GameAmp: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

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Wyat_hawke

Posts: 64
Joined: 06/16/2006
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Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I don't want top point fingers, but I do honestly think that recently a lot of builds that have been submitted lack a lot of good quality. Note that I am saying quality, not design. The guides we have now looks awesome. Unfortunately, they lack on the other side of the scale, and that is how the builds actually perform.

Now the first question that springs to my mind is this; How can the person/those who approve the guides let those guides slip through? It is not hard to write an overall review back (I know I got several from The Beano before he retired), and point out flaws before approving it and let the GA community start to whack at it instead. Surely, looks isn't everything?

The question that is begged to ask is if there is too much of a focus on the graphical stuff, and too little on what the guide contains. I think the current guidelines we have should be modified so we actually start focusing on guides that works as well. I know at least, that I'd prefer a terrible looking guide with a build that works, over a really nice looking guide with a terrible content.

Thing is, the way the guides are approved now doesn't seem to cut it anymore. We don't need much more proof than to go and take a look over at the guide section. The general quality of the builds posted over there has been going down.

Is the staffers approving the guides getting a bit too soft perhaps? Isn't it time for a slight change in the rules? Because at the moment, far to many bad builds get through.

10/22/07 15:19

Brynden

Posts: 45
Joined: 02/28/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I am currently debating with myself on whether or not I agree with you. On the one hand, the guides section is meant to teach new players something cool and new they probably haven't tried before, and in that sense it should work well. On the other hand, if a person has been using a build for a long time and feels that if performs well, who are we to say that it is a 'bad' build? I have yet to decide how I feel about this, though I definitely would prefer that only good builds show up in the guides section, it somehow seems wrong to do so.

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10/22/07 15:28

MasterSaji

GameAmp Staff
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I agree, but I can't think of a remedy for approving guides other then to let all staffers look at the guide and give it a thumbs down or thumbs up. It'sv a similar setup that I have over at my alliance's forums.

And a rate-a-build setup like wiki isn't the answer either, and honestly I don't know what is :/

But I would love to see Builds and Guides get a look-over so we can improve the quality of the site.

~Saji

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10/22/07 15:29

Wyat_hawke

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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

You see, it is not like I this is a new thing I have been thinking about. I sent a letter first to The Beano, asking in a sincere application that I would like to help out reviewing the guides (not approving them, just helping giving my opinions on it and give feedback to the member who submitted it, offering tips, etc), to ease the burden off. The Beano retired, I sent it to Mrswith, he retired as well, sent it to Kanna only to find out that he's not in charge of the guide section anymore, and now the whole thing is pending/forgotten at BD. (Which I haven't seen in quite a while, WoW anyone?)

At Brynden, don't you think it is better for these new players to see a good build than a poor build? I am not against different variants that might be slightly worse than "x" build, but in general it is not very hard to sort the bad builds and the good ones. Feedback is every guide submitters friend, I think the staffers should take their time and using more time on feedback. Or, as I have suggested, let others do it for them.

10/22/07 15:37

Dragon Warrioralpha

Posts: 17
Joined: 04/23/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Before I made my good guide, Ill tell you it was a piece of crap. But Keo PMed me,saying it wasn't very good. He gave me helpful links to make a good guide.

BTW Ty again Keo =)

10/22/07 15:57

stanzhao1

Posts: 20
Joined: 03/15/2007
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

i have only ever made 1 guide. the reason for this is that i dont feel the need to make guides on things that i think personally good. something like a mission or a farming guide etc is something the whole community can use. but as brynden said, ones mans rubbish is another mans gold.

so i guess a player who may be new to the game may find some of the ideas helpful. more experienced players maybe not so much...

i do think the guides need a little more moderation. but i kind of hate giving opinions on things like this, as i havent been in mods shoes etc

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/22/07 16:06

aznese guy

Posts: 12
Joined: 03/13/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I definitely agree with you Wyat. I've seen so many pictureless guides, all words clumped together with nothing but wiki information in the middle! I don't think it's too hard to just review the guide and see if the things in it are viable or not because just accepting a non-viable guide is useless to the community and the guide ends up in pieces. And everyone's rubbish is no1's gold, and some guides I've seen are like that, where no1 likes it at all...

quit gw for good. end of story.

