You need to HOLD the mouse button down until the gear finishes turning, not just click on it.
wow. just. wow.
and Thank You!
On the one hand I feel stupid for not trying that. On the other hand I'm kind of angry that none of the walkthroughs I looked at mentioned it. I'm having a hard time coming up with another point in any of the dragon age games where we're supposed to interact with objects by holding instead of clicking.
but again, thank you.
I don't recall seeing it in any other Dragon Age Game but, there are a few of them in DAI. Not all of them wheels like that door.
Just watch for that circle to pop up at the interaction point and, then you know you have to hold it until that circle fills
