User:Malokai92/Guide Index/wtfpvx

'''This little essay started after I began visiting Guildguru and desired a more balanced perspective of PvXwiki. The focus is on the stigma associated with this site and how others view it.'''

I'm sure anyone who plays the game more than a week knows about PvXwiki. It's a build database for Guildwars that has all those popular builds people use. And it's a wiki. Managed by people. Currently, it's managed by two admins who do all the work making sure the wiki isn't broken, a couple MCs for the PvP section, and a collection of PvE players that contribute intermittently. The wiki used to be more active in the past and generally flows and has flowed in the same direction as Guildwars. Game updates would bring in some new builds, more users were likely contribute, and then it would all die down in a few days. But in the end, what you see is just a collaboration of a small userbase.

There's a generously large rectangular box at the top of each page proclaiming that the build is either Good or Great. These assignments aren't arbitrary or omniscient. These tags are added based on ratings by users with no obligation to back up their ratings. Quality assurance of ratings is relegated to the Admin noticeboard and admins themselves to moderate the ratings. Being an administrator doesn't necessarily mean the user needs to be experienced with PvE or PvP. The MCs, and formerly Build Masters, were introduced in order to differentiate users who administrated the wiki from those who focused on moderated the builds. The build police can't catch every single suspicious vote though, and if they did, none of the builds would get vetted. In fact, for most builds, the only votes will be from same group of 7-8 people who bother to vote in the first place. If you read through most of the ratings for builds, you'll see most of the builds being rated are ones that have been vetted already. These ratings generally agree with existing consensus. It's call the bandwagon, one or two people sound like they know what they're talking about and others follow just to get the build out of testing. Otherwise, untested builds can go for weeks before receiving five votes. So if you think the build is great because "the entire Guildwars community" says it is, just remember the people who gave it that rating are a few users who know more or less the same amount about the game as you do. The Meta tags for PvP are managed by the MCs, however the meta tags for PvE aren't moderated officially. The two unofficial PvE admins, Life and Athrun, are rather inactive and the PvE section is left up to its own machinations. There is rarely any consensus on what builds are actually PvE meta, although most of the time it's obvious enough that there's no need to contest so. The wiki is not infallible about the current cookie builds and the current meta, sadly.

It requires a different mindset when it comes to how the wiki works. Over the years, the unofficial policy for the wiki developed into the motto: "Only store the best builds on the wiki". This is the ideal that PvXwiki and it's community operates by. This evolved out of necessity as much as a commitment to quality builds. Remember that PvXwiki started out on Guildwiki, vetting was done on the talk page. The move to a wiki dedicated to builds didn't happen until mid-2007. In the first couple years, it was still (wait for it...) fun to create your own build that you found effective and share that knowledge with other people. There was no established cookie cutter builds, the rating system was to be added, and innovation impacted the build. This left the PvP section waterlogged with builds no one was sure anyone actually used. The situation eventually lead to the removal of the Other section and re-balancing of the rating system you see. The general movement towards this ideal contributed to the idea of PvXwiki as a source for cookie cutter builds.

PvXwiki's reputation as an elitist circlejerk and the scourge of all creativity can be reasonably concluded in the eyes of many players who find joy in creating their own unique builds; it's an integral part of Guildwars. Many people even feel threatened by the wiki; I find it particularly amusing that some view the wiki as some all-knowing juggernaut out to consume every last drip of creativity left. It's like we want to know what your build is so we can somehow steal your idea from you. Players want feel like they have an original idea no one else thought of before and are inclined to defend it. I think one of the points people miss is that no one pulled those builds out of their ass. These build are developed by players who play the game, refine the concept, and intentionally or unintentionally share it with others. We see this in PvE with Guildguru topics introducing Sabway, Racway, Spiritway, etc. and word-of-mouth for Imbagon. In PvP, it's the gimmick builds and popular setups in GvG and HA. None of the builds on the wiki are original ideas, they originate from players and are further refined on the wiki. And they continue to be refined, that's the spirit of a wiki and follows the spirit of PvX:OWN. It's the player base as a whole that develops a build rather than any single player.

On a relevant topic, the idea of one build representing multiple variant builds and the WELL tag can be frustrating for people. The concept for general builds is covered on this page. To summarize it, builds have a few core skills to a build and usually revolves around an elite skill or game mechanic. As long as the core concept for the build is kept intact, any other skills used are up to the player. This can be interpreted quite liberally to include almost any build variation possible. If some variation isn't covered, then it's as easy as adding it to the page. So while you do not see your exact build on a build article, be rest assured that core idea for your build is there. If it isn't, you can do yourself and the rest of the community a favor and add it to the build article. That's the purpose of the wiki. It's a relatively simple and fascinating concept in a way. The WELL tag has an insidious reputation and it's the source of most conflicts on the wiki next to the build actually being trashed. People may not or won't understand that their build isn't as unique or effective as they thought. This often happens in Dervish builds where players bring Mystic Regeneration and Armor of Sanctity for "survivability" instead of killing power. At some point, yo have to draw the line between a variant and build. They are two different concepts.