Quest Difficulty ScaleS - Capital S.

By Wanderer999, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hi guys, I have found the link for the difficulty rating (albeit an unofficial fan-made one) on Descent vanilla:

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/271256/journeys-in-the-dark-quest-difficulty-rating

I also found the difficulty rating for Descent Well of Darkness:

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/400225/well-of-darkness-quest-difficulty-guide

They have been extremely useful thus far, but now the problem is: What about Altar of Despair, and also Tomb of Ice's difficulties?

Is there any veteran around who has played ALL of them, and is willing to give a difficulty rating scale for these two sets? It is my understanding that the author of the above two difficulty scales is not working on these and I will probably never see a scale for the 2 other expansions.

I just need a kind souled veteran to give an ESTIMATED if not an accurate figure (can be based completely on his/her own feelings and opinions) on the quest ratings.

Example: (Yes purely example and completely unrelated to any actual quest)

Altar of Despair Quest X (Quest Number replaces X):

(Quest Name)

Win/Loss Ratio (Heroes:OL in a 10 times game [estimated figure is good enough]): 2:8

Difficulty Rating (Based on your feeling [scale of 1-10 with 10 being extremely hard]: 7

Tiny WriteUp (if any): Many traps here. Only one gold chest, which is also in the last room anyways. Many glyphs help abit though, but still monsters here can be expected to be the heavy duty type.

Really need people out there to help. If you have completed certain specific quests, please post too by all means... I am trying to get a compilation up for my group. I will also try to compile everything together if we can get a review on all the quests in the different expansions, and put them up for all Descent players to enjoy. Of course, I am merely a compiler, and the reviewers will get full credits for their works. Once again, please spare a minute or two to recall your past experiences and help to contribute at least 1 or 2 quest reviews - any more is of coz welcome!

Some notes on the AoD quests I replied to a similar thread on BGG with a while back. Difficulty out of ten added off the top of my head in bold. Hope it helps. :

Off the top of my head. They're certainly much better than the WoD ones. I fact I'd say AoD1 and AoD4 are my two favourite quests. All games we played were without ToI feats or the Campaign reinforcement marker both of which would make it much easier for the heroes.

1, Thing in the Pit (8)
It's tough on the heroes but fast and a lot of fun. Tried it three times but the heroes always got bogged down by well-placed spawns in the corridors ahead and lost it in the middle. If you use either the Campaign Reinforcement marker, or the ToI feats it ought to be a good one with experienced players.

2, Monkey Kings (5)
Overlord won this near the end against fairly inexperienced players. Lots of prologed actions. Should be fine for you guys although it's a bit on the dull side with overly formulaic areas.

3, Defend the Temple (?)
Never tried it. Totally different style of quest with the heroes defending from incoming waves. I've heard good things about it from other players.

4, Mists of time ( 9 if heroes head straight for the locked, fogged room without silver treasure. 6 if they go the long way round)
Another interesting and varied map. Against very experienced players they stormed it until the Fogged room where they nearly went down but won in the end.

5, (whatever it's called) (7)
It was balanced but long and the heroes got bogged down by spawns making it dull. Would recommend the Reinforcement marker from RtL to keep things moving.

6, (the god one) (If heroes split up, 3)
Never tried it but it's supposed to be a cakewalk for experienced hero players who can complete it in just a few turns if they split up.

Only ToI one we've tried was Quest 4 which was suitably close, not too long, reasonably interesting and introduced all of the new monsters, (say, 7?)

Thanks there badger! To put in my own fair share, I've played the Thing in the Pit once, and I was in the heroes' party:

AoD Quest 1:

The Thing in the Pit

Hero/OL Victory Ratio: Actual: 1/0 (estimated: 4/6)

Difficulty: 7

Items are rare to come across, and we completed the game using basic SHOP items!! (Hand axe and sword+shield ftw) We felt it was a very difficult map and though we had lots of Conquest (at least 18), we needed at least 12 to win the game, making it effectively only 6 Conquests. The most difficult part was the ending where the Chaos Beast camped. However, our OL was kinda weak and he did not read much notes, and he FORGOT to 'do something' until he realized it was too late - wham! His Chaos Beast died quickly without any special events (spoilers deliberately left unmentioned for players who have yet to play) We felt that we should have lost if not for the fact the OL messed up his ending scene, and also we had Zyla + Divine Retribution (godlike combo)

P.S: Please contribute your own experiences! It doesn't matter that your quest already has a review by someone else. These are all estimates and personal opinions, so the more the better because we can then get an overall average for the individual quests.

P.S.S: I will be playing more and more quests, uploading the reviews here as I complete them.