u/paupsers

I only had one copy of the original core set (and Black Riders, unplayed) before this recent surprise reprint. I guess I liked the game, but I thought it was WAY too hard for me in general, even on easy mode. The absolute jankiness of those single-core-set decks is a LOT more obvious now that I've replayed through the first two scenarios with the Dwarf and Elf starter decks. It's actually a lot of fun playing with a synergistic deck, and not at all "too easy" like I've read some people describe it, and I'm playing on normal difficulty now. It's still thinky but really satisfying to me.

Besides the starter decks, the other things that made a huge difference in quality of life are:

12mm red dice to track HP,

white dice for income

and some 1cm colored cubes for [exhaust/quest/ability]

I also got a few spin down dice to track my quest power and threat level each quest phase.

The game is sooo much smoother to play with those small upgrades! Not turning the cards to exhaust is a huge deal. (A totally unnecessary purchase I also got is the Gamegenic lair box - I love it though lol)

Anyway, I bought the full LOTR saga so I'm excited to try out those quests next! I'd like to put together a Hobbit deck if anyone has suggestions! The recommended decks in the first Saga box assume you have the reprinted core set which I don't... Happy to take advice or tips!

I'm playing completely blind (no guide but I do look things up occasionally...like that one djinn boss who poisons the room lol). I've reached about level 45 as a plant/lightning druid guy and just wanted to share my thoughts on the game so far.

IT'S. AMAZING.

The boss fights are some of the coolest I've ever seen in a game. The boss fight with the molten gold guy was awesome! Now I'm in the Kopec temple. The whole mechanic of avoiding the sun is so cool!

I am constantly surprised and amazed at how much quality this game oozes. The art, the animations, the gameplay. I'm obsessed with the support gem system. I can't believe how flexible it is.

The difficulty has been perfect so far. It's not anywhere near as hard or "overwhelming" as people make it out to be. I'm sure at endgame it can get super complex if you want it to, but the campaign has been really smooth for me.

Anyway, just wanted to share how much fun I've found this game to be!

EDIT: Just beat the sun boss and WENT BACK IN TIME WHAAAAAT!

I tried searching but couldn't find it. I thought I remember FFG saying there was going to be some kind of "standard" set of cards going forward and some were being "retired" ? Did I imagine this? Lol.