by medphys88
This is probably beating a dead horse by now, but if FFG truly is up to something, and before Frosthaven is released, it seems like an appropriate time to compare these two gems. It seems that people often sink into fanboy buckets and lose sight of constructive criticism across playerbase lines. This is meant to help break some of that.Things Gloomhaven does better than Descent
Long-term development
Descent has a serious problem with power escalation in that it has a stairstep function between Act 1 and 2. Gloomhaven manages this much more smoothly by having several levels between newly created characters and full-strength characters. This seems like a farily straight-forward fix for Descent, where they could introduce raise limits on what items are available for purchase throughout the campaign and also more gradually level up monsters. The long-term exploration is also something Gloomhaven handles quite well that is a bit lacking in Descent. I'd like to be able to have more time with my Descent heroes apart from the linear campaign. Gloomhaven handles this well by always having many options of what to do next.
Player interaction
One of Gloomhaven's secret ingredients is its initiative system. Descent is a bit more chaotic. It helped when players began to alternate with the OL in the app, Imperial Assault-style, but there's still room for improvement. The elements system in Gloomhaven is another boon for character interaction (although its somewhat sloppily implemented), and Descent could gain if there were more abilities that had interplay between characters.
Surprise
Gloomhaven's legacy elements are its best component. Not knowing what's in the next box is a huge part of why you want to keep coming back. Descent has none of this. Some sort of hidden components would be great. Gloomhaven also achieves this with chests that offer unique items in the shop later. In Descent, the search tokens are important, but usually boring to search.
Monsters*
The mix of monsters is more interesting in Gloomhaven, *though the minis definitely look better in Descent. Moreover though, the rules of reinforcements are better in Gloomhaven, in that they don't typically reinforce. Reinforcing monster groups just makes things into a slog. IA probably had the best system though, where there's a budget to reinforcing/adding monsters to a scenario. Overhauling the monsters into threat cost would be a great addition.
Things Descent does better than Gloomhaven
Items
I know its an intentional choice to have weapons have limited uses between rests, but it seems un-intuitive. Descent's items feel more reliable as a means of upgrading your character. You can trust you'll get good use out of them.
Maps and LOS
Descent's tile system just gives a ton more flexibility to the missions and makes the map feel more thematic (and sometimes, more tactical). Gloomhaven can too often feel like an open room that doesn't matter, and it's easy to kill many enemies by bottlenecking them through the door. That's not interesting tactical play. However, both could really use Imperial Assault's rules on LOS (one corner of your tile to two corners of theirs) and mobility help significantly too (moving through some enemies is permissible, for a cost). It's also much better if there's more dungeon crawl feel where tiles are placed as you discover the map. It's best not knowing what's in a mission until you're actually in it.
Objectives
Many, many scenarios in Gloomhaven are "kill all things on the map". This is uninspired. Gloomhaven succeeds in long-form storytelling, but leaves a lot to be desired in the missions themselves. Descent has more variety, especially as the game designers got more practice at making things interesting. Having sub-missions along the way is also a great tool in a story-tellers toolbox.
Armor and pierce
Fighting a 3-armor opponent in early Gloomhaven is the worst. While many heroes have some sort of counter to armor, the very existence of the stat seems to limit the players to playing as certain classes or selecting certain cards.
There's probably more, but these were some of the major aspects I've been thinking about since being a long-time Descent fan, getting Gloomhaven, playing many scenarios, then returning to Descent.