2 hours ago, machfalcon said:

A couple item list predictions:

Tier II melee item with Red + Red dice pool and Surge for +2 damage, Surge for Cleave 2, one mod slot.

Because of Drokkatta's Shrapnel Rounds ability, I wonder if we'll see a new ranged weapon with a surge effect that can apply Blast. Since it would have the potential to be broken with Fenn (some would argue he's already broken), especially with Under-barrel, maybe make it a weapon with only one mod slot and low chance (or no chance) of multiple surges.

It would be neat to see a new type of Armor. Maybe Tier 3, +1 block while defending.

Is it possible that they won't add any new items? Most, if not all, of the previous expansions have shown at least parts of items in their preview art. But if I'm not mistaken, we haven't seen any parts of item cards in the preview art?

37 minutes ago, Stompburger said:

Is it possible that they won't add any new items? Most, if not all, of the previous expansions have shown at least parts of items in their preview art. But if I'm not mistaken, we haven't seen any parts of item cards in the preview art?

True on both counts.

Though I hope that turns out not to be the case, because I like item cards.

2 hours ago, machfalcon said:

A couple item list predictions:

Tier II melee item with Red + Red dice pool and Surge for +2 damage, Surge for Cleave 2, one mod slot.

Because of Drokkatta's Shrapnel Rounds ability, I wonder if we'll see a new ranged weapon with a surge effect that can apply Blast. Since it would have the potential to be broken with Fenn (some would argue he's already broken), especially with Under-barrel, maybe make it a weapon with only one mod slot and low chance (or no chance) of multiple surges.

It would be neat to see a new type of Armor. Maybe Tier 3, +1 block while defending.

I'd be totally on-board with all of this, although the "Blast" weapon seems the most likely to me. While it's possible for Fenn to abuse it, he'll probably need surges to make it go (which reduces damage done), two surges if paired with the Under-Barrel, all of which cuts into damage dealt. The IP can usually work around Blast , so while it might increase Fenn's threat I don't think it'll get to the point of being broken. Especially since Fenn doesn't have any abilities to move hostile figures during his own activation (like Diala can to set-up "Sarlaac" or Shyla does to set-up all her cleaves).

Personally, I'd be surprised if we ever see a melee weapon with double-reds and a mod slot because of the Vibrogenerator . It's just begging to be abused by a wounded, focused, " Unstoppable " Gaarkhan with " Ferocity " who would "roll" a minimum of 7D (3 single-damage results on each Red dice, plus 4 "free" damage), and max out at 13D, with a whole bunch of 9s, 10s, 11s, and 12s for an absurd level of consistency. While "Charging." At Speed 5. With " Rampage , " potentially. But if they did release such a weapon, I'd totally take it all the time. Even if it cost 1000 credits for a Tier II.

Any Tier 3 armor with an auto +1 block had better cost 1000 credits or more for balancing purposes (unless it only gives like +1 health), because if it's a true passive ability it's absurdly good. If it costs anything less, it's hard to see heroes taking the 700 credit Laminate Armor and its exhaust-to-block. Onar pays 4xp for a free Block or Evade and Shyla pays 4xp for a free Evade, so it seems like the designers really value that sort of ability.

4 minutes ago, Rythbryt said:

Any Tier 3 armor with an auto +1 block had better cost 1000 credits or more for balancing purposes (unless it only gives like +1 health), because if it's a true passive ability it's absurdly good. If it costs anything less, it's hard to see heroes taking the 700 credit Laminate Armor and its exhaust-to-block. Onar pays 4xp for a free Block or Evade and Shyla pays 4xp for a free Evade, so it seems like the designers really value that sort of ability.

Yeah, I was thinking the same - very powerful. It was more of a "this would be neat but maybe too strong" kind of an idea - I was thinking 0 bonus health, just the block to make it where it's not an auto-purchase. In some ways heroes with access to a free Evade already have this when combined with the Combat Coat and in fact in most cases the free Evade + Combat Coat is even a little better than my proposal (the weakened condition obviously being the big exception) since the evade can reduce damage dealt by more than one or help avoid a gaining a harmful condition.

I do think more armor and such would be cool, though. There's really still such a surprising lack of it.

I think that for heavier armor mechanics from Descent could be adopted:

War armor. +1 block, + 3 health. While wearing this armor your maximum speed is 3. (or: you cannot use strain to get movement points)

or something like that. Just a tank with low mobility.

10 minutes ago, Jarema said:

I think that for heavier armor mechanics from Descent could be adopted:

War armor. +1 block, + 3 health. While wearing this armor your maximum speed is 3. (or: you cannot use strain to get movement points)

or something like that. Just a tank with low mobility.

I kinda like that. Speed is a valuable asset in IA, so it'd definitely be a sacrifice to make a tanky character.

6 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

I kinda like that. Speed is a valuable asset in IA, so it'd definitely be a sacrifice to make a tanky character.

Agreed. There are definitely some characters who could get around it, or at least reduce its impact (Biv with "Advance," Gaarkhan with "Unstoppable," Diala with "Art of Movement," Fenn/Mak/Verena with exhaust-to-move class cards, etc.), but that'd be a fun mechanic to add.

It seems more high-reward-high-risk. It should help stave off being wounded (especially if paired with a Black die), but if the IP actually does manage to wound a 4-speed hero, that speed-2 while wounded would be brutal.

1 hour ago, Rythbryt said:

but if the IP actually does manage to wound a 4-speed hero, that speed-2 while wounded would be brutal.

I like the way you think. I guess this hasn't really come up for us before, but are heroes "locked in" to their equipment for a mission? I realize there are limits to what they can bring, but can they essentially unequip an item if they wanted to (such as in this case, where a wounded hero may need the extra speed, and is less likely to be the target of future attacks anyway)?

Items can only be traded (or not brought into the mission) just before the heroes deploy themselves. Items cannot be traded or voluntarily discarded during a mission -- unless they have a deplete cost, which results in the same thing.

4 hours ago, subtrendy2 said:

I like the way you think. I guess this hasn't really come up for us before, but are heroes "locked in" to their equipment for a mission? I realize there are limits to what they can bring, but can they essentially unequip an item if they wanted to (such as in this case, where a wounded hero may need the extra speed, and is less likely to be the target of future attacks anyway)?

Yeah, my understanding would be that that would be the trade-off (for the reasons a1bert mentioned). If a hero decides to take an item that makes him or her extremely difficult to wound at the beginning, he or she gets stuck with the downside if the plan goes awry. I don't know that we currently have any of that gear in the game except for the mechanical hand (which has an explicit "no discarding/trading/etc." clause printed on the card).

At least it would be the trade-off given this hypothetical piece of armor we're discussing (which, FWIW, I like more and more the more we discuss it ).

6 minutes ago, Rythbryt said:

At least it would be the trade-off given this hypothetical piece of armor we're discussing (which, FWIW, I like more and more the more we discuss it ).

Agreed- as is, there's very little variety in the basic stats of characters. Health tends to run between roughly 10 and 12, speed and endurance typically start at 4 or 5, etc. Single black or white die for defense. There are very few outliers for any of this really, which is part of the reason why Onar stands out so much.

Granted, class cards and some equipment obviously do change this, but I'm really starting to see a ton of value in stronger equipment that presents tradeoffs- that could really let the Rebels have more options when customizing their team.

This thread is probably getting a little off track, but this idea may be worth its own thread, if we're interesting in continuing discussion on it.