User talk:Varghedin Vikingfrost/Archive03

Category: Giant Wasps
Why not just categorize the wasps under something like "Bugs," then you can throw the Silithid into that category as well. If you need to, make it a sub category of Bugs. Just wondering.--Sky 15:40, 3 February 2007 (EST)


 * Mostly because the giant wasps have nothing to do with the Silithid save for superficial resemblance. And there are things like maggots and beetles which could fit into a 'bugs' category, but are in fact beasts. -- 16:09, 3 February 2007 (EST)

Frost Giants, and Molten Giants, and Mana Surges
Frost Giants, and Molten Giants are now official terms for a subtype of "mountain giants", as per the new Monster Guide.

Mana Surges are still the main classification for so called "Mana Elementals" oddly enough. It discusses two types of "mana surges" within the article.Baggins 22:05, 13 February 2007 (EST)


 * Alright, thanks for the info. So there's a new Monster Guide? Is there a good place to find out about this stuff? -- 02:12, 14 February 2007 (EST)

Uh, keep track of Amazon order listings?Baggins 02:50, 14 February 2007 (EST)


 * I find it odd that Blizzard doesn't keep a list of available and upcoming products anywhere on their own site.-- 02:55, 14 February 2007 (EST)


 * I think it was mentioned in the World of Warcraft website news shortly before its release. But you are right its hard to find this information even for upcoming novels, especially as they release new news articles, :P.Baggins 02:57, 14 February 2007 (EST)

Instance category splits
Heya Varg. It was decided a while ago that the categories Instance:Aunchindoun, Instance:Coilfang Reservoir, Instance:Hellfire Citadel and Instance:Tempest Keep would stay as they are since they are technically part of a same and unique instance but just different wings of it.

Since this is not the case (they are indeed separated), and since these categories are growing extremely big and will grow even bigger with the addition of raid loot, we proposed on IRC that we would change them to the following: *Category:Instance:Auchindoun:
 * Category:Instance:Mana Tombs
 * Category:Instance:Sethekk Halls
 * Category:Instance:Shadow Labyrinth
 * Category:Instance:Caverns of Time -> Category:Zone:Caverns of Time
 * Category:Instance:Old Hillsbrad Foothills
 * Category:Instance:Black Morass
 * Category:Instance:Battle for Mount Hyjal (?)
 * Category:Instance:Coilfang Reservoir
 * Category:Underbog
 * Category:Instance:Serpentshrine Cavern
 * Category:Instance:Slave Pens
 * Category:Instance:Steamvault
 * Category:Instance:Hellfire Citadel:
 * Category:Instance:Blood Furnace
 * Category:Instance:Hellfire Ramparts
 * Category:Instance:Magtheridon's Lair
 * Category:Instance:Shattered Halls
 * Category:Instance:Tempest Keep
 * Category:Instance:Arcatraz
 * Category:Instance:Botanica
 * Category:Instance:Eye (?)
 * Category:Instance:Mechanar

Comments, Suggestions? -- 03:24, 16 February 2007 (EST)


 * If that is what you've all decided, I will stand by you. How about Scarlet Monastery and Dire Maul? They are techincally separated into winged instances as well. Will the wing categories be subcategories of the dungeon categories? It might be nice to keep the original dungeon cats, as there might be some information that can be applied to the dungeon as a whole, and to unify the wing cats so that they don't appear as entirely separate dungeons (Yes, they technically are, but they are unified strongly in theme, flavour and location). -- 14:33, 16 February 2007 (EST)


 * These instances are actually not separated. On /who, you will show up as being in "Dire Maul" or "Scarlet Monastery" - which isn't the case for the ones on the list above. Also, you can switch beetween a wing and another in Dire Maul without having to get out of it. Besides, SM and DM are part of the same instance (Same instance ID) whereas the only common point the ones above share are the location of their portals.
 * I would personally say no to changing SM and DM back, particularly since it's not likely to recieve any further change from Blizzard now BC is here. However I don't mind on the end. -- 17:12, 16 February 2007 (EST)


