Actually I recommend a plain text editor like Notepad++ (Which will make your html stand out from the text) because that way you know nothing is being added without you knowing it.
As to being "new" some of us have been around for a while (2009 for me) but what matters is how you fit in and what you do. I'd not say you're new at all.)
Yeah, obviously Previews are important, if nothing else to make sure all the card links work (at least for sets in the old database). Looking at your example article, it all looks interesting, though the annoying thing is that I'm worried about how much I'll be able to do in Writer (LibreOffice's Word equivalent) and how much I'll either have to code in HTML in Writer or do in the editor's WYSIWYG mode (or worse, in the editor's source mode, which I sometimes have to go into to fix some of the stupidities of the WYSIWYG editor). In particular (and what's most relevant for my upcoming MM3 article), what's the best way to get good tables, that hopefully lets me just copy from Calc (LibreOffice's Excel equivalent), as opposed to copying each cell manually?
(Also, am I really still new? My first article was in March 2015 on Tempest Remastered over 18 months ago, and I've been writing near-weekly all year :p )
I'd definitely suggest separating the large sections out in a more visual manner. Some different examples would be my SotP from last week, Kuma's weekly Tribal Apocalypse series, and Olaw's Modern Musings. Back during my regular Modern writing, originally the section headers were just [a different font + a larger size], but that was all it took to really stick out.
(I think this article of mine is a great example of many different styles as well:
Experiment a little and see what you like. If there's anything I used that you'd like to learn how to do, let me know. I don't have any "trade secrets": it's all from an html book I pulled from the library, Google searches, and a ton of experimenting.
Also, I can't stress how important it is to use the Preview feature AFTER you paste your text into the site's editor. It can do a lot of crazy things to your article, so it's important to check it. Reading it through will also give you an idea of areas that could use some adjustments. At the very least, it makes Josh's life a lot easier. :p
Much like formatting, when it comes to writing style/reducing words/article flow, the only real ways to get better are to experiment a bit and to ask for feedback from others. Long sentences could be "your style", or maybe you need some constructive feedback that helps you discover a way to break them up? It could go either way, but you won't find out the best fit until you try.
That was longer than I intended it to be, but I'm happy to see that a lot of the new writers, you included, have some decent enthusiasm and a willingness to improve their writing!
For the headers, do you just mean font size? Most of the time I'm using headers they're equal in priority, though I suppose I could separate the basic info/mechanics/colors and/or archetypes better.
Part of the reason my chunks are so long is that I write long sentences (with lots of asides and dashes). The problem is that I put everything related together, and most of my sections are probably bigger than one reasonable paragraph but not big enough for two (and there isn't really a good breaking point between the two, though that might be just because I'm not looking--I'll admit I don't make major edits after the first draft, though I do normally look over a piece for typos and awkward wording before I put it into the PureMTGO system).
My suggestions would be: vary the size of your headers, and try to split up big chunks into paragraphs. I know I'm not the best at following that myself, but those are things I generally do look out for. You could also do non-card pictures, as that is a common method to break up articles.
EDIT: I'd point out that I'm not a professional writer (unless you consider law school student as that), but those are some of the things I've picked up on and seen elsewhere.
I guess that makes sense--having hovers removes a lot of the need for reference pictures, which is the main reason I started using them--that and breaking up the blocks of text in a 3k-word article. Is there a better way to make my articles look better than an essay with a couple of section titles? (other than making my articles shorter, which I've certainly tried to do, at least in the average Modern Flashback Series article--the MM17 article is another 3k words, though there I'm doing a lot of setup of reprint sets in general, as well as talking about all the archetypes and mythics--maybe it's worth splitting it into two articles now that I don't have a Conspiracy 2/Treasure Chest article in the pipeline?)
I removed a lot of the pictures, I wanted to focus more on what you had to say instead of pulling a lot of graphics and making tables. I thought what you had to say was much more important than the pictures.
Also I have no idea what happened to the energy section :(
I also knew about the Flame Slash, but I laughed so hard at it, that I decided to keep it as the Aerial Responder as a fun "easter egg".
Finally the (pic=cardname) may not actually work for a long time. As far as I know that command is site specific, and until Maria adds Kaladesh (and the other sets that we are missing) the pic command for the newest stuff will not work.
To get Kaladesh cards to hover before they were up on MTGO traders I used a trick with gatherer, but it could only handle the normal version of the set in boosters. I'll be sending Josh a new version soonish that'll work fine
Something happened to my "rules" for Energy, so here they are again:
1. Anything that spends Energy also makes Energy, even if it isn’t the most efficient or repeatable producer.
2. Anything that just makes Energy also does something else (the (Night’s Whisper:EMA) on (Live Fast:KLD), the body on (Sage of Shaila’s Claim:KLD)).
