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Author Topic: Favorite Expansions in 2018  (Read 37531 times)

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NoMoreFun

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #75 on: April 06, 2018, 06:09:38 am »
+1

Excellent:
Empires
Adventures

Good:
Intrigue 2
Guilds
Base 2
Cornucopia
Nocturne
Dark Ages

Needs updating:
Prosperity
Hinterlands
Seaside

Bad:
Alchemy
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Simon Jester

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #76 on: April 07, 2018, 10:57:41 am »
0

Needs updating:
Prosperity

What kind of updates does Prosperity need?
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Gazbag

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #77 on: April 07, 2018, 12:30:39 pm »
+3

Needs updating:
Prosperity

What kind of updates does Prosperity need?

Prosperity is a pretty weird expansion, it's the king of payload with Goons and Kings Court and what have you but it's quite lacking in draw and trashing, especially early game.
Watchtower, Rabble, activated Cities and Kings Court is the only draw in the entire expansion! City and Kings Court only happen later in the game and Watchtower is arguably worse draw than Moat, Rabble isn't even that great either, pretty average. Compare this to base, which has Moat, Smithy, Council Room, Laboratory, Library and Witch.

The trashing cards in Prosperity are all quite awkward too, for varying reasons. Trade Route is of the weakest trashers in the game, that's fine, something has to be, but it has this interesting mat and Coin token mechanic which is kind of squandered on such a rarely used card and means nothing else can put Coin tokens on piles. Loan is pretty strong, but it has the sad trait of being unpopular with a lot of players and not particularly loved by anyone either. It also doesn't play well will the special treasures that are a main theme of Prosperity. Bishop doesn't count because it trashes for your opponent just as much as it does for you. Mint, Forge and Expand are all pretty good, but a little awkward because of their high cost and force you to build first, trash later. That isn't a problem, there aren't really that many cards in game like that, but having 3/5 of the trashers in the set play like that is a little awkward - compounded somewhat by the lacking draw!

Prosperity also has a fair few dud cards, not as bad as Scout or anything but it takes a pretty sad kingdom for Royal Seal or Venture to get any play. Counting House is kind of in a Coppersmith situation, Contraband is fine these days, it plays well with Events and the 2nd editions removed a lot of duds from the card pool so there tends to be more options in modern kingdoms, but if you don't have the newer expansions/2nd editions this might not see much play. I don't think too many people would be upset if Mountebank was cut for a slightly less ridiculous attack either.

I think Prosperity is a fine expansion overall, but there are certainly improvements that could be made.
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Simon Jester

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #78 on: April 07, 2018, 12:50:49 pm »
0

Needs updating:
Prosperity

What kind of updates does Prosperity need?

Prosperity is a pretty weird expansion, it's the king of payload with Goons and Kings Court and what have you but it's quite lacking in draw and trashing, especially early game.
Watchtower, Rabble, activated Cities and Kings Court is the only draw in the entire expansion! City and Kings Court only happen later in the game and Watchtower is arguably worse draw than Moat, Rabble isn't even that great either, pretty average. Compare this to base, which has Moat, Smithy, Council Room, Laboratory, Library and Witch.

The trashing cards in Prosperity are all quite awkward too, for varying reasons. Trade Route is of the weakest trashers in the game, that's fine, something has to be, but it has this interesting mat and Coin token mechanic which is kind of squandered on such a rarely used card and means nothing else can put Coin tokens on piles. Loan is pretty strong, but it has the sad trait of being unpopular with a lot of players and not particularly loved by anyone either. It also doesn't play well will the special treasures that are a main theme of Prosperity. Bishop doesn't count because it trashes for your opponent just as much as it does for you. Mint, Forge and Expand are all pretty good, but a little awkward because of their high cost and force you to build first, trash later. That isn't a problem, there aren't really that many cards in game like that, but having 3/5 of the trashers in the set play like that is a little awkward - compounded somewhat by the lacking draw!

Prosperity also has a fair few dud cards, not as bad as Scout or anything but it takes a pretty sad kingdom for Royal Seal or Venture to get any play. Counting House is kind of in a Coppersmith situation, Contraband is fine these days, it plays well with Events and the 2nd editions removed a lot of duds from the card pool so there tends to be more options in modern kingdoms, but if you don't have the newer expansions/2nd editions this might not see much play. I don't think too many people would be upset if Mountebank was cut for a slightly less ridiculous attack either.

I think Prosperity is a fine expansion overall, but there are certainly improvements that could be made.

Ah, I see. I actually hadn't noticed the relative lack of draw in the expansion. However as long as you play with the earlier sets it should be hardly noticable (case in point that I who have probably played with prosperity more than with any other expansion didn't know..) - I guess it's fine if a set is weaker on one component to focus on something special and I think Prosperity does it fine there.. Hm. How does Empires compare in that regard?

I like to defend the "duds" in Dominion and just to repeat myself once more: Less good cards is fine to have as long as they are fairly unique since they still manage to teach you something on how to play the game. I regarded Venture as OP for a long time and the card is fine for certain player levels and quite fun too. Counting house is a bit weirdly designed for my taste though, it could be stronger or at least look more appealing, it's just weirdlooking from the beginning and I feel you need to force it to be useful. Other than that Talisman is the most awkward card, but eh, they can't all be the best 4$ cards ever I guess.

