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Lego Universe - It's no more.

12346

Posts

  • 815165815165 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    How limited is the building?

    815165 on
  • ZetxZetx 🐧 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    From what I've seen, you collect pieces to build pre-approved models, probably could swap out different looking parts, but ultimately the same looking end product. Also freebuilding = dicks everywhere != 'kid friendly'

    Zetx on
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  • 815165815165 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    There's very little point to the game to me if it isn't about people building all kinds of crazy shit. :(

    815165 on
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    815165 wrote: »
    How limited is the building?

    You guys know that each player gets a "garden" where they can free build with the bricks they have collected ala the digital designer right?

    In addition to the few quick builds you get, and the auto build (more like repair)?

    Of course each model you build gets submitted to moderator approval so no dicks

    Arch on
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Just got an invite, woo.

    Went to sign up, and tried to use my normal name (Tamin); it said the name was taken. So, I went to sign in, and it said Tamin didn't exist.

    o_O

    Once I figure this out, I'll post with a working name and such.

    Tamin on
  • VicVic Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!

    Vic on
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Got my invite today too!

    Julius on
  • VicVic Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Three days until the next session :(

    Vic on
  • CorehealerCorehealer The Apothecary The softer edge of the universe.Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    your parents thought you were making weapons of mass destruction whereas you were actually making a dong.

    Corehealer on
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  • spookymuffinspookymuffin ( ° ʖ ° ) Puyallup WA Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Got my account set up, see you guys in the next session. =D

    spookymuffin on
    PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138
    Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    captaink on
  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    captaink wrote: »
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    Everything in a Lego mmo seemed kiddie? No fucking shit?

    Darmak on
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  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Darmak wrote: »
    captaink wrote: »
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    Everything in a Lego mmo seemed kiddie? No fucking shit?

    Moreso than just LEGO bricks and bright colors, yes. Limited communication, brain-dead combat, etc.

    captaink on
  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    captaink wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    captaink wrote: »
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    Everything in a Lego mmo seemed kiddie? No fucking shit?

    Moreso than just LEGO bricks and bright colors, yes. Limited communication, brain-dead combat, etc.

    Wait, you're telling me that you were surprised that a game aimed at kids has simplistic gameplay and limited, kid-friendly communication?

    Darmak on
    JtgVX0H.png
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I didn't see "surprise" anywhere in his post.

    Glal on
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    captaink wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    captaink wrote: »
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    Everything in a Lego mmo seemed kiddie? No fucking shit?

    Moreso than just LEGO bricks and bright colors, yes. Limited communication, brain-dead combat, etc.

    Hold on a second- the combat is excellent! Meaning, it is literally the exact same as the combat from all the other LEGO games, like Star wars and indiana jones

    However, I will agree on the fucking limited communication thing

    I understand but it still makes me mad

    Although apparently you have free chat with people on your "friends list" now, but I haven't tried it yet

    Arch on
  • MarauderMarauder Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Also just got beta invite....session opens right when I have my kids for the weekend, so might see if my nearly 4 year old has any interest.

    From all of the menus and website copy, it looks like they are hardcore marekting this to 6-12 yrs, which is fine....Just dont know that I will want to play online with a bunch of kids. If its anything like Lego Indianna jones though I will probably be entertained for a month or 2 of subscription.

    Marauder on
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Arch wrote: »
    captaink wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    captaink wrote: »
    Did this ever get more interesting? I got in the beta a while ago and everything I saw seemed pretty "kiddie" for lack of a better word.

    Everything in a Lego mmo seemed kiddie? No fucking shit?

    Moreso than just LEGO bricks and bright colors, yes. Limited communication, brain-dead combat, etc.

    Hold on a second- the combat is excellent! Meaning, it is literally the exact same as the combat from all the other LEGO games, like Star wars and indiana jones

    However, I will agree on the fucking limited communication thing

    I understand but it still makes me mad

    Although apparently you have free chat with people on your "friends list" now, but I haven't tried it yet

    Well to be fair the combat in other LEGO games could be said to be a little simple. But I don't see problem with it.


    Honestly, if this game has a fun story to play and lots of stuff to collect (and to build with) I think I'll be entertained long enough.