My pictures also didn't quite work, but that I can understand since I used the "(pic=Cardname:KLD)" template which might not be implemented yet for KLD--I would have done it manually if it was sent back, but I understand my editor prioritizing getting the information out on Kaladesh release day rather than making it pretty. Also, a technical issue: the link for Flame Lash works, but the hover does a foreign version of Aerial Responder for some reason--the script probably doesn't handle collector numbers higher than the set number, and would likely choke on an Magic Origins Serra Angel for the same reason.
As for the Treasure Chests, we got basically exactly what I asked for--still not sure what that means for me in terms of content though--I'll wait and see what happens once people start actually opening them.
One addendum: I forgot to discuss that play points cannot appear in the second or third slot of a chest. Based on what Wizards gave us, it seems that there is about a 75% of a Modern rare/mythic and 25% of a curated card when the second and third slots are filled. So, the chest value is not 1.226 good slots, it is 1 good slot plus ((.75*.80)+(.25*.93))*(2/9) + ((.75*.80)+(.25*.93))*(1/239). This equals about 12 cents.
Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the series.
The inspiration for these articles came from reading the Remember the Weatherlight series by Shannon Rezendes, which was reposted on MTGSalvation. She gave a fairly scathing review of J. Robert King's work on the Invasion Block and Onslaught Block storylines. I am intrigued if I can get around to reading them.
Those unfortunate people who own playsets of many of the cards on the curated list - their value will tank down in due course, due to the sheer volume of treasure chests released into the economy. Whilst the chance of cracking open a card with a "1" rarity is small, the enormous volume of treasure chests being generated in each event will tank the prices.
The good news is that finally I will be able to afford a Rishadan Port after 6 months.
Yeah I too have a long time collection and account dating back to beta, but lets be real. This game always has had a lottery aspect to it. Just much more indirectly and without the notion that you MUST engage in it in order to "profit" off your "toil".
The tradability of the chests seems like a fairer compromise than forcing you to open them. Let's wait and see how this pans out before jumping ship eh?
The management have certain made sweeping and sometimes calloused (filters being cut) changes without consulting the player base at all but here they seem to have at least bent a little under the pressure of the collective outcry. Let's hope they continue to work with us to make this a least unpleasant change.
In order to get a treasure chest, a player needs to have accrued a constructed deck that can maintain a winning record in an event. This will change when they become tradable, it remains to be seen what will happen on the open market.
Next week I'll to have a Kaladesh draft to feature. If all goes well, I expect to be including a neat enhancement to the draft video that I haven't seen elsewhere, so be sure to check it out.
As a long term online player (original beta) I have amassed a considerable collection over the years. I have worked hard for every card in my collection and the idea that some lucky newbie punk can randomly get cards that I sweated blood and tears for is abhorrent. Magic collecting is just a lottery now, and I will have no part in it. My devotion and loyalty is being exploited by faceless corporate profit takers that were no part of this scene when I first joined. I love the game, and hate the management.
Treasure chests will become tradeable next month. All unopened chests will act as the latest version, so ones we get now will get C16 and CTTC cards if we open them after they get added in November. They are considering further changes given that play points are and will remain untradeable.
They have updated the curated card list with the current rarities. You are 40 times as likely to get a chittering rats or a condescend than a piece of power. The exact ratios of curated cards, modern rares and play points in each chest slot have also been made clear.
I was somewhat unimpressed with the way it diverged from what was on the cards, and meandered off into some very odd places. I would have liked to have seen the Numen, the unmen, Zagorka, the deathwurms, Topos, Erosha, Locus and so on actually have some relation to what was in the sets, not to mention the exceedingly controversial scene involving a certain five characters.
There were a few plot holes and contradictions between the books as well, but mostly the lack of coherence between the books and the cards was jarring.
AJ, what did you mean when you said that it became incoherent towards the end. I remember reading the novels for this block 15 years ago, but I don't remember anything incoherent, and I'm now curious... :)
A lot of people are getting a round on it. They find it to be amazing. - Marla Ahlgrimm
There is a need to get some interviews. Most especially if you aim to know something. - Bath Planet
SOmetimes there is a need to split things over. Most especially if we talked about business. - Bath Planet
It is usually case to case basis. That is why people are open to it. - Bath Planet
There is a need to rock it well. Most especially that it is a game for all. - Bath Planet
Actually I recommend a plain text editor like Notepad++ (Which will make your html stand out from the text) because that way you know nothing is being added without you knowing it.
