Frankly, I am extremely disappointed by the way this enchanting franchise got turned into THIS. The graphics and audio are excellent, but the game itself remains a mystery to me. I have played for a few months, and I still have not quite figured out what I am really supposed to do. Last season, I played for the Dwarves. I leveled up dilligently and checked in several times a day to diddle with whatever was available to me - be it running tips, upgrading my stronghold or recruiting more units; then, the occasional land grab to level up my leaders and increase production. As many point out, it is a slow, slow grinding thing. There are guilds, but nothing feels familial. There are battles (I guess), but none feel engaging. There are milestones and goals - few of which make any sense to me.. So I load up; I build; I recruit; I level up - and round and round it goes. I am genuinely sad for this game which is just another coat of paint over an already existing concept - which is endemic to mobile games. Map navigation is miserable. Having to have adjacent friendly tiles to move is miserable. Having no clear and motivating objective is miserable. Feeling like an island in what is supposed to be a multiplayer game is miserable. A chat interface which simply does not fit on a mobile device is miserable. Not having this game, at least, also available in a desktop browser is miserable. Seeing the LOTR franchise belittled to this c*ap is miserable.. I don't like it at all, except I still occasionally pull it out a couple of times a day to collect points and do some daily nonsense, but this is NOT a good game by any stretch of the imagination. It's just pretty. After the new season started and I stupidly chose a new faction, I can no longer use my old leaders and everything generally feels like starting all over again - which sucks. So I am not considering this a review - just a rant about how endlessly disappointed I am in this thing. The only reason it gets an extra star is for the fact that it looks really pretty and sounds quite good, in turn. There is no practical help or tutorial to be had to really come to terms with this purported game and it is loneliness on a tiny screen for whenever you are just THAT bored.