2 hours ago, kris40k said:

Descent: Journeys is the competitive one.

Descent: Legends is the cooperative one.

The developers hammered that point in during their stream and in the articles posted up so far, Descent: Legends is not the next edition of Descent: Journeys

If this is true, why is Descent: Journeys content out of print with no plans on reprints or a new edition?

54 minutes ago, Supertoe said:

If this is true, why is Descent: Journeys content out of print with no plans on reprints or a new edition?

Descent: Journeys 2nd Ed. has been around for the better part of the last decade, while reprints have tapered off. If you are picking this particular moment in time to try to buy in, then yeah, you kinda picked a bad time. As far as their plans for a reprint or new edition, that is something that will need to probably wait to see how things shake out. The fact that they continued to put emphasis that this is not a replacement for Descent: Journeys shows that Journeys is still on their mind.

The existence of a coop Descent: Legends does not preclude a competitive Descent: Journeys from being remade, the existing edition being reprinted if they deem it to be a worthwhile from a sales/business standpoint, or existing copies from being able to be enjoyed by those that own it. That they recently made their print on demand card expansions available again recently shows that they have not simply shelved Journeys to be forgotten.

This is not a zero sum situation.

42 minutes ago, kris40k said:

Descent: Journeys 2nd Ed. has been around for the better part of the last decade, while reprints have tapered off. If you are picking this particular moment in time to try to buy in, then yeah, you kinda picked a bad time. As far as their plans for a reprint or new edition, that is something that will need to probably wait to see how things shake out. The fact that they continued to put emphasis that this is not a replacement for Descent: Journeys shows that Journeys is still on their mind.

I disagree with this point. The reason they put emphasis on this was to try to calm the backlash that was already there for the lack of Descent reprints. Unfortunately many people have bought their line.

27 minutes ago, Supertoe said:

I disagree with this point. The reason they put emphasis on this was to try to calm the backlash that was already there for the lack of Descent reprints. Unfortunately many people have bought their line.

and it could of course also be pre-empting/ calming the likely backlash against the changes if it IS third edition but they didn't want that app-only/no-overlord backlash in a 'we disagree, this is not third edition' way from fans, calling it third edition with those changes would have gone down very badly

It's not just bullet-dodging though- callling it third edition would also tie their hands on any options for what they could do post second edition, the different name/ different product option leaves their options totally open- they can continue to run with either or both longer-term depending on that unknown called the future.

On 10/22/2020 at 10:26 PM, HisEpicness said:

100% disagree. I love fully coop games and app based games I have no gripes with. Still not sure I'll even get the game since its so expensive, but I am glad there's no overlord.

If you want an overlord, go play second edition.

I have the full Descent 2ed line. Everything. I play with a rather large group of friend as Overlord.

This thing cuts off one player slot and my favourite role.

Not interested, thank you.

On 10/28/2020 at 12:35 PM, Supertoe said:

If this is true, why is Descent: Journeys content out of print with no plans on reprints or a new edition?

That's a fair point ( I absolutely mean that in an honest way). Coop games have generally been moving away from 1 vs many designs, FFG/ASMODEE is part of that and apparently leaning into companion applications.

As a possible counterpoint to consider, Hasbro is doing an internal communtity funding for HeroQuest. HeroQuest is very much a one vs many game design, I would suggest it was a influence on Descent. Close to 3 million is funding that project at the moment, https://hasbropulse.com/products/heroquest-game-system

and this is or a 30 year old game design at this point.

There clearly is interest in this type of game. It's fine if FFG/ASMODEE want to move in a different direction, but all the same there are plenty of game groups who prefer this style of coop game.

On 10/28/2020 at 7:26 PM, kris40k said:

The existence of a coop Descent: Legends does not preclude a competitive Descent: Journeys from being remade, the existing edition being reprinted if they deem it to be a worthwhile from a sales/business standpoint, or existing copies from being able to be enjoyed by those that own it.

This is not a zero sum situation.

It does and it is. Why? "Market confusion". Name and logo design are essentially the same. Both are called "Descent: Something Something Dark" with a giant blue "Descent" dwarfing the subtitle. The purpose of the slight renaming is to evoke the Road to Legend co-op app and to be able to point to it as a (thin) argument why it supposedly isn't - effectively - the third edition against people opposed to the lack of an Overlord player. There isn't a hard and fast rule what constitutes a new "numbered" edition (let alone an "unnumbered" one) - can be a slight revision, a significant revamp, or basically a completely different game. And from time to time subtitles differ as well. It may - technically - not be the third edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, but that doesn't change it being the new edition of Descent. If it really weren't, they would not have called it such - or at the very least they would've made "Legends of the Dark" the main title and reduced "Descent" in size to redefine it as their newest attempt at setting-wide branding. At best I can see a minuscule chance for a "Journeys" spin-off (ironically) to "Legends" after (!) the release of act 3 as a single box of rules and scenarios to get more use out of the 100 or so miniatures in this style that will be out by then (either to close out the line or to tide people over until the next multi-act story), but that's about it.

