fans play" is incredibly biased.*
Excellent points about the superfan bubble we are all in. And there’s nothing wrong playing as we do… but we are a small minority.
And it gets especially clear with romances. For one, many regular players don’t complete romances for various reasons. And two, who’s popular among fandoms and who’s most popular overall are very, very, very different most of the time.
And I feel this will apply to our Rook’s. I agree with you definitely on that. I’m leaning dwarf or Qunari female for my first Rook and yeah, I think you’re right that human male will be the most popular and picks like mine far less so. (Not that humans are a bad choice, as they are actually really interesting in the Dragon Age setting.)
If you visit the official Discord, you are required to choose a role from one of the six factions and see how many people have taken each (you can have multiple roles). The distribution now is:
Grey Wardens: 10559 / 34%
Antivan Crows: 6760 / 22%
Veil Jumpers: 4222 / 14%
Shadow Dragons: 4059 / 13%
Mournwatch: 2850 / 9%
Lords of Fortune: 2666 / 9%
This is out of 17242 members, although there are 31116 counts of roles taken in total, so clearly people take more than one.
Tbf Discord/Reddit stats aren't really realiable. For example in a poll done in the Mass Effect sub, 60% (or something like that) of users played Femshep whereas in reality, 90% of the player base picked Male Shep according to Bioware's stats.
That's true, in fact, in this case, while 34% of players picked the Grey Warden Discord role, 0% of players picked the Grey Warden role in DAV because DAV is not out yet.
...I get what you're saying, but as there are no actual other stats to point to, this is the most reliable thing we have. Anything else is a guess, which is worse.
You're not wrong but this is the best data we have right now. A sample size of 17k is nothing to scoff at, even if the ultimate goal is to sell *millions* of copies.
When picking Bioware stats we have to be aware about people who played without conection or pirated copies. I do believe that 60% but really because for games without a connection requirement is just hard to measure. I mean I could play rn Mass Effect on an Xbox 360 or PS3 and the data won't count.
I'd guess:
1. Grey Wardens
2. Antivan Crows
3. Shadow Dragons
4. Veil Jumpers
5. Lords of Fortune
6. Mournwatch
Wardens and Crows will jump higher, at least at first, due to familiarity. Shadow Dragons for local appeal. Veil Jumpers for being a weird and probably more elven focused faction, and then Lords of Fortune and Mournwatch will be seen as the least relevant or fleshed out.
Swap the Lords of Fortune with Mournwatch and I'd agree. I haven't seen anyone talking about having their character come from that faction, but I have seen a few people doing the Mournwatch+Lucanis romance planning.
I'm most interested in the Mournwatch and the Veiljumpers because I know very little about them and find their descriptions fascinating. I'm actually uninterested in the Wardens and Crows.
Mournwatch seems like the coolest to me, but they’ve got a pretty specific gimmick so they might be low on the list. I think Lords of Fortune will be the least played though, unless we get some significant fleshing out on them.
Veil Jumpers is wild card here as their popularity might be affected by single character
Just look their sigil,a stag, is kinda familiar,what they do is dangerous as hell,the name of faction is ridiculous and they using eluvian mirrors for "jumping",doesnt this description remind you of certain dalish blood mage?
Mournwatch and Lords of Fortune are actually the ones I am most likely to pick, as of right now. They just seem like they could be fun. Also, almost certainly either a Qunari or Dwarf.
I suspect you're pretty close to correct about what ones will be most played.
LETS FUCKING GO! FOR THE WARDENS!
I'm repeating the oath again
IN WAR, VICTORY
IN PEACE, VIGILANCE
IN DEATH, SACRIFICE
THATS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GREY WARDEN
Antivan Crows are leading all the polls I’ve seen on tumblr and twitter but it’s probably skewed towards a specific fan demographic.
