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I've unlocked all the classes and played most of them. Scoundrel is top tier good, even with all of the other classes unlocked. But generally every class has been fun and played differently. None have been out right bad or unplayable. A few are certainly more challenging, which by the time you unlock them, is a welcome experience. My least favorite has been the Tinkerer only because I feel its gimmick doesn't scale as well with player count and I have only ever played 2-player. I love me some Cragheart. His gimmick is not so much tank as it is battlefield control and manipulation. We cheesed a super hard scenario once by making a tough mudder obstacle courses for the monsters to run through.
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Nov 12, 2017 18:48
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The board itself is so superfluous that I wish it wasn't even included. It's like cardboard that could have been better used for anything else. That would be my one critic of the otherwise great components. For card upgrades, I printed the upgrades on paper, cut one out when I need it, and then tape it to the outside the card sleeve. I sleeve the cards since they get handled so much.
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Nov 15, 2017 03:07
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My thoughts on the Circles class. I played the Summoner as my 5th characters and by that time I was looking for something challenging and new despite my disdain for summons. And this is where I think the Summoner (and other weirdo classes like Saw) fit in. Yes, it's built around a less than efficient and often challenging gimmick, but that's the point. Not all classes are exactly balanced. Some classes are more "difficult" than others which can be fun for an experienced player. The Summoner did not turn out as bad as I feared. Shadow Wolves is your bread and butter card to start. You get 2 summons for the price of one and they are fast enough to keep up. I never got to enhance the card but adding +1 to their attack score would have been my top priority if I had the time. The wolves are glass cannons and generally go down in one hit, but you can usually maneuver them to last 2 rooms. I found a tempo of alternating high and low initiates worked best. Go late so that enemies had to move to you and then the wolves rush to attack. Then go early so they attack again before the enemy. Most things go down in 4 attacks plus your own actions. I also loaded up on the small item summons, generally aimed to get to get 3 to 4 summons going at a time, and then once the wolves were down, that's where I started considering the recover 4 lost cards card to re-do this setup.
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Jan 19, 2018 17:43
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Elephant Ambush posted:Now that we finished the random dungeon, can we all still donate to the sanctuary and do a city event? Nope. You can only do these things after doing a real scenario in campaign mode.
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Apr 1, 2018 22:25
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Broke open the 2nd edition reprint and picked up playing again where we left off after about a year hiatus. We play 2p and second scenario we chose to ease us back into things was 66  We bounced hard off that one twice and came just ~2 turns (plus luck) close to winning. I'm not certain it's even realistically possible at 2p except with either super good luck or some sort of super cheese build of high movie + jump + invis every turn. Goddamn I hate oozes and elite artillery.Playing at +1 difficulty has been pretty exciting! I felt like we were breezing through many scenarios before playing at just recommended level, but the added difficulty has really made decisions feel tactical and important. Also the Gloomhaven Helper app has been a god send. Saves so much setup time and table space.
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Jul 9, 2018 01:19
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Personal Quests are hit or miss and not at all well balanced. They are definitely one of the weakest elements of the game as a whole, but they're overall effect on the meat of game play is so minor that I don't care too much. They are more or less just an excuse to have a constant and timed drip of new content added to the mix and it's better to just play fast and lose with them rather than be super strict by the rules. We play 2p only and decided early on to just game the Personal Quest system for our enjoyment and fast track unlocking everything. After every retirement we just chose the next PQ to unlock the next icon we thought was interesting. We even repeated many scenarios in order to fulfill requirements and strategized a bit on retirement goals. We are 90% done with the main campaign and we have all classes unlocked. I've already yielded 100+ hours of enjoyment out of this game and won't be playing it over again so I want to see all I can while I can. I also hate dodging spoilers and just want to read all the discussion, strategy guides, and theory-crafting with out worry.
