Since HoN came out I've had the idea that we'd be seeing Faramir as the new Hero from the Steward's Fear…I know many of you thought so too. Does this change something ?…And if it doesn't…who's gonna be the new Ranger…???
My first guess would be Mablung (assuming we'll have a Gondor hero)
I think it's pretty darn obvious it will be either Faramir or Halbarad. Any other choice would feel pretty… weak.
Oh, please let it be Faramir! Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please………
…. you get the idea…
Yeah I thought of Halbarad too but since he'd have the Dunedain trait I reckoned Mablung is the only of the named "Ithilien" ,thus Gondor, rangers not yet released (or announced)…but I would really love to see Halbarad, I've been expeting more dunedain for quite a long time !
Even tho Faramir is the obvious choice I would still be a little disheartened only because I'd have to wait that much longer for him, theme wise I would have thought he'd be a lock for Drudan Forrest
It'd be very anticlimactic of them to withhold the character's name in such an obvious way, and then reveal some second-stringer… it's got to be Faramir!
on a side note; not terribly satisfied with that seeing stone player card. I mean its nice that its cheap and can be played regardless of sphere, but every sphere has a much better/safer way of drawing cards. Its usefuless is only if you dedicated your deck to controlling or scrying the encounter deck and could gurantee that 2 or ideally 3 of the cards would net you draw. Plus you still have to exhaust your hero AND that hero has to be a noble. I have a tough time imagining this will make it in many decks aside those really stretching for some thematic influence.
wish they would just show us Faramir already so i dont have anything to unnecessarily whine about anymore
Pharmboys2013 said:
on a side note; not terribly satisfied with that seeing stone player card. I mean its nice that its cheap and can be played regardless of sphere, but every sphere has a much better/safer way of drawing cards. Its usefuless is only if you dedicated your deck to controlling or scrying the encounter deck and could gurantee that 2 or ideally 3 of the cards would net you draw. Plus you still have to exhaust your hero AND that hero has to be a noble. I have a tough time imagining this will make it in many decks aside those really stretching for some thematic influence.
wish they would just show us Faramir already so i dont have anything to unnecessarily whine about anymore
Also, I'm glad they made Palantir unique, but… Palantir? Really? is that the less generic title they could come up with? It really takes away from the "uniqueness" of each Palantir. For example, the palantir of osgiliath was huge and could communicate with any of the other Palantiri. Thats a really big darn difference with the other ones, and yet they named the card as a generic object "Palantir". Pfft… It's like having the card "Dwarven Magic Ring". I know they weren't especially named but, man that's dull.
This doesn't bother me that much - I'd say the others could be named with the full names. The one that gets used by Denthor is the palantir to me.
Spoiler alert*
It's been leaked! Its Cordell Walker!
Captain Poe said:
Spoiler alert*
It's been leaked! Its Cordell Walker!
show the leak!
And then I realized who you were referring to.
Rapier said:
This doesn't bother me that much - I'd say the others could be named with the full names. The one that gets used by Denthor is the palantir to me.
What "others"? Once you name something with a generic name, you already cover everything that is that object, and so there's not much point in naming them again each with their own name. It was just a bad move, in my opinion.
Gizlivadi said:
Rapier said:
This doesn't bother me that much - I'd say the others could be named with the full names. The one that gets used by Denthor is the palantir to me.
What "others"? Once you name something with a generic name, you already cover everything that is that object, and so there's not much point in naming them again each with their own name. It was just a bad move, in my opinion.
agreed.
Captain Poe said:
Spoiler alert*
It's been leaked! Its Cordell Walker!
Now we are talking about power creep:
"Forced: as long as Texas Ranger is ready, oppononents won't be able to engage you from the staging area".
"Forced: Texas Ranger never exhausts."
Better we get Faramir:
"Forced: You are afraid of jewelry."
Seriously, if it will be Faramir (and it will be Faramir) I hope they'll use his resistance against the power of Mordor and his ability to hide to give him a very low starting threat.
So I see everybody's going for Faramir…which implies that after searching for him for…well…for three whole scenarios (he's mentioned in all of them)…we won't get his card and we'll have to wait for three more A.P. ?…I say that'd be harsh…As for his stats/ability I really hope he'll have high quest/low threat…Otherwise Gondor decks will still be impossible to play outside HoN…
Gizlivadi said:
Rapier said:
This doesn't bother me that much - I'd say the others could be named with the full names. The one that gets used by Denthor is the palantir to me.
What "others"? Once you name something with a generic name, you already cover everything that is that object, and so there's not much point in naming them again each with their own name. It was just a bad move, in my opinion.
I don't know, that seems a bit narrowminded to me. "The Ring" means something specific in the Lord of the Rings without meaning that no other rings can exist - in fact we know others do. However if in conversation Gandalf said "the ring" - it would mean something to everyone round the table.
