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Unread 04-10-2012, 03:42 AM
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Digital_Utopia Digital_Utopia is offline
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A time for honesty

I didn't want to make this thread, as it would be far easier to continue what I have been doing the last month or so; but the easy thing is seldom the right thing to do - and this is no exception.

Basically, I'm done with LotRO. I'm not the type to leave "I quit!" threads in forums, and this is no exception; but I've obviously done more here than simply play the game, so it's only fair to let those of you who use my creations know. To be honest, I really haven't played the game since a couple of weeks after RoI was released, and while I thought it was a solid expansion, it wasn't enough to rekindle my interest in playing it. I honestly thought though, that my admiration of Turbine, and the enjoyment I've had with creating LotRO related projects would continue to carry me through. Unfortunately it's well past the time where I know this isn't going to happen.

Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot of admiration for Turbine, LotRO, and of course, the community. I admit that maybe I expected too much - the same mistake countless of other players have done with the game itself. While I can't control those expectations, or the frustrations I've felt as a result of that, the end result is still the same. I no longer have the patience to put up with, in my opinion, Turbine shooting themselves in the foot. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe Turbine will fix and improve the data API. Maybe they'll start to actually put some much needed focus to the plugin system. I really do hope that's true - this game deserves the tools and utilities that could make use of it. Sadly, I'm done playing the wait and see game, and it's time for me to move on.

As far as my projects go, any developer is more than welcome to use the code as they see fit, or provide a similar offering. Credit (if applicable) would be appreciated; but it's certainly not necessary. It's more important to me that the community continues to take advantage of the niche these projects filled. Again, I really didn't want it to come down to this - I would've rather continued to improve and update these projects all the way to Mordor and beyond. It just finally got to the point where I couldn't bear to put forth the effort, as it was no longer fun and became a chore.

I will monitor this thread for the next week or so, and reply to any questions anybody might have. After that point, please feel free to email any questions or comments to [email protected], and I'll try to respond to the best of my ability.

Thank you all for the support you've given me, and I wish LotRO and you the best.
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Unread 04-10-2012, 05:48 AM
Dwamur Dwamur is offline
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Thank you for all the effort you put in! Have fun out there. Certainly, when a game starts feeling like a job, it's time to take a break.

Do you have a "thoughts on direction" document for your plugins? Something that will make it easy for someone else to take over, that lists todos, bugs, features-I-will-implement-when-Turbine-fixes-the-API, you get the idea.

If there are volunteers, maybe your plugins can be given to new caretakers' hands. That'd be preferable to letting them whither and die, I think.

All the best
Dwamur
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Unread 04-10-2012, 07:43 AM
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Digital_Utopia Digital_Utopia is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwamur
Thank you for all the effort you put in! Have fun out there. Certainly, when a game starts feeling like a job, it's time to take a break.

Do you have a "thoughts on direction" document for your plugins? Something that will make it easy for someone else to take over, that lists todos, bugs, features-I-will-implement-when-Turbine-fixes-the-API, you get the idea.

If there are volunteers, maybe your plugins can be given to new caretakers' hands. That'd be preferable to letting them whither and die, I think.

All the best
Dwamur
First off, thank you for your well wishes; however I feel the need to clarify that it was the projects themselves that started feeling like a job, rather than the game itself. As for the game, the best I could describe it is that there's very little variety, and the strongest part of the game is a retelling of a story we already know the ending to.

As far as my projects go, most things are pretty straightforward - at least in terms of naming of variables,functions and whatnot. So anybody looking over it shouldn't have any problems with following along. That being said, Palantir's main code is better off being rewritten from scratch. The structure could be far, far better - although the bar code itself - which really, is the trickiest part, should be easily reused for any code.

If anybody knows flash/ActionScript, and is interested on taking over the Adobe AIR character journal, send me an email, and I'll give you the .fla file for it.

I really do hope that someone carries these ideas forward, someone with far more patience with Turbine, as the community does deserve these tools, and I'd honestly see these things done by a different author, than to have my ideas die with my interest.
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Unread 04-10-2012, 10:07 AM
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unclecid unclecid is offline
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sorry to see ya go but i completely understand, i myself have been reduced to just logging on during fests and whenever there is a addition to the Epic line, heck i have not even bought roi yet.

anyways, thanks for the time you devoted, i have liked Palantir and wont play without it since you first showed it (way back on Isengard iirc).