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Jul 9, 2018 20:14
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What are everyone's house rules? We've been playing with the following to mostly make things harder. 1) Stamina Potions are -1 cards. This is to reduce the lazy over reliance on them and force more tactical card decisions and hand management. Even at just 1 card, I find minor stamina potion worth it and definitely use it every scenario. 2) No free perks for past retired characters. This feels like a wholly unnecessary rule that's only there to blunt the transition pain of your first retirement. I've retired 5 characters now so it would be ridiculous for me to get 6 free perks. After you get like 3 free perks and some Prosperity, Battle Goals lose all importance and I found myself ignoring them for the most part. There are not nearly enough Perks per character to force interesting decision making so a bunch of extra perks are going to nullify that completely.
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Jul 10, 2018 23:47
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What's this two stack advantage/disadvantage thing? Credit for wound kills is a good one. That has been an eye-rolling annoyance of mine for a long time. Just place your character token on the wound to track who gave it. If they get wounded again by another character, replace the character token with the new one.
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Jul 11, 2018 02:02
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Doctor Spaceman posted:In RAW:  I've actually been doing this the entire time and never realized I was actually doing it wrong. Was this changed in the 2nd printing maybe?I mainly shoot for advantage when I'm looking to avoid the Null card and Curses and guarantee some damage. RAW is poo poo and makes rolling modifiers very bad 
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Jul 11, 2018 06:44
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I'm rather disappointed in his response to Envelope X questions.  But other than that, he comes across as a cool guy who's just happy people like his game and a second big campaign sounds dauntingly awesome. I'll probably die of Gloomhaven-toxicity if it features another slew of ~16 all-new and unique character classes to mix with the original ones. Is there even enough design space left for more?
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Jul 14, 2018 06:10
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The 1st Scenario is a bit difficult since you are probably new to the game and starting with brand new level 1 characters. Issac did not pull many punches with it. Enjoy the challenge! Unfortunately not all scenarios are such.
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Jul 16, 2018 00:30
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We pre-setup everything including monsters in order to streamline the process and not disrupt the flow of play. I regret nothing. We use Gloomhaven Helper (on an old 8" tablet) to track our initiative and hp/conditions for the monsters. It works wonderfully and saves tons of table space! We barely touch any actual tokens and I've yet to even open the monster cards.
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Jul 17, 2018 04:33
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I'll probably try it the "right" way with the upcoming expansion since they are explicitly constructing the scenario book for it. But I have a feeling I'm just going to get a bunch of cheap kinda setups and wind up playing every scenario twice because of it.
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Jul 17, 2018 05:12
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Our group has agreed to a regular low therapeutic dosing of rohypnol before we attempt each scenario so that in case we lose, our short term memory is erased and we are completely unspoiled for the 2nd attempt. Maybe its 4p vs 2p thing, but it has never felt like a huge deal at 2p. Opening the door and flipping the monster AI cards is typically enough to throw a wrench into our most well thought out plans every time. The game is plenty tactical, challenging, and satisfying with out falling prey to dumb cheapo gotcha moments out of sheer ignorance.
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Jul 17, 2018 16:10
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Kashuno posted:that is true and fair. In a few scenarios there is a choice of path and that's actually when we tried to do it with only one room at time Why is the Diviner wearing spanks? Teleport sounds okay but not anything revolutionary. I can't think of any scenarios in the base game where it would have been of much use over basic jump. I hope they don't design a bunch of the new scenarios around requiring it. "Oh there is a secret room here with no doors and it has the magic warp whistle. Hope you brought a teleport! " To that end I wonder if you can teleport into a new room with out opening the door? And how would you do that with out setting up the next room first?  The Diviner sounds interesting but I hope all the apps get immediately updated to support her. I'm never going back to using physical cards! The player mats going backwards in design to not use dials is annoying. Seems like a mistake since most people have the 2nd printing and don't have those hp/xp tokens.
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Jul 17, 2018 20:26
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Oh well! I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one, as long as we are all having fun with the game.
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Miftan posted:They come with the mats, I think. I also don't know if the mats are included in the mini-expansion? No, he mentions a 2nd kickstarter just for the mats later this year.
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Jul 17, 2018 21:01
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KingKapalone posted:The game is also balanced around not knowing what's behind the door. No it is not. Otherwise the scenario book would be laid out extremely differently and you would not be able to repeat scenarios. This whole "you can't see the next room" is entirely an invention on your part. I don't begrudge you for playing that way but the rulebook doesn't support you.