43 minutes ago, twincast said:

It does and it is. Why? "Market confusion". Name and logo design are essentially the same. Both are called "Descent: Something Something Dark" with a giant blue "Descent" dwarfing the subtitle. The purpose of the slight renaming is to evoke the Road to Legend co-op app and to be able to point to it as a (thin) argument why it supposedly isn't - effectively - the third edition against people opposed to the lack of an Overlord player. There isn't a hard and fast rule what constitutes a new "numbered" edition (let alone an "unnumbered" one) - can be a slight revision, a significant revamp, or basically a completely different game. And from time to time subtitles differ as well. It may - technically - not be the third edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, but that doesn't change it being the new edition of Descent. If it really weren't, they would not have called it such - or at the very least they would've made "Legends of the Dark" the main title and reduced "Descent" in size to redefine it as their newest attempt at setting-wide branding. At best I can see a minuscule chance for a "Journeys" spin-off (ironically) to "Legends" after (!) the release of act 3 as a single box of rules and scenarios to get more use out of the 100 or so miniatures in this style that will be out by then (either to close out the line or to tide people over until the next multi-act story), but that's about it.

You could very possibly be right - there is that worry that this is a 'we can just make this one (eventually three) box(es) instead of having to make all the 2e stuff' situation but there are often different games released under the same banner with both computer and board games- computer games like 'Age of Wonders' which has two very different games, that property trading game that has five million variations (I might be exaggerating slightly)- which has had variations that weren't the standard game, Sometimes rethemes of the same game, sometimes a different game under the same banner, so it could be either possibility.

Some FFG examples (there are others): https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/312046-did-this-have-to-be-descent-themed/?tab=comments#comment-4007477

So you do get games that have the same main title but that are different lines running at the same time.

It will mostly depend on how well Descent second does still sell, which is hard to judge- it has seemed increasingly difficult to get outside the US with few signs of restocks which is a bad omen, but the FFG shop suggests what is reprinted goes fairly fast. Like I said elsewhere this is meaningless without knowing how many units were reprinted. FFG have said IA still sells very well and there have been people wanting to get 2e Descent after the new thing boosted hype for the existing game, plus we don't know if lockdowns boosted or hit sales due to the solo options.

If sales are still strong it may get reprints, if they've slowed down due to the 'so many people have it now' factor it too may be wound down, if in the middle maybe it gets reprints but very few and far between.

But you're totally correct- just because it's not a new version of the current game does not exclude it replacing the current game in terms of products FFG keep making, as you say being the new Descent that replaces the current one, or us getting a totally shock announcement about a new new Descent game in future

10 hours ago, twincast said:

It does and it is. Why? "Market confusion". Name and logo design are essentially the same. Both are called "Descent: Something Something Dark" with a giant blue "Descent" dwarfing the subtitle... <snip>

I think history shows that people can work it out...

Some of those are in fact, the compatible/same game, but many are not.

Descent: Legends and Descent: Journeys are just two game lines in the same universe that have similarities, but are different games with different target audiences. Now, there may be some growing pain here with people upset that they are not getting another Descent: Journeys with this being the first use of the "Descent" name with another game line, but it will work out. I don't think the "Terrinoth" name was getting the kind of traction that they wanted with other game releases, and this move makes sense, especially for another dungeon crawler.

PS:

Second-hand info, but take it for what you will

Quote

Sarah (Asmodee USA)

Oct 30, 2020, 9:14 AM CDT

Thank you for contacting us. It is great to hear that you love our games so much! Descent: Journeys in the Dark is a bestseller and we certainly plan to reprint each expansion. However, we do not know when or in which order they will be available. Please follow our studios online for the latest announcements, updates, and spoilers on upcoming content and reprints!

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2531169/article/36165250#36165250

So... yeah. The existence of a coop Descent: Legends does not preclude a competitive Descent: Journeys from being remade, the existing edition being reprinted if they deem it to be a worthwhile from a sales/business standpoint, or existing copies from being able to be enjoyed by those that own it.

Time may very well prove me wrong, but I will be VERY shocked if we EVER see a Descent: Legends of the Dark Act III box be commercially available.