Don't touch Mountebank before Cultist. I personally have no problem with it. It's strong but not an auto-card by any means imo.

Thanks though, clarified a bit why my love for the expansion isn't as shared as I somewhat would expect it too be..

   
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #79 on: April 07, 2018, 02:38:34 pm »
0

In order from favourite on down:

Seaside
Base (I have 1st edition plus update)
Adventures
Dark Ages
Guilds/Cornucopia
---
Prosperity
Empires
Nocturne
Hinterlands
Intrigue
Alchemy

The top half of the list I own, except for Guilds/Cornucopia which is on my wish list. I don't really have any interest in getting the bottom half.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #80 on: April 10, 2018, 12:33:27 am »
+1

1. Adventures. For me, it's the pinnacle of Dominion.  It has the right amount of complexity and combo potential without being too fiddly. I generally play in person so the less set up time the better. With how I have the game organized, Adventures does not increase set up time as much as some of the other expansions (i.e., Empires and Nocturne). The event cards are a big game changer and it's hard to play without them now. I love the reserve cards and would like to see them revisited sometime if possible.

2. Empires. This is right up there with Adventures, but, in real life, it sometimes requires just a bit more set up time with the debt and victory tokens. I wonder if we'll ever get Debt Mats like we have now with Coffers. Empires has some of my absolute favorite cards (Fortune, Overlord, Villa, Crown, Legionary). And, of course, the landmarks.

3. Nocturne. This set is almost up there with Adventures and Empires. The night cards are way more fun than I imagined, especially Werewolf, Vampire, Changeling, and Devil's Workshop. I was unsure about Hexes and Boons at first, but, when playing in person, there is a real satisfaction of flipping and revealing them that does not translate to online play. I don't play competitively so the swinginess doesn't have the same impact with me. I generally play with my wife or friends and Nocturne has probably had the most success with them.

4. Dark Ages. This is just such a consistent expansion from top to bottom. This expansion rounded out Dominion in a good way.

5. Hinterlands. I started playing Dominion right when this expansion was released so a lot of the cards have that nostalgic factor. Not as innovative as the other expansions, but it introduced a lot of cards that I like playing with often (e.g., Highway, Haggler, Border Village, Spice Merchant, Scheme).

6. Intrigue (2d ed.). This expansion improved so much by the removal and addition of a handful of cards. This is such an underrated expansion.

7. Cornucopia/Guilds. Cornucopia is good, but Guilds really elevates this joint expansion in my opinion. Coin tokens are a great mechanic.

8. Prosperity. A somewhat inconsistent expansion compared to the ones above, but it has a few cards that are just so much fun to play with (e.g., King's Court, Goons, Grand Market, and Peddler).

9. Seaside. This is one of the most thematic expansions. And I'll always love duration cards. There are a few duds that bring it down a notch and I wish some of them had been replaced or modified in the second edition like Base and Intrigue, especially Pirate Ship.

10. Base (2d ed.). Solid, but simple.

11. Alchemy. I hope one day we receive 5-10 more potion cards to round out the potion mechanic. A man can dream.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 10:45:19 am by SuperHans »
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jonaskoelker

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #81 on: April 12, 2018, 02:10:05 pm »
0

The expansions I own are Base (2E), Intrigue (2E), Empires and Seaside, listed from earliest to most recent purchase. My favorite opponent is my gf, and we mostly (only?) play single-set games, playing each kingdom three times. That obviously colors my evaluation.

Ordered from great to merely-moderate enjoyment of single-set games:

1. Intrigue, man, all the cards are awesome! There's strong slogging in Duke, there's quirky-draw-your-deck in Minion, there's awesome payload in Bridge, there's a cantrip engine in Conspirator if you can activate it, there are some pretty decent money enablers (not that money is often the best strategy). Plenty of really great cards; As Commodore Chuckles said in first post, classic cards that continue to be interesting.

Okay, Shanty Town, Harem and Nobles are a little bit bland. If you replaced those with Crown, Fool's Gold, Tunnel and/or Farmland, Intrigue would be nearly perfect. Swindler and Torturer can creating swingy games, let's admit faults, but man, Intrigue is great.

2. Empires is great. Variation in how you score points expands the strategy space and up-ends established. Events are cool. The cards are great. If you mix Empires in with your other expansions it's top notch frosting. For single-set games I can't help but think that I'd like some proportions that are a little more cake-heavy; maybe that's just I'm not yet bored of playing stacks of Village/Smithy variants.

3. SeasideTactician, Wharf, Ambassador, even the mundane Warehouse and Salvager are great fun to play with. Some of the other cards are not the most powerful ever, which is really not that important when you're playing all-Seaside, and the flavor is great.

4. Base is... Base is fine. It's on the boring simple side of things, and it has to be. No hate for Base, but it does get kind of bland after a while.

