As I've said, I will now be taking a leave of absence from the wiki until I have completed Mass Effect 3. The only reason being the desire to avoid spoilers. I love being part of this wiki, because I love the Mass Effect franchise. However, my interest in the franchise itself trumps my interest in the wiki, so I'll be doing my best to preserve the Mass Effect 3 experience that I want. Unfortunately I have already had some things spoiled. Most by the Art of Mass Effect Universe book, which I'm really mad about, some by a couple of stray YouTube comments, and some by well-meaning people who have posted spoiler free information that unfortunately allows one to deduce an actual spoiler by accident. However I am happy that most of the things that are most important to me about the Mass Effect story remain unspoiled for me.
I won't be avoiding the internet entirely though, so if you desperately need me for anything that doesn't involve spoilers I can be reached via email, or via my Talk Page, which I receive notifications about in my email.
What I want to do now is leave some parting messages, so that if debates about certain issues arise, my preferences and votes can be considered. This isn't a "Do these thigs while I'm gone!" list, just my attempt to keep my voice, one amongst many, heard in my absence.
Projects[]
- Mass Effect 3 Weapons Infobox I started this project and template, so my views are clear, but I just wanted to leave some information. The template is completely ready to go here. All it is missing is auto-categorisation, as I'm not really familiar with it. Assuming the vote passes (which it almost certainly will, being 9-0 right now) all that needs to be done is for it to be moved to the appropriate title. My preference is Template:Weapon (Mass Effect 3), which is what the Usage and Blank Fields sections use, but I'm not too fussed. Proper categories will also need to be added, as appropriate. Further information on how it works and how to use it is here.
- Achievement images switch I wholeheartedly support this proposal. In fact, going forward I would much prefer that source files be used whenever they can be acquired. This particularly includes ME3's power icons.
- Combo Attacks page I support the idea of creating articles for Biotic Explosion, Tech Burst and Fire Explosion, with lists of possible combos and how to use them. Powers involved in creating these can then just have "(Power) can be combined with (other powers) to form a Biotic Explosion". That's my preference.
- New character page I have strong feelings about this, so will probably push for something when I come back. Don't put me down for anything in particular though in my absence if someone else proposes something.
Other Notes[]
- Interrupts ME2's interrupts were not documented until a considerable time after release. Hopefully ME3's are recorded more promptly. This time around we have the Interrupts article that can either be added to, or duplicated into an ME3 version.
- Guides Even though I have no use for one, I'd like to see a 'Kinect Guide' written, with a list of commands and their effect. This would go in the Guides category and footer.
- File Name Conventions I just want to reiterate our image name policy. There's going to be a lot of images added to the wiki when the game is out, I'd like to see people using proper descriptive names. They should also be PNGs, as they are much higher quality and resize better. Most importantly they should be consistent. Ideally all power and weapon names, for example, would follow the same format. If you title one weapon image 'M-96 Mattock.png', don't title another 'Avenger Rifle.png', use the same naming scheme. This would be hard to do, so don't fret if it can't be done effectively, but it's something to strive for.
- War Assets I wouldn't mind seeing a 'War Asset' category, for characters etc. that appear in ME3 in this capacity. Assets added to War Assets should also have an 'Acquisition' section. The Save File Transfer article should also make note of Assets that require certain conditions.
- Alliance News Network Assuming, as I do, that ME3 will have a Cerberus News-esque news service, we should try and get a complete record from day 1 this time. If they continue going through Twitter it shouldn't be difficult.
That's pretty much my thoughts on issues I expect, so if there's ever a disagreement I would really appreciate it if my views could be considered. Otherwise I'm sure I'll have a lot to say when I get back.
Thanks everyone, hope to see you all again soon!
- JakePT