User blog:Dbeoguides/The Birth of the Wiki

Hello there, Jimbo Wales Alec of Alec's Guides here, going to talk about why you're at a wiki instead of the Alec's Guides website. After a lot of thought, I admitted to myself a few things:

1. I am not really knowledgeable enough about DBEO to make all the guides I would like to make.

2. I am not really knowledgeable enough about website design to effectively deliver all the information a walkthrough site should offer.

3. I am not reliable or interested enough to update every time Kris or Cinnom makes an update (however rare that is).

So, I'm going to cover a few points you probably don't care too much about, but deserve to be covered, if for no other reason than to preserve the old site's history.

What happened to the classic Alec's Guides website?

Depends on how classic you're talking about. The original site is lost forever. The version 2 site is going to get shoved into a secret folder on my webserver until the wiki takes off, at which point I will link it in the appropriate page. As for what I'm going to do with the Alec's Guides site, it's likely I'll use it to host a dbeo forum that, unlike the ones in the past, will never go down. I'll probably also use it to continue uploading videos about dbeo and video guides, since there are some things that new players will benefit from seeing in action rather than reading about it.

Will you continue adding content?

Yes. While I don't play all that often anymore, I do still have a responsibility to maintain a guides site, regardless of it's format. I'm also more interested in adding non-text content nowadays, such as videos and one day, a map explorer that doesn't suck. Speaking of which...

What happened to the map explorer?

I sent it back to the depths of hell. In all seriousness though, the map explorer was made in about 6 hours and full of errors; it also was a complete nightmare as far as fixing said errors goes, and ultimately I felt it shouldn't have ever been made. It's my hope that the wiki replaces the map explorer, ideally with summaries of the NPC, what they offer, and their picture on the map. Ideally, this will offer new players a much higher quality product than the piece of shit I designed.

Why a Wiki?

Simply put, because a wiki is the ultimate way of overcoming the major obstacle any walkthrough has: that nobody knows everything. I couldn't tell you anything about the damage formula, or the fastest way to get SSJ, or even the best places to collect money. As a community effort, this is no longer an obstacle; while we may never know exactly how damage is calculated or the drop rates of certain items, as a whole we know a lot more about these things than as individuals (exceptions here being Kristoph and Cinnom, for obvious reasons). It also allows for guides pertaining to updates to be released much faster than would ordinarily be possible.

Closing Notes

DBEO is going through a rough patch right now, that much is certain. However, we've got all the things it needs for a brighter future, we've got a decent group of regular players, we're recieving updates with fair regularity, and the gameplay offers more variation than ever before. Alec's guides had a good run in it's previous format, but I think everyone will agree that this setup will work just as well, and probably even better.

Thank you for your continued support, and here's looking forward to a great 2011.

-Alec