Among the ones I don't own, the ones I'm most looking forward to are:
1. Adventures — Other than the Warrior and Champion-first lotteries, everything looks great. Wonky cool duration cards. And tokens!
2. Prosperity — Holy bananas, gimme dat KC, Goons, Grand Market and City. You can keep the Loan and Counting House, though.
3. Hinterlands — No game-warpers, few hard duds. Haggler, Highway, Jack of all Trades and Scheme excite me.
4. Guilds+Cornucopia — This looks Hinterlandsy, with fewer cards that excite me but they all look nice. Guilds looks a bit more exciting than Cornucopia.
5. Dark Ages — Dark Ages looks mostly fine. Cultist, Rebuild, Urchin lottery and Knights lottery concern me, and the remaining 87.5% don't excite me quite as much as Hinterlands and Guilds.
6. Nocturne — I'm not sure about the Boons/Hexes, the theme is a little on the too supernatural side of what I think Dominion should be. The Heirloom mechanic looks cool. I guess I'm just uncertain about the new and unfamiliar.
7. Alchemy — Some cards look like real stinkers, some of the other ones look really cool. Apothecary and Vineyard in particular.

If I merge the lists with single-set play in mind, it probably comes out something like this:
1. Adventures
2. Intrigue
3. Empires
4. Prosperity
5. Hinterlands
6. Seaside
7. Guilds+Cornucopia
8. Dark Ages
9. Nocturne
10. Base
11. Alchemy
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PortlandSkye

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #82 on: May 03, 2018, 09:31:12 pm »
+1

1   Dark Ages
        Lots of cards, interactions, Forager, Bandit Camp, not overly complex or gimmicky

2   Prosperity
        Colonies and Platinum, victory tokens

3   Cornucopia
        Hamlet and Menagerie, love that combo

4   Empires
        Debt and split piles

5   Adventures
        Like the mat, could do more with it

6   Nocturne
        Really like, but a bit too fussy, don't love Hexes or Boons--a bit too random

7   Seaside
        Good start with duration

8   Hinterlands
        Border Village moves the game along

9   Base
        Chapel, also like 2nd Edition additions

10   Intrigue
        Baron gets you off to a good start

11   Guilds
        Not in love with coins, some good (but not great) ideas

12   Alchemy
        If it didn't have Potions, or if Potions were used in other expansions, this would be better

13   Promo
        Too random and hard to integrate into the overall game
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Willvon

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #83 on: May 14, 2018, 05:35:35 pm »
+1

1) Prosperity — My first expansion I bought. So it is a sentimental favorite, but my wife and I also love Colonies and Platinums. We use them whenever we can in our games.  It was the first to use victory tokens and has several cards that are real game changers in most any kingdom.

2) Cornucopia — I really love 10 of the 13 cards and consider them must buys pretty much any time they appear. 2 of the other 3 are frequently useful. Those are pretty amazing odds.

3) Adventures — Introduced Travelers, Reserve cards, and Events, along with the return of Durations.  A great expansion. I understand why many have it as their #1.

4) Dark Ages — Love the trashing theme. Many cards that I love. Introduces Ruins and Shelters. Also takes the use of non-supply piles to a new level.

5) Empires — Introduced Debt and split piles, both are great additions to the game. I also love having more Events and new cards making use of victory tokens. And Landmarks have really taken “alternate victory” to new level.

6) Intrigue-2nd Edition — With the 6 deleted cards and 7 new cards, this expansion really has improved greatly.

7) Seaside — Durations , Durations , Durations - at the time these were a major change to the game and whenever a new expansion was announced, there were always people saying they hoped there were more Durations in the set.

8. Nocturne — I love Night cards and Heirlooms, but haven’t played this enough to rank it higher at this time.

9) Hinterlands — Has a few great cards, but most are average, which is not bad, just not as exciting as some of the new things in other expansions.

10) Guilds — I enjoy the cards that use coffers (as they are now named), and it has a couple of great trashers, and one of the top villages, but the size of the expansion makes coffers and overpay feel very underutilized.

11) Alchemy — OK, but not great. They can’t all be the best expansion.

I didn’t rank the base game, because it’s not an expansion.
       
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #84 on: May 14, 2018, 07:30:54 pm »
+2

Empires
Everything is great about this one. Landmarks, VP tokens, debt
City Quarter is simply the best!!

Adventures
Lots of key cards, lots of new conceptions. This expansion changed the whole gameplay and meta tremendously.

Base
Became truly amazing with the second edition: no duds, all the cards easy to understand for beginners, very elegant.

Dark Ages
I like the theme!! Several years ago I went to a bar, got drunk and wrote a short story influenced by Dark Ages.
It is very bad, but definitely a pinnacle of my ehhm writing career.

Nocturne
Not a big fan of hexes: sometimes when they are supposed to do some damage they do not,
and sometimes you are getting royally screwed without opponent putting a lot of effort into that.
It's a pity night cards have quite a few antisinergyes with other cool stuff.
All in all a whole lot of cool cards, heirlooms are great, as are will'o'wisps and imps.
Also it's still pretty new, so that's a plus

Seaside, Prosperity
Old good ones, can never go wrong with those.

