With the last adventure of this cycle announced, I hope the new cycle announcement cannot be so far off. And given the promise both Thorin Stonehelm and Gildor Inglorion will be released, I assume there shall be another cycle.

So, the fun times, what are the predictions? As I said elsewhere, I guess, or hope mostly, the two blue wizzards will be in the big box, though they may not be able to name them Alatar and Pallando (I hope I got those right). And perhaps we shall visit the East since we have been to the South already. It seems like the last place to go before retracing our steps...

I have more wishes but I will save them for the discussion (should there be any); one however I will say now: please, let us have Tom Bombadil! The encounter player card seems a perfect fit for him, with a player card (a song, Hey Tom Bombadillo, perhaps) to place it into the encounter deck.

I'm more on the Shire cycle side.

Usually the last or second to last AP give hints about next cycle. And we saw a good amount of new hobbit cards in the 5th AP.

Of course, that doesn't mean this time has to be the same in terms of hints --> announcement, but my bet is in a Hobbit-themed Deluxe and a cycle that goes from he Shire to Barrow Downs and maybe Blue Mountains.

I would actually like that more than exploring the East. The Haradrim was by far my least favourite cycle. And it would lean more toward Tom Bombadil, though that has little to do with the guess. However, the Angmar cycle already featured heavily in the area but by all means, it is the most described area in the books, so we should go there again, and perhaps more West this time, as you mentioned. The Hobbit theme has been given a nice boost recently and it would be great to get just a few more, especially allies.

I'm guessing Rhun simply from geographical proximity, there's no better jumping-off spot to explore east than from Dale. Thorin Stonehelm also is adjacent. But I agree Gildor makes more sense in/around the regions of the shire and we need more hobbits for Tom Cotton play with. Of course, there's no guarantee that Thorin and Gildor are both drawn from the same cycle.

I would like to see Rhun, but I think the Shire, Blue Mountains, Tower Hills area is more likely. I'm honestly not an expert on the release schedule (I came into the game about halfway through Harad), but I did look up the announcements and releases in that area. The last AP for Harad was announced in January 2017. It was released in December of that year. Wild if Rhovanion was announced in early December 2017 only a couple of weeks before The Crossings of Poros. So it could conceivably be quite some time before we learn about the next cycle. I wouldn't guess any sooner than GenCon. But that's just me. I make no claims of being an expert.

Also, Hobbits could be like Ents and Rohan who have their cards scattered all around as opposed to having dedicated sets. (Voice of Isengard kind of is, but it's honestly pretty Isengard heavy as opposed to being the Rohon Box.)

I do not know when. But in the past it was that the announcements for packs came long before the actual packs, and usually all packs in a cycle were announced before the first adventure was in store. It is different now, and sometimes the pack is already available before the next one is even announced. Some people already had Mount Gundabad before we knew what the name of the last adventure was.

Yeah, things have been discombobulated the last few years when it comes to announcements and releases for whatever reasons.

We could get the next cycle announced anytime between today and Christmas.

To the people guessing The Shire how could they center 9 quests on it? Is The Shire bigger than I'm imagining? I always guessed if they do go there it'll be a POD of the Scouring.

The deluxe box can be the shire, leading into the cycle going elsewhere

1 hour ago, stimpaksam said:

To the people guessing The Shire how could they center 9 quests on it? Is The Shire bigger than I'm imagining? I always guessed if they do go there it'll be a POD of the Scouring.

You always have Eriador, at least what wasn't covered in Angmar Awakened.

1 hour ago, stimpaksam said:

To the people guessing The Shire how could they center 9 quests on it? Is The Shire bigger than I'm imagining? I always guessed if they do go there it'll be a POD of the Scouring.

The problem with doing the Scouring is that this game supposedly takes place in the time between the Hobbit and LOTR, right? That kind of takes the Scouring out of it, although I think it would be cool.

I like the idea of a Shire expansion (love it, actually), the only thing is I can't see Hobbits as being very powerful. So I'm not sure how well it would fit in with the rest of the game. There would be some Rangers lurking in the shadows, and maybe some Elves passing through, but that's not enough to fix it IMO.

2 hours ago, stimpaksam said:

To the people guessing The Shire how could they center 9 quests on it? Is The Shire bigger than I'm imagining? I always guessed if they do go there it'll be a POD of the Scouring.

I read that a lot.

Making 9 quests out of a ME region is not about size!!

I'm sure it's waaaaaay more difficult to come up with quests theme and ideas in Ered Mithrin, or worst, in place like Forochel.... which may be a thousand times the size of the Shire. Why?

