Rate the level 18 AotA Treasure Hunts

This is only about the Pay-to-Play adventures, not the items, figures, or other things AotA.

 

Somehow I waltzed through certain maps that I now just can't beat any more. My first impression was awesome, but my second impression is super-depressing, so it averages out to okay I guess? -_-

 

Good but overly binary -- to me it seems like you either win easily or lose easily. I think it only came down to the wire once or twice. Wish the enemies had smaller decks that were more consistent and less swingy. Fun for the challenge, but not fun enough to keep me playing.

One thing I found challenging but still fun to play multiple times was the Mauve Manticore #1 mission 2 (Die Hard). I must have played that level like 30 times and while difficult (I have like a 70% to 80% win ratio) the outcomes vary wildly but are always tense. I think you can do that with preconstructed decks, but it is much more difficult with the randomness that people bring to it -- which is why if the enemies had smaller decks that were more focused it would be less swingy. But that's just my take on it.

 

I liked them, there are some very creative monster and map designs, and the 18 level adventures are much more challenging than any of the older modules. That said, the dragon in the last battle is insane. Players have been asking to increase the difficulty level in sp, but that is not the way to go. You have to draw a perfect hand to inflict on him some damage, and even then you need luck. It reminded me of the 1hp quests , which are also very luck-based instead of skill-based. That's why my vote is ok.

 

I think the dragon is a puzzle. It was pretty easy once I had the right build. You know, same as all hard SP content. There were no draw luck problems for me with the right deck, unlike the Binding of Xanthicisius battle in Mauve Manticore, for example. There you could be really screwed with the draw and no way to affect it.

Besides, if the last battle of a long-awaited expansion meant for high-level play can't be really hard, what can? Surely the end boss in this situation must be a proper challenge to even veteran players with tons of items? There's no need to repeat it endlessly. Getting through once and feeling very accomplished at the victory fits the purpose well, thinks I.

 

I think anyone who completes a 1 hp challenge on these deserves an epic chest. Maybe two.

 

I recant the above false claims of mine about the dragon. Playing the adventure again required about 10 tries with the same build. Definitely dependent on draw luck too much.

 

Is that with that build, or with any build?

 

With the understanding that I tend to run all-or-nothing decks -- these seem super draw dependent.

It kind of feels like Diablo II after everyone had duped epic gear. The devs responded by patching "Hell" difficulty to make it hard for those players, and basically impossible for players with "real" gear.

I'll be interested to see the feedback from new players on these maps, rather than from all of us fossils.

 

Well, I've only tried the 1+1+1 and 3 Firestorm wizards. The problem in SP is it takes time to level up additional characters. I've elected not to do so. For that reason, e.g. 2 warriors + priest or 3 warriors are currently beyond my means. Being able to buy level 18/20 characters woud be great for easier build experimentation.

 

You can buy level 10 characters and bring them up to level 16 in 6 maps. Not perfect, but can be done in 2 hours.

 

I know. Still, I've decided to use that time for other things. The characters I have have been sufficient so far. It would be more fun if I had more but can't have everything!

 

Yeah, being able to buy a level 15 or 16 character would be a nice addition to SP.

 

This has been brought up before, and I think a level 17 tavern that opens after the campaign is completed would be appreciated by many. Leveling up 10th level characters is pretty easy, but it takes time - and some people have little time to spare.

 

Neither the dragon or the artifact have immovable. Still very luck-based, but I found I was able to buy myself a few turns to get a great hand with lots of Winds Of War. You could probably use Whirlwind/Whirlwind Enemies on him too.

Edit: It's possible he does have Immovable, and that I just didn't see it on my 3 tries. Wall Of Stone can also help to buy time.

 

Trust me the dragon does have immovable. It just seems to get hover a lot more often.

Some of these levels were quite enjoyable, others felt like they were flat out trolling me.
I realize that I probably don't have the best cards (I think they are at least decent) and I am probably hobbled by attempting to play a balanced party.

For me it got to the point in a few of these levels that if I didn't draw a perfect hand out of the gate I just resigned because otherwise it was just going to waste another three minutes of my life getting to the inevitable Defeated screen. Even with a starting hand I could actually work with ..... I'd line up the perfect attack and ...... its the one time in the last dozen attempts the creature in question has a some sort of block. Which then progressed to me walking off and doing something else because things had moved past challenging but interesting into if I don't stop I'm going to break something territory. On the plus side I finally got around to running some system diagnostics that I'd been putting off for a while.

Still stuck at the dragon, don't want to just quit the level but it is really starting to feel like the only way this is going to get done is by leveling up a new party lineup.

 

I would like to change my vote to DISMAL because the stupid dragon has driven me to despair. When the random number generator finds glee in telling you NO! @$%!%! NO! and HAHAHAHA.... NO! every time you try to play a card, it's time to go put on a tinfoil hat and hide in a pile of dandelions for a while. ((((((((((((

 

For me I'd like to see the dragon's multi-target Encumber only last 2 turns instead of 3. I'd cut down its deck a bit to streamline its draws (so it doesn't sometimes draw a billion blocks in a turn) and maybe a few other minor tweaks.

I find it challenging and fun, but still too swingy even when building a team SPECIFICALLY to kill it.

 

........ yeah just got done killing the hammer and almost making some headway with the dragon.

Nimbused all the things, counter spelled it as much as I could, boiled and shredded its armor threw out my lesser attacks to eat up its blocks, reflected blocks and perfect blocks.... wind up the big attack ..... and toughness, do not pass go do not collect damage. Not once, not twice but three plus times just going through the motions just to have it pull out its "get out of all damage free" card. I get its a dragon, it is supposed to be tough and I recognize that a good portion of this fight is RNG luck be it good or bad. But Seriously? Finally did manage to land a decent attack which would have been awesome if my warrior hadn't been the last barely clinging to 9hp with no moves or blocking cards and 3pts worth of armor.

I really don't think this would bother me as much as I'm letting it if there were like 15 new normal missions and these were just bonus missions. On the plus side it is a nice day outside, finally consistently warm enough to thing about prepping the garden.

I would like to end on a positive and I have really been enjoying the new artifact/cards for the set

 

Run Shredding Strike / Sundering Strike. It rips through the armor and Toughness like no tomorrow. =)