since it's a quoted text from the actual description

Oh yes, that's probably why they did it that way. It is a quote - and it's very easy to forget that, when basically most of the wiki is essentially quoting the game xD

To start, assuming you've got an account sorted out, try out some coding in the Sandbox. The preview button is your friend. Most templates have documentation, if they don't, check out what links to them, observe the page code, and try to replicate the behavior in the sandbox. There's only a few very branched+integrated templates we use (alchemy tree is one of them), so most should be self-contained with parameter entries that are not typos.

After that, see things to do and see if you can apply your skills. We need grunt work, image cropping/good quality uploaders, coders, data checkers/collectors, and someone to run around in a chromalisk suit getting donuts. Recent changes is usually a good indicator of projects we could use help on, but be careful to not create edit conflicts. These happen when two or more editors save changes to a page that two or more editors are working on, so somebody's progress is lost unless they copy/paste. It's usually not a problem for us, since the wiki is a big place and there's not many volunteers. There's lots of little things like that.

Altmetal will likely be doing much of the material changes, but more pairs of eyes validating the acquisition is very much appreciated.

Updating materials involves updating monster drops on monster pages as well. This warrants a few tweaks. Please give feedback on This version of the sandbox. Pick option 1,2, or 3, and then provide reasons why, and any "big picture" improvements you can think of. Yes, we are aware of the "empty" data bits such as FAMILY and SWITCH. Those are little things. Big picture would be "include this at all?"

General monster improvements: ToC sections per monster "species" within the "genus" for easier editing, instead of hidden headers, and redirects so Category:Monsters can actually be populated with species. We will maintain direct #linking instead of through redirects for easier navigation in certain browsers (going "back" through a general redirect causes the user to go to the top of the directed-to page, so they have to click the back button twice, as monster links around various exploration/mission pages are now, the direct linking avoids this issue and it will stay that way).

Wheel launcher - I have talked with User: Onox about this thing. I think it's an exploration entity/trap, not a monster. Thoughts?

If nobody has any "big picture" objections/suggestions within the next day or so with Option 5, we'll push through the changes with the monster template.

That's some very solid feedback, thank you. I have a design for "option 6" in mind, and I will post here again when it's in the sandbox. It will combine these ideas into a single solution, and I'd like to see what everyone thinks.

The revamp of the main material page is pretty much done. View it here . Make sure you're viewing the most recent version. Can we think of anything that could be changed about this page before we publish it? An error check would be much appreciated, especially for the lists.

Yes indeed it does need updating :) I have uploaded what I am 99.9% sure is the correct shape, it will take some time to show up properly. We will publish the main material page overhaul within the next 24 hours, unless we find any major issues. Monster template is still being worked on in the main sandbox based on feedback, and individual material pages are slowly being updated as we have time.

Because of several reasons, a few listed above in previous comments (I mentioned news posts). The templates are not named that way, but I understand your question. It will make more sense on monster pages, in the sandbox, it doesn't make much sense right now. Reasons are as follows:

1) It's a hassle to edit individual monsters. As it is now, you have to edit the entire section and scroll down to find the monster you wish to edit. Subsections will be:
===MONSTERNAME===
{{Template}}

===MONSTERNAME===
{{Template}}

2) The above change is very necessary. But leaving the templates as they are now would mean a repetitive title in both ToC subsection and template header. To fix this, the template header has been changed to "monstrous profile." I have chosen monstrous profile because it is fitting, additionally, a couple news posts use it.

3) It is much easier to navigate redirects to visible anchors. ToC sections are pretty much automatically visible anchors. Hidden headers are nifty, but they shouldn't be used here.

A similar thing occurs with the current mission page format.

How do we all like option 6?

@Bopp: yes, the blahblah effect is particularly devastating to unprepared knights in the field. At the risk of derailing the thread, can you think of anything else we should add to the mineral page? That scenario room pic certainly needs updating.

Does anyone have a general preference/suggestion as to how to list the abilities? Options are bullets, indents, line breaks with visible lines, etc...

These different abilitylist formats are displayed in examples using option 6, in the abilities section of each monster's profile. The Black Kat and Firo Knight are using the same format, showing the needed flexibility. I am leaning towards this abilitylist format, vs. the toxigel and silkwing abilitylist format. These monsters all otherwise are using the same format in option 6 regarding visuals and other sections.

An alternative is to have each tiers abilities in its own tier labelled cell. Will work on that possibility later.

After much battling with coding and ending up doing something in a non-elegant manner, check out option 7! Featuring adjustable BULLET LISTS with INVISIBRU CELLS.

It remains flexible for combat entry. We can choose to repeat abilities, or make a note within the table that "each tier retains a more intense version of the previous tier's abilities" to avoid clutter. This will probably end up being the default, but the flexibility is needed for any strange abilities or monsters that might not fit the "norm" in the future. This issue is compared between the combat sections of the Black Kat and Firo Knight. Black Kat, Silkwing, and Toxigel use the "repeated" bullet list per tier format. I am in favor of firo knight, but looking at the specificity of black kat, I also don't mind the repetition.

What would be most clear to a child playing the game? Or a new player in general?

It's looking like the firo knight/black kat layout in Option 6 is easy and the least cluttered, while being the least likely to be misunderstood.

Within the usage section, items are currently listed alphabetically. We feel this isn't the best option most of the time. I would be in favor of organizing these lists by alchemy path (1* down to 5*, more obvious patterns with lower star mats), as this would encourage the idea of item families and how things work in the game.

We would organize the lists later, for now, implementation is our focus. This gives users time to provide feedback on the "Usage" matter.

It's been wonderful working with people.

For monsters - I'd say put in the template for drops, but leave the rest of the format alone for now. We can "overhaul" monsters slowly, but their drop tables need to be fixed.

As far as spaces+sets go, you'd have to put them in per individual page and it might not look as good as you want, and would be very difficult to keep consistent for each page depending on the material and whether or not the item is in a set, in junction with whatever underlying order is present (i.e alphabetical, star). We have plenty of set information around the wiki already, it's hard to miss.

I'm most in favor of organizing by alch path, with each alch path ordered alphabetically based on the lowest star item in each path.