Talk:Lotro-Wiki Contributors' Corner/Archive 2015

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Welcome to the Archive of the Talk Page of Contributors' Corner for 2015


Yet another Executive Producer

Posted this morning, 7 January 2015:

[QUOTE=Rowan]
Hello LOTRO!
After eight years, five expansions, and one free-to-play transition, the time has come for me to Sail to the West. More accurately, I’m moving thirty feet down the hall to start a new project at Turbine. With that, I’m leaving you in the very capable hands of another Turbine veteran – Executive Producer Athena Peters.
LOTRO has been at the center of my professional and personal life for many years now, including my almost annual pilgrimage to Germany to speak to our players at gamescom. In this year I believe we’ve done a great job of focusing on what you, the players, would like to see the game. We’ve listened to you and changed our plans – the most significant change was probably pulling a level cap out of Update 15. In the next year you’ll see a continued drive to deliver great story content and an authentic world, but you’ll also need new investment in group challenges and content. Even after almost eight years, the LOTRO team continues to grow and adapt Middle-earth.
Frelorn will be posting Athena's Producers Letter soon with her vision for the coming year.
[I]Time does not tarry ever ... but change and growth is not in all things and places alike.[/I]
Rowan

The Lotro-Wiki.com page File:User-Raebidus-Raebidus.jpg has been changed on 20 January 2015 by Ravanel

I have a question. Ravanel, what did I do worng with my pictures? I'd like to know so I can put them on the roght place next time. Another question. How come I only see my characters page when I am logged in?

Hope you can help me.

Grz Rae

Hi Rae! From what I can see, the only thing Ravanel did was add a category to your images. This is just a simple housekeeping thing that some editors do from time to time to make sure everything's nice and organized - it's not an indication that you did anything wrong at all. If you do upload more pictures and want to categorize them yourself (not necessary, but helpful!) just add the same code that you see on your current Raebidus.jpg and ForumschildjeRaebidus.jpg files - [[Category:PC Images]]. If you have other pictures that relate more to your kinship than your character, you can use [[Category:Kinship Images]] instead.
As far as your character page, can you explain a little more about "can only see it when logged in"? I'm happy to help you figure out any problems, but so far everything on the page looks fine to me even when I log out. I'm going to make one small change to remove the template that you use for your name there and just insert the link directly, though. Also, please remember to use ~~~~ to sign your talk-page posts. Sethladan 16:50, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Ah tnx.... As a noob here I am trying to figure it all out.

What I mean is that when I am logged in, I can see my entry in the list of players , but when I logged out, I don't...

  • Small edit... I CAN see Rae in Race... not in Class or World lists)

Raebidus (talk) 11:18, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the response! No worries about being a noob - everyone starts at the beginning. :)
I see what you mean about not showing up in the player lists. Interesting... and I'm not sure what causes that problem. Sometimes there's a delay as the software updates links and categories and the like, so let's watch the list for another day or so to see if your character appears. If not then we may need to check with the site owner. Sethladan 13:17, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
Now you got me completely confused -- what lists are you talking about?
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 17:41, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
If I understood correctly, Rae was talking about Category:Evernight Player Characters, Category:Lore-master Player Characters, and Category:Race of Man Player Characters. His character page is showing all of them, but when you navigate to the category pages while logged out, only one of them has him in it. Very odd. Sethladan 21:31, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
Thats correct. When I am logged in, I see my entry in all three categories. When logged out I only see it in Race. Raebidus (talk) 08:02, 24 January 2015 (UTC)
Just a quicklook -- Template:Player Character -- note how the category for race is created DIFFERENTLY than for the category for class or world.
I have no idea what the operators "{{lc:" or "{{ucfirst:" do.
Have to run... later.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 20:13, 24 January 2015 (UTC)
I don't know what you guys did, still un-noobing :), but it works now. Thnx for the help. Raebidus (talk) 11:42, 25 January 2015 (UTC)
Hmm... I didn't do anything. And in fact, it still was not working last evening. I can only guess that it was a cache issue.
Cache was my guess, too, so I checked with Lotroadmin and he reset it - seems to have done the trick, so hurrah! There's always an odd little "gotcha" to keep us from getting too comfortable. Thanks Rae for bringing this up! Hopefully there weren't lots of other pages that weren't being updated for not-logged-in visitors... Sethladan 00:51, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
Well, glad I could help :) Don't want you guys get too comfortable ;) I'm glad it works now, and if someone else has a similar problem, you know what to do. Tnx for you time and help! Raebidus (talk) 10:46, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Quest Pack Column

Does anyone know why the list/column of quest packs is nice and neat on ( https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Acquiring_Turbine_Points_from_Deeds#Advanced_F2P_Strategy ), but when I try to replicate it at ( https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/User:Balorgor/Sandbox#Advanced_F2P_Strategy ), the column breaks? Any help is very much appreciated! Balorgor (talk) 22:22, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

How's that look now? Turns out the page you copied from had an odd (read: bad) formatting quirk with a header inside a table. Cleaned that up in both places. Sethladan 00:40, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
That's awesome, thank you very much! Balorgor (talk) 01:10, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

BEORNING: Traits, Skills, & Legacies

I would help with Editing on some of the Pages for BEORNINGS, which I see need Updated. I currently have a Level 77 Beorning (Vilya Server), and have been an Active Player for about 6+ years with 7 Characters (@ Various Levels). Anyways, When I enter "Composure" in Search I get a Obsolete Captain's Skill, but no mention of this as a Beorning Skill which is a Modified Skill from Hearten. When I enter "Turn-the-Tables" in Search I get a Skill for a Guardian, and No Mention of This Skill that is Used with Thrash in Beorning Skills I see where Contributor's have Started Some Skill Pages for a Beorning, but haven't seen any Updates since around Levels 30-40, and currently there are many Beornings in Game that are already Level 100.

