Oh god I'm a fool lmao

So I've never played a dragon age game before and saw this on ea play. Been playing for a good while now and was hesitant over doing the mission to close the rift thinking it would end the game and I'd missed something. Legit spent weeks scouring the hinderlands for what I've missed. I've finally did it yesterday and lmaoooo I'm such an idiot.

Now seperate to this I'm playing as a mage and just wondering what reccomendations are for weapons. Playing with a lifetaker staff rn. Any reccomendations for an upgrade?