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Jul 18, 2018 22:34
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Not my least favorite, but I would have loved Triforce more if he had more cards which had the mix & match element consumption for different effects along with some more "generate any element" options. He was the most fun in the few moments I could actually puzzle out which elements to generate for next round for cool extra utility effects like push, immobilize, poison, etc. As is, he's just kind of a chore to manage effectively.
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Jul 19, 2018 01:39
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I know that there's a Scenario Flowchart on BGG and I've looked at it, but has anyone gone through and math'd out the optimal path for unlocking as many scenarios as possible? At most you're locked out of 9 scenarios.
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Aug 27, 2018 00:33
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neonchameleon posted:Envelope X is very disappointing, especially with the typo Envelope X talk. What is the typo?
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Sep 3, 2018 06:13
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Hit level 9 for the first time a few scenarios ago with my current character and now I'm just kinda over it and want to retire as soon as possible. Getting to level 9 feels like an achievement but it has sapped my enthusiasm. It's interesting for a few scenarios to play out my finalized build, but that's it. The character feels done. Now I'm wishing Gloomhaven had a more open ended character progression. XP is a resource to buy new cards, trade in cards, enhancements, perks, etc. So there would always new development goals to work towards.
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Jan 23, 2019 02:16
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So we've completed the campaign a while back and are mopping up the left over unlocked side-scenarios. I estimate we have access to about 7 more official scenarios before we run out of more "campaign-mode" options. And then looking at the scenario unlock list though, we're still missing access to another ~15 side scenarios. This greatly annoys me because RAW, we have no hope of actually picking up this last content unless we want to really cheese the system. And this brings me to my biggest gripe with the game. While Gloomhaven is most excellent in very many respects (by far the best gaming experience in my collection), the city/road deck has to be the the dumbest design feature ever. For a game advertised as a low-luck euro-style strategy thing, the city/road deck is the most dumb luck driven drivel outside of Dead of Winter. Further rants with Envelope X spoilers This is compounded by Envelope X. I glanced through the city/road cards to see if they had clues for this and yep they do. But I noticed some of them you can't technically get unless you have certain party members. It all just feels really cheaply designed to require the stars to align on several puzzle pieces. I know the end result of Envelope X already, but I was hoping there was going to be a relatively timely collection of the clues just playing the game naturally so that I could "officially" solve it. But I guess I should just cheat? Did anyone else just say gently caress it?
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Feb 3, 2019 02:53
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Scenario 77 We tried this three times now and hit a brick wall each time. This scenario seems really hard, but maybe it is for our party composition of Two-Mini and Tinkerer. We can't seem to kill guys in the first room fast enough. Then the 2nd room is ridiculous as well. The Tinkerer goes in guns blazing and maybe takes out the hounds and guard. But the two archers in the back behind the tables are just brutal. We've managed to kill everyone in the first 2 rooms but never have enough cards left over to finish to two side rooms. Anyone else have luck with this one? I am playing the Tinkerer again, a class I initially tried long ago and gave up. It's a challenge, but I am coming around on the Tinkerer as actually okay. This is strictly 2p so I have to play the Tinkerer more aggressively and damaged focused. He's got more straight up dud cards than any other class I've seen and Levels 2/3/4 are really boring as far as choices go. I really wish Issac had fixed a few of the poor guy's cards in the 2nd edition with some small edits. Looking at you, Volatile Concoction, Restorative Mist, Micro Bots, Disorienting Flash, and Tinkerer's Tools. House rules we're currently using: 1) Advantage is two-piles method. Disadvantage is pull until two termination cards and ignore all rolling modifiers. 2) Scenario Level is always +2. 3) Any item which recovers discarded cards (i.e. Stamina Potions) are -1 card from stated text and remove from game after use. 4) After completing Scenario 51 in campaign-mode, you can now do City Cards, Road Cards, and Temple Donations between any scenario. 5) Regardless of Prosperity and previous retired characters, always start new characters at Level 2 with just 1 extra Perk and 15 extra Gold [beyond the recommended (L+1)x15]. 6) Choose whatever Personal Quest you want. 7) Do not reshuffle Battle Goals until the deck runs out. After you pick your Battle Goal, you may give the other option to another player if they complain enough about their choices.
