I have seen much wailing and gnashing of teeth over LCG core set distribution models.  Personally I think they got it right with games like Netrunner, which have an uneven distribution, making the game much more playable for owners of single core sets.  A 3x distribution model on the core set would either be prohibitively expensive for players just trying out the game, or have too little variety.

That being said, I do dislike all the wasted cardboard of buying 2nd and 3rd core sets.  For Netrunner, a 3rd core set gets you only 10 cards that you did not already have 3x of.  $25-35 for 10 cards is a pretty awful deal.  Yes, I know there is a benefit to people building multiple decks, but I think even those people would prefer what I have in mind.

I think FFG should release  "Core Complement Packs" that only contain the cards necessary to bring the core sets up to 3x cards.  They could be packaged in a small box, maybe a bit larger than their monthly 60 card expansion boxes, nothing fancy, no chits or anything.  Heck, they could package them with something fancy to jack the price up and I'd still probably snap one up for every LCG I own..  They would lose out on multiple core set sales, but they would gain sales from people who a) refused to buy the game in the first place due to the distribution model (probably more vocal than numerous), b) people who bought 1 or 2 core sets, and want a full set, but are reluctant to get a 3rd core, and c) hardcore deck builders who want to build multiple decks with 3 copies of some single-distribution card, or whatever.

Obviously they'd have to see if it's worth doing from a business perspective, but I'd personally love if they did this.

I don't know if you know this already but this has been brought up about a million times before and FFG has said very clearly they will not be doing this. They have said it is not cost effective to do this. The reason core sets are the way they are is because they prefer card diversity over a full playset in Core sets. Also you do not need 3 of every card. I have two core sets for both AGoT and Android: Netrunner and that is more than enough and the only reason I did that is to build multiple decks.

You might be underestimating the number of cards in the Netrunner core set that aren't in triplicate. There are 55 cards in the core set that come in pairs (that's nearly half the 113 cards in the set, and more than the 40 cards in triplicate), and 18 singleton cards (though that number does include the 7 Identities). Buying a second core set gives you 66 non-Identity cards that you can now include more of in a deck, either doubling up on or putting in a full set of three. Obviously the value of the investment will vary widely from person to person, but from where I'm sitting, that seems pretty worthwhile. It's not absolutely necessary, but it's a solid investment that definitely boosts your options.

Netrunner is, as far as I'm concerned, the best designed core set FFG has put out so far for an LCG. My other experience is with AGOT and LotR, which are for various reasons much worse.

AGOT's core set gives you four 45-card decks, which are almost entirely composed of singletons. You can't even do deckbuilding with this set, as you don't even yet have the cards for a full 60-card deck. Buying a second core set is nearly mandatory for a new AGOT player, and though you have the nice advantage of not having too many extra cards, it's certainly annoying that you can't really do anything with the provided decks until you've bought them again.

LotR has even more waste. You have some double and single cards you might want more of, but you end up with a ton of superfluous encounter decks and hero cards if you buy another one. The number of cards you're actually buying is definitely far, far lower than other core set second purchases.

I'm looking forward to the Star Wars core set, which will at least deal with the major shortcoming of the Netrunner core set: those damn singletons. With only two card pods allowed per deck, you should have an absolutely complete pool with just two Core Sets.

Hellshark said:

Which is why this will never happen.  It would be financially viable, but not as financially viable as making people buy multiple Cores, which the target demographic for this product will do, anyway. 

Shadin said:

I guess the question there would be do they want to expand the format beyond that target demographic. One of the selling points of LCGs was supposed to be that they are effectively CCGs for the non-OCD collector-types. But if I'm being asked to spend $120 retail just to get a full set of the core cards, in addition 

Now for a competitive player, the LCG is a lot cheaper than a traditional CCG. But for a more casual player who just wants the ability to build a variety of decks, it's still a bit pricey. But then if Fantasy Flight is happy enough just serving the 'core' audience, if it's providing them with good, steady income then I guess who's to say they should try and expand their market? That's a decision they have to make looking at their bottom-line. 

KEM said:

$120 is still way cheaper than any TCG out there to get a full playset in. And you don't need playsets of every card in any of the LCG's. AGoT it is kinda pointless as once a character is dead you can't play another copy. Netrunner has like 11 cards that come in singles. I have two core sets now and don't really see a need for a third to get 11 cards. Maybe eventually to get some demo decks.

Toqtamish said:

KEM said:

Let me first say that I still own just one core set as I'm still hoping for a "core complement" set .

Now, if you take pre-constructed decks from MtG, they are as bad as the 4 decks you can build out of Warhammer Invasion  core set. Can't see why you need extra expansion for building a single functional deck out of the core set. 

Yes, these are un-competitive decks we are talking about, just as well are the MtG pre-constructed ones.

