Card like Galadhon archer, Wandering Ent, the new Gandalf, the tree people, Gwahir, Tighten Our Belts, Wingfoot, and Galadriel (hero and ally) make me wonder. In my opinion the "against the shadow" cycle was pretty weak (op outlands aside). This one and the last two big expansions are full of playables.

I think both cycles have a decent number of playables. Adding Silvan is what is making this cycle seem better because people are discarding outlands (and often Gondor). (New Gandalf wasn't from the cycle btw.)

Silvan power creep, sure. But among the viable traits they are still far behind all the others.

I think that silvan are better then rohan and gondor (and there is more to come). Although, "mass healing combo" (Elrond-tracker) aside, I think they are still worst then dwarfs and outlands.

I got Celebrimbor's Secret today and I'm very excited about trying the new cards. The Wandering Ent has great stats for its price - immediately put 3 into my lore/spirit deck (sorry, Master of the Forge)!

Silvans are great and all, but I'm not a big fan of keeping track of bouncy effects. I'm hoping for some Noldor love in the Angmar cycle.

I wouldn't call VoI cycle cards power creep, just really solid. Unlike late Dwarrowdelf and HoN box.

I think that its pretty unavoidable to have some level of power creep, however I think the current balance is pretty good. The new cycle of quests, that I have played so far, are good mix of difficulty and I really like a lot of the new player cards.

my understanding the designers/developers are focusing on creating creating different types of player deck options rather than more powerful ones and believe they are doing a good job.

I agree that Gandalf & Galadriel are particularly strong heroes (though Gandalf is from the from the saga's).

I see it more as spreading the power out. I doubt that we will ever see heroes on the level of Spirit Glorfindel or Dain Ironfoot. This is a good thing - if anything those earlier heroes are too powerful. Silvan is a powerful archetype, particularly in multiplayer where you can have other decks cover the weaknesses (which it certainly has). I don't see it as being more powerful than the Dwarf or Noldor decks that were possible after the Dwarrowdelf cycle and Hobbit Saga expansions.

Galadriel is powerful, but it takes some setup, and the right pairings, to really take advantage of her abilities. I definitely do not see Galadriel+Nenya as being more powerful than Elrond+Vilya, but she is perfect from a thematic perspective. Gandalf is definitely one of the most powerful heroes to be released in a while, but like Elrond, his high starting threat brings its own challenges, and he represents a strategy that can take a few rounds to get fully setup. Quick-hitting scenarios will continue to challenge decks that do not operate at something approaching full-strength in the early rounds.

By focusing on supporting new traits and archetypes, I think the developers are doing a good job of avoiding the kind of rampant power creep seen in many other card games. Ultimately, the scenarios are getting more difficult (overall - there are obviously individual exceptions) to help offset the power creep that is somewhat inevitable in every card game. Many players - myself included - strive to design more thematic decks, which is a downward pressure on power creep that you would not often see in a competitive game.

Gandalf hero is a little overpowered (so is his Staff) but everything else so far seems fine. Yes Galadriel is great also but she cannot quest attack or defend.

I don't think Gandalf is overpowered, actually. He's very good, but he's pretty much just Elrond with a different set of requirements.

And I actually think the development recently is interesting. With The Road Darkens in this cycle, they've set up really powerful Ally versions of some very popular heroes (and Bilbo), so you have to pick whether your deck (or your set of decks for multiplayer) is better off with the hero version or the ally version. And it's not always a straightforward choice.

I found playing Galadriel very amusing when playing Trouble in Tharbad, blind, for the first time. She did very little all game

I found playing Galadriel very amusing when playing Trouble in Tharbad, blind, for the first time. She did nothing till very late in the game when Nenya showed up.

Nothing? You didn't use her to draw and lower your threat?

I found playing Galadriel very amusing when playing Trouble in Tharbad, blind, for the first time. She did nothing till very late in the game when Nenya showed up.

Nothing? You didn't use her to draw and lower your threat?

I thought I would need to discard her if I did?

Her ability:

Galadriel cannot quest, attack, or defend. Allies you control do not exhaust to quest during the round they enter play.

Action: Exhaust Galadriel to choose a player. That player reduces his threat by 1 and draws 1 card. (Limit once per round.)

Where do you get the idea that she needs to be discarded?

Her ability:

Galadriel cannot quest, attack, or defend. Allies you control do not exhaust to quest during the round they enter play.

Action: Exhaust Galadriel to choose a player. That player reduces his threat by 1 and draws 1 card. (Limit once per round.)

Where do you get the idea that she needs to be discarded?

Regarding "Empty Mug" - wasn't sure if her action qualified as a card effect...

"While The Empty Mug is in the victory display, the current quest gains "Forced: After a player card effect reduces a player's threat, remove it from the game."

Regarding "Empty Mug" - wasn't sure if her action qualified as a card effect...

"While The Empty Mug is in the victory display, the current quest gains "Forced: After a player card effect reduces a player's threat, remove it from the game."

Oh. I haven't played it so I didn't know about that. Yeah, that would remove her, but you should have been able to use her at least once before you explored it and her passive ability should have been useful.

Regarding "Empty Mug" - wasn't sure if her action qualified as a card effect...

"While The Empty Mug is in the victory display, the current quest gains "Forced: After a player card effect reduces a player's threat, remove it from the game."

Oh. I haven't played it so I didn't know about that. Yeah, that would remove her, but you should have been able to use her at least once before you explored it and her passive ability should have been useful.

This is true - Her passive ability and resource gathering was still very helpful... I guess she was just more passive than normal, till Nenya got out into play at least.

I don't think we have power creep. I think it spiked after Dwarrowdelf, but mostly I think the new cards have been similar to the core set or weaker.

I agree with Dan. We haven't seen a ton of "vertical" power growth. Mostly things have expanded more "horizontally" meaning we've been gaining more powers moreso than we've been getting stronger power. There are certainly some cards, though, that are pushing the power limits, but overall I think we have seen a lot of balance.

Regarding "Empty Mug" - wasn't sure if her action qualified as a card effect...

"While The Empty Mug is in the victory display, the current quest gains "Forced: After a player card effect reduces a player's threat, remove it from the game."

Oh. I haven't played it so I didn't know about that. Yeah, that would remove her, but you should have been able to use her at least once before you explored it and her passive ability should have been useful.

Yea...I only copied part of the text... sorry for spoiling the surprise

Its ok. I dont like to go into quests blind. Im just kinda far behind on playing all the quests.

I always try to go into quests blind myself.

I used to play quests blind, but with my limited free time I can't afford to do that any more. I might only have one chance to play a quest, before other responsibilities take priority. I don't want to waste a game where I have absolutely no chance to win. If only a bear didn't have to slay trolls to pay the bills...

You would rather slay Orcs then?

Slaying orcs doesn't pay as well.