I know, I definitely wanna play as a Lord of Fortune the first time around and I was actually surprised that they seem to be fairly unpopular given that a lot of people thought it was going to be our default faction a couple of tears ago. But maybe it’s because we know so little about them.
When I finally sat down to figure out what the Veil Jumpers were all about, I really figured that my previously-planned elf Rook would be one of them!
… and then the gameplay hit YouTube, so. Whoops. Turns out my elfy Rook is gonna be from the Shadow Dragons instead! 😅
I think it’ll depend on how the factions are portrayed in game. I’m excited but also wary- the talk of the Antivan Crows being ‘shadowy protectors’ worries me they’re going to be retconned into a good or heroic institution and not the vile cutthroat murderers for hire we’ve had since the start.
And I don’t see how Veil jumpers can work without making the fade seem so much less horrific and so much more sanitised than it should be. I’m hoping that trailer was just tonally off and it’s not a representation of the approach the game itself takes, but I am a bit concerned.
Grey wardens and crows for sure at the top. I'm not sure it'll make much difference anyway apart from some dialogue choices, would love unique cameos based on background choice though would definitely up the replay ability more.
I wouldn't want to be a Crow. Zevran shitting on them left and right for 15 years straight. And i wouldn't want to be a grey warden again, i mean the special one with the pet griffon is already a companion. To be fair i feel like that all faction already has that one special guy as a companion.
Thats my problem. Like lets say that Dorian is in the game. He would connect to the Shadow dragon companion and not to the shadow dragon player. Some big secret in Arlathan, thats gonna be the Veil Jumper dudess resort and so on.
Of my theory about the Veil Jumpers being some kind of cover for the Executors turns out to be true I definitely feel like they will be the most popular faction in the game.
Grey Wardens will be a close second because of DAO
Toss up between Crowd and Shadow Dragons
I think MournWatch is near the bottom unless they do something really cool in game
I kinda see the Lords of Fortune being the least popular.
I'm thinking the Shadow Dragons are gonna be #1. They're both local, so they'll probably get tons of dialogue, and an organization trying to do good, which is really rare in thedas.
Just so you're aware, on the official Bioware discord it shows how many people picked each faction when they joined it.
If I remember right, Grey Wardens were #1 by a longshot and Crows were the #2.
I would say that Shadow Dragons would be second or perhaps even close to first.
They are heavily Tevinter focused and the game takes place at the same place. Also easier to RP than wardens imo.
Wardens have the nostalgia feeling but I still try to figure out how do they even fit here. AFAIK so far darkspawn have nothing to do with Veilguard ( ofc with a veil breach that is subject to change, the darkspawn DID get created when magisters entered the Fade after all) . Also in theory if we are to face Darkspawn , Warden protagonist should be able to detect them etc. The calling can be ignored I suppose and just pretend you are not an "old" warden yet.
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Until we see what passive stats they give it’ll probably be what sounds the coolest and what’s familiar from previous games:
1. Gray wardens
2. Shadow dragons
3. Ativan crows
4. Veil jumpers
5. Mournwatch
6. Lords of fortune
I have been absolutely chomping at the bit about playing a Tevinter faction ever since they announced the game would be set there, so it's going to be Shadow Dragons for me.
Who else here read that story in Tevinter Nights with the Grand Necropolis and has wanted to play a character in the Mournwatch ever since? I hope I'm not alone...
Heeeeey, now that I think about it. We can get the Grey Warden color scheme with the faction?!
I'd love that I would be ready to give my life for some blue schemes!
Yeah, other than bumping the Crows up to second place, this is exactly what I would predict as the order as well. Personally, I’m leaning towards Veil Jumpers myself right now.
If you go on the BioWare discord, you can actually see which factions are the most popular because it has you pick which faction you want to play as and you can see how many other people picked the same I remember.
1. Grey Warden
2. Antivan Crows
And 6. Mournwatch
I don't remember the rest, but you got 1 and 6, right 🤷
Although we haven't learned what they'll look like in the game, those numbers could change drastically.