10/22/07 16:39

Charlotte The Harlot

Posts: 4
Joined: 11/07/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Whenever i say a build is bad people just tell me that they have a lot of fun with it and not giving a valid point as to why its a good build, but despite them having fun newer/bad players who may try to run it are just using something crappy. Obviously that is a bad thing and since no one will accept the fact that their guide sucks and just get butt hurt the guides should be checked before hand so we know they are at least semi viable (assuming the person who checks them isn't dumb).

10/22/07 17:02

Belshazaarswrath

Posts: 6
Joined: 12/29/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Who's to say what a Good or bad build is? Rogue doesn't seem to like any of my builds and the only one I have seen from him I didn't like. We both do pretty well for ourselves. As long as the build does what it needs to do then it's a working build.

10/22/07 17:05

Rogue

Posts: 28
Joined: 12/09/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Yeah, I'm just the harshest build critic on GA.

Anything that does less than 4k DPS in a perfect situation isn't worth playing as a damage char.

IGN: Rogue Mysst. Guest me for GvG.

10/22/07 17:31

Evil Geek

Posts: 15
Joined: 10/18/2005
Credibility: 0 pts

RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

The difficulty is having the knowledge of PvP and PvE in-depth enough to know when a build will work or not and/or to have the time to run off and test the build enough times to validate it before approving it. Thats alot of time and expertise expected from one staffer, there are things I've seen lately that have been obviously failing in builds, I'm not the type to sit down and work out DPS or instantly know all the possible counters but I can still see flaws.

Guides may look prettier but the content definately needs more attention, theres one in the top five at the moment that has a title spelt incorrectly, pretty obvious that should have been fixed :)

Alot of work went into guidelines for creating guides and they give the submitter alot of credit, approving sub-standard guides can do more harm than good.

It's a difficult job and one I never wanted to do as staffer because I won't even try and pretend my knowledge goes anywhere near far enough. It's pretty obvious from this thread the staff are trying their best to encourage more work prior to approval, perhaps a little more encouragement won't go amiss ?

Perhaps a 'guide hit squad' of a few staffers may work but what with all the other work required of admins will they be able to pull that one off?

• Guild Wars: Mutants [MU] • Age of Conan: Ampian Forerunners •

10/22/07 17:58

Keo

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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Oh when I were a lad the grass was greener and the sky was bluer and everything was better than it is today...

I can point you to dozens of bad guides ranging right through the sites life, and what makes you think that we should deny people their opinions on what is a good build?

Ok....

Guide
Build

Notice a difference there? We don't have a 'builds' section here on the site, we have a guides section. It just so happens that people submit a lot of guides on how to use their builds or that many guides include a build as a necessity. Due to this the quality of the build itself is of secondary concern to the quality of the guide. TheBeano never once told me that I should refuse a guide because I didn't think the build described was good enough.

As for our requirements for guides they are fairly straight forward: I judge guides based on a system shown to me by Beans and tightened by Beans, Maya oh and all the rest of the staff just a few months back.

When a build is submitted we do our best to help the user tidy it up and improve it, I don't think I have seen all that many guides which go through first time without a touch-up.

On top of this you have to think about keeping the site fresh, giving people new content to complai.....talk about. Would you rather have a site where nothing changed because the users were too worried about reproach to submit anything new?

Now to finish on a nice positive note there's a little link here: Clicky!
That can help us staffers out. There seems to be so many of you out there with many many many great ideas about what to do why don't you sign up for staff? We could do with a PvP guide editor.

Forum Rules |-| Adding sigs and images |-| Guidelines for Guides |-| GuildBase

10/22/07 18:22

Nyoxis

GameAmp Staff
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

Surely, looks isn't everything?