    Ah well, still have to wait two more days.

    Julius on
  • TheBigEasyTheBigEasy Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Err ... I got an invite ... but the registration link they send is simply not working.

    http://universe.lego.com/en-us/thegame/betaregistration/default.aspx

    Whats up with that?

    EDIT: Well it seems the whole universe.lego.com domain is down ...

    TheBigEasy on
  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Is anyone still playing this? I just got in a few days ago.

    Ingame name is: Simpsonia

    Simpsonia on
  • MandresMandres Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Is this, at all, worth playing? From the tone of the discussion so far I'm guessing no ... What a shame. With some ambitious design this could have been a fantastic project. Everyone loves legos, but everyone hate kiddy-games.

    Mandres on
  • The DagonThe Dagon Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    I gave up on this beta when I failed to win anything from their "contests" a little while back.

    As far as player created stuffs, if they haven't opened up the LUA (I think that's what it was called) then it might seem really quite short on content.

    Allegedly that was to be a hub zone that would link to an infinite number of player-created zones for questing and what-not. It was also to include stuff from sponsors, like for instance a McDonald's zone, a Star Wars zone, a Hot Wheels zone, etc.

    Not to be confused with Lots, which is where players can build houses and stuff, and invite other players in, but not much more than that really happens. Maybe some minor scripted stuff, but much more limited than what the LUA proposed.

    Don't know if I'll ever get back on, but if I do, I think my player name was TheDag0n. With a zero. Apparently DAGO is flagged as inappropriate.

    The Dagon on
    Steam ID : TheDagon
    PSN : TheDagon
    Pretty much every game ever : TheDagon
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dago

    They are being very thorough on their inappropriate names, it seems.

    captaink on
  • WiseManTobesWiseManTobes Registered User regular
    edited October 2010
    So , reading thru thread, the beta wasn't anything special ( altho I didn't hear much bashing of personal garden build area, and that's my main attraction) anyone tried it since it went live?

    WiseManTobes on
    Steam! Battlenet:Wisemantobes#1508
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited November 2010
    Holy crap! This game has gone live? Geez.

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited November 2010
    So , reading thru thread, the beta wasn't anything special ( altho I didn't hear much bashing of personal garden build area, and that's my main attraction) anyone tried it since it went live?

    Thought this might help:
    First, the pro:

    -Entertaining characters, animations, and ideas.

    -Some good instruction/tutorial aspects, but. . . (see cons)

    -Build modes are good for creative expression and a must for a lego game, but. . . (see cons)

    -Cute pets.

    Now the cons:

    -Many of the instruction/tutorial aspects become annoying, almost to the point of frustrating, since the are location triggered and repeat every single time you pass that location. The pop-up type are only slightly annoying, while the slow-camera-pans are incredibly frustrating the 50th time you see them.

    -Build modes: while there is a lot of freedom, the interface/camera can be awkward. There are even some parts that I've never been able to figure out how to line up and connect. One example would be the medium rock monster II body and medium rock monster II arm, obviously meant to go together, do not line up as there is no way to "lift" the arms off the ground.

    -SHORT. Very short. The amount of actual content in the game is not worth a monthly fee. I completed every quests (except those which require 3 or more people to happen along at the same time, such as the racing quests) within the first week of playing (I pre-ordered and started playing with the early founder's launch, not the general launch). I had also collected all pets and a completed a very large majority of the achievements. This was with approximately 18-20 hours of game-play that included traveling to every vendor and standing around browsing their entire inventory, playing the pirate shooting gallery mini-game at length, spending time building on my properties, and standing around grinding the same monsters over and over in order to collect infected bricks and faction tokens (more on those later).