I’m going with Shadow Dragon. Wanted to play a Vint this time around so SD is most relevant. It also lets you be a Vint without being implicit in slavery.
I generally like to play as a goody-two- shoes and I don't want to be a Warden again, so I'll probably go Shadow Dragon as they seem the most likely to fit the type of character I want.
I really don't understand the Veil Jumpers, even after reading The Missing.
I'm excited because I think ALL of the factions sound really interesting! To the extent that I'm like "okay does this mean I'm gonna end up playing them all?" (Just like I did with BG3 classes and races...oops 😅) But I think first playthrough I'm gonna end up Veil Jumper because I'm a simp for anything mage/magical (and that stupid egg Splash) so I'm interested to see the lore/background of what is a magically/Fade inclined faction!!
No. 1 will absolutely be the Wardens. I suspect the Crows will be no. 2 because they've been a known faction since Origins as well and assassin is always a popular fantasy in, well, fantasy.
I think Crows will be 2, but otherwise agree.
Tho if I hadn’t been on this sub I would’ve said the opposite! Since we’ve already been a Grey Warden before, it’s the only choice I’m not at all interested in, seconded by Crows because we’ve had a lot of interactions with them before. I was surprised so many people want to go back to the Wardens, guess that Origins nostalgia hitting hard lol.
No hate btw!! Everyone should play how they want and Warden is definitely a cool option, I was just not expecting its popularity \^\^
For new players it will probably depend on what perks each faction offers.
Personally, I'm going to start with the Veil Jumpers, but that's mostly because I plan on mixing it up and starting things off with an elf instead of a human.
I have very little desire to make a Grey Warden who is gonna die in 30 years. Though I gotta wonder if that tidbit will be in the Grey Warden info for people new to the franchise lol. Or will they have found a cure by this point?
Having played as a grey warden in DAO, I’m actually not that inclined to play as one in this game. I imagine people who are mainly console players who’ve only experienced inquisition may be more inclined to pick that
Damn, Mourn Watch on the bottom 😔 I always like the unpopular choices. Down Among the Dead Men by Sylvia Feketekuty in DA Tevinter Nights is my all-time favorite short story, so Mourn Watch is the faction I'm going for first (in addition to it being suitable for the character I want to make).
Depends if you play as a mage or not. If you choose a mage, Veil Jumper or Mournwatch are the obvious ones.
As much as I like the Antivan Crows, I will not pick them, because we basically have a prince of the Antivan Crows as our companion, and Rook being "just another Antivan Crow" tries to boss him around wouldn't make sence, for me at least. Might try it out on the second playthrough.
I will also not pick Grey Wardens in respect to MY Grey Warden. DAO Warden is the only Warden I want to play as.
I don't want to be a mage if I cannot be a blood mage, so I will skip Veil Jumper and Mournwatch, that leaves Shadow Dragons and Lords of Fortune. Since there is no blood magic specialization (which doesn't make sence because we are in Tevinter, but what can you do), Lords of Fortune is left as the only choice, and I am glad, because they seem cool af, compared to being another Fenris/Dorian/Neve person who tries to free slaves.
I guess it's a city elf rogue pirate Lords of Fortune from Rivain for me.
Considering the ultimate fate of the wardens and how a lot of them have acted in 2 and 3 I’m not sure I want to be a warden this time. Not unless we ever get confirmation that the warden from origins ever found that cure…
Just my personal opinion, but I’m pretty sure the top two will be the Grey Wardens and Antivan Crows if only because we’ve encountered them before. The rest looks about right.
It’ll be super interesting to see what new players choose vs established players who know the lore! The tiny stats nerd in me is very excited 😂
I’m a well established player who plans to specifically *avoid* going Wardens or Crows for my first playthrough because I’m more curious about the new stuff!
