Want one get the other.

[Angis]

Why does the "Lorebook" in game open to "My Lotro"? It's the Lorebook NOT My Lotro. Why do I click the "Lorebook" button and get "My Lotro"?

OK you get the point. Please fix it.

Oh and also... fix all the blank pages and slow loading.

[Duwis]

Why does the "Lorebook" in game open to "My Lotro"? It's the Lorebook NOT My Lotro. Why do I click the "Lorebook" button and get "My Lotro"?

Basically, this is a matter of "Yes, it is annoying, but there are more critical things to fix in the game than updating a button label." Eventually, the button will read something more appropriate. However, we were not going to wait for a label to change to roll out the ability to access forums, Lorebook, and my.lotro.com while in-game.

We felt that giving players the tools to check forums threads, Lorebook articles, and update their blog while in game was too compelling (YMMV) to hold up.

[Maxal]

good answer. rep for you!!!!!

[KouklaGirl]

I use the Steam client. The in-game browser is way too slow for me.

[Beldacar]

Basically, this is a matter of "Yes, it is annoying, but there are more critical things to fix in the game than updating a button label." Eventually, the button will read something more appropriate. However, we were not going to wait for a label to change to roll out the ability to access forums, Lorebook, and my.lotro.com while in-game.

We felt that giving players the tools to check forums threads, Lorebook articles, and update their blog while in game was too compelling (YMMV) to hold up.

Yeah, my mileage varies quite a bit. I no longer try to access the Lorebook in-game at all specifically because of the additional time the window now takes to open because of the other stuff (not to mention sometimes it fails to open at all, yielding a big black block in the middle of my screen). Lorebook in-game used to be marginally useful, but now with the added clutter it is utterly useless to me. Quicker and easier to Alt-Tab out and open a real browser window instead.

Sorry to be a downer, just calling it the way I see it.

[Duwis]

Lorebook in-game used to be marginally useful, but now with the added clutter it is utterly useless to me. Quicker and easier to Alt-Tab out and open a real browser window instead.

Sorry to be a downer, just calling it the way I see it.

As a player, I feel your pain. However, the browser tech is not my bailiwick. Make sure to let your browser pains be heard in the Suggestions forum where the appropriate blue names are more likely to lurk. I know I keep asking/hoping for a resizable browser window.

[BINKLEY1]

We felt that giving players the tools to check forums threads, Lorebook articles, and update their blog while in game was too compelling (YMMV) to hold up.

Yes!

Good call, thank you.

One suggestion: Automating screen capture to post on my blog. Sure, sure, there are issues of disk space, etc. (Perhaps an agreement with Google or Photobucket, et al, or a way for users to wire in their external picture-storage?)

But the utter COOLNESS of one-click in-game publishing is huge!

[Duwis]

Perhaps an agreement with Google or Photobucket, et al, or a way for users to wire in their external picture-storage?

This is something we always have in consideration; we've learned a lot through the on-going beta of my.lotro.com and are taking items like these into consideration for the next big iteration. Which, of course, is coming In the near future(tm).

[Feybobiam]

Just want to chime in here and say that I LOVE the new integrated-account-cluster thing being fully accessible by in-game. It'll make me more prone to actually posting on my my.lotro.com (lolololol) now, I think. Easier access is good! Fantastic job, Duwis! /salute

Quick question from a kinmate of mine, since I use autologin and wouldn't know: Does being logged into LotRO's gameplay servers (and thus your Turbine account) also log in to the forum account cluster (Forums, Lorebook, my.lotro.com), since forum accounts are bound to Turbine accounts?

[pwnzer]

Basically, this is a matter of "Yes, it is annoying, but there are more critical things to fix in the game than updating a button label."

I LoL'ed.

Good One Turbine.

[Duwis]

Quick question from a kinmate of mine, since I use autologin and wouldn't know: Does being logged into LotRO's gameplay servers (and thus your Turbine account) also log in to the forum account cluster (Forums, Lorebook, my.lotro.com), since forum accounts are bound to Turbine accounts?

Yes, when you click the Lorebook button in-game, we are able to automatically have the in-game browser log you into the forums, et al.

[aleczander]

Yes, when you click the Lorebook button in-game, we are able to automatically have the in-game browser log you into the forums, et al.

That's cool.

Frankly, the only thing that stops most of my kinnies from using the lore-book every single day, is... the load time. Fix the browser speed to feel as responsive as in game menus/panels, and you'll see usage numbers explode.

[Duwis]

Frankly, the only thing that stops most of my kinnies from using the lore-book every single day, is... the load time. Fix the browser speed to feel as responsive as in game menus/panels, and you'll see usage numbers explode.

We do constantly look at page optimization and know that factors into the equation. Make sure to poke the appropriate blue names in the Suggestions forums as well so they can look at the browser tech side.

[BINKLEY1]

We do constantly look at page optimization and know that factors into the equation. Make sure to poke the appropriate blue names in the Suggestions forums as well so they can look at the browser tech side.

I presume (correct me if wrong) that you are calling out to embedded IE to load the pages -- the layout and color tinting looks that way to me.

You might experiment with embedded Firefox or Chrome. They both have significantly better performance (faster loading/redisplay, lower memory footprints). Comparisons on are rife. This one is laid out nicely for the pointy-haired types:

http://sixrevisions.com/infographs/browser-performance/

The only niggle with Chrome is that my.lotro.com pages do not all display correctly, e.g., the lottery scroll lists on the left cut off some of the last text rows.

Embedding IE is tricky, of course, because of the version number problem -- not sure about LOTRO but a lowest-common-denominator approach for embedded IE is common in other programs to maximize the shippable Windows platforms. Performance is noticeably better in IE8 over IE7 or (ick) 6.

