Party banter disappeared with patch 3

After several targetted tests, and reading through the thread on the Bioware forum regarding this issue, it seems that the player must spend a minimum of 20-30 minutes out of combat before the banter system engages. Fast travel appears to reset this timer. Combat seems to stop the timer from ticking down. It may also be influenced by FPS lag. Once the first banter fires, it seems that all further banters will fire as appropriate until the player fast travels again.

That would explain why other folk and I will get banter as normal while idling or avoiding combat, but will almost never see banter during normal play -- the system assumes that we will spend well over an hour in a zone without any sort of fast travel.

This should probably be tested by competent QA and not by the end-user.

I have same feeling. Banter works if i idle no matter if I am in hinterlands or storm coas. But when I travel I get nothing, seems like you said that fast travel and combat resets the timer instead of just pausing It.

I can't be bothered putting in support information, since each patch only breaks this game further. Count me in for having perfectly fine party banter, and zero since patch 3.

125 hours invested up until patch 1, and next to none since, as just about everything that worked fine has been broken since. Sack your Q&A team. Presuming you have one.

What Platform are you playing the game on? If PC, can you provide a DxDiag? PC.  http://hastebin.com/raw/haneqageba

What areas have you been in when the problem was reported? All areas. In 58 hours of play, I've had non environment based party banter fire twice.

Have you already entered the Hinterlands? Yes.

Are you mostly spending time on Critical Path plots? I've completed up through the Winter Palace plot and have met up with Hawke's Warden friend in Here Lies the Abyss.

What is the the Race/Class/Gender combination of your Inquisitor? Human/Female/Mage

What followers are you using at the time? All of them. I constantly rotate the party and have had tons of combinations. My first instance of non environment party banter was between Sera and Blackwall and my second was between Cole and Dorian.

How would you describe your play-style? No stone left unturned. I seek and explore every nook and cranny. I also am constantly fast traveling, going through menus, and shooting/harvesting any animal that gets in my way.

How are you moving around in areas? For example, are you using the mount? I use a mount less than 1% of the time. It would interfere with my stone and herb collecting.

Are you playing a mage and using Blink to move around areas? I've never used Blink.

Are you engaging in regular combat? (Are you in combat every 30 seconds?) No.

Are you playing in heavy-combat zones where non-player factions are fighting each other? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. My Hinterlands area is really calm right now, no more mercenary camp, templar camp, or mage camp, but I still have no party banter while walking around.

How many hours have you spent in your current playthrough? (the one you are experiencing the banter issues in) 58 hours

Where do you expect banter to be firing? While walking along open and empty stretches of the Hinterlands, the Storm Coast, the Western Approach, etc., with no enemies in sight.

I, like a lot of other people, can also get party banter to fire if I set my party in a safe corner and put down the controller for 10 minutes.  That's not the issue.  The issue is that you have too many constraints that are pausing or resetting the banter timer.  I play for 58 hours with only two instances of banter firing, but I put the controller down in a safe area and the banter fires for the third time ever within 10 minutes.  Something ain't right, guys.  You need to adjust how banter fires to take into account how people actually play your game, not how you'd like or expect for people to play your game.

I had the banter bug before - but the War Table workaround (only ever fast travelling from there, not leaving Skyhold any other way) had fixed it. I've gone from banter every few minutes to literally none, and the workaround doesn't help, now.
I'm also getting fewer 'in fight' noises. And location music. It's like it's gone back to how it was before I knew of the Wartable workaround ... but this time there's no workaround.
Pre-patch, I was hearing music or banter roughly every 10minutes.

1. What Platform are you playing the game on? If PC, can you provide a DxDiag? PC, attached: http://hastebin.com/efinofamib.tex
   
   
2. What areas have you been in when the problem was reported? Have you already entered the Hinterlands? Are you mostly spending time on Critical Path plots? >> I've pretty much cleared the Hinterlands (except for the Dragon Area). I do all the side quests AND the Critical Path plots/
   
   
3. What is the the Race/Class/Gender combination of your Inquisitor? >> Human / Rogue / Female.
   
   
4. What followers are you using at the time? >> Tried a few, but currently: Cassandra, Dorian, Blackwell
   
   
5. How would you describe your play-style? How are you moving around in areas? For example, are you using the mount? Are you playing a mage and using Blink to move around areas? >> Run everywhere new, never use a mount. Once I've cleared an area, will sometimes fast travel between camps. Never played a mage.
   
   
6. Are you engaging in regular combat? (Are you in combat every 30 seconds?) Are you playing in heavy-combat zones where non-player factions are fighting each other? >> not really - I've cleared out many of the areas. Every few minutes, most.
   
   
7. How many hours have you spent in your current playthrough? (the one you are experiencing the banter issues in) >> 54.
   
   
8. Where do you expect banter to be firing? >> Everywhere except Skyhold and Val Royeaux. I've had event specific conversation fire (Dorian, when speaking to Dragon researcher about Tevinter translations) but that's it.
   
   
   Edit: finally got a bit of landscape commentary in the Hissing Wastes - "That's a load of nothing, no look campfires". Swapped Cassandra out for IronBull, and first banter in a couple of hours. Both coincided with finding/fighting around a portal.
   Yup - another banter - and again started just as finished shutting a portal.

I think I got this problem in the second day that I play this game. The first pt when first arrive Hinterlan, I have banter just after I leave camp, then I logout and longin next day, everything changhed. I can only hear one banter in 2 or 3 hr. Now my total playtime maybe 100+ hr for 3 character, the problem still them same. None of my character can hear banter regularly.   

1. What Platform are you playing the game on? If PC, can you provide a DxDiag?    PC,  http://hastebin.com/ifefubakas.tex
2. What areas have you been in when the problem was reported? Have you already entered the Hinterlands? Are you mostly spending time on Critical Path plots?      All area, and my 3rd chr already arrived Skyhold..
   