Cornucopia, Guilds
More Dominion cards, can't complain about that! Can't really say anything bad about those two in general.
Tournament sucks though. I mean, it doesn't if you just want to have fun, but it leads to a lot of very frustrating losses

Hinterlands
It's fine (no, Duchess, not you)
The theme (doing stuff on gain and on buy) did not age very well with all the new expansions

Alchemy
A lot of duds for such a small expansion, sadly.
But pools, apos, alchemists, apprentices, possession are all amazing

Intrigue
Three of the most annoying attacks in the game are here (Minions, Torturers and Swindlers)
Second edition made it a lot better, still probably the least favorite for me.
Obviously, this one still has a lot of great stuff

drsteelhammer

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #85 on: May 16, 2018, 04:22:09 am »
0

Needs updating:
Prosperity

What kind of updates does Prosperity need?

Prosperity is a pretty weird expansion, it's the king of payload with Goons and Kings Court and what have you but it's quite lacking in draw and trashing, especially early game.
Watchtower, Rabble, activated Cities and Kings Court is the only draw in the entire expansion! City and Kings Court only happen later in the game and Watchtower is arguably worse draw than Moat, Rabble isn't even that great either, pretty average. Compare this to base, which has Moat, Smithy, Council Room, Laboratory, Library and Witch.

The trashing cards in Prosperity are all quite awkward too, for varying reasons. Trade Route is of the weakest trashers in the game, that's fine, something has to be, but it has this interesting mat and Coin token mechanic which is kind of squandered on such a rarely used card and means nothing else can put Coin tokens on piles. Loan is pretty strong, but it has the sad trait of being unpopular with a lot of players and not particularly loved by anyone either. It also doesn't play well will the special treasures that are a main theme of Prosperity. Bishop doesn't count because it trashes for your opponent just as much as it does for you. Mint, Forge and Expand are all pretty good, but a little awkward because of their high cost and force you to build first, trash later. That isn't a problem, there aren't really that many cards in game like that, but having 3/5 of the trashers in the set play like that is a little awkward - compounded somewhat by the lacking draw!

Prosperity also has a fair few dud cards, not as bad as Scout or anything but it takes a pretty sad kingdom for Royal Seal or Venture to get any play. Counting House is kind of in a Coppersmith situation, Contraband is fine these days, it plays well with Events and the 2nd editions removed a lot of duds from the card pool so there tends to be more options in modern kingdoms, but if you don't have the newer expansions/2nd editions this might not see much play. I don't think too many people would be upset if Mountebank was cut for a slightly less ridiculous attack either.

I think Prosperity is a fine expansion overall, but there are certainly improvements that could be made.

Necro time!

It never occured to me that there is so little draw, which is a good reason why this expansion isn't quite as good as most others.

But there is a fifth draw card that I had to look up by myself because I forget it everytime aswell: Vault. Funny thing, that card was once considered on of the best cards in the game (long time ago), and still considered quite decent when I started playing (pre Adv.). Now, that card is usually quite inconsequential and rarely any good, and certainly not good for drawing.

This expansion has also waaaaay to many treasures. Kingdom treasures are way below average in strength overall and Prosperity treasures are the weakest among them. You've got Royal Seal, Venture, Talisman, Hoard and Contraband that just dont do anything interesting for you. Bank is also mostly mediocre, Loan is ok and Quarry is the only one I'd miss.

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

The cool, shiny parts of the Expansion (KC, Colony, Grand Market) sometimes lead to neglecting the below average cards in evaluating this expansion in my opininion. It's still worth getting because it contains some of the coolest cards, but other expansions and revisited editions provide so much more.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #86 on: May 16, 2018, 04:51:14 am »
+2

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #87 on: May 16, 2018, 07:34:38 am »
+3

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.

This is tiresome.  A card is not “super strong” if it’s correct to gain it in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms it appears in.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #88 on: May 16, 2018, 07:44:14 am »
+1

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.

This is tiresome.  A card is not “super strong” if it’s correct to gain it in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms it appears in.

doesn't take into account a scenario in which a card is only very slightly weaker than many other similar cards (e.g. Walled Village), in which case the card in question is not gained in many kingdoms because a slightly stronger card is gained instead
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #89 on: May 16, 2018, 09:38:30 am »
+1


To the original point, here's how I rank the expansions, based on nothing but my personal preference:

1. Empires: No question in my mind, this expansion added as much to Dominion as two or three other full expansions put together. It's just marvelous, and as far as I've seen so far it seems exquisitely balanced. I will sing the praises of this expansion with my dying breath.

2. Dark Ages: I'm so mixed on this one in so many ways. It gave us my favorite card in the game (Rats) and my favorite boards in the game (those crazy ones where you trash your deck every turn and start next turn with a completely different deck, it's the only thing that makes me feel alive). It also gave us Rebuild and Cultist. In some ways I think Knights summarizes Dark Ages to the letter. It's one of the most interactive and dynamic piles in the game. It, unfortunately, also contains Dame Anna.

3. Adventures: Similar to Dark Ages in my mixed feelings towards it, but less so on both counts. So many great things to say about this expansion, and it explores some really interesting design space. But Page. I. Hate. Page. Games. So. Much. Still, great expansion. The concept of "making your own card" with the tokens is delightful and makes you feel clever (the choice on how to do it is usually obvious, but somehow that doesn't detract from the feeling of agency it gives you as a player).

