Nerfed.GG, some input please

[SpiffyJr]

The other day I had an idea for a site so I went ahead and coded one up last night.

http://nerfed.gg/

It's basically a patch note aggregation site. Right now I only have parsers for ESO and WildStar written but the idea is to support a lot of games. You can comment on each patch, each line of each patch, and I also apply filters to each line that you can search for. I'm going to expand the searching features quite a bit I figured I'd throw it up for the good folks at the PC for a little input.

Be gentle.

[Tenlaar]

Pretty cool idea. The only thing that jumps out off the bat is the way the patches for different games are mixed together. I think you would be better served with either a heading for each game and the patches listed under the heading vertically, or the home page having links to a page for each game's patches. I think when you have more games and a shitload of patches it's going to end up kind of a mess with the current layout. I do think that the way it is would make for a good option, to be able to arrange all patches by date, just not as the primary method. Another option, you could have the main page just be the logos for the different games, and when you click on the logo it expands the patch list underneath it. I just think that the vast majority of the time people would be checking patches for one game at a time so having them all mixed together could end up counter-intuitive, ya know?

The search page should also have a field for which game you want to search for.

[SpiffyJr]

Thanks for the input.

I wasn't really happy with the layout of the homepage. I still want to do tiles but I want to give people other options as well. Searching is due for a major update - it'll have the game, patches for that game, and then tags for those patches. Each option will filter the other options. At least, that's what I have in mind.

Currently trying to update some parsers. It's by far the most annoying part of the project.

[Sorcasaurus]

I think it's a great idea, and seem to echo Tenlaar's sentiments. Sorting by game and arranging the homepage in a list/vertical manner being the two big ones. Possibly arranging the different types of updates in columns. A Column for Class A, one for dmg updates etc.

overall, neatly done!

[Warriorbird]

Do it for everybody. Throw in a bunch of other games and Early Action/Alpha/Beta projects too.

[SpiffyJr]

Thanks all for the input.

Stupid LoL and their crazy ass patch notes made me redo my parser but the up-side is I have a lot more versatility now.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62485357/ShareX/2014-06/2014-06-13_15-12-53.png

There's a sample of LoL notes. I'll be redoing the other parsers with this new format and trying to get a sorting/homepage update done this weekend.

Sample

[Warriorbird]

I feel like if done right it could be really successful and help developers/fuel ads.

[Whirlin]

Is the parser game-specific, or generic? Because I can see this becoming infinitely complex to try to compare apples to apples when people are insanely inconsistent on patch note communication method.

FFXI, FFXIV, TERA, Aion, Eve, StarBound, WOW, Diablo3, Starcraft, Hearthstone (finish off bliz)..

[SpiffyJr]

It's generic'ish. I add features when I need them but the fact I was able to parse LoL's means I should be able to handle damn near anything...



<?php

namespace Application\Parser\Adapter;

use Application\Patch\PatchEntity;

interface ParseAdapter
{
/**
* @return array
*/
public function getTags();

/**
* @param string $text
* @return string
*/
public function cleanText($text);

/**
* @param \HTML_Node $node
* @return string
*/
public function getType(\HTML_Node $node);

/**
* @param \HTML_Node $node
* @return bool
*/
public function traverseChildren(\HTML_Node $node);

/**
* @param \Application\Patch\PatchEntity $patch
* @return \HTML_Node
*/
public function getPatchContainer(PatchEntity $patch);

/**
* @param \HTML_Node $node
* @return bool
*/
public function skipStart(\HTML_Node $node);

/**
* @param \HTML_Node $node
* @return bool
*/
public function skipStop(\HTML_Node $node);

/**
* @param \HTML_Node $node
* @return bool
*/
public function skip(\HTML_Node $node);
}


