Got to love your spirit, Intrepid. You're an inspiration
Anyway, to answer the question:
My love for LU derives from a few corners of my persona. Firstly, I love video games. I am so passionate about games that I made sure I got a job in the games industry about 6 or 7 years ago and I've never wanted to leave. This is sort of a given, though, as is the fact that I really enjoy MMOGs. I find a lot of pleasure in making friends in MMOGs, sustaining the momentum of a friendhsip which builds up over a virtual space where you share experiences you'd never have in real life. Of course, real life friends are important (some would argue more so) but it's a different kettle of fish. There's very little need to get to know someone in an MMOG, before you become friends with them, but it's that getting to know people when there's so little need that makes it all the more special to me.
Of course, it's main draw is that it's LEGO! I absolutely love LEGO. I always have and at this rate I always will. As I've grown older I've found new meaning to it; where I used to have fun trying to stack as many bricks on top of each other as possible before the tower fell, I now relish in creating working mechanisms and finding art in the bricks. This extends very nicely into LU (albeit somewhat less lenient than real LEGO) and I just love that I can build my real life models in LU and my LU models in real life. It's the only game I've played which properly crosses the game/reality boundary.
I love the combat mechanics. I was tired of targeting an enemy and click buttons to queue up attacks whose likelihood to hit was based on an invisible dice roll. I get so much out of being able to dodge attacks and rush in for a sneaky wallop in the back of a pirate's head. It's just so much more engaging.
I too played the beta and pre-ordered. I couldn't help myself. It's pretty much my ideal game. I can battle, build and race all from one title and despite running out of things to do I rarely find myself bored. Most of the time I have to tear myself away - unlike other MMOGs I've played, that's not because of social expectations ("But the guild is doing a Trial and if you don't join in you'll be left behind") but because I enjoy myself so much in that world. Of course, if my friends need help or just want some company then that's all good, I'm happy to stick around, but that's different.
I could go on and on but I think I'm starting to ramble a bit. At the same time I'm sure I've left out a lot. Let's leave it at that, though, eh?
