User talk:Emily Diehl/Official information archive

Q re: License information article

Isn't the contents of the License information article redundant to the Guild Wars Wiki:Copyrights article? The second one is linked to from the text below the edit window when a user contributes text.

The second one also need to have the ArenaNet / NCsoft licensing info added, but we were holding off until we heard from you or someone else at ArenaNet on this. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 15:54, 23 February 2007 (EST)

There is another section of license information that will be added to the "edit" page shortly. This section will further explain the license I just posted. Since these items are both newly acquired information, they will not be redundant when they are both in place. --Emily Diehl 16:00, 23 February 2007 (EST)

Okay - thanks! But, as it's a site license info, shouldn't the new one be at Guild Wars Wiki:License information instead of in the main article space at License information?

Oh! also, will changes be made to the copyright info at the bottom of each article page? Currently it reads "Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2." - I'm guessing that needs to be modified, or at least point to the new licence information. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 16:05, 23 February 2007 (EST)

To alleviate confusion, I will also put this information in the Guild Wars Wiki namespace page that you linked. We will be updating the footer to link to this new information at the same time that the edit page license information is updated, so you should expect to see this change happen in the very near future. --Emily Diehl 16:08, 23 February 2007 (EST)

Thanks for clarifying - yay! we can start using in-game content ... woohoo!  :-) --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 17:00, 23 February 2007 (EST)

As a final note, we've decided to point all license and copyright information to the central Guild Wars Wiki:Copyrights page. We will be updating the footer again shortly :) Until then, make sure you guys link to that page and not the "License information" or "Guild Wars Wiki:License information" pages. --Emily Diehl 21:50, 23 February 2007 (EST)

Emily, I've posted a licensing suggestion/concern at Guild Wars Wiki talk:Copyrights#Please license under later versions of GFDL too!. I'd be glad if someone at ArenaNet could take a look at it. Thanks! --Rezyk 06:46, 24 February 2007 (EST)

Requests for technical administration

Hello! I wasn't sure if anyone had asked you directly about the requests at Guild_Wars_Wiki:Requests_for_technical_administration. Could you take a look and let everyone know your thoughts on adding these? The one in the highest demand seems to be the request for ParserFunctions. Thanks for taking a look! --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 14:44, 25 February 2007 (EST)

Hey Emily, thanks for the progress update on this! LordBiro 15:20, 27 February 2007 (EST)

No problem :) --Emily Diehl 15:39, 27 February 2007 (EST)

How "species" is stored in the game

Hi Emily :) I realise Dirigible has asked a similar question in the past, but I'm hoping that this question will be easier to answer.

We've presumed that the species of a creature is a unique value, and so the {{NPC infobox}} template uses a "species" parameter. However this model doesn't seem to fit the game. Carven Effigy, for example, seems to be classified as both undead and elemental. It doesn't make sense to say "species = undead + elemental", nor does it make sense to say "species = undead", "species2 = elemental".

My question is how is the information stored on the game servers? I presume that there is not a single variable "species" that determines what the species of any given creature is. Is there some sort of check list? Undead = true, elemental = true? Or does it use a combination of these approaches?

I don't ask for any concrete information about particular NPCs, but any insight into how this kind of information is stored would be extremely useful, as the wiki can more accurately reflect the game. Thanks :) LordBiro 08:27, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

Heya Biro! This is a pretty involved answer, so I'm going to run around and chat with folks to try to figure out the best way to respond to your question. I'll get back to you as soon as I can round up the people I need to talk to. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 16:35, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

Thanks Emily, I really appreciate any information you could provide! :) LordBiro 16:37, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

A great question and a great thing that we are getting an answer. :) -- (gem / talk) 16:51, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay on this response. I've been extra busy for the past few weeks. I spoke with our creature team, and here's what I found out for you.

Each creature may be classed in several categories that loosely affect how they behave and relate to the world around them. Almost every creature has multiple traits; however for most creatures you’ll only see one trait (such as ‘undead’ or ‘human’) being dominant. What you’re seeing with creatures like the Carven Effigy is a combination of creature affiliation and creature type, both of which can have an effect on gameplay. In this particular instance, the Effigy is indeed an elemental creature, but it is of an undead origin and controlled by undead magic.

