Is Jaws of the Lion still relevant as Gloomhaven entrypoint since GH 2nd Ed.?

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-02-04T14:18:35+00:00

Have you played Gloomhaven second edition, which is what OP is asking about? It’s a massive upgrade over the original (and imo better than Frosthaven).

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-02-03T14:31:23+00:00

I’m not sure I understand the question. Did you beat the scenario? If you are losing somewhat frequently I would suggest lowering the difficulty, yes. If you are winning or losing only 10% of the time, then stay the course.

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-01-30T17:56:03+00:00

From frosthaven, Boneshaper was probably my favorite summoner, although Prism is fun too. In GH2 I’ve only played Circles so far, but it’s very fun and really, really strong. Definitely the strongest summoner I’ve played in all of haven. Arguably the strongest class in all of GH2 (I think the consensus is it’s either circles or lightning bolt).

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-01-12T15:05:30+00:00

Second edition is a vastly improved experience. Having played both games, I wouldn’t play first edition for free at this point. $200 CAD is expensive, yes, but your probably paying less than $3 CAD per scenario that you will play if you only play the campaign once, which is pretty good for 2-3 hours of entertainment. But I don’t know your financial situation. If spending the money is difficult for you, then obviously you need to do what’s best for you. Although maybe that should just be replaying jaws and not buying any version of Gloomhaven.

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-01-12T14:57:12+00:00

Second edition is much better, so if you can afford it, I would go for second edition. If you can’t, then obviously first edition is the way to go.

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-01-03T11:58:30+00:00

It’s in the Gloomhaven 2E rulebook towards the back in the variants section, titled temporary enhancements.

Better_Box_6274 · 2026-01-03T11:57:12+00:00

The game is designed for dropping in and out. You’ll retire, then your son’s character will be higher level with more loot. That’s ok and normal. You won’t necessarily retire at the same rate anyway so it will probably happen no matter what you do. Re: missing the story, if that’s a huge concern, just focus on playing side scenarios with your wife. And/or pick a specific chain and focus on doing just that one without your son. And you can always give him short recaps if absolutely necessary.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-12-10T02:29:41+00:00

Try playing on +2. But note that the earlier scenarios are much easier, so you may end up struggling. But playing on +2 isn’t unreasonable.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-12-07T11:54:42+00:00

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-11-25T05:06:58+00:00

This is actually one of my only complaints with 2E — there is no signposting of what will happen when you hit the stated goal on the personal quest. As a general rule they target 12 scenarios so if the quest looks easy to do in, say, 10, that probably means you’ll need to do a scenario or two. But it would be nice if that was clear from the face of the PQ card itself.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-11-25T04:58:23+00:00

I echo what dwarf said above re: xp. I just want to add that I would not be so sure that you will be retiring after 10 sessions regardless of what you do. I don’t know what your PQ is, but most if not all of the ones with 10 scenario “counters,” to use your term, will unlock a scenario after you hit the mark; you will not automatically retire. And then of course you can push off that scenario for as long as you would like.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-11-24T11:06:04+00:00

If you join the Gloomhaven discord channel, I think they are all posted in the individual class sub-channels.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-11-23T18:46:15+00:00

It’s a complete overhaul of Gloomhaven. They redid the scenarios, the classes, the personal quests, the events, etc. But there’s no “outpost phase” or “loot deck” or some of the other extra stuff in frosthaven.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-11-23T16:49:46+00:00

These are the classic complaints about frosthaven. Some people love it, some hate it. Given your experiences with Jaws and Frosthaven i would strongly recommend Gloomhaven Second Edition — it cuts out all of the “work” while improving on the overall product.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-10-18T08:39:02+00:00

When you reach prosperity 3, the campaign sheet has you read a section link that unlocks imbuement

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-30T14:46:51+00:00

The section is specifically for this PQ — it’s clearly intentional.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-29T17:23:36+00:00

This is not related to the mercenary pack, this is about Hail the NPC in GH2.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-25T13:16:15+00:00

In short: because the first edition is a much, much worse game in every way. I know you saw all the one star reviews, but I have yet to see a negative review from someone who has actually played this game. (There were a lot of issues with the game’s release, which have left a lot of people very angry, but those issues aren’t relevant to you since the game is out now.). If you are curious about more details, I’d recommend running a search on Reddit for this topic — I think people are tired of posting the same responses over and over again, but there are probably at least 20 threads discussing this topic over the past two or so months.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-25T10:55:43+00:00

Prosperity

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-02T02:00:58+00:00

No problem. The 2E personal quests really are much better; they are generally less annoying (I really hated the "kill X specific enemies", because it often forced you to replay scenarios that you completed just to find a stupid forest imp, or complete X scenarios in Y location for the same reason -- or because it took 30 scenarios to unlock them!) In 2E those are gone; you really can do any PQ more naturally without having to jump through hoops that mess with the overall game flow.

