Hi everyone! Since we have a couple announcements to make I thought I would use the blog feature to get into the details. I'll follow that up with some thoughts about the wiki and my own plans and hopes for it.
For anyone wondering who I am, I've been working on the wiki for around a year now. I edit pages here and there, but I mostly like working on the background stuff, like creating templates, making our images, structuring the pages, and tinkering with our CSS. If you have an idea for a template you could use and need a hand, let me know!
Announcements[]
Eternal Wiki Discord Server Launched[]
Our big announcement is that we're starting a Discord server for the wiki. Real-time chat should streamline our users' communication and organization. Info on our server will be added and updated on the Project:Discord page, and links will be added to the main page and stuff over the coming days.
Eternal has its own large Discord, and hopefully some of its members will check us out. New visitors can pop in, ask questions & give feedback, and maybe get involved.
This isn't meant as a replacement for our existing tools—the Discussion forums, user walls, talk pages and page comments all have their uses, but some things are quicker or easier to discuss over chat. That said, if Discord isn't a good fit after we try it out we can always get rid of it.
We're still a relatively small wiki, with few (but great!) editors. I hope this Discord server helps us attract new members and grow the wiki further.
We're Officially FANDOM Now[]
Last week our url changed from wikia.com to fandom.com, as part of FANDOM's domain migration process. It shouldn't have any visible effects on our wiki, as all links to the old domain will be automatically redirected.
Since the url was the last trace of the "Wikia" brand on the wiki, we'll also be renaming the wiki from Eternal Card Game Wikia to Eternal Card Game Wiki. Again, this shouldn't effect things (maybe a few links to pages in the Project: namespace will need updating).
Where We're At Now[]
Here's my take on a "state of the wiki":
Set Updates[]
We try to add the card pages for each release as fast as possible, and we've been streamlining that process. With Defiance, we had some awesome collaboration with members of the Eternal community from outside the wiki, to build a shared card database and capture their images. Big thanks to everyone involved, and to our editors who updated the wiki in record time.
Card Pages[]
Al of the collectible cards (from expansions, campaigns and promos) and all the player-usable noncollectibles (tokens) have card pages. Some may need minor page formatting updates, but all major card info and stats should be up-to-date.
Pruwyben1 has been steadily adding transcriptions of cards' voiceover effects. We started adding history sections to track cards' balance changes. These were just the recent changes for now but I'd like to backfill their histories from the old patch notes.
Game Mechanics[]
With the card pages done, we're turning our attention to the game's mechanics. We've had some basics for a while, but now we're fleshing out info like card type pages, factions, and an expanded glossary. These are still works-in-progess, and help finishing the redlinked (missing) and placeholder/stub pages would be awesome.
If you read these mechanics pages, and find incorrect info, please correct it or leave a comment. Some of the game's finer rules and card interactions can get complicated, which can lead to misunderstandings getting added to the wiki. We don't mind getting called out on it, because errors left unfixed can lead to players making mistakes.
Artist Credits[]
Eternal has great artwork, and we like showcasing it and crediting the artists where we can. Yumyum36 has been finding many artists, adding credits to their cards and creating profile pages. We've been collecting the full art images DWD shares on their site, and add them to their card page gallery sections.
What's Next?[]
Here are some of the things I hope to see added or focused on going forward. Any plans or suggestions are my own, and aren't necessarily anything in the works.
There's lots I'd like to see on the wiki, but I tend to jump around a bit. Realistically, I don't have time to do it all. If you see anything you'd like as well, let us know so we can focus our efforts, and you're also more than welcome if you want to help out!
Mobile Experience[]
The mobile version of the site needs some attention. Personally, I don't spend much time on mobile devices, so its often an "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" situation for me. However, I do know that some of our desktop features actively clash with the mobile skin.
This is especially true for our hover-popups, both for card images and keyword descriptions, which are rendered in-line on mobile. I have some ideas for fixing the issue but haven't gotten around to the details or testing yet. Please shoot me a message if you know about this stuff and have advice.
Categorization[]
Card pages have many "hard" categories automatically added by their infobox template—stuff like factions, card/unit types, and keywords. However, a lot of categories still need to be added by hand, and can sometimes lead to issues with terminology.
Sometimes a mechanic is categorized with different terms by different editors (usually different slang or borrowed terms for the same thing). Other times, not knowing what to call something can lead to it not being categorized at all. Settling on terms should be helpful to anyone trying to browse the wiki through its categories.
Projects[]
Borrowing the idea from other wikis, I started setting up a Projects page to help keep track of larger wiki collaborations (the page was copy-pasted from another wiki, so it needs some customization first). Pages for projects like the card voiceovers and extended card histories could help all interested editors see what needs to be worked on.
It may be overkill for our current number of editors, but hopefully it will be a useful organization tool should we grow. Editors, let me know if this sounds like feature you would find useful. If the Discord takes off, we can add sub-channels for the different projects there as well.
Lore[]
A while back I added the Lore: namespace, hoping to start pages focused on the game's story. A barebones outline for Lore:Rolant was made, but unfortunately that's as far as I got as I focused on other parts of the wiki.
I think there's interest for this info in the larger community. I still think the wiki would be a great place to catalogue the game's lore and I'd like to revisit it when I get time. If anyone wants to, feel free to take a crack at this in the mean time.
Miscellaneous[]
A few other things have been rolling around my head that haven't really been started, that I'll put down here in case there's interest:
- Style Guide
- I outlined a wiki style guide for helping our editors maintain consistency, but it still needs to be filled out. Ideally the guidelines would be decided on by our wiki community as a whole. Let me know if I should make a first pass based on what we've been doing so far, so that we can discuss and tweak from there as needed.
- Reference Library
- Riffing off the Fallout Wiki's library, we could include things like transcriptions of the campaigns. This stuff is more spoiler-filled than most content, and should primarily be used as a reference for people making lore pages.
- Card Histories
- I mentioned adding histories for the cards' patch changes earlier. Part of my plan is using the now-defunct eternal.cards card database to find the earliest changes where we don't have the patch notes, and to grab their old card images for use here. They have images even from before the open beta, including cards that were removed (like Retribution), which I think is cool to include.
- I've emailed the site's owner and gotten permission to use their images. He doesn't have a timeline for when the database we be taken down, but can't guarantee it will be around for too much longer.
- AI Cards
- I'd also like to get pages added for the AI-only noncollectible cards, that are seen in campaigns and the other single-player game modes. These are less of a priority, but having them would satisfy the completionist side of me :)
- Patch Notes
- We've been keeping up-to-date pages for each of the patch releases, but the parent Patch Notes page has fallen behind. We probably don't need a giant table of links now that the notes are copied here, so we can use ideas for what to put there instead.
- Strategy and Tournament Coverage
- I think of the wiki as more an encyclopedia of the game's cards, mechanics, and factoids (and hopefully lore), than a site that monitors the game's meta or covers tournament decks. However, that's just my opinion, and the wiki should be whatever its community wants it to be. If you want to see or contribute this kind of content, let us know.
I know that was a long read, so thanks to anyone who has made it this far. Tell us if you have any other suggestions for the wiki.
I hope to see you guys on the Discord!