Not sure Where to Go to Discuss Beorning Traits, but Can see room for Improvements. The Number 1 Trait that I feel needs to be Changed for a Beorning is the Club Damage Bonuses. In the Book, and the Movie Beorn wields a 2-Handed AX, and Not a Club, guess someone over-looked that...besides, I have found more Ax Recipes that are compatible with a Beorning than Clubs. Beorn Legacies that Need Changed or are worthless (in my opinion): 1) Out-of-Combat Wrath Decay this Legacy can only be leveled up 1 Tier to +2 (+2 What?), if it's +2 points out of 100 (Max Wrath), that's not even negligible, so that is One Legacy I work on getting rid of (But in actuality shouldn't have to, as it should be Changed, Tweaked, or Disposed of) +20%, or +20 Points with and Upgrade to Tier 5 would be something worthy of this Class. 2) Vicious Claws Damage: You want to see a Worthless Legacy now here is a Prime Example. On Tier 1 it starts at .002% and in 9 Levels Maxes out at .20% 3) Grisly Cry Fear Duration +1 seconds, to +4 seconds (Maxes Out at Tier 4) WOW...an added 4 Seconds, do you even notice that?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Idaho Biker (Contribs • User Talk) at 20:33, 22 March 2015‎.

Re: search problems. Yeah, this is an issue with the search engine. -- Basically, the Composure (Beorning Trait) entry does not show up unless you use the drop-down and select "composure (Beorning Trait)." And you will also notice -- this is a "Trait" not a "Skill" -- just to make things more challenging! (Thank you Turbine.) It is a trait equipped in the Claw line.
But seriously. The basic problem is quite simple -- a limited number of hours in a day; a limited amount of Play-time; a limited amount of edit-time, and a very small number of Editors!
I created much of the existing Beorning entries -- and simply have not had time lately. (Real Live agro and all that :)) My Beorning has only just now hit level 65, and not yet left Moria. Yes, there are many level 100 Beornings in-game, but none of them have bothered to add or update any information on the Wiki.
So, needless to day, your efforts will be greatly appreciated.
As for discussing Skills, etc. Don't confuse the LOTRO-Wiki with Turbine. We have no relationship with them other than as a Fan site. All we can do is to "play the game" and then create information for the Wiki from our own play-experience. We get no help from Turbine, no actual information, only our own experiences. (Turbine shut down the Lorebook and data.lotro.com in July of 3013, which was the only source of "official" information from Turbine.)
The place to discuss issues with the Beorning are two:
  • One. The normal Beorning Class Forum Forum at lotro.com -> Character Creation and Development -> Beornings. https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?795-Beornings - This is where folks discuss the current in-game situation.
  • Two. The Bullroarer Forum when there is a new update up for testing. Update 16 is expected to be up on Bullroarer in the next week or so.
https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?787-Bullroarer-(Public-Test-Server)
Keep in mind that the Beorning is still very much a "work-in-progress" from Turbine's (and the players's) point of view, and that we expect (hope) for significant changes to the Beorning's portfolio with Update 16. One issue which is likely to cause much consternation -- the Beorning is still horribly Over Powered.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 07:20, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

Update 16 - Legendary Imbuement system - now up on Bullroarer

Keep in mind this is only the first Beta build

  1. Character wipe.
  2. No access to several areas including Osgiliath yet
  3. Release notes: https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7343316#post7343316
New page needing to be developed: Legendary Item Imbuement system - Legendary Items - U16 release notes are here
Other new pages needed:
Note that these instance names probably need to be "fixed."
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 17:44, 3 April 2015 (UTC)
Update 16 Developer Video Sneak Peek posted on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/R7LCFZMg3fs
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 15:31, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

U16 scheduled for May 4 Release.

(According to a post on Reddit, Frelorn announced the date in his Thursday Stream.)

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 13:09, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Update 16: Ashes of Osgiliath - official announcement

Update 16: Ashes of Osgiliath

https://www.lotro.com/en/u16


—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Magill (Contribs • User Talk).

How to create a new listing in the "Player Characters" listings

Hello. I'm new to the wiki, and already having trouble figuring out how to add my characters personal page to the "Player Characters" listings of player characters that have pages. I got the page made and fully ready to go, I just can't figure out how to add it to the list. Maybe I'm just a complete noob, but this is getting ridiculous.

