Lua support is something I have been very much interested in. But, it isn't plausible to convert PEQ's quest scripts and DB tables over at the moment. If it could be made an optional supplementary component that would be ideal for now, so conversion could be done over time. Meaning, Perl and the DB are checked first, and then a Lua script is used if found. Conflicts would cause Lua to not load.
As you mentioned there isn't a whole lot Lua can do in the quest department that Perl can't. But, I certainly would love the option. You're right on the money when you say that Lua integrates better with C++ than Perl does (Let's face it, our Perl wrapper while it works well enough is ugly as sin.) So over time, I could very much see Lua depreciating Perl much like Perl depreciated our old .qst system simply due to the fact that new features have to be added to Perl, with Lua up to speed with the current EQEmu code they would pretty much just work. Though, in those days the quest scripts were far less complex so conversion was much, much easier. That's my biggest concern. Conversion would be a major undertaking and while many minor scripts could be automated, most of the raid and other major events would have to be done by hand. I've already looked into this in the past
I'm a DB guy, so I don't have too many problems with our current DB system. But I tend to like flatfiles as well, provided a suitable editor is created. I also like the idea of having spawns and especially grids script-able. Yes, Perl can be used but it isn't as elegant as Lua. It's clunky and slow. I think Lua is the key to recreating the truly dynamic world that exists on Sony's servers and that I have been chasing after forever. I think we've done a decent job over at PEQ and many of the zones do appear very dynamic to many folks. But truth be told in those same zones that I have practically memorized all the spawnpoints and the NPCs that could potentiality pop from them. In my ideal situation, I shouldn't be able to do that. (I'm talking about yard type zones, not dungeons which are static by nature.) I think I should be able to say well, there is a chance these guys could spawn in this general area, but I am not exactly sure where. But again, conversion is the big stepping stone here.
I think the long and short of it is I'd love Lua support, but it would need to be implemented in a way that conversion can be done over time. I doubt anybody in EQEmu has the time or man power to do a quick overnight conversion for their servers.