Here we are again, this time with the thirteenth "Contains Moderate Peril" podcast. The summer can be a quiet time for gaming, especially with regard to MMOs. This week Brian and I look at what's happening in the wider MMO scene and discuss whether the genre is naturally evolving or are market forces killing this area of gaming. Can a premium title please both the casual gamers and the hardcore players?
With the final Harry Potter movie hitting the theatres over the next week, we ponder Hollywood's obsession with sequels. Does every film need a follow up? Why can't a story have a definitive ending? Or is it simply a matter of financial necessity. With up to 25% of Hollywood's output in 2011 being sequels or reboots, do the public have less choice? Read the rest of this entry »
I was looking at the forums today and came across a thread in the Lua forums where the person posting stated that their kinship stated that they received an in-game mail stating that all kinship members who want to raid must have Buffbars installed. It then included instructions on how to obtain Buffbars and how to install the plugin. This upset the original poster and they wanted to know if others had seen messages like this or if they were being required to use plugins on their raids as well.
Personally I don’t see this as anything that my kin would ever enforce, but then again we’re not “hardcore”. But even when I was in WoW and we were raiding the highest raids I was in a group where we would suggest the “standard” set of plugins for people, but we never required them. Even as a plugin/addon enthusiast, my opinion is that while plugins help a player they do not make them a good player. All the addons in the world cannot make a player know what skills to use in which situation, nor make them respond accordingly. My advice to any raid leaders who think that Buffbars will drastically improve their raiding would be that unless you have a player who is willing to take the time to learn how to set up the plugin, that you be prepared for disappointment. Will it help? Sure. Will it cure all your woes? Definitely not.
In this episode, we take a look at the Songbook plugin by Chiran. This plugin creates an in-game interface that allows you to choose which song file (installed separately) you’d like to play, which part you’d like to play in the song, synchronizes group play, and includes a readycheck alias; which truly makes playing music in the game much easier!
Aside from our jokes about me being an incompetent when it comes to player music, I’ve actually dabbled in using abc files on various occasions. However, those times are few and far between; meaning that I usually don’t remember the commands to play the music let alone the abc filenames. But this plugin takes out all that work for me and it’s pretty easy to use. The only thing that makes me a bit nervous is that I have to run an external file (VBScript in .hta format) because it can be a potential security risk. Thankfully Chiran has made it easy to read so that inquiring players can look it over.
In this episode, we take a look at the Buffbars plugin by Pengoros. This plugin allows for you to create a panel that will show you the buffs (and debuffs) that currently reside on your player, creates quickslots for your potions, and keeps track of their cool-down timer!
This plugin is something I’ve personally been waiting for and that I was thrilled to see created. I personally like to keep track of my buffs and my debuffs, but I am horrible at actually looking to see what is on me at all times. With this mod, not only does it make it easier to see the effects currently on my character, but it shows me the name and the time left. Plus, whenever I have a certain type of de-buff or low morale/power it will bring up the corresponding potion that can be used to remedy the situation. Additionally, it will then throw up a timer telling me when I can use that type of potion again! As if that’s not enough, there are a ton of visual options and filters that can be used to modify these bars so that they display in a manner that is pleasing to you!
In this episode, we take a look at Warden Trainer Lite by Galuhad, a plugin specifically designed for Wardens in order to make remembering and performing gambits a lot easier.
I like this plugin for a number of reasons, mainly because it reads what gambits you know and only allows you to use those instead of just having a pre-created list of all the gambits in the game. Once installed, you load the the plugin either by using the previously reviewed Plugin Manager or by using the /plugins load WardenTrainerLite command and you’re set! I think I will be using this mostly as a reminder to complete my deeds for now. What I would like to see in the future is a way to assign hotkeys to gambits or maybe a quick menu so that I can quickly change between gambits rather than having to use a menu, but for now this suites my purpose quite nicely.
The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 4:00AM Eastern (-5 GMT) to prepare for the launch of the Head Start of The Lord of the Rings Online™ Volume III: Allies of The King, Book 2: The Ride of the Grey Company.
Today we take a look at several of the LUA plugins that have been written by Beta Players during the Free-to-Play testing period. The two that we have featured in this episode are:
Plugin Manager which, once loaded will load and unload installed plugins through an interface instead of requiring you to use chat commands.
Hunter Travel Window which creates a separate window for all of your travel abilities (which despite the name works for all classes) freeing up your bar space and general UI clutter.
Yesterday afternoon Narel posted in the LOTRO official forums a very clear statement of what LUA in LOTRO will mean.
Why UI Plugins?
…no single version of a UI element will ever be ideal for all players everywhere. What one player loves about part of the UI can send the player standing next to them reeling into a frothing rage of frustration.
We finish up the Summer Festival goodies we were trying for. Goldenstar is a Lucky Duck! Merric is also a little closer to finishing up the lucky duck deed. We’ve purchased almost all the summer items we can think we need at this point and may be just about done with the Summer Festival.
Merric got his burglar to 35 and has a mini-rant about the quest that you do to be able to ride the fast horse.
