Forum:February Patch
With the feb patch coming, so are a TON of changes to the wiki. We need to create spell pages for the new creature buff spells, remove/retire old weapon buff spell pages, update all old quest armor with a weapon skill buff to the new buff. All quest weapons/rares will need to be updated. Rare crystals will need to be retired/replaced. I think the weapons pages can stay separated since you will still aug one weapon type. These are just initial thoughts, anyone else? --Immortalbob 01:47, 24 January 2012 (EST)
It's going to be a lot of work. Hell, we haven't even finished updating all the quest/trophy experience values from the Learning From Experience patch over a year ago. And now every weapon entry is going to have to be redone, along with a ton of other stuff. Although I left for other reasons, I'm glad I got out when I did. The wiki and the game are gonna be a mess for quite some time.
Now, that said, I have a few suggestions:
Melee/Missile weapon templates:
- Leave the " Weapon Type = " variable, since, as you said, there is supposed to be some aug for that.
- On the missile weapon template, simply add [[Category:Missile Weapon]] to the template itself, if my understanding is correct that bow/xbow/TW are all being merged into Missile Weapon skill.
- On the melee weapon template, add a new variable above weapon type, " Weapon Skill = " with the options being Heavy, Light, and Finesse. An automated find and replace could handle adding this variable (left blank) to every template, but getting the new skill type added will probably have to be done by hand.
- Update the table on the main skill page - should be simple enough.
- Update the {{Skills}} template, replacing the Weapons section with Heavy/Light/Finesee/Missile
- Optionally, add a "Retired" skills section at the bottom. Here we can list all the old item appraisal skills and the weapon skills.
- Keep all the old skill pages around as historical references, but remove any skill categories so they do not get listed as currently available skills.
- Keep old weapon skill spells around, but remove categories. Treat them as retired, and add the new spell buffs.
Misc:
- Anything that is no longer in the game due to these changes, e.g. weapon skill rare crystals, should be updated to be listed as retired.
- Make sure to check changes to the Sunstone Gauntlets, Ruined Amulets, Title Bestower Guild, Skill Temples, and any other things that had something for every weapon skill. I have no idea how the devs are going to handle some of this stuff. Ruined Amulets for example have an amulet for each weapon skill, but these are turned in for life prots/attributes. Not sure how this will be handled after the changes.
- Be sure to check out things that used weapon skills for a skill check. Atlans/Isparians, Composite Bow/Xbow/TW, crafting a few of the Arm, Mind, Heart items, and probably a few other things that aren't coming to mind right now.
Good luck to all the contributors that are still playing after Feb.
--An Adventurer 05:44, 24 January 2012 (EST)
I agree with all of this, we need a plan of attack... This may be what we need to work from as a list: [1] --Immortalbob 11:59, 24 January 2012 (EST)
A lot of things we need to know!! [2] --Immortalbob 12:14, 24 January 2012 (EST)
I've gone ahead and mocked up how i think the weapons list pages should sorta look post patch at User:Immortalbob/Sandbox using information in [3]. Also, I've made changes to the weapon template (now residing in Template:Sandbox) Ex: User:Immortalbob/Sandbox3. Any suggestions? --Immortalbob 13:52, 24 January 2012 (EST)
Oh, crap, I hadn't even thought of the weapon pages. I think those have to be completely redone. If we want the wiki to be organized the same way after the patch, that is, weapon listings based on the skill they use, we need to retire the Axes, Swords, etc pages and have Heavy Weapons, Light Weapons, Finesse Weapons, Missile Weapons, Two Handed Weapons (this is going more or less untouched, right?) and Thrown Weapons if they are not merging that with bow/xbow.
I have not been keeping up on all the details since I've quit, but from what I understand players are more likely to pick up one on the new combat skills and use all types of weapons (e.g. heavy weapons spec'd and using swords, maces, and axes) rather than picking up multiple skills and sticking to a single weapon type (e.g. trained/spec'd heavy/light/finesse and only using swords). So IMO it would make the most sense to list weapons by their new skill rather than by spec bonus.
Then on the new weapon skill pages, we'd add a new column "Weapon Type" for the specialization bonus weapon classes of Sword, Axe, Spear, etc.
As for your weapon template mock-up, looks good to me, I can only think of a few minor tweaks:
- Change the Category from "Heavy Combat" to "Heavy Combat Weapon". This goes with the naming convention we already have with Category:Two Handed Weapon, Category:Thrown Weapon, and Category:UA Weapon.
- Change the order the categories appear in so that they are listed as <Item Type> | <Weapon Skill> | <Specialization>, e.g.: Weapon | Heavy Combat Weapon | Axe.
--An Adventurer 02:27, 25 January 2012 (EST)
Weapon template sandbox updated, If that's good then i'm going to move the changes over prior to the patch so we dont have to hammer the wiki while lots of users are trying to access after patch.
Another thing to start thinking about now:
So, every weapon entry we have, except possibly some 2H weapons, is going to have a retired version (The current version using current skills). What are we going to do about retired versions of weapons that are still in the game, and I assume have to be updated to use the new skills? The first weapon that comes to mind is the Sword of Lost Light.
