It still amazes me how balanced a lot of the Dominion cards are. Sure, there are nasty exceptions, but try designing 150-200 cards that generally go well together at the price levels you've picked.
During my Dominion career, I've gone through the same motion dozens of times.
I would see a new card and think it would be massively underpowered.
After playing with it and the simulators amazing all of us I would generally come to think it's overpowered.
Playing some more with it I would try to transition out of it and use it as a valuable weapon only when the situation is right.
The last part is the most fun. This is where I really start to appreciate Donald's hard work. Generally I go from hating him because the card is bad to hating him because the card is too good, to finally loving him because the card is just right.
My earliest example is Chapel, the most powerful $2 to ever see the light of day. Many new players will have thought: "Why do I even need it when Witch is not on the board?" Then I started to trash everything in sight. When Chapel was on the board, I wouldn't even see the other cards. Just buy it and go from there. Nowadays I don't nearly buy it as often as I used to and I find trying to do it without Chapel an awarding experience.
Lately, it's mostly been Jack and IGG. Okay, these cards didn't impress me much in the Hinterlands preview thread, but we now know how looks can be deceiving. Doing a bit of everything apparently isn't the same as doing a whole lot of nothing. And hammering IGGs like a zombie when your opponent already has one or two Provinces isn't the best idea.
I'm having a lot of fun going through this cycle over and over. Sometimes it's also the other way around. I used to love Merchant Ship, but have somehow forgotten how useful it can be. After watching WW's videos I remembered that they can be very good and are having fun with them again.
I tip my hat to you, Donald, thanks for doing such a great job on all the cards and I'm very curious to see what's still in store for us! I forgive you for introducing Saboteur and Possession, although my family didn't mind destroying my deck with Saboteur.
Do you guys have this cycle too? With which cards? Do you enjoy it as much as I do? Tell us!