Yes, there are basic and advanced tutorials, which teach you the basic concepts of the game, as well as give you a chance to play in a limited way against the computer, before you take on a live opponent.
How do I get cards? Do they come in randomized packs of cards, like the physical cards?
Yes, cards come in randomized starters and boosters, just like they do offline. You don't have to worry about getting them dirty though! You get cards as part of your registration package, you can win cards in tournaments and other contests, and you can buy cards from the online store.
What does it cost to play?
There is no monthly fee to play The Lord of the Rings Online TCG. Instead, you purchase digital cards to play with. You start by choosing one of several registration packages, each of which come with different amounts and types of cards, and you can increase your collection through the optional Fellowship program, by winning tournaments, or by purchasing cards from the online store. You can find the full pricing details here.
Which sets and expansions are available?
All current sets are available. As of the Fall of 2004, this means sets 1 through 11 -- all of three 'movie' Blocks (Fellowship, Tower and King Blocks) and Shadows, the first set in the War Of The Ring Block and the Reflections set. The Online game also features digital version of the many promo cards that have been offered over the years plus a set of digital-only cards with special Online-ony Triumph and Menace mechanics that can be used in special play formats. In general, all Sets are available on the online game a few weeks earlier than their offline counterparts.
Which play formats does the online game support?
All current official game formats, including Block formats, are supported within the rules engine. We also support special Constructed formats such as Highlander, Culture Shock, Alternate Ring-Bearer and No-Rares. Online Standard and Online Open are two special Online-only formats that allow special digital-only "Triumph and Menace" cards to use their special game texts. Finally, Draft, Sealed, and League formats are supported as well, giving you a huge breadth of game types to play!
What does “rules enforcement” mean?
The Rules Engine for the game will check to make sure that deck construction is legal for the format you are playing. It will also enforce the rules of the game as you play, disallowing illegal moves, and possibly providing hints or visual cues for cards that are valid to play in the current phase of the turn.
Are there online tournaments?
Yes, there are. There are regular queue tournaments operating 24 hours a day, of various types (including draft) as well as larger scheduled tournaments. All queue tournaments offer prizes, sometimes including physical promo cards, and all tournaments are sanctioned, meaning they contribute to your online rating. The Premier Series Online also offers Level 2 and above tournaments for more competitive players, with regular physical, digital, and cash prizes. Events like World Championship and World Cup qualifiers will also be held throughout the year.How do online tournaments affect my rating?
Your online rating is separate to your offline rating. Online tournaments only affect your online rating.Are there foil versions of online cards?
Yes, every foil available offline is also available online. We are also currently exploring the different possibilities for collectible versions of online cards, including cards that feature movie and sound clips, and special collector pages in the game client.
Can I choose the skill level of the people I play against?
Not yet, but this is a feature we plan to implement soon! Currently you can see the rating of any prospective opponents in casual games, and can choose whether to play or not based on this information.What is "The Fellowship" and why does my account say I'm not part of it?
The Fellowship is a membership program that offers discounts on card purchases and other benefits, for a monthly fee. Full Fellowship benefits can be found here.
Can I play if I'm behind a firewall?
The game client connects to the game servers on port 6789, so in order to play you must be able to send and receive data on that port. Many firewalls have ports above 1024 blocked, and if this is the case you won't be able to connect to the game server, and thus won't be able to play. The only way around this is to open up that port (or have your firewall administrator open it up for you). The game updates itself using the standard FTP ports, ports 21 and 22, so these also need to be accessible.
Whenever I go to a new page after logging into the web site, it asks me to log in again!
The web site uses cookies to ensure that we only show your account information to you, so you must have cookies turned on in order to use the online store, check your account details, or do any of the other things that require logging in to the web site. You can turn cookies on in IE from the Tools|Internet Options menu, from the Privacy tab, or in Mozilla by selecting "Unblock cookies from this Site" from the Tools|Cookie Manager menu.
My download/installation doesn't work! Sometimes it gives an error, sometimes it doesn't.
Some anti-virus software, in particular those configured to check each file for a virus as it is opened, can cause problems with the installation. There isn't always an error reported, sometimes the installation simply appears to stop. The solution, however, is easy - simply turn off the anti-virus program while doing the installation, and then turn it on again afterwards. Some anti-virus programs also cause performance problems, for the same reason. This may be addressed in the same way, by disabling the anti-virus software while playing, and re-enabling it afterwards.
All my card images are corrupted!
Some people with older video cards, often based on the S3 chipset, report graphical artifacts in the card images. This can usually be fixed by disabling the Hardware Acceleration feature in the video cards configuration settings.
Why don't my cards get sent to me immediately when I buy them?
You must be logged into the game to receive your cards. If you are logged into the game at the time of purchase, you will see a card delivery window appear within a couple of minutes, otherwise it will appear the next time you log in.
I'm using an ATI video card, and I'm experiencing crashes at times.
If you are experiencing crashes when entering the playmat and have a Radeon video card that uses ATI drivers, make sure that you go to http://www.ati.com (or if you are using a laptop, to your laptop vendor's website) and get the latest drivers for your video card.
