Thank you to Thanatopsis for hosting another great Hero Championship this year! I enjoyed participating and watching the results come in.

In the past years we've often followed it with other championships, and this year I wanted to start one myself.

Here is the 2016 Quest Championship!

It will work differently than the Hero Championship, because I've decided to make the first round a Swiss-style Tournament.

There will be 7 rounds of matchups, where you will vote on 43 pairings of the 86 quests. There will be no elimination throughout the 7 rounds, so you will always have 43 matches to vote on. The nice thing about this is that after it's done, we should have a complete ranking of the all the quests in the game.

After the Swiss tournament, I will take the top 16 quests and we will have an elimination-style tournament to crown the ultimate quest of 2016!

Check out http://challonge.com/lotrquest2016 to vote!

Top 16: http://challonge.com/lotrquest2016top16

Note: You are not required to vote in every matchup. If a matchup contains a quest you've never played, you can abstain from voting on it if you wish.

The Swiss rounds will be quick, with only 2 days for each round:

Rounds will end at Noon EST (UTC-5) on the following dates:

Round 1: Jan 10

Round 2: Jan 12

Round 3: Jan 14

Round 4: Jan 16

Round 5: Jan 18

Round 6: Jan 20

Round 7: Jan 22

The Elimination rounds will be longer, with 3 days for each round:

Rounds will end at Noon EST (UTC-5) on the following dates:

Top 16: Jan 25

Top 8: Jan 28

Top 4: Jan 31

Finals: Feb 3

Enjoy, and thanks for voting!

Let's see what happened! The challenge begins!!

What criteria are we voting for?

What criteria are we voting for?

Whatever you wish.

Great idea! I've been eager to find how some of the newer quests have been perceived by the community.

Nice! (hopefully it will give me a little more time to better prepare the art-appreciation contest )

It's hard to vote when there are a lot of quests I've never played :X btw, imo people shouldn't vote on matchups that include quests they've never played; I've done so and I left some brackets with no vote. In other words, voting for quest A over quest B because "I have played quest A and never played quest B" shouldn't be a valid reason (personal opinion)

Now, some comments on matchups:

Foundations of Stone vs Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim

I hate both. Foundations is slightly less obnoxious.

Into Ithilien vs Battle of Five Armies // The Siege of Cair Andros vs A Shadow of the Past

I love all these four quests. At the end my votes were because I enjoy the higher difficulty level.

The Watcher in the Water vs We Must Away Ere Break of Day

This was the toughest matchup this round. I find both of them pretty average quests. I guess I'd rather go with the hobbits' saga quest because it's more enjoyable when I aim at both completing the quest and getting the treasures.

EDIT: My voting this round (I didn't vote on matchups that include at least one quest that I've never played)

Passage Through Mirkwood vs The Battle of Carn Dûm

The Watcher in the Water vs We Must Away Ere Break of Day

The Long Dark vs Over the Misty Mountains Grim

Foundations of Stone vs Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim

Shadow and Flame vs Flies and Spiders

Peril in Pelargir vs The Lonely Mountain

Into Ithilien vs The Battle of Five Armies

The Siege of Cair Andros vs A Shadow of the Past

The Steward's Fear vs A Knife in the Dark

The Drúadan Forest vs Flight to the Ford

Encounter at Amon Dîn vs The Ring Goes South

Assault on Osgiliath vs Journey in the Dark

The Blood of Gondor vs Breaking of the Fellowship

The Fords of Isen vs Helm's Deep

Intruders in Chetwood vs The Battle of Lake-town

The Weather Hills vs The Stone of Erech

Deadman's Dike vs The Old Forest

The Wastes of Eriador vs Fog on the Barrow-downs

Oh man, Dungeons Dim is going to get thrashed by Foundations of Stone this round. Rightly so I guess, but Dungeons Dim is one of my top 5, although many people seem to hate it. Foundations is a fan favorite, so I'm sorry to see such an uneven matchup for the riddling contest.

The only really hard choice for me was Wastes of Eriador vs Fog on the Barrow-Downs. Both very unique quests, super thematic, and some of my favorites. I ended up going with Fog.

Oh man, Dungeons Dim is going to get thrashed by Foundations of Stone this round. Rightly so I guess, but Dungeons Dim is one of my top 5, although many people seem to hate it. Foundations is a fan favorite, so I'm sorry to see such an uneven matchup for the riddling contest.

The only really hard choice for me was Wastes of Eriador vs Fog on the Barrow-Downs. Both very unique quests, super thematic, and some of my favorites. I ended up going with Fog.

I feel bad for Across the Ettenmoors. I liked the quest, although I voted for Murder at the Prancing Pony. So did 100% of other people it seems. Ouch.

Anyone want to make a bold prediction now about the top 3 and bottom 3 after the 7 rounds of Swiss?