I have the page in question I wish to add here: https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/User:Bulldozerman185/Adanelrond#Story

I hope I can receive some support soon. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bulldozerman185 (Contribs • User Talk) at 09:49, 8 May 2015‎.

Hi Bulldozerman! Thanks for your question. In order to add your character's page to a category listing, like Category:Gladden Player Characters, for example, you'll need to add a category tag to the end of your page. This looks like [[Category:XYZ]] where XYZ is the name of the category you want to add to - Gladden Player Characters, Guardian Player Characters, Elf Player Characters, and so on (mind the proper capitalization!) - although you'll need one tag for each category. Once you do this on Adanelrond's page, you should see him appear in the correct listings, although it may take some time for the software to update things behind the scenes.
As an alternative, if you take a look at Example-Player Character, you'll see a nice little purple and white box on the right side of the page - that's called the {{Player Character}} template and you can try adding it to your character's page, as well - it will take care of all the categorization automatically. You have all the necessary information entered on your character page already; you just need to change the format a little bit (add curly braces and "=" like you see in the code for Example-Player Character).
Hope this gets you going in the right direction - feel free to post back if you need more assistance. :) Sethladan 16:15, 8 May 2015 (UTC)
Your page, when you asked the question, did not use the "{{Player Character" template. Had you added that first, you would have discovered that the other 3 statements were un-necessary.
In general, this is true for most categorization on the Wiki -- Many templates automatically insert the page information into the correct. pre-defined category so that you don't need to guess which categories are the "correct" ones. It saves a lot of typing and it makes it easier for global changes to be made.
(I've updated your page that way.)
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 06:13, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

New producers letter - major changes outlined

Vyvyanne's Summer (May) producers letter is now posted from the Front page -- major changes afoot!

16.1 up on Bullroarer (27 May)

Note that in the release notes there are a LOT of "old world" changes/fixes/updates.

https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569321-Update-16-1-Release-Notes-PRELIMINARY-AND-NON-FINAL-BULLROARER-ONLY

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 10:59, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Infinite Crisis has failed. Closing August 14.

See: https://www.infinitecrisis.com/en/news/infinite-crisis-closing-august-14th-2015

Frelorn't post https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7379033#post7379033

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 01:44, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

16.2 Open Beta - PVMP in Osgilliath! begins "this weekend" - Cosmetic Weapons!

16.2 Open Beta - PVMP in Osgilliath! begins "this weekend" - Cosmetic Weapons!

Patch server is/was up earlier, don't know if it will be updated again, but the "usual" is to open Bullroarer sometime on Thursday for the weekend.

https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=7392409

Originally posted by Vyvanne:
SOON!....LOL
But seriously, 16.2 will enter Open beta this weekend so please go check it out on Bullroarer if you have the chance. This will include the new PvMP zone, Adventures of Bingo Boffin and Cosmetic Weapons! Live release will be mid-summer.
Update 17 is slated for the Fall. It is still to far out to be providing accurate details at this point.


https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7392508#post7392508[/url

Originally posted by Vyvanne:
Regular updates and no expansion packs is the current plan. We are doing new regions every full number update (U16, U17, etc) In between those (15.2, 16.2, etc) we are doing system work and smaller content drops like the PvMP map and Bingo Boffin.
The ranged weapons issue is a bug, I will have to look and see if that is something we have corrected, I am not sure that we have.
As for Cosmetic Weapons they work the same as cosmetic armor. You will have three new slots on your wardrobe for putting in any weapon or shield that you own. There will be some compatibility issues with certain items, but you will get a tool tip on the wardrobe for that slot telling you why they are not compatible and the visuals will default to the equipped weapon. There will be some bugs as we roll this out the first time as there are thousands of potential combos, but we are really happy to have it where it is and hope to expand upon it in coming updates.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 17:38, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

A new sticky for Bullroarer Client downloads has been posted.

A new sticky for Bullroarer Client downloads has been posted. (25 June 2015).

https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?571061-Bullroarer-client-Installer-DOWNLOAD-LINKS

It includes a link for a new Mac Client for Bullroarer!

Originally posted by Tybur
The PC downloader/installer for the Bullroarer Public Preview Client is available:
https://content.turbine.com/sites/clientdl/lotro/preview/lotropreview.exe
The Mac downloader/installer for the Bullroarer Public Preview Client is available:
https://content.turbine.com/sites/clientdl/lotro/preview/lotropreview.dmg
To download The Lord of the Rings Online Live client installer please visit our website:
https://www.lotro.com/en/game/download
Some Notes:
  • This should not overwrite your existing Bullroarer install if you install by defaults.
  • If you decide to use a custom install, please take note of where the installer wants to install the game by default before changing the path. If it is installing anywhere other than 'The Lord of the Rings Online - Public Preview' by default then please let us know!
  • This is a full installer package. If you already have a working Bullroarer client, you do not need to use this installer.
Akamai Netsession

The Akamai NetSession client allows us to quickly and reliably deliver fresh LOTRO client installations to you, and assist in the repair of missing or corrupted files in current game installations. The client utilizes Akamai’s large network of edge servers to deliver this content to you from a location which is deemed geographically closest to you, and ensures that we are able to efficiently and effectively get you what you need to play LOTRO. Although some versions of the Akamai NetSession client used by other software providers utilize Peer-to-Peer technology, we have decided not to use P2P for LOTRO. What this means is that Akamai NetSession will NOT use peer-to-peer when delivering LOTRO-related content. Once you install the LOTRO client, or patch your game, it will be possible to uninstall Akamai NetSession from your computer, and NetSession will not reinstall unless it is necessary to deliver a deleted file or a fresh installation. Typical game updates will not require the use of Akamai NetSession.

