User talk:Mikeyco/Sandbox

Suggestions

The various locations have long been in need of a revamp and I'm glad to see someone making some progress towards that goal. Here's some suggestions

1. Removing the first section. Just put the location description on the top page in italics. The header will be the page title itself, in this case, Bazaar. That will make the table of contents start from Description and Requirements.
2. Items and minimum rank should be merged into Entry Requirements, without describing how to get them.
3. List of mice converted into a table form, with mice, power type, loot. As of now, there is little reason to visit a location page. This should make it more worthwhile visiting.
4. Loot will be merged with mice list in this case.

-- Grexx 20:40, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I'll revise it later after I get some sleep. I'll try to implement a sortable table in this case. --Mikeyco 20:51, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Revised. I'll start working on tables for other locations so as not to waste too much time later. --Mikeyco 04:04, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

It's good to see someone who can handle tables well. As for the mice/loot table, I don't think we need to include the points and gold value, since it doesn't have much effect on a player's decision to enter the location. We are already duplicating some information from the mice pages. We need to keep the duplication to information that players really need when visiting this page.

As for the bait preference, I think we can cover that in the strategies section so I suggest it not be included with the mice table. In most locations, the mice either share almost exactly the same bait preference, or there's only 1 or 2 mice who have a particular cheese preference.

I think that should about cover everything, but wondering if we have missed out any sections though. -- Grexx 07:18, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

The shops section should also always be included. With this, players can see at a glance if there are no shops in the location. Would be especially helpful for newbie locations like the Meadow where players can connect it to the idea that they need to stock up on cheese in the Town. -- Grexx 07:26, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

First I have to say I was quite a bit skeptical but I see now this is gonna be good if not better ;] .... I actually disagree with Grexx this time on the points and gold columns. I believe the quick overview is pretty valuable since it is nowhere else to be found (in such a comprised form). Especially being able to sort all the mice in one location on the spot is a great add/plus. Only my opinion though.... _____m. 09:21, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm not quite sure where to go with this now. If I removed the Max Points, Min Gold, and Bait Preference columns, I'll end up with a table containing only Mice and Loots which would negate any need for sorting. As for the Shops section, Grexx may be right. It's sometimes confusing to newbies if there is or isn't a shop in the area so it should always be included. Might have to put up a message like "There are no shops available in this area." and then suggest where the nearby shops are. More opinions? --Mikeyco 09:59, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Don't worry about it, we're all open to discussion on how the page should look like. Personally I do like the way it is laid out, but the main worry is the difficulty in making sure everything is updated correctly. Experience has shown that with repeat information in many articles, some of them will lag behind in updates, thus becoming inaccurate, and possibly misleading.

Regarding the columns, at the very least, bait preference should be moved into hunting strategies. There are many differences in the bait preference that can't be accurately explained just within the table, such as the dislike of colored mice for white cheddar etc.

As for the sorting, there aren't that many mice in any one location. As long as the mice list is alphabetized, it shouldn't be an issue whether it is sortable or not. -- Grexx 10:20, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Alright then. If only there was some way to pull out information from pages with Templates in them, so that changing a value like mingold in one page will automatically reflect in tables with that particular value. Might be impossible in a Wiki though based on what I've read. I suppose I'll just do what I can. Removing Bait Preference to consolidate it into the Hunting Strategies. Leaving the Max Points and Min Gold there for awhile until more opinions come in. --Mikeyco 10:33, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Crafting Items

The consolidated article I'm working on currently contains crafting items that can be bought from General Stores, obtained as loot (gift or mice), and obtained by smashing. Minus Blueprints and Stale Cheese, hence I need some feedback regarding the following:

• Blueprints

These already have their own article, but they can only be considered to be included here. There'll be nothing left to put on the Blueprints article if that happens though.

• Stale Cheese

These also have their own article. I think that list of stale cheese along with their descriptions and obtain/use can be moved and only general information on gathering stale cheese along with setups can remain in the article.

Most of the other items can't be grouped in any other way so I just compiled them together in alphabetical order. We can probably eliminate many small articles (most of them are crafting items) and convert them to redirects if this pushes through. Maybe except for disambiguations like the Tokens and Shards articles. --Mikeyco 08:35, 23 March 2009 (UTC)