 * Alright then. Go for it :) -- 19:26, 16 February 2007 (EST)
 * Was wondering about this... was browsing through catagories and saw that a number have only one or two pages under them and started putting them those to their parent instance... I'll stop now :P --Psyker7 03:21, 17 February 2007 (EST)


 * Erm, Serpentshrine Lair? A few hours ago I created Serpentshrine Cavern category (that's the ingame name, isn't it?)... -- Vysogota 03:40, 17 February 2007 (EST)

"Naga are not a player-friendly race"
If we take the article of Blade's Edge Mountains as an example, Ogre is used as one of the races (despite not being a player friendly race in that area). Therefore I would suggest the same with Naga in Zangarmarsh. After all, the area is totally dominated by Naga. Problem is that we havn't yet got any race-icons for them. --Odolwa 21:52, 16 March 2007 (EDT)


 * Well, Blade's Edge is the ancestral home of the ogres. While naga are indeed prevalent in Zangarmarsh, you could also say that furbolgs are prevalent in Felwood, or that gnolls are prevalent in Westfall. Those observations really fit better under the 'Wild Creatures' section, however. Aside from Brackenwall Village where the ogres are player-friendly, if you'd pick one zone of the entire Warcraft universe to pick for ogres being allowed in characteristics, it would be Blade's Edge. For naga, that would be Nazjatar.


 * I'm not saying this is a clear-cut rule or anything, but we have to draw the line some place, and I'd prefer to keep the races in 'characteristics' separate from the ones in 'wild creatures' as much as possible to avoid too much duplication.-- 22:47, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

Deleting images
Hello, Vargh, can you please stop deleting my images that are of good quality and replacing them with your own? That's very rude and inpolite if you didn't know that, you don't have to brag the whole WoWWiki that you have the best shots, ok? For example the Farfield shot, you even deleted the image's history, what's that hey? --  Shandris   talk / contribs  17:34, 19 March 2007 (EDT)


 * Try not to accuse the wrong people, please. Adys deleted it, not Varg, and he was just clearing out images that have multiple uploads. Also, I often go through the unused image list and delete the worst of them (and relink those I can). Back to the image, I don't know what image Varg replaced (as Adys deleted it), so I can't comment on which is better. However, I will ask Varg that, when possible, please upload new images instead 'overwriting' old ones. 18:08, 19 March 2007 (EDT)


 * Since we're here, I'll just mention that please remember the wiki is a collection of information, not images. Images should complement an article, not take over it - is best avoided, for example.  18:10, 19 March 2007 (EDT)


 * Okay, thanks for the reply. Not my fault to bug the guy, I just wanted a redress for what he had done :) Thanks man for clearing things out. --  Shandris   talk / contribs  19:18, 19 March 2007 (EDT)


 * No problemo . I would be able to help futher, but unfortunately images cannot be restored from the database unlike pages. 19:40, 19 March 2007 (EDT)


 * I'm sorry if I deleted good images, that usually doesn't happen. I delete duplicates and bad quality pictures. I'll pay more attention next time. -- 20:44, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

I've never bragged about whose pictures are best, especially given how subjective such an argument is. I just upload a picture when I feel that it gives a better overview of what is in the article. For the biodome for example, I think it's better to have a shot of the entire dome than of a tiny part of the dome. Shandris, I do appreciate the work you do for wowwiki, I really do. That said, I do think that articles tend to become very graphic-heavy quickly if there are too many large pictures hogging the space. As Kirkburn said, the pictures should complement the article, not take over it. Sometimes after you've been active on a page, there will be 4+ large images with a tiny bit of text squished up between them. This is why I've occasionally been replacing images instead of uploading additional ones, because I felt that the article already had too many pictures as it was, and it's easier to restore a replaced image than a deleted one. I just think we shouldn't be too territorial about it either, it is after all a shared space, and sometimes you have to accept that people edit or delete "your stuff". -- 19:45, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

RC Patrol
I'm not sure you've noticed, but there are now little red exclamation marks on the RC changes list. :) You don't really need to worry about them. All that I ask is that you go to your Preferences page. From there, go the Editing tab. The second option from the bottom should say "Mark edits I make as patrolled." Could you check that please? :)--Sky (t · c · w) 03:09, 26 March 2007 (EDT) P.S. Yes, this is copy-pasted from User talk:Vysogota.


