scionsoffate: Lotro music

Lotro music

Did you try the /music command in closed beta? Did you know that every race can play spontaneous (i.e. personal, self-created) music in LOTRO? Do you have a favorite keyboard mapping for playing music? Do you give a damn?

I did not try out /music in the closed beta. But realising that this is the last game I'm gonna buy for 18 months has made me consider that I'm more than willing to look into obscure or non-leveling aspects of game-play. So I've decided Kwee is gonna be a Minstrel. This scares the wits out of me because Minstrels are apparently the main healers in groups and I suck at situational awareness and manual dexterity. So, while I figure to be scorned in groups for not healing on time, I want to learn all I can about music.

If you've played with music in LOTRO I'd be interested in getting your thoughts here. Did you like it? Are you planning to pursue it? What features do you think are most needed to allow you to play well? And, do you think music should be played live, or allowed to be scripted/macroed?

That last question intrigues me. Playing music on a qwerty kbd can be very difficult. But if music can be scripted, then anyone can copy someone's script and sound like a pro with almost 0 real skill. IF we have to play "live," should there be an ingame skill that lets us learn more techniques? (I'm thinking sustain, vibrato, volume, accelerando and such.)

The devs have said they plan additions to the music system. For instance, they want to come up with a system whereby folks can play together defeating lag and other real-time constraints. But they haven't said that music will ever be a benefit to players or listeners. Wouldn't it be cool if some musicians in a pub conferred benefits on listeners like SWG dancers and musicians did? (Although how the game would differentiate between a poor version of Stairway to Heaven and a masterful rendition of an original tune is beyond me.)

Did you play with /music?
Did you like it?
Do you have a favorite keyboard mapping scheme? Why?
Do you plan to pursue music, even if it has no "levelling benefit" ingame?
What features would you like to see added to the music system?
What are your thoughts about "live versus Memorex?" That is, should a musician have to play each song in real-time on the keyboard, or should scripts/macros be allowed?
Do you have any thoughts about how individually played songs might buff other players? (This one is tough. I'd like musician expertise to matter, but how is an AI to judge?)