Please post any feedback about the installers that you may have in this thread, and please report any bugs you encounter.
Enjoy!

Adding Osgilliath PvMP area

It appears that access to Osgilliath is going to be via the Moors. So obviously we need to link it there -- but the main question is what/how do we call it since Osgilliath is a major location in the normal world.
Should we just call the new area "Osgilliath (PvMP)" and ignore how cumbersome that is -- i.e. to tack "Osgilliath (PvMP)" to all pages, NPCs, etc, in the new area?
I have not compared the two maps yet, to see if there are only one or two common names, or many.
  • Comments?
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 02:59, 27 June 2015 (UTC)
I am testing Osgiliath PvMP over the weekend escessively and will start adding its content on Monday. I suggest we simply add its content to the existing PvMP pages since it is not an entirely new system but simply an additional map - quests give the same rewards, drops are the same, capturing keeps and flags is the same. I will get to that starting next week. --Tharondir (talk) 12:54, 27 June 2015 (UTC)
It will be interesting to see how the new map evolves, if it does. After all, it is only build one, with probably 4-5 weeks until release.
Commentary so far has been pretty negative, but then that is typical.
PKCrichton wrote the most constructive comment I've seen:
Originally posted by PKCrichton:
So I've been thinking over this map some more. I like the general design but it needs some more to it.
There needs to be incentives to Controlling Points.
  • Do we get Buffs of some sort?
  • Do we unlock the ability to go into certain areas of Osgiliath that are locked otherwise like the Delving used to be.
  • Dome of the Stars
  • Sewers
  • Why not utilize the Roving Threat Mechanic that when a Control Point is active for a certain group that somewhere on the map a type of Roving Threat is added to the board thats friendly to that side?
Wasn't their talk of bringing in Siege Weapons for use?
  • Maybe having Control of Certain Points would bring in NPC use of Siege Weapons targeting different locations a bit like Attack At Dawn and Protectors of Thangulhad.
  • As far as "how to add" is concerned, I like the idea of using "The Sundering of Osgiliath as the base. That was the issue I was having trouble wrapping my brain around. Guess I'm simply not in-game enough lately (real-life can be really annoying) and one can get a really jaundiced view of things from the forums!
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 15:04, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

Attention WikiNerds - World Closures - Gilrain is closing!

Note that Gilrain is one of the EU worlds shutting down.

Many WIKI Editors have accounts on that world.

See: World Closure Announcement - 3 August 2015

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 09:13, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for the notice, Magill! Me, Fingolwe and EoD have moved to Laurelin. All wiki editors are of course welcome to join us for testing once again. If more follow, we can open our in-game custom channel again. :) --Ravanel (talk) 22:11, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

MMO Reporter Podcast with Athena and Andy at Turbine

. . . Then Cari gets a chance to talk to Athena and Andy at Turbine about the upcoming world changes, Minas Tirith, and the new hardware.

https://mmoreporter.com/2015/08/07/lotro-reporter-episode-286-a-chat-with-athena-and-andy/

The content is listed in sequence on the page.

The NEWS section begins at roughly 15 minutes in.
  • The DID YOU KNOW section begins at roughly 30 minutes in.
  • This section contains the two interviews - Athena (Vyvanne) Executive Producer and Andy (Frelon) Community Manager
  • Frelorn talks about PvmP around 50 minutes in (Maxed out PvMP at 300 People on-line) - cap is very related to the capabilities of the players PC, not server hardware!
Discussion of Minis Tirith (and the future) begins at 1 hour -- 7 levels in development!
  • Update 17 Siege of Minas Tirth
  • Update 18 Battle of Pelanor Fields
  • Change of loot system (again) for instances -- currently not planned
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 10:09, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

Crafting Tier 10 announced

Athena (Vyvyanne) announced on Thursday (13 August) that a new Crafting Tier - 10 - would be introduced in Update 17. Level 100 crafting recipes.

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 04:21, 16 August 2015 (UTC)
Roger that :) -Laineth (talk) 21:19, 16 August 2015 (UTC)
Interesting...
Mogafi (talk) 14:16, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Incorrect units

It's very strange to see something like "the time and range is 2m and 2m". I don't know if it's an American thing (done out of stubbornness, refusal to do the proper/logical thing), dyslexia, laziness or whatever.

It looks terrible. In every page I will edit, I will do the proper thing and advise other editors to do the same.

Mogafi (talk) 16:56, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

LOTRO Calendar

I would like to see a LOTRO calendar of events - if not in-game, then perhaps on this site. I've seen the calendar on the forums, but it doesn't seem to be kept up to date very much, and it is sometimes difficult to find which LOTRO events are coming up.

