LEGO Universe introduces Ninjago expansion

This... actually looks kinda neat. Are they still doing the "Unlimited Trial" deal, where you can only go so far in the game before you get cut off and have to sub? If so... yeah. I'll just wait for City of Heroes and DCUO...

I played the free trial for a few hours and subbed up. Not because of locked content but because it was so much fun. Kind of a 3D platformer inside an MMO.

However, a week or so later I grew so frustrated I just haven't been back. My subscription is still going but I just don't bother playing.

Why? The game is OLD SCHOOL as far as the MMO part goes. Maps are unlabeled, they give quests with ambiguous destinations and you don't know if you are even in the right zone.

I suppose if I had the ferocious tenacity I did when I was young I'd keep memorizing where everything is but I just can't bear to log in for a few hours HOPING I am in the right zone heading the right way.

Great game but just not for me. Maybe I'm too old.

"free for premium" sounds a bit odd. I mean the premium players pay for their premium access no? If so then any service they get for being premium is part of being premium and isn't "free" necessarily. It's like saying, if I buy a sandwich that comes with french fries, the fries are free, which they aren't. They just come with the sandwich.

I feel very sad for this game. It has such great promise, but really really blows. I love MMOs, I love Lego, I love the Lego video games, but this is just not fun :(

I agree with the other poster that said this is old school. I would add unfinished and unfunded old school. I may check it out with this new expansion now that is is free to play, but only because I want the game to succeed. I unfortunately predict the plug being pulled on this shortly.

Edit: I guess I have to sub to get the Ninjago xp. Won't happen :(

I was hoping for something like Lego Digital Designer with added physics and was sorely disappointed. Got to the point where I never bothered signing into Beta anymore because everything was glitchy and unfun and the interface kept getting in the way of everything.

Plus Ninjago is the worst theme Lego has had in years. No real building, you just stick a minifigure on a top. You'd think they'd have done one of the recent themes with more AFOL appeal like Atlantis or Alien Conquest.

Lego Universe would make a great single player game--and as one, it would be worth the $40 they were originally calling for. Heck, if they went the Guild Wars route and made it a one-time fee of $40 for unlimited play, I might consider it. But as a subscription-based MMO? Not a chance in heck--there simply isn't enough there to warrant the expense.

The free trial--last I knew, it gives access to the initial tutorial zone, Avant Gardens and the linked 'building home' and arena fight areas and...that's it. You don't even get access to the Nimbus Station hub--not only is this even less than was accessible in the initial beta stages, but they're losing what little incentive they had at *all* to get people to continue past the trial.

As far as Ninjago goes...why in the heck did they make the silly decision to put in a *second* ninja-themed area, anyway? Or are they getting rid of Gnarled Forest?