I was just wondering if anyone spends more time looking through the cards and building decks than they do playing the actual game. I can spend ages and ages building the perfect deck and only play it a few times, before i go back and try and improve it again.

if i lose a quest a few times then that pretty much means i won't try it again until i have redone the deck. so i am always redoing the decks.

i reckon i spend 75% of the time buildings decks and only 25% playing the game. thats not a moan though, because that's how i like it. and you dont need as much space to do decks either, you can just have a look through whilst watching the telly

how does it split up for you?

yeah i guess i do, though i would add 'admiring the theme and art' to deckbuilding which i guess you do to

mine would be 60% building, 40% playing

rich

 No.

However, the game is far more enjoyable with a good deck. I suppose it all depends on if I 'get it' or not. If I have a good idea for a deck, then that's fun; if the deck works, it's even more fun.

Luckily, no. I took some pre-built decks and put those together myself, tweaking with each AP. Maybe spent 3 hours total on deck-building, compared to 154 plays (haven't played in 3+ months).

Yes!

I love to build decks, tinkering for hours and not that much playing.
Luckily I have people to play my decks very often. 

 Not really. I think that the player card pool is still small, and many of the themes and mechanics are not well-developed yet, so there aren't much options when it comes to deckbuilding (if you want a good deck, that is).

Playing the game for me. I tend to win on rare occasions because my decks are so deglected. I steal deck lists off the net so I can set something up quick and play a game. I really enjoy the quests…

Gizlivadi said:

Oh, you're wrong here.
There is a lot of possibilities to build new, exciting and powerful decks with what we already have.

i spend alot of time (most actually) developing theme decks so this adds alot of time as well

theyre also not great so need alot of work and tweaking!

I like playing more… Even if it seems strange, i like playing with decks built by me or by others.

What makes me love this game is the fun i find in playing it, even if i lose at the 2nd round…

I guess 75% playing, 25% deckbuilding.

CJMatos said:

Oooo, I know that feeling pretty well. Probably for different reasons though; I'm a good builder, but seriously, I'm a pretty bad player…
When I play alone, I usually have to cheat because I forgot stuff. I have no patience when my friends aren't here and usually don't do obvious stuff (like questing with Arwen and giving the bonus to Burning Brand'd Bilbo because she is hiding under one of the deck's hands), so I keep ctrl+z 'ing very often.

cordeirooo said:

I would fall somewhere in between the two of you.  This game is still "young" and has nowhere near the card base of some other games, of course (AGOT, Cthulu, etc).  So it does suffer a natural repetitiveness when it comes to seeing certain cards in various decks.  I guarantee you that 90% of decks (given that access to the entire database of cards is equal) have some combinations of those "power" cards that most of us are now familiar with:  SoG, PoL, Feint, Spirit cancel cards, etc, etc, etc….  And there's nothing wrong with that.  As the game progresses, we'll see a wider selection and more variety, and some of these cards (as good as they are) will be replaced in certain decks due to mechanics, errata, new options, deck flow, etc…  But for right now it IS somewhat limited.

Where I do think this game is starting to do well is its widening range of hero types and actions.  This allows for your core combos and mechanics to be completely different from someone else's deck even if you share, say, 75% of the same cards in your deck.  A fellowship of Glorfindel, Loragorn, and Theodred  will play a lot different than one of Gloin, Beravor, and Frodo.  Hell, even decks that have the alternate version of the same characters will be radically different, even if their "support" cards are similar in selection.  Loragorn, Glorfindel (Spirit), and the new Boromir (Leadership), will be COMPLETELY different in deck mechanics than Aragorn (Leadership), Glorfindel (Lore), and the old Boromir (Tactics).

/ramble…..

 I don't have enough time to do proper deckbuilding.

The free time I have I use to play the game rather than building decks for it.

richsabre said:

I do this too! They often need far too much work and tweaking when I do it, though, sadly! Hence - 

DarthJalapeno said:

I find myself in this predicament as well, though I suppose it would be more accurate for me to say I would like to use the free time I have in playing the game, though inevitably it's given over to fiddling with cards and such. I haven't really played this game since August/early September when the Hobbit box came out - I definitely want to get back into it but the task of building a deck to do so has so far meant I've put the box back on the shelf for the time being… 

benhanses said:

Yeah, nor 8 nor 80.
You are probably right, actually.

There will always be staple cards, though, any game has that, but the staple-generic cards like Gandalf (core) are being dissipated into nothingness.
I use this same Gandalf in my Théodred/Bifur secrecy deck, but not Sneak Attack.

I have to say I'm probably 50/50.  To my mind I look at it like the difference between strategy and tactics.  The deck building being the strategy and the playthrough involving the tactics.  Because we play four player we're always discovering new ways for our decks to synergize in the middle of the game. 

Pulling off in game shenanigans like straightening Arwen with a spare-hood and  then using valiant sacrifice after bofur leaves play to pull a  strength of will to use her ability again during travel phase to save a hero from certain doom(with that handy +1 D) at the hands of smaug is an ecstatic experience to me, and it involves three of four decks synergizing in ways that are almost completely unpredictable.  

Deckbuilding around cards that don't see a lot of play(like peace and thought)  is a good challenge and sometimes playing is just about passing the litmus test for a certain strategy.

Just my two cents though.