(cant' say about WoW, but I have a feeling it's just the same…)

Danilo

 ooooops, you were talking about AgoT!

ehhhm,…. 

I would LOVE to get my hands on any LCG Core Complement Packs. For better deck building, for collection purposes, etc.

Why not go Print-On-Demand and make these accessible through the site, like the expansions to Death Angel, for example?

I would pay a bit extra to get the missing cards that would complete my collection of 3x of each card in either AGOT, Netrunner or Warhammer: Invasion. I have bought only one of each released update/expansion pack for each of those three games.

How much money would that net FFG, if it was POD?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3808

On one hand I'm happy to see that AGOT is still popular and is coming back - maybe I'll manage to get more local players into playing AGOT.

On the other, I don't think I will be buying these reprints, simply because it doesn't make sense for someone who has bought the cards already. I know, I could complete my collection (and have additional cards on top of that), but spending money again for the same cards that I already have? What's the point?

This is my big problem with starting playing LCGs. I was considering getting into Warhammer Invasion a few years ago (around the time the first deluxe expansion game out). I was looking at my FLGS owners copy of the game and asked what was worth buying to get started. He explained that the starter came with enough to play all four factions in it but that I should pick up the Ulthuan expansion as it would mean I would get the other two copies of card from the base set that I needed to complete a playset that would be good for the Orc deck. Puzzled I asked if there were cards in the Core Set that didn't come in playsets of them. He confirmed my suspicions and so I followed up say that at least they completed them with the Ulthuan playset. He then explained that it was only that one card where they did that leaving me rather put off and perplexed. Surely this meant that rather than fix the inherent collectability problem that CCGs/TCGs have it just compounded it.

If I needed 3 copies of Special Awesome Card number 1 but it only came at one per box, but on the other hand that box already came with 3 copies of Average Faction Specific Card number 2 then surely I would end up with "swaps" that I had no need for that many of in my collection. Further compounding this problem is that in any CCG/TCG any additional commons could be boxed up and used to give to new players to help them get into the game. However anyone playing the in question LCG would already have 3 copies of Average Faction Specific Card number 2 themselves and so all my additional cards would just be a waste of cardboard. This made me realise that FFG's LCG model is in fact more flawed than the standard CCG/TCG model.

You see what FFG have done with LCGs is not remove the collectability aspect of the game but rather removed the secondary market aspect of the game. With the CCG/TCG format I need an additional copy of Special Awesome Card number 1 then I go to ebay or a webstore and order a copy of it. It may cost me as much as several boosters depending on rarity and playability but at the same time I'm guarrenteed to get it without all faffing about with Cards I don't need. However with an LCG there is no secondary market, however I still don't (from what I've read) get a playset of cards from my starter set and I know that I need another copy of Special Awesome Card number 1 but to get it I have to buy a complete new copy of the starter set. At this point I end up with the card I need and all the additional cards which I don't need extra copies and now have no purpose but to sit in their box and take up space. Thus the LCG quickly becomes the most wasteful release format. Essentially LCGs still have the rarity issues that CCG/TCGs do but don't have an efficient solution to them.

The recent releases of the Netrunner and Star Wars LCGs made me consider getting in to them again. So I looked around online to see whether or not that same issue still plagued the games and unfortunately it still does. I appreciate the fact that the Starter Set's purpose is to sell someone on the game and that does not neccessarily require a playset of every card in the pack for practical purposes. However if FFG told me they were releasing an amazing new LCG and that when the first Deluxe expansion hit it would contain, in addition to a playset of the new cards it introduces, the cards I need to complete a playset of the cards in a Starter and that the montly cycle expansion packs all contain a playset of their new cards I would be all over it. At present however LCGs look alot less attractive than every other collectable game out there.

There is no rarity issue with LCG's. You know exactly what you are getting. If you cannot see the bargain of LCG's compared to CCG's then I feel sorry for you and it is your loss.

But there is a rarity issue. Just because there isn't a defined rarity in the games appearance doesn't mean it isn't there. A card you only get 1 copy of in a box (Card A) is rarer than a card you get 2 copies of in the same box (Card B) which is rarer than in a card you get 3 copies of (Card C). The fact that in acquiring a playset (say 3 copies) of Card A you end up with 2 playsets of Card B and 3 playsets of Card C by default means that in your pool of cards, Card B and Card C are more common than Card A. It's the definition of rarity in it's most basic sense. Card A is less common in terms of how many are in existance than Card B and Card C. To obtain more of Card A you need to buy more of Card B and Card C. Your still wasting money on excess cards you don't need to get more copies of those you do only the fact it isn't truely collectable means that there isn't a secondary market for you to draw upon as an alternative. Some form of Core Complement pack would open the game up to more people who have this misgiving.

Just buy 2 Star Wars core sets since its the same thing as buying a completion pack.

Oooorrrrrr you could just play with one core and expansion packs, like I do.