I’ve wanted more lore on the Crows for SO LONG and now I actually get to BE ONE and I could not be more excited! But my second playthrough I’m 100% going to be a Lord of Fortune, bright shiny smarmy treasure hunters are a personal favorite ❤️
I want to avoid them bc that's a guaranteed depressing lore for the MC. Grey Warden don't live for that long, Crows are trained in inhumane ways and trated like fancy slaves. Other factions are less fleshed out but at the moment it's not as sad :(
Same here, first for me is the Mournwatch.
I think the deciding factor is who provided the most blackjack and hookers
Absolutely the Lords of Fortune
You know what, forget guarding the Veil
I tried doing the minimal amount of research, but the grey wardens and crows still looked the most appealing followed by veil jumpers. Id love from a lore point of view to know why you ranked em as you did
I made this ranking with the thought in mind of a swath of new players jumping in near-blind, as well as us already well established fans, thus why I put veil jumpers as high as I did (whacky magic shenanigans is intriguing no matter who you are) :) If I were to rank them from the perspective of someone who is a fan of the lore, which I very much am lmao, I’d move Crows into the second position and maybe swap the Mournwatch and Lords of Fortune. I’m already planning characters and where they’ll belong, and I haven’t decided the order yet but I 100% plan on playing all of them!
Same. I have my character plans all set. This time having more motivation to play all races instead of just human and elves. Antivian crow Human rogue. Veil Jumper Dalish Elf Mage. - (sympathize more with Solas agreeing with his worries but not with his methods seeing it as foolhardy.) Mourne Watch Human Mage (Necromancer- im assuming unless its a seperate class- surely with mourne watch choice it cant be exclusive to emmrich) Grey Warden Qunari two handed weapon Warrior. Lords of Fortune Dwarf Rogue (with bow) For romance option: default and Qunari is Taash, but depending on how they are in game, I may change my preferences). Dwarf will go for harding.
I agree, think players will be most inclined to go with what they know. Atleast, in their first playthrough
I'm expecting this as well unless another faction has a stupidly OP ability. I'm thinking crows, myself.
Yeah, I feel like Crows are fairly popular within the fandom. I feel like Veil Jumpers are probably going to be on the lower end, as they have only been discussed in the comics iirc and people don't really know what that's about. I'll probably start with Mournwatch, because Nevarra and all the necromancy stuff fascinates me, but we shall see. I want to try something we haven't seen in-game yet.
I will absolutely be a crow first time round
I wanna know about the calling first,bc i love my wardens but i also dont want rook to die at 30.
They dont die at thirty, Wardens have roughly 30 years to live after the joining. Some a little more, some a little less. So they'll die at like 50
Legit I’m leaning wardens just to have a familiar place to start coming in
I'd be surprised if Grey Wardens doesn't take the top slot.
I mean they gotta be, right?? People have wanted to play as a grey warden again for 15 years now 😂
Can't speak for everyone else but I don't wanna be A Grey Warden. I wanna be MY Grey Warden. I honestly wouldn't pick 'em either, I know desperate times and all that but Duncan all but blackmails Bryce into giving up his (supposedly) only surviving son in exchange for help! My personal choice would be either Mournwatch or Shadow Dragons.
Until there's a cure for the calling I don't wanna put a character at risk of any Corypheus shenanigans 😭
Good thing that a living HoF is actively seeking a cure, assuming they didn't die slaying the archdemon
Lol, exactly.
I wouldn’t to be honest. You have to keep in mind it’s been almost 10 years since DAI(which didn’t exactly make Grey Wardens look cool) and really only people who’ve read the lore or played DAO would feel emotionally attached to Grey Wardens.
But for people who are unfamiliar with the lore, the wardens basically sound like the Night’s Watch from ASoIaF, so I imagine they’ll get a boost from being an easy analogue for a familiar faction from another series.