I hope this helps to explain things a bit more! -- Emily Diehl (talk) 17:00, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

So, any way we could get the official traits on their pages? *wink wink nudge nudge* -FireFox File:Firefoxav.png 17:06, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

I'm so disappointed that I missed this in all the traffic recently.

Thanks very much, Emily!!! I really appreciate you getting back to us on this :)

It certainly clears a lot of things up. At least now we know that there is definitely more than one variable! Does this mean that the two variables are "creature" and "affiliation"? Or can there be any combination of variables? I understand it took you some time to get the original answer, so if you are too busy to find this out I completely understand, and I'm still very grateful for the information you've provided so far ;) LordBiro 17:18, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Insignia

The update says that profession specific insignias now only drop in the campaign that they can be created in. Does this include the realms of the gods? - BeX 03:30, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Hi Bex! Sorry I didn't get this earlier...I was out of town this weekend. Yes, this includes the God Realms, although only core class insignias will drop in these areas. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 19:46, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! That helps a lot. :) - BeX 02:47, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Kehanni Nut?

Hi, Emily. I was wondering if you could check for us what the real name of Kehanni is. In the quest Rally The Princes the objectives say Nuti, but the dialog says Nutu. Its not very important so take your time :) ~ Kurd09:52, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Hi Kurd. Her name is Kehanni Nutu. From testing, it appears that this name is correct both in-game and in our databases, so it looks like this is just a wiki typo. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 18:33, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Wow, that was fast, tnx a lot :) ~ Kurd19:08, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

hover over skill icons used on GW.com

Hey Emily, not sure who is the best person to ask this, but I notice the skill icons used on GW.com, mainly in the PvP & State of game articles link back to the page, rather than this perhaps they could link to the skill page on wiki page instead? --Jamie 09:50, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Hm, that's an interesting point! I'll bring the topic up with the web team. Thanks for pointing it out :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 18:36, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Np, Emily ^^, I'm a web developer myself I thought it would be an interesting idea to add seeing how the wikis is out in the open now. --Jamie 19:02, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

As an update, I've passed this suggestion along to the team. Thanks again for bringing up the question :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 22:01, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

What's this?

This image was in the email that was sent around recently. What is the small sword? The big one is a Flamberge but I've never seen the small one before and it looks awesome. :O - BeX 05:19, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Looks to me like the Dragon Fangs. But that's just a guess, of course. --Nkuvu 19:20, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Yep, those are the Factions pre-order Dragon Fangs daggers. As I have time, I'll upload a render of the weapon so you guys can see the resemblance more clearly :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 19:23, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Ah, we preordered but EB always messes things up and didn't give us our packs. - BeX 02:20, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

June 7 update notes

Hi, Emily. It's being noted that there are a few "big" changes in this update that aren't noted. The Soul Reaping change (from once every 5sec to 3x every 15sec, and only for spirits you control) is definitely one that should have been if it was intended for this update. Also you now can't access hard mode from any challenge mission outpost apparently. --Valshia 23:48, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Given that while the descriptions are updated, the skills and attributes still function as they used to, it seems like the description updates were unintentional - so chances are, they'll just get reverted out with another build and the update notes will remain as-is. But that's just my guess. :) (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 23:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Didn't test it out before I wrote that but you seem to be right about SR. It's still once every 5sec. --Valshia 00:19, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Concept Art

Why is it that, we the Official wiki cannot use the concept art. I mean... It's already in the Fansite kit...isn't it? - Drago 20:58, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

I believe it is to prevent people from doing things like scanning in art books and obtaining concepts from places other than the fansite kit. Once you allow some items of a certain type to be posted, it's really difficult to draw a line on which ones are OK and which ones are not OK to post. --Emily Diehl 21:03, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

But how on earth is that rule feasible? I mean, the fansite kit, holding said concept art is avaiable to the general public. And couldn't we get a revised edition of concept art, dictating what we can and cannot put on the wiki? - Drago 21:04, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

I can check on this again, but last time I asked the answer was very definite. I'll see if exceptions can be made, but this decision is definitely not mine to make. --Emily Diehl 21:06, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

