does anyone know how kevin/richard feel about the dilution that the many many expansions have brought to arkham?

kookoobah said:

I would think they don't care. Not trying to put words in their mouths but the official stance is each expansion is supposed to interact with just the base game. The expansions aren't designed to interact with the others* and that is why we see so many rule questions because of weird interactions when you do mix them.

* The obvious exception is each expansion, especialy the big box ones, are more tool box type expansions where you can add what you want to the base game - such as the Injury/Madness cards from Dunwich, the Epic Plot cards from Kingsport, etc.

Dilution of some dangers, yes. But the overall dangers are no less. I like getting surprised by the Dunwich Horror and by the Three Acts deck when I expect them to be quiet.

Easy way to get around this don't play all the expansions. They work the best with one big one and a little one.

I only have the base game, dunwich and pharaoe I'm dying to get Kingsport but I only have these 25$ so I'm buying KiY instead... the next time I'll have 25$ I'll buy BGotW... I'm terrible at saving money But when I'll eventually have them all I would play them all together, as I do with the expansions I have. I really really hope FFG would take a L-O-N-G time out with new expansions so I can catch up.

kroen said:

You shouldn't buy any of those, you should save for Innsmouth.

Avi_dreader said:

I want them all. And every single one of these expansions have some things that I want:

KiY: Hardest herald, cool items and spells

BGotW: .357 Magum, cult encounters

KH: Rfts seem very cool, new other worlds (I love new other world tokens), new ivnestigators, cool ancient ones, and ofcours- Epic Battle

I must have them all.

kroen said:

::Shrug:: I didn't say you shouldn't buy them at all, but you should prioritize. Board expansions are the best and it looks like Innsmouth shall be the best of the best.

Again, I'm terrible at saving money. Even if I had 50$ and IH would come out in two days I would've bought KH tomorrow. I'm also terrible at waiting.

Tibs said:

I like the surprise, but when we were playing the league, we had a KiY Act Card come out, and we just ignored it. Thes odds of a 2nd act card and more over, a third act card were so low it wasn't worth sacrificing to stop the effect.

MrsGamura said:

This is the best formula. However, I like my game big, big, big!

baysbenj said:

The thing that breaks my heart the most is the Three Acts dilution. It went from being an imposing threat to just being "no gates, no monsters, no rifts, free clue!" I will definitely investigate some simple house rules to bring back the fire.

kroen said:

I'll ignore your KH comments (for known reasons), but the one I quote above I take exception to. KiY hardest herald, seriously ??? Purely dependant on Terror level. If it doesn't go up, KiY is the same as not using a Herald. Even with the Herald, there are only a couple of Blights I worry about. Also, KiY provides "crazy people" (Hi, Avi ) who gear up for Final Combat bring it about quicker, adding doomers to the GOO's track. BGotW has an effect every turn (okay, you might get a weird turn with no effect, but a lot less often that with KiY).

I can also add some stats from my games. KiY Herald 8-4-0 (win-draw-loss) vs BGotW 6-4-2, both played with all the AH + DH GOOs. Looks like a minor difference, but each game with BGotW (apart from maybe Azathoth, poor sap) I knew I had to get lucky and play my best if I wanted a win. Even then GOO woke up 50% of the time. With KiY, he was there, but I never worried about him. I keep feeling like KiY needs to be played with the Temporary method + Herald, then it might do something. Otherwise, no different from DP or even DH Herald.

Maybe I should've added, hardest herald for me. Since most my sessions are solo-plays, and I play with 3 investigators (one in dunwich the two others in arkham) the terror level rises so fast it scary enough already, but I also have to deal with blights (adding a doom token is worst than a blight in a 3-investigator game). I usually get to the fian battle, and if if Joey is out, my chances to win drop dramatically. I understand that in a 8 player game, or even 5, the KiY will pose little to no threat, but for me it will. I looked up the corruptions. They're not so bad and you can even get rid of them. Blights scare me more.

kroen said:

What combo of expansions are you using? I run solo with 4 investigators, all but KH and only send people to DH if it starts looking like trouble or need to grab Clues and other places are out of them. I don't bother with assigned roles either, so no designated street sweeper. Terror doesn't really go up fast, unless the Mythos cards make it go up. With BGotW, Terror goes up faster generally, as 2 monsters appear for each gate, thus Outskirts will fill up faster. Of course, Terror with BGotW is only bad if you're playing for score or against Glaaki/Hastur. Why is adding a doomer worse than Blight? If you're gunning for final combat, less Blights means less chance of Joey.

AH+CotDP+DH+KiY

And I don't aim for the final battle. That's why I rather have blights. It's much more satisfying to win by sealing/closing. The only reason I would rather have a doom over a blight is when there's no chance anymore by winning with closing/sealing or when the AO is only one doom token away from awakening.

kroen said:

I have to contend with this. Most of my (recorded) games have been three players as well, the vast majority of them with the King in Yellow Herald. We used to play, DH/KiY, now we've added BG. We typically do just fine. With the King in play, we typically add doom early, and add Blights late. Most of the AOs can afford another doom or two, even with Dunwich. We prefer to win without waking him up as well, but we're not above preparing for the inevitable. I'm actually the hopelessly optimistic one, when it comes to thinking we still have a chance to seal, but sometimes it works.

You'll probably do better if you only send somebody to Dunwich if necessary, as it does not need around the clock maintenance.