 * Yep, done =) -- 03:14, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
 * You are too kind. Have a good night editing! :)--Sky (t · c · w) 03:17, 26 March 2007 (EDT)


 * Well it's morning here, but thanks all the same hehe -- 03:18, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

Show Preview
please? Spamming Recent Changes makes Kiltek :(

Also, can't track your changes since you're not filling in the Summary Box! 08:09, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

In-game Language word lists (Titan, Demonic, Draconic, and Draenei)
Ok there is a claim that Titan, Demonic and Draconic share the same word lists, and elsewhere a claim that Draenei and Demonic share the same word lists. Can you verify that? Do all four languages share the same word lists?Baggins 21:26, 8 April 2007 (EDT)


 * I have no idea. I just noticed that when I was analyzing the complete Draenei parser, the words did not actually seem to be true draenei. They just look nothing like any of the draenei names and words we know from lore. Someone else mentioned that the parser was using Demonic speech, which I thought was probably true given how the words appear, so I copied it over. I have no idea about Titan and Draconic. The only way to test those is to look at examples where those languages are parsed in-game and see if the words match up to the table.

By the way, the parser is even less sophisticated than I thought when scrutinized. If you look at the longer words, they are in fact just compounds of the smaller 3 and 4 letter words. >< -- 06:06, 9 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Ya, definitely agree that the words don't really match up with names and words used by Draenei in Lore, and seem simple. I've decided to remove the refrences to Draenei and Demonic using the same parser until more examples of Demonic from both "curse of tongues", and random sayings from summoned demons, and enemies in game are listed, and we can actually compare them.


 * I think we also need more examples of Titan, and Draconic as well. Actually I'm not even sure where one would find Titan, unless it was on some artifact the game would let you read, :p... As for Draconic, I don't actually remember any Dragons speaking in in their native tongues?Baggins 10:35, 9 April 2007 (EDT)


 * BTW, I'm going to add word lists from the language text documents to the various races, it would be handy if you could go back and put them in a "table" later when you have the time :). So far I've put Kalimag list up.Baggins 11:44, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Awesome! I'll do that =) -- 12:22, 10 April 2007 (EDT)
 * Well you adding "Angor" just made me notice that word lists for Gnomish share some words from Dwarven/Dwarvish word lists, :P...Baggins 16:43, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Hmmm. That could make sense, since they are considered 'cousin' races. Could be interesting to see if humans share some words with them too. -- 16:47, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Dwarves should share some Titan words too... But I'm worried about that, in some ways, since everything seems to share Titan/Draenei/Demonic/Draconic word lists :p... But it would also make sense for Dwarven to share human words, since written Dwarven language was originally based on Common alphabet. Unfortunately we can't take any of the ingame parsers at face value. They seem incomplete and share too much from too many languages to be believable.Baggins 16:57, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * I agree. I think many of the more 'exotic' languages have just been lumped together in one jumble, and while they may use words that are true to the language, like 'modr' in the dwarven parser and 'belore' in the Thalassian one, we just can't know if any specific unknown word is something that would be actually be used in that language in a proper way. Still, it's interesting to see the word lists and sort of get a 'taste' of the linguistic flavour of it.-- 17:10, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Ya, I agree. I think, I'll add Gnomish, next, as soon as I get some time, since that article is kind of sparse currently.Baggins 17:27, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

