Comments on: What Stinks in LotRO: No Add-ons http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/ LotRO and Mines of Moria Focused Blog for the Casual Player Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:35:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Tony http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1212 Tony Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:36:40 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1212 I understood :). Yeah, I've been waiting for this revamped UI for a while now. I hope it comes within the next year... lol. I understood :) .

Yeah, I’ve been waiting for this revamped UI for a while now. I hope it comes within the next year… lol.

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]]> By: Scott http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1209 Scott Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:56:16 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1209 * AC2, then DDO, then LOTRO* is how that was supposed to read. I'm sure you followed but just wanted to clarify. * AC2, then DDO, then LOTRO* is how that was supposed to read. I’m sure you followed but just wanted to clarify.

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]]> By: Scott http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1208 Scott Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:55:19 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1208 We'll see what they do with it. They've mentioned they're considering allowing some type of addon system but that won't happen until they come out with their UI 2.0 (or whatever they're going to call it) system they're working on at a glacially slow pace. The underlying UI system in their games was created in '97, if that gives you a hint! It was first seen in AC2, DDO and LOTRO. I don't think much was going on back then in the user-created UI addons and scripting department. They'll have to look at what has happened with WoW and WAR primarily before they decide which datapoints they open up for us. Fun project: Google up some screenshots of AC2's UI then tell me where WoW got their base UI design from... :) It sure wasn't EQ, despite most of WoW's team being EQ raiders. We’ll see what they do with it. They’ve mentioned they’re considering allowing some type of addon system but that won’t happen until they come out with their UI 2.0 (or whatever they’re going to call it) system they’re working on at a glacially slow pace.

The underlying UI system in their games was created in ’97, if that gives you a hint! It was first seen in AC2, DDO and LOTRO. I don’t think much was going on back then in the user-created UI addons and scripting department. They’ll have to look at what has happened with WoW and WAR primarily before they decide which datapoints they open up for us.

Fun project: Google up some screenshots of AC2’s UI then tell me where WoW got their base UI design from… :) It sure wasn’t EQ, despite most of WoW’s team being EQ raiders.

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]]> By: Tony http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1206 Tony Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:48:22 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1206 Yeah, I agree (obviously lol) about the ;loc thing. These are things that could be addressed very quickly by an add-on community while Turbine worries about the game itself. I think with faults there are obvious ones like you've mentioned for WAR and far more subjective ones too. There are always some people who like this or that changed around for their specific class and I think giving them the ability to do so is usually a good thing. As for the raiding comments you made, those are definitely things that crossed my mind. Add-ons do potentially create situations where the game becomes more about numbers than the actual enjoyment of playing the game. I definitely do not want to see that happen here. I do genuinely feel the lack of some of that encourages a different style of play that I honestly just enjoy more. I think Turbine could address that by simply not allowing access to every point of data in the game to add-on creators. Let's say they do allow location data, map data and so forth... But nothing that actually involves mob or battle data. WoW does allow access to most (if not all) of this information, but that was obviously Blizzard's intention. All of that's in Turbine's control. I think there could definitely be compromises to keep LotRO accessible to more people and avoid the whole "hardcore" mentality that WoW can have. I think allowing access to <em>some</em> of it would be better than <em>none</em> of it. Yeah, I agree (obviously lol) about the ;loc thing. These are things that could be addressed very quickly by an add-on community while Turbine worries about the game itself.

I think with faults there are obvious ones like you’ve mentioned for WAR and far more subjective ones too. There are always some people who like this or that changed around for their specific class and I think giving them the ability to do so is usually a good thing.

As for the raiding comments you made, those are definitely things that crossed my mind. Add-ons do potentially create situations where the game becomes more about numbers than the actual enjoyment of playing the game. I definitely do not want to see that happen here. I do genuinely feel the lack of some of that encourages a different style of play that I honestly just enjoy more.

I think Turbine could address that by simply not allowing access to every point of data in the game to add-on creators. Let’s say they do allow location data, map data and so forth… But nothing that actually involves mob or battle data. WoW does allow access to most (if not all) of this information, but that was obviously Blizzard’s intention.

All of that’s in Turbine’s control. I think there could definitely be compromises to keep LotRO accessible to more people and avoid the whole “hardcore” mentality that WoW can have. I think allowing access to some of it would be better than none of it.

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]]> By: Scott http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1205 Scott Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:30:37 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1205 I'll agree on the ;loc thing though. That is an utterly retarded solution and I cannot believe that has gone unaddressed. That's great they have a /loc which gives the full 3D coordinates for a bug report. But why is *that* one used for /loc? Why isn't ;loc a hidden variable used for that so players can simply type /loc? Or better yet, keep ;loc as it is so we can tell other players coordinates, and use a new variable *only* for the bug reports. Give us a /loc that prints our coordinates without needing a chat channel! Quick and obvious fix: Why the HELL doesn't my icon on the map have a tooltip showing my current location? I’ll agree on the ;loc thing though. That is an utterly retarded solution and I cannot believe that has gone unaddressed. That’s great they have a /loc which gives the full 3D coordinates for a bug report. But why is *that* one used for /loc? Why isn’t ;loc a hidden variable used for that so players can simply type /loc? Or better yet, keep ;loc as it is so we can tell other players coordinates, and use a new variable *only* for the bug reports. Give us a /loc that prints our coordinates without needing a chat channel!

Quick and obvious fix: Why the HELL doesn’t my icon on the map have a tooltip showing my current location?

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]]> By: Scott http://mmeow.net/2008/12/what-stinks-in-lotro-no-add-ons/comment-page-1/#comment-1204 Scott Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:26:49 +0000 http://mmeow.net/?p=957#comment-1204 I would like to be able to set my own map notes. Otherwise... I'm not seeing a use for addons. I used to be the dev for a WoW addon called RPHelper which was fun, and that type of thing would certainly fit in the somewhat more RP-ish world of LOTRO. Otherwise, many addons address failures of the default UI such as in WAR the various group UIs were horrid and made life rough on healers. Addons fixed that, but why should the default UI be so broken? The flip side of that is the devs could track which UIs are most popular, find out why, and fix their damn game so the UI is no longer necessary. But as an ex-raider, I find it so refreshing in LOTRO that *no one* has UI addons calling out boss events; we have to pay attention and actually play the game instead of watching tv or reading an article and only looking up to click a button when the addon tells us to. Or DPS meters! I hope I never play another game where DPS metering addons are being used to determine who is "best" and who "sucks." I would like to be able to set my own map notes. Otherwise… I’m not seeing a use for addons. I used to be the dev for a WoW addon called RPHelper which was fun, and that type of thing would certainly fit in the somewhat more RP-ish world of LOTRO. Otherwise, many addons address failures of the default UI such as in WAR the various group UIs were horrid and made life rough on healers. Addons fixed that, but why should the default UI be so broken? The flip side of that is the devs could track which UIs are most popular, find out why, and fix their damn game so the UI is no longer necessary.

But as an ex-raider, I find it so refreshing in LOTRO that *no one* has UI addons calling out boss events; we have to pay attention and actually play the game instead of watching tv or reading an article and only looking up to click a button when the addon tells us to. Or DPS meters! I hope I never play another game where DPS metering addons are being used to determine who is “best” and who “sucks.”

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