NOTE: This is new (NOV 2012) content written for this blog.
Can this be considered a standalone product?
This is one of the questions that bug me from the beginning of my adventure with LOTR:LCG. At first glance it looks good: you get +200 cards, ton of tokens. Yeah you do get a card game for a price of board game but this nothing new in todays market and in fact looking at the variety of cards you get (+100 different cards) you are in for a bargain.
Second glance is far less optimistic: you get only three scenarios (and really only two if you play solo as we all know what Escape from Dul Guldur does to solo players) in the box and since the game is scenario oriented the question about replayability pops up right away. More or less at the some time you realize that if you want to play the game adhering to all intended rules ("tournament" legal deck with up to 3 copies of each card) you might have to buy two additional copies of the core set.
So what FFG could do to mitigate those negative observations?
1. Provide players with official print and play scenarios on their website. Look at all the custom scenarios our fellow players were able to create using only cards from the core set, I am sure that FFG could have added at least three scenarios of their own.
2. Second issue is more complex. On one hand we call for standalone product - hence we need variety of cards (and decent price) on the other hand we want all the cards in 3 copies. FFG faced this problem and decided to go more toward standalone product. For us, dedicated players, we are left with a dilemma - do we really need the missing cards? Most of us would gladly pay for an upgrade/collector pack but FFG apparently think that would loose money on it.
In my opinion in the end it is almost a standalone product - you can get a lot of plays from it (+40 in my case). You can do a decent deck building with it (if you forget about the "tournament legal" decks) and get a lot of fun trying to combine the spheres. But those two issues were not/could not be addressed and hence the "almost".
What do you think about the scenarios in the core?
Passage through Mirkwood - This scenario had to be there. You need to introduce players to the game with a relative ease. Yeah it it might have been a bit easier on solo players but maybe it is just fine (additional challenge might be healthy solo).
Journey down the Anduin - I just love it. It is so much harder than the previous one. Pre constructed decks do fail most of the time here (although with 2 players this is doable). I love its pacing, strong start, though middle and grand finale. I see my self returning to it several times. One of my top 3 scenarios so far.
Escape from Dul Guldur - Here I am on the fence. Did FFG made it so difficult on purpose to keep players coming back? Or they didn't test it solo? Either way for me as a solo player I can't decide: it is frustrating like nothing else in this game but at the same it feels like holy grail quest that I am hoping to find (i.e. be able to beat) one day.
Do player cards from core age well?
Short answer is yes. Many of them still form a corner stones of good decks. I would even say that newer cards are on average much weaker than many of the original ones.
Can this be considered a standalone product?
This is one of the questions that bug me from the beginning of my adventure with LOTR:LCG. At first glance it looks good: you get +200 cards, ton of tokens. Yeah you do get a card game for a price of board game but this nothing new in todays market and in fact looking at the variety of cards you get (+100 different cards) you are in for a bargain.
Second glance is far less optimistic: you get only three scenarios (and really only two if you play solo as we all know what Escape from Dul Guldur does to solo players) in the box and since the game is scenario oriented the question about replayability pops up right away. More or less at the some time you realize that if you want to play the game adhering to all intended rules ("tournament" legal deck with up to 3 copies of each card) you might have to buy two additional copies of the core set.
So what FFG could do to mitigate those negative observations?
1. Provide players with official print and play scenarios on their website. Look at all the custom scenarios our fellow players were able to create using only cards from the core set, I am sure that FFG could have added at least three scenarios of their own.
2. Second issue is more complex. On one hand we call for standalone product - hence we need variety of cards (and decent price) on the other hand we want all the cards in 3 copies. FFG faced this problem and decided to go more toward standalone product. For us, dedicated players, we are left with a dilemma - do we really need the missing cards? Most of us would gladly pay for an upgrade/collector pack but FFG apparently think that would loose money on it.
In my opinion in the end it is almost a standalone product - you can get a lot of plays from it (+40 in my case). You can do a decent deck building with it (if you forget about the "tournament legal" decks) and get a lot of fun trying to combine the spheres. But those two issues were not/could not be addressed and hence the "almost".
What do you think about the scenarios in the core?
Passage through Mirkwood - This scenario had to be there. You need to introduce players to the game with a relative ease. Yeah it it might have been a bit easier on solo players but maybe it is just fine (additional challenge might be healthy solo).
Journey down the Anduin - I just love it. It is so much harder than the previous one. Pre constructed decks do fail most of the time here (although with 2 players this is doable). I love its pacing, strong start, though middle and grand finale. I see my self returning to it several times. One of my top 3 scenarios so far.
Escape from Dul Guldur - Here I am on the fence. Did FFG made it so difficult on purpose to keep players coming back? Or they didn't test it solo? Either way for me as a solo player I can't decide: it is frustrating like nothing else in this game but at the same it feels like holy grail quest that I am hoping to find (i.e. be able to beat) one day.
Do player cards from core age well?
Short answer is yes. Many of them still form a corner stones of good decks. I would even say that newer cards are on average much weaker than many of the original ones.