Thank you very much for trying, and I don't mean to pester you. I only wish to see the pretty concept art on this wonderful wiki. - Drago 21:08, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

Don't worry about pestering me! I can see both sides of the discussion here. I just sent out another email on the topic, so I will keep you guys posted with the decision. --Emily Diehl 21:20, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

If I may site the GWW copyright section... Content obtained from Guild Wars, its web sites, manuals and guides, concept art and renderings, press and fansite kits, and other such copyrighted material, may also be available from this site. - Drago 21:18, 2 May 2007 (EDT)

(ri)User:Santax today uploaded a lot of concept art to the wiki. Can you give an official response on this issue, Emily? The last time you responded, you were still investigating it. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 12:02, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi Corran! Thanks for pointing this out to me. I will see if I can get an expedited response to this question to figure out if the images need to be deleted or not. At this point, there has been quite a bit of discussion about the topic, but I don't believe a definite conclusion has been reached. From what I understand, the open source issue is a bit tricky from a legal standpoint. I'll see what I can find out in the meantime. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 17:52, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi again, everyone. I've gotten a reply about this issue, and was told that yes, it is permissible for you to post the concept art from the fansite kit. As a general rule, you will be able to post any content that we allow fansites to post.

I'm sorry it took so long to get this worked out, but at least it's a favorable answer :) Have fun uploading! -- Emily Diehl (talk) 18:00, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

gw.dat

I browsed the site official site and couldn't find anything about it, so maybe you could help me out :). Is it illegal for me to extract/replace the gw.dat?, i thought i saw somewhere that its ok to extract but not to replace :/.Just wanted to know before i do something stupid and get my account closed.Tnx ~ Kurd16:41, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi Kurd! I've checked on this for you and was told that yes,this is technically a bannable offense. However, I was also told that if the modification was something that would be of benefit to the community as a whole, that you should talk to us about what you'd like to do. We do have the best interest of the GW community in mind, so we're open to hear about beneficial modifications that would benefit everyone. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 18:44, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh.. I was going to try out some new skins for my weapons/armor but thats not gonna benefit anyone else that me. But i'm part of the community too :P. Ok, if thats not allowed are programs like Textmod(Link to Tomb Taider site showing how to use Textmod) allowed? these programs don't extract or replace gw.dat they "redirect" the gw.exe to use a texture outside of the gw.dat so basically i wouldn't be editing anything. ~ Kurd21:52, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Heya Kurd! I'm sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. I'm sending another email this morning regarding your question, so hopefully I'll have a reply later today. Things are insanely busy around the studio, so it's hard to get things tracked down right now :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 17:56, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Its ok, take your time. ~ Kurd 19:47, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for being patient, Kurd! I've checked on this question for you, and I've been told that you would be permitted to try to use this program to mod your own GW client's textures if you'd like. Since this is a question that others may be curious about, I'll go into some more detail about it.

As a general rule of thumb, we don't mind if you do things like this to make your own playing experience more fun. Some people really like to mod, and we recognize that this can often be a valuable learning tool. When you're doing it, though, keep in mind that we ask that you don't use our content to mod other games. Please do not attempt to extract anything from your GW.dat with the intent to use it in a mod for another game or project. Also keep in mind that we can't support any changes you make. In other words, if you try to make some changes and your game crashes, don't contact support because there really isn't anything they will be able to do for you. Make sure you have your disks handy to reinstall :)

In case anyone was concerned about this reply, keep in mind that alterations that people make to their own .dat files will not affect the play experience of others. All of that important data is stored server side, so any changes that would be able to be made are purely cosmetic. For instance, if someone re-textures their sword to look like a gigantic pickle, they will be the only one to see this change. You won't start seeing people wielding pickle swords running around in random arena any time soon :)

Also keep in mind that we are always interested to see what stuff you guys come up with. If you do something exceptionally cool that you feel would really benefit the community as a whole, don't be afraid to let us know about it.

