It’s Friday, all, and that means it’s time for another Weekly Wrap-Up! This week, we’ll be focusing on the big update going live this Wednesday. It’ll bring with it some new content, some quality-of-life upgrades, and a couple of difficulty adjustments we want to try out. Let’s jump in.
Bugs and Fixes
Connection Bug
A very small number of users are having problems connecting their Asmodee accounts. We’ve narrowed down the cause of this problem—now we’re figuring out a fix. If you’re one of the affected, please let us know on Helpshift.
Investigating Bugged Cards
We’re working on a fix for The Tree People and Longbeard Mapmaker, both of which are not functioning properly. We’ll let you know when a fix goes live for these cards.
The King of Carrion has returned
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.
The Valor Vault is Opening!
New Valor cards are coming to the game on November 21!
13 new cards will join the 4 cards we gave away in September to make up the first wave of Valor Vault releases. With a suite of new Attachments, Allies, and Events, this Valor Vault release has something for everyone.
Take a look at our announcement here for more details on both the Encounter and the Valor Vault release: https://steamcommunity.com/games/509580/announcements/detail/2793816605794922123
Quality-of-Life Updates to Play Menu
A couple of highly-requested features are going live with the incoming update.
In the Play Menu, you’ll be able to check what rewards each Hero has earned by clicking the brand-new Rewards tab. Right now it tracks the Valor bonus awarded for getting a top score with a Hero, but future bonuses will be tracked here, too!
Additionally, we’ve introduced a new scrolling system for quickly swapping between decks in the Play menu. Of course, clicking on your Heroes still brings up the old menu—but you can choose to page through them this way, too!
Quality-of-Life Updates to Deckbuilder
Three updates are coming to the deckbuilder menu, as well.
Firstly, you’ll be able to build a deck over 30 cards and shave down to the deck limit. Note that you’ll still need 30 cards in a deck to make it valid, but this change means you’ll be able to build a deck by cutting cards rather than just by adding them.
Secondly, you’ll be able to swap Heroes of the same sphere in a deck without removing all the cards of that sphere from the deck. This should make deckbuilding a little quicker!
Lastly, we're updating the frames for Level 2 cards to make them more recognizable. You can see that change in the image above.
Fate Meter UI Update
Finally, we’re adding a functionality to the Fate meter that will allow you to click and drag your cameos to the Fate meter to contribute their Willpower, rather than having to use the buttons. Both functionalities will still work, but for users on touch-screen displays especially this change should make gameplay go faster.
These updates wouldn’t have been possible without player feedback, so we’d like to say thanks to everyone who made these suggestions.
Adjustments to Difficulty Levels
We have two updates going live in the game related to difficulty; one is cosmetic, and the other is mechanic.
Change in Difficulty Names
As we continue to make adjustments, we want the Difficulty levels to better reflect the experiences they provide. As a result:
Easy is becoming Narrative.
Normal is becoming Adventure.
Hard is becoming Challenge.
This is a minor change, but it reflects how we’re approaching each difficulty, moving forward. Speaking of which…
Change to Sauron’s Resources
We’re experimenting with the amount of Resources Sauron will have at his disposal at each difficulty. Starting Wednesday, we’re making the following adjustments:
On Narrative, he’ll get 2.
On Adventure, he’ll get 4.
On Challenge, he’ll get 5.
Previously, Sauron got 3 resources regardless of difficulty. This change allows us more room to experiment with his decks’ cost curves and more.
We’ll be looking for your feedback on this change at each of the difficulty levels. Too much? Not enough? Let us know on the Steam Community forums after you’ve tried it out. Moving forward, we’ll continue to make adjustments to balance each difficulty to the right level.
No Streams Next Week
Due to American Thanksgiving, we won’t have any developer streams next week, making it a great time to catch up on old VODs at Twitch.tv/ffigames!
Deck of the Week
For this Deck of the Week, we’re going to try something new. User Wandalf the Gizzard posted this list on the Steam Community Forums, built only from Starter Cards, looking for suggestions or advice on building:
Heroes: Tom Took, Arwen, and Aragorn
2x Gaining Strength
2x Guard of the Citadel
2x Warden of Annuminas
2x Erebor Guard
2x Gandalf
2x Watchful Peace
2x Favor of the Lady
2x Secret Paths
2x Wandering Took
2x Rhovanion Outrider
2x Woodland Courier
2x Imladris Caregiver
2x Ithilien Lookout
2x Mithrandir's Advice
2x Advanced Warning
This is a solid list to start, but with the incoming Valor Vault cards, we can make it even better! Next wrap-up, we’ll revisit this list using the brand-new cards and see what changes we can make. In the meantime, if you have ideas, head over to the Steam Community forums and let us know! https://steamcommunity.com/app/509580/discussions/1/1738848358535618580/
Have a great weekend, everyone.
FFI