Hi there.

So long story short. Like many of you I felt nostalgic for Heroquest. Not particularly wanting to pay $250 - $350+ for a heavily used version of Heroquest I looked elsewhere.

Descent is what I settled on.

I've spent the last week buying the game. The Core rules, Heirs of Blood, the 3 of the 4 small boxes expansions and a few Lieutenants. I'm having a really hard time finding the two big box expansions and now I think I know why.

I originally put it down to Covid19 and supply chain issues as to why there is no stock of anything D2e, But I honestly think it is because 3rd Edition is right around the corner and FFG haven't for a while been printing D2e content. (Please keep in mind, I'm brand new to Descent. I only decided a week ago I want to get involved).

The content I managed to put together I had to buy from no less than 4 stores and so many places are "Sold Out" of Descent content. Even the FFG's website most of the Descent content is "Sold Out"


So I've spent, not a small sum (but affordable) of money on a game that I'm sure is about to be replaced. I feel like I showed up to a great house party at 3am as everyone is either leaving or passing out.

I know many of you who really enjoy the game are probably going to encourage me to open the D2e box and enjoy the game with the expansions I have. But I've done this before with 40k and even video games like ArmA 2. And all you end up doing rushing through what you have so you can get on board with new version of the game and not really getting value for money.


So is D2e really so great that I should just open what I have and enjoy it regardless of 3rd edition being probably less than 6 months away. Or should I return what I've bought and wait until 3rd Edition?



TLDR

• Brand New To Descent
• Purchased a lot of content, but missing significant expansions.
• Last night read 3rd Edition is right around the corner and I have developed Post purchase regret.
• Torn between opening and playing D2e or returning everything and waiting until D3e.

Keep and enjoy what you've got and the new stuff if you like the sound of it when it's out. Think of it as getting in to one playing card card game then you discover another- or getting a vintage, quality draughts set then a shiny new modern set of chess pieces. In both these examples you have two similar but different games to enjoy.

Or an artist's debut album then the second album is released, the first no longer seems so 'now' but you still love the music and can enjoy listening to either.

2e will be fun whatever parts of the picture you have and the app will adapt to them and include what you've got (if you get the app now it should remain playable even if it's superseded)

Watercolour Dragon's analogies about different music artists and their latest albums is spot on.

I went all out on Descent 1E when it was live...still have it and still love it. It was my first experience of modern boardgames and I was hooked.

When Descent 2E came out I was initially reluctant and a bit sceptical but the reviews were glowing, so I jumped in and loved that too and found it was a different experience. It didn't make my 1E collection redundant at all...but it gave me a shorter, faster, more streamlined way to play short chapters in a campaign rather than massive marathons of an afternoon and evening adventure. Still in the same universe and setting with the same high fantasy vibe but different.

I expect 3E or whatever it is will be the same. It won't make 1E or 2E redundant, it'll offer something different again (otherwise they'd simply release more expansions for 2E). So don't regret the purchase, you've bought into a fabulous game setting and system that's about to get another, but different, dimension added to it. And if you ever come across 1E at a reasonable price, give that some consideration too...it's a much more epic, narrative adventure than 2E and deeply immersive.

They all offer something slightly different - just like each album of my favourite artists.

Enjoy - regrets just waste energy that could be spent playing!

Thanks for the advice, I ended up opening what I have and shopping on online for what I can find. Reading over other forums like on FB or BGG I can see I'm not the only one looking for expansions and parts. Hopefully Asmodee does at least one last print of D2e into the release of D3e just to stick it to all the extortioners on Ebay.

I'm in your exact shoes Rekkless88! Grew up with HeroQuest and recently got a job I felt I could finally put some money into having a Descent collection. I bought Descent, Manor of Ravens, Mists of Bilehall, Labyrinth of Ruin, several lieutenants, and Bonds of the Wild to see what the Monster Collections would be like.

I hope they do more reprints as well. I don't have Shadow of Nerekhall which I hear is the best expansion, and having Mists of Bilehall without The Chains that Rust now feels incomplete. Sadly, I don't have a lot of hope they will reprint the Chains that Rust since Fantasy Flight Games website availability statement has gone from "out of stock" to "No longer Available".

I feel you. I won’t buy a 3rd edition shoukd it cone out I already decided. A third edition will hopefully dump prices on eBay though so I can go buy more 2nd ed.

3rd Ed seems to be an extortion enough but good fir me who’s staying in 2nd

We'll see how it all plays out. I just hope their analytics catch that they can still make money putting out 2nd ed stuff.

That is a good point, in that as some people transition to Legends there will likely be an uptick in people who decide to sell their collections on eBay, BGG, and similar resale sites for board games. Where there is a shortage of product now due to lack of reprints, if you are willing to purchase used, you can probably find a good deal after 3rd launches.

Board games don't depreciate like multiplayer video games do where everyone leaves one for the next hotness so the game becomes unplayable or shuts down. You generally only need a handful of friends willing to play and you have content for years. I kept playing 1st edition long after 2nd came out just until this year since I was given 2nd core set and conversion kit near the end of last year. The 2nd's RtL app has been a blast for solo play during the pandemic.

I'm honestly interested if there will be renewed interest in Valkyrie since we now know there will be no more official content created for 2nd, but as players we can generate a ton more from that teams' work.

On 8/20/2020 at 4:10 PM, Rekkless88 said:

Thanks for the advice, I ended up opening what I have and shopping on online for what I can find. Reading over other forums like on FB or BGG I can see I'm not the only one looking for expansions and parts. Hopefully Asmodee does at least one last print of D2e into the release of D3e just to stick it to all the extortioners on Ebay.

