Does a guide like this really need to have every source? If it’s huge enough, it’s kind of just a collection of every page you could click through in "Primordial Shriek Sources" or whatever – and it’s not much better in terms of information transfer to put it on one page that takes forever to load rather than having people click through everything.
For the most part, people seem to want the following kinds of information, more or less in this order:
- What is the fastest reliable way (not one-time or dependent on cards / TtH) to obtain a particular resource, meaning shortest number of actions including prerequisite steps? (e.g. "Steal Journals of Infamy, convert them to Correspondence Plaques, upconvert Correspondence Plaques")[/li][li]What is the most profitable reliable way? Some people prioritize EPA over number of actions.[/li][/ul]And maybe:[ul][li]What cards should I be on the lookout for to speed up gaining this resource even more? (Of course, some resources are only / primarily available via cards.)[/li][/ul]And then:[ul][li]What do I need in terms of attributes to make this efficient / reliable? Or, what do I need in terms of tracker progress, POSI status, access to various areas, Fate purchases, etc.[/li][/ul]And then:[ul][li]OK, it’s going to be a while before I can get to that requirement, what are some less quick / profitable alternatives?
It’s the last question that’s the hardest to answer since there are so many variables involved depending on the player. I suspect the realistic way of answering that question involves one of three things: a conversation with a more experienced player who "consults" on the situation (as often happens on these forums), or the player researching by searching the wiki themselves, or some kind of database tool where you plug in stats and flags and it gives you suggestions (sounds like a lot of work).
The first several questions, however, can be answered pretty easily, for most resources, by a lot of advanced players from memory – and occasionally correcting each other. This is the information that’s spread throughout that immense wiki page, at the top of each item, but it’s often in a "maybe this, but might not be efficient" form, and it’s not clear whether speed or profit is being emphasized. (I suspect the former.) This is the kind of answer that works much better as a hand-written guide than as a bunch of wiki pages, because a lot of the methods are about doing an efficient chain of steps. Plus, if you’re just considering the first several questions, you wouldn’t need to change the guide all that often; it’s rare that a new, even more efficient grind for a resource appears – Unfinished Business is the best for many Tier 1 items, upconverting for Tier 2, side-converting for Tier 3, in some cases Breeding is good, POSI materials it’s often a Dramatic Tension carousel, higher-tier items you need scraps – and those have all been around for a while. Plus, unlike the wiki, a guide could make (spoiler-free) references to Fate-locked methods of getting certain resources – players may want to know that if they REALLY need a ton of Nevercold Brass or Brilliant Souls, there are advantages in being a spirifer*, and I don’t think that violates Fate-locked rules or spoilers.
So here’s my question – is the need for this guide mostly coming from new players who aren’t POSI, have stats on the low side for Dramatic Tension carousels and Flit stealing, etc? If that’s the case, this is a difficult problem. If there’s a need to compile the best endgame source for stuff, on the other hand (which is kind of what the wikidot guide was supposed to be) then that may be easier.
- actually I think stealing Brilliant Souls from Hookman House is still faster
edited by metasynthie on 1/5/2016
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