  • Any ideas as to how would be the best means to implement this?
  • Are there MediaWiki plugins already installed on this site to support this?
  • Would other be interested in having a LOTRO calendar of events as well?

ackleygc 17:11, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

The only source for event information IS the Forums. We have no mechanism to guess what Turbine is planning for the future -- or when.
We list the current special event on the WIKI home page, but only after someone has created the appropriate page.
What kind of plugin do you envision being able to create a calendar out of nothing? Unless Turbine posts the information someplace, there is nothing a Plugin could reference.
The idea is not unreasonable, but its execution is totally dependent upon Turbine. All your do is bug Frelorn to keep the Forum post current.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 02:02, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
Since the Seasonal schedule is posted in advance we could add a "next event" to the list. See it for Summer
Mogafi (talk) 03:15, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Type of creature: defender

All of this came to be because I was searching for NPCs that have a similar role to a pet (probably while doing a quest) but not Category:Escort Quests. I didn't find a list of such mobs but...

There is a type of creature that is missing from this wiki: the defender. It's not in neither in Difficulty indicators. In Difficulty indicators there is a red link to Freep Defender that has the same portrait frame as the defender but I'm not sure if it's not something only related to PvP.

It's also missing from Template:Creature and on top of that several/many of these mobs have the same name as the corresponding NPC.

Examples: Arvaethor, Jajax.

For now I've put those 2 in a category called Category:Defender and as I find more I'll add them too but I'm not sure what else needs to be done. Maybe create 1 page for the creature and leave the page of the NPC like it was?...

Mogafi (talk) 02:32, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Player-Character item/stat panel WIP

Hey,

I had started working on the template, but I honestly have no idea whether something like this is wanted in the community. I thought it would be something I would want for when or if I get around to making a PC page heh...
I had a look around for an existing template but nothing since 2013 which I think was left alone. I decided to put one together from a basic table template.
It is a WIP at the moment, have some plans to add to it. But I figured it would be best to get someone else's opinion on the matter before I go overboard.
Thoughts, comments or reprimands?

Ketrez (talk) 16:39, 17 September 2015 (UTC)

Work on character templates was basically abandoned in 2012 when Turbine eliminated access to data.lotro.com.
Primarily because that (data.lotro.com) was the source of all of the information which would complete the template, and prior to that emlimination, was available via an API; without access to that API keeping them updated was an incredibly tedious process.
Note that this was NOT the Lua API; which never had access to character information; and the Lua API was available only in-game, while the data.lotro.com API was available to any external program.
These were never popular nor advertised. Only two or three of us ever played with it.
One version is found with most of my toons: User:Magill/Toons
Other work:
Feel free to use any parts that you might find useful.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 23:11, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
I just want to add how incredibly useful I find sandbox pages. They're the hidden treasure of this wiki. Eventually if you search hard enough you find them and they always lead to something I didn't know before. Thanks for having them and I look forward to adding some of my own. Even the old information helps to explain why things are the way they are. I sometimes use google to search this site for "sandbox" and seek hidden treasure. So thanks for all those who make them. Acatlover2 (talk) 00:13, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Not sure if this is where I ask, but I hope

MMOrty (talk) 23:05, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

I would love to get my Kinship information up on the Landroval Kinship page, but when I edited it and added my Kinship I got an email an hour or so later stating my stuff was changed (removed).

What did I do wrong and how do I actually get my Kinship on this page. I made sure that my content was good and matched the other Kinships, so I am not sure why it was removed.

I have no idea what you are talking about. All the edits you did are still there. Have you ever considered that you might be going crazy? (just kidding)
Maybe the email is the one that the system sends when there is a change to a page that you have in your "watchlist". If that is the case, then you are going to receive one every time that someone edits the page. That kind of email is annoying (to me) and it can be configured/disabled in your "preferences".
Welcome and happy editing.
Mogafi (talk) 14:50, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

MMOrty (talk) 16:36, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

LOL, I think someone just edited the page after me and accidentally pasted over my stuff. I fixed it and it's still there. Thank you so much for your friendly reply. I hope to help editing the site in the future. I see the "Watch this page" box ... going to have to unclick it ... thanks for the warning.

Update 17

Update 17 beta 1 is now up on Bullroarer:

  • Update 17 includes Old Anórien with three new regions (Talath Anor, Pelennor Fields, and Minas Tirith), two new epic battles, a new crafting tier, and an extension of the imbued legendary item system. You can also see a beta version of our new Store.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 00:47, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
  • I've started to throw some boilerplate together and update some links.
Maps are probably final compared to previous build 1 maps. I haven't liked them to the tooltip coords yet.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 04:37, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
I'll check out the new crafting tier on BR. How does one generate a list of items like this one? -Laineth (talk) 16:46, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
Brute force -- start with the release notes; then add the "known links" here on the Wiki, where known is "those you know about :);
then copy the headings from Egolass' page and "fill-in the blanks."
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 18:41, 3 October 2015 (UTC)
I was thinking an item database scanner, like for the LOTRO Compendium. Thanks to Eggolass's lists, I knew how many recipes I was missing, etc. -Laineth (talk) 03:03, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

Minas Tirith is truly awe-inspiring! Turbine has done a fabulous job with the city.

