what do we all think? ……..much needed development? or not?

i know i posted about the game's difficulty but i dont think i will do this- it feels like cheating…(read that last comment very carefully please)

well sort of. i guess it is a good idea though and i congratulate the designers on doing this.

rich

PS. i may as well say this outloud so im not spending my day tomorrow with pointless arguments- this is a great thing for the game….i just personally wont use it (at least i dont think so….time will tell)

this may bring me back to the game. I left because it was just too **** hard and I'm just a casual player. I rarely won any scenario, even the first one. So, now that I've sold it all, I might just come back, or I may still wait to see if Pathfinder Cards game offers a more satisfying psuedo-rpg experience. We'll see. I'm intrigued though!

An essential print out. Having more options is a great thing IMO. Sometimes I just want to play and not get my ass handed to me (I have the nightmare decks for that). And should Easy mode be just that, I can play standard. It's a win win as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad FF is listening.

it's funny, i was just joking w/my buddies how the FFG forums will have a post about how the easy mode is "cheating" - and here it is! ;D

this is nothing but a positive. video games do this. i don't know of many of other game formats that have variable difficulty. it's one more sign that the game designers actually listen to the fan base. there are now three modes to play the game. it seems silly to me, especially after all the complaints about the "difficulty" of the game, to now complain that, once the designers have addressed the issue, that it's "cheating."

props to caleb et al for listening and really putting a lot of effort into the game to make it better. we now have a great way to introduce the newer quests to new players - maybe not always having to rely on Passage Through Mirkwood, or some other similarly simple quest.

Thank goodness I say! So many times I wish that the game was made easier. No more getting demoralized and resisting the urge to throw my cards at the table in disgust. I will play several games at wussy level for sure!

Thank goodness I say! So many times I wish that the game was made easier. No more getting demoralized and resisting the urge to throw my cards at the table in disgust. I will play several games at wussy level for sure!

It is a good option.

Probably i will use to introduce newcomers to the game…

Dain Ironfoot said:

perhaps you need to re read my post, so you dont end up a repeat of your last infamous post by insulting another fellow gamer. im not arguing here. the basic fact is that to me it FEELS like cheating, hence i said i doubt id use it.

of course it isnt- thats the whole point of ffg making this official rules

therefore thats why i added the last about congratulating the designers. the introduction of this is only a good thing, but to me im not so sure about it

By the way if you look at the Easy Mode rules on the Support page you can see some spoilered names for some cards of the Against the Shadow cycle.

It's funny to see how some of the cards that are removed to achieve easy mode are the 'iconic' cards of that expansion/encounter set.
Chieftain Ufthak, Marsh Adder, Hummerhorn, majority of Hunters from Mordor, most of trechery from Rhosgobel, Mumakil, Old Tomnnody, etc.

But it's always good to have more option to play.
I don't think Easy Mode is cheating, especially since it is an official variant posted by the developers,
and I could actually see myself using this mode.

Play standard mode when playing a new quest,
Play nightmare mode when playing with a finely-tuned cutting-edge deck,
Play easy mode when playing a Cycle of quests using thematic decks.

Edit: Just realized I didin't explain why I think easy mode is 'legetimate' way to play.
I would probably dismiss this easy mode as 'cheating' as well if it was fanmade variant.
Only reason I would consider it otherwise and actually give it a try myself is that it came from the developers,
and even then I might have dismissed the easy mode as 'temporary fix' to quiet the increasing complaints about difficulty.
But Caleb and other developers are doing such a good job with LotRLCG that I am trusting this easy mode is a 'balanced' way of reducing difficulty to enable players to try out thematic decks… and I've been playing without Denethor for too long.

richsabre said:

i know exactly what you said. and i know you weren't dissing the designers. i was merely giving my opinion by stating that this is in no way cheating (much in the same way i never thought not using shadow cards your first couple play-throughs was cheating). it was tongue-in-cheek. and there is nothing in my post (at least, i don't think) suggesting i was going to argue.

perhaps i miss read you, but this is an opinion forum afterall, and mocking someone's opinion is surely doing nothing other than inviting argument

i shall leave it at that as i dont want to sidetrack a thread on an important part in this game's development

my response wasn't so much to you personally, rich, as it was a response to the "is it needed or not/feels like cheating?" - question/topic you posed in the orignal posting. while i can understand you taking it personally, it was responding to the topic - not the author (so yes, i think you misread/misinterpreted what i was saying).

even so, i absolutely believe it's counterintuitive to feel that way, especially given all the rampant complaints about the game being too hard (again - not a comment directed towards you specifically).

you can't please all the people all the time. some think the game is just right. others too easy. and some too hard. the designers have addressed this - to a greater extent than any other game. and this is nothing short of a good thing. if someone thinks the game is too hard and doesn't utilize the game mechanics provided to them by the designers, that's their right.