    -MMO? Where's the MMO in this game. Let's look at what makes an MMO different than a single player game.
    -Grouping: Nope. No grouping or teaming. . . other than getting lucky and having someone else join in a couple of the instanced mini-games at the same time you are doing them.
    -Auction or item sale mechanism: Nope. There is a direct person to person trade mechanism. That's all.
    -Chat with others: Well, you can send a "tell" or "whisper" type private message that creates a private chat channel, if you have someone specific with whom to chat. Then there is the "local" chat; this is a general open-world chat that is only seen/heard for a very, very short distance. That's a about it for chat avenues, but what about chat content? Being a game intended for a younger audience, a somewhat restrictive chat filter is expected. Unfortunately, being that it's a white-list system rather than a black-list system, it's overly restrictive. The difference is that a white-list system is one of specific inclusion, rather than one of specific exclusion. The result is that you cannot even say the names of other players or even the names of the monsters themselves at this point. "Where would I find 5 (or five) spiderlings to finish this quest?" becomes "Where would I find fingers on my hand of the long leg things to finish this quest?" (numbers, in numerical or alphabet, are restricted as a way to prevent kids from disclosing private info). Of course, you have to get lucky enough to be near to someone long enough to type this out.

    -Factions, tokens, and gear: In a word, pointless.
    -Factions give you specializations; classes in other games. All attributes are linked to gear, including your the skills/powers you get from specializations. So, this leads to:
    -Gear: your faction specialization gear isn't the strongest gear in the game. Once you've completed all of the quests, and a large number of achievements, you'll find that you are better off using some of the reward gear from these instead of the faction gear (at least, in the case of the specialization I played), even though you forgo the powers given by specializing. And how do you get your faction gear, anyway?
    -Faction tokens; the only MMO mechanic actually included in the game. Unfortunately, it's probably the worst one they could have included. You may know this mechanic as "the grind". In order to buy the faction gear, you have to collect and spend faction tokens. This is the only reason to pay a monthly subscription, since it will most likely take you months to collect enough tokens to get all of your gear. . . But then, see my previous point about gear. I will say that each faction has useful, inexpensive consumables that can also require faction tokens to purchase.

    In short, what is there is generally fun and well done, there just isn't much of it, and it's not much of an MMO. Some of the critiques I have will surely be addressed in future patches (such as balancing the gear to make specializations worthwhile, which I'm sure they are working on and is probably part of the reason the third specialization for each faction has been delayed, and grouping, which they have said will be added in the future). They have also said that they are going to release frequent content additions. Unfortunately, with as small as the initial game is, I don't think they will have many subscribers left playing by the time they get there.

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • UncleChetUncleChet N00b Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited November 2010
    So, I picked this up last night as an alternative to WoW. It's Neat! It's a very visually attractive game IMO. It's cheap to play at only 10/month. You get 4 character slots so you get to explore all 4 of the current professions. I'm only a few hours in so far though.

    I've racked up a Ton of achievements already. I have the start of a neat castle. And I'm in general having fun. I figure worst case scenario, if I don't end up liking it, I can always gift the account to my nephew.

    So far, I've finished about 25% of the first hub world and I'm having a great time. The starting instructions were a little less than intuitive, but once I got a handle on it, it was just like any other MMO. The only downside for me is, I suck at building with raw lego blocks, so my private island will only be built with pre-made kits.

    UncleChet on
    I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited November 2010
    I'm looking forward to trying this out. I dont care if there isn't that much content currently. I'm hoping that my daughter will be able to play with me a bit.

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • UncleChetUncleChet N00b Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited November 2010
    Radiation: In my limited experience, you and your daughter will have an absolute Blast. It's very approachable, and once you learn the controls is super easy to play. Early on, there can be some frustration for younger players, as a quest has you "break" 10 bad guys, but working in the same area as these easy guys are bigger, tougher almost "elite" guys that you have to deal with. Fortunately, they're easily avoided (well, their attacks are). I did get swarmed a few times, but was able to bash my way out. Character creation is pretty cool and your daughter will likely love having her own private island to build upon that noone can come in and mess with. The content is a little limited now, but the sheer childlike joy that I experienced in my first 2 hours of play made this a totally worth while purchase

    UncleChet on
    I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited November 2010
    Yeah, she's still a bit young, but I'm sure this will be something we could enjoy doing together at the computer.

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • WhippyWhippy Moderator, Admin Emeritus Admin Emeritus
    edited December 2010
    I just got this as a Christmas present! Somebody come play with me!

