I’m a bit behind here on the breaking news here, but as you can see on Casual Stroll to Mordor and the LOTRO Reporter Turbine is adding Lua scripting to LOTRO. Now I know very little about Lua (even though I do have a programming background) but from what I have seen from the other folks it can be used to create add-on or mods to the game. We don’t really know too much about what can and can’t be done with it, so this will be a bunch of speculation on my side but I figured I’d post a bit on what I’d like to see and what I don’t want to see. I will be a bit biased and say that I love this concept, but I understand and can see the point for those who don’t agree with it. For me there’s a line, as long as Turbine doesn’t cross it we’re all good, but if they do cross it (which they’ve proven to me at least they won’t) my assumptions could be totally off base.
I’m quite the fan of customization with regards to the User Interface (as my screenshots will show) and will admit that I’ve been a bit frustrated with what’s available currently to the folks willing to spend the time developing new UI skins. For me, I’m really hoping Lua gives us more access to the sub-elements of the UI and just more options as a whole.
I will admit in this area that I’m not so much excited about what I can do I’m more excited about what others will be able to do. I’ve been a huge fan of the LOTRO Interface site and am always amazed at what folks can do with the limited current assets available so I’m SO excited about what will be possible when that’s opened up.
What I want are ways to streamline the user interface to make it such that I don’t need a ton of buttons for all my horses or ports, or a better way to manage my bag-space. I think those are my 2 biggest issues, quick-slots and inventory management so any options here would be very welcome on my end. I also think there are many other ways the overall user interface can be tweaked to make it more friendly for the individual playing the game.
Now what scares me about this option is in the area of playing the game for you. I want customization but not macros or idiot proof screens that allows folks to hit the “I Win” button. To further explain this, I don’t want to see it possible to have a macro to automatically take a morale potion if you drop below 50% morale or cast a heal if player X is below 50% morale. I personally don’t have an issue with alerts or popups that tell you to do something but I do see an issue with making that process automatic. I’ve heard (although haven’t seen or played) the stories from folks from WoW so I will admit I am a tad skeptical that this won’t pose a larger problem down the road, but from what I’ve seen from Turbine I’m optimistic they can make this work.
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“Despite the urging of Elrond and Círdan, Gil-galad’s lieutenants, Isildur did not throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom; Instead, he claimed it as an heirloom for his House, and as weregild for the deaths of his father and brother.”
Everyone who wants LUA scripting is a fool, like Isildur. They open Pandora’s box, they don’t refuse the ring. They are fools that make Boromir look like a wise man.
It would be way better from Turbine to add more customization options by default. By giving the development to the players, they go the lazy way. But players don’t stop where YOU want them to stop. They always use the tools and options given to them to the max, especially because they are gamers.
What can you automatize with LUA scripting? It is scripting, you can run intelligent macros, the possibilities and dangers are endless.
But from what I know many LOTRO players could be WoW players. They just don’t know WoW and other MMOs, but I am sure they would probably already play it. They play LOTRO because it gives them a sense of style. Instance teleports etc., now this –
yeah, make this a game like WoW. “MMOs are designed by noobs”, said Bartle, and it is said that LOTRO seems to be forced to repeat every design sin of World of Warcraft instead of stepping out of the shadow of the flawed giant.
We’ll definitely just have to agree to disagree 🙂 I can see where you’re coming from, but assuming Turbine keeps it in check I’m all for new options in the UI.
What you’re using as a worst-case isn’t possible in WoW either. Just like in lotro, you cannot have an addon that performs an action FOR you – every action taken must be accompanied by a key-press. You can’t have something set up to automatically heal or chug a pot in any game I’ve played.
There are addons from wow I really miss that I think would make lotro better, easier to play, without making it overwhelming like I think WoW can get with addons. Better scrolling combat text that’s easier to see. An addon that shows you when something procs, like a guardian’s parry or block reactives. Inventory management addons.
But where do you draw the line then with addons like threat monitors, or the recent AVR addon that blizzard had to basically break because it became too powerful? Much like what I’m hearing from you, I think a little bit more customization might be nice if we can keep the floodgates from opening. Who knows, though – we’ll see what happens with this change.
I like your examples of what you’d like to see and certainly hope they don’t allow folks to put in a Threat meter. I didn’t realize you couldn’t do “macros” in WoW so now I’m not sure what they were doing that crossed that line, can you elaborate on what this AVR add-on did?
Having come from a WoW background (3+ year raiding) I have to say I feel some trepidation about this change.
I agree with Valorum that there are some add-ons that I miss from WoW. Some of the UI mods were truly exceptional and inventory management add-ons that showed the mats and recipes you have on other characters were simple, effective and incredibly useful.
However, I eventually did reach the point while raiding that the game became about the add-ons more that the gameplay itself. Imagine raiding when all you are doing is looking for messages from the add-on that tells you when the boss is going to do a move, reacting to procs flashed across the screen by another add-on whilst monitoring your threat/dps/hps via other add-ons. It all became a bit too detached and “meta” for me. Plus you couldn’t see the action because the add-ons took up too much screen real estate!
My particular pet hate were dps meters and this is coming from a healer/tank! If you think the “go,go,go” mentality is bad at the moment in lotro, think what it would be like if everyone could see their exact dps at any given point. It leads to some rather “enthusiastic” dps pulls and AoE madness. Initially they were a good tool for analysing and improving dps but they quickly became more a measure of e-peen.
Let’s hope Turbine implement limited LUA interfaces without access to all of the combat data so that the more advanced add-ons are impossible. I’ve fallen in love with the more immediate and immersive world of lotro and would hate to go back to the “whack-a-mole” style of playing. Turbine have an opportunity to do what Blizzard has been doing for years: steal, polish and make better 🙂
I just added Frelorn’s post so that should help clarfiy things a little bit. It is good to hear from folks with a WoW background as I don’t 🙂 and I think we’ll have to wait and see how it all works out. I’m very excited about it, but I can see your points about it becoming a “whack-a-mole” kind of game, although from a minstrel raiding perspective many already feel LOTRO is that way currently 😉
One thing on the DPS meter side, I’m somewhat encouraged as we do already have a tool to do this (Cstats) but I’m pretty sure most folks don’t use it as an e-peen tool but rather a tool for improving how they play.