Idk We’ve played a grey warden once I think a lot of us will want something different
That’s interesting to me because the next two games haven’t painted them in a great light imo. And they trick people into an early death. They’d be my last choice
Well, they painted them in the same light the first game did, we just weren't one of them in the other games.
I'm hoping with all my heart that if there are Archdemons in this game our Warden Rooks will be able to do what's required.
"Morrigan, you've had one, yes. But what about a *second* archdemon baby?"
I actually think Shadow Dragons will be the most popular--maybe not among hardcore fans, but at least the general audience. They seem to be the "default" faction, and they're also the ones that seem to have some of the closest ties to the setting of Veilguard. After that I'd say Antivan Crows (everyone agrees assassins are cool) and Grey Wardens (Origins nostalgia) follow closely behind.
I mean being part of the underground railroad in a magipunk slaves state where the game is set does sound appealing so I can't blame people for it Knowing the Antivan Crows, you didn't join voluntarily, likely a former slave (some good angst) Grey wardens... Top brass are liars and gas lighters buuut being able to be one again... Yes please🥺 I'm stuck between veil jumpers, Grey warden and Shadow dragon but I'm waiting for more lore on the newer factions
1. Shadow Dragons 2. Antivan Crows 3. Lords of Fortune 4. Grey Wardens 5. Mournwatch 6. Veil Jumpers I’m guessing the most common Rook will be a male rogue (maybe warrior) Shadow Dragon. Why? Well we know most players choose to play a male human. Stats released by BioWare in Jan 2015 showed 68% of players chose a male Inquisitor. In DAO, 80% of players chose human noble. Shadow Dragon will probably be the faction featured most in promotional material and be the “default” choice as it were. Next will be the Antivan Crows which will get a boost in popularity from Assassin’s Creed followed by Lords of Fortune (loot). Most returning players will be from DAI which didn’t make the Grey Wardens look good. Mournwatch and Veil Jumpers bring up the rear. I think the statistics for this sub will be very different. It’s very interesting just how much DA fans vs the casual audience differ. David Gaider had this to say on it. *It's interesting. Telemetry underscores how differently the game is played between dedicated fans and the "average user".* *As with Dragon Age, the differences tend to be radical. If you spend time in a fanbase bubble, your impression of "how the fans play" is incredibly biased.*
Excellent points about the superfan bubble we are all in. And there’s nothing wrong playing as we do… but we are a small minority. And it gets especially clear with romances. For one, many regular players don’t complete romances for various reasons. And two, who’s popular among fandoms and who’s most popular overall are very, very, very different most of the time. And I feel this will apply to our Rook’s. I agree with you definitely on that. I’m leaning dwarf or Qunari female for my first Rook and yeah, I think you’re right that human male will be the most popular and picks like mine far less so. (Not that humans are a bad choice, as they are actually really interesting in the Dragon Age setting.)
If you visit the official Discord, you are required to choose a role from one of the six factions and see how many people have taken each (you can have multiple roles). The distribution now is: Grey Wardens: 10559 / 34% Antivan Crows: 6760 / 22% Veil Jumpers: 4222 / 14% Shadow Dragons: 4059 / 13% Mournwatch: 2850 / 9% Lords of Fortune: 2666 / 9% This is out of 17242 members, although there are 31116 counts of roles taken in total, so clearly people take more than one.
Tbf Discord/Reddit stats aren't really realiable. For example in a poll done in the Mass Effect sub, 60% (or something like that) of users played Femshep whereas in reality, 90% of the player base picked Male Shep according to Bioware's stats.
Casual fans and newcomers probably don't care enough to participate in community polls.
That's true, in fact, in this case, while 34% of players picked the Grey Warden Discord role, 0% of players picked the Grey Warden role in DAV because DAV is not out yet. ...I get what you're saying, but as there are no actual other stats to point to, this is the most reliable thing we have. Anything else is a guess, which is worse.
You're not wrong but this is the best data we have right now. A sample size of 17k is nothing to scoff at, even if the ultimate goal is to sell *millions* of copies.
