[SwordMage]

I haven't done the Leth Nurae diplomacy yet; however, from what I have seen, you should be able to complete the newbie quest line without any specific grinding. I have done the Tursh and Tanvu ones so far, hitting only a few speed bumps but not crashing into any brick walls.

This is an area that doesn't come for free; you really need to sit back and say, "ok, that strategy and those tactics didn't work for this NPC, what will?" There is a lot of trial and error here at the start until the flow of the various parleys begins to make sense.

Things that I think about are whether the NPC is using a specific expression to fuel cards, in which case, I may try to starve his expression. Or perhaps she has got a bunch of no-cost cards; then I might throw caution to the wind and create and spend as much expression as I can.

With enough practice, we should get better at seeing the flow and knowing what types of decks various stations (solder, crafter, etc) and races use at various levels and for which parley types. Then we can begin accumulating specific tactics for our favorite NPCs.

As far as taking the "wrong cards," the quests I have done give you the cards that most fit with your deck and allow you to choose extra ones; from what I have seen so far, those extra ones won't make or break a deck by themselves.