Aren't. Looks aren't everything. em...Sorry. =)

Back to topic. I'd actually like to see more guides, I myself haven't contributed one recently but I'm sure there are loads of new things that could be added since the HM EotN update. I also agree that content > looks and we need better content. =)

Hmm I think I'll get a guide working on this new farming I've found, making sure that it's aesthetically pleasing and not full of garbage. =)

Edit: I really should stop putting so =) many =) damn smiley faces. =)

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/22/07 18:27

Evil Geek

Posts: 15
Joined: 10/18/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

After thinking on this one and as keo mentions above, why should guides be perfect? It prompts discussion and ideas grow and better things can then be done all from what some may have seen as a worthless guide :)

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

• Guild Wars: Mutants [MU] • Age of Conan: Ampian Forerunners •

10/22/07 18:28

Belshazaarswrath

Posts: 6
Joined: 12/29/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

Everything is relative and if you don't think the guide is right that is what comments are for.

10/22/07 18:31

Suria

Posts: 5
Joined: 01/05/2007
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Yes, I think so.

And yes, The Beano was good !

Mutants Guild [MU]

10/22/07 18:44

Riotpoll

Posts: 5
Joined: 10/20/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I'd say no, there's always been a huge amount of poor/mediocre guides compared to the odd gems.

10/22/07 19:01

aznese guy

Posts: 12
Joined: 03/13/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

that's not exactly a good thing. In the Guide section we should try to have more good guides than crappy worthless ones, so saying there are more bad guides doesn't help the cause at all. I'm not trying to say guides have to be perfect, but they could at least look good, and have a build that works and people can run. Most of the builds here I couldn't run worth crap and couldn't kill the 60 AL dummy in the Isle's.

I bet plenty of people here would love to test a build out before the guide get's accepted, because seeing a crappy non-working guide just isn't worth it to be in the guides section.

quit gw for good. end of story.

10/22/07 20:12

bandit_jin

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Joined: 04/30/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

i agree with the quality thing, no offense but these new guides, with these rampage sin's , 1hp mm etc. are kinda no bah-bleh, no offense. u could do alot better. screen better plzz

10/22/07 20:16

Cross

Posts: 15
Joined: 05/06/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

I agree with Keo. Coming from one that knows how any build that shows up on here gets quickly jumped at and ripped apart even if the topic has nothing to do with the build, who is to judge what a working build? If the person that made the guide done the task with that build and yet the ones that say it stinks can't do it, does that mean :

A)he is a really good player to accomplish this with such a poor build

B)the ones trying to use this poor build aren't as good as they want to believe cause they can't pull the same off

C)which seems more true is that depending on the person some things work better for their personal game play which is why customized builds are far better than any of the normal over used common builds you see on most site's builds sections.

I mean I have used my 55 a lot but tried the 600 and just couldn't get the hang of what everyone says was easy to use. It just isn't my thing. It doesn't mean its a crappy build just means it doesn't do so well for me. Just like some say all Rit/N MM stink but I've never had the first person say lets drop this guy in the next mission and get a N/Mo MM.

Now in saying all that what I'm getting to is that even if the builds aren't so good to me personally I can also look at comments on changes and combine them and come up with a custom build for me by maybe adding this change or leaving this the same and even though not perfect for everyone just maybe its perfect for my game play.

So all and all I'd so no its not going down but I dare to say I think some egos have. This could be why I've never posted a guide or even a screenshot for constant negativity with no encouragement really isn't any help to the one that posted or the others that may read the comments.

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

I'm neither here nor there but everywhere. I am who I am and nothing more but yet I'm nothing less than what I strive to be.

10/22/07 20:39

aznese guy

Posts: 12
Joined: 03/13/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

not to pick on this person, but this guide was one of the worst I've seen. Clicky
This guide was recent too, and to me it shows that crappy guides keep getting accepted that have nothing at all that helps anyone. Again, stressing on the quality factor.

quit gw for good. end of story.

