Inspired by iznax:

It's always interesting to see the Top 5 list of different people, as we have currently a threat about top 5 I am veeery interested to see the Top 5 fail tests in your opinion with explanation.

I realy like all the quests so far, so if i have to say 5 ''fails'', i will put quests that you need a specific, deck buildning/strategy, and luck based quests, so heres mine.

1. Journey to Rhosgobel. Heal for the win :/

2. Road to Rivendell. 2 cards (and theyr timing) determins victory or defeat ''almost''

3. The Rdhorn Gate. Low will power (and 0) Heroes and allys not welcome :/

4&5 2nd & 3rd HoN quests. I love this game and i realy like those 2, but lets be honest, the luck of the draw determins victory or defeat, NOT your strategy NOT your deck building

PS sry for my english once more :/ HF !

1. The Hill's of Emyn Muil - Yes its good artwork, rather fun I think, but its a fail of a quest. So easy.

2. Redhorn Gate is a fail when you keep losing all your victory point locations.

3. Over the Misty Mountains Grim - Way too easy solo. Goblin King is a joke, and with only 2 quest stages, With a good deck, I beat this quest in 4 MAYBE 5 rounds ALL day.

4. I don't really like we must away ere break of day since it to me just doesn't feel exciting and too similar to Carrok and I just don't like it.

Other than that, the rest are good.

i cant bring myself to say anything bad about this game....i love it too much

but seriously, like iznax there are no quests i call bad, none that i even dislike. however these are the quests at the bottom of my like list (see what i did there? )

1. the riddle quest. great idea, i just didnt like the way it turned out...perhaps i just got annoyed with it at the start.

2. shadow and flame. its a bit linear, which of course is the idea but its a bit too linear

3. rhosgobel is luck based as has been already pointed out

the remaing two are

return to mirkwood and dol guldur, because of the fact they are so unbalanced when you change the amount of players.

@khamul - try mountain grim 2 handed- seriously it gets a lot harder (well a little harder) and may take it off your bottom list ....also, its interesting to see my top quest in your bottom 5....different tastes i guess

I said Redhorn Gate is one of the worst quest ONLY WHEN you keep losing those victory point locations and it takes 12-20 turns. Otherwise it's awesome quest

certainly one for the end comes, risk some light, or shadow of the past. with a secrecy deck you can often leave enemies in staging so you dont risk shadow cards

rich

But then it turns into having to build a deck with plenty of willpower, willpower boosting, cards that get things back from the encounter discard and stuff and it just turns into a mess and I don't like having to change my whole deck just to play that quest so that bad stuff usually does happen. But I usually make sure to play RG when I have a good Lore deck or something

the majority of my decks go towards the heavy questing naturally, so thats another reason why its probably my favourite. i have to say in all the games i have played against redhorn gate, i have rarely lost victory points through shadow cards...perhaps i have been lucky

rich

I read this post a different way, I thought it was about our worst failures at a quest, so that's how I'm going to answer it.

So last night, my buddy and I were playing The Steward's Fear. He hadn't beaten it yet and wanted to really badly. So, I played with a Mono-Leadership Outlands deck to ensure an easy victory. By the end of the game I was committing 39 Willpower to the quest, so we were obviously doing well. However, we got the 'burning Minas Tirith' Plot card and Telemnar's Bane which combo to reduce your deck towards a loss if it gets depleted. We're getting up to 5 discards per turn and we draw the False Lead card which stops us from an easy victory. My deck is getting down there (I started with exactly 50 cards since I didn't have good card draw) and I foolishly play A Very Good Tale and end up depleting 5 cards from my deck. My friend calls me on it and points out that I only have 6 cards left in my deck. I say, "Psssh, I'm so confident we're going to win, there's no way were drawing that other False Lead we have in the deck..."

Guess what happened!?!
At the end of the turn we had to discard exactly 6 cards and my deck ran out and we lost the game.

EPIC FAIL

I really meant it like Rich etc. answered, but interesting to read your story.

FLOP 5 :

1. Dungeons Deep and Caverns Grim : I cannot apreciate this quest, absolutely not. Luck-factor is incredible, even WITH a former specially for this quest constructed deck. I tend to draw 4 goblins in the first 2 round, so not only a difficult riddle-situation but also an insane amount of encounters each round.
2. Into Ithilien : If I hadn't been so shocked about the riddles when they first were published, Into Ithilien surely would have been in first place. It's a quest which gives me 0% fun when I play it, I hate it.
3. The Battle for Laketown : It's ridiculous. That's all.
4. The Watcher in the Water : This AP I played not very often, cause it's not so innovative like certain other quests. Since I am more a lore-player, battle is not what I like so much and here it's focused on fighting, It wouldn't be a problem if the tentacles hadn't those ridiculous forced effects and almost every card in the deck had either a shadow effect or is a tentacle.Regardless, the Watcher himself is very cool.
5. Conflict at the Carrock: To put it in a nutshell the same reasons like Watcher in the Water.

