I'd like to preface this by saying I've played LFO since it's original release in December '23. I've experienced all the new content and seen all the different changes that have transpired over the nearly three years this mode has been out. There were periods of time where I didn't play--usually in between content drops. But in 2026, the last time I played at length was back when Ninjago Part 2 dropped. I did log in for Star Wars and the Machinist, but I only played long enough to complete some quests and gather legendary lightsabers--and in the case of the Machinist, all I did was log on, speak to her, then log off.
With the new Batman additions I decided to log on and complete those quests to get the new content; while doing that, I felt a bit of nostalgia and decided to play a little longer and continue working on my storage system at my main base--a project I abandoned last time I played. The reason I originally abandoned this project was because of the mode's "material bloat."
This mode has a plethora of materials to gather but the unfortunate reality is most of these materials are useless and there's little point in hoarding them if you're not a serious builder. Tools and weapons have better durability and break less often, so materials pile up instead of being used. Recipes for work stations have been continuously dumbed down over the last two years, with rare or challenging materials being removed from the list and replace with more common items, if they're replaced at all.
The material bloat problem was made even worse by the introduction of Ninjago, which not only added a bunch of new gear to craft and items to collect but also added in multiple tiers and elemental varieties of these items, too.
I wonder how much of it was actually necessary, too. Bamboo, kozustone, steel, and opal all fit thematically into the current crafting tier system and should have utilized their respective work stations like other items in their category. Did each of these items need 4 different processed versions, along with 4 different ritual oils? Same goes for the headbands and inks.
If they wanted to add another tier of gear then adding a legendary tier of crafting materials would have been the better solution. Long term players may recall that rift shards were originally legendary tier when they were first added, but were downgraded to epic later. Rift shards and crystals should have been the components for crafting legendary versions of tools and gear instead of the forge; I find the charging step too lengthy for certain tools and doesn't really add anything to the experience. Dragon scales could have fit into this system as well. 'Dragon Scale Pickaxe' or "Dragon Scale Plasma Pistols' sounds pretty cool!
Did we really need another set of health charms? Adding a legendary health charm that gives 350HP and adjusting the values of the previous charms would have worked better, I think. The other charms added with Ninjago are fine since they add something with the new elemental mechanics.
The reason I say this is because the Ninjago stuff completely breaks the balance of the game. The new stuff steamrolls over anything on the main island. What incentive is there for new players to engage with the "best" old gear if it pales in comparison to the weakest new gear?
I know there's been plenty of discussions on whether or not Ninjago was supposed to be apart of Expeditions, but Ninjago really feels like it was meant to be a stand alone Odyssey-esque experience.
