As for the last three sets, I stopped playing well before they were released, but just from looking at them some of those cards are remarkably overpowered.
I would argue the contrary: a lot of the cards from Hunters block are at about the right power level as a lot of previous sets are significantly underpowered. Firstly, think about how many useless underpowered cards there are in earlier sets when the designers didn't really know enough about the game to do it properly. Secondly, think about the power-houses of the early game - you can't pretend that ludicrously powerful cards were not created before Hunters, between
Greenleaf,
Aragorn, Ranger of the North,
Shire Countryside,
Lady of Light and several others. So claiming Hunters block is overpowered doesn't hold water for me. Sure there are powerful cards like
Thorongil and
GatS, but there always are in any game - there are also useless cards like
The World Ahead, and really fun cards like the
Sting of Shelob. And what about cards like
Last Days of My House that are just perfect?
I think the main issue with these later sets is not the power level - some of the cards are too good/useless, but a lot of them are the light level as I've vaguely demonstrated above. The issue where I think hawkeye is right is availability. I don't really know what the market is at the moment as I haven't tried to buy cards in several years, but if there are cards that some players simply can't get access to without great difficulty, then they should not be included in tournaments, or else there should be proxies available so that they can.
* Establish a set of promo cards to be won at tournaments (these would be most lilely from RoTEL - the best and most needed cards to play the game effectively).
I had a thought about this. Obviously erratas and the other methods you were talking about above for expanding the player base are excellent, but few things can match the excitement of new cards. What if the first virtual set was launched as tournament promo cards? I envisage a 5 card set, 2 minions, 2 companions and
The Ruling Ring (V) that can be distributed at tournaments before the online release. One of those cards (probably the ring?) could even be a tournament only card for several months. I think done well this could generate a lot of excitement and really get the ball rolling.
I'm also working at the moment on some LotR cube drafts and other methods for existing players to do exciting things with their collection, which I will share when they're in a more finished state!
So basically, I'm definitely up for it!