And here's the Elder Scrolls implementation



<?php

namespace Application\Parser\Adapter;

class EsoAdapter extends AbstractBasicAdapter
{
/**
* {@inheritDoc}
*/
public function getTags()
{
return [
'fix',
'bug',
'icon',
'damage',
'ultimate',
'temporary',
'stealth',
'vampire',
'nightblade',
'dragonknight',
'sorcerer',
'templar',
'combat',
'group',
'performance',
'memory',
'quest',
'trials'
];
}

public function getStartSelector()
{
return '.Message';
}

/**
* {@inheritDoc}
*/
public function getType(\HTML_Node $node)
{
if (preg_match('@<b>[^a-z]+</b>@', $node->getOuterText())) {
return 'section';
} elseif (preg_match('@<b>.+</b>@', $node->getOuterText())) {
return 'category';
} elseif (preg_match('@^<i>.+</i>@', $node->getOuterText())) {
return 'subcategory';
}
return parent::getType($node);
}
}


There are some common use-cases which can be found in the AbstractBasicAdapter that the EsoAdapter extends. Once I'm done with this testing stuff I'll be moving all the tags to the db so I can just update the db, rerun the parser, and the tags will update. The id's for each "line" are generated from the patch id and id it was found in the notes. Doing it like this means I can update the parser and the contents/comments for each line will stay (in theory).

[SpiffyJr]

I updated the site. Let me know what you think about the new version.

[Whirlin]

The scripts and everything appear to be functioning wonderfully. I really like the categorization, and the end result.

However... Structure/usability/aethetics could use a little more work.
The two columns don't appear to be playing nicely together on individual game pages, I'm finding myself often trying to trace whether or not to go right/left/down to get to the next sequential set of patch notes.
Once working within the patch notes, if I select one of the data tags, the tags appear to take up wayy too much space on the subsequent pages compared to the content.

Lastly, enhancement request, but if I query a particular patch note, I'd love to be able to see all patch notes over time related to the tag.. like see if they've been trending nerfing sorcs!

When can I start advertising this for you?

[SpiffyJr]

I have a lot of ideas for statistics on the pages. Whether or not I do them has to do with if the site gets popular at all. If it's a wash and gets no traffic I'm not going to spend much time on it but I think it has some promise. You can start advertising it now. The parser is in pretty good shape and I can rerun parses without losing data.

[SpiffyJr]

Oh, and the homepage. I'm still not happy with it I just don't know what else to do yet. I'll probably put trending (or hot) comments, patch lines, or entire notes on there at some point or something. ./shrug

[SpiffyJr]

URLs updated to be a bit friendlier...

e.g., http://nerfed.gg/elder-scrolls-online http://nerfed.gg/wildstar

[Methais]

I thought this was gonna be about a game whose purpose is to intentionally nerf everything every patch until eventually the game literally became unplayable.

:(

[SpiffyJr]

I thought this was gonna be about a game whose purpose is to intentionally nerf everything every patch until eventually the game literally became unplayable.

:(

Sorry to disappoint!

[SpiffyJr]

Alright, last update of the night. I added vote as nerf/buff buttons to the side. I'll use this data later to show tags and what people think are nerfs/buffs as well as statistics for each line. Maybe even something like "this was the most nerfed thing over this amount of time." Lots of possibilities.

[Androidpk]

Starting to come together. Will you be adding multiplayer fps games?

[SpiffyJr]

Starting to come together. Will you be adding multiplayer fps games?

I can, in theory, add any game. I really need to polish a few things and get scraping to be automatic. It's not much work to add a patch but when I have 5, 10, 15, 50 games to do it'll add up quick. Right now I'm focusing on games I enjoy because I don't have the automated sniffer ready but I certainly plan to.

I really want this to be a central location for patch notes.

*EDIT* Which FPS were you thinking?

[Androidpk]

Nothing in particular but stuff along the lines of Battlefield and, Call of Duty. Games with lots of players. They usually don't get patches too frequently, usually large in nature and spaced apart.

[SpiffyJr]

I'm going to throw up some Blizzard stuff today then I'll look at FPS.

[SpiffyJr]

http://nerfed.gg/world-of-warcraft
http://nerfed.gg/diablo-3

They all follow similar format so adding Blizzard games is *super* easy. Yay!