4. Hinterlands: The tactical turn-by-turn decision making is my favorite part of any game of Dominion, and all the on-gain effects emphasize it. Buying an Inn to cause the perfect shuffle makes me want to start smoking just so I can quit and see if the euphoria from that "last cigarette" I've heard so much about measures up. Plus, Jake of all Trades, man. Who doesn't love good old Jake?

5. Prosperity: Just adding Platinum/Colony to any board instantly changes the dynamic and pace of the game. On top of that, the idea of VP chips in general has added insane depth to the game beyond buying green cards to win, and this set introduced it. It has a lot of fan-favorite cards and should probably be the second or third set anyone picks up.

6. Seaside: What can I say, it's just a solid expansion with some great Dominion cards in it. Smugglers can be a teensy bit irritating sometimes (especially in 3p), but other than that, I'm always happy to see it on the table.

7. Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty mega turns are about the most fun the game gets for me. Even if we have to endure Tournament.

8. Guilds: Those sweet, sweet coin tokens.

9. Alchemy: I love playing with a lot of these cards, but the resolution time makes them almost unplayable irl, and Transmute, Golem and Herbalist feel super weak most of the time. That would be fine, but the expansion is pretty small, so it's significant proportionately to detract from what the set offers.

10. Nocturne: I wrote a rant article on how I feel about Hexes. My stance on them has softened a bit, but I still hold to it for the most part. I love Night cards and Heirlooms (except Cursed Gold, which creates too much variance in the first two turns and sometimes feels a bit unfair), but it they just don't push it up the ranks for me.

11. Base and Intrigue: I'm sure these are great expansions, but I pretty much consider them core to the game. They've been around since I started and I got them both at once, so yeah, I take these for granted.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #90 on: May 16, 2018, 10:15:12 am »
0

Nowadays, you can get Platinum and Colony from the base cards box. And so, I no longer consider Platinum and Colony as a contributor to my ranking of Prosperity. I would actually rank prosperity pretty low. It's a set with some bombs and then a bunch of meh treasures. There are also only three VP chip cards, and Empires stuff kind of eclipses Monument I feel (at least when King's Court isn't around). My favourite cards from Prosperity are maybe Mint and Grand Market.

A quick set ranking because I don't feel like writing too much:

1. Empires - Lots of cool stuff. Cards are strong, but in a classy way, unlike say Adventures.

2. Adventures - I like the bonus tokens, I like events, and I like cards that are relevant to the board. Adventures has a hefty amount of all of these.

3. Guilds - a small but consistent expansion. Also, I can live with +1 Coffers.

4. Dark Ages - I like how this set challenges you to push for the finish line by trashing your deck to good effect. It's a set where you can shoot yourself in the foot, so you always got to be on your toes.

5. 2nd ed.Intrigue - I don't think the attacks are all that bad, and the second edition really adds a bunch of cool stuff if you look past the attacks.

6. 2nd ed. Base - The 2nd edition cards bring new life to this set, while keeping classics like Witch, Chapel, Militia, Laboratory, and of course Village.

7. Hinterlands - I've come to appreciate the simplicity of this set in terms of mechanics, while still allowing for cool moments with like Haggler, Border Village, and Inn.

8. Nocturne - At least online, I like that there is a bunch more small things to think about with like the Boons, Hexes, and spirits. It's a good supplementary, but gets messy when many cards from this set are used at once.

9. Cornucopia - I like the variety cards. I avoid Tournament when playing against new players. Pairs very well with Dark Ages.

10. Seaside - I like durations, but there are some really nasty attacks here, as well as several duds.

11. Prosperity - The power level of cards here is too polarizing. Many of the coolest cards in this set awkwardly cost 7. A bunch of kingdom treasures that feel meh (but there are some good ones).

12. Alchemy - a bit harsh to put Alchemy this low, but only Apprentice really excites me, and it isn't even a potion card.

13. Promo - Even the good cards in this "set" are swingy (Governor, Black Market). Even Summon needs a good board to shine.
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Commodore Chuckles

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #91 on: May 16, 2018, 01:59:34 pm »
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Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.

This is tiresome.  A card is not “super strong” if it’s correct to gain it in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms it appears in.

doesn't take into account a scenario in which a card is only very slightly weaker than many other similar cards (e.g. Walled Village), in which case the card in question is not gained in many kingdoms because a slightly stronger card is gained instead

Trade Route is not "slightly" weaker than other $3 trashers. It is way, way weaker than most of them. Even if it's the only trasher, it's a waste of time if terminal space is tight but you still have decent draw.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #92 on: May 16, 2018, 03:22:44 pm »
+1

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.

This is tiresome.  A card is not “super strong” if it’s correct to gain it in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms it appears in.

doesn't take into account a scenario in which a card is only very slightly weaker than many other similar cards (e.g. Walled Village), in which case the card in question is not gained in many kingdoms because a slightly stronger card is gained instead

Trade Route is not "slightly" weaker than other $3 trashers. It is way, way weaker than most of them. Even if it's the only trasher, it's a waste of time if terminal space is tight but you still have decent draw.

It is absolutely not a waste of time. Trashing an Estate is one of the strongest things you can do in the game.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #93 on: May 16, 2018, 04:16:48 pm »
0

Then there is still Counting House, Trade Route etc..