I hope this answers your question, Kurd, and thanks again for being patient with me as I tracked down the answer for you :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 17:57, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

O no, thank you for answering my question. Ive already extracted some textures like the Luxon and Kurzick banner's and a lot of images for outpost. I'll see what more use full stuff i can come up with ~ Kurd 19:17, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I guess this allows players to create their own skins for the game UI and possibly even share those skins with others? After some time, if these become popular, ANet might even implement some alternate skins to the game. ;) -- (gem / talk) 20:18, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Good idea i'll start working on a beta ~ Kurd 21:52, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I made a little tutorial for modding here, i used your replay as a official one from Anet ~ Kurd 10:46, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks...

For the species answers. I missed them earlier. --Karlos 05:33, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Undead anomalies...

Ok, another undead question. According to Dirigible's tests here, Wraiths and Smoke Phantoms found in Kryta DO take extra damage from weapons of Deathbane (we use Wild Blow to guarantee the hit makes the same damage) but they also DO NOT take double damage from holy damage as Undead are "supposed to." Are they Undead or not?

At the heart of the issue here is our own methods of classification. We always assumed that weapons of species-slaying were the ultimate in classifying creatures. i.e. a weapon of Demon-slaying will only do extra damage on Demons, not creatures that are found with demons (like Dryders). However, this case seems to break that theory. The Wraiths are not Undead (they don't take double damage from holy damage) yet they take extra damage from Deathbane weapons. This breaks some things in our theories. Is it possible that you can pass this questions to the developers? How do they explain the list of creatures in that talk page that take extra damage from Deathbane, but not double damage from holy damage? Or is it that the double damage assumption in and of itself is false? Thanks again. --Karlos 05:45, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Maybe a test with EoE should be conducted? --Santax (talk · contribs) 06:58, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Minor correction, Wraiths actually do take extra damage from both the Deathbane mod and Banish (just went and checked to be sure). Smoke Phantoms don't though, together with Carven Effigies, Rotscale, Undead Lich and probably others, so aye, it's kinda messy. --Dirigible 08:50, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi guys! Yes, both of the creatures you mentioned (Smoke Phantoms and Wraiths) are classified as undead. I was told that your observations regarding Smoke Phantoms not taking additional damage from Deathbane and Banish are correct, and that this is a bug that will be evaluated. As far as Effigies go, they are considered to be constructs, and are therefore not classified as undead. In the case of bosses such as the Lich and Rotscale, they intentionally do not take additional damage for balance. Keep in mind that the way species react to different types of damage can be altered slightly if we determine that it is necessary for play balance reasons. While we have a general rule of thumb for species, none of this is completely set in stone. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 20:05, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I suspected that bosses are an exception to avoid easily smiting them to death. Resolving the Smoke Phantom thing is great. Carven Effigies are no problem either. Thanks again. --Karlos 20:50, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Omg, balance in PvE! Teh horror. ;) (← notice the wink...) --  (CoRrRan / talk) 22:28, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Sword/Axe Skin?

Hello Emily, I have a question about this weapon here, I've seen it before ( here, 4th from the right ) I'm just wondering if the sword/axe is actually available in game? Any help tracking down an answer would be great :D -- Scourge 02:34, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Forgotten User talk:Emily Diehl/Miscellaneous archive#What_is_this? already? :P - BeX 08:58, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

*throws a blanket over Bex* Let's just forget about her for the moment ;) I completely forgot about that conversation, but it doesn't look like it got resolved -- Scourge 11:48, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I know that the Ghostly Hero's sword is not available with the ghostly skin. I'll try to track down whether the other skin is available in game or not. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 19:11, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

As a follow up, no, this skin is not available in game. I have no information as to whether there are plans to include it or not. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 19:21, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Does the skin have a name though? --  (CoRrRan / talk) 19:42, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

*throws a blanket over everyone* ... I just wanted to join in. LordBiro 20:21, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I didn't ask this last time, but.... would you be able to GET information as to whether it might be included in the future? Guessing by this post, I doubt I'm the only one who would like to see it ingame. Also, why cant you give us information on it? Is it development team security or something? Counciler 22:02, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

This particular sword doesn't have an actual in-game name, since it just exists as a model under it's filename. It happened to be used as a piece of the armor rack prop, but was never placed into the game as a player-usable weapon.

