Yes I know they are releasing new stuff for it. But the reprint time on the old packs keep stretching out longer and longer. The Dwarrowdelf cycle has been out of stock for a year. The new stuff keeps the old player base excited. But it stifles new players coming in because they can't get some of the key fun cards from the older sets.

Is that FFG's goal? They don't care about new players to the game? Just keep the old ones happy until the license runs out. Makes me suspicious about what's going on behind the curtain.

Then again, maybe they are just so busy with Keyforge, SW Legion, the Digital game, etc, that LOTR isn't high on the agenda. I don't know. What do you guys think?

3 hours ago, 4wallz said:

Yes I know they are releasing new stuff for it. But the reprint time on the old packs keep stretching out longer and longer. The Dwarrowdelf cycle has been out of stock for a year. The new stuff keeps the old player base excited. But it stifles new players coming in because they can't get some of the key fun cards from the older sets.

Is that FFG's goal? They don't care about new players to the game? Just keep the old ones happy until the license runs out. Makes me suspicious about what's going on behind the curtain.

Then again, maybe they are just so busy with Keyforge, SW Legion, the Digital game, etc, that LOTR isn't high on the agenda. I don't know. What do you guys think?

My guess is that the print version of LotR LCG isn't a high priority right now. They're clearly investing some effort into the new online version. I think that's where the new players come in.

I believe all of their resources were diverted into printing the Keyforge decks, which I imagine is a lot more difficult given their randomization. I think the fact that it's constantly selling out is a sign that it's a good product and that they should make more of it, though.

I had the same problem in 2015 when I got into LOTR. I had holes in my collection for a while until they finally saw a reprint. LOTR just has such a large catalogue that it's hard to keep it all in print. At the same time I'm sure FFG prioritizes their newer game launches to ensure their success (and I can't fault them for that). I don't think it's a case of FFG not caring about getting new people into LOTR LCG. If they weren't proud and confident in the product they wouldn't have chosen it first to be converted to a digital format.

You try keeping 60+ tightly related products constantly in print and profitable and tell us how you do.

I don't think the older sets being out of print really has a negative impact on newer players. Yes there are some universally useful cards in older sets, but does that hurt new players, or new players who want to go all in?

To be honest the older adventure's weren't anywhere near as good as the newer adventures. So it's really only about the player cards and being a completionist. I never really go back and play anything from the first two cycles anymore unless I'm trying out a nightmare deck.

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 10:59 AM, qwertyuiop said:

You try keeping 60+ tightly related products constantly in print and profitable and tell us how you do.

I don't think the older sets being out of print really has a negative impact on newer players. Yes there are some universally useful cards in older sets, but does that hurt new players, or new players who want to go all in?

Yeah that's a good point about the older sets. It just affects us completionists. lol

On 12/14/2018 at 2:10 PM, 4wallz said:

Yeah that's a good point about the older sets. It just affects us completionists. lol

That said, I remember the Dwarrodelf cycle fondly. Elrond's Boyz are a lot of fun.

On 12/13/2018 at 11:59 AM, qwertyuiop said:

I don't think the older sets being out of print really has a negative impact on newer players. Yes there are some universally useful cards in older sets, but does that hurt new players, or new players who want to go all in?

There are also the Saga Expansions for those who like following the story from the books. I'm missing half of those, so at this point I can't fully do the whole story, and some of my favorite parts are missing.

Also, with the Deluxe Expansions and their Adventure Packs, the expansions tend to cater to certain deck themes. So if you want to play those themes you're either out of luck or have to deal with gaping holes. Besides, I am a new player and I am trying to work my way through the cards and scenarios in order, to experience the game as it evolved.

The longer the game goes on the longer the wait times for reprints will be, since only one cycle gets reprinted at a time.

Just in case people in this thread don't follow FFG on Twitter, they all but confirmed the Saga's are being reprinted in the next couple months. Months not years!

On 1/29/2019 at 5:22 PM, TheGuardian118 said:

Just in case people in this thread don't follow FFG on Twitter, they all but confirmed the Saga's are being reprinted in the next couple months. Months not years!

That is great news! I'm missing four of those, and the Sagas were the ones I was most pessimistic about being able to ever get.

