To my mind, difficulty should be determined by win/loss percentage of a quest with the available cards. For example a scenario that you win 50% of the time you play it should be difficulty 5 and a scenario you win 70% of the time you play it should be a level 3. This is why I keep a reccord on Google Docs of my wins and losses each time I play, for each scenario. This lets me look back and compare my win ratio to the difficulty level to see how close FFG got. For instance, 'Into the Pit' and 'Watcher in the Water' both match up exactly with the difficulty level assigned to them. In contrast, Dead Marshes is way off because I've never lost a game of it out of 10 plus plays even though it's Level 5. Of course FF probably doesn't have the time to play a scenario as many times as it would take to get a clear picture every time.

To my mind, difficulty should be determined by win/loss percentage of a quest with the available cards. For example a scenario that you win 50% of the time you play it should be difficulty 5 and a scenario you win 70% of the time you play it should be a level 3. This is why I keep a reccord on Google Docs of my wins and losses each time I play, for each scenario. This lets me look back and compare my win ratio to the difficulty level to see how close FFG got.

For instance, 'Into the Pit' and 'Watcher in the Water' both match up exactly with the difficulty level assigned to them. In contrast, Dead Marshes is way off because I've never lost a game of it out of 10 plus plays even though it's Level 5. Of course FF probably doesn't have the time to play a scenario as many times as it would take to get a clear picture every time.

 Ok, so I finally beat this scenario (my first try after writing about it last night). I stuck with the Gondor theme cause I didn't want to give up that quick on it. I had one slight twist with using the Leadership Aragorn, but he's the King so that fits in with Gondor right?  Anyhow, I also used tactics Boromir, his readying ability is nice to quest and fight since you also start with some enemies off the bat. You can also use it on the first turn to pull the Harbor Thugs out of the staging area so you can quest further on the first turn to hopefully get the Leaping Fish location explored. Having that extra draw from the encounter deck each turn makes this quest tough at the beginning, especially since most games I played it ended up being an enemy card.   The other Hero I used was Elenor mainly to get rid of collateral damage and local trouble, which I still ended up with one of those.   Probably one of the cards that worked out the best for me was Hail of Stones. All those cheap Gondor allies don't hit very hard, but they are good at throwing rocks:)  The main target always being the zealous traitor since he kills off allies in droves. 

Now for scenario 2. 

Was able to finally beat this with leadership Aragorn, Tactics Boromir, and Beregond. Found that Vassal of the Windlord was hugely helpful in questing, but also very vulnerable to the Zealous Traitor (cheap, 3 attack).

Mostly I think I was just lucky. Still ended up with 48 threat, and needed a timely Sneak Attack with Faramir to help quest the last stage. Spear of the Citadel is also good on Beregond as I kept him back to block most time, and he can chip away at all the enemies. Eagles of the Misty Mountains were also helpful as they can quest equally well on all stages, and don't get insta-killed like the cheaper allies.

I love the Battle mechanic and hope that it sticks around past this cycle. I honestly think it should have been in since the beginning, it forces you to use a different mix of allies.

Narsil0420 said:

Difficulty level is based on encounter sets which is create encounter deck. Look for example to second cycle: every quest which is content encounter set (i dont remember the name) with a Moria trolls, Orc Drummer and Drums in the deep is always difficult 7 or higher (in the case of Shadow and Flame is 8).

So actually in theory you can change encounter deck in any quest to make it more interesting and difficult.

Damn Zealous Traitor!  I finally made it to stage 3 for the first time and was all set to make a massive push when out springs Zealous Traitor and takes out 6 of my allies!  I thought I could still make it until to my dismay I realized it was not a Battle stage and the majority of my remaining party all had crappy willpower….

This quest is brutal.  There is no way a Gondor 5 = a Mirkwood 5.  

impaulm said:

So is mean you really need to cooperate with your partner in 2 or more player game. So this make game more difficult and feeling and andrenalin go up.

Also as i see there is no crazy powerful players cards like in previous sets so encounter deck geting more powerful and balance is better.

I agree Glaurung, it does seem like multiplayer cooperation must be emphasized with these quests.

I'm wondering what strategies will arise for the solo player, who doesn't want to change his/her deck for each quest, to tackle HoN. I sure have not found the balance yet. These quests just made the solo do-it-all deck that much harder.  This is a good thing! 

Anyone have a problem with taking Beorn on this quest? He is the bear btw.

I do like the new keywords battle and siege it just adds one more dimension to the already complex problem, cheers ffg.

also on the last quest card (escape to the quays) the card effect says that the first enemy immediatly attacks the holder of the scroll. After that attack I put the enemy in the staging area. That's the way I thought best. Any comments?

Loving the new scenarios and player cards!

I got worked once in 2 player but then had a great game where we won 3 player. Once you get over the initial hump it's not as bad (in 3 player anyway).

To answer the above question, the card says that the enemy attacks from the staging area.

Yeah your right duh. Also it attacks the player not specificaly the hero that carries the scroll. Also have to remember when that hero takes damage they lose the scroll to the enemy. Got to be patient and read everything.

Finally beat PiP with Glorifindel (Spirit), Aragorn (Lore) and Legolas.  An early Unexpected Courage on Aragorn was key as was his ability ro turn the threat clock back to 26 as I didn't get a Light of Valinor until late in the game.

Edit:  Forgot to add that Northern Tracker becomes even more valuable in siege and battle scenarios because then he is questing for 2 instead of 1 and adding travel tokens to locations.  Plus his three hit points helps keep him alive.

just beat this on second go with two handed decks

beregond/legolas/hama

elrond/glorfindel/strider

very nice quest. the damage event is deadly though

rich