I have to agree that this is looking extremely "must buy" like.  From the bit of preview we've now been able to see, I only want it more.  Visually terrific, and some of the new elements definitely seem to be on the right track.  I love 1e of this already, but this looks great.  Can't wait to see and learn more about this!

 Can't wait!

We didn't have release date yet, right?

Finally some info. I'm really liking what I see so far. A campaign right out the box with different possible outcomes depending on what happens during the quests. Very cool that the heroes are not killed in the campaign or at least I hope that they're just disabled and can continue the adventure even if they lose one quest on total party "kill". The amazing thing about the campaign system is also that it will be really easy to create similar expansions based on the core box material only. Yay! I'm also really liking the playing time estimations as the 5h+ Descent games were way too long for our gaming group.

My big big BIG wish is that the power curve of the game isn't as steep as it was in the 1st edition. The heroes went from zero to superhero in couple of rooms and gold treasures. With longer power curve the players get the feel of a character much better and even small power gains feel rewarding. I can't imagine that FFG would do the "in the beginning of every quest you've drank and partied all your gold and magic items" approach to the 2nd edition campaign. If they have I'm disappointed big time.

It just says "summer".

 There are no obstacles on the pictures so far. I really hope they didn't repealed obstacle tokens like rubble or pits. 

Graf said:

It seems to be generally accepted now that any obstacles will be printed directly on the tiles.

Graf said:

There may be a few such tokens, but based on the component counts I've heard, it doesn't sound like there are nearly as many tokens with this game as with 1e.  Adding in hearts, fatigue and all the other non-obstacle tokens one expect there must be, it doesn't look good.

I don't mind that so much, as long as it's easy to find the tile I need when building a map.  No individual tokens all over the place means quicker set up time, and that means quicker overall play time.

Steve-O said:

True, but that also means less choices for future custom scenarios, less variety.

I hope FFG will publish play-tested quest compendium for that edition too...

Mestari said:

This.  Custom maps are where my group has the most fun.  I suppose I could just use the 1e tiles...  Meh.

 I'm sure there'll still be plenty of combinations of dungeon tiles that are not covered by the quest guide that can be used for fan-created maps.

Mestari said:

This is true, and it may well end up being a sore point about 2e for some people.

Personally, I don't have as much time for custom scenarios as I used to, so I don't think this particular detail will impact my enjoyment of the game very much.  There's 37 maps in the 2e base box, with an average of 2 maps per "quest."  Even so, looking at the breakdown in the new preview article, there's almost double the number of "quests" as were included in the 1e base box.  Plus, I've already earmarked the idea of making the old 1e quests playable with 2e rules as a homebrew project, so between that and what comes in the 2e base box, I expect I'll get more than my money's worth out of these tiles.

YMMV, of course.

Finaly we get to see a 1st preview - still it's a shame that we had to wait sooooooo long to get it.

It's nice, looks like a good tested product with detailed minis, easy rules and so on. It's also good to see that it will have so many options for heroes and Overlord. The number of quests is impresive. But all that shine will not hide the fact that we still have not got a official release date - summer could also mean August. And the game is still at the printer so it will be a lot itme waiting for it to hit stores. Let's just hope that it will be sooner than later.

The fact that all tiles of the maps have printed obstacles is not good. I always enjoyed that in 1e I could make out of the tiles any dungeon I wanted and pleace elements of terian the way I needed. I will not judge the tiles until I see them but I hope that there will be just a few obstacles to pleace. There should be becouse without obstacles the OL could not play such traps like Spiked Pit.

We are going to wait now what the next week will show us - there should be another preview maybe this time with an update in upcoming section,

Cheers

 Well, "game is in the printer", i wouldnt give so much credit to that. Maybe they just didnt update it properly. I hope :)

Jafix said:

I expect that's the case.  Generally speaking, the previews don't start until the game is almost on shelves.  Should be available in a month or two if everything follows true to form.

Taht would not be the first time when the game is not updated correctly in upcoming section. I remeber that there were titles that hit to shipping now and were not on the boat becouse they were not updated in time. I hope you are right Steve-O and the game is just not updated and is on it's way. maybe we will see it in June.