10/22/07 20:53

Smooth Op

Posts: 0
Joined: 06/10/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Build<----My first, and thus far only, posted build in my time here (it was before the new rules(s) for making a build more purrty.) It wasn't well received;some liked it, the majority didn't. But it works for me. She uses a hammer, not an axe or sword. I have her equipped with life stealing spells when she doesn't have an abundance of energy. Yeah I understood, and still understand, the arguments posted. But, my main point is if someone sees a flaw or a different skill that can be used, then provide such information; it's good for the community imho. This is a community based upon fandom; FAQs in topics, builds, guides, stories, all are for GW fans by GW fans. Just like lyrics from the "Diffr'nt Strokes" theme: "What may be right for you, may not be right for some."

I myself am not a fan of cookie cutter builds. Before builds reach "c.c." status, they went through a trial and error process, the same as any other build. I mean, who I am I to tell a person that their build is a diamond or poo? I am in no way an expert, and that applies to, in my guesstimation, 95%+ of GW gamers. But even then, when one reaches a high plateau such as that other 5%, they forget that they were once just a normal player, trying to find different combos that work.

I guess in the long run, maybe the community needs to be a bit more accepting of others' ideas. If you see in the title of a build or guide that it's misspelled or whatever reason, then don't read it; especially if you know that the build/guide will frustrate you. I believe ripping on a build without offering help/suggestions is the wrong approach for us, as a community and individuals.

10/22/07 21:10

Rogue

Posts: 28
Joined: 12/09/2005
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

I believe ripping on a build without offering help/suggestions is the wrong approach for us, as a community and individuals.

I don't agree. Telling people that a build is bad is a way to let them know to avoid playing it and thus them getting dragged down into lower levels of epic badness at the game.

IGN: Rogue Mysst. Guest me for GvG.

10/22/07 21:26

Cross

Posts: 15
Joined: 05/06/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

I'll give you that one but not cause of the build as there wasn't one nor was it about one but just the whole layout with no map to the location and showing how to get there. I guess he could have put up the build he used in getting there but I'm sure the point wasn't about a build to get there but instead of how to get there as in directions. Which imo it needed help and should have been asked to fix before accepting. But looking at other guides mentioned I quit reading them as not because the builds were bad but the over degrading comments just deters me from even looking at other suggestions that someone else feels would be a better option. Its one thing to say IMO I think this would be a better option to this and that could be changed to this to make it more usable rather than the overly rude "this build just stinks" or "why did this get accepted".

Newer people have more respect and will listen to suggestions from people that show respect than ones that don't. I rather like a lot of comments by people on this site as more seem to use constructive criticism by saying I feel this could be better rather than some just plain degrading that just come off as godly players acting as if you don't use the build they use then the build just stinks and is a waste and no good to anyone.

Sorry I got away from things there but anyway the comments are there to not only applaud the person for their work but to offer suggestions that may help not only the submitter but the other readers as well. If only Uber builds were posted why bother commenting and what real help would it be as everyone would be like bots using the same builds and as I've said before what may work great for one person doesn't at all mean its great for everyone.

I'm neither here nor there but everywhere. I am who I am and nothing more but yet I'm nothing less than what I strive to be.

10/22/07 21:30

Wyat_hawke

Posts: 64
Joined: 06/16/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

[First off, thanks for correcting my spelling mistake nyoxis.

QUOTE]Build<----My first, and thus far only, posted build in my time here (it was before the new rules(s) for making a build more purrty.) It wasn't well received;some liked it, the majority didn't. But it works for me. She uses a hammer, not an axe or sword. I have her equipped with life stealing spells when she doesn't have an abundance of energy. Yeah I understood, and still understand, the arguments posted. But, my main point is if someone sees a flaw or a different skill that can be used, then provide such information; it's good for the community imho. This is a community based upon fandom; FAQs in topics, builds, guides, stories, all are for GW fans by GW fans. Just like lyrics from the "Diffr'nt Strokes" theme: "What may be right for you, may not be right for some."

