Lair of the Wyrm

By Cabello, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Steve-O said:

My biggest hope now is that D2e was actually finished a long time ago (and just held back by production issues) and that this expansion was actually developed in the year or so it took them to put the base box on shelves.

That's what I believe. After all, a year ago they were telling us the game was coming out last winter. So roughly a year before the first expansion if it comes out right before Christmas.

It is a rather smallish expansion though, so easier to produce, playtest, proofread, etc.

I bet it was already decided before the core set was released.

Here is my 50 bucks. So now, where is my Lair of the Wyrm expansion pack box?

yohko said:

I bet it was already decided before the core set was released.

Here is my 50 bucks. So now, where is my Lair of the Wyrm expansion pack box?

Why would you pay more than the $35 price tag?

Columbob said:

Why would you pay more than the $35 price tag?

Taxes and/or S&H? Maybe he expects change back, or personal favors from the game store clerk.

You can probably find it for $20-25 online.

KingLz said:

I don't think FFG rushes thing too much.

Look at the date Descent 2.0 was announced, that was nearly one year ago.

1e expansions were put out at a rate of roughly one per year (more for the ACs), and they still managed to make a mess.

KingLz said:

If production takes 6-12 month you can suppose this expansion is already done and they already started working on the next one.

I know it might not be that great to skip community feedback at all, but it's just the way business works.

I don't really care if FFG considers community feedback, as long as the product they put out is decent quality.

For the record, when I say "decent quality" I don't mean it needs to be perfect in every respect. But I would appreciate if new rules were written with regard for past content, so they can be integrated seamlessly. I would appreciate if double-sided tiles did NOT print two different things that are required in the same quest on OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE SAME TILE. And I would appreciate if new heroes and monsters were roughly level in terms of overall power, so that the choice of which hero to play isn't reduced to a small set of "obvious" choices.

All of these things were problems in Descent 1e, by the end. All of them, IMHO, a result of cranking out expansions too quickly and without taking the time to think things through.

KingLz said:

If they would start development of the new expansion now, we would have to wait way longer until we get new stuff.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I'm cool with waiting longer for a product that is well thought out and well balanced, through and through.

Seeing a new expansion within a year of the base game's release worries me. I'm not saying it's guaranteed to be crap (I continue to hold out hope for the exact opposite.) However, it is an unfortunate fact that FFG has a reputation for lots of rules gaps that need to be addressed in FAQs. In the last couple years they've had two or three releases that were actually unplayable because components were printed incorrectly. So, the fact that they appear to be increasing the speed of their releases (at least superficially) is worrying to me.

It has already been suggested (by myself and others) that the base game may have been finished development a long time ago and held back by production/delivery issues. It was certainly announced far in advance of its eventual deployment. Hopefully this expansion has been in development for a while behind the scenes. If FFG has any sort of official comment on that suggestion, I would be very interested to see it (however, I'm not going to hold my breath.)

I'm as excited as the next guy for more Terrinoth content. I love Descent (1e, and 2e from what I've read of it.) I think FFG makes great games in general, but if that excitement ends up crumbling to ashes when I see a laundry list of errors in the product I just paid good money for, that's discouraging, to say the least.

This expansion was announced earlier than expected for me, but is smaller than I hoped for. A fair trade off. Maybe others are right about another 'sister' expansion filling in with heroes for the other archetypes.

I'm super-excited for this expansion! I wasn't very excited with the class system and the fact that there were only two each, so as far as I'm concerned, FFG can just take my money! More classes, more heroes, more monsters, and more tiles = sold.

I just wish it came with a miniature for the Wyrm Queen instead of the token… I'm not a big fan of the metal figurines, and the fact that she's so big makes me think it'll be hard to find a proxy.

This expansion looks cool but where are the 2 missing archetypes? Does this mean we will be getting a twin expansion later that will give us those?

Ringskipper said:

I just wish it came with a miniature for the Wyrm Queen instead of the token… I'm not a big fan of the metal figurines, and the fact that she's so big makes me think it'll be hard to find a proxy.
Reaper Kickstarter

I, for one, am super-thrilled with this announcement. It came much earlier than expected, and that's a good thing.

Kinks can and will be worked out; my family and I are having a BLAST with the Core set over the last couple of weeks!

The expansion looks great with one major exception, no new campaign. This isn't acceptable. Every expansion should have at least one new, complete, campaign, and mini expansions could only be new campaigns. I'm shocked FFG can't come up with a new campaign for this expansion. Why go 1/2 way in creating 5 new quests when you could create a handful more and have a full campaign?

z22 said:

I'm shocked FFG can't come up with a new campaign for this expansion. Why go 1/2 way in creating 5 new quests when you could create a handful more and have a full campaign?

1/2 is not the same thing as 1/4. A campaign has WAY more than 5 quests - it has 20 quests, and probably new lieutenants and relics.

z22 said:

The expansion looks great with one major exception, no new campaign. This isn't acceptable. Every expansion should have at least one new, complete, campaign, and mini expansions could only be new campaigns. I'm shocked FFG can't come up with a new campaign for this expansion. Why go 1/2 way in creating 5 new quests when you could create a handful more and have a full campaign?

Dude, you don't have to buy it. If its complete and utter insanity to even consider what FFG has done as "cool", then keep your hard-earned greenbacks and enjoy your life. I'm sure nobody is going lose any sleep over your decision.

z22 said:

The expansion looks great with one major exception, no new campaign. This isn't acceptable. Every expansion should have at least one new, complete, campaign, and mini expansions could only be new campaigns. I'm shocked FFG can't come up with a new campaign for this expansion. Why go 1/2 way in creating 5 new quests when you could create a handful more and have a full campaign?

I'm sure they could have easily created a new campaign. At the same time, for me, new campaigns should also come with several kinds of new monsters, several new heroes, maybe a new class for each archetype, new lieutenants. And with JitD 2.0 coming out just months ago, that's throwing a lot of new content at a player base that's still working it's way through the 2.0 contents and the Conversion Kit.

And I'd rather see one new big campaign a year, with a couple of these smaller expansions along the way. Plus, I really like how Lair of the Wyrm is a set of quests that can be dropped into any campaign. It sets up a very nice, expandable system that's going to have a lot of replayability built in.

I wonder if we will see it in november or have to wait until Christmas? Can't wait to see more of this expansion and have it in my hands.

The Wyrm Queen looks like a lieutenant so maybe we will see her as a metal figure like the rest of lieutenants (Zachareth, Belthir and Splig).

Finally a game I can ask from my kids for Xmas… If it is released sooner all the better!

I hope this doesn't become another Forbidden Alchemy.

But I'm still looking forward to it.