Anyone want to make a bold prediction now about the top 3 and bottom 3 after the 7 rounds of Swiss?

TOP:

Helm's Deep

Steward's Fear

Belegost

BOTTOM:

Emyn Muil

Amon Din

Nin-in-Eilph

Meanwhile, in Roseville, Minnesota, Caleb Grace and Matt Newman begin furiously taking notes. "Why didn't we think to collect this kind of data before?" one of them mutters.

Really love this idea Seastan, a few years ago I did an extremely half assed version of this so it will be very interesting to see the results of a proper quest championship and if similar quests end up at the top.
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/188438-your-favourite-5-quests-and-why-round-2/
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/107343-your-favorite-5-quests-and-why/

Great idea!

I remeber there was a similiar contest last year from that I would say:

TOP 3:

Helm's Deep (best)

Massing at Osgiliath

Battle of the Pelennor

BOTTOM 3:

Dead Marshes (worst)

Nin-in-Eilph

Rhosgobel

Interessting matchups for me:

Stormcaller > Rhosgobel - I hate both, Rhosgobel for ist randomness and forcing you to get some key Cards and Stormcaller for it's timepressure (I just can't enjoy the game when I am forced to hurry), but Stormcaller is objectivly the better quest (design, Story, replayablility)

Knife in the dark > Stewad's fear - Both great. Replayability is on Steward's side. But Knife is one of my most played quests and covers one of my favorite parts of the books. I have to choose it. And the Showdown on weather top is always epic.

Morgul Vale > Uruk Hai - Vale is quite unique in it's Progress style and uruk hai isn't all thatspecial and again enforces a quick game

Laketown > Chetwood - For me Laketown is THE boss battle quest. Still today Smaug is a fearsome enemie. Chetwood on the other Hand is enjoyable but a Little generic.

Ettenmoors > Pony - Don't like either one, but Ettenmoors has it's Moments. Since I spent 1 hour with Pony revealing no new clue (or did I read the rules wrong?) ultimatly giving up, guessing and going lucky, the ques is dead for me, despite it's insane replayability.

Escape from Dol Guldur > Voyage across belegaer - Escape is a nice challenge (rip solo Players ). Belegaer is way to easy in my opinion.

Siege of Gondor > Nin-in-Eilph - Again I hate both. Nalir is such a terrible objectiv "ally" he really ruins your mood. Siege gets my vote because the probem I have with it is solved in multiplayer: Solo I just don't get enough ships. I just don't understand why I should except the extra Counters for the pellenor quest when I could beat the quest easily revealling as much encountercards as possible and getting not enough ships in time. Plus the amout of shuffling you have to do during this quest is annoying too

Deadmen's Dike > Old Forest - Closer matchup but Dike has a great theme and enemie and, while forest nails the "lost Feeling" of the old forrest, it Fails to amaze with one evil root after the other.

Into Ithilien > Five armies - While 5 armies is still the "best" Hobbit quest, Into Ithilien is a classic and quite enjoyable (retrospective; god was this quest frustrating when I first played it )

Wastes of Eriador > Fog on the Barrow Downs - Wastes is a nice "Marathon" style quest. Fog also in that much of a sprint but it has more "unfair" effects, what isn't quite what I love :

The second round has begun!

http://challonge.com/lotrquest2016

Did not have to think about many match-ups for long, but:

Celebrimbor's Secret > Nin-in-Eilph - I don't like any of these (goes for much of the Isengart-quests), but in the end Nalir makes the difference

Morgul Vale > Ring goes south - I like both and played them all very often. Objectivly looking (or trying) Valeis much more unique and I would say challenging so it gets the vote.

Yeah, Nalir is literally the worst character in the game. I even liked Lord Alcaron more.

I find myself voting against any quest that has a lot of siege or battle.

I find myself voting against any quest that has a lot of siege or battle.

Even Battle of the Five Armies?

I find myself voting against any quest that has a lot of siege or battle.

Even Battle of the Five Armies?

That one doesn't bother me as much because at least you have the option to do the non-battle/siege quest.

True but you've gotta clear all 3 at some point!

I find it so interesting that people hate The Nin-in-Eilph so much. I've always thought it was one of the better quests.

I find it so interesting that people hate The Nin-in-Eilph so much. I've always thought it was one of the better quests.

I'm not surprised at all. It's got quest stages that wipe your progress every couple rounds. That's a recipe for hatred, with Nalir as the cherry on top.

I find it so interesting that people hate The Nin-in-Eilph so much. I've always thought it was one of the better quests.

I'm not surprised at all. It's got quest stages that wipe your progress every couple rounds. That's a recipe for hatred, with Nalir as the cherry on top.

I think quests that focus only on the elements, like Nin-in-Eilph or the Old Forest, will score pretty low. If there's only 5 Enemies in a 40-card encounter deck, people are only going to get bored or location-locked. Those quests, while thematic, aren't a good experience.