1) The Hills of Emyn Muil: simply a snooze-fest. There's really nothing exciting about traveling in this game.

2) The Long Dark/The Dead Marshes: both, to me, are equally forgettable quests.

3) Riddles/Burgle quest: Not necessarily bad quests, in the traditional sense of the word, but quests I don't re-play very often.

4) All of the KD quests: again, largely forgettable for me.

5) The Steward's Fear: The Hills of Emyn Muil 2.0 (slightly better, but for me, not by much. theme isn't enough to promote it off the list).

1) Hill of Emyn Muil this is just a waste of card board. I have no idea what the designers were even thinking here. My guess is that they wanted to make a questing orientated quest with low combat requirements.. but that is kind of hard in a strait up combat game such as this.

2) Steward's Fear was such a let down after HON. We go from awesome challenging quests that make me sit for hours in the deck builder trying, tweaking and getting crushed then slowly finding paths and ideas that unlock wins to auto winning on my first time with no deck adjustments. This pack was so depressing I am pretty sure I will not longer be getting cycle packs. Instead I am going to switch to Saga and Nightmare PnP releases of my fav old quests.

3) Passage Through Mirkwood (Normal) This quest is unplayable. It was ok when we just had core and the game is new, though I played it twice and moved to the 2 good quests. It is dull, easy, quick and pointless. Much like Hills and Steward.

4) The Hobbit 1. These just sucked so badly. I got them for the player cards. There was some nice ideas in these packs but I call it a complete fail. Hobbit 2 was much better but as they were designed together suffers much of the same unforgivable choices. I do like the idea of these packs though and expect the next one to be better. Still these are not so much terrible quests as in such a disappointment I just can not bring myself to open the box again.

5) The entire game in retard mode. Removing key cards from the quests is so lame I do not know where to start. I appreciate that they are doing it this way instead of watering down the content for people that like to play games. Still this entire "mode" is a total fail. I strains my mind that people play it.

5) The entire game in retard mode . Removing key cards from the quests is so lame I do not know where to start. I appreciate that they are doing it this way instead of watering down the content for people that like to play games. Still this entire "mode" is a total fail. I strains my mind that people play it.

yikes. tell us how you really feel!

5) The entire game in retard mode. Removing key cards from the quests is so lame I do not know where to start. I appreciate that they are doing it this way instead of watering down the content for people that like to play games. Still this entire "mode" is a total fail. I strains my mind that people play it.

I actually really agree. It ruins the quest's when you take out cards that were supposed to be in the quest when first designed.

5) The entire game in retard mode. Removing key cards from the quests is so lame I do not know where to start. I appreciate that they are doing it this way instead of watering down the content for people that like to play games. Still this entire "mode" is a total fail. I strains my mind that people play it.

I actually really agree. It ruins the quest's when you take out cards that were supposed to be in the quest when first designed.

then don't play it that way! to call those that do a "retard" or claim that it "strains your mind" is absurd.

this reminds me of wil wheaton's number one gaming group rule:

" Arcades were more than just magnificent geek Shangri-Las, filled with all sorts of video games and pinball machines. They were a vital part of my generation’s social development. If I beat another kid in a two player game and taunted him mercilessly, with explicit references to his mother's sex life and my role in it, the way some online gamers do today, he would have justifiably kicked the everliving **** out of me. So I learned – in arcades – the importance of good sportsmanship. Because arcades were real places, staffed by real people, we had to worry about much more than getting kicked off a server if we were complete idiots in a game. I guess this is a double-edged sword, and I’m feeling like a cranky old man by even mentioning it, but would you all do me a favor? When you’re playing online, have fun, and don’t be a ****, okay?"

you'd never call someone playing easy mode - in real life - a "retard" - and if you did, you'd quickly find yourself with few human companions.

