We just received some big news about a potential shift in how FFG sells its LCGs, but folks may have missed it since it came in the guise of a Call of Cathulhu announcement.

"Seekers of Knowledge will be more than another deluxe expansion; it will be the first in a new release model for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game. The game will shift away from monthly Asylum Packs to the release of a deluxe expansion (each with 165 cards) once every four months."

So, nothing definitive here for LotR, but I see some clear signs. First, we have the announcement of the two hobbit themed box sets. Second, we have no news about any upcoming adventure cycles. And, FFG has stated that it is shutting down the entire concept of monthly packs for one of its other LCGs.

If I was betting, I would put money on the fact that Shadow & Flame will be the last adventure pack for this game. Time to embrace the boxed sets.

Worth noting that they add

"However, there are no plans to apply this change to any other LCG."

color me skeptical.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the direction their LCGs take - once they're 7 years old. (or however old CoC is)

The fact that there is no news about a new adventure cycle and there are news for two expansions sets (The Hobbit), could mean they are thinking in closing the Adventure Packs.

However, it's the AP's that make LOTR: the Card Game what it is: an exciting game with new cards and quests released every month or so…

Also, there is nothing that states this choice on Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, could mean that the other games will follow the same path.

I sure hope not. I hope they keep it the same. I just bought the game a few months back and I have been collecting the Ap's since then. I will receive the latest one this coming week. It has been awesome to know that new quests and cards would be coming out every month. Lets hope they don't change it!

Here is a time table on annuncements and release dates

Mirkwood Cycle – Announced February 15th 2011, released July 13th 2011
Kazad Dun – Announced September 12th 2011, Released January 6th 2012
Darrowdelf Cycle - Announced October 5th 2011, released March 1st 2012
Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill – Announced in April 2012 released in August 2012 (speculation; its gen Con)

Which means that if they announced a new cycle tomorrow we probably wouldn’t be seeing it until December 2012 or January 2013.
It sure seems like we are headed towards a big box release schedule.

I am probably in the minority here, but if this news proves correct for LOTR I would welcome it. As a new player getting into the game a few months ago It felt a little daunting to look out at all those aventure packs. I wanted to improve my pool of cards, and it seemed that FFG did an outstanding job of sprinkling all the best cards accross multiple APs, so if I wanted to build the deck I wanted (eagles etc.) I had to buy a majority of them. This was marketing genious IMHO, but it did not lend itself very favorably to new players. If one was to start now, in addition to thier core set, they would need another box set and 12 APs to field competitive decks (or just 6 APs if they stopped at each cycle, but still daunting). Issuing boxed sets centered around themes would make this a little more inviting for new players and would give them a chance to catch up if you will. In addition, I feel the monthly cycle barely gives a player time to digest the cards of the current AP when the next one comes out. Its great to get new expansions very quickly, but giving players time to digest the cards both player and encounter I think would allow strategies, combos, and unforseen rules issues to be discovered and in the last case resolved. Perhaps its just me as I come from games where expansions were expected maybe once or twice a year, but this expansion schedule for LOTR has my head (and wallet) spinning.

Just my two cents, for what its worth.

Yeah, I'd prefer they stick with the adventure packs, which is most likely what will happen, as there has been nothing said otherwise. As for why there's been no third cycle announcement, I think it probably has to do with the break they are taking for the two Hobbit boxes.

I'll buy this game either way, though honestly I think this game would get pretty stale if we had to wait 4 months in between quests. It's not like other card games where you can just keep playing against other players. Eventually, without frequent injections of new cards the current quests get stale.

Exaclty. What keeps this game going for me is the monthly installments. The story if you will. I have now, just today, finished the first quest in the mirkwood cycle with a friend. We had a BLAST!!!! In beating it, which wasn't to hard, we really enjoyed the heck out of getting into something that neither one of us read first. That was pretty awesome.

If they go to a 4 month release I think that would kill the story part of the game. Its not a competative game at all. Its Co-Op. Its a story driven game. And going to a 4 month expansion wait time would totally kill that part of the game. You can't think of CoC and LotR in the same light. Even though they are LCG's they are still different in the style of play.

I think this is happening with Call of Cthulhu because sales are probably starting to drop. It's been going for a few years and I would imagine is the least popular LCG.

I don't think this applies to LOTR at all so I don't think we have to worry. I think our impatience for a new announcement is just getting the best of us.

I will keep buying this game no matter what they decided to do, but I see no reason to worry about our adventure packs…they'll keep coming!

This could just be FFG offically putting CoC on the back burner, and setting up for the game's eventual end. CoC is the least popular of it's LCGs, and it has 2 completely new games coming out in the next 9 months, bringing the total number of LCGs up to 6. Yes, each new game has different demographic and brings in new customers, but it doesn't take long for games to start eating each others market share.

