I'm afraid so, yes.

I'd like to revisit this topic because our little player group is going to hold a "worst deck"-event.
 
Ewoks still look to be pretty inconsistent, and therefore bad. "It could be worse" was suggested too, and though it's pretty bad... well... it could quite frankly be worse.
 
Anzati Elite seems terribly overcosted, but the rest of the set is... usable.

I have never triggered his ability off of himself.  But it's actually a good question, and here's why:
 
Forced abilities are referred to as "Forced effects" in the manual, but sometimes in the FAQ are also referred to as "Forced responses."  Maybe we can consider these as a type of Response.  Having said that...
 
Previous rulings have stated that you can activate a Response effect on a card that you just drew, off of a trigger that has just occurred, as long as the game state has not moved forward.  For example: Legolas has 2 weapons attached.  You have one copy of Foe-hammer in your hand.  Legolas defeats an enemy, then you play Foe-hammer to exhaust one weapon attachment and draw 3 cards.  You happen to draw another copy of Foe-hammer.  It is legal for you to immediately play Foe-hammer to exhaust another weapon attachment and draw 3 more cards, even though the second copy of Foe-hammer was in your deck at the time that the original trigger (defeating an enemy) went off.  (official ruling about that in an old thread here).
 
Ok, so let's apply the same thing to encounter card Forced responses.  The Goblin Archer comes into play.  His Forced effect says that when an enemy is revealed, you have to deal one damage to a character you control.  The current game state is "an enemy has just been revealed," and that game state won't change until you reveal the next card.  So applying the same logic as above, this trigger should activate, and the Goblin should deal one damage.
 
What do others think?

Okay, so I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I have this card game pet peeve and a second edition of AGoT seems like a good excuse to start a discussion about it! So, here goes:
 
I hate the graphic layout that everyone uses for competitive card games. I have never played one where the card art wasn't crushed into a little box, taking up around a third of the card's total real estate, surrounded by a bunch of wasted negative space. And I don't get it. Well, I mean I get it: Magic cards have looked like that since the 80s and nobody wants to stray too far from the great grandfather of competitive card games. It's an instantly recognizable look and people are comfortable with it—and there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
 
But I think it's time that someone decided to do justice to their artists and rethink the way card layout is designed and implemented. And, given that FFG produces and commissions the highest quality card art in the industry, bar none, it seems like they're an ideal candidate to mix things up a bit.
 
Well, all right, they've already done that. Sort of. Take a look at Android: Netrunner's promo card layout:
 

 
And compare with the regular version:
 

 
The former centrally showcases some fantastic art by Wylie Beckert; the latter showcases a lot of empty space and some cool border design (and also half an illustration by Henning Ludvigsen). What is weird to me is that the regular card manages to look both cluttered and empty at the same time, at least when compared with the elegant, richly colored, open design of the promo card.
 
So what I would absolutely love to see is an FFG card game that does justice to the beautiful work created by their resident and freelance artists. It doesn't have to be exactly like the Netrunner promos—I do understand that certain issues arise when you have longer ability text. But card games (and gamers) shouldn't have to settle for slightly tweaking the Magic graphic design formula forever. It's time for something better.

I can't understand why people would say that. There is a world outside tournaments. I´ve NEVER played in one. I exclusively enjoy gaming with people from my area by simply inviting them to my home and having a good time playing whatever we want to. Both new and old games. Both cooperative and competitive games. It works wonderfully well without referees, because we´re just friends who want to have a good time. Try it. Nobody forces you to throw away your 1st edition cards. If you enjoy the game so much, who's gonna keep you from playing it?

The quests I don't like are the quests where you just take a stroll and don't need to do anything. 
 
The most fun one so far has been the Khazad-Dum quests where you have to dig yourself out. The quests can drag on - we're going up the stairs, aaaand down again... and uuuup, and down - but it's something different at least.
 
The troll-fight is also quite fun, and to be honest: most quests are. As long as it's distinct.
 
But like someone indicated before, some quests just get broken by certain cards. You can't always have counters. "Sleeping Sentry", if not prepared for, can just **** you. I once had one to start the game with (exhausting everyone before it even started), and a second one as a shadow effect. Kinda unbalanced as it happened on a Goblin Spearman, immediately killing the defended pre-attack, and the attack bonus almost killing another of my heroes. Luckily that happened near the end and I was able to complete the objective, but in specific situations that can just wreck you so much to the point you're not playing the quest without the counters and the hero with the counter-effect. And enforcing specific cards shouldn't be the point of the game. That said, they don't need to nerf it or something, but let's just keep it more balanced in the future (for instance: only discard exhausted allies).

Oops. Thanks guys. Must've read over that last week.
 
I guess I thought that they merely had the icon to be in line with the new scrolls that let you play a certain spell of that sphere.

I would recommend the newest cycle over the hoth cycle. The cards are just a lot more potent.

IMO I'd be happy to get the big box by Christmas and perhaps the new cycle in January, a few months between a big expansion and new cycle is acceptable.... We shall see what the FFG in the sky has in store for us in due time.

because forcing tribes suck and there is enough of that in the game already.

You definitely need the core draft pack due to the treaty.  But technically, you could just print a proxy.  Here are the contents:
 
http://www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11907-contents-of-the-draft-packs/

I agree that the game should have provided some more "universal" cards in the begining. At least avoid cards dependant on undeveloped traits.
 
Specially painfull were Eagles are Coming and Mustering the Rohirrim, released in the first adventure pack along with the first Eagle and Rohan Allies in the game. After looking the cards I was like "well, I might use these in 3 or 4 months". Note that Guardian Eagle is an excellent card on his own, and in those days, made worthy including Eagles are coming to search for it.
 
Edit:
I just had a look to the cards, and found this number of cards dependant on a trait. There are round 66 cards per sphere wthout heroes:
Tactics: 21 (+1 heroes) Spirit: 16 (+3 heroes) Leadership: 17 (+4 heroes) Lore: 12 (+3 heroes) Neutral: 8 Only cards that require a trait (Elrond's Counsel), work for a trait (Eagles are Coming or Hirluin) or lose a lot of use without a trait (Erebor Battlemaster or Merry) are counted. Cards that can be used without a trait (Dwarven Axe or Eagles of the Misty Mountains) aren't counted.
 
Also note that there are many cards requiring a specific Sphere (Burning Brand) or monosphere decks. Those could be counted in too.
 
Edit 2:
Counted Sphere dependant cards:
Tactics: 6 (+1Hero) Spirit: 6 (+1Hero) Leadership: 6 Lore: 6(+1Hero) Neutral: 1

Doesn't it seem to you guys that the deckbuilding in this game revolves mostly around the tribal theme? There's the dwarf deck, a hobbit build, the gondor or silvan deck,... I own most of the cards (2 hobbit exp, 2 regular exp. and 8 ch.p's), and often there's just not that many options. Apart from a couple of interchangables depending on location or enemy faced, there's just "the deck". Maybe I missed some cards I initially dismissed as "totally crappy". Of course you can still experiment with colour combinations, that much is true. But I'm often at a loss to freshen my decks up. So some hints are welcome, as always.
 
Imo there should be more universal cards, like the classic card manipulation: "draw 2, discard 1", "look at top 4 and take 1", damage on critters, mana manipulation, etc etc. The tribal theme kinda excludes it from a lot of decks.

I'd rather be interesting in building and playing around The Collective. The other card might be fresh, but just seems crappy at first sight. If there's enough support it might be viable.