As to being "new" some of us have been around for a while (2009 for me) but what matters is how you fit in and what you do. I'd not say you're new at all.)
Yeah, obviously Previews are important, if nothing else to make sure all the card links work (at least for sets in the old database). Looking at your example article, it all looks interesting, though the annoying thing is that I'm worried about how much I'll be able to do in Writer (LibreOffice's Word equivalent) and how much I'll either have to code in HTML in Writer or do in the editor's WYSIWYG mode (or worse, in the editor's source mode, which I sometimes have to go into to fix some of the stupidities of the WYSIWYG editor). In particular (and what's most relevant for my upcoming MM3 article), what's the best way to get good tables, that hopefully lets me just copy from Calc (LibreOffice's Excel equivalent), as opposed to copying each cell manually?
(Also, am I really still new? My first article was in March 2015 on Tempest Remastered over 18 months ago, and I've been writing near-weekly all year :p )
I'd definitely suggest separating the large sections out in a more visual manner. Some different examples would be my SotP from last week, Kuma's weekly Tribal Apocalypse series, and Olaw's Modern Musings. Back during my regular Modern writing, originally the section headers were just [a different font + a larger size], but that was all it took to really stick out.
(I think this article of mine is a great example of many different styles as well:
http://puremtgo.com/articles/modern-perspective-nyk-puras-infinite-playlist )
Experiment a little and see what you like. If there's anything I used that you'd like to learn how to do, let me know. I don't have any "trade secrets": it's all from an html book I pulled from the library, Google searches, and a ton of experimenting.
Also, I can't stress how important it is to use the Preview feature AFTER you paste your text into the site's editor. It can do a lot of crazy things to your article, so it's important to check it. Reading it through will also give you an idea of areas that could use some adjustments. At the very least, it makes Josh's life a lot easier. :p
Much like formatting, when it comes to writing style/reducing words/article flow, the only real ways to get better are to experiment a bit and to ask for feedback from others. Long sentences could be "your style", or maybe you need some constructive feedback that helps you discover a way to break them up? It could go either way, but you won't find out the best fit until you try.
That was longer than I intended it to be, but I'm happy to see that a lot of the new writers, you included, have some decent enthusiasm and a willingness to improve their writing!
For the headers, do you just mean font size? Most of the time I'm using headers they're equal in priority, though I suppose I could separate the basic info/mechanics/colors and/or archetypes better.
Part of the reason my chunks are so long is that I write long sentences (with lots of asides and dashes). The problem is that I put everything related together, and most of my sections are probably bigger than one reasonable paragraph but not big enough for two (and there isn't really a good breaking point between the two, though that might be just because I'm not looking--I'll admit I don't make major edits after the first draft, though I do normally look over a piece for typos and awkward wording before I put it into the PureMTGO system).
My suggestions would be: vary the size of your headers, and try to split up big chunks into paragraphs. I know I'm not the best at following that myself, but those are things I generally do look out for. You could also do non-card pictures, as that is a common method to break up articles.
EDIT: I'd point out that I'm not a professional writer (unless you consider law school student as that), but those are some of the things I've picked up on and seen elsewhere.
I guess that makes sense--having hovers removes a lot of the need for reference pictures, which is the main reason I started using them--that and breaking up the blocks of text in a 3k-word article. Is there a better way to make my articles look better than an essay with a couple of section titles? (other than making my articles shorter, which I've certainly tried to do, at least in the average Modern Flashback Series article--the MM17 article is another 3k words, though there I'm doing a lot of setup of reprint sets in general, as well as talking about all the archetypes and mythics--maybe it's worth splitting it into two articles now that I don't have a Conspiracy 2/Treasure Chest article in the pipeline?)
I removed a lot of the pictures, I wanted to focus more on what you had to say instead of pulling a lot of graphics and making tables. I thought what you had to say was much more important than the pictures.
Also I have no idea what happened to the energy section :(
I also knew about the Flame Slash, but I laughed so hard at it, that I decided to keep it as the Aerial Responder as a fun "easter egg".
Finally the (pic=cardname) may not actually work for a long time. As far as I know that command is site specific, and until Maria adds Kaladesh (and the other sets that we are missing) the pic command for the newest stuff will not work.
We are on it of course.