All of the info on Sword of Lost Light (Retired) would be moved to Sword of Lost Light (Retired 1). And all of the info on Sword of Lost Light would be moved to Sword of Lost Light (Retired 2). But what about those old school SoLLs that are still in the game? I assume they'll have to use Heavy Weapon Skill, since Sword won't exist. How do we handle an updated version of a retired item?
--An Adventurer 02:44, 25 January 2012 (EST)
Regarding newly retired weapons, (Retired 1/2) works for me. For updated current retired items it's probably gonna only be damage/skill changes. Those can be easily added to the notes section. --Immortalbob 11:53, 25 January 2012 (EST)
Scratch that, Retired pages are generally used for items that still "exist" but are obtainable only via trade (with exception to rares). Why not just notate the old damage in the Notes section? --Immortalbob 12:05, 25 January 2012 (EST)
The List
Here is a list of everything I can think of that will need to get updated:
Articles related to Item changes:
- Items - weapons section
- Weapons - possibly including the weapon sets links, to state which weapon uses which new skill
- Finesse Weapons (create)
- Heavy Weapons (create)
- Light Weapons (create)
- Missile Weapons (create)
- Two Handed Weapons - will likely need updates to fit new standards
- Axes (retire)
- Maces (retire)
- Swords (retire)
- Spears (retire)
- Daggers (retire)
- Staves (retire)
- Unarmed Weapons (retire)
- Bows (retire)
- Crossbows (retire)
- Atlatls and Thrown Weapons (retire)
- Weapons - possibly including the weapon sets links, to state which weapon uses which new skill
- Every article for melee/missile weapons - The current pages need to archived as the retired versions, pages will need wiki template updates and new stats/skill reqs added
- Loot - This will need major revisions, and we will also want to archive current info somehow.
Articles related to Skill changes:
- Attributes - individual attribute pages will need their skill lists updated
- Skills - update both skill listings and racials, as those are going away
- Finesse Combat (create, these names are my best guess based on naming convention for Two Handed Combat)
- Heavy Combat (create)
- Light Combat (create)
- Missile Combat (create)
- Dual Wield (create)
- Dirty Fighting (create)
- Recklessness (create)
- Sneak Attack (create)
- Shield (create)
- Axe (retire)
- Mace (retire)
- Sword (retire)
- Spear (retire)
- Dagger (retire)
- Staff (retire)
- Unarmed Combat (retire)
- Bow (retire)
- Crossbow (retire)
- Thrown Weapons (retire)
- Character Creation - Race/Heritage and Skills sections will need updating
- Character Templates - Most of these templates will no longer be possible. They should be archived and new templates (including any new in-creation templates) should be added.
- Character Races
- New Player Guide & Returning Player Guide - both of these are fairly incomplete and outdated anyway.
- Class Guides:
- Quests/Content with heavy ties to skills being retired:
- Arm, Mind, Heart Quest - uses axe and spear for skill checks
- Atlan Weapons Quest - uses weapon skills for skill checks
- Bestowers' Guild of Dereth
- Composite Bow Quest - uses bow/xbow/tw for skill checks
- Harbinger Quest
- Heritage Masks - with racials going away, these masks should be checked for updates
- Isparian Weapons - uses weapon skills for skill checks
- Ruined Amulets and related quests - Nuhmudira's Boon Quest and Sunstone and Opal Gauntlets Quest
- Skill Redistribution
- Tesserae
- Tier 1 Rares
- Spectral Mastery Crystals
- Spell Research
Spells:
- Finesse Combat Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create, these names are my best guess based on naming convention for Two Handed Combat)
- Finesse Combat Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Heavy Combat Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Heavy Combat Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Light Combat Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Light Combat Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Missile Combat Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Missile Combat Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Dual Wield Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Dual Wield Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Dirty Fighting Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Dirty Fighting Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Recklessness Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Recklessness Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Sneak Attack Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Sneak Attack Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Shield Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Shield Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (create)
- Axe Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Axe Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Bow Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Bow Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Crossbow Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Crossbow Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Dagger Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Dagger Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Mace Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Mace Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Spear Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Spear Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Staff Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Staff Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Sword Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Sword Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Thrown Weapons Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Thrown Weapons Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Unarmed Combat Ineptitude (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
- Unarmed Combat Mastery (Spell) and all sub-spells (retire)
Page templates, wiki templates, misc
- Ammunition Template - possibly needs updating depending on what happens with missile weapons
- Melee Weapon Template
- Missile Weapon Template
- {{Ammunition}} - possibly needs updating depending on what happens with missile weapons
- {{Melee Weapon}} - Completed - located at Template:Sandbox ex: User:Immortalbob/Sandbox3
- {{Missile Weapon}} - Just needs new Category:Missile Combat Weapon added to the top.
- {{Skills}} - I have made an updated version at User:An Adventurer/Sandbox
- {{Weapon Links}}
- MediaWiki:MenuSidebar (will need various links added and removed)
--An Adventurer 06:00, 25 January 2012 (EST)
- Items - weapons section