That's a super weak card and a super strong card that do completely different things, I'm having a hard time knowing what the "etc" is supposed to be.

This is tiresome.  A card is not “super strong” if it’s correct to gain it in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms it appears in.

doesn't take into account a scenario in which a card is only very slightly weaker than many other similar cards (e.g. Walled Village), in which case the card in question is not gained in many kingdoms because a slightly stronger card is gained instead

Trade Route is not "slightly" weaker than other $3 trashers. It is way, way weaker than most of them. Even if it's the only trasher, it's a waste of time if terminal space is tight but you still have decent draw.

It is absolutely not a waste of time. Trashing an Estate is one of the strongest things you can do in the game.

Yes, sure. It is. But most cards that do trash estates do more stuff than just trash one card at the time, being more or less a junk-card itself there of.

Look. Trashing is good, by providing trashing Trade rout is good, but it can still be one of the weakest trasher in the game and thus not a "superstrong" card over all. It can be really strong, when it is the only trasher it sure is, over all it's decent, but I do know that you now all this already.. Why do you let writing styles trap the discussions like this, I must ask? It seems not worth it..
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #94 on: May 16, 2018, 04:38:22 pm »
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If something is the only way to remove estates from your deck, it rarely matters what it is-- it's a strong card on that board. If there is more than one way to remove estates from your deck, their strength is in relation to each other.

I think that's 90% of evaluating Trade Route. Is it a strong card? Dominion doesn't have inherently strong or weak cards. It has situations and tools that apply to those situations in different ways.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #95 on: June 30, 2018, 04:31:02 am »
+5

Buying an Inn to cause the perfect shuffle makes me want to start smoking just so I can quit and see if the euphoria from that "last cigarette" I've heard so much about measures up.

I don't think I should be taking literally, but just in case: I would recommend against taking up smoking. The nicotine high from your first <10 cigarettes are not enough compensation for the elevated risk of an early death from lung cancer unless you have seriously weird preferences. Also, I've quit several* times and I never experienced any last-cigarette euphoria.

* The first n-1 don't really count ;D

I hope I don't come off as a nagging nanny.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #96 on: July 14, 2018, 06:31:14 pm »
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My favorite to most hated expansion is this:

1. Adventures

This was the 2nd expansion I bought after the base game. I love the reserve cards, the durations are awesome, I like most of the events. I enjoy playing with all the different tokens. My favorite cards from this one is: giant, storyteller, bridge troll, relic, coin of the realm, port, royal carriage.

2. Cornucopia

I love the fact that this expansion is all about variety. And there’s some unique cards in this expansion. In fact the only reason it isn’t on the top of my list is the fact that it’s small. Favorite cards: menagerie, tournament, fairgrounds, farming village and hunting party.

3. Empires

I love the events more in this expansion than adventures. But events don’t make an expansion on there own. I love the landmarks even more than the events. I really enjoy most of the split piles. The castles are cool. And all victory and debt tokens are even better than adventures. However I love more action cards in adventures then I do in empires. Favorite cards: plunder, catapult, archive, enchantress and farmer’s market. Favorite event is donate favorite landmark museum.

4. Promos

Black market is my most favorite card! And a few of the others are pretty cool too. So it’s number 4.

5. Dark ages

I love the ruins. The shelters are nice change. Especially giving them out. And yes it’s so interactive. The knights are cool. The cards not in the supply are cool too. And the fact that this expansion has the most attack cards.Favorite cards: squire, rats, maurader, rebuild and hermit/madman.

6. Alchemy

Despite the difficulties of buying cards in this expansion I enjoy playing with most of the cards in this expansion the only down side I wish it was bigger. Favorite cards: scrying pool, vineyard, apothecary and golem

7. Hinterlands

This was my first expansion I bought. And although the cards aren’t as eye catching like some of the other expansions it’s a simple expansion. This is an expansion I recommend to newbies. And there’s still a lot of cards I enjoy playing with in this expansion. I also like the fact that it has 3 victories 3 reactions and 3 treasures. It’s kinda funny. And I don’t think there is any expansion that has more than this one. Favorite cards: I’ll gotten gains, nomad camp, cartographer, margrave and border village.

8. Seaside

I love durations but some of the durations in this one aren’t as awesome as the ones in adventures and empires. Also I feel like it’s missing something? Like where’s the sharks? I feel like there should be a shark action card. So it’s kinda disappointing in that regards. Also I feel like treasury should be a treasure not an action although it wouldn’t really work as treasure anyway. The mats are cool but not as cool the tavern mats. I guess I just don’t like how one mat only works for one card. And the fact that there’s not many trashers in this expansion. There should be more in real life you lose a lot of stuff in the ocean. The embargo tokens are my favorite part of the expansion.
Favorite cards: embargo, caravan, bazaar, outpost and wharf.

9. Intrigue first and 2nd edition

I don’t own this. 2 of my friends do though. The biggest reason why this is so close to the bottom is because I liked most of the cards from the original, but can’t find them anywhere. If the original cards are so bad then why isn’t anyone selling them. There still selling a lot of the other cards. So I put this closer to the bottom cause they removed some of the more interesting cards. Favorite cards from 2nd expansion: swindler, nobles, and lurker.

