Online the first "Making of" Dragon Age II
First, as already seen in Mass Effect 2, there will be a place more focus on action. While retaining its component tactics, the game will be much more hectic and a component of gore and splatter much more pronounced. There will continue hordes of enemies and overtake combo style hack and slash classic. The battlefield will be much more extended, to allow the fight with a lot more enemies on screen at once.
Your party instead, you can manage it directly and completely, pause and calmly planning subsequent actions.
Perhaps this choice of Bioware to bring the game into the action, rather than to the "d20 system" of the old Neverwinter Nights, will turn up their nose to the purists, but in any case, before drawing hasty conclusions, look at the video below and wait for the release of the game.