[Beldacar]

Yes, when you click the Lorebook button in-game, we are able to automatically have the in-game browser log you into the forums, et al.

Is there any way to turn that feature OFF? (to speed up loading)

[Sonsy]

Bug??? I'd say this is a nice feature! I clicked on the Lorebook button the other day to look something up. Instead, my My LotRO page appeared. I noticed that all my lottery entries had expired, so I clicked to see if there were more available. There were, in fact, and I signed my characters.

The next day, I discovered that my last two eligible characters had won a Spring Festival horse from that very lottery!


Ok, so it's still a bug, but it's a bug that I don't mind quite so much.

[Beldacar]

Bug??? I'd say this is a nice feature! I clicked on the Lorebook button the other day to look something up. Instead, my My LotRO page appeared. I noticed that all my lottery entries had expired, so I clicked to see if there were more available. There were, in fact, and I signed my characters.

The next day, I discovered that my last two eligible characters had won a Spring Festival horse from that very lottery!


Ok, so it's still a bug, but it's a bug that I don't mind quite so much.

You have amazing luck with those lotteries. Of my 3-5 eligible characters (first weekend it was for level 30+, this weekend they made it 35+), not a single one has won a horse. Some of my alts have won the Spring is Sprung and April Showers lotteries six times each, but not a single horse in sight :^P

The Blue Roan is so nice-looking, though, that I went through the effort of running the race and picking up the leaves on my Elf Hunter, just to be sure I got one....

[Duwis]

I presume (correct me if wrong) that you are calling out to embedded IE to load the pages -- the layout and color tinting looks that way to me.

Incorrect; way back before I began to toil in the mines, as I understand it, the in-game browser called out to the version of IE installed on your PC. This performed less than optimal and was turned off.

What the game has now is a custom Mozilla/Gecko build. I'm not close enough to the game tech to comment beyond that, but what is in the client is a full-fledged but customized version of a Mozilla/Gecko browser.

[Duwis]

Is there any way to turn that feature OFF? (to speed up loading)

If speeding up things were that simple, we already would have done it.

[BINKLEY1]

What the game has now is a custom Mozilla/Gecko build.

Huzzah! Glad to hear it.

[Sandriell]

Yes, when you click the Lorebook button in-game, we are able to automatically have the in-game browser log you into the forums, et al.

Does it accomplish this by sending your Turbine game acccount to the web server for authentication? If so, it is this a secure connection?

[Fredelas]

Incorrect; way back before I began to toil in the mines, as I understand it, the in-game browser called out to the version of IE installed on your PC. This performed less than optimal and was turned off.

What the game has now is a custom Mozilla/Gecko build. I'm not close enough to the game tech to comment beyond that, but what is in the client is a full-fledged but customized version of a Mozilla/Gecko browser.

It is in fact a customized version of Gecko 1.8.1, the same branch of Mozilla that was used for Firefox 2.0 starting in late 2006.

The browser was actually "built" from source about two years ago on May 27, 2008. It may include patches for security vulernabilities discovered up to that time.

The Mozilla foundation no longer produces any security updates for this branch, although some Linux vendors who still ship browsers based on it do. For example, there are at least 3 critical vulnerabilities for 1.8.1 that have surfaced in the past year alone (MFSA 2009-48, MFSA 2209-57, MFSA 2010-7).

There's a good chance some of these vulnerabilities may not impact the browser in LOTRO, since it is fairly stripped down already. However, you may want to avoid viewing non-Turbine sites using the in-game browser just to be safe. Turbine has thoughtfully included a warning page within the browser itself to remind you of this.

[Penter-Kar]

Is there any way to turn that feature OFF? (to speed up loading)

The forums, Lorebook, and my.lotro.com are all linked to one log in. When you log into one of them, you are logged into all of them. When you open it up in-game the delay is not from logging into all three sites, but rather from the my.lotro.com site being loaded as the default.

[BINKLEY1]

What the game has now is a custom Mozilla/Gecko build.

Spifftastic.

Have you considered pre-warming the render engine in a low-priority background thread so it runs crisply when the in-game lorebook is first loaded? (I'm sure you have, but the professional in me requires I ask.)

[Banaticus]

We could already access the forums and everything else from in game. Almost a year ago (in July 2009) I made a forums page in the Lorebook which consisted of nothing more than a link to the forums:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Forums 2 July 2009
And earlier than that, I made a my.lotro.com page in the Lorebook which consisted of a link to my.lotro.com:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/My.lotro.com 26 June 2009

On 26 June 2009, I made a thread in these Lorebook forums entitled "Visiting my.lotro.com via the ingame browser" in which I told about how excited I was to be posting to my.lotro.com from inside the game and how to access it using the in-game Lorebook browser. That thread is still here in the forums and can be seen by going to:
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=276176

I usually just open up a new window, though, because 1) the in-game Lorebook browser is slower than dirt, 2) it doesn't allow anything else open over it and like most UI things it can't be resized because its static black background is made from a static black bmp image instead of CSS telling it to be black so I have to keep closing it down to do stuff, then waiting for the front screen to reload, then hitting back when I try to reopen it.

This change was "new" in that it changed the page that the in-game browser pointed to by default and thus made it more difficult to access the Lorebook, but it didn't really change anything, the in-game browser still works just as it did before.

I've also started threads in the past before asking if the ads could be removed for those of us who are logged in and who own the full version of the game (because we already own it, why bother advertising to us, it just increases the amount of data sent over your servers and wastes all of our time). Apparently time has been spent on more critical "updates" since then. Hopefully the distinction between F2P, Premium and VIP members will allow different Lorebook skins based on your user category.