10. Guilds

I like the coin tokens. But the overpay thing doesn’t quite always work, as in pay off. Out of 3 smallest expansions this one has more cards I hate than the other 2. Favorite cards: baker, herald and soothsayer.

11. Base game 2nd edition

Yes It gets boring after awhile. But it still has some pretty fun cards to play with. Favorite cards: harbinger, moat, and market.

12. Prosperity

Since you need to buy prosperity to get the platinum and colony cards. This expansion doesn’t have a lot going for it. Most of the actions are bland and even some of the treasures are bland. There’s a lot more bland cards than hinterlands has. And the only reason people speak highly of it is because of colony and platinum. If they never made those cards I wonder how many people would put this close to the top of there list. Favorite cards: goons, Bishop, monument and grand market. And few more I enjoy playing with from this expansion. It’s less than 10.

13. Nocturne

Too complicated! I can only play it online. It would be too complicated for my friends to enjoy. And the night phase is interesting but very wonky. It doesn’t seem to work well with other expansions either. Plus I’ve always liked dominion for the fact that it’s more realistic. And this one is like a fairytale version. Favorite cards: tracker/pouch, Shepard (not goat) and conclave.
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msw188

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #97 on: July 15, 2018, 04:59:40 pm »
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Browsing by and saw this thread reappear, thought I'd post my own thoughts as a self-proclaimed 'intermediate' player.  Top is favorite, bottom is least favorite.  Asterisk is unowned, but played online plenty

1. Adventures - What's more exciting than going on an adventure?  Love events, love reserves, love tokens.  Less into the Travelers, but still think they're interesting.  Distant Lands is beautiful; I always want to force Miser to work out rather than trashing; Raze is cRaze-y; Dungeon is my favorite sifter, and I love it when sifting is strong enough to makeup for weak trashing; Amulet; Relic might be my favorite attack in the game; oh but wait there's Bridge Troll; Transmogrify is definitely my favorite remodeller in the game (sorry Butcher, you're still cool though); half the time when I look at a board I think, "wouldn't it be great if Seaway were an event here?;" Storyteller is so weird!!!; I could go on and on.

I think this set has a LOT of cards that are impactful in a large variety of ways, and the tokens just multiply the possibilities from there.  Nothing feels quite as bonkers as, say, King's Court, but a lot of stuff feels more powerful than the average card to me.  I think I'd recommend this as a third or fourth purchase to most players.  I think the events, reserves, and tokens are pretty intuitive concepts that absolutely alter the game without complicating it beyond 'Dominion'.  But I have a couple friends who disagree, and feel like this goes a bit too far.

2. Cornucopia+Guilds - I've only ever known these as a single box, and man it's a great box.  I recommend this as the second buy (after Base) to friends, and there are a couple reasons.  First off, once the player understands how money cards work, the coin tokens feel like a very natural offshoot.  We usually ignore the details and say use them whenever during the buy phase - very simple.  Second, there are a lot of fun cards in here that feel pretty balanced to me.  Merchant Guild is one of my absolute favorites; Herald is great; Butcher is second only to Transmogrify (like I said, you're still super-cool) as a remodeller; who doesn't love Menagerie?; I think Plaza is a great village for beginners who usually still have some treasures around to discard, and then feel clever about drawing again later; Jester is ridiculous; I'd probably put Advisor on 90% of boards if I could; Horn of Plenty!!

I think the simplicity here would threaten to trump the craziness of Adventures, but I have to admit that there are some cards I really don't like in this box.  Hunting Party just feels like an overpowerful Laboratory, which already felt like a pretty strong card.  Tournament isn't very fun, and seems to dominate the strategy on every board it appears.  I don't think I've ever successfully used Harvest to any good effect.  And I wish I felt like I knew how to win with Fairgrounds on a 'standard' board (ie no piles with individually named cards).

3. Base 2nd ed - Man, this box is great.  Not much more to say, really.  I need some Vassals.

4. Empires - This feels like a dangerous tipping point to me.  I like the Landmarks, but they don't feel like as much fun as Events, sometimes altering the rules beyond the point where it still feels like 'Dominion' to me.  There are lots of well-balanced cards here I think, but some of them can really require spending time thinking about the future.  Like, if Villa's on the board, not only could a turn have two action phases, the player also spends more time trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to plan on eventually having two action phases.  Does anyone actually know when to start buying Castles?  Archive is great, but it takes a minute, and the payoff is in the future, not now.  Debt necessitates comparing future costs with present gains (despite this, I really like Debt overall).  Groundskeepers are potentially useless until the right future turn.  So do I buy them now?  Also is it just me, or is Wild Hunt potentially bonkers?  If I complained about Hunting Party up above, I probably should complain about this one too.  I do love Farmer's Market though.

That was a lot of rambling to explain why this isn't higher.  It isn't any lower because, man, these are some interesting, thought-provoking cards!  Does Charm suck?  Probably not, that's probably just me sucking!  Also, Enchantress is actually probably my favorite attack, even though I still love Relic.  All in all though, I don't recommend this one as an early buy.  This set expands the 'headspace' around Dominion more than the 'playspace', if that makes any sense.  I really don't think the box should say 30min for a game on this one.