We also don't know yet the exact plan/situation with the new thing- it could partly overlap 2e like 2e did 1e with some content ported over that you can therefore still get and use with either edition, or the 'not quite third edition' might mean some of 2e remains - maybe the stuff that still sells well for 2e (partly due to the app) might remain unless the new thing IS third edition even though they suggested it maybe wasn't.

There may also be some 2e in the pipeline that's been / is being made before they decided to make it 'no longer available' if 2e is being fully retired by FFG. Pandemic may have slowed some restocks down also.

So there might still be some 2e available.

If you like the setting the Runewars Miniatures figures are getting cheaper (very cheaper locally to me suggesting these also could soon be unavailable, unless FFG are just going for a lower price point - even FFG are selling lower than the advertised price - the basket price is actually less, although the local pricing suggests it's stopped selling) and these are quite useful for Descent custom games, rpg etc. I've recently ordered the ones I was missing to complete my collection.

We know nothing about the new Descent except for the fact it has a big box. Restoration Games is also trying to obtain the rights to HeroQuest so that will happen in the future as well.

In the meantime, enjoy the game.

I still have my first edition and did not see the need to go 2nd edition, but if the next version have a good app support I would definitely get it because I like Jime a lot... not sure if I will keep my first edition in that case, but Lets see! It is fun to be the Dungeon keeper from time to time

You make some good points Watercolour Dragon. We have no idea how integrated the third one is and if integration will motivate reprints. Like they said before I hope they do. My wife and I enjoy Road to Legend and without Shadow of Nerekhall or Lair of the Wyrm, I miss out on two campaigns. Without The Chains that Rust I'll miss out on a third major campaign line.

No since worrying about it though. There is enough to fight worry with Covid around.

Just a question did I read wrong or did they not say that the new descent box they showed is not 3rd edition?

You can see the words "Legends in the Dark" in the announcement picture which hints at the likelihood of it being a 3rd edition since it mimics the subtitle of the 2nd edition "Journeys in the Dark". It is all speculation though.

2 hours ago, Sorrowspain said:

Just a question did I read wrong or did they not say that the new descent box they showed is not 3rd edition?

Can't remember when now but I'm sure one of the times they were talking about the big mystery (to us) Terrinoth project they said something like 'not third edition per se' - they've definitely said ambiguous things at various times that implied it wasn't quite a third edition Descent - saying things like 'not necessarily' [third edition]/ 'we are working on something Descent-related' clarified as 'Descent/Terrinoth the same thing but Descent specifically yes' , and I do wonder with the new subtitle and the fact it's not being teased as 'Descent Journeys in the Dark Third Edition' but has a new subtitle 'Legends of the Dark'........ (what if they're being clever and there's two things coming or a two-in-one? Maybe a sort of 2-and-a-half and a new thing that runs alongside it or the new thing that somehow sort of includes a 2-and-a-half-stroke-3 or the new thing then a third edition 'Descent Journeys in the Dark' further down the line? There's something between-the-lines they aren't wanting to give away from how the questions at various times have been answered or not answered and only teasing that box for now...

As of the AMA with Andrew in 2019 they didn't address the issue of RTL app content, leaving the door open for there being more or not, they DID however state the RTL app will remain available even with that evolution of Descent (might the app cross multiple games/editions I wonder?) and the Terrinoth answers were a bit mysterious not giving much away but saying there was more coming and they'd been/would be 'going even deeper' into the lore and the project being 'one of the coolest most ambitious things we've ever done'

The important point though is to not forget the huge value and long-term replayability of Second Edition - I agree with all Andrew's points on this (there's also a tonne of fan content which is still being added to/refined)- many of us even now including myself still haven't played all the options (and may never do so as mathematically there are A LOT of possible permutations- which hero/heroes/which game style/which quests etc etc) so there's a reason elements of both first and second edition as well as other Terrinoth games are often either really difficult or quite expensive or both, sometimes impossible, to get hold of second hand/new once out of print- the number of people trading them always seems relatively low compared to other second hand markets, suggesting people are hanging on to their collections. Furthermore many of us still love first edition that have it- I have no plans to sell my first OR second edition items and have indeed recently added to both collections, completing second (such as tracking down a 'Shadow Rune' campaign book) and filling in some of my gaps in first- I'm doing some very interesting stuff with my fan projects for 2e. So seriously if you've got any 1e or 2e I'd say hold onto it whatever's coming at us in the tunnels under Terrinoth. As there have proved plenty of fan-fuelled ways of using 1e with 2e or crossing over various games I'm sure there will be ways you can find, others will find or the new thing may have, to use at least some of this content with the new thing. Even if you take a break from it sometimes you might enjoy going back there someday like that old album or movie or other experience you rediscover and revisit.

54:24 direct link from YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/6VseOrN5B58?t=3264

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/299122-ffgs-ama-with-andrew-navaro

Also, first edition and second edition are *very* different games; different genres even.

So many of those who enjoy 2nd edition may not enjoy the new one.

Worst case scenario, they pull a MoM2 and it now requires an app and there's no OL player...

For me that would be the best upgrade available, but I will definitely keep the old game too in that case!

From the writing on the box, it looks like Legends is cooperative only.

If you're UK based or can ship to your country (remember this may mean extra costs and taxes) both Leisure Games and Thirsty Meeples still have some of the Descent sets and A1 have RWM at decent clearance prices, I've used all three shops without issues in the past:

https://thirstymeeples.co.uk/search?type=product&q=descent*

https://leisuregames.com/search?q=descent

https://a1toys.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=runewars