I adore LOTR LCG, but i have been waiting years to buy certain packs, i can never find them in stock anywhere or if you do they are charging crazy insane prices, if your new to LOTR do not go any further! lol

On 12/5/2018 at 10:16 PM, KrisWall said:

My guess is that the print version of LotR LCG isn't a high priority right now. They're clearly investing some effort into the new online version. I think that's where the new players come in.

Common misconception, but that is simply not how the game publishing works. There is no such thing as "we are focusing on this, so that is suffering as a result" in game publishing. FFG has the money to reprint anything they want whenever they want, there are no shortages of resources. Every decesion is simply a financial choice about investment. What is a good investment, what is a bad investment.

The very clear reason they aren't reprinting the old sets is because their is too few people who would buy them. I love LotR LCG, but you can count on one hand the amount of new players that bought the game in the last year.

For all intense and purposes the only reason this game hasn't been shut down at this point is that they have a loyal following large enough to make it worth for them to sell new sets, but there is virtually no new player market to tap into anymore for this game, to get that, they need to go 2nd edition and start over and to do that they have to shut this version down for a few years to let the game cool.

So in a sense the OP is right though its not a lack of interested or "caring" by FFG, its just an understanding of the reality that the new player base for this game is so small it may as well not exist at all.

On 7/21/2019 at 12:31 PM, BigKahuna said:

Common misconception, but that is simply not how the game publishing works. There is no such thing as "we are focusing on this, so that is suffering as a result" in game publishing.

Measurably false? FFG shifted the Star Wars Armada design team over to Star Wars Legion for almost a year (based on various interviews and designer comments). I.e., they focused on Legion and Armada suffered as a result. The games almost died with no new product announcements. It's slowly recovering now that they've announced new releases again. I would imagine that any game studio with limited design capacity (all of them) have to choose which products to focus their design teams on. All other products suffer from not getting any "designer love".

I'm not talking reprints. Reprints don't use up design time. I'm talking new product. Reprints are mainly an exercise in demand forecasting versus manufacturing budget/capacity.

Well, the FFG store is pretty well stocked on LoTR LCG these days, with some of the harder to find cycles (e.g., 2, 3) mostly in stock! I'm a relatively new player (started in July), and I have completed my collection. I have had no trouble getting into this amazing game!

I just sold my entire collection, reason being I had so many gaps in the collection, and it was costing me a fortune to try and complete certain cycles, our distributor in South Africa seems more interested to distribute Magic the Gatheriing, Yugioh etc. It would be awesome if Asmodee said to country distributors, yes you can have 1000 boxes of Keyforge, but for every 100 boxes you need to take 10 boxes LCG's

On 9/3/2019 at 5:57 PM, KrisWall said:

Measurably false? FFG shifted the Star Wars Armada design team over to Star Wars Legion for almost a year (based on various interviews and designer comments). I.e., they focused on Legion and Armada suffered as a result. The games almost died with no new product announcements. It's slowly recovering now that they've announced new releases again. I would imagine that any game studio with limited design capacity (all of them) have to choose which products to focus their design teams on. All other products suffer from not getting any "designer love".

I'm not talking reprints. Reprints don't use up design time. I'm talking new product. Reprints are mainly an exercise in demand forecasting versus manufacturing budget/capacity.

All true and we ARE talking about reprints.

8 hours ago, FaustZAR said:

I just sold my entire collection, reason being I had so many gaps in the collection, and it was costing me a fortune to try and complete certain cycles, our distributor in South Africa seems more interested to distribute Magic the Gatheriing, Yugioh etc. It would be awesome if Asmodee said to country distributors, yes you can have 1000 boxes of Keyforge, but for every 100 boxes you need to take 10 boxes LCG's

When it comes to collectible card games, when entering the scene late you are always going to have gaps in your collection that are hard to fill if you are trying to collect stuff that was released X years ago.

Its no different with Magic The Gathering or Yugioh. Try completing an Arabian Nights set or even something from the last 15 years like Weatherlight or Tempest even.

Collectible games are collectible games, they collectible items and their value goes up as they age. LCG's still fit into that category, there is a wierd assumption that CCG's and LCG's are different but they really aren't. You have third party markets available for both and third party markets are always stupid expensive.