Because the Shire probably has the most detailed descriptions, map and history of all places in ME. The material there is really consistent. There are so much content to make quests in the Shire, you can't even begin to imagine.

1 hour ago, Vince79 said:

The problem with doing the Scouring is that this game supposedly takes place in the time between the Hobbit and LOTR, right? That kind of takes the Scouring out of it, although I think it would be cool. 

*cough* saga expansions *cough*

Yes. The size here does not matter, plus the Shire would probably be just the beginning.

Given the peaceful life in the shire, and the sheltered inhabitants possible benefiting from an invasion of dragons (in Frodo's opinion), quests involving hobbits themselves facing mortal enemies seem unlikely -- there's a dearth of that sort of thing between Bullroarer Took and Scouring of the Shire. However, we do know there was a lot of stuff going on that the hobbits just weren't aware of. Per Halbarad:

"A little people, but of great worth are the Shire-folk. Little do they know of our long labour for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not."

I would like to see a cycle that began on the borders of the Shire, per Halbarad's allusion to the "long labour" of safeguarding those borders, but then exploring Eriador to the West and North. It would be a good opportunity to visit the White Towers, Lake Evendim, the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin) and Forochel. There are many possibilities for a story line progressing through quests among all of these locales -- defending against a looming incursion of wolves/wargs, encountering and then assisting a pilgrimage of wandering elves to the White Towers, information gathered there from the Palantir of Elostirion initiates a quest to Lake Evendim and the ruins of Annuminas for clues/artifacts/information on the lost palantiri, which leads to a quest north in search of the lost palantiri in the Bay of Forochel, which leads to a run-in with the Lossoth people, perhaps leading to a new quest to help them against some evil critters up in the North, and so on.

5 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

*cough* saga expansions *cough*

This thread is about discussing the new cycle though, which would be a deluxe expansion plus adventure packs.

But I agree, The Scouring of The Shire would make for a great saga expansion, I would love to see it. Even though I thought the Saga expansions were done, they've finished the books after all.

I love how so many people now speak of new Istari and palantiri. I remember when it was mostly me. Maybe Caleb will listen now!

And I see it is still mostly just me wishing for Tom, haha.

Whether we get more Istari (and I have to say I have always wished so), it has already been decided by now. I believe the cards are usually designed at least one cycle ahead. I am quite sure there should be at least one more, but whether we get more than one, that seems more uncertain.

As for the potential “Shire” cycle, of course I too imagine it mostly as helping the rangers guard the border, plus some secret local investigation, maybe. Then, wander off West and South, those areas could still feel most interesting and ‘new’ in the game, I believe.

I've even thought of more light-hearted quests for a Shire cycle.

Something like The Hunt of the Great Boar, being a festival-like hunt of that animal.

Maybe shifting halfway to more nefarious deeds, such as orc invasions, wights raising and uniting forces with the rangers to stop those threats. I know it's not cannon, since hobbits are unaware of that ranger protection, but oh well.

6 hours ago, lleimmoen said:

And I see it is still mostly just me wishing for Tom, haha.

Whether we get more Istari (and I have to say I have always wished so), it has already been decided by now. I believe the cards are usually designed at least one cycle ahead. I am quite sure there should be at least one more, but whether we get more than one, that seems more uncertain.

As for the potential “Shire” cycle, of course I too imagine it mostly as helping the rangers guard the border, plus some secret local investigation, maybe. Then, wander off West and South, those areas could still feel most interesting and ‘new’ in the game, I believe.

I have wished for Tom (and Goldberry) for years now and have been vocal about it. My discord avatar is Goldberry precisely because even in encounter cards she has absolutely no representation in the game, and that's a problem. I've said for a while now that probably the best design option for them is as neutral allies with the encounter keyword.

Great, then we agree. The encounter keyword solves the problem of the naysayers, I feel. And we need them outside of PoD. Please!

The Old Forest and the Barrow Wights are the two dangers that are *obviously* present on the Shire's borders, and even that an adventurous Took or Brandybuck of the Shire might well get themselves entangled in. When there is a Shire-area cycle, I would expect to see quests in both and Bombadil/Goldberry should certainly make appearance.

Despite his enormous power level, I wouldn't object to Tom's appearance as a powerful one-turn ally.

He's in the DCG already right? It's only a matter of time IMO till we see him as a player card in the LCG, even with encounter keyword (which makes perfect sense thematically btw) along with Goldberry!