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Feb 4, 2019 06:49
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I enjoyed playing Circles more so than say Triforce (too tedious) or Tinkerer (underwhelming) or Angry Face (too boring and straight forward). Circles is alright and can be effective, just not game breaking effective like some other classes. Think of it as a fun challenge. It's satisfying to take an oft frowned upon mechanic and making it work.
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Mar 17, 2019 19:04
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Forever_Peace posted:We just unlocked triforce at prosperity level 1. Any advice for low level triforce play? Items or builds to take a good look at? Don't. Unless maybe you have a lot of elemental infusing partners who won't also be needing those elements which is unlikely. Triforce is very frustrating and requires a diverse set of items (i.e. higher prosperity) and enhancements (i.e. tons of gold) to make up for the class's design flaws.
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Mar 24, 2019 18:30
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I've played the Tinkerer 2p for a while and have eventually come around on the class. It's pretty okay actually. It has proved better and more powerful than I originally gave it credit. The key is to think of the Tinkerer as an artillery unit who can shell out some high damage AoE a several times a scenario at key moments. Eagle Eye Goggles and Power Potions are key items early on. Later on at higher prosperity there are Evocation Robes to further boost damage and a Bomb to turn any of your single target high damage attacks like Crank Bow into delicious AoE.. And with 12 cards, you're going to end up with at least 4 Lvl 1's even at Lvl 9. So you might as well invest in some of them and get more bang for your buck over the life of your character. My first enhancement was Wound on Stun Shot and it was bread and butter work-horse card to the bitter end. What I really don't like about the Tinkerer is that a lot of its cards are just junk and it really restricts the build options. You can go mad bomber or a straight forward heal bot (which is pretty boring). There's enough there to cobble together a decent hand, but not much room for variety. There's a lost of wasted card design on things you will never use like traps, summons, anemic card recovery support, and more healing. And then as you level up, most levels have a clear winner and loser to pick from which doesn't lead to excitement in choice. Lvl 2 and 4 are especially pathetic and boring levels, so you have to wait until Lvl 5 to get something new and exciting.
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Apr 11, 2019 23:39
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Got the expansion today but I'm a little burnt out on Gloomhaven so I think I will hold off for a bit, at least until Gloomhaven Helper app gets updated to support the Diviner. One note, the expansion campaign requires you to play the Diviner which is a little annoying.
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Jun 5, 2019 03:16
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They were either part of the last reprint kickstarter or offered through BGG market.
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Nov 22, 2019 03:14
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Overall, FH sounds great! They are shoring up the much more weaker elements of GH and leaving the stunningly beautiful combat system in place. Bravo. I l definitely like Bane better than Execute and would welcome revised cards for the original GH classes. Execute was such unfun cheese. When the expansion introduced Teleport, they did the same and I would appreciate the update to a more elegant unified wording and mechanic. Brittle also sounds cool. A nice setup for potential team work. Not as effective in the monster hands, but eh. I would suspect there will be an opposite of Brittle which would be much more useful for monsters than players.
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Dec 7, 2019 22:00
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FH will be kickstarter, right? Place your bets on the final total. I think it will break 3 million.
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Dec 8, 2019 03:31
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SalTheBard posted:I keep looking at the FH Classes and I think I want to start with either Drifter or Germinate. Drifter in particular looks super fun. That's funny because I had the exact opposite reaction. The Drifter looks really generic and the least interesting new class. What attracts you to it? Also the Geminate came across as overly complicated and tedious. Plus its the one class designed by Marcel and I'm not too fond of his work. Everything else looks awesome, the Blinkblade especially. I hope they fix the layout of its cards so initiative and ability are consistently on the same side.
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Dec 9, 2019 22:57
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I love punching vermlings for their lunch money.
