Beyond the threshold gave us two complementary investigators, the "key item" mechanic, 6 new map pieces (i thought they were put to really good use), the "moving tile" mechanic, some new insanities which i thought were somehow/somewhat better than the original ones, a new condition, two new spells, and a few new horror/damage cards, and two new scenarios. It's possible there were "card" additions in-app, too, but i wouldn't know, becaue i haven't played MoM 2ed w/o expansions to complete exhaustion. There were also some added fire/darkness tiles and clue tokens, as a minor extra.

What would you like to see in a future expansion, especially mechanics-wise`?

To start things off, here's my list. Not so much a wishlist as a list of ideas (i'll be fine with whatever they come up with; i just thought it would be fun to discuss such things).

-Expanded monster movement "cards" - i think the 'ai' could be improved this way, with careful elaboration. By now, i know the mechanics of most mosters and they've become somewhat 'stale' to me. I like how zombies shuffle on when they see an investigator. But there could be more instances of choices. If a monster can't see an object of malign interest (or, like the hunting horror, has a keen sense of smell), is there any certain type of room they're drawn to or appaled by? Open spaces, small spaces, corridors/alleys, darkness, fire... I'd like to see more behaviour in the monsters. After all, many of the lovecraft's stories spend much time and detail on exactly this matter, before the monster or horror is revealed in the end. In the case of darkness/fire, the game actually knows these conditions and can enable/disable such cards to be 'drawn' from 'the deck'.

-A flock of rats monster NPC. Especially known from 'the rats in the walls'. Unlike their role in conventional RPGs, such rats would have certain thematic effect on gameplay and lore. They could for example, as a failed horror check, lure away an investigator in a direction of a greater danger (or away from party).

-A blocked path mechanic and token or resin figure. Blocking off certain spaces dramatically change the possible functions of a variety of map tiles. It's a really simple mechanic that could potentially help the game make more out of currently existing map tiles. This would also mean new possibilities to display monster traits (phasing/flying/aquatic).

-A 'flip map tile' mechanic; used by new tiles. Alternate versions of the rooms would be on the other side. Dream cycle-themed changes; maybe?

-Ally cards (there's currently only duke) and possibly ally rules could be further developed.
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-New wounded cards or wounded mechanics. They could add or replace the current set. I guess this stems from my pet peeve that the 'wounded' condition doesn't offer any chance of agency, like the 'insane' cards do.

-More mesmerized cards. Unlike the other conditions, which are the same on each copy, each one of these are unique, so they fill a somewhat different purpose. I feel five variants might be a tad few to cycle around.

-Item cards of the type "gain/do [x], then discard this card". X being extra action, two clues, successful evade, ignored horror check, +1 to all stats until end of turn, or what not.

-A spell or two with a movement abilities. For example "action: move up to three spaces as if you had flying. Then flip this card." or "action: move one space as if you had phasing. You can only move within explored rooms. Then flip this card".

-Thematically, there's a few locales which have been left unexplored in arkham. A few specific tiles that could work for museums, university campuses, exhibitions, and historical societies would be awesome, i think. Harder to blend in with the rest would be a few rooms that hint at ancient temples (known from the nameless city, the rats in the walls, under the pyramids, polaris, etc), but that'd be amazing.

I like a lot of the concepts mentioned in your post, but as soon as I read " museums, university campuses, exhibitions, and historical societie" my imagination started running wild. A museum would be an incredible setting for Mansions of Madness, along with a library and catacombs (Recurring Nightmares tiles kick in here!).

I have read a lot of complaints about Beyond The Threshold but to be honest I believe it's a great expansion for its price. Maybe it was light on miniatures but I liked the new mechanics, items and Horror and Damage cards, including spells and effects.

I think it would be interesting to add monsters that can only be killed with specific types of weapons or monsters with for example weak to fire (they receive extra damage from fire), which can create nice mechanics, like do I set the house on fire to kill the monster and deal with extinguishing it later?

Man, a museum would be awesome.

Oh, i forgot the items that were included!

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I have read a lot of complaints about Beyond The Threshold but to be honest I believe it's a great expansion for its price.

I suppose expansions that fall partly in the field of app assisted gaming might/will have somewhat of a struggle proving its merits, when some of the contents are untangible. If applicable, future back notes on the boxes could try to specify significant software content other than the new scenarios or content tied to new pieces; vague or specific (for example: 4 new scenario variants, new mechanic: x, added extra fight/evasion/horror dialogue).

And i also suppose forum members might represent something like a "loud minority" among the customers.

My only reservation for said expansion was the extra fire and clue tokens, which i haven't seen any need for so far, and the cardboard could perhaps have been used for something new. Even an extra "key item" token (in case one would get lost or the design of a new scenario would need one) might've been an idea. Other than that, i've had no second thoughts, and the scenarios were great.