    ...

    Nobody here plays this game, do they

    Whippy on
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited December 2010
    I will when I'm done being deployed!
    should be in a few weeks.

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • HardKaseHardKase Registered User regular
    edited December 2010
    I wanted to play this. but they won't sell it to me.

    Stupid region restrictions.

    HardKase on
    Steam ID: HardKAse@hardkase.cjb.net (yes I was drunk when I created it)
  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Games been pretty fun so far, though it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of content, so I may just occasionally resub every once in a while as they bring out more.
    Any of you folks still playing this?

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Sorry for the necropost, but I figured if we still had anybody playing (or interested in playing) this game, they'd want to know. I'm pretty sure this is the most recent thread for the Lego Universe MMO.

    It looks like it's getting shut down next year.
    Quoted from The Brothers Brick
    LEGO Universe to close operations, lay off 115 employees
    Breaking news from Lego. It appears the Lego Universe will be shutting down at the start of the new year. Heres the press release:

    Online game will close on January 31, 2012. The LEGO Group’s digital offerings will continue to develop over the coming years.

    November 4, 2011 – The LEGO Group today announced that it will close LEGO® Universe, an MMOG (massively-multiplayer online game) that has been in operation since the autumn of 2010.

    In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.

    “The LEGO Universe team can take pride in having developed and launched a great LEGO experience that many players will miss,” said Jesper Vilstrup, Vice President, LEGO Universe. “Right now, we have almost 2 million players in LEGO Universe, and we get extremely positive feedback from players. Unfortunately, we have not been able to build a satisfactory revenue model in our target group, and therefore, have decided to close the game.”

    Despite the change, the ambition to develop and run a digital business remains. In future, it is the intention to further pursue cooperation with partners. The LEGO Group has a strong and continuing partnership with TT Games Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to create digital LEGO experiences within video games. A further expansion in the digital area will mainly be based on similar partnerships.

    “The development of our digital offerings continues to be a very important element in our strategy,” said Mads Nipper, Executive Vice President, LEGO Group. “We have more than 20 million visitors on www.LEGO.com every month, and LEGO video games are among the bestselling children’s video games with sales of more than 60 million units in the last five years. Through our experience developing and running LEGO Universe, we have gained a lot of valuable insights, and we have a very strong foundation for future development in the digital area.”

    As a consequence of the closure, the LEGO Universe staff has today been informed that the ‘Play Well Studios’ in Louisville, Colorado and the game’s marketing function in Billund, Denmark will be closed. This will affect 115 employees. All affected employees will be offered assistance in finding new jobs inside or outside the LEGO Group.

  • AstaleAstale Registered User regular
    Sad but not suprising. When I see ideas like this fail but grindy half-finished MMO "X" runs for four years it makes me cringe.

    But on the other hand trying to make a serious MMO launch for a demographic whose age is in the single digits was a hard sell to begin with. (and no, people who are thirty and building star destroyers the size of their garage out of legos, you were NOT their target audience, nor have you ever been)

  • RadiationRadiation Registered User regular
    edited November 2011
    I don't see how 2 million monthly subscribers would be unsuccessful though. This does suck because I did really enjoy playing this with the kiddo.
    Edit:
    I guess thinking about it, they require a bit of a larger staff because of them trying to keep it age appropriate (censoring and such)

    Radiation on
    PSN: jfrofl
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    Players, not subscribers.

  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    Astale wrote:
    Sad but not suprising. When I see ideas like this fail but grindy half-finished MMO "X" runs for four years it makes me cringe.

    But on the other hand trying to make a serious MMO launch for a demographic whose age is in the single digits was a hard sell to begin with. (and no, people who are thirty and building star destroyers the size of their garage out of legos, you were NOT their target audience, nor have you ever been)
    The sad thing is that LEGO Universe never moved beyond the stage of "grindy half-finished" it's only redeeming quality was LEGO and the few things you were able to do with blocks. It failed to be unique and appeal to the kids who love making lego towns with lego highways leading to lego factories and it failed to be middle-of-the-road enough to attract the regular gaming crowd who enjoyed LEGO Star Wars.

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