iOS/Android (eventually), PC/Mac (Early Access now) •
When Lord of the Rings LCG from Fantasy Flight Interactive launched in Early Access back in August, reviews were rather tepid and some were downright hostile. It’s a shame because the game itself is pretty good, but it’s not what fans of the physical version wanted: a direct copy of their favorite LCG to play on the go. If we look at it as a completely separate game, however, it’s pretty fun, albeit a bit limited by the growing pains associated with an Early Access game. What may have been the biggest gripe was the pricing scheme which was confusing as hell, especially compared with the simplicity of the LCG model it was attempting to emulate. Well, that’s all changing as free-to-play is going out the window. More on that later, but for now you need to know that Asmodee and FFG just added a new mission to the game that can be had for the low, low price of free.
The new mission is called King of Carrion which sounds absolutely delightful, doesn’t it? This new missions is actually classified as an “Encounter”, which means it’s at a super-high difficulty level and perfect for veteran players who’ve had a chance to hone their strategies as well as flesh out their decks.
The first ever Encounter is coming to The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game!
Titled The King of Carrion, players will guide their Heroes through this standalone Quest that will take them to the far reaches of the Andúin and beyond, battling new enemies such as Moonlight Wights as well as returning foes such as the fearsome wargs.
All Encounters will be free for all players, regardless of their Founder’s Pack!
Look for The King of Carrion’s icon to join the map on the Play screen on November 21.
Hey, November 21 is tomorrow! That’s right, if you log into LotR LCG tomorrow, you’ll see the icons for the new mission just sitting and waiting for you. Huzzah!
There are also 13 new Valor cards available today as well as a bunch of changes to the Play Menu as well. There is now a Rewards tab there to easily see which heroes have earned what rewards. There’s also a new scrolling method for picking through your decks to easily select the one you want for each quest. They’ve also been updating the Deck Builder to make it easier to use as well as tweaking the different difficulty levels. In other words, doing the stuff you’d expect from a game in Early Access.
As for that new pricing model, I don’t have a ton of details yet. All I know now is that they’re ditching a free-to-play model and making LotR LCG a premium-priced game. This full priced version will come with an entire suite of cards, cosmetic items, and in-game currency to get you started. I’m not entirely sure why they don’t just go to the same model as the LCG (have people buy full decks once a month or so if they want new content, with occasional higher-priced add-ons that act as the starting point of each adventure), but maybe that’s where it’s headed? As I said, I don’t have any details on the new pricing coming when the game comes out of Early Access, so who knows? Asmodee does! If they give me any tidbits, I’ll be sure to pass them along.
Does anyone else remember the facebook version of Thunderstone? It was awesome, especially for a facebook game. You bought expansion packs for the game, each coming with new cards to be used in both a short single player campaign as well as async online play. No timers or stamina bars. No extra currencies or tricks to make you spend to keep up. Pay your money and you get your product.
It was great. It worked. Aaaand everybody played Farmville instead and the company who produced it went out of business.
I wonder if failures like that have been an obstacle for buy-it-once expansions online, such as what people wanted for LotR LCG. I know that some games, like Ascension or Sentinels, have made this model work but maybe there’s not enough profit to interest most companies.
I haven’t played LOTR LCG but the above reminds me of Pathfinder Adventures. I want like that game but it always falls flat. I should like it but it just falls flat.
I’m a big Pathfinder fan. The game was probably overpriced, but I gladly paid the full unlock price. I think the pay model is exactly what other LCGs should use, but maybe not quite as expensive. I can’t stand what Pathfinder has morphed in to, though.