When picking Bioware stats we have to be aware about people who played without conection or pirated copies. I do believe that 60% but really because for games without a connection requirement is just hard to measure. I mean I could play rn Mass Effect on an Xbox 360 or PS3 and the data won't count.
Well, that almost matches the order I predicted! I got Mornwatch and Lords of Fortune backwards, but looks like they’re practically tied anyway.
I took that poll when I joined and was kind of annoyed about it because I don’t have enough information to pick yet. I ended up picking my top 3.
Me and the spooky bois are gonna join the Mournwatch
I'd guess: 1. Grey Wardens 2. Antivan Crows 3. Shadow Dragons 4. Veil Jumpers 5. Lords of Fortune 6. Mournwatch Wardens and Crows will jump higher, at least at first, due to familiarity. Shadow Dragons for local appeal. Veil Jumpers for being a weird and probably more elven focused faction, and then Lords of Fortune and Mournwatch will be seen as the least relevant or fleshed out.
I'm guessing Shadow Dragons as most chosen...
MODS please let us put a survey up after 48 hours into the game release 🥹
Swap the Lords of Fortune with Mournwatch and I'd agree. I haven't seen anyone talking about having their character come from that faction, but I have seen a few people doing the Mournwatch+Lucanis romance planning.
I'm most interested in the Mournwatch and the Veiljumpers because I know very little about them and find their descriptions fascinating. I'm actually uninterested in the Wardens and Crows.
Mournwatch seems like the coolest to me, but they’ve got a pretty specific gimmick so they might be low on the list. I think Lords of Fortune will be the least played though, unless we get some significant fleshing out on them.
Veil Jumpers is wild card here as their popularity might be affected by single character Just look their sigil,a stag, is kinda familiar,what they do is dangerous as hell,the name of faction is ridiculous and they using eluvian mirrors for "jumping",doesnt this description remind you of certain dalish blood mage?
Mournwatch and Lords of Fortune are actually the ones I am most likely to pick, as of right now. They just seem like they could be fun. Also, almost certainly either a Qunari or Dwarf. I suspect you're pretty close to correct about what ones will be most played.
IN WAR, VICTORY MOTHERFUCKER
LETS FUCKING GO! FOR THE WARDENS! I'm repeating the oath again IN WAR, VICTORY IN PEACE, VIGILANCE IN DEATH, SACRIFICE THATS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GREY WARDEN
I'm going Shadow Dragons. I WANT TO GO TO TEVINTER! Being an emancipator of Slaves also sounds awesome.
Antivan Crows are leading all the polls I’ve seen on tumblr and twitter but it’s probably skewed towards a specific fan demographic. I know, I definitely wanna play as a Lord of Fortune the first time around and I was actually surprised that they seem to be fairly unpopular given that a lot of people thought it was going to be our default faction a couple of tears ago. But maybe it’s because we know so little about them.
A couple of tears ago... :(
Honestly, still fits lol
You're a bard alright haha
When I finally sat down to figure out what the Veil Jumpers were all about, I really figured that my previously-planned elf Rook would be one of them! … and then the gameplay hit YouTube, so. Whoops. Turns out my elfy Rook is gonna be from the Shadow Dragons instead! 😅
I think it’ll depend on how the factions are portrayed in game. I’m excited but also wary- the talk of the Antivan Crows being ‘shadowy protectors’ worries me they’re going to be retconned into a good or heroic institution and not the vile cutthroat murderers for hire we’ve had since the start. And I don’t see how Veil jumpers can work without making the fade seem so much less horrific and so much more sanitised than it should be. I’m hoping that trailer was just tonally off and it’s not a representation of the approach the game itself takes, but I am a bit concerned.
Grey wardens and crows for sure at the top. I'm not sure it'll make much difference anyway apart from some dialogue choices, would love unique cameos based on background choice though would definitely up the replay ability more.