[SpiffyJr]

Aaaaand, search page updated to be a bit easier to read.

http://nerfed.gg/search?game=6&patch=&tags=206

[Whirlin]

I love the redone main page and game-specific pages. Huge buff


Still some awkward appearance if I click on some of the tags within a given game's notes...

Here's a screenshot of what I mean
http://i.imgur.com/6hMmACv.png?1?5450

[SpiffyJr]

That all looks like it's intended to I just need to do a bit of work on the D3 parser. Right now I look for specific HTML elements and mark those as various sections. Everything underneath that section gets tagged with it (and any other sections it might contain). I should clean out those last couple of tags as well as small lines of text and it should be good.

[SpiffyJr]

Alright, I got everything 100% automated now. Finding new patches, parsing them, and finally Tweeting them. If you're interested: https://twitter.com/nerfedgg

[SpiffyJr]

Significant updates across the board.

[SpiffyJr]

Aaaaand, you can now submit undocumented patch notes which can be voted for accuracy as well as the standard buff/nerf votes.

[SpiffyJr]

I know, spammy as fuck, but you can now post bugs as an additional tab on patch notes. You can rate bugs but you can not vote them as a buff or nerf.

[SpiffyJr]

Crazy layout update and parser update for you Whirlin. Lemme know what you think. :D

[Tenlaar]

It's looking awesome. I really like the sorting ability on the main page, with the multiple columns ability. Very use friendly.

Now add Path of Exile!

[Warriorbird]

Definitely seems like it is coming along.

[SpiffyJr]

Path of Exile you say? http://nerfed.gg/path-of-exile

It'll start filling up in a few minutes.

*EDIT* It only parses on patch per minute and I'm having it backfill all the patches it can find... so yea, it'll be a bit.

*EDIT* I didn't feel like waiting so I manually fired off the entire batch. All 214 patches should be done in the next 5 minutes. If you would like to supply a list of tags that would be incredibly useful. Right now I just have it using the default of "quest, memory, bug, fix, performance" etc...

[Tenlaar]

Hmm, tags for PoE. It would help to know exactly how the tags work. For example, would a "skills" tag only bring up patch notes that actually have the word skills in them?

[SpiffyJr]

Currently I scan each line of text looking for the tag in the line. I'm going to, eventually, have cascading tags based on the "header" that each note is under. I had this working at one point but redid the parsing architecture and had to remove it. So, for now, it's just a dummy text scan.

[Tenlaar]

Ok then, just going off of a simple word search these are the most relevant tags I can think of right now without going into stuff that is too specific. It's a good start at least.

skill, passive, race, league, quest, microtransaction, map, vaal, unique, intelligence, dexterity, strength

[SpiffyJr]

Classes?



/** @var array */
protected $tags = [
'bug',
'fix',
'memory',
'performance',
'quest',
'skill',
'passive',
'race',
'league',
'hardcore',
'quest',
'microtransaction',
'map',
'vaal',
'unique',
'intelligence',
'dexterity',
'strength'
];

[Tenlaar]

The classes only matter for where you start on the passive skill tree, so when a change is made it isn't really made to a "class" as it were. It's made to the passive skill tree.

[SpiffyJr]

Oh yea, I knew that. It's been a while but I used to play PoE pretty hardcore.

[Tenlaar]

The Vaal expansion added some really cool stuff and they should be coming up on another big patch here between the leagues again (which end in, I think, 4 days?), I think it's worth checking out again if it's been a while. Might as well wait for the new patch though, you'll obviously know when it hits!

[SpiffyJr]

Are you a fucking psychic? (http://nerfed.gg/path-of-exile/1.1.5/2014-07-02)

[Tenlaar]

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/La-aA1X3WnE/hqdefault.jpg

[SpiffyJr]

Added a new feature called "Giblets" which is just community notes of any kind. They can be voted on in the same manner as regular patches. You can post damn near anything if you're just looking for feedback.