I don't really get all this fuss about "too many counter deck card", "not enough player cards", "not big enough a cardpool" and so on. I respect all players views, meanings and feelings and don't want to provoke anyone. But my opinion about this game and it's AP and delux ex. is like, wow, a new piece of story and some cards to back it up. And by story I of cause mean the quests. The story is always great, for me being too easy, too hard and just in the middle Sure some cards I think are awesome, some are awfull and some are just meh ok. I have played it for about 3 months now, only beaten the first core set quest and still fighting the Anduin. I don't think this is a game where you should "pump-up-your-deck-and-have-3-of-all-great-cards" and then beat the game over and over again in a short period. Then you'll get bored no matter what FFG launches, how big the packages gets and how big the card pool gets. Just get 1 core set, sit back and enjoy the story in the game and get the AP's in your own tempo.

I haven't used as much time on playing the game as spending time reading about it on this forum, which is a lot actually but I have had a great time. Soon I'll have more time for playing and it'll be great too. Thank you for making and keeping this game alive FFG, and thank you for listening to us and make most of the gamers happy. For all to be happy we also need things WE don't think are great so others can be happy to

@mr.thomasschmidt

My feelings exactly.

I actually like the idea of a new quest and encounter decks with each new AP/Expansion. At first I was thinking, "ugh, so few player cards." And, at the moment, yes that is the case if you have Core only and maybe a few AP (like myself). But one thing I noticed from many card games with their booster packs/expansion materials (random or not) is the fact that very few of the cards will see play, particularly from random distribution (I have thousands of Magic that I will never use…). At least with quests and encounter decks they will be used in its entirety. So that’s a good thing. I don’t feel like I spent $15 for just a handful of cards.

It’s also harder to break the game with overpowered encounter cards as compared to player cards. And should something like that happen, just drop the card from the deck. The encounter deck is always against you after all. An over powered player card will have more lasting and damaging effects to the game and with less player cards being made with each AP (compared to other card games), there will be less of a chance of something slipping through because of time/quota constraints. The designers can take their time to some extent.

IMO, this all adds great variety and longevity of the game without it spiraling out of control too quickly.

As with any game...you take the good with the bad. Until they outright break the game or have a knee jerk new direction in the story line, facing an army of Balrogs, all of it can be enjoyed. From my point of view there has been little to no bad. You also get out of any game what you put into it. I at first did not think i would have the money to afford everything. I took an evaluation of my spending habits; eating out, geekgasm spending, overspending on my hobbies, i.e. buying 3-4 packs when1-2 will do, how often I drove to my FLGS to hang out and not do anything...I curbed all of that and you know what??...I found the money I needed. Now I eat at home, only go to my FLGS on my hobby nights, apply some discipline to my spending habits in the store and most importantly enjoy my gaming experience to its fullest.

I don't think any of the packages they have come up with are any worse or better than the others. The one upside to this game is Solo play and if you are going to invest in ANY game this would be it. "I" also play Call of C'thulhu....I stress "I" because my group disappeared and now I am stuck with binders of cards and no one to play with. With LotR I don't have to worry about that so investing in it is a no brainer for me. I have played another CCG for 13 years now and have had multiple groups fall through (stupid college town) I can honestly say that I have cut back spending on that one too.

Expansions like Kazad Dum are needed. They change the game state of things. Most of us have 1 deck that we feel confident in taking up against most quests, solo or team-up. These major Expansions change that and force us to have to build other decks. The more often you have to change your tactics to win the more you learn and the better player you become thus allowing the game to grow even more. Just look at the Eagle quest and how a smaller scale direction changed things for us. I can only drool at the possibilities of Kazad Dum.

Another thing these Major expansions do is allow the design team to focus on one thing, DWARVES, and give players what they want. I am sure Elves and Hobbits will follow as well as maybe Rohan. Playing through the caverns of the Dead Men of Dunharrow would be awesome! In a way these are like big Christmas presents to the players that support the game.

I approve this message

Dwnhmcntryboy said:

This is very similar to my situation and I totally feel you on this point. This game is a god send for me since I love to play table top games and often its hard to find people who have similar interests and tastes in my area. Pretty much everything in my area is Warhammer 40k, MtG, DnD or bust. These big three just don't hold that much interest for me so a card game with solo play and a well done LotR theme is just a perfect combo. Especially since it will grow and evolve over time.

I also believe that its great that there is a very good focus toward the encounters. A plethora of adventures to choose from will keep the game fresh and exciting. Ya it hurts player cards a little and makes the deck variety seem to feel like its growing pretty slowly, but I think that we, as players, will settle on the cards we think work the best for us so a large part of the experience will come from what we see getting fielded by the encounter deck as we play and how we choose field our cards against these different challenges.

A large box expansion like Kazad Dum will be nice because it will finally reset the basic decks since each adventure always takes at least two encounter sets from the core. KD will basically be the new 'core' for the next AP cycle and I am sure after nine adventures in mirkwood, I will be ready for a big change like that.

I personally think that FFG are doing a great job so far. I think most of us will agree that the way they released the core set wasn't the most collector-friendly decision, but I think that the card distribution in the Adventure Packs is just about right.

At first I was a bit sceptical, because I was worried about not getting enough new heroes or player cards. But soon I realized that in this case a slow growing card pool is not necessarily a bad thing, because you stay focused and maybe give some cards a chance that you would have ignored otherwise. (Makes me think about the many Magic cards I have in my collection that never got played and how much better I like the concept of LCGs.)

I also tend to be a bit more excited about the new set of encounter cards and the new quests, because they provide the much needed challenge and variety - which both are the engine to keep this game going! You can try to beat the latest quest with your old decks or you can modify your decks with the new player cards and see how you do against older quests - there are so many options...

I can't wait for the big box expansion and the following Adventure Pack cycle... but I also know that there'll be a lot of exciting LotR stuff to play around in the meantime!