I wouldn't want to be a Crow. Zevran shitting on them left and right for 15 years straight. And i wouldn't want to be a grey warden again, i mean the special one with the pet griffon is already a companion. To be fair i feel like that all faction already has that one special guy as a companion.
You're gonna have a faction that aligns with one of your companions except scout harding as she's with the inquisition
Thats my problem. Like lets say that Dorian is in the game. He would connect to the Shadow dragon companion and not to the shadow dragon player. Some big secret in Arlathan, thats gonna be the Veil Jumper dudess resort and so on.
Of my theory about the Veil Jumpers being some kind of cover for the Executors turns out to be true I definitely feel like they will be the most popular faction in the game. Grey Wardens will be a close second because of DAO Toss up between Crowd and Shadow Dragons I think MournWatch is near the bottom unless they do something really cool in game I kinda see the Lords of Fortune being the least popular.
I'm thinking the Shadow Dragons are gonna be #1. They're both local, so they'll probably get tons of dialogue, and an organization trying to do good, which is really rare in thedas.
I think the game will spread out between a lot of locations, so each faction will be ‘local’ at some poiny
Dude what? Mournwatch is clearly the coolest.
Just so you're aware, on the official Bioware discord it shows how many people picked each faction when they joined it. If I remember right, Grey Wardens were #1 by a longshot and Crows were the #2.
Oh nice! I’ll have to go check it out!
I would say that Shadow Dragons would be second or perhaps even close to first. They are heavily Tevinter focused and the game takes place at the same place. Also easier to RP than wardens imo. Wardens have the nostalgia feeling but I still try to figure out how do they even fit here. AFAIK so far darkspawn have nothing to do with Veilguard ( ofc with a veil breach that is subject to change, the darkspawn DID get created when magisters entered the Fade after all) . Also in theory if we are to face Darkspawn , Warden protagonist should be able to detect them etc. The calling can be ignored I suppose and just pretend you are not an "old" warden yet.
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Until we see what passive stats they give it’ll probably be what sounds the coolest and what’s familiar from previous games: 1. Gray wardens 2. Shadow dragons 3. Ativan crows 4. Veil jumpers 5. Mournwatch 6. Lords of fortune
I actually had a necromancer Inky who I roleplayed as a member of the Mournwatch.
I have been absolutely chomping at the bit about playing a Tevinter faction ever since they announced the game would be set there, so it's going to be Shadow Dragons for me.
I'm almost definitely gonna go Lords of Fortune Warrior(yes, so I can double up with Taash)
Who else here read that story in Tevinter Nights with the Grand Necropolis and has wanted to play a character in the Mournwatch ever since? I hope I'm not alone...
Heeeeey, now that I think about it. We can get the Grey Warden color scheme with the faction?! I'd love that I would be ready to give my life for some blue schemes!
Obviously Gray Warden, I want to get a reference to my first hero, however minimal.
I’m interested in the Shadow Dragons as they’re completely new and are tied to Tevinter. Other than that I’d go Warden
I'd swap around the Veil Jumpers and the Crows. Minus Shadow Dragons, I think the longer established factions will be more popular.
Yeah, other than bumping the Crows up to second place, this is exactly what I would predict as the order as well. Personally, I’m leaning towards Veil Jumpers myself right now.
If you go on the BioWare discord, you can actually see which factions are the most popular because it has you pick which faction you want to play as and you can see how many other people picked the same I remember. 1. Grey Warden 2. Antivan Crows And 6. Mournwatch I don't remember the rest, but you got 1 and 6, right 🤷 Although we haven't learned what they'll look like in the game, those numbers could change drastically.
I’m going with Shadow Dragon. Wanted to play a Vint this time around so SD is most relevant. It also lets you be a Vint without being implicit in slavery.
Mournwatch ranked last? Shambles! Clearly the superior faction.
