by wallydubbs » Tuesday August 15th, 2023 9:11pm
Some of us have tried to doctor the solo quests to make it playable for a new Barbarian, but I just recently got around to playing it with an experienced Barbarian, maxed out with weapons, armor and potions; upon going through the solo quests, not using the Yeti hug, the Barbarian barely survived losing all his healing potions previously acquired from the Game System, Keller's Keep, Return of the Witch Lord, Prophecy of Telor. I've been using a standard Hero Quest treasure deck, which I've noticed Healing Potions come up much more frequently with a deck of 26 (14 Good, 12 Bad) cards. Frozen Horror adds 4 good and 2 bad, but since the bad cards only target Mind Points they're not too crucial. Before the new releases I had always played with an expanded treasure deck of 42 cards (22 good, 18 bad, 1 neither, 1 both). With only 3 healing potions and 2 Warmth potions in both cases they come up more often with 32 deck, and the Maxed-out Barbarian went through ALL his healing potions within the first 3 solo quests.
The ONLY advantage a solo quest has is that the hero can take his time performing all 3 searches (Traps, Secret Doors, Treasure) but he has no allies to back him up if a Wandering Monster comes up, I've also noticed that quite a bit of gold can be gained through a single quest if all treasure searches go to one hero.
Barbra completed the first four quest packs with her companions: Drew, a Druid that has been there from the start, (An Elf and Warlock were lost in The Trial; the Wizard was killed in Lair of the Orc Warlord by a Wandering Monster; the Rogue was lost somewhere in Keller's Keep, to be replaced by Penny, the Dwarf) and Galedriel another elf that joined after the first one was died.
She went in with a Battle Axe, Chainmail, Helmet, Talisman of Lore, Armband of Ice, Ring of Fortitude, 7 healing potions (4 dice roll, 2 +4, 1 +2), 1 potion of Defence, 2 potions of Strength, 2 potions of icey Strength, 2 Potions of Battle Rage, 1 potion of Dexterity, and 1 potion of Battle, 1 Potion of restoration. Looking back I suppose a potion of Frost Skin would've helped, but I suppose I was thinking more offensively. These potions aren't counting the ones found during the quests. But i must mention that during at least 2 of these quests the Wandering Monster card came up 6 times! Not counting the Wandering Monster traps. So the Barbarian had a pretty rough time with these 3 quests. Luckily he'll have backup in the next 7. It'll be like a regular group of 4 with a Druid instead of a Wizard, which will be more combat oriented when the Druid is Shapeshifted with a Longsword.
I just got to say these solo quests are insanely difficult even if you don't use the Yeti hug, it's impossible to accomplish with a new Barbarian and for a maxed out one still very difficult.