Visit this thread for a collection of snap shots: https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?578448-Minas-Tirith-Snap-Shots-(Build-1)
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 10:35, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

NPC Images in Build 1

As many NPCs still use placeholder apperances (Beregond for example) I think we should wait before uploading images for them until they are changed, otherwise we will need to update them. --Tharondir (talk) 06:18, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
Duh... yeah. Good point.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 02:08, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Help us test the new Datacenter this Saturday October 24th 5-7PM Eastern and win prizes!

Posted by Frelorn - https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?580306-Help-us-test-the-new-Datacenter-this-Saturday-October-24th-5-7PM-Eastern-and-win-prizes!

This Saturday October 24th from 5-7PM Eastern we need your help testing our new Datacenter on Bullroarer. We need as many players as possible to log onto Bullroarer and play. Many members of the team will be on hand running live events and chatting with players in Bree. Everyone who logs into Bullroarer during this event will be eligible to win one of the following prizes: A lifetime account, 10,000 Turbine points, and 1000 Turbine points. Everyone who logs will get 100 Turbine points added to their accounts when we hand out the prizes. You can download the Bullroarer client here: https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?571061-Bullroarer-client-Installer-DOWNLOAD-LINKS

Thank you everyone for your help with this and we are looking forward to seeing you all there this Saturday.

Should be fun -- Bullroarer has Update 17 loaded so you can run around in Minas Tirith!
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 03:27, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
Wow, a possible lifetime account just for doing a stress test and a guaranteed 100 TP. Nice! I installed Bullroarer yesterday just for those extra 100 TP. :D Balorgor (talk) 05:07, 22 October 2015 (UTC)

Update 17 preview on Twitch

Frelon, MadeofLions, VyVyanne and others talk about Update 17 for an hour:

https://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream/v/21884357

merge clarification?

I noticed there are 2 pages for Quest:The Frostbluff Theater. I updated one of them to include a how-to on participating in the play. The other one I didn't discover until later... had an explanation already. I can't really tell the difference in titles between the two pages, but this link takes you to one of them: https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Quest:The_Frostbluff_Theatre Oh I see, it's a spelling difference for the word theater/theatre. Probably -re is correct for old English, but I'm not sure in game, I'd have to look.

Anyway, I tried using the instructions for merging, but when I do that, it gives me some weird code looking result. I could use a clearer example of the syntax. The current one is a bit vague and seems to have brackets in places I wouldn't expect, like around [target=]<name of page to be merged> ... I would expect it to be [target=<name of page>] and maybe in the syntax, the brackets are supposed to only show that field as required, maybe you don't add the brackets? Anyway I'm not sure how to use it. The ways I've tried led to bad results in preview. Thanks for help on this!
Edit: Also, do I place the merge request before or after the Infobox? Acatlover2 (talk) 00:02, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

1- The two quests ARE different, and not just in spelling.
Quest:The Frostbluff Theater - is the dialog you will(should) get the first time you visit theater
Quest:The Frostbluff Theatre - is the dialog you will(should) get on any return visit.
Aa I recall, the Theater quests require multiple visits before you get to see the correct play(s).
2- Template: Merge - Note what this looks like when used with no arguments {{:Template: Merge}}
When the second parameter is included {{Template: Merge| discussion=[[a talk page]]}} you get:
The First parameter can be inserted in either of two ways: {{{Merge|[[this page]]}} and {{Merge|target=[[This page also]]}}
the < > syntax is basically BNF, not WIKI. The explanation is somewhat confusing as the first parameter can be either a keyword, or positional.
Hope this makes some sense Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 01:30, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
Oh now I see, thank you. I guess then it's a simpler matter of adding some categories and maybe a walkthrough message saying "this one is first-time dialog if looking for repeated dialog, go here" etc. Much appreciated. Acatlover2 (talk) 22:29, 25 December 2015 (UTC)


Grumble -- bug is back, or we never fixed this on this template!

Indent is failing to reset. Have to go look at the template.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 00:24, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

It's a problem with the software or with {{ambox}} but it looks more like a problem with the software and how it handles indentation. All other templates (that use ambox) suffer from this, for example {{merge}}, {{Delete Page}}, {{stub}}, {{Accuracy}}, etc. See this:

--- Removed so the page doesn't look like crap ---

And now I've messed the page even more! :p

Mogafi (talk) 16:27, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

I have to hunt a bit on this one. User Talk: Sethladan and I worked on this problem before with the page: Article Management Tags/Display. He is/was in Graduate School and, as far as I know hasn't been logged in since the spring of this year.
Off and on, he and I have tried to "clean-up" the various templates and their documentation -- trying to standardize usages, formats and the like (aka - The Great Documentation Project).
In the case of ambox, note that it is also involved with MediaWiki:Common.css
{{ambox}} is one of the templates drug over from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Ambox long ago in 2008 and, as you can see from its doc page, was never really completely "internalized" for lotro-wiki. I.e.its parameters never fully documented for lotro-wiki.
From what I can tell, Ambox has been replaced by Mbox on MediaWiki.
I'm not a template expert, but from what I can tell, there are only a few parameters actually parsed by the template; and a number of them listed on the doc page, which are not.
  • There is ?obviously? a lot of cruft in the template that can probably simply be deleted. If you are so inclined, feel free to clean it up.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk
I gave this a second thought and did a page with this:
before table

:<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
table text
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

after table

The result is this:


before table

table text

after table


It also has the problem. This proves that the template ambox and all the CSS specific to ambox are NOT GUILTY!

