It will definitely use a new quest map as the preview states it's set in a new region of  Arhynn (or was it Terrinoth?).

new region of terrinoth, Dunwarr Mountain Range

april is the best bet for previews

I asked becouse I wuld love to see this ecxpansion as sonn  as possible. If it would show in shops in April/May I would be very happy. But I think more realistic that we will get it in June/July 2013.

I'd rather have them give it the Valve-treatment in that I'd rather have a good finished product that's been playested enough (with all bits 'n' pieces included) that comes out later in the year than a faulty shortcoming product that's been rushed out the door.

Then again , that's easy for me to say as my group have only just begun the base game's main quest (combined with LotWQ) : ).

If they were giving it the valve treatment, they'd start working on it in April/May . . . of NEXT year (unless something shiny came along first and distracted them).

Pascale said:

I'm sure thet before they even announced it they playtested it for long hours. So i't not a question of playtest but of printing and putting all pieces together in one box and they ship it to shops all over the world.

Can't wait. I look forward to adding this one to the collection! New campaign = awesome! New classes, dice, heroes, quests, OL cards, travel cards, items, etc = AWESOME!

but…

No new search cards = not awesome qq.

Did they really say no new search cards? or have they just not said? I mean it says there 119 new cards, surely 6 or 7 of those can be new search cards.

Hmmm…well they didn't actually say "no new search cards." However, they made a fairly comprehensive list in both the news add and the "About" section of the LoR page which mentioned everything BUT new search cards. So I suppose they may have just not mentioned them, but likely they aren't in there. Which isn't really a big deal, I just personally want to see that search deck have new and interesting stuff in it. There is just something fun about the random search draw and I think more variety would be rad.

Either way, I can't wait to buy this box!!

Me too! search cards or not

new search cards would completely trow the balance of the search deck totally out. Even the secret room changes the balance quite alot.

Morthai said:

Not necessarily. If the percentage of each type of card and money value (of the total deck) remained the same, then the balance/odds would remain the same. I can not off hand remember the size or contents of the entire search deck, but say for instance there were 6 potion cards, 4 "trinket" cards, 1 treasure chest card and 1 nothing card. The expansion could add 6 more new potion type cards (perhaps some of the other potions from 1st ed, or completely new ones), 4 new "trinket" cards, 1 more treasure chest card, and one more nothing card. If the gold values mirrored the initial search deck values, this would in effect give you the exact same odds as the basic search deck while adding some variety. As a side effect, if you were using LotWQ, the odds of the secret room would be halved.

this would still change the balance since an certain class could get more value of this deck by discarding more unwanted cards and having 24 search cards to play with, same the other way around, drawing just useless potions rather than something valuable… I think the number of search cards is imo very balanced and has a good varity of stuff in it and should not been changed.

Well if the search deck remains the same, then Ulma Grimstone's ability says a lot about the apothecary class. Assuming they didn't just give her a useless ability, then a least one or more of the apothecary's class skills must be powered by access to potions. Such a skill might come into conflict with the appraisal of thieves, who will want to maximize gold instead of hunting for potions.

And speaking of thieves, so far we don't exactly what separates treasure hunters from thieves yet, even their desciption of treasure hunters could just as well be applied to thieves as well. I'm sure they have some cool new mechanic for them, but I wish they at least hinted at what it could it be. In comparision, it seems pretty clear what the beastmaster, hexer and apothecary bring to table that's different, even if we don't know their details either.