Alternate language name parenthes
The main reason for those alternate language names in the parenthes, were because they were the terms mainly used in World of Warcraft. They were there to make it easier for someone who only plays the game, to be able to find a language based on what its called in WOW, so they don't have to look through terms that may not appear in WoW. Baggins 18:42, 10 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Hmm. But we can also see who speaks the languages in those bars. If I want to look for the troll language, I would look at the bar, find 'troll', and hit whichever language was below. It's fairly obvious that trolls speak "troll", murlocs speak "murloc", and demons speak "demonic" isn't it? And taurahe/taur-ahe and dwarven/dwarvish are virtually identical terms. -- 20:31, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

Languages are nearly finished
Ok I've finished putting up the word lists from the language text file(at least most of them). Note if you see same word listed more than once(usually 2-3 times), it represents 3 seperate words in the file, each with their own unique number. For example Washte, represents Taurahe words, 329, 356, and 404. Baggins 10:54, 11 April 2007 (EDT)


 * What does that mean? That Washte is three times more likely to occur than the other 6-letter words? The table doesn't reflect the frequency of the words, so should I just ignore the duplicates? -- 16:12, 11 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Best I can tell that Washte could represent three seperate lenghts of words. For example one version of washte would represent some 6 letter word, the second version represents 8 letter words, and the third version represents certain 9 letter words, when it masks typed messages (although I'm not sure on exact length of words each version of Washted represents, I've made up examples to try to explain how it is apparently used). So ya in a way it could show up three times as much.


 * But I would guess it would have something to do with whatever a word starts with. For example say "washte 329" represented 6 letter words starting with "c", anytime a six letter word with c was used washted would be used in the filter. Perhaps "Washte 356" might represent 8 letter words starting with "c", and so on and so forth.


 * I plan to actually comment on each language's word and file numbering and point out that some words represent more than one set of length of words. Your guess is as good as mine as to what words would flag each use of Washted, or other words that represent more than one set of words.Baggins 20:02, 11 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Added an example line to Eredun article to point out another example (feel free to modify it, if you feel it can be explained in a better way);

"'Amanare' represents two seperate words in the Demonic language parser, as words #627 and #628. As such both versions of the word are used to filter two seperate sets of words, based on hidden criteria."
 * Do you think that works well?Baggins 20:14, 11 April 2007 (EDT)


 * I think that's a good description. I think the criteria for which word is to be used are since they are consistent to each word is just an algorithm like converting the letters to numbers, summing them up, and then picking the corresponding letter combo. Not that I think that should be included in the above paragraph. -- 21:18, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Kaelsag
Ok, there is an odd word. Its listed as word number 1236, language 6. Now language 6 is listed as "dwarvish". However, 1236 is smack dab in the middle of 1235 and 1237, which are words in Gnomish. This is the only word that seems out of order of the rest of the words.

There is only one occurence of "Kaelsag", however an apparent variation "Kaelsig" exists in Common and Gutterspeak.Baggins 22:04, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Secret Pandaren
The pandaren who helped blood elves in outland, had a randomly generated name list. It wasn't any specific known pandaren, that we know of. See, Secret pandaren.Baggins 11:44, 19 April 2007 (EDT)

the small revamps
i noticed you adding a new template. im not sure if "faction = neutral" should be included at all, most raid dungeons are "hostile" after all. ;) 03:02, 1 May 2007 (EDT)


 * Faction = Independent is probably better choice of words.Baggins 03:04, 1 May 2007 (EDT)


 * I guess I could have listed "Alliance" and "Horde" on all of them, but since the vast majority of dungeons are for both factions, I figured I'd just put them together for simplicity. Feel free to change it however you like :) 07:04, 1 May 2007 (EDT)


 * rfc, wc, deadmines, the org and alliance dungeon are faction independant as well, just coz its hard to get inside, doesnt mean they're only available for horde / alliance. i'd say its more logical to just remove it as there are (to my knowledge) no dungeons that are limited to a single faction.  02:43, 2 May 2007 (EDT)