I predict that the end of CoC will be announced sometime in the next 12 months when FFG feels the timing is right to make sure CoC players take up one of the new games.

As other have pointed out, I think the fundamentals of LotR make Adventure Packs the perfect delivery mechinsim, for both business reasons and player enjoyment.

radiskull said:

Isn't this what the Hobbit expansion basically is?

booored said:

i think the hobbit expansion is just trying to tie in to the movie. (not that thats a bad thing)

For coop game like Lotr lcg it can be deadly 1 deluxe set once in 3-4 months. Cose people will have enough time between to get boring with current quest and switch for other games. They need to stack with a AP month system otherwise they will lose they customers. I think Hobbit deluxe set is kind of special agreement cose movie will come soon. And soon we will get info about third cycle.

My complain is still same this game is not for proff players as Magic or AGOT but is LOTR and is only reason why i still play this game.

Anyway with good work of designers this game can be much better but they still to lazy to do this.

vandertramps said:

You could tie into the movie with Adventure packs. Their is no reasons that they had to do a tie in with a big box.

I could see them taking a 6 month break with the two hobbit expansions. Not the most popular choice, maybe, but I could see it happening. I don't think they'll move a way from monthly releases for all their LCGs, though. As stated, it is a necessity for a cooperative game, and the two new games will need monthly packs to keep them going strong with the initial momentum.

Bohemond said:

Big box has a bigger chance of attracting attention of new players/movie fans than adventure packs (even if they have to buy core set).

I think that FFG will take a small brake in releasing Adventure Packs for sake of pushing the Saga (Hobbit) expansions but things will return to normal after that.

I agree Budgernaut that LOTR:LCG needs regular adventure packs in order to stay strong.

wojo said:

Maybe not monthly but LOTR:LCG needs AP's at least bi-monthly.

The Saga expansions with the Hobbit is clearly to try and bring new players that like theme and may be interested by the Hobbit movie.

We will see what comes out. But I believe that after (or even between) the Hobbit saga, it will return to AP's

if this does happen (i dont think it will, but maybe it will in a few years) then maybe we'll get the proper Lord of the Rings books done the same way as they did The Hobbit. That would be pretty cool… working our way through the stories in the main books.

although that would mean them going back to Moria again… which is way too soon after the Khazad Dum boxset

Cunir said:

If they did a Saga expansion of the LOTR trilogy books, I would be among the first to buy it.

However I believe that only deluxe expansions, will kill the game because people will become tired of playing the same quests for 3/4 months…

I think it's a fresh breath of air to get a couple of delux expansions. That give all of us "non-hard core" gamers and new players a chance to catch up on the AP's we haven't got or played yet. Beside from reading the different forums I'd state that the majority of the players and there by buyers are non pro gamers. The small pocket of hard core players that exists (probably only Glaurung and that other guy I can't remember the name of) will not really make a difference if they find another game to play. Would probably make everyone else a favour if they did

I wouldn't mind the switch to deluxe expansions every 4 months. It would be cheaper in the long run. $30 every 4 months verses $60 total for 4 APs is easier on my wallet. Now, one deluxe pack would have roughly 165 cards, a 75 card difference from 4 APs that we currently get. So while we don't get as many cards (essentially 1 1/4 AP less), card by card, this is a cheaper option. There is also another hidden cost saver for me, I don't have to buy as many sleeves. Either way, I'll keep on buying. I just… need to play the **** game for once (I haven't even started the first Darrowdelf AP yet and I have everything printed so far lol).

I second everyone who has said that this game is far better suited to monthly packs rather than quarterly expansions. Interesting, that FFG seems to be making decisions on what they will concentrate on. They've also announced that they will take a "break" in publishing any new content for Tannhauser for a while. I've always wondered how long, with their pattern of publishing a new LCG (along with other games) every year, could they sustain continued growth. Perhaps we are seeing the admission that they cannot, at this point, stay on top of everything they've got going on and some things will have to go on the back burner.

Narsil0420 said:

I'm not sure about that, however - I suspect that Warhammer is the least popular of the LCGs at the moment. FFG hasn't even bothered to think about reprints for early Warhammer sets the way they have for Cthulhu. But yes, Cthulhu seems to be overlooked relative to Lord of the Rings, and certainly relative to Game of Thrones. Which is something of a shame, as Cthulhu and Lord of the Rings are probably the two most innovative designs among customizable card games right now.

When it comes to formats for Lord of the Rings, however, I'm perfectly OK either way. One problem with the monthly packs is that their Encounter cards end up getting used in only one quest, setting aside player-made quests, which is a real shame. Boxed expansions just get a lot more mileage since their Encounter cards can get reused in follow-on expansions.