I myself am not a fan of cookie cutter builds. Before builds reach "c.c." status, they went through a trial and error process, the same as any other build. I mean, who I am I to tell a person that their build is a diamond or poo? I am in no way an expert, and that applies to, in my guesstimation, 95%+ of GW gamers. But even then, when one reaches a high plateau such as that other 5%, they forget that they were once just a normal player, trying to find different combos that work.

I guess in the long run, maybe the community needs to be a bit more accepting of others' ideas. If you see in the title of a build or guide that it's misspelled or whatever reason, then don't read it; especially if you know that the build/guide will frustrate you. I believe ripping on a build without offering help/suggestions is the wrong approach for us, as a community and individuals.[/QUOTE]

This is where the staffers come in. You do realize now that the build you posted was indeed bad, because of the overwhelming criticism you got from the community. This is what makes me wonder, why couldn't the staffer who approved it taken care of that instead? There are simply some times (and this is especially important for PvP) where builds are flat out bad.

And to the people arguing over the "harsh" critisism, you have missed something... Read over the last guides we have got. There are loads of people critising the build, in a constructive manner. Use skill "x" instead of skill "y" is a very common sentence over there.

The setup we have right now is actually kind of wrong, favouring the guide submitter over the constructive critism. A build gets posted and then it is up to the critizisers to argue why this build is bad or good. It should really, really be the other way around, the poster should have to argue for himself why his build is good enough to make it through the guides section.

You think you have a good build? Fine, go ahead and post it. But don't nesseccarily think we will all love it...

If GA can't take a discussion over other peoples builds, then there is something faintly wrong with this community. Arguments is what keeps people striving for the better build, better achievement, or the better guide. If you submit a guide, you have to take the critisism.

10/23/07 01:21

mriswith

Posts: 121
Joined: 03/09/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

Wyatt; to correct you on a fundamental mistake: the guidelines were NOT for perrtyness; read it and you will see that the guidelines state a build has to work, tested, filled with pros, cons and actually admins (beano did that as well as did i) should test the build to see if its genuine and that it is a serious build. So please stop with assuming the guidelines were the reason builds got bad since they were bad before, and that is why the guideline was actually made.

To rogue: i hope your post was meant sarcastic...

necromancer all the way

10/23/07 01:27

Rogue

Posts: 28
Joined: 12/09/2005
Credibility: 0 pts

RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

To rogue: i hope your post was meant sarcastic...

4k DPM in an ideal situation, as in Master of Damage. It's relatively easy to achieve and still have skills leftover for utility. As in when I tried the first thing that came to my head for mega DPM I managed to get slightly over 6k in one minute (Dslash conjure variant). That's with no party support. The other alternative is the solo spike char, in which case you're gonna try to be doing bursts of damage that go for more than 700 in a few seconds. Which the SP sin type still gets around 4k DPM under perfect circumstances.

The first part of my post was mildly sarcastic though.

But really, there's nothing wrong with shooting high. It makes people better players. And 4k DPM on a single target is really easy to achieve. You'll still have room for utility skills too, like shouts or enchant stripping or something defensive. On a typical warrior, you go for above 5k DPS on master of damage that's perma frenzied and spamming adren attacks on recharge. Now in a typical setting, you won't spam adren attacks... you make sure your target isn't protted and then spam adren attacks. And you won't be under frenzy 100% of the time, just when you're trying to kill something and don't have a boss or massive hexes stacked on you.

So yeah, any frontline archtype should be able to achieve easily 4k DPM. Any midline archtype should be able to assist on DPS and provide support to frontline and backline. And any backline type should be able to be mobile and preprot if not a henchman.

So no, I wasn't being sarcastic really.

EDIT: Oh I forgot I posted twice in this thread.

As for the second post, yeah it was mostly sarcasm. But I do believe we should point out the flaws of a build. There have been some really really really really really (continue for 71 more "really"s) bad builds posted in a beautiful guide colored and pictured format.

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

IGN: Rogue Mysst. Guest me for GvG.

