I know in a two player hero game having Rune Plate and That relic armor from LoW (name escapes me)can be nasty. Heroes will loose lots a quests in a two player hero game but the end game is where it's at and that's a good start for the heroes. As far as power creep I don't think it's anymore power creep then plot decks. We played mostly 4 vs 1, 2 vs 1 mostly we played it to test plot decks.
I've played the crap out if this game and I can tell you winning quests and loosing quests really isn't as big a deal as you would think I've lost quests on purpose once just to see if I can win end game anyway I've seen heroes loose many quests and still win in the end. When i played as a hero we've lost quest purposely to gain as much coin as possible which for heroes is more important for their end game then (some) quest rewards that doesnt mean to forfiet each quest after coin retreival. Rune plate is just the starting point for a good Mage class to us when we played. I don't think it needs to be a act 2 item.
I'm guessing you we're in a hurry when you wrote that? What is your "excuse" Silverhelm? Lol. I agree with it though.
No more like interrupted. I wrote that from my office I'm a owner of two machine shops in the Arkansas area. I sometimes have little to do so ill get on here from time to time (sometimes i wish i was a machinist still). And my wife is the true poet think fully she's there to line me out on writing lol.