Terrific move. Those who want to take advantage of it will do so, and those who don't need or want to play Easy Mode won't have their gaming experience affected at all. It may bring frustrated players back to the game, which is great for the long-term vitality of LotR.

Of course, we've always been able to do this. Some players have been adding and removing select encounter cards to adjust difficulty for quite some time. Still, it's different when FFG officially endorses that model and provides a standardized framework.

Allowing players maximum ability to customize their play experience--while still playing by a version of FFG's official rules--is the right thing to do. There's absolutely no downside here.

This is/was a very important day for Lotr LCG. New Saga expansion AND easy mode announced in the same day… I personally love the idea of an easy mode and look forward to try a thematic deck against an easy mode scenario.

I, for one, welcome our new Easy Mode Overlords. One of the faults I find of this game is that the difficulty comes from a lot of "screw you" cards (I'm looking at you, Sleeping Sentry!). With those out of the way, I'm excited to see how the quests turn out. Will they become more fun, or more boring? I don't know yet, but I'm going to play through some and find out!

This is a great move, and will very likely tempt me back to playing the game.

I had quietly dropped the game for a number of reasons, but most prominent of those was the difficulty. It felt like the loudest advocates of the game were - to borrow FFG's terminology - "Boromirs", players who apparently think that a 10% win rate is too high and Sleeping Sentry was the FFG designer's finest moment. FFG literally was "turning it up to eleven" on difficulty, and since I had no interest in that, I had no intention of sticking around.

FFG has, wisely, decided to cater to a wider audience. The masochists now have their difficulty 11 decks that will require a hundred play-throughs before they can defeat it with their every-OP-card-in-the-game solo deck, while those of us who just want to enjoy the theme while experimenting with interesting deck builds will be able to do so without getting repeatedly drubbed by bad card draws.

Granted, those of us who play on Easy Mode will have to endure the condescension of the hardcore gamers, but in my mind that's less of a price to pay than having to hate the game because of painful win/loss ratios on the scenarios.

Easy mode is great for us (wifey and me)!

So I just played Into Illthillan on Easy Mode with a Secrecy Deck, and I have to say I had a good time! The deck was much thinner, and it was still hard, but I felt like I had more of a chance. I unfortunatly did not win, but I got to the last stage of the quest. I don't know if I will play all of the quests on easy mode, but I might try some of the harder ones.

This is great for me.

I, myself, have nothing against losing hard, however my gf rage quits for weeks, if we lose.

(Can't really enjoy the game, if I have to min/max our decks for several hours, to ensure success. Especially hard with other things, like my gf really dislikes dwarves)

Now I'll be able to throw together some thematic cards and have a blast.

peterstepon said:

Absolutely necessary and about time! We were actually very confused with the new nightmare option, because we already felt the games biggest weakness is it's difficulty.

I can only tell you from my point of view: When the game was new my whole gaming group played it. By now everyone (but me) has given up on the game, because it was just to difficult to be fun. They all got frustrated with one scenario or another (or several in a row) and dropped out at some point. They had realised that you need to put a lot of efford in research and deckbuilding (and card buying) to have a chance with the new scenarios. Most of my friends are casual gamers and don't visit any forums (and therefore their voices will never be heared). I cannot blame them and I too was very close to throwing my cards a couple of times.

In general I never play anything in the "easy mode", but here I will (propably often). Actually the introduction of easy mode is not enough in my opinion, because it gives people the feeling they are cheating, or that they are infirior players. I think they should have just made standard easier and sell "hard mode" to the players that want an additional challenge. Furthermore I hope it's not too late, because I am pretty sure a LOT of players have given up on this (great) game already.

asmeus said:

Sorry for double but I just read this: 100% the same for me, thanks!

Good to read this. I think FFG is scaling way to much for the (more visible) geeks.

soullos said:

Right. This may help me get some friends to play it. They complain even without dealing Shadow cards.

BTW: We'll see Easy mode Print on Demand packs?

I agree with the consensus. This is fantastic news. It's good to see, just from this thread, a lot of people thinking of coming back to the game. Long term players will know that the difficulty becomes manageable with time, but we all remember struggling with the core set. I think FFG should include these rules, and the highlighted cards, with future reprints of the core set. It will make the game so much more accessible to new players.

its probably completely against the point, but me and my play partner were thinking of trying easy mode as a challenge, only using one or two heroes. We'll see how that goes haha …

I for one am delighted by these changes!

I often said to my brother, (a fellow enthusiast), that if they just removed a few cards or reduced their numbers I would be happy. I know that some people would have said 'just do it then', but I never wanted to, because as Rich said it would have felt like cheating. But now that FFG have released an official set of rules to make an easier game possible, I'm going to dive right back into my favourite co-op system.

Thank you so much FFG!!!