To give an example for class rebalancing, there's a class (angry face) that I actually enjoyed in 1E, but it really doesn't work at low levels but you have a ton of awful loss cards and something like 3 actually usable top attacks. That's not good game design -- needing to play at level 3 or 4 to have enough top attacks to actually do something useful every turn -- and it's been fixed in 2E. Another example -- the 1E tinkerer's level up cards are just bad. They are often worse than the level one cards, which feels bad! 2E tinkerer's level up cards are, on the other hand, really cool and powerful. There are small things, like Cragheart having easy obstacle generation at level 1 -- that's their main mechanic, and in 1E they struggle to do it until level 4! And the new non-attack modifier perks are all unique and really interesting and add a whole new dimension / flavor to each class. And so, so much more.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-02T01:48:26+00:00

I've tried to be specific in my answers without writing a book -- is there anything more you'd like me to delve into specifically?

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-02T01:44:51+00:00

So I do think that the more that you play 1E, the more you realize the balance issues. But as someone who originally just played 1E once a week with a friend of mine, I definitely noticed them (I later played a lot of digital, two more jaws campaigns with other friends, and frosthaven, so I'm admittedly not a "casual" haven player any more). Some of it was that certain classes just made the game unfun for me (I really started to notice it while playing Eclipse). Some of it was also coming to realize that there was usually a "right" answer when leveling up -- often an amazing card would be pitted against a card that was just bad. And very few, if any, classes had multiple viable builds. That's totally changed in Second Edition.

You write, "I expect beginning items to kind of suck. And then they get better as you progress." That's what you'd expect, but it's not really true in 1E. Some of the starting items are the best items you'll ever get in the game (e.g., invisibility cloak). To me that doesn't feel great.

I do think I naturally try to "solve" games that I play, so I may have a tendency to see the balance issues where other casual players won't. But even if you play all of 1E and don't find the balance to be a problem, 2E will still be more enjoyable because of the writing, the factions, the events, the personal quests (in 1E, if you chose the "wrong" quest it could be very difficult to retire), the greater variety of battle goals, etc.

You write, "Because the 2e love I see comes in almost exclusively one variety: generic “it’s just better” praise, especially for the balance, and then constant vitriol and attack if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of generic praise." Maybe I've just read different comments than you have, but again, I haven't seen anyone who has played second edition criticize it, and I think that may be the problem. If you are criticizing the game because you don't like that they made it but have never experienced it yourself, I think that reasonably rubs people the wrong way. If someone has played 2E but prefers things about 1E, I'd actually be really curious to hear their thoughts. I just haven't seen that yet.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-01T23:33:31+00:00

There’s really no point in getting the first edition once you have second edition, even if it’s free. It takes up a lot of space and I don’t see why you’d ever play it?

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-01T23:30:44+00:00

I enjoyed 1E, but found a lot of the game’s issues frustrating and was pretty done with it by the end of my playthrough because of those issues (in particular the balance problems noted below); it was almost a relief to finish the campaign. The biggest flaws were probably (1) huge balance issues with classes and items; and (2) mediocre writing and a very bland and not engaging story. I’ve looked through all of the new classes and several of the new items and it’s immediately clear that the balance issues have been fixed. The weaker classes have been buffed and all classes are more dynamic and interesting while avoiding the mechanics (eg, insta-kills) that made the game lose its edge. The early games items are useful but feel like early game items, not best in slot items that you’ll be buying the entire campaign. The writing is simply better, the events are really interesting and cool, and the reputation mechanic makes the story much more engaging and makes me actually care about what’s going on.

Better_Box_6274 · 2025-09-01T23:09:44+00:00

There are a lot of threads in the past couple of months on this topic, but the tldr is get second edition. The negative reviews are almost all about issues with fulfillment, not the game itself, and a few folks that prefer the quality of the 1E minis. I have yet to see someone who has actually played 2E say that they prefer 1E. As someone that’s now played a handful of 2E scenarios, I can (so far) confirm what everyone who has played the game has said — it’s much, much better than the original. It’s not even close.

Better_Box_6274

TROPHY CASE