Just a thought- could the new Descent game be foreshadowing?

Could the fact it's not third edition BUT third edition's been deemed to be complete now, combined with the fact they've left 'journeys' as being the competitive variant in a way that suggests intentionally giving players that choice between the two mean that:

as Twilight Imperium got its big new edition for its twentieth anniversary they might be saving the actual successor to 'journeys' for 2025?

With 'legends' launching q2 2021 and two probably BIG expansions in the pipeline for it and 2e apparently still selling well to the point that it could actually be too early to move to a new version this could be a possibility, especially if they're staying app-focused and wanting to do something really good for the more original style Descent title?

This isn't too much of a long way off, especially for me as I easily have enough Terrinoth for that many years of play/ enjoyment without running out and whilst it often seems like some are bizarrely desperate for a third edition is it really so urgent?

Yes eventually there should be and it should be true to the original- app optional not vital (but a really good app to the standards of the digital Gloomhaven or even better) and overlord (I've toyed with could the OL situation be improved or would multiplayer overlord work better than 1 v 4 as as great as the overlord variant is it does have its problems of execution and balance)- because if they just drop 'journeys' and go just the 'legends' route they've lost a lot of what is great and unique about Descent- it becomes a game of lost legends , if they keep both options going as two game streams that's awesome- 'legends' as a coop focused game, 'journeys' as more the original styles of Descent

but for all the 'oh no this isn't like Descent enough' feedback on the new game (which is kind of 'it's not third edition and we wanted third edition') I can imagine if it had been third edition the moans would still have flooded out but different moans either 'oh no they want us to buy everything again to upgrade' or 'oh no there's a new edition but it's not all of 2e so we can't upgrade', so it's difficult with an existing game- do you port everything ove rthen it's loads of stuff before you've even added anything?, do you not port everything over then people might miss stuff from the earlier version? etc

so with many people still wanting to add to or complete their 2e collection and plenty of us who have still wanting to play it in the real world once that virus is less of a threat the smarter thing might be to just keep 2e stocked if that's still viable that way people have an established great game and the new one which will both be enjoyable gaming experiences, plus anyone who's finally got all of 2e has time to enjoy it before the potential 3e- we're maybe too obsessed with 'new'- this season's clothes, the new phone because heaven forbid who wants to be one number behind, sometimes forgetting how good the 'current' still is

Yeah, I also got the feeling that they really wanted everyone to know that Legends was absolutely not the replacement for Journeys 2nd Ed. , and that they intend Journeys to be the competitive game going forward.

Which, if they can focus the game content on that 1 v Many idea, instead of trying to balance around both vs AI coop and vs 1 competitive, it could make for a better end product.

I would like to hope that there will be a Descent 3rd edition as well as anyone else but the fact that they are using the main title of the game Descent makes me believe this is it folks. All of the other games based in Terrinoth have their own title.They are going in a new direction and were hoping that the popularity of previous versions of Descent would carry this one along. I think they are limited with how much resources they can put into creating and building a fan base for a new game. Take Runewars for example, it was a solid game with excellent mechanics. I believe it failed because the people at FFG were not patient enough in building a fanbase. They abandoned the game too early. The other titles they introduce Star Wars, LotR, Marvel etc. will meet with an initial buy in because of the name. I think they employed the same strategy here. Sadly, A new true sequel to DEscent will not come out because it will draw away from this game.

That could well be true but three things dawn on me

1. yes the new box as it is is app only and no overlord, and non-2e compatible BUT look at all variant/custom stuff the things fans have done for so so many games- I think the fans can find a way- it just needs the extra tools to go with the tools that come with the game: stuff to run it app free for who/if/when that is a preference (people wanting the benefits of the app will have the vanilla version), likewise a set up for the overlord (you'd pick up the mechanics and how the heroes function with just the non-app stuff then see how an overlord player/players potentially as well could be run in balance with this. SOME parts may similarly work with 2e even though not the game as a whole, and for the prior options it shouldn't be too hard to use 2e monsters and heroes in such variants- the 'not compatible' is something of a gauntlet laid down to us creative types.

But if you want those kinds of options and it's a no-go without I'd wait to see if someone successfully manages to fan-variant them in where you can then see the game being worth it for you as $175 or whatever won't be worth it for you if that's an unknown maybe that might not happen.

2. we don't know what the future acts are, could be something that's a buy in even for those unimpressed by act 1

3. I had another one but stupid clock change tiredness = brain has gone back to before I thought it

Thinking about your point there is maybe one bad omen- if 'legends' does really well they may think why bother with a 2e 'journeys' style Descent, if it does so-so or not too well or badly they may think the setting's not worth investing in again, so unless they have seen the value as many of us hope of a split path where both branches of Descent and other games in the setting have a future, that could be bad news for Descent as we knew it in 2e and 1e, so I'm glad I own plenty of both just in case.

Legends ice cream or Journeys ice cream?

Why choose or offer only one when you can have or offer both

Of course they leave things open for a 3rd edition.
This has to do with marketing. They can test waters with LotD - if this goes well, they'll stick more to it. If not, we will see the 3rd edition sooner.
However, I'd say don't expect it in the next 4-5 years. They would not compete against their new product now.

1 hour ago, Brutalien said:

Of course they leave things open for a 3rd edition.
This has to do with marketing. They can test waters with LotD - if this goes well, they'll stick more to it. If not, we will see the 3rd edition sooner.
However, I'd say don't expect it in the next 4-5 years. They would not compete against their new product now.

I would say sooner, 3 years, because of 2 points : a 3rd edition wouldn't compete singe it is not the same product, and because of marketing speaking only, the more expansion there is for a game, the less they sell and it is better to have sooner a new game and 2 or 3 vig expansions than many during years (even if it is my dream to have new new Descent V2 expansions each year for 10 years again).

Maybe the solution would be a V3 playable as a stand alone but that can be also an upgrade kit of the V2. Or maybe a V2 expansion but that can also be a stand alone