Category sorting
I think this may be of interest -. I haven't had a chance to speak to Sky yet, but it seems to work :) ftw!  12:41, 5 May 2007 (EDT)


 * Ooooooh! Me likes. -- 17:46, 5 May 2007 (EDT)


 * . It's a gem I found on wikipedia a long time ago, and I've been waiting to introduce it to our wiki. I thought it might be part of 1.9, so I just waited for the upgrade to intro it. --Sky (t · c · w) 19:05, 6 May 2007 (EDT)

Could you please
Ban User: Sellmmo? He's been spamming a gold selling site across various pages, and looks like he'll continue to do so. If you could drop him a ban really fast, CJ and I would appreciate it... --Mikaka 20:26, 16 May 2007 (UTC)


 * *whack* =) -- 20:30, 16 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I completely forgot that you were an admin, else I would have hollered at you earlier. Don't forgot to update Known vandals with the block info. - ClydeJr  -  talk  -  contrib  20:35, 16 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, and if I hadn't been too eagerly putting up NPCs, I'd have checked the RC and noticed sooner. Thanks for the poke. -- 20:39, 16 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Heehee, apparently, I shared an IP address with Sellmmo, so when you banned him, I got banned too for a short period of time. Caused quite a bit of panic at first, considering the ban was infinite! --Mikaka 20:57, 16 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Err.. weird. Are you sure someone else isn't using your PC while you're not looking? :P -- 20:58, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Scepter of the Shifting Sands
Hey Varghedin as you are the guru of all thing Warcraft, I'm hoping you can answer a question that not even Blizzard Tech Support can answer. Can someone transfer from a server with a AQ gate open, to one that is currently closed, while having with them a completed Scepter of the Shifting Sands? I've heard conflicting statements from players, BE reps, and forum posts, mostly revolving around that there isn't anything saying you can't transfer with a scepter in any rules. However, at the same time I've heard that if you transfer the scepter is taken from you and the entire quest chain is reset, along with all the items you gain being confiscated as well.

Help Me!


 * Firstly, please sign your post so I know who's talking with me. Secondly, I'm not the guru of all things Warcraft - I'm just some lore-buff with an addicition to manically edit NPC-related articles in the wiki. But when it comes to technical issues like this one, I often draw a blank. So while I'd like to say I could help you, I really can't. If not even Blizzard Tech Support can answer, the only solution I can think of is to just go ahead and do the transfer, then tell the world about the result afterwards. After all, if the gates are already open on your server, the current usefulness of your staff is pretty limited anyhow. You might even argue that your scepter should get restored by Blizzard if it is lost in the process, since there does not seem to be any 'slippery floor' signs anywhere. -- 15:23, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Your expansion idea
I am sorry, and do not want someone of your standing to frown on me, but I removed the improper categories from your page. Someone such as you should know that fanfic/speculation should not be categorized. Especially in such important categories. It your page is real (as in perhaps some Korean announcement) then please cite it and I will apologize ASAP and revert what I have done. The page is very well written by the way.-- 01:57, 30 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I did a "change all" edit in Word, and it didn't cross my mind that the categories would automatically be included. Thanks for noticing and fixing it! The idea is mine and still being worked on. I'll get around to fixing the broken links too, one way or another. -- 09:13, 30 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I just came across it - looks v cool! Nice ideas :) 19:47, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Test Realm Pictures
I'm sorry to bother you Varghedin, with this question, but I'm was just wondering if a person would be allowed to post pictures on wowwiki they obtained on a test realm. The reason I ask is that a few weeks ago, the GM powers were available for players on the test realm, while I'm sure this was a mistake as the server was shut down after a few hours (it like 2am in the morning so only a dozen or so players were on), however everyone on the server was able to /console port all across Azeroth, including to areas normally blocked off such as Old Ironforge, GM Island, etc. Because the pictures were taken on a Blizzard run server, and it was Blizzard who left the GM powers on, can I and others who were on the realm post our pictures? - Raogrimm2


