Quoted from crwjumper:Hey JJP: You listening to this thread? As far as I'm concerned The Hobbit rules could use one tweak: it would be nice to have the ability to lock out starting Beast Frenzy during Smaug multiball. Or have the Beast Frenzy mode much more difficult to start after the first time you play it so we could run it once before Smaug to get it out of the way before starting Smaug. Or give us the ability to end Beast by achieving a set of goals. I find it extremely frustrating that almost every Time that I start a Smaug multi I end up triggering a Beast Frenzy. It makes the Smaug so frustrating that I almost want to stop playing. Smaug is an awesome mode that is intense,fun and requires focus. But if in the middle of Smaug you get a Beast running, it will not stop unless you drain all but one ball - which in turn stops Smaug. If this happened once every 4 or 5 times you played Smaug it would be a fun challenge. But it almost always smothers Smaug. Come on. At least let us end Beast during Smaug so we can then complete Smaug without this disappointment in the middle of a great Smaug run. Smaug is such a great mode but Beast almost always ruins it. Stacking modes Is ok and fun, but careful evaluation of which modes can be stacked together can make all the difference between a good pin and a legendary pin. Am I wrong?
The beasts are a PITA b/c its part of the story choreography - Keith's rules and story choreography are a great strength of his, and LoTR was just a fraction of what he wanted to do, and TH has allowed him to go way deeper with the 31 pages in the LCD book. The beasts cause the quest trouble throughout the story, so they keep nipping and annoying your game progress in modes and MB. There are strategies in this thread (post #62) and the rulesheet, to minimize the attacks of the beast during Smaug - one is to get to complete Beast Frenzy at least once, before starting Smaug, so a requalify of Beasts will take many shots, which keeps them (mostly) out of the way so you can collect Smaug JPs.
IMO, your suggestion would take a big part of the story away - but there are ways to keep the beasts out of your way (play smarter).
North Myrtle Beach, SC
