If you could pick only one...

[Goblin-King]

If you had free choice of one of the two US exclusive expansions "The Frozen Horror" and "Mage of the Mirror"...
Which would you choose? Assuming you could only ever own one of the two.

Here are the pros and cons as I see them.
Note that my assessments may be colored by owning all other expansions. As such stuff like ogres and mercenaries are irrelevant.

The Frozen Horror:
Better monsters
Better end boss
Better tiles
Ice theme doesn't mix in that well with other stuff

Mage of the Mirror:
Wolves! I find them to be the best of all the new monsters. Cool and mix well with all other stuff!
New spells for the Elf. Way more interesting than new chaos spells.
Elves doesn't mix that well with other monsters; especially as they look "high elf"-ish
Tiles aren't that useful - basically a boss room and a big mirror. How often are you gonna use the mirror?

I guess the rest of the content is tied.
Both have useless extra minis: Ogres/mercenaries
New chaos spells, artifacts, treasure cards...
Both have a female version of an existing hero.

[sajungzak]

Mage of the mirror. You forgot the female counterparts. I already had a proxy for the Barb, and ice world... Blah.

[knightkrawler]

I'd choose The Frozen Horror because it goes for slightly more on ebay and that's what I'd do with it.

[Goblin-King]

I'd choose The Frozen Horror because it goes for slightly more on ebay and that's what I'd do with it.

Wait whaaat? Why?

[knightkrawler]

We've been over this.
Both have nostalgia and rarity value which are nevertheless blown completely out of proportion. If one is "worth" 500 bucks because one person buys it from me for that price I'll sell it without remorse to pay my annual car insurance.

Everything is printed out easily, and the miniatures "proxied" fast and beautifully. The quests and storyline I'll re-write to make that unplaytested monstrosity playable and enjoyable for all four heroes.
Both quest packs have a value of 45 € apiece for me and that is it. I would never pay more and that is my completionist price.
The NA expansions are, in my eyes, totally drawn away from the HQ backdrop and storyline. They feel Americanized (which, in this case, yes, is a bad thing), de-Citadelized, and worst of all, pulled out of the Warhammer old world alternate timeline into an entirely different incohesive fantasy world that doesn't fit the backdrop I intuitively connected to in 1989/1990.

I am not a fan of both these quest packs and I do not consider them HeroQuest canon; even less so than Advanced HeroQuest.
They were the first attempt by different people than the creators of the original (as far as I know; it sure feels like it) to capitalize on market share and thus, for me, cuts the same vein and has the same value as Gamezone's crowdfunding version does.

[cynthialee]

I would go with Mage in the mirror, for the Elf spells.
But as I have them already printed out on good paper stock, I have those cards...

I have printed out all this stuff for both. The mini's would e nice to have, but I have so many mini's already there is nothing in either expansion I can't find a replacement for in a minute.

At the ridiculous prices the two go for I don't want either. I just can not see spending that much money on a simple thing. I would not want anyone to buy me either one as it is an exorbitant amount to pay for plastic and paper.

[Goblin-King]

People, people... Let's not talk money here... We all know they are unreasonably overpriced.
That doesn't automatically make them unwanted.

Objectively... which is the better pack?

[knightkrawler]

Even not considering money, I laid down a few reasons why I don't like them.

[Goblin-King]

You sure there's not even a itzy bitzy tiny hint of rationalizing in that rant???

[knightkrawler]

As I said, 100 bucks for both of them and I'm suddenly a completionist.
In all honesty, I hate (!) the miniatures, I find the quests partially unplayable, and the printable stuff is, well, printable.

Look at the polar warbear, the yeti, and the ice gremlin, and the female elf and barbarian.
Now scratch what you love about HQ.
Now tell me how well these minis are sculpted.
Even if you somehow find them beautiful or well done, which I won'd believe you for a second, then go ahead and fit this style back into the bigger HQ picture. It doesn't work out for me, sorry.