5. Hinterlands* - When I look at card lists for expansions I don't own, man does this one look great!  Maybe no game-changers in here, but so many interesting cards!  I haven't played with them as much so I won't do another goofy list, but this one's almost certainly next on my to-buy list.  How have I lived without Haggler in my life??

6. Intrigue 2nd ed - This is not at all a slight against Intrigue.  I like a lot of these cards.  Wishing Well is hilarious; Masquerade is a favorite; Lurker is super-interesting; Conspirator and Bridge are classics for sure.  The attacks are pretty great too.  Maybe Swindler and Torturer could have cost more...?  But they're still ok.  Love Duke and Nobles too.  It's interesting to think that, before this expansion, there was no concept of choosing between actions on a card, or Victory-Action cards.  But having been introduced to Dominion at a point far beyond that, I take a lot of this for granted now.  And there are not many true favorites for me in here.  I think Intrigue is the ultimate complement - I feel like I can always turn to it to fill out a board, but I rarely start here when thinking of cards it'd be fun to put in.

7. Seaside* - First off, the box has that nice shade of blue.  Secondly, lots of these cards are great!  Again since I haven't played with them as much, I won't do a list.  But I should point out that there are a few cards in here that feel like duds.  Merchant Ship for $5?  Explorer for $5?  And Ambassador sounds cool in theory, but in practice is it really that fun?  Same with Embargo, which is sad because this sounds like such a great idea, but I don't think I've ever played a game where it ended up adding much.

8. Dark Ages* - Looks like there are lots of cool interesting cards in here (Band of Misfits, Count, Sage, Storeroom, plenty more), but some real bummers to play with as well (Cultist, Rebuild, Beggar?, Knights).  I'm not sure how much Shelters really add for me - you want to trash them anyways usually, right?

9. Alchemy - I like several of these cards.  Golem is pretty fun even if it takes so long to get and probably wasn't the fastest option.  Apprentice is awesome.  Actually as I look over these cards, I really enjoy all of them other than Herbalist (which is just too boring), Scrying Pool (takes too long), Philosopher's Stone (takes way too long, and I was forced to read the first Harry Potter in grade school and thought it was awful before turning around on the series later), and Transmute.  The issue is, of course, that there are just not many cards in here period.  Also, even though I like Possession, I understand that it can create un-fun games.

10. Prosperity* - I know a lot of folks like this one, but honestly I look at the card list and I'm pretty underwhelmed.  Lots of treasures that are kind of neat, but only Quarry gets me actively excited.  Oh and I genuinely love Contraband.  But is Venture really worth $5?  City sounds like a cool idea, but I haven't played many games with it where it turned out to be very interesting.  The real problem though is that there are lots of cards here that feel super powerful without feeling very interesting.  Goons might be my least favorite card in the game.  Mountebank is also not very fun.  Grand Market has the cool buying condition, but it's not so interesting once it's in your deck.  King's Court is just bonkers - sometimes fun, but not always.  Is Expand really worth $7?

??? Nocturne - I've barely played with these cards at all.  In the few games that I have played, I'd say that Night is pretty cool and the alternative treasures to start with are great, but Boons and Hexes and States(?) push the game past what I think of as 'Dominion', at least at the moment.  Just reading the cards a bit, I really like the idea of playing a card that you don't yet have a copy of in play (Imp, Conclave).  I also remember liking the Vampire and Bat thing from a game I played.  Is Cobbler a good card?  Sounds pretty interesting, but like Band of Misfits (also an interesting card), I don't often get the feeling I want to pass up some other $5 for the chance to have more $4's.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #98 on: July 17, 2018, 12:02:12 am »
+4

I didn't realize it had become so popular to hate on Prosperity.  I remember when that was everyone's favorite expansion.  I mean sure, it has Trade Route and Counting House and a few dud Treasures.  But it also has some of the strongest cards in the game - King's Court, Grand Market, Goons, Mountebank.  Rabble is a solid draw card, Cities can get insane, Worker's Village is a solid village, Watchtower is quite good.  And getting free Peddlers is awesome!  You can make a golden deck with Bishop, and Monument is pretty nice if you can get it rolling early.

Anyway, I love all the expansions, and couldn't possibly rank them, except Bridge Troll is probably my favorite card.  So props to Adventures for that.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #99 on: July 17, 2018, 02:27:33 am »
+3

I didn't realize it had become so popular to hate on Prosperity.  I remember when that was everyone's favorite expansion.  I mean sure, it has Trade Route and Counting House and a few dud Treasures.  But it also has some of the strongest cards in the game - King's Court, Grand Market, Goons, Mountebank.  Rabble is a solid draw card, Cities can get insane, Worker's Village is a solid village, Watchtower is quite good.  And getting free Peddlers is awesome!  You can make a golden deck with Bishop, and Monument is pretty nice if you can get it rolling early.

Anyway, I love all the expansions, and couldn't possibly rank them, except Bridge Troll is probably my favorite card.  So props to Adventures for that.

I think you make a mistake arguing about a card being strong when people say a card isn't fun. Rebuild is also one of the strongest cards in the game, which doesn't make it fun. I do like Prosperity, but Goons, King's Court and Mountebank can be really oppressive and I definitely understand why people might not like them.
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