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like do I set the house on fire to kill the monster and deal with extinguishing it later?

This kind of tactical choice is great, and i'd very much like that something (or many things) like that will eventually be implemented. App assistance can really shine in this respect, where conditional NPC instructions otherwise can feel clunky in a traditional board game. Here, AI can be as fine tuned as the designer wants to without adding much or anything at all to the manual game process. On top of my head, here's some more AI conditions that could be used:

-Targeting: "move towards the nearest player with/without a light source". Or away.
-Low health: the monster dissapears from the board for one turn, only to reappear on the space of an investigator with the most horror taken/damage taken/least items/possessions/spells/clues or in darkness. Some monsters could 'learn' to be more sly next time.

-When hit/first hit/also low health: The monster could flee some distance and/or regenerate x health when not in line of sight of an investigator.

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Man, a museum would be awesome.

There's more than enough mythos material to build upon, for sure.

Here's another idea that could use rougly the same hypothetical map pieces (but arguably also the already existing ones): society/exhibition/club house/lodge environments could be used for a scenario where you try to infiltrate a secretive society without blowing cover, to get enough evidence. Depending on how long/well your investigation can keep the charade believable will determine if the scenario will be a social or action oriented one, primarily speaking, and open up for alternative endings.

I love most of these ideas and like the remainder.

I would also like to see more variability in monster movement. Right now, once a monster moves once, I know what it will do next turn. I would like to see more varieties of movement in the same monster.

Yeah I agree with the fire tokens issue. I have a ridiculous amount now and I rarely use more than 6 in one game for example. I understand however new mechanics require testing and balancing and it's never easy. That said, a lot of the points addressed are good and hopefully we can see something similar in the next DLC or expansion.

I would also be interesting to see monsters, like it has been said above, that move based on damage for example. Like in Descent monsters retreat for example. In MoM it seems that once you lock with a monsters he stays in its space until you kill it (unless he moves towards another investigator with a characteristic targeted by the app).

As for the fire tokens: they are needed for their darkness side. One scenario in Beyond could ask for more Darkness tokens than those provided in the core set, so, they had to add a few

There is also a scenario where fires can happen in rather random locations and depending on whether you can get to it to put it out, it can spread pretty far across some land.

7 hours ago, Jobu said:

I love most of these ideas and like the remainder.

I would also like to see more variability in monster movement. Right now, once a monster moves once, I know what it will do next turn. I would like to see more varieties of movement in the same monster.

This, really. I'm not complaining or anything, but an upgraded movement set would be great, regardless if orchestrated by conditions, or something as simple as semi-random draw, feels to me like real treat for old/existing and future scenarios alike. The two approaches have somewhat different merits and i'd welcome either or both.

6 hours ago, Juan4aigle said:

I understand however new mechanics require testing and balancing and it's never easy. That said, a lot of the points addressed are good and hopefully we can see something similar in the next DLC or expansion.

I wonder if some of the current scenarios might be more sensitive to such changes/additions than others? Mainly thinking of the ones which may (depending on your playstyle) contain a relatively strong tactical element of crowd control or forecasting; such as (spoiler alert) what lies within, escape from innsmouth, and dearly departed. Especially consering monster behaviour additions. Warning: Rant, and hypothetical, all of this --> If processing tests for AI addons in search of specific side effects on older scenarios is such a resource consuming undertaking that the revenue from a new expansion doesn't cover handling it, there's always the possibility to "quarantine" a scenario permanently from certain expansion-added changes if there's trouble, ie. it uses legacy ruleset or, to put it another way, is played as if certain aspects of a selected item in the collection manager doesn't count towards that specific scenario. Be it the disabling of an item card or a monster pattern. More preferrably, i think, is that some things can probably be assumed to just work until they don't; according to any tests/reports that might prove the opposite. It's akin to, say, adding a new spell or item. Did it break or skew an old scenario for the worse? Probably not if there's no reports during general tests.

Currently painting the player minis and listening to mythos audio books had me thinking a bit extra about MoM features. Here's three mockup cards:

Item:
Side A: Chalk and laurels
Action: Flip this card and put it in your space.
Side B: Protective circle
Investigators in this space may roll one additional die when negating damage.
If picked up as part of a trade action, flip this card.

Item:
Side A: Chalk and prisms
Action: Flip this card and put it in your space.
Side B: Focusing circle
Investigators in this space may roll one additional die when casting a spell.
If picked up as part of a trade action, flip this card.

Spell: Spiritual bargain/blood offering
(Action?/Once at the end of your turn?) : Take one facedown damage. You may roll one extra die whenever you'd negate horror until your next turn. Flip this card.