User:Raine Valen/Mass Balance/Noticeboard

=An Informal Introduction.= So hello. As you may or may not know, I've mentioned before a community-based balance, and even made some steps toward that with my underpowered/overpowered skills pages. They served their purpose, but eventually, the volume of the content became more than that level of organization could support. And so, here we've moved, to do it again, for the last time, hopefully. Properly. My intention here is to get reasoning. That is, suggestions with reasoning. The suggestions can then be criticized, and fine-tuned to perfection, at which point we can link here all over the ArenaNet namespace. The things that had previously been problems -- the disorganization, personal attacks, terrible suggestions -- in the skill feedback pages, staff talk pages, and skill discussion pages, I'd like to do away with here. Hopefully, by removing the disruptive elements, the (valid) excuses for why said feedback has been stagnant, we can generate a positive response from development. Why am I doing all this? Well, I'd love to see some progress. I know that Guild Wars can be better, and I'd like to see that. I think everyone (maybe not Blizzard) would. So, then, in the name of Progress... Let's get to it.

=Before Getting To It.= As much as I generally agree with Nike, I've come to realize that there's a time and a place for everything. This is not the time and the place to "just do it". Before you make an edit for a new section, check the Formatting Guide. Anything not in the proper format will either be reformatted (by anyone) or deleted/archived (by me). Period. If you're unclear based on the content of that guide, check for other edits similar to what you want to do. I don't like to be this much of a... strict person, but again, there's a time and a place for everything.

Notes:

 * Be literal. When you propose a change, don't use rhetorical devices (I recall someone writing something about Palm Strike doubling Divine Favor on Smiting Prayers); propose a viable change.
 * If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't propose changes to meta skills, but try not to break the game.  For example, don't propose nerfing WoH unless you've thought it through; WoH is one of the only heals that holds up right now.  Instead, consider proposing a buff to Healing Light or some such.
 * Keep in mind that this mostly directed at PvP.

=The Pre-Release Party.= There are always those people who look through RC, my contributions, Prefix Index, or whatever else you use to find things before I post them on my user page. As you've noticed, there is no real amount of content. No real formatting guide. Nada. So, to you, I say this: Go ahead, if you're so inclined. The formatting is to be the similar to what I used for my dervish rework; for an example, check here. Thank you, in advance, for your help.

=How This Works.= You know the EULA? That really long document with the check box that you click to say that you read and agree to it? You know, the screen that comes up before you can legally install something, the one where you click the check box and hit "Next" without really reading anything? Well, this section is like that. You can skip this part, there's nothing important here. However, for the curious, I'll explain in short how this is supposed to work. That's it. When every skill is turned into something viable (or left in its current viable state), I take this project to Linsey (and whoever else is remotely involved in game balance at ArenaNet) and say, "Hey, look what we did! Here, do this and PvP works again.  PvE works better, too.  We all agree on this.  You're welcome." And that's that. But that's just the overview. I intend to document the specifics under the "The Wiki" section (you can find it in the Index). As of this point, it's not finished (of course), but I intend to be fleshing it out as this project matures. If there's ever any (appropriate and relevant) pages that you want to see, add them to the Index in the appropriate section and drop a note on my talk page (or this talk page, or even the Index talk page); I'll get around to it. Once again, thank you all for your assistance.
 * 1) A user makes a suggestion on the main page and adds that heading to the talk page. Optionally, that user also leaves a bit of information about their suggestion on the talk page.
 * 2) Other users read what the user wrote, and comment on it on the talk page.
 * 3) The user reads this feedback and responds to it on the talk page, then updates their suggestion on the main page if they feel so inclined.
 * 4) Repeat steps 2-3 until the suggestion is deemed viable.

=Getting To It.= Since the appropriate subpages don't exist yet, you should probably start at the Index. Since the current formatting guidelines only cover skill suggestions, I highly recommend starting with those (though, common sense dictates. If you feel you've enough of it to start working on a different kind of page, then, by all means). Wherever you start (or add to) a page, remember to start (or add to) the corresponding talk page; use this page as an example. At this point, it's all going to be new content, so you're the pioneers. Happy Editing.

=Identify Yourself!= As with any community project, more involvement equals more win. In order to foster involvement, some sort of advertising is usually good. Considering the nature of this media (wiki), I've deemed Userboxes to be an appropriate way to "spread the word". One of those on your page would go a long way. <3