Similarly, although the setting contains different Palantirs only one of them is actually avaliable to the free people - who could very easily call it the Palantir.
If they had access to the others they would be "the Palantir of…" and the first one would probably continue to be called the Palantir.
From our point of view as outsiders we know that other Palantir's exist, but if they were trying to name it for the theme within the world, I don't see what's wrong with it being called that.
You're essentially trying to apply logic to langauge - but we use language in a fluid way.
Rapier said:
Gizlivadi said:
Rapier said:
This doesn't bother me that much - I'd say the others could be named with the full names. The one that gets used by Denthor is the palantir to me.
What "others"? Once you name something with a generic name, you already cover everything that is that object, and so there's not much point in naming them again each with their own name. It was just a bad move, in my opinion.
I don't know, that seems a bit narrowminded to me. "The Ring" means something specific in the Lord of the Rings without meaning that no other rings can exist - in fact we know others do. However if in conversation Gandalf said "the ring" - it would mean something to everyone round the table.
Similarly, although the setting contains different Palantirs only one of them is actually avaliable to the free people - who could very easily call it the Palantir.
If they had access to the others they would be "the Palantir of…" and the first one would probably continue to be called the Palantir.
From our point of view as outsiders we know that other Palantir's exist, but if they were trying to name it for the theme within the world, I don't see what's wrong with it being called that.
You're essentially trying to apply logic to langauge - but we use language in a fluid way.
That was the One Ring. Pretty much the only ring that mattered without having to say its name. In this case, there are seven Palantiri, only seven, and as far as I know none is more important than the others to be called just "The Palantir" (even if one was, it would be the Orthanc one).
Also, what's that about "only one of them is available to the free peoples"? There were several Palantiri that were available to the free peoples in different places, and some of them were lost or their users corrupted, so it's not really "The" Palantir as you suggest.
The worst of all is that the card is not called "The Palantir" but rather just "Palantir" which feels rather generic and does not suggest a limited number of them, of which there was, and a very small one.
I'm not trying to adapt logic to "just language". I'm trying to apply logic in a rather finite element-naming system. If it was just language and the way people "name it within their world", we could as well have "Halfling" or "Little one" instead of "Merry" and "Pippin", since Boromir and many other characters used to call them that in the novel.
My first thought for the ranger was Halbarad, he is, after all, an "Heir of Numenor" in a sense. I am hoping we will get a Faramir hero sometime during this cycle and feel it's almost a lock. And if it is Faramir, I don't mind having to wait for 3-4 more adventure packs (cry me a river, whiners! jk)
Yeah, after seeing that palantir I'm hoping we'll get things like: Palantir of Osgiliath, …of Orthanc, Amon Sul, etc. I know that in the book the only one's they really used were the Orthanc Stone and one at Minas Tirith, but the game is about possibilities (you can, after all, have a group of heroes with Thorin Oakenshield, Eowyn, and Glorfindel, which doesn't really make perfect sense, lorewise) so why not make a card for the Palantir of Annuminas? One was kept there in Elendil's day.
That generic palantir is underwhelming to me, especially seeing as it can hit you for 6 threat. Doesn't mean I won't try using it, and I've been way wrong about judging card's value before.
I'd be much more worked up about the playability of the card rather than its specific name but since this is such a lore based game I suppose I see the point.
Another side note on the inevitable Faramir hero…PLEASE let his art be better than his previous iteration. The leadership ally version didn't look awful; but with the talent of most of the artists illustrating this game, I think they can do far better. I also agree that he'll be a lock for the spirit sphere with a low starting threat. Kind of hope his stats are better than the ally, or if they're the same let him have an awesome ability. I trust the designers tho
Well, yeah, regarding its playability, it's pretty terrible… Exhausting Palantir and the Noble hero to draw up to 3 cards? and that's only if the three cards were the same type, which is highly unlikely in most scenarios, and if not, raise your threat by 2? Terrible, considering we can draw 2 cards securely with Beravor.
Rapier said:
Similarly, although the setting contains different Palantirs only one of them is actually avaliable to the free people - who could very easily call it the Palantir.
If they had access to the others they would be "the Palantir of…" and the first one would probably continue to be called the Palantir.
……
From our point of view as outsiders we know that other Palantir's exist, but if they were trying to name it for the theme within the world, I don't see what's wrong with it being called that.
But there were more than 1 Palantir available for Free People of Middle Earth.
Amon Sul Stone and Annuminas Stone are underneath the ocean (2/7 unavailable)
Osgiliath Stone is at the bottom of River Anduin (3/7 unavaialble)
Orthanc Stone is under control of Saruman, who is traiter for both sides (4/7 unavailalbe)
Ithil Stone has been sieged and corrupted by Sauron for himself (5/7 unavailable)
But Elostirion Stone and Arnor (Minas Tirith) Stone were available.
