You have probably already seen my Dragon Age II rant.  It's a rushed game that doesn't live up to the first game's promise by any stretch of the imagination.  But I would have finished the game if one thing was fixed: 
 
ENEMIES RE-SPAWNING OUT OF THE GOD DAMN GROUND DURING COMBAT 
  
I played the first Dragon Age on Nightmare, pausing very, very often (as you might imagine) .  Playing Dragon Age Origins tactically and slowly was a lot of fun.   
I tried looking past all of Dragon Age 2's horrible missteps to see if I could dig in on some difficult tactical combat, but in every single fight I can remember, more enemies will appear out of nowhere during a fight, which makes playing with a strategy totally pointless.   If they would go back to the way it worked in Origins, the people that played this way in Dragon Age Origins might be able to get back on board.  With this awful change it is totally unplayable for a sad panda like me.   How many other people got screwed out of our preferred play-style? I can't imagine it was the majority, but I can't believe I was the only one.  Any work-arounds I can try?

They actually usually jump down from balconys or rooftops, and come out of doors. They would do the same in Origins at some points. Most noticeably at the ending, Darkspawn would constantly appear out of absolutely nowhere, but on closer inspection, they come out of doors, the doors just don't open, because that animation doesn't exist.

" They actually usually jump down from balconys or rooftops, and come out of doors. They would do the same in Origins at some points. Most noticeably at the ending, Darkspawn would constantly appear out of absolutely nowhere, but on closer inspection, they come out of doors, the doors just don't open, because that animation doesn't exist. "

I honestly don't even care about the gameplay stuff anymore, the story stuff is what makes it seem less than great, from what I've heard. Especially since Vinny wasn't super psyched about it

Either way, the way I remember DA:O is when a battle started, you had a set amount of enemies to clear before battles ended and those baddies could usually be seen as you enter the area.  Occasionally a demonic creature or summon would appear as combat was happening, but for the most part I felt like I knew what I was getting in to and could be tactical with my party accordingly.   All of that planning is meaningless if unseen forces always show up midway through a battle at unknown locations  and in unknown makeup and numbers.  introducing a crazy wildcard like that breaks tactical play styles-- pure and simple. 

Yeah it kind of still sucks but at least they don't appear out of nowhere.

I like how people came in here, completely dismissed your points, and basically just told you what you already knew.

I'm not understanding how additional waves of enemies makes strategy pointless. If anything, it made me be more mindful of positioning and careful about squandering cooldowns unnecessarily. Rather than simply burn down all the adds then *yawn* tank n' spank the elites I had to be continually mindful of my tank's taunt, the agro I was letting my DPS generate, the positioning of my healer and the cooldowns on my CC abilities.

" Yeah it kind of still sucks but at least they don't appear out of nowhere. "

I'm playing on 'Hard' and there's more strategy in overcoming the busted camera than there is in overcoming the enemies.  There's not really a whole lot of strategizing to be done once the fight starts, it's just a case of levelling and setting up your party efficiently.  After a while it seems you can pretty much be set up to fight indefinitely.  The ridiculous enemy spawn system is the only thing that keeps the combat in DA2 remotely interesting.  If they kept the current combat system but just took away the respawns you would just never be in any danger of dying, ever.

I am on my 3rd playthrough of DA2 and they pretty much come out of the same spots on every fight. They spawn on the same sides and on the same stairwells. The jump down from the same places as well. So i have been pretty easily been able to position my mages and warriors to tank the dmg and rain down aoe on a specific spot. The only noticable difference is the amount of health seems different but that could be because i am facing these fights at different levels then my previous playthrough. 
 
It only seems random because you are going into an unknown area that hasn't been memorized. The fights are pretty scripted. Especially during the act 2 Qunari fights. The pride demon is always in the same place as are the mages. The more i play it the easier it becomes to predict. It isn't very random at all unless it is your first playthrough or you are playing again on a different difficulty. When i went from normal to nightmare a couple of things changed but that was more of quantities of enemies rather then them coming from nowhere.

" Either way, the way I remember DA:O is when a battle started, you had a set amount of enemies to clear before battles ended and those baddies could usually be seen as you enter the area.  Occasionally a demonic creature or summon would appear as combat was happening, but for the most part I felt like I knew what I was getting in to and could be tactical with my party accordingly.   All of that planning is meaningless if unseen forces always show up midway through a battle at unknown locations  and in unknown makeup and numbers.  introducing a crazy wildcard like that breaks tactical play styles-- pure and simple.  "

" They actually usually jump down from balconys or rooftops, and come out of doors. They would do the same in Origins at some points. Most noticeably at the ending, Darkspawn would constantly appear out of absolutely nowhere, but on closer inspection, they come out of doors, the doors just don't open, because that animation doesn't exist. "

I found that to be annoying aspect of the game as well. On occasion they would quite literally spawn in the middle of my two ranged characters. Usually they do kinda jump outta somewhere/something, but there were the moments when they'd just pop right in front in you.