Hey hey now I'm not going that far. I never said people were retards. Just agree that it ruins the quest by playing easy mode since it takes out the heart of the quest almost always. Just no fun in the game when you win super easy no problem every time. I suppose I should have been more specific saying what I agree on. I don't think people who do easy mode are retards, I just think that they aren't playing the game correctly like everyone else plays it and how it was made. And sure they can play all the easy mode they want, but they arn't going to get the real fun out of the game.

I hope you don't think I would say a thing like that,

Khamul

Hey hey now I'm not going that far. I never said people were retards. Just agree that it ruins the quest by playing easy mode since it takes out the heart of the quest almost always. Just no fun in the game when you win super easy no problem every time. I suppose I should have been more specific saying what I agree on. I don't think people who do easy mode are retards, I just think that they aren't playing the game correctly like everyone else plays it and how it was made. And sure they can play all the easy mode they want, but they arn't going to get the real fun out of the game.

I hope you don't think I would say a thing like that,

Khamul

no, my comment wasn't directed towards you, specifically.

but, since easy mode is "official," i would say that those who chose to play easy mode aren't playing it "incorrectly" any more than someone playing nightmare mode is playing "incorrectly." some folks like easy quests (hence some folks thinking Hills of Emyn Muil is the best quest!). different strokes, different folks!

you've never been anything but polite on the forums - so no, i'd not think you'd agree with the less-than-civil attitudes of others on these boards.

Yes sure easy mode for them and Nightmare mode for other but........

to be true in my experience good game is a game which is consantrate on something certain. When you try to satisfied any player then the trouble begin. Cose there is 2 way casual game or Proff game. there is no third way. Now this game is more casual.

But im happy with nightmare mode and i happy since desighners is doing righ think for the game now. Cose proff. players they are most buying players . All this casual players they always change, buy core and couple of pack and go.

Boored can talk very straight sometimes but he is say right thinks. i can see the guy have a lot experience with a different card games so any proff player like him will speak the same.

The problem is most of the players here is just a Rookies or not sport oriented people. they never really play serious tournaments so they sometimes dont really understand what proff players say. And you cannot blame them since they just dont have enough experince and also they dont care much, they approach to the game is a really not deep.

They dont want spend time to think how to build up the decks so they just wonna relax dont think much and win all the time with out any trouble. That why we have a easy mode now. But most funny think for me this kind of players they feel insult why easy mode?? What is mean?? bla bla bla........... like a kids.......

So as i say before: dont need to talk to them since there is no point Boored. they cannot understand you, but they can be insulted! To understand they should to past the way what you past already.

I type all that mostly for practice my English first of all.

5. Hills. Art is pretty good but it seems more like a Northern Tracker or lose, at least when playing with cards available at the time(with all the willpower from Dain and Outlands not so much anymore).

4. Road to Rivendell. This quest had some promise, but having a quest with basically two cards that end the game unless you have a Cancel card is pretty lame.

3. Redhorn Gate/Dead Marshes. These two quests are fine as long as the cards you NEED aren't discarded/come up as Shadows. They scream for erratas like the Troll key/Purse got, meaning if they are discarded, add them to the staging area.

2. Steward's Fear. I like a lot of the ideas in this quest, just don't feel the urge to play it, mostly because it can be so slow, especially solo if locations aren't coming as much as you'd like. Can have 3 turns or more with no progress on the quest. Love the boss fight and underground though, so maybe I am being harsh.

1. Dungeons Deep. Riddle effect is way too random, basically need to build a deck to be used for that quest and that quest only(different than Rhosgobel, as you really just need to throw a few ranged/healing cards in, but this needs a much more specific deck.) I like the quest stages and the idea of the riddles, just think it could have been done a bit better/made it easier to pass the riddles(didn't Bilbo dominate the riddles anyway?)

I think it's a bit silly for guys on this board to say how Easy Mode is 'fail.' It was not designed for people like us that play the game all the time, know all the cards/strategies, have played/beaten every quest. Clearly it would be boring for people that don't think the game is that hard in general(however removing two cards of Sleeping Sentry is pretty much best idea ever). It was designed for new players that I see all the time on BGG complaining how hard the game is. It was designed to make it easier on new players to ease them into the game and not feel overwhelmed, which I think it did a great job of. It was never advertised as a new, exciting mode for experienced players.

but, since easy mode is "official," i would say that those who chose to play easy mode aren't playing it "incorrectly" any more than someone playing nightmare mode is playing "incorrectly." some folks like easy quests (hence some folks thinking Hills of Emyn Muil is the best quest!). different strokes, different folks!

you've never been anything but polite on the forums - so no, i'd not think you'd agree with the less-than-civil attitudes of others on these boards.

