BioWare’s latest Dragon Age: Dreadwolf community update dives deep into the creation of the upcoming RPG’s skill tree, with BioWare detailing its philosophy behind the system and how the game’s various designers help bring it to life in-game.
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s skill tree is designed so that unlocking each new node “feels meaningful” and grants “significant power gains,” BioWare states in the blog. A variety of different nodes in the skill tree are there to provide more than simple stat boosts. Additionally, BioWare doesn’t want any node in the skill tree to feel like a largely useless stepping stone to get to a “real” node, instead pushing for each node to be powerful and impactful in its own right.
BioWare’s goal is to make the skill tree easy to navigate and easy to explore, so players can make a plan on how to build their character. That includes making it clear how many skill points players have to work with and making sure the nodes themselves are easy to understand, with clear descriptions or a video showing a node’s effects where needed.