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Unread 04-10-2012, 11:41 AM
Cordeval Cordeval is offline
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Thank you too much for all you've done!
(colloquial south Louisiana there)

Palantir has been and still is a beautifully useful enhancement to my game experience.
As to your comment that coding the bars is where the real meat is, do you mean the curable indicators? Popup cures? Or the morale/power level bars?

It's Palantir's morale and power bars I count on and hope someone can maintain them in future LOTRO updates...or that I can learn enough LUA to fix it for myself when Turbine breaks it.
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Unread 04-10-2012, 12:37 PM
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Garan Garan is offline
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Sorry to see ya go, you've been a long time contributer and have had a positive impact on the growth of Lua plugins. Unfortunately, I can definately understand how you feel about your fun projects turning into work. Are you planning to move on to a different game or do you plan to just step back and take a relaxing break from gaming?
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Unread 04-10-2012, 02:38 PM
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Cairenn Cairenn is offline
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Going to miss you, Digital. I understand, and can very much relate, to why you are feeling the need to move on. When a 'hobby' done for fun starts to feel like 'work' that you are dreading, it's time to take a break or move on completely.

Hopefully we'll see you in another game somewhere down the road? Regardless, safe travels, be well, and be happy.
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Unread 04-10-2012, 03:11 PM
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Many thanks for your work Digital!

Mayhaps, when that halcyon day occurs, you will return to the fold...
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Unread 04-10-2012, 06:14 PM
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Digital_Utopia Digital_Utopia is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garan
Sorry to see ya go, you've been a long time contributer and have had a positive impact on the growth of Lua plugins. Unfortunately, I can definately understand how you feel about your fun projects turning into work. Are you planning to move on to a different game or do you plan to just step back and take a relaxing break from gaming?
If anything, my one hope is that I've helped other authors see that Lua and the API is more than just the sum of its parts. Don't get me wrong, I still stand by my opinion that Lua is an ugly, ugly language - but that doesn't mean it's a bad one. I think above all else, one of the main sources of my frustrations were not just with Turbine taking so long to release (bug free) API additions; but rather, I saw the potential of what could be done, if Turbine would only do their part. Then I started noticing that this was a trend - and from there, well...the rest is history.

As far as another game goes, yes. I've gone back to playing WoW. No matter how much I like Tolkien's world, and how much Turbine has done it justice, in the end, it boiled down to a comparison of the features and content I enjoyed. In that regard, WoW was the clear winner. It just had gotten to the point where I felt that I had some kind of obligation to continue playing - or at least working on LotRO projects, if for no other reason than the amount of time I had invested. And frankly, that's just a really stupid reason to continue to be involved in a game.

As far as future projects go, I've got no current plans to become involved in WoW addons or apps. Mostly due to just having fun with the game itself; but frankly, there's not a lot out there that someone hasn't done already. Also, starting this summer, I'm going to be going to school for a web development certificate, so that will further limit my time for any extra projects. That being said and knowing me, I'm certainly not going to say that it isn't going to happen either. So don't be surprised if I wind up on WoWInterface at some point :P

If any of you are "heathens" like me, and don't view WoW as the work of the devil, you can find me on Proudmoore-US, Horde side. Feel free to hit me up! I'll always be happy to hear from you guys! Also, admittedly, I am a forum junkie - so don't be surprised if I stop in here from time to time to comment as well
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Unread 04-11-2012, 03:49 AM
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MrJackdaw MrJackdaw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Digital_Utopia
No matter how much I like Tolkien's world, and how much Turbine has done it justice, in the end, it boiled down to a comparison of the features and content I enjoyed. In that regard, WoW was the clear winner. It just had gotten to the point where I felt that I had some kind of obligation to continue playing...
Funnily enough, I just tried WoW again and really hated it compared to lotro! I went through the exact opposite of your predicament a few years ago - feeling like I was obligated to play WoW but wanted to play lotro, then made the switch. Funny how things work ain't it?

NOTE: Not trying to start a "Lotro is better than WoW" or vice-versa flame war!
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