I agree with you, Matthew.

I dont understand why people are crying so much about the Easy-Mode. If you dont like it, then dont play it, where is the problem? I dont like Nightmare-Mode, so I wont play it; but do I complain about FFG creating more interesting and difficult cards for experienced players? No! I am also an advanced player, so what?

Analising the quest "Siege for Cair Andros" I tried Easy Mode, but I can tell you, it got a lot more difficult!!! At least if you play with mono tactics, cause some cards which were not so bad for that tactic got removed and the encounter deck is very very thin.

I totally apreciate Easy Mode, as I do Nightmare. For myself I will continue with Normal-Mode. To all the people like Khamul and Glaurung I can only advise to become more cosmopolitan...

Boored can talk very straight sometimes but he is say right thinks. i can see the guy have a lot experience with a different card games so any proff player like him will speak the same.

The problem is most of the players here is just a Rookies or not sport oriented people. they never really play serious tournaments so they sometimes dont really understand what proff players say. And you cannot blame them since they just dont have enough experince and also they dont care much, they approach to the game is a really not deep.

So as i say before: dont need to talk to them since there is no point Boored. they cannot understand you, but they can be insulted! To understand they should to past the way what you past already.

I type all that mostly for practice my English first of all.

this is just plain rubbish. i've been playing CCGs since 1995 or 1996 (gah - can't remember which!) and I have never called anyone a "retard" or said that a certain style of play "strains my brain" or claimed that a certain type of player could never "understand me" because I'm better than they are.

everyone in the States (at least) is taught from a very early age: "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' - this doesn't mean that you can't criticize or comment on things that you don't like but you can do it in a grown-up way.

i just feel sorry for a person that feels the need to cower behind a keyboard and get some sort of kick out of calling people "retards." again, if we were in a local game store all playing LOTR:LCG - i know, without a doubt, that's the kind of attitude that would sour the group and many/most wouldn't want to play with a person like that.

you can be an "expert" and have class all at the same time; they are not mutually exclusive concepts. glaurung - you are just flat wrong to insinuate otherwise.

but, now i've highjacked the thread and derailed it, so i think that's all i'll say.

So as i say before: dont need to talk to them since there is no point Boored. they cannot understand you, but they can be insulted! To understand they should to past the way what you past already.

I become very sad when I read your opinion. So - when I play Easy-Mode f.i. I cannot understand you and everyone can insult me? wow! Glaurung, is it your russian education or do you really blame players when they want to have fun in a game? :-(

Matthew rules haha.

I think a great part of this community agrees with you Matthew. I can really only think of one member that is just overall negative towards the game, it seems like he doesn't really enjoy it at all, 90% negative posts. There is a difference between criticism and being rude, which I think some of the members here don't understand. But yes, I agree this thread has been officially derailed. Bound to happen with a Bottom 5 quest poll, it's too bad, as the discussion itself is a decent one, but some members need to resort to harsh namecalling and pretentiousness.

In an effort to get the thread back on track...

As a mainly solo player, I would say (In no particular order):

Escape from dol guldur. I think the general idea is interesting, but it just doesn't scale well, so playing this solo puts you at a far greater disadvantage than playing with two or more players. After I'd hammered away at this to finally get a couple of solo wins, I put it back in its box and don't ever really play it.

Return to Mirkwood. Again, as a solo player, this hits you way too fast. I think this would have worked better if some of the effects, like how much threat you gain, had been in some way based on the number of players in the game.

Journey to Rhosgobel. I just don't enjoy this quest. Any quest that heavily influences how you need to build your deck to stand a chance just isn't fun, as it limits the strategies you can employ.

Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim. Similar to the above, the riddles mean you need to build your deck in a certain way...and also in solo you wind up milling through your deck really quickly, so you either deck yourself or need to play spirit and will of the west.

And to be honest i struggle to think of a fifth I don't like. I'm not a great fan of the mirkwood cycle, as I just feel like they were finding their feet. I loved Khazadum, and the whole Dwarrodelf cycle. I enjoy Heirs (though I look forward to trying it once we have all the player cards from the cycle), and so far the new cycle is entertaining. I like the theme of the hobbit boxes.

I suppose the only one that consistently gives me great trouble is laketown. But I don't dislike it, I just find it challenging.

Generally though, every since Khazadum, I think the design of the quests is just going from strength to strength, and I love how thematic they are becoming - battlegrounds removing quest stages in seige of cair andros, for example.

I'm changing my list: