Architecture — ROAR

ROARR — source architecture (v1.0)

Execution path

Player presses action-bar slot
       |
UseAction(slot, checkCursor, onSelf) wrapper
       |-- ensureLoaded() hydrates ROARRDB once
       |-- WATCH_MODE? -> print pressed slot
       |-- matches WATCH_SLOT? -> doBattleEmoteNow()
       |                          |-- check ENABLED
       |                          |-- check GetTime() - LAST_BATTLE_EMOTE_TIME >= BATTLE_COOLDOWN
       |                          |-- update LAST_BATTLE_EMOTE_TIME
       |                          |-- roll chance 1..100
       |                          '-- on success pick built-in emote and DoEmote(token)
       '-- delegate to captured _Orig_UseAction(slot, checkCursor, onSelf)

The order of operations is crucial: LAST_BATTLE_EMOTE_TIME is set before the chance check. A missed roll still postpones the next opportunity. The code does not inspect spell success or combat status.

Key components and defaults

Element	Purpose
`EMOTE_TOKENS_BATTLE`	Five strings: `ROAR`, `CHARGE`, `CHEER`, `BORED`, `FLEX`
`WATCH_SLOT`	Selected button number, initially none
`WATCH_MODE`	Temporary slot-discovery printout, not saved
`LAST_BATTLE_EMOTE_TIME`	Unsaved time of previous eligible chance attempt, initially 0
`BATTLE_COOLDOWN`	Nonnegative seconds; default `6`; no input-enforced maximum
`battle_chance`	Percentage `0..100`; default `100`
`ENABLED`	Defaults `true`; can be persisted through `on`/`off`
`ROARRDB`	Account-wide SavedVariables table for `slot`, `battle_cd`, `battle_chance`, `enabled`

Lifecycle

ensureLoaded() reads the saved table lazily on the first UseAction or /roarr call. PLAYER_LOGIN seeds math.random; PLAYER_LOGOUT copies the current in-memory slot, chance, cooldown, and enabled state to ROARRDB.

Possible edge case: no call to ensureLoaded() occurs explicitly in the login or logout event handler. In a session where the user never presses any hooked action and never issues /roarr, logout may write initial/default values over previous saved preferences. This is a source-supported concern, not an observed in-game failure.

The code registers no other events or background timer. Cooldown checks are made only on watched-slot presses.

The command parser

/roarr is parsed using string.gsub and Lua string.find, consistent with Lua 5.0-era syntax. Commands: slot, watch, chance, cd, on, off, info, reset, save, tutorial; unknown command prints usage.

Slot input is passed through tonumber but not clamped to valid integer slot IDs. Chance validates 0–100 inclusive; cooldown accepts any nonnegative number.

WoW integration

DoEmote(token) is the main output. If DoEmote does not exist, fallback uses SendChatMessage("makes a battle cry!", "EMOTE").
_Orig_UseAction is captured on file load and invoked after the emote attempt. Other addons with UseAction wrappers can affect call chains and load order.
The TOC sets Interface: 11200, Title: ROARR, Version: 1.0 and SavedVariables: ROARRDB.
There is no addon-to-addon messaging, distance attenuation, sound file, custom UI, runtime network sync, or source dependency on RoarForever.

Source risks to verify

Default timing on first press depends on initial LAST_BATTLE_EMOTE_TIME=0 and current GetTime(). math.randomseed can affect the global PRNG used by other Lua code. Built-in emote names and their output depend on the actual client. None of these behaviors was tested by the documentation update.

Document information

Source: roarr.lua and roarr.toc on main, inspected 2026-10-26. This is static inspection, not a live-client test.

ROAR: Architecture