As far as why I can't get information on whether the sword will be placed into the game, I really don't want to get myself into a situation where a "maybe" ends up being interpreted as a "yes" or where people are looking forward to getting an item that we may not put in at all. Our item guys said that it's possible that we might add it in the future, but honestly, there is no other information I can get about that right now. We're all working diligently on GW:EN, so the status of adding this weapon to the game should be viewed as more of a "we're aware that people would like it, so it might show up sometime" thing. :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 23:01, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for chasing that up Emily :) It would be great to see it in game with a cool name like the one from south park --> "Sword of a Thousand Truths" ;) -- Scourge 03:58, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Followup to gw.dat

Someone has taken your modding advice to heart and produced this :D -- AT(talk | contribs) 22:52, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Pickle swords seriously pwn. :) --  (CoRrRan / talk) 23:01, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Holy cow! o_O I'm kinda speechless on that one...haha.

As far as this topic goes, I notice that there is still a bit of confusion about what can and cannot be altered in the .dat file. I'm going to do some advanced checking up on the topic and make some kind of an FAQ about the topic. As a long time modder myself, I can understand a lot of the concerns and questions that people are bringing up. I'll make a personal project to find out the nuances of what is and is not allowed. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 23:21, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Sort of, but not totally related, check out the Fruit-Life mod for Half-Life2 :) --BramStoker (talk, contribs) 23:33, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Someone already found out for you Emily, look here. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 15:24, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, the answers I received were actually from one of the founders of the company, so the information that I provided was correct. I'll send out some emails to figure out what's going on. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 17:37, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

OK, there has already been made a support ticket by the affected person. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 17:41, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

That would be me. NCSoft has yet to update my updated information so I still can't play. I want to know what it was about my modding behavior that triggered this so that it NEVER happens to me again, ever! I'm still assuming it was logging in and out rapidly on a character, though they never entered a mission and didn't do much but move around a little if at all, though I did send another modder a tell ingame but got no reply.

Emily can you PLEASE get this resolved for me? Gaile has not read the PM I sent her on guildwarsguru.com on this matter and I see there that someone else got banned after me and their case has already been resolved, though they didn't get banned for modding. I'm really upset at this. ~Imaginos

Please keep in mind that Emily is not GW support. She is dealing with this issue and she will get back to us on it, but you really have to be with GW support to get your issue resolved in the end. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 17:26, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes she may not be with GW support at NCSoft but she can tell them that this is OK and to not ban people for it. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:69.3.116.10 .

I doubt Emily has the authority to tell the support team what or what not to ban people for. She can bring it to their attention but I'd be very surprised if she tells them what to do. -- (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 21:11, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, unfortunately I'm unable to do anything with support issues. Usually my job entails primarily internal things, with the wiki being an exception. I know that Gaile and the team are aware of the issue, though, and are looking into it. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 16:21, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Resolved with Gailes response here - MSorglos (talk|contrib) 16:24, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

About importing Official Guide to wiki

Hi I asked this question on Guild Wars Wiki talk:Projects/Mission articles and someone suggest me to contact you about :

Hello. I just get faction since one week, and I'm the happy-owner of the official Faction guide (french version, but maps are libelled in english). 
Accordingly to the policy, can you confirm me that it is legal to scan missions map to provide the wiki? 
Those image are NCsoft and ArenaNet copyrigh ted, but does the Official Guide fall into this restriction ?? : 
Never use scanned images from magazine articles about Guild Wars or any image that another web page has been granted exclusive access to. 
(from Guild Wars Wiki:Image use)

Thanks a lot! Bye! -- M'vy | user | talk | -- 12:59, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

User talk:Santax/Archives/Two#Concept_art.

...as far as the Prima content goes, unfortunately we cannot allow that to be uploaded here due to copyright issues. Even though it technically is our content, it's still their book..."

There's your answer, I'm afraid. --Santax (talk · contribs) 14:57, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Too bad... Thanks a lot, I report your answer to the related topic talk. -- M'vy | user | talk | -- 15:40, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Species names

→ moved to User talk:Linsey Murdock/Species