Lego Universe MMO

Games
61

So yeah, armchair pontificating and all that, but I think this is a missed opportunity for LEGO to turn this into a community resource. While the subscription model is tempting as a revenue stream , I suspect LEGO would have been much better served using a free-2-play model to draw in players, and then leveraging that playerbase to promote other for-pay services.

LEGO has had their BrickMaster/Master Builder Club thing for a while now, and all they would have had to do was make membership count as a “premium” pack for the game. Maybe even tie the game in with their DesignByMe program, similar to the way that Magic Online lets you buy real cards based on the virtual ones in-game.

Again, it only works if you can keep numbers high, and I suspect that the monthly fee will cause massive attrition because the players (mostly kids) aren’t necessarily the ones footing the bill (mostly parents).

  • Alan
62

The game seems to have a lot of standard MMO tropes: quests, fights, loot, etc, with Lego involved, but perhaps not core. I also find it interesting that Minecraft displays far more understanding (accidental or not) of why people like Lego in the first place than the Lego MMO seems to.

63

It is released today, so I guess I can comment on it. I have not played it in the past month or two, so maybe they changed a lot (I doubt it).

The game is quite colorful and has some very nice environments to play in. The combat / loot system is also somewhat interesting as in the combat is very action based, not at all turned based MMO combat. Basically bad-guys are running around and you need to attack them in a manner similar to a FPS. If that is with a sword then you get in there and dodge and swing your sword. Loot pops out of each mob which is generally health, armor, and mana (imagination orbs, the magic of Lego online). Sometimes special stuff will drop, but that is very rare.

Many areas are gated by certain mechanisms. For example to climb up to some platform, you might need to quick-build some object that requires 10 mana. Until your mana pool is big enough, you simply can not go to said area. Another gating mechanism is that you need to use some specific object (gained by questing) on other objects.

Quick-building: There are piles of legos in the world that can turn into specific objects, like a bridge, ladder, etc… They are in fixed positions and can be used by anyone for a short period of time after they are built.

Leveling Up: There are not really levels, but simply equipment levels that you need to buy with faction tokens. Faction tokens are dropped from any mob, although they are very rare to drop from anything other then very tough mobs. Even the tough mobs are unlikely to drop these tokens.

Faction Tokens: You need a lot of them. 100s, if not 1000s for a single equipment piece.

Needless to say, Lego is very, very, very grindy game. It is neat to explore at first, but once you have done that, the only thing left to do is grind. Killing the same mobs over and over for hours to get faction tokens.

The chat system: This must be mentioned since it is uber-filtered chat. There is an allowed word list, opposed to a disallowed word list. This posed tremendous problems as in many in-game words were not in the dictionary. You might want to ask, “How do I get to Gunslinger wall?”, but Gunslinger isn’t in the chat interface, nor is Gun nor is slinger. Also if you are not such a good speller, you are SOL. The forums are even more 1984.

If you are a you kid, who likes repetitive game-play, then this is the game for you. Otherwise, stay clear.

64

I didn’t spend much time with the beta but I knew I didn’t like it as soon as I got to the first real quest hub and had to kill X of this and Y of that and they were communal spawns. So everyone is standing around in an open field (really a tiny room made to look like an open field) waiting for the spawns so they could be the first to kill them and get the credit and move past the quest. It sounds like a lot of Everquest jokes I used to hear but luckily MMOs moved past this sort of design and I never had to experience it, until Lego Universe.

65

This seems to have gone F2P now: http://universe.lego.com/en-us/thegame/gettingstarted/freetoplay.aspx

I have no idea what it’s like though, has anyone here looked at it recently?

66

My seven year old son and I have played it a little since it went F2P. So far it is a typical combat-oriented MMORPG. We only have a couple hours in it, but it Lego-ness isn’t Lego-y enough for our taste. Aside from the avatars and the occasional “quick build with a push of the button” (just like in the Lego video games), it’s pretty much hack’n’slash questing you find in any other MMO.

It hasn’t had either of us clamoring to get back to playing.

67

This game should star in any ‘most disappointing games of 2010’ list. This is all that they could make with the LEGO franchise? They should have outsourced this to Notch.

68

Minecraft in creation mode is a million times better than LEGO Universe.

69

That’s sad to hear, it had so much potential.

70

LEGO Universe perfectly recreates the feeling of your parents buying you just few enough LEGO blocks such that you can’t actually make anything cool.

71

FWIW, my 9-year-old hated it. And this is a kid who’s nuts for any kind of block-building or exploration game. He plays Minecraft for hours, loves Terraria and has spent more time building Roblox levels than I have in WoW. He said it was way too grindy to be able to build anything. You had to put in tons of hours grinding repetitive quests to gather tokens to get blocks. Sounds like WoW dailies really.

72

LEGO Universe (a game for which I was Lead Content Designer for two-or-so years–the early years) has announced it will be shutting down due to lack of revenue. The studio formerly known as Netdevil (later a branch of Gazillion, later LEGO PlayWell) has been shut down without forewarning today. I’m not sure how many people were employed on the team as of today–they’d had a number of small lay-offs over the last six to nine months–but one media report says that 115 employees were affected in Colorado and in a marketing team in Denmark.

73

I play several MMOs and I am a pretty big LEGO fan.

This game never appeared within miles of my gaming radar.

74

75

Sad. I liked NetDevil but they really seemed to miss the mark with this one.

76

That sucks. I liked NetDevil as well.

77

Don’t worry about it, it was incredibly bad.

78

Huh, I wonder if this affects Jumpgate at all.

79

Isn’t that dead and buried a long time ago?

Sorry for those that lost their jobs on this. I tried the game when it was in beta, and it wasn’t my cup of tea though.

80

From here:

As some of you are aware, there were a number of cryptic posts in the last couple weeks about Jumpgate and rumors have been circulating.

To set the record straight and for rumor control here are the facts as I have them:

[ul]
[li] As of February 10, 2011, Istvan as well as most of the JGE team was called at home after work and told not to report to work the next day. This was expected by many for some time, but still sudden.[/li]> [/ul]

[ul]
[li]There is presently no active support or development occurring on Jumpgate. Istvan is now not an employee of Gazillion and is without general access to tools or systems.[/li]> [/ul]

[ul]
[li]Gazillion’s President and the Acting Studio Director have agreed with Istvan that control of the Jumpgate should be passed to the community. Istvan has been working to facilitate this transition but many details remain to be arranged.[/li]> [/ul]

We still have very little information from Gazillion as to how and when any transition will take place. Gazillion currently appears preoccupied with shuttering the former NetDevil studio, which they purchased in 2008, as further and larger layoffs of staff have taken place this week.

With respect to the transition of the Jumpgate IP to the community, there is a dedicated group of people working with Istvan and standing by to provide logistical support to make the transition happen. Until final blessing is given by Gazillion, nothing formal can be done. Stand by to stand by…

All of this said, rest assured that what ever can be done to keep our Jumpgate alive, will be done. Your continued participation, support, and contributions have all gone into making this happen. I hope you will all continue to be part of this world.

As to the future of New Dawn, I fully intend that we shall endure this and find a new home in other online games should the worst happen. I recognize that we all have time limitations on “free time” to game etc.
That you spend it with us means a lot. It has been my profound honor to fly with each and every one of you, and I look forward to doing so in the future.

I will get out updates as I can.

All the best,
LupinOne
Commander
New Dawn