general Petopedia suggestions

[Orni]

1. More Guides

Petopedia would profit really much from this. In my opinion this guides would be really useful:

-HowTo: Taming properly (how to tame a elite mob with max level without dying)
-HowTo: Getting rare-spawnes (how to set up addons and makros for this purpose and hints)
-Best pet families for dps (a guide that does the math and shows some neat graphs and formulas)
-Best pet families for soloing (same here)
-Best pet families for PvE (same here)

I would even write some of them myself. Since I'm a mathematics student here at germany I think I'm quite good for this
However, I'd like somebody to check them for grammatical errors since my english is just a foreign language to me.

2. Pics of Spawn locations

Yes, I know WoWhead offers this and that there's a direct link for every pet. However. Named pet's (for example the spirit beasts) should get a small graphic that shows the spawn locations for them.

3. gif Animations

WoW Modelviewer offers a nice option for this. gif Animations of the different stand and attack animations of every pet model would be really really nice. Yeah, it's quite much work but it would help deciding which pet to take (for many people) since at least for the user it's better to have a quick look than have to test-tame one ingame or open up modelviewer by himself

[Razzy]

I like the idea of most of these suggestions. Spawn point maps wouldn't be essential, really, but they'd help out the lazy persons.

However, I see a problem with the animations suggestion. Animations take up a heck of a lot of space; having multiple animations for so many different pets would make a computer miserably slow.

[Khishay]

I agree the animations might be much, but the rest sound like solid resources for newer hunters. Also, I would personally love the spawn map to be on the same page as the pet

Maaaaybe... Instead of pet animations... Pet "smilies" for the forums? Ahhh I can dream!

[Karathyriel]

The problem with graphics is that they have to hosted somewhere. All the pix I made so far are hosted on my own webspace. But one day, when I'll need my webspace or stop playing WoW or whatever reason might come up, I'll delete these graphics and then what? That's why I tell all the people to save and host them by themselves.

You'd need some free webspace that allows you to upload pictures. But you'd want to have one account for all users, so, if one user wants to upload just one little pic, he doesn't have to register and make his own account for uploading pictures. But you'd want to be sure that people can't just delete or overwrite the uploaded graphics.
Sounds complicated? Well, that's because it is complicated!

I don't know any way of haven pictures stored savely forever.

[VelkynKarma]

As for suggestions, I think a little intro-to-instances/raiding thing might be nice too. Not necessarily rotations/macros/dpsing per se--there are plenty of threads for those.

I mean little tricks and tips that experienced instance/raid runners can share, that might help out newbs. Like grouping etiquette. Or "hey, during X boss, you can throw out the suggestion to use move Y plus Z for better pulls." Or 'don't use your pet like THIS on THIS boss, it glitches." Little tips and tricks, y'know?

I say so because I'm gearing up my first level 80 hunter to try and run a few instances and while I have rotations and stuff pretty much understood, any little tip helps!

~VelkynKarma

[Karathyriel]

petropia-forum.jpg (8.25 KiB) Viewed 4149 times

Oh, by the way...

Until we get a "real" petopia theme for the forum, maybe Mania could include this:

instead of this:

So it wouldn't look so much construcion site like!

Just an idea...

[Mania]

Now that is adorable! I have no idea how to get it into the header, but I'll poke around today.

[Saturo]

My experience with forums like this one (Guildlaunch forums, which is phpBB based), is that you have to pay to use the more advanced features, like themes and custom backdrops.

I can remember nearly 80% of my old guild leaving because the GM did'nt want to pay for it.

[Karathyriel]

I have no idea how to get it into the header, but I'll poke around today.

Well, just rename the graphic to what the original is called and swap the files.

It's this file: http://forums.wow-petopia.com/styles/su ... e_logo.gif

I made it the same size and the background should also be blending in.

[Saturo]

The thing is, admins on forums like this one don't have access to that kind of thing. They get a configuration utility, and thats it.

[Mania]

Oh, sure .. just hack it. *sigh* Where is the elegance? Where is the ... no, I can't keep that up with a straight face. *grin*

saturo: Just to clarify, I run this forum on my own dedicated server. (Well, the server my husband and I share. But same difference.) Since the code itself is open source, I have access to everything. I just don't always know what to do with it, or have the time to do it right.

[Saturo]

Oh, I did'nt realize. I thought you had just made the Domain Server redirect. I mean, it looked exactly like a phpBB forum, what with the logo and all.

I'm just not too good on this sort of thing. Ask me how to cobble together three macroes into one, and I'll do it, but forum administration... That's not my field...

[Mania]

Yeah, it still looks very default and plain. I'll get to that eventually ... I hope. :>

[Maizou]

-Best pet families for dps (a guide that does the math and shows some neat graphs and formulas)
-Best pet families for soloing (same here)
-Best pet families for PvE (same here)

If those guides pop up, I leave.

I don't like people telling me if I'm not using __, I'm not doing the maximum DPS I can. Pet DPS is VERY variable, so in turn, there is no best pet, as depending on multiple factors, some pets do better in different situations. So spreadsheets don't tend to work for pets. They work for the most part for player DPS, simply because they do it as if the monster never moves, etc. Even if that's the case, pet dps is still variable based on many hunter talents, procs, etc.

Anyway, I agree with most the other things, XD

[Vephriel]

I think in the case of those guides, Myzou, they're suggested. Some people like knowing what the theoretical best is, it doesn't mean they're demanding you to use them.

[Saturo]

The problem is, non-hunters may peek in and see that the boar is the top-DPS pet, and then log in and write "all hunters that don't use boars r sux, cuz boars r Pwn dps!" in trade.

Heck, I've been kicked from raids for not using a wolf.

[Mania]

I've traditionally stayed away from 'best pet' guides for that reason. However, I know a lot of hunters would like some level of gentle guidance. I think the really vague guide I have up now about how to choose a pet (which talks about the things you might want to think about, without (I hope) coming across too strongly) is the sort of thing we might at some point consider adding. (And I say we because there's no way I could write those myself!)

[Chrizesu]

I was going to write some gentle yet informative guides on hunters & pets, but I'm still not sure where to put each one.