This leaves us with only 2 sources for the problem: The general CSS for tables (not for indentation as indentation works fine without tables); or the mediawiki software.

My bet is still on the software.

Mogafi (talk) 22:07, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Yeap. Software problem. [1] I'm not going to worry about this further.

Mogafi (talk) 22:52, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for finding that information!
Looks like MediaWiki is in need of some programming support! :) Although much of that backlog list are enhancement requests, not bug reports.
The interesting question is -- that entry is marked "Closed, Resolved" -- so the question becomes did it ever get FIXED.
I have not worked with phabracator, and dont know the MediaWiki bug processing system, so I don't know if the 6776 hits I get in a search - in particular the "Merge pull request #6776 from yifan-gu/puller" got merged. [2]
And, I am not finding the original 6776 bug report.
It appears to have been merged, but no indication about which release of MediaWiki the patch is in or if (since it appears to be dated April 2015) if it is yet to be available.
We are running a release from November 2015, so if that fix is in, it appears to not work and needs to get "re-activated" or whatever they do with such things.
Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 15:53, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
phabricator didn't impress me. Meh...
If you want to pass this to the admins go ahead. I think I'm done with this one. :)
Mogafi (talk) 04:38, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Frostbluff 2015

I'm also wondering if there already exists a 2015 version of the main Frostbluff page or if I should attempt to add one. This year's rewards for festival tokens is a different horse (new one each year), and the part that has me excited is the Essence Reclamation Scroll available for tokens. It has been noted that we can now cheer the same snow-beast 3x. Not sure if that's a bug or an intentional simplification of the quest. If it's intentional, it would be good to note it in the current year's page. I haven't found one yet though. Acatlover2 (talk) 22:34, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

Differences exist for all of the various festivals. Check how the other Festivals track their annual versions.
Category: Yule Festival
Yule Festival - index page -- Generally speaking there is one page for each festival for each year.
  • As I'm looking at things, there is a lot of cross-indexing that should be done. (As you have discovered, finding things can be problematic.)
(These are simply stream of thought ideas, not particularly well thought out.)
There should be some kind of top-level category which lists all of the related subcategories. Probably with a name like Category: Festival since that seems to be what they are all called currently. (Perhaps just a re-direct to Category:Special Events? Maybe just adding the Special Events template to many things.)
The page Festivals (which contains a navigation template) -- and the Category:Special Events and Special Events which includes Category:Seasonal Content
Winter-home does not mention the seasonal nature of the Yule/Winter Festival
Category:Festival Quests - also makes no mention of the other categories to look at for information.
Category:Seasonal Content
Feel free to take on the task :) Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 00:56, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
Allright, thanks :) I'll see what I can do. Acatlover2 (talk) 18:56, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

After some thought, I like the idea of having a generic wrapper category "Special events" and the page with that name is already very helpful, so I'll be adding that tag to the festival pages and put an "also see" into the Festivals page since Hobnanagans is a recurring event, not a Festival in the strict sense. It also gives flexibility to add "bring the hobbits to Isengard" and other events... "bring a chicken to Minas Tirith" etc. If there is interest or if that event will occur again. I'll have to look into those events. For the moment I've added some notes to the general Frostbluff page noting that other activities are also "live" while Frostbluff is on. I noticed that the Special events page also lists that so there may be some redundancy to remove later. Adding a 2015 page I've prioritized first though. Redundant isn't as bad as missing. I'll do my best to learn how to add pictures, at least of the new horse this year. Acatlover2 (talk) 23:56, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Make sure you follow the rule "1 category per line". ;) It makes things easier.
Mogafi (talk) 15:13, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
Oh, I was wondering if that was a format rule, thank you. Acatlover2 (talk) 02:30, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

"The Great Cosmetic Lotro-Wiki Project"

This is a post I made in the LOTRO forums (here):

I've only recently started to pay attention to the cosmetic part of the gear and weapons. So sometimes I would like to have a place to check which cosmetics there are.

I discovered a software made by Castorix that has all of this in the following thread: https://forums-old.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?563678-gt-lt-Desperately-seeking-a-quot-searchable-database-quot-for-gear-gt-lt&p=7378313#post7378313

However I think it would be really helpful if the Lotro-Wiki had a cosmetic view for each item we can equip. So I invite everyone to pick the database made by Castorix and put a screenshot of the cosmetics in the Lotro-Wiki. I think each item should have a page with a screenshot of it, but I also think it would be very useful to have galleries of images for each kind of items (1H swords, light shields, cloaks, etc) so that people searching from cosmetics could quickly scroll through the page(s) and look for a item they like.

