All in the title

Tremendously. It had some ups and downs (Heirs of Numenor) but I am very pleased with how consistently better the game is getting with each pack. The latest expansions and packs overshadow earlier releases by a VERY good margin (imho some of the best adventures in the game). Their approach to players specifically is a marked improvement over late Dwarrowdelf/HoN design (more well rounded cards, less cheese and must-includes).

Trouble in Tharbant and the 3 trials are evidence of this.

Yeah the game only gets better with every new quest and player card released. Design and art seems to get better with every new release lately. Nightmare is being done so well, the latest saga box absolutely blew me away and the ring maker cycle is amazing so far. In short, **** yeah it is!

I almost quit the game after core, but I decided to stick it out through the first cycle. Then I almost quit after Mirkwood, and would have if Khazad-Dum hadn't been spoiled. The game has been going up ever since thanks in large part to Caleb and Matt. So glad I stuck with it.

Yeah the core set was pretty **** awesome but didn't sell me completely. I almost didn't bother continuing on with the game but I decided to buy a few specific adventure packs after the core set just to get Elrond, his sons and a few other player cards I had seen on cardgamedb and really wanted to try out before calling it quits.
After buying a couple of adventure packs and seeing how good/hard some of the other quests (outside of core) could be and how much lore and amazing places/areas are included and used in this game I was instantly sold and knew I had to catch up and get the first two cycles in full and also knew I would be obsessively collecting and playing this game.

It had some ups and downs (Heirs of Numenor)

I think Heirs of Numenor was one of the biggest ups for this game. That was where the game really started to get interesting. A whole new challenge. It actually made your brain work. But of course some people dont like challenge....

Games like Star Wars LCG you really can get along without a ton of expansions. There is a lot of replay value in a competitive, head to head game. But solo game like Lord of the RIngs it gets boring faster so expansions are what keeps this game fun if you play the game even somewhat regularly. It's a cool game but you must buy many expansions for it to be at its best and be fun for long

I'd say to get the most out of the game, you really have to have Core + Khazad-dum + full Dwarrowdelf cycle.

There's really not much in the Mirkwood expansions to get excited about, other than the Song cards, the Dunedain Warning / Mark / Cache, and Spirit Frodo. The Mirkwood quests are decidedly "meh," and if you're not into eagles decks or spirit Rohan decks, there's just not much value to the player.

Of course, if you're going to play dwarves at all you HAVE to get Return to Mirkwood just for Dain.

Truth be told, if you just stuck with the Deluxe and Saga expansions (and proxy any heroes you want to try), you'd be fine.

once the game got hard it is interesting. quests are the main stay for this game and now they are good when made harder

It had some ups and downs (Heirs of Numenor)

I think Heirs of Numenor was one of the biggest ups for this game. That was where the game really started to get interesting. A whole new challenge. It actually made your brain work. But of course some people dont like challenge....

Games like Star Wars LCG you really can get along without a ton of expansions. There is a lot of replay value in a competitive, head to head game. But solo game like Lord of the RIngs it gets boring faster so expansions are what keeps this game fun if you play the game even somewhat regularly. It's a cool game but you must buy many expansions for it to be at its best and be fun for long

You must detach the scroll of Alcaron ASAP in PiP, even though it doesnt make sense, or get crushed by thugs. Dont forget cheesing the thugs wuth Good old Glori!

You are stronly advised to let the rangers die in Into Ithilien, to skip the hardest quest phase. Best let your allies die for manimum internal consistency! Dont forget to cheese with Dunhere too for easy wins.

These are not challeges, they are bad designs. People one day will have to admit HoN is hard because its broken, aka the bad kind of hard.

I suppose calling others casual players is a fine line of defence for your poor taste.

I love Heirs of Numenor. And I love Into Ithilien. Yes it is hard and everything people have already said about it in the past, but it introduced Southrons to the game. And you can win quest either just through fighting or sneaking through the forest. It totally your choice. Sneaking through the forest is harder, yes, but that's how it should be.

Siege of Cair Andros is awesomely desgined quest. The choice between which locations to save is great. And depending on what you save, game will unfold differently. I have yet to win it, but I never felt frustrated by it.

Whole expansion is mostly combat oriented, that's for sure.

And let's be honest. I believe that quite a lot of players got so frustrated by the quests that they marked this expansions as "badly designed" or as one of the downs of the game. Far, far from this. And I do not consider myself as that great of a player and deck-builder.

I recommend Heirs of Numenor wholeheartedly.

Oh and one more thing. I bought this expansion after I got only the Core Set and Mirkwood Cycle, so you do not really need Khazad Dum and DD Cycle. It makes things easier, that's true.

Eagles all the way baby!

The problem in CairAndros is that you have to face enemy cards that represent a whole unit or squad, with an unbeliveable ton on attack/def stats, which represents that they attack together the same poor errand rider (chose any chumpblocker here) and block together, like a roman militia, against your attacks. This cards in the siege are strange to me, it should be better to add multiple weaker enemies with surge.

Well you get that feeling: standing against all odds.