To get Kaladesh cards to hover before they were up on MTGO traders I used a trick with gatherer, but it could only handle the normal version of the set in boosters. I'll be sending Josh a new version soonish that'll work fine
Something happened to my "rules" for Energy, so here they are again:
1. Anything that spends Energy also makes Energy, even if it isn’t the most efficient or repeatable producer.
2. Anything that just makes Energy also does something else (the (Night’s Whisper:EMA) on (Live Fast:KLD), the body on (Sage of Shaila’s Claim:KLD)).
My pictures also didn't quite work, but that I can understand since I used the "(pic=Cardname:KLD)" template which might not be implemented yet for KLD--I would have done it manually if it was sent back, but I understand my editor prioritizing getting the information out on Kaladesh release day rather than making it pretty. Also, a technical issue: the link for Flame Lash works, but the hover does a foreign version of Aerial Responder for some reason--the script probably doesn't handle collector numbers higher than the set number, and would likely choke on an Magic Origins Serra Angel for the same reason.
As for the Treasure Chests, we got basically exactly what I asked for--still not sure what that means for me in terms of content though--I'll wait and see what happens once people start actually opening them.
One addendum: I forgot to discuss that play points cannot appear in the second or third slot of a chest. Based on what Wizards gave us, it seems that there is about a 75% of a Modern rare/mythic and 25% of a curated card when the second and third slots are filled. So, the chest value is not 1.226 good slots, it is 1 good slot plus ((.75*.80)+(.25*.93))*(2/9) + ((.75*.80)+(.25*.93))*(1/239). This equals about 12 cents.
Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the series.
The inspiration for these articles came from reading the Remember the Weatherlight series by Shannon Rezendes, which was reposted on MTGSalvation. She gave a fairly scathing review of J. Robert King's work on the Invasion Block and Onslaught Block storylines. I am intrigued if I can get around to reading them.
Those unfortunate people who own playsets of many of the cards on the curated list - their value will tank down in due course, due to the sheer volume of treasure chests released into the economy. Whilst the chance of cracking open a card with a "1" rarity is small, the enormous volume of treasure chests being generated in each event will tank the prices.
The good news is that finally I will be able to afford a Rishadan Port after 6 months.
Yeah I too have a long time collection and account dating back to beta, but lets be real. This game always has had a lottery aspect to it. Just much more indirectly and without the notion that you MUST engage in it in order to "profit" off your "toil".
The tradability of the chests seems like a fairer compromise than forcing you to open them. Let's wait and see how this pans out before jumping ship eh?
The management have certain made sweeping and sometimes calloused (filters being cut) changes without consulting the player base at all but here they seem to have at least bent a little under the pressure of the collective outcry. Let's hope they continue to work with us to make this a least unpleasant change.
In order to get a treasure chest, a player needs to have accrued a constructed deck that can maintain a winning record in an event. This will change when they become tradable, it remains to be seen what will happen on the open market.
Next week I'll to have a Kaladesh draft to feature. If all goes well, I expect to be including a neat enhancement to the draft video that I haven't seen elsewhere, so be sure to check it out.
As a long term online player (original beta) I have amassed a considerable collection over the years. I have worked hard for every card in my collection and the idea that some lucky newbie punk can randomly get cards that I sweated blood and tears for is abhorrent. Magic collecting is just a lottery now, and I will have no part in it. My devotion and loyalty is being exploited by faceless corporate profit takers that were no part of this scene when I first joined. I love the game, and hate the management.
The results are in.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/MTGO/articles/archive/magic-online/treasure-...
Treasure chests will become tradeable next month. All unopened chests will act as the latest version, so ones we get now will get C16 and CTTC cards if we open them after they get added in November. They are considering further changes given that play points are and will remain untradeable.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/MTGO/articles/archive/magic-online/treasure-...
They have updated the curated card list with the current rarities. You are 40 times as likely to get a chittering rats or a condescend than a piece of power. The exact ratios of curated cards, modern rares and play points in each chest slot have also been made clear.
I was somewhat unimpressed with the way it diverged from what was on the cards, and meandered off into some very odd places. I would have liked to have seen the Numen, the unmen, Zagorka, the deathwurms, Topos, Erosha, Locus and so on actually have some relation to what was in the sets, not to mention the exceedingly controversial scene involving a certain five characters.
There were a few plot holes and contradictions between the books as well, but mostly the lack of coherence between the books and the cards was jarring.
Nice article, thanks.
AJ, what did you mean when you said that it became incoherent towards the end. I remember reading the novels for this block 15 years ago, but I don't remember anything incoherent, and I'm now curious... :)
It seems the community has been heard.
https://twitter.com/mtgworth/status/783087197670879232
Let's see what changes they are willing to make and where we go from here.