When you’re finally ready to go on a mission, select Quick Match to join a game or Create Match to set up a game based on your exact preferences. Quick Match allows you to select your preferred difficulty and destination. Create Match lets you be the leader of a given team, and also allows you to determine difficulty, destination, and whether or not the game is public or friends-only.
Difficulty
There are three difficulty settings, catering to characters of specific levels and strength.
Routine
Routine operations are recommended for beginner players, levels 1-8.
Threatening
Threatening operations are recommended for experienced players, levels 8-16.
Perilous
Perilous operations are recommended for expert players, levels 16+.
Destinations
Three destinations are available to players at launch: Elven Ruins, Orlesian Chateau, and Tevinter Ruins. These destinations do not have a set map to follow, because the maps are created by drawing from a series of randomized “rooms” that you fight through. Familiar settings may have passages blocked off that previously were not. Doors that are sealed permanently shut may be unlocked by a rogue during a later run. A solid wall during one visit may be kicked down by a warrior during the next. You might realize, halfway through one area, that you once entered this place from the exit you’re now heading toward. There’s no way to know for certain what the map will be like until you actually get there, and even the time of day can change. You may arrive late at night to a destination shrouded by darkness, lit by precious few torches, or you could start the operation in the middle of the day.
Elven Ruins
The Elven Ruins are a good location to cut your teeth for the Inquisition. Many of the possible locations you visit throughout the ruins are set up to allow a group to properly funnel the enemy through choke points. The ruins extend above and below ground, and it is below ground where things can get dicier. Tighter spaces to work with, mixed with low lighting, can get a team turned around or, worse yet, flanked with surprising ease.
Orlesian Chateau
Narrow alleys and gaudy hallways make up the majority of the Orlesian Chateau. There’s not much space to work with, particularly if your paths take you to the outside of the chateau, where enemies have begun sacking the place, making the alleys treacherous to pass, particularly if there are enemies capable of their own area-of-effect spells. Beware of enemy scouts in Stealth in the chateau; the visibility may be low enough inside that you miss them sneaking toward you.
Tevinter Ruins
The snow-covered Tevinter Ruins are similar to the Elven Ruins in that you’ll find yourself passing above and below ground, making your way through the winding tunnels and courtyards. Some sections are open enough that trying to fight off enemies when they have so many ways to approach you is not wise, and on higher difficulty levels you may find your team forced back far from when you made initial contact with a hostile force, seeking a more easily controlled choke point.
The Enemy Factions
Randomly chosen once an operation begins, there are three potential forces your party can come across: red templars, Venatori mages, and demons. All three forces have their own unique enemy types, and they’ll force you to change your tactics on the fly. Since you do not get to choose what you’re up against, your best bet is to set up your characters to be able to fight all three forces adequately.
Red Templars
Infused with red lyrium to the point where they barely resemble the men and women they once were, the red templars act as Corypheus’s vanguard. Well armed and armored, the templars are an especially fearsome foe to face in melee combat. At range, their threat is mainly provided by red templar marksmen and red templar horrors. The marksmen in particular should be feared, as they can quickly overwhelm a single target if they’re allowed to draw a bead on them.
The red templar shadow is one of the most feared melee combat units to run across, both in terms of their strength and their appearance. If you don’t spot one before they stealth up, your first evidence of a problem might be when the shadow reappears behind one of your teammates as they fall to the ground dying.
Venatori Mages
Tevinter magisters who feel that the Imperium should return to prominence in Thedas once more have formed an extremist faction known as the Venatori, and they have allied themselves with Corypheus. The Venatori mages themselves bring powerful magicks to bear on unsuspecting parties, while their foot soldiers and marksmen provide the bulk of their muscle.
Like the red templars, the Venatori employ assassins of their own, in the form of the scout. They are just as lethal as the red templar shadow. Now imagine being surprised by a Venatori scout that suddenly gains a shield from a mage comrade...things get very interesting.
Demons
Spreading across Thedas due to the Breach and the many Fade rifts appearing across the continent, the demonic menace is entirely different from the human and once-human forces met among the templars or Venatori. Terrors rip across the ground through portals they form at their feet. Rage and pride demons burn and electrocute unfortunate victims. Coming up against the demons is facing a flood head on; they rush as a horde, trying to overwhelm careless parties quickly, while wraiths support from afar.