Last Epoch Wiki:Manual of Style

This Manual of Style outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. The formatting described here is a guideline and can be overridden where circumstances require it. These guidelines will never be evenly suitable for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined in this article so others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles. If you believe anything in this manual should be changed or added, please use the |Discussion Page.

Capitalization
Article titles should be capitalized by the following manner: Main, subject, adjective and non-connection words are to be capitalized, all connection words are non-capitalized (see example below). This practice is divergent from the standard practice of capitalizing only the first word of an article title.

Examples: Correct capitalization - "This is a Correct Title", wrong capitalization - "This is not a correct title", "This Is Not A Correct Title".

The reasoning for the general practice can be found here. Currently we feel that upholding the standard grammatical convention of capitalizing articles is more important than the general wiki convention, and none of the current solutions for the case sensitivity of page titles is attractive for the moment being.

In the event that a page title may be confusing due to following this convention, redirects for each case type may be made.

Pluralization
Articles which are about groups of objects should be pluralized, e.g. Items or Skills. Articles which are about specific entities, such as Primal Wolf or Broad Sword, should be singularized despite the fact that multiples of them can exist.

If a pluralized page title following the standard 'S' convention needs to be singularized when linking in another article, the Template:$ can be used to quickly create a link to the page while displaying as singularized. E.g.  will display as.

Article Templates
Article tagging templates such as Template:Disambig, Template:Delete, Template:Move and Template:Stub should be included at the top of the article.

Infobox templates such as Template:Classes, Template:NPC Infobox, and Template:Items should be included immediately after those.

Lead Section
An article should begin with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context and providing a link to the page hierarchically above it in the category tree. It should be only a few sentences long. The lead should not be explicitly entitled  or any header with equivalent meaning.

If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "Health Potions are a basic item used to heal your character" as the first sentence on the page titled 'Health Potions'.

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold by enclosing it in double brackets (creating a link to itself) or by using three apostrophes, for example: produces Manual of Style or   produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article.

Table of Contents
A table of contents (ToC) will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default this will be left-aligned above the first section heading.


 * To force a ToC position (left-aligned):
 * To force a right-aligned floating ToC:  Note: this method should be used when the ToC is excessively long.
 * To completely remove the ToC from a page:

Main Article Sections
Every other known detail/information regarding the article.

Gallery
This section is used to show images in  tags. For example, you can show several pictures, and optionally supply captions:

Videos
This section is used to show YouTube (or any other video services websites) embedded videos using  at the top of the section and   for each video.

Trivia
This section can be used to place interesting details about the topic page that further provides context for the article's topic.

Curse Videos
Curse videos are those produced by Curse and/or placed on content pages by Curse Staff. These videos are placed at or near the top of a content page by staff members to help achieve certain business goals. These videos should be directly relevant to the page they are on and up to date with the latest version of the game. Videos should also be placed in a manner that is as least disruptive as possible to other content on the page such as below the lead and above the ToC or in the upper right corner (on pages without a leading image or infobox). Curse videos should not be altered or removed without communicating with Curse staff via the procedure below.

If a Curse video is no longer relevant and up to date or if a community member believes the placement of the video disproportionately affects the layout of other page content, a discussion should be started on the Talk page for the article and a message left on the page of the staff member who added the video to alert them of the discussion (if it is not possible to identify the staff member who added the video, notify User:CrsBenjamin). No action should be taken to remove or alter the placement of a video until Curse staff has participated in the discussion and a consensus has been reached with them. If necessary, a note can be added to indicate the video is under discussion (and linking to that discussion). In the event that the notified Curse staff member has not replied to the discussion within 3 business days, an e-mail should be sent to [mailto:community@gamepedia.com community@gamepedia.com].

Categories and 'interwiki links'
Categories and interwiki links should be added at the very end of the article, with category links followed by interwiki links. A full list of categories can be found on Special:Categories. They take the form, and should be named in the same fashion as articles. Ideally all pages on a wiki should be categorized.

Page Types
Different page types require different page formats.

To ensure you are using the appropriate format, use the input boxes that can be found at the top of Project:Community portal.

Writing
We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you're editing wikis, you're both academic and artistic. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you have to skillfully balance both.

Style

 * Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox: know the rules, but only break them on purpose.
 * Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to' (or too). Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article. This makes it easier for all readers to understand, not just the ones accustomed to the same conventions as you.
 * Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use "I". For example, do not write, "Hellscream was a fervent member of the Horde. He served both the Old and the New Horde, as far as I know ". Avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself) as much as possible.

Grammar
Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all of the people reading it, editors must maintain a high level of adherence with the rules of grammatical use, to ensure clear communication. Note that a sentence that seems grammatically incorrect, may not be depending on context.

This cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Numerous edits to the Wiki have to be performed, which are purely for the purpose of correcting truly atrocious grammar. Do not use a native language other than English as an excuse - there are any number of grammar tutorials and references available on the Web, so you should be doing your utmost to make your contributions correct while improving your command of the language. If you still struggle with grammar, there are programs that detect grammatical errors in your typing.

Capitalization
Capitalization generally follows the rules used in-universe, even in cases where the term could be used in both in- and out-of-universe contexts. This provides a consistent standard without bogging down editors in trying to figure out which is correct in every individual case. When in doubt, follow the precedent set by other page titles.

Tense
Most articles should be described as facts, so use the present or future tenses. "The quest starts at Castle Magnifico." "This recipe can be learned by rogues.".

There may be exceptions, such as when describing changes to a game brought about through patches or other updates. "The cooldown for Ice Bolt was reduced.".

Section Headings
Use the   (two equal signs) style markup for main headings, equivalent to.

Do not use a single . This is because a single   creates an   heading. The page header already uses an h1, and to use further h1s would be poor semantics. In addition, do not use wikilinks in subject headings. When edited, these sections become confusing in the edit history because of the link code. Consider instead putting the word in the first or second sentence of the section and linking it there.

Section headings should be capitalized in the same manner as page titles.

Avoid special characters in headings, such as an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), curly braces ({}), or square braces ([]). In place of the ampersand, use the word "and" (unless the ampersand is part of a formal name, such as Rhett & Link)

Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections.

Dates
Shorthand dates (used in tables and templates) should be written in the form YYYY-MM-DD (for example, 2009-04-01), to aid alphanumeric organizing. Dates in longhand (as written in article sentences) should be written in the form D M YYYY (for example, 1 April 2009).

Using the format of MM-DD-YY[YY] (04-01-2009) or DD-MM-YY[YY] (01-04-2009) is not recommended, as use of either format may be confusing.

Tables
Tables should use the "wikitable" class design when possible, and should include as little "fancy" formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class.

For long tables, striped tables utilizing alternating shadings are recommended to aid in distinguishing rows, using the "zebra" class.

More information about wiki tables can be found on the Help Wiki.

Conclusion
Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it.