You are 100% right. Add it to the long list of shit that should have been done differently.

I've had spawn literally fade in right in front of my characters. It was annoying, but not so annoying that it made me stop playing. DA2 really felt like a, "Let's just get this game out so we can make money" type of game.

Never thought I see the day that enemy spawns caused someone to stop playing a game. What the fuck kind of world are we living in? I want no part of it.  =P

I thought the same thing the entire way through as well. By the end, I thought it got really predictable where the next wave would respawn so I could have my tank right there when it did. I would also have times where I killed a wave of enemies quicker than the game anticipated so I would have to wait around for the baddies to appear.  
 
In DA:O you definitely had to scout a room, count how many  and what type of enemies there were, and whether there are alternate entrances more enemies could be coming from. In DA2 all that strategy is useless.

"... In DA:O you definitely had to scout a room, count how many  and what type of enemies there were, and whether there are alternate entrances more enemies could be coming from. ... "

I'm bummed I can't pull the camera out. It fucking sucks playing as a mage. I'm still having fun with the game though and it seems like there is still a little bit of strategy in the game and the combat is pretty enjoyable. 
 
That camera though. It really blows that I have to cycle through characters to get a better view of the battlefield rather than just pulling all the way back like it should have been. Aside from basically being stuck in a city the entire time, and a less than desirable camera options, it is most definitely a Dragon Age game and I'm having some fun with it.

 @JJWeatherman said: 

While I found the way the spawns came intp the battle to be cheesy sometimes, I thougth they made the combat a more enjoyable challange.  There were fights in DA:O that were basically over before they started just by casting a spell or two.

" @omghisam said:

"... In DA:O you definitely had to scout a room, count how many  and what type of enemies there were, and whether there are alternate entrances more enemies could be coming from. ... "

Completely untrue. "

QQ.

You'd make a fine general... 

"-Sir, the enemy is doing something we didn't expect or particularly like..." 
"-What do you mean? Tell them to stop and go back to the strategies we prepared for god damn it!" 

It's yet another variable, add it to your calculations and adjust tactics accordingly. 
I for one enjoyed it cause it mixes things up a bit, you have to be mindful of CDs and be really careful about when you burn your skills to bring down a dude and when you save them for later, it makes combat a bit less predictable but not so much so that you can't actually plan for it.

It's super annoying.

" You'd make a fine general... 

"-Sir, the enemy is doing something we didn't expect or particularly like..." 
"-What do you mean? Tell them to stop and go back to the strategies we prepared for god damn it!" It's yet another variable, add it to your calculations and adjust tactics accordingly. I for one enjoyed it cause it mixes things up a bit, you have to be mindful of CDs and be really careful about when you burn your skills to bring down a dude and when you save them for later, it makes combat a bit less predictable but not so much so that you can't actually plan for it. "

I was never bothered by this, the same way that neverending enemies in ME2 wasn't a problem. Playing normal, I never felt that I lost a character in battle in an unfair way (except certain spells), and playing on harder than normal is, well, harder.

The respawning enemies is what I dislike the most of the combat. Not only does it look completely ridiculous, it also promotes meta-gaming.

" Yeah it kind of still sucks but at least they don't appear out of nowhere. "

I have no problem with the general mechanic of reinforcements coming mid-fight, though they would have done well to apply it in a more considered fashion.  If they'd thought about it, they might realize that there are some times where it'd make a lot of sense for there to be a stream of reinforcements, and there are times when reinforcements don't make a lot of sense at all.  I think the least strategic way the game makes things harder is how normal-looking enemies have huge health bars.    Maybe it's just cause I'm on hard, but it's dumb and not fun.  Especially that duel with the Arishok.  I had to turn it down to casual to duel him with my tank.  Maybe I coulda done it on Normal but I was too pissed about hard to have the patience for any challenge at all.

When they spawn behind your party and start attacking your mage when you strategically placed them at the  back to be shielded from the initial visible enemies is what annoys me. Then suddenly I have to drop everything and go running to their aid if they are getting swamped.