Hello folks,

So I am heavily considering selling off almost the entire LOTR LCG collection eBay. My reason for this is because of the extreme anger that this game is causing me, and it's not good for my mental health. I have felt this need to sell the game for quite some time now. It's one of those things that has come and gone sporadically. Now, it's getting ever so close to pull the trigger and sell.

And what's causing me to sell it all in one fell swoop? The Journey to the Cross-roads quest, YES. This is one quest that's game-breaking for me. 15 attempts so far, all losses, using 3 different decks, tried Standard Mode twice, easy mode 13 times...nothing. In my hundreds of plays of this game, I can safely say that the game has deterioriated into more of a luck-based game than strategy. I feel like I can't continue playing through the game unless I beat a quest. I just can't skip it. So when I can't beat it, and rather than invoke Einstein's definition of insanity (which is what this game ends up as after repeated plays), I stop playing the game entirely and need to sell it off. That's just how I operate. There aren't even that many decks on RingsDB listed for this particular quest, which is extremely odd. You would think that such an insanely difficult quest would have many decks to try...guess not.

So if/when I decide to really sell this all (because i know it's coming...it's more a matter of when), how exactly should I sell it on eBay? I have everything except for nightmare decks and one standalone scenario. Would you sell it all as one huge lot, or break them up into mini-lots? Like sell em off by cycle. Maybe sell 3 core sets in one auction, then the Mirkwood adventure packs the next, Kazad-Dum plus its 6 adventure packs, etc?

Regarding the core sets, I’d recommend making a lot that has two copies of the cards that the core set has one of, and one copy of every card the core set has two of. This way a player could by a core set and this lot to have a full three copies of every card. That’s something for which a chance many people would jump. (Gotta channel my inner Churchill grammar!)

Where are you located? I am just getting into the game (only have a core and the first set of adventure packs), and might be interested in buying a significant portion of a collection if shipping won't be prohibitive.

I understand how you feel because I am something of a perfectionist/completionist myself. But seriously, why get so hung up ONE single scenario? There are literally over 100 others (including Nightmare versions ). There's bound to be one in there that doesn't strike your fancy, it's just the law of averages.

I too can understand your frustration, as sometimes an "impossible" quest (or bad run of luck) puts me in a foul mood and makes me wonder why I play this game.

But despite that, I still really love this game. Sounds like you already take a break now and again. I assume you are playing as a campaign, so skipping the quest wouldn't be a satisfactory option. You could try and mix up the play format - if you are playing solo hand, try two-deck play. You get ranged, sentinel and first-player interactions, you can cover all the spheres easier, and get more "access" to a wider card pool. If you are firm on the rules, I believe adding "players" (or decks) to a campaign is perfectly legitimate.

I tend to play 2-deck, and succeeded 2 in 8 on Journey to the Crossroads in my first campaign. Not spectacular, but good enough for me. I have yet to get that far in my solo campaign (just completed Road to Isengard), so may yet feel your pain.

But don't give up just yet!