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Dec 10, 2019 17:51
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Traps are pretty bad. But there definitely has to be some sort of trap based locked class coming. I hope non-loss summons are not the norm for all summons going forward. Otherwise that's going to retroactively diminish the GH classes. I really want all the GH content to stand equal to FH so I can spend weeks waffling which of 40 classes to play.
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Dec 11, 2019 15:57
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Doctor Spaceman posted:E: The other way to make traps good is give a lot of forced movement to a class, either with pushes and pulls or with the various repositioning / controlled movement abilities that exist. Yeah this would definitely help. Of the starting 6, the Tinkerer is the most trap capable but its just all so woefully under powered. His forced movement options are extremely limited to effectively make use of the already anemic trap effects he even has at level 1. A trap based class is going to need some of the following to potentially work: non-loss trap cards, set traps at range, pick-up and/or move traps, set multiple traps at a time, scaling trap damage, lots of forced movement options, disarm and/or collect traps for bonus (trap card recovery?), aoe trap effects, remote detonate traps, a plethora of pick-n-choose trap status effects in addition to damage.
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Dec 11, 2019 16:32
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SalTheBard posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-6P-jUy0w Everything sounds pretty good to me! Issac is focusing on beefing up the between-scenario game play (town building, road/city events, etc.) which was honestly the weakest part of Gloomhaven. I do hope the 3 campaign branches alluded to are not mutually exclusive or anything. I don't like huge swathes of scenarios to remain locked content. Gloomhaven had a few of these, like 1 medium scenario path a couple of either/or scenarios, and that was a tolerable amount. I pretty much min/maxed my way through the scenario tree. I really like the change in retirement goals to unlocking buildings. That seems more thematic but now how will most classes get unlocked? I need that steady stream of envelop opening and envious oogling new class mechanics! The puzzle book thing concerns me the most as I hope Issac learned his lessons from Envelope X. He does mention giving more direction and clues but his adamant refusal to talk about Envelop X provides no insight into his perspective as a designer.
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Feb 25, 2020 21:18
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http://www.cephalofair.com/2020/03/the-launch-has-shifted-and-thats-okay.html Well bless his heart. Issac is going to start a new 10 week 10 scenario community driven campaign because everyone is trapped in their homes.
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Mar 21, 2020 01:02
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Super cool. Should generate some good play test data for Issac.
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Mar 24, 2020 19:21
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Going to start Forgotten Circles this week and I'm playing the Diviner. Can't find much discussion on strategy for her. Any tips on starting equipment? Any general tips on card selection and play style? This will be starting at Level 1 with 2p so I expect it to be rough and can't play full support.
iceyman fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Apr 8, 2020 |
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Apr 8, 2020 04:41
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Forgot to mention that 2nd player will be Three Spears but is a more casual gamer. I did not realize that the Disarm rift is a 2 turn deal if you get them to walk through it. That's pretty  Is Forgotten Circles going to railroad me a ton? I just want to play the Diviner and have fun with this rift gimmick, but I get the feeling every scenario is going to say "Nah, you have do this this and this dumb thing instead. You don't actually get to play the game, dummy."
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Apr 8, 2020 05:46
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Uggg. We are bouncing extremely hard off Forgotten Circles first scenario (96) and it's not at all fun, in fact it's extremely frustrating. Mind you we are trying this 2p at level 1 with the Three Spears and Diviner. Is this poo poo even winnable? Are we doing something wrong? Please help end our suffering. The Diviner is just too drat slow. Hooray, a movement juggling scenario across an expansive map with these drat portals acting as speed bumps. This is surely a great first taste for a new character who loving sucks balls at moving. And the first room has 4 demons in it with flying shield retaliate gimmicks which are hard to effectively kill at level 1. The Diviner surely can't kill them and I don't know how to support Three Spears to effectively kill them as well. Oh and you better hurry because we're going to start spawning a new demon every turn in very short order. I also managed to get effectively trapped in one of the dimensions because demons were blocking the portal, I have no jump movement options, and teleport doesn't work across the portals. Just balls.
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Apr 11, 2020 22:58
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