In the database there are also Anórien stuff so I think it's up to date. Many cosmetics (only checked the shields) have the same appearance but I think that should be correct?

I also would like to ask Turbine to allow us to re-obtain items that are awarded to us by quest. Make a place is Lalia's Market or something where we can buy an item as long as we have completed the quest that awards it. Because otherwise it's impossible to have again that awesome lv 11 sword that we trashed long time ago.

So is anyone willing to help me upgrading the Lotro-Wiki?

So what do you, LOTRO-Wiki contributors think of this? --JCamara (talk) 15:48, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

With the huge number of items, I think it would need too many people and a lot of time to do this manually (and many items are not in Wiki, mainly mobs drops at various levels like 50-65)
For LID, I generated cosmetics programmatically (I fix some manually from time to time when they have not been recorded correctly), otherwise I would have needed several years
(for example, just for the cloaks (categories Back + CosmeticBack), there are nearly 2000)
The LID database is auto-updatable, but I need to connect to the game to launch some scripts.
I did it for U17, but I cannot connect since because of ISP¨problems (I will update it for U17.2 or later, if possible...)
--Castorix (talk) 12:54, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
Yes, I am aware it would take a long time, that's why I named it "Great Project" :) In any case in your program most items seem to have a lot of duplicates, I was checking the cloaks and I really doubt there are 2000.
In any case the minimal work would be to create a gallery for each kind of item so people can look at what cosmetics exist and what item they are (many items share the same cosmetic too). With a printscreen program like Gadwin you can quickly save picture files for each item, take note of the ones that share the same cosmetic and then you "only" need to upload them to the wiki and to the gallery page.--JCamara (talk) 13:59, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
I certainly like the idea, but I agree with Castorix. This will require a bot that can withdraw items from the database into the wiki. Even then, we would need to manually add screenshots for every item there is in the game. That is a LOT of items to check. Say we had 10 people actively working on this, we would still need to make thousands of screenshots per person. Unless Turbine would help us out in some way to make it easier, I don't really see it happen. I do think it's a good addition to the wiki though, don't get me wrong. I certainly like the idea. ^^ --Freepy (talk) 17:12, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
Yeah, I agree with Castorix and Freepy, this is a great idea, but it looks much more feasible on paper than in reality. We do have screenshots for some items, but definitely not all. Now, what would be more feasible is if an editor/editors concentrated on one section at a time, ie. Store Cosmetics, and then move on to Skirmish Camp Cosmetics, etc. Balorgor (talk) 18:49, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
I know this would take a long time to do, but I think it's something that I'm willing to at least try to see how fast can we build a gallery. Of course we should do it in an organized way, the program itself divides it by item category, not places where they are acquired (I think?). Can I get a test page or something for me to start uploading a gallery, just to see how many pics per hour can I produce and upload? I would start by shields (light shield first)--JCamara (talk) 12:56, 3 January 2016 (UTC)
If the project is too big, maybe we could just focus on the prettiest and/or rarest stuff? Some is better than nothing :) Though it would be very nice to also have an up to date list of what cosmetics are actually Store Exclusive and which ones can be gotten in game --Taivas (talk) 14:08, 3 January 2016 (UTC)
Here is out gallery with a lot of pictures in it already - Outfits. There are a few more lists, and you can find many of them on the bottom of this page - Cosmetic. (There are probably others, but under less obvious names. Try looking under store cosmetics, skirmish camps, etc.) I also created a test page for you at User:JCamara/Sandbox, and put the link for it on your user page. Feel free to mess around on it as much as you want. Balorgor (talk) 21:21, 3 January 2016 (UTC)
Thanks! I am now currently taking screens of the (light) shields and put in a txt the shields that share the same cosmetic. I am taking note of the name, the rarity and the level of the item and the minimum level it can be equipped. We will later need to know where they come from, but one thing at a time. I found 2 shields with the same name, levels and rarity but have different cosmetics, in these I also put the ID to distinguish them. This will take a while, but I can definitively do it. There aren't THAT many different shields so far so I don't have a huge amount of screenshots. Sometimes they are the same shield with a different size, I tried to take screens for these different sizes but sometimes the difference is so minimal I put them in the same file. Some shields look too big so I think the size sometimes should not be the correct one displayed. When I finish this I'll zip/rar them for you to see how I'm doing it and I'll start to create a gallery in the sandbox page you created for me. Meanwhile see the screens (and info) I have taken: https://www.mediafire.com/?nb12zrk73nxeal6. I have done about 10% if we look at the bar but further down in the list warden shields start to appear and the items start to have quadruplicates instead of duplicates, so I think I have done more than 10%. In the forum people called my attention to a plugin that shows your character equipped with a certain item. It would be wise to present the plugin (Item Manager - https://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info709-ItemManager.html) in the beginning of an hypothetical gallery and saying it's better for people to check ingame if the cosmetic they have seen in the gallery matches perfectly in their character, specially the size that may be a bit off.--JCamara (talk) 12:52, 4 January 2016 (UTC)