 * I would still have to say no. A mistake on Blizzard's part doesn't really excuse it in my eyes. 06:53, 13 July 2007 (UTC)


 * (Back from vacation) I agree - the screens are still of content that is not publically accessible, and not legally obtained. -- 14:23, 16 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Ooh, welcome back. I did wonder where you went :) 15:38, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

NPC Template
Heya! I have been making a ton of quest list pages which include the NPCs who give the quests. I loved your way of displaying NPC names with the little pic in front, but the code was sorta long and annoying. So, I made Template:npcrace. I figure most of the NPC List pages are done so this may be of limited use, but as long as I made it for my use on the quest list pages I thought I would let you know it existed. It very slightly simplifies the code. Also, the NPC List pages = awesomely helpful :)

-- 01:18, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Glad my extensive work on that area's appreciated :) And thanks for the template link! 21:09, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Apostrophe!
Please be sure to use ' rather than ’ in links, as it messes stuff up if you don't. Thanks! --Pcj (T•C) 16:44, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Are you referring to something specific? ' is all I can get with my keyboard, really. 21:06, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I think what he means is that you shouldn't copy-paste from a word processing program or pdf. :P --Sky (t · c · w) 21:12, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Edits like this, in this one particularly "Don’t Kill the Fat One", "Terokk’s Legacy", "Find Spy To’gun", and "Return to Sha’tari Base Camp". --Pcj (T&bull;C) 21:14, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Word processors often convert the ' into a left or right apostrophe, rather keeping the standard non-specific form. I totally made up those names, but that's the gist of it. :) 22:26, 16 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Ah. That's annoying. I admit I've been keeping large edits in Word at times out of fear of losing the material in the process of updating it. I've been burned too many times by power outages and misclicks destroying valuable work. I'll try to be aware of the issue in future edits. 13:44, 17 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Using Notepad or a similar basic/code editing program should do the trick. 19:23, 17 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the tip, mate 22:35, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Sylvanas Windrunner
I was looking around and I noticed the picture you made. How were you able to do that? Mr.X8 22:41, 28 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I used Wowmodelviewer to dress a high elf in Sylvanas' armor, and used Photoshop to glue her into a screenshot of the Throne Room and give her a bluish skin and red eyes. -- 07:36, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh, thanks man Mr.X8 19:52, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

NPC Type icons
How did you create all icons for NPC types? Naga, Fel Orcs, Humans etc... --  Shandris   talk / contribs  09:19, 30 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, all the basic ones were there already (humans, draenei, forsaken, etc). I think it was part of the process when making the list of trainers that I was stumped due to the fact that some of them are furbolgs, banshees, goblins, ogres etc and there was no pic of them to match the others. So I got pics of the races and shrunk them down and sharpened them to avoid them being blurry in Photoshop and saved them as gifs so they would have the same quality, then I made templates for them just like the standard ones. Since then, I've added lots of other races that belong to various types of NPCs, but I'm quite sure there's several types yet needing to be made. -- 09:40, 30 September 2007 (UTC)
 * What races do you need to be added? I can help and contribute. Do you use model viewer and then shrink the pics? --  Shandris   talk / contribs  19:22, 14 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I do, to 18x18 pixels. Make sure the files are in .gif format to get the proper clarity. It often helps to sharpen the pic in Photoshop or similar programs. Use black background in viewer. Sometimes the angle and amount of zoom can be a challenge - if it's not done right the pics end up as unrecognizable blobs. -- 20:42, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Comic
Wow, did you make that comic all by yourself? That's awesome dude Mr.X8 01:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks :) I made the graphics - the story, composition etc were made by Knaak and company. -- 09:26, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Let me also congratulate you for the great job! Hope you'll make more of them. --Xavius 14:03, 9 January 2008 (EST)


 * Thank you! The next page is up already... I was in the mood today =P -- 15:42, 9 January 2008 (EST)