Sure Elostirion Stone can only look to the ocean westward and cannot be used for any other task, but 3 Elven Rings were supposed to be secrete yet we have Vilya as available card.
By naming Arnor Stone 'Palantir', it would be really awkward for them to add Elostirion Stone during Shire or Elven expansion.
Also many people who studied Lore knew about 7 Palantir. Wizards certain knew about them, Stewards of Gondor knew about them, surely noble families of Noldor would know about it, Elves of Grey Harbour would know about it, and many other loremasters who studied Numenor would know as well. (The White Tree and 7 Seeing Stones are the most famous Numenorean heirloom after all)
If I remember right, the term 'Ithil Stone' was used by one of the characters in the book (can't remember if it was actual LotR book or one of appendix), so Palantirs were certainly named within Middle Earth to distinguish one from another.
But I guess if we are to never see Elostirion Stone within the game, calling Arnor Stone 'Palantir' wouldn't be problem at all.
Sorry for going off on the tangent, but I think the power of Palantir is being grossly underestimated. I can't wait for it!
You're not talking about a card that can draw 0-3 cards with a possible threat of 0-6. You're talking about a 1 cost neutral card that can draw 0-3 cards the first time you use it AND show you how to play the next 1-3 turns. If you are playing solo you just found out what you are up against for up to the next 3! Turns. Let that sink in. Yes, if there are engaged enemies or surges, the cards will play faster. And if that is the case, you now know shadow effects coming into play. I can't be the only one that goes from …the attack will bounce to I just lost a hero(and maybe the game) because of a brutal shadow effect.
Further, on the second turn, you now know up to 2 of the encounter cards so your ability to call the cards and get the draw are much better. All this for 1 cost up front. If my threat is too high or I need the hero, I don't use it that turn. No biggie, it cost 1 and it's not even restricted.
This is just stand alone. I'm not getting into combos where you can see what the upcoming cards are to enhance it. Of course you better be ready to deal with threat, but I'll deal with that happily. I know there are other cards and deck types that give you these but not with one neutral card at 1 resource. If you play solo One Deck to play all scenarios (and some heroes that happen to be nobles), you love this card.
Woz said:
Sorry for going off on the tangent, but I think the power of Palantir is being grossly underestimated. I can't wait for it!
You're not talking about a card that can draw 0-3 cards with a possible threat of 0-6. You're talking about a 1 cost neutral card that can draw 0-3 cards the first time you use it AND show you how to play the next 1-3 turns. If you are playing solo you just found out what you are up against for up to the next 3! Turns. Let that sink in. Yes, if there are engaged enemies or surges, the cards will play faster. And if that is the case, you now know shadow effects coming into play. I can't be the only one that goes from …the attack will bounce to I just lost a hero(and maybe the game) because of a brutal shadow effect.
Further, on the second turn, you now know up to 2 of the encounter cards so your ability to call the cards and get the draw are much better. All this for 1 cost up front. If my threat is too high or I need the hero, I don't use it that turn. No biggie, it cost 1 and it's not even restricted.
This is just stand alone. I'm not getting into combos where you can see what the upcoming cards are to enhance it. Of course you better be ready to deal with threat, but I'll deal with that happily. I know there are other cards and deck types that give you these but not with one neutral card at 1 resource. If you play solo One Deck to play all scenarios (and some heroes that happen to be nobles), you love this card.
I agree with this. The fact that it shows you the next 3 cards coming from the encounter deck is pretty huge, if it didn't have such a high threat risk I think it would be an auto-include. We have a couple of dwarfs that can lower threat that would probably use this a lot. Combined with Denethor you can also get rid of the cards you know are worth getting rid of (Even get rid of a card and know what it's replacement is). So I think its amazing in a spirt/lore deck. (that knowledge also lets you maximise things like ranger spikes, know when to save for strider's paths and so on).
Off Topic: I'd forgotton about the Palantir that looks to the west - but I don't functionally see how that could be a card. Functionally I think "The Palantir" would best reflect the relatitive importance of this Palantir compared to all the others, as far as the free people were concerned. I guess not having the word "The" to go with it is a little lazy, but not really a major issue to me. The fact that it's a unique artifiact more than accurately represents it's rairity.
When I first saw the Palantir, I was underwhelmed, but I'm starting to warm up to it. I view the card draw as a bonus, with the real attraction being the ability to see what's coming up in the encounter deck (which makes thematic sense as well). The potential threat gain is substantial, but they had to build a meaningful drawback into this thing, otherwise it would be too powerful. I have a feeling that we might see a hero in the next few AP's that synergizes well with the Palantir as well.