Wiki Review Contest

[Quinton]

*Contest Closed*

[Devlin]

If you've ever looked at the wiki, enter this contest. Lots of effort and time went into the wiki and even with everything that is on there at the moment ... ITS NOT DONE! So point out those crappy pages, or the ones that are good (but need a little something more). It's not just for the editors; it's for everyone. Thanks.

[Draconomicon]

Preface

Greetings!

First of all I would like to mention that Excelsior is my first shard and I have been here for roughly ten months.
I find it very expansive, and, interesting to develop and learn about your character and effect it's surroundings
in a creative way (something most games sadly do not achieve.)

Also I find the staff and player base playful and witty in a mature and experienced way and for all of these reasons,
I enjoy coming back and thought it would be nice that I attempt to contribute to your ongoing wiki and help it's editors in their venture.

Overview

The wiki has grown to be about 10 times more useful than when I started, and at the time, I did not know about
UOstratics and UOguide and similar sites, so I made many discoveries on my own (and help of friends) along the way.
I have seen myself benefit from the experience of Veteran players and for which I am grateful.

The Good Stuff

I like the fact that there are some strategy guides such as Devlin's How To Be Awesome Guide (which I would have to say is my favorite). Certainly useful for players who are just starting to play Ultima for the first time or for those new to this Shard. These 3 or four links I found to be well organized and most useful at this point.

The "Bad" Stuff

However, I found a few grammar mistakes and sometimes I find the syntaxe overly complicated or
improperly worded or simply too personalized (sugar coated.) Could be abbriged altogether and mistakes corrected
as a whole (specially the older pages). It's not interesting to read huge chunks of text as most people will wish to be playing the game instead of reading about it. Shorter the better if I may suggest.

Example:

5. Insure your items, bond your pets You never know when you might get disconnected in game, or when the server might be disconnected... Many unpleasant things can happen st random times, so it is advised that you insure your valuable items and bond pets that are precious to you. Staff will try to restore as much as they can if there is a server problem, but are not held responsible for items you lose on your own. DO note: Events can be lag filled, and there may be several corpses stacked on top of yours at any time during a battle. The corpse stone can only do so much, and multiple deaths during an event can lead to lose of uninsured items.

If we remove all the unnecesary text (and correct the mistakes) I will learn here that I should bond and insure my pets or items and that staff is not responsible if that is not done. I do not think warning players that disconections while playing an online game is necesary or that dieing will happen during events. But I understand that this needs to be posted somewhere so that staff can say "Hey it's written here, see? in the bottom of the dust? Not my problem". Perhaps a Disclaimer section could be added, or maybe that belongs on the Codex?

Ideas & Suggestions

I noted a few ideas that you may or may not find useful. Hopefully something will contribute to your hard work and efforts.

1) A Quest Section reserved only for that. I notice a lot of that has been stuffed into the miscelaneous section.
A quest section would be a lot more exciting to go over and say "Oh I want to do this quest today!"
Perhaps include sub sections for difficulty and add them accordingly.
Also adding a "Accepting/Cancelling Quests" sub section - how to leave a previous quest by single clicking your character as we see this question arise often on global chat.

2) Youth Center and Grand Auctions. I found no mention of this system and it's availability in game.

3) Adding images to alleviate the text could be fun and give the player a better idea of what he/she is reading about.

Example : The Veteran Reward Section could be better served showing a picture of the rewards list for more incentive and player planification into what they wish to use their points on.

In Retrospect

The fact that the wiki is ever growing makes it interesting to visit on a continual basis, and gives veteran players something to do by adding and editing. By no means do I wish to criticize it in any way, to do so would be short sighted.
It's a work in progress and I hope that some of my insight could be useful today, as a newer player(if only in a small way).

Happy Holidays to all the Staff and Players with warm regards to the Wiki Scribes.

Thank you for your help along the way :)

[Quinton]

Enter to win a +Max Stat Scroll!

Top Prize is a +25 max stats scroll

[Quinton]

*Bump*

[Asmodean]

1. Which pages do you refer to the most or What are your favorite pages? Why?

I refer people in general to the wiki all the time! A lot of the same questions get asked, that the answers are provided for. Even though, I also should look at the wiki more before asking certain questions! Its easier to type it, than to search for it in general usually. I tend to look at the ointment/pet pages a lot for reference, as i'm working on my imps a lot currently.

2. What are the three most organized or useful pages on the wiki? Why?

The awesome guides are pretty awesome. I think in general most of the pages people have worked on are useful and organized. Some (vet rewards sticks out) are incomplete, and have been for a while, but is that because we don't know the rewards we get? Or, we don't get anything? Perhaps +C could chime in, and we could add that to the finished list. I don't think i can really narrow it down to just 3, as I would say most, are very organized and useful, depending on what you as a player are interested in. I glanced at the awesome guides for example, but didn't read them thoroughly, because i prefer pets. At least for now, I believe my opinion is changing as certain people are showing me what a difference a few things make to my fighting abilities!

3. What are the three most disorganized or confusing pages on the wiki? Why? What are some suggestions to fix them?

To be honest, I haven't read all of them, as I only read the things I have questions about, or I am interested in. The Vendor stones page is great, but it could be expanded to list what the different items DO exactly. A hooded shroud sure sounds cool... Also, on the bod reward pages, perhaps a description of what each of the rewards DOES, or what items you CAN get with bods that give DECO for rewards. That way, if someone is attempting to get a certain kind of deco, they know what to look for.

4. What information is needed on the wiki?
This is information you cannot find anywhere else, be it UOGuide, Stratics, and perhaps even the forums. Many of us see no reason to duplicate information. Some information doesn't have a lengthy enough explanation to warrant an entire page being created for the information; this is where you might use forum searches to look for an answer. Also, not all information will just pop out at you from the main page. There are other ways to search the wiki: using the search box, or using the categories linked from the top of the main wiki page and in my signature on this post. Be thorough to avoid mentioning information already on the wiki, or easily found out through the forums or other UO sites!

Sometimes duplicating information is a good thing. While every little piece doesn't need to be repeated all over the place, anything custom, or different, or stuff that just gets asked about a lot. The main thing i would consider really adding that we don't seem to have (or i just haven't read yet) is some sort of progression for the different difficulty stuff. If i am just starting out, can i do doom? should i even attempt it? How tough are lurgs? Are there places i should avoid? Some sort of list, to challenge people to new and exciting things. Can you do this? Why don't you try this next, its more challenging, and since you did that ok. you might be able to survive over here. Without my pets, i die very very quickly. Thats changing slowly now, as I'm becoming more of a fighter, but I don't know what i should be challenging myself TO. I don't like to take many risks, in life, or in game. If i know I can do something fine. If i MIGHT be able to do it, i MIGHT try it when I'm feeling daring. If I have no business being anywhere near Sgail with less than 500 hit points, thats good to know too.

And of course, any of the custom stuff should be expanded upon, if its not already.

Overall I think the contributors have done a fantastic job on the wiki, and I use it quite often.

And finally,
5. What keeps you coming back to Excelsior?
I can't figure out fair pricing for my goods, and I keep trying to get people to divulge their super sekret formulae! I enjoy kicking back and relaxing, and talking with some of the friends i have made. Its a good shard overall. I enjoy the updates we do get for the most part, and love the custom events the staff (and players) put on! I wish there was more time for coding, or we had a full time coder to get more players suggestions implemented. Some approved stuff from 07 still hasn't gotten put in for example Many people talk very highly of the shard as well, and my own experiences have proved their words. Also most people are super helpful, which is a good thing.