10/23/07 01:41

Wyat_hawke

Posts: 64
Joined: 06/16/2006
Credibility: 0 pts

RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

I agree with you:

QUOTE

• Test your build extensively. Make 100% that it does what you describe and that it works.

• Try to explain the subject in all detail. For instance; explain pros and cons; counters; difficulties and tactics

• Explain what the build does. Is it for tanking; running; spiking

Problem is, that is only three bulletpoints about the the effectiveness of the build. There is 16 bulletpoints in total, with a much higher focus on the "looks" of the guide. It was a minor statement I wanted to add, to try to show that this has been a recent problem. I still want you to read through the guidelines though... Not once is it written that people have to post a build that is good. It just have to, "work". And as said before, a lot of stuff "works", and it "works" especially good for the person who posted the guide.

But if we even try agree that the guide guidelines are fairly okay ( I would still make it a bit more clear that you have to post a build that would achieve something better), then we have a new problem. If it stands clearly in the guidelines that you have to post good builds, why do we get bad ones on the front page?

I want to stress that this holds especially true for PvP builds, I am not too concerned with PvE, since almost anything will work there. There was a guru thread about a whammo who did the entire proph campaign with only frenzy, sever/gash, mending, orison of healing, etc. No heroes, just hencing. And he did it. But PvP is another story frankly. And PvP seems to be in many peoples focus atm. We get a much higher percentage of people posting builds for PvP. My question is this; the staffer who approves guides now, is he/she himself actively into PvP? There should be someone who knows the subject that gets the responsibility of approving guides.

And this has been done successfully in the past, The Beano was especially good at it, I want to credit him. But The Beano is gone, and now we have someone new (I think it is Keo?). If we are setting so high standards on the guides, can't we set a high standard on the ones approving the guides? Having expertize in PvP (if you are approving PvP builds), and expertize in PvE (if you are approving PvE guides/builds) should be a must.

I might angry a few, but yes, I think the staffers in charge of approving has done a bad job the last weeks. Sometimes you should say no to a guide, not because they aren't following the guidelines, but because there might be something inherently bad with the build itself. I am not having any grudge against anyone, I just wish that the guide section of GA is actually as top notch as we want it to be. I hope this will get solved. We know this has been done in the past, what keeps us away from doing it now?

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/23/07 01:55

Keo

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Joined: 06/12/2006
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RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

QUOTE

This is where the staffers come in. You do realize now that the build you posted was indeed bad, because of the overwhelming criticism you got from the community. This is what makes me wonder, why couldn't the staffer who approved it taken care of that instead? There are simply some times (and this is especially important for PvP) where builds are flat out bad.

Again...we, the staffers, are the site caretakers. We are not judge and jury unless the rules are broken. We will take a guide so long as it isn't full of glaring errors but I will not decline a submission based on the assumption that some of our members might think it isn't good enough. The majority of the community like to see fresh content and new ideas rather than just a new build with the regulatory IAS and 1000dps!

QUOTE

The setup we have right now is actually kind of wrong, favouring the guide submitter over the constructive critism. A build gets posted and then it is up to the critizisers to argue why this build is bad or good. It should really, really be the other way around, the poster should have to argue for himself why his build is good enough to make it through the guides section.

It isn't a setup, it's just the way the community acts as a whole. We ferverently try to stop people posting derogatory comments and users in general can deal with some negative. The point is tho that GA is here to help and posting comments like 'zOmG! Th47 8ui1d i5 t3h suz0rz' doesn't help anyone.

Your last line there is something I am pushing towards, I try to get people to pretty much argue a case for their guide. You have to understand tho that our members range from 12 up and bouncing a guide a dozen times because they haven't established a strong enough case can be a little much for some.

As for the odd guide getting through sub par I'm sure you can all accept that the staffers have been a little stretched of late. Maya, Beans & Drag all left at pretty much the same time. There are 10 staff atm, 5 of who are new to their duties so there are bound to be a few bumps while people find their feet.

We do this because we care for our community, none of us get paid, we all do it in out free time. If you care enough to gripe and complain could you care enough to actually do something?