   
3. What is the the Race/Class/Gender combination of your Inquisitor? Elf / Mag / Female.
   
   
4. What followers are you using at the time?  all different, right now is: Dorian, Blackwell, Solas
   
   
5. How would you describe your play-style? How are you moving around in areas? For example, are you using the mount? Are you playing a mage and using Blink to move around areas? Run, no mount, no Blink 
6. Are you engaging in regular combat? (Are you in combat every 30 seconds?) Are you playing in heavy-combat zones where non-player factions are fighting each other?  No..not in heave-combat zone, do quest in combat then harvest
   
   
7. How many hours have you spent in your current playthrough? (the one you are experiencing the banter issues in)   10
   
   
8. Where do you expect banter to be firing?  I just hope I can hear banter reaularly not 2 hours then I have one banter.

1. What Platform are you playing the game on? If PC, can you provide a DxDiag?
   
   PC.  www.hastebin.com/eyezupujel.tex
   
   
2. What areas have you been in when the problem was reported? Have you already entered the Hinterlands? Are you mostly spending time on Critical Path plots?
   
   This problem has occurred in nearly every area through the ending of the game and beyond.  This occurs whether I am spending time on critical path plots or side plots.
   
   Before patch 3, I would receive occasional banter, nearly once per hour, however it would repeat the same banter every time and would only fire in certain combinations.
   
   Since patch 3, I have had no banter at all.
   
   
3. What is the the Race/Class/Gender combination of your Inquisitor?
   
   I have had this issue with all five playthroughs so far.  The combinations are as follows:  Qunari/Mage/Female, Human/Warrior/Male, Elf/Mage/Female, Human/Warrior/Male, Elf/Mage/Female.
   
   
4. What followers are you using at the time?
   
   This happens with all combinations of followers.  Currently I am using Solas, Cassandra, and Varric as I am at the beginning of a playthrough.
   
   
5. How would you describe your play-style? How are you moving around in areas? For example, are you using the mount? Are you playing a mage and using Blink to move around areas?
   
   I tend not to use the mount or blink.  I walk/run everywhere and on rare occasions, I fast travel.
   
   
6. Are you engaging in regular combat? (Are you in combat every 30 seconds?) Are you playing in heavy-combat zones where non-player factions are fighting each other?
   
   I find this issue whether I engage in regular combat or not.  Sometimes I engage in combat approximately once every minute or two, sometimes I can go nearly an hour without combat or dialogue.
   
   
7. How many hours have you spent in your current playthrough? (the one you are experiencing the banter issues in)
   
   My current playthrough is about 5-7 hours old.  However, my longest playthrough is over 60 hours, and I have played a total of over 200 hours.
   
   
8. Where do you expect banter to be firing?
   
   I would think anytime I am out and about in a region that is not Val Royeaux or Skyhold.  If I am in combat or some other interaction when it was supposed to fire, I would expect that it would fire after the combat is over.

Before patch 3 the amount of banters I got seemed to vary between playthroughs. On my current playthrough I was regularly getting them around every 15 to 20 minutes before I downloaded patch 3 and now I only seem to get 1 banter an hour, if that. I tried making a new playthrough and played through the Hinterlands for several hours and still nothing. I even tried reinstalling the game last night and that did not help either.

• What Platform are you playing the game on? If PC, can you provide a DxDiag?

I am playing on PC http://hastebin.com/ucahehaxeg.tex

• What areas have you been in when the problem was reported? Have you already entered the Hinterlands? Are you mostly spending time on Critical Path plots?

When the patch downloaded I was in the Western Approach. Since then I've done almost all of the Emerald Graves, gone back to the Hinterlands, and done most of the Storm Coast. I have only had about 3 banters since the patch downloaded in around 8 hours of play time. One of which was cut short by a surprise bear attack.

• What is the the Race/Class/Gender combination of your Inquisitor?

My Inquisitor is a human female mage.

• What followers are you using at the time?

I usually take Iron Bull, Sera, and Dorian but I have switched to Blackwall, Sera, and Solas, and also Cassandra, Vivienne, Varric and still nothing.

• How would you describe your play-style? How are you moving around in areas? For example, are you using the mount? Are you playing a mage and using Blink to move around areas?

I have not used the mounts at all in this playthrough and I do not use spells to move around areas. I have even tried standing still by a camp and only got one banter after waiting for over 30 minutes.

• Are you engaging in regular combat? (Are you in combat every 30 seconds?) Are you playing in heavy-combat zones where non-player factions are fighting each other?

Usually I am in combat fairly regularly but I have been avoiding it lately to see if it causes more banter to trigger. I was not in combat for about an hour on the Storm Coast, only got one banter between Sera and Iron Bull and listened to Dorian make the same comment about the environment twice in 10 minutes.

• How many hours have you spent in your current playthrough? (the one you are experiencing the banter issues in)

About 39 hours, I was at the 30 hour mark when I downloaded patch 3. I have only done Here Lies the Abyss so I am not at a point where I should be running out of dialogue yet.

• Where do you expect banter to be firing? I expect banter to be firing about every 15 minutes whenever I am walking around in an area and I am not engaged in combat.

I re-installed after patch3, started a new character. Everything was fine; for the first time I heard regular party banter in rather regular intervalls for roughly 25h (btw, I was fast travelling like a pro, and it triggered in all kinds of situations)

Then....

Skyhold...

haven't heard anything except one banter in 5h now.... maybe Skyhold messes things up big time? Not looking forward to spending the next 60h talking to myself only...

Update:

7 more hours, and only 2 banters in Crestwood, nothing in the Hinterlands, Approach, Hissing Wastes....and ony fetch questing. Am on PC, btw.