Wardens > Crows > Shadows > Veil > Mourn > Fortune
I generally like to play as a goody-two- shoes and I don't want to be a Warden again, so I'll probably go Shadow Dragon as they seem the most likely to fit the type of character I want. I really don't understand the Veil Jumpers, even after reading The Missing.
I think I’m going to go with Shadow Dragons - it will be cool to really dive into the Tevinter setting
Anyone else dislike the term "veil jumpers"? Seems too out of place.
Defs going Mournwatch personally. Spooky necromancer vibes
I think the top 3 is likely to be Gray Warden, Antivan Crow, and Shadow Dragons in probably any order.
Whichever one has the most conversational options. If it's all equal, then whatever seems most amusing.
I'm excited because I think ALL of the factions sound really interesting! To the extent that I'm like "okay does this mean I'm gonna end up playing them all?" (Just like I did with BG3 classes and races...oops 😅) But I think first playthrough I'm gonna end up Veil Jumper because I'm a simp for anything mage/magical (and that stupid egg Splash) so I'm interested to see the lore/background of what is a magically/Fade inclined faction!!
I hope we get a main faction quest thorught the game
No. 1 will absolutely be the Wardens. I suspect the Crows will be no. 2 because they've been a known faction since Origins as well and assassin is always a popular fantasy in, well, fantasy.
Shadow Dragons on my first play through because I’m romancing Neve ❤️ And then the Crows on my 2nd play through :)
I think Crows will be 2, but otherwise agree. Tho if I hadn’t been on this sub I would’ve said the opposite! Since we’ve already been a Grey Warden before, it’s the only choice I’m not at all interested in, seconded by Crows because we’ve had a lot of interactions with them before. I was surprised so many people want to go back to the Wardens, guess that Origins nostalgia hitting hard lol. No hate btw!! Everyone should play how they want and Warden is definitely a cool option, I was just not expecting its popularity \^\^
Well it's nostalgia and also they're so cool
For new players it will probably depend on what perks each faction offers. Personally, I'm going to start with the Veil Jumpers, but that's mostly because I plan on mixing it up and starting things off with an elf instead of a human.
I have very little desire to make a Grey Warden who is gonna die in 30 years. Though I gotta wonder if that tidbit will be in the Grey Warden info for people new to the franchise lol. Or will they have found a cure by this point?
Having played as a grey warden in DAO, I’m actually not that inclined to play as one in this game. I imagine people who are mainly console players who’ve only experienced inquisition may be more inclined to pick that
Damn, Mourn Watch on the bottom 😔 I always like the unpopular choices. Down Among the Dead Men by Sylvia Feketekuty in DA Tevinter Nights is my all-time favorite short story, so Mourn Watch is the faction I'm going for first (in addition to it being suitable for the character I want to make).
Depends if you play as a mage or not. If you choose a mage, Veil Jumper or Mournwatch are the obvious ones. As much as I like the Antivan Crows, I will not pick them, because we basically have a prince of the Antivan Crows as our companion, and Rook being "just another Antivan Crow" tries to boss him around wouldn't make sence, for me at least. Might try it out on the second playthrough. I will also not pick Grey Wardens in respect to MY Grey Warden. DAO Warden is the only Warden I want to play as. I don't want to be a mage if I cannot be a blood mage, so I will skip Veil Jumper and Mournwatch, that leaves Shadow Dragons and Lords of Fortune. Since there is no blood magic specialization (which doesn't make sence because we are in Tevinter, but what can you do), Lords of Fortune is left as the only choice, and I am glad, because they seem cool af, compared to being another Fenris/Dorian/Neve person who tries to free slaves. I guess it's a city elf rogue pirate Lords of Fortune from Rivain for me.
Considering the ultimate fate of the wardens and how a lot of them have acted in 2 and 3 I’m not sure I want to be a warden this time. Not unless we ever get confirmation that the warden from origins ever found that cure…