That staffers link is still there.

Edit:

Yes, I do the guides now just as I did when TheBeano was here. In fact I do them pretty much the same way now as I did when he took an extended leave of absence and no one noticed any difference then?
And no, I don't play much PvP but even if I did I wouldn't begin to assume that I could judge the worth of someone else's opinion.

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

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10/23/07 02:04

Wyat_hawke

Posts: 64
Joined: 06/16/2006
Credibility: 0 pts

RE: Is the quality of the Guides Section going down?

You know, don't think I haven't already tried to help out. I have not applied for staffer, I have however been bouncing out this PM to different admins and staffers....:

QUOTE

I'm not sure if Kanna forwarded the PM I gave him or not, so just for reassurance I'll just briefly reposted what I have discussed with him, Mirswith, The Beano and slightly with Drag aswell (this message was sent to Kanna):

QUOTE

I talked to The Beano about this a while ago, he didn't seem too overtly negative, so he told me that I should speak with you with my small suggestion again.

At the moment the guildwars.gameamp site is run by a couple of staffers, not too many, not too few. It can however every now and then seem like you guys have a bit of a strain. Sometimes, all the pictures clog up (like the time when 30-37 pictures got approved at exactly the same time), or after one week 5-6 guides appears on one single day. Drag and me had been talking a bit of me perhaps trying to join in as a staffer, but I hardly think I can make much difference here. I'm terrible at HTML, and editing sites in general. No, I wish to offer some kind of other service.

I would like to help out with the guides.

Now, you might think (I'd be worried if you didn't). Why should you let me overview other guides, guides that it is the staffers job to approve and see through? If you guys even wanted help, why pick me?

My reasons for wanting to help are simple, divided into 2 main ones really.

* I am a huge fan of discussing, developing, and creating new builds.
* I think that guildwars.gameamp is a really good and helpful site, and I wish to do my part, helping others(I like helping others), the staffers (who do a great job), and the community (which, after all is what makes Gameamp so, "Gameamp").

I may be no good with making flashy sigs, HTML and such, but I do have a genuine interest in builds. I've dedicated several hours to build discussion before, and I still do. So far I've runned the "buildmakers challenge" here twice, and on 2 other sites, as well as the quite new thread "The Random Arena Diaries". The concept of the buildmakers challenge was easy, a poster could request a build with either a profession, an attribute, or even just one elite. I would then try to think up a totally new, and completely working build.
My specialization used to be spellcasters and the assassin, with the monk as the only exception.

I felt like telling that because I think I do somehow have to prove that I am "worthy" of being able to preview guides. I think life would be a lot easier for you guys, if you (when you have much work to do) just could e-mail or send me a PM with a newly submitted (build)guide. Helps you also to test if a build is valid or not. I mean, who accepted that R/E Water Ranger? The guide is nice, but builds like that should never make it to the front page. I offer to help with stuff like that, just sorting it out for you all. It kinda takes some of the burden off, doesn't it?

And after all, I don't want to be the one who approves the build. I'd just like to point out obvious flaws, suggest improvements etc. When I'm done reviewing a guide, I'll just e-mail/PM you back with what I felt about the guide, what could be done/should not be done, etc. You probably understand what I mean here ^_^
I'm pretty much online at gameamp 1 hour every day, so I think of myself to be reliable and punctuate.

Oh, lastly, I can take a no for what it is. A no. If you think you guys are fine managing at the moment, then I am fine with that as well. You guys already do a great job, I just feel like I wanna contribute a bit as well, you know? So I'll not be angry if you don't need my services. I will however, be very happy if I could.

So please, there are people here trying out to help, we are stretching out an arm. But with this crazy bureaucracy (I have been waiting over 2 months almost for a simple answer, even a flat out no haven't been given me.) I would like an answer on the PM before even trying to apply for a staffer.

:::EDIT:::
PM have been sent to Drag, The Beano, Kanna, Mriswith and finally BD, where I haven't heard a single word so far.

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/23/07 02:09

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