This was alluded to in:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/api/world-names-json-is-broken/first#post2108915 but since this has little to do with world_names, a new thread was merited.
I have a script which I use to create/update a local cache of item and recipe information.
What I’ve been noticing is that each day, new items and recipes seem to be added. This is expected soon after new content patches, since there are new things to be discovered. However, the rest of the time, these lists should be static.
Previously, I was not keeping records of additions/deletions, but I recently added such, and then ran the updater. This covers about a 24 hour period, timestamps are US Central (aka Server Time +2hrs):
2013-05-29 15:09:19,674 INFO New Recipe 6338 Makes:item#13607
2013-05-29 15:09:19,903 INFO New Recipe 3262 Makes:item#12644
2013-05-29 15:09:20,036 INFO New Recipe 3337 Makes:item#12721
2013-05-29 15:09:20,154 INFO New Recipe 1923 Makes:item#9122
2013-05-29 15:09:20,279 INFO New Recipe 2741 Makes:item#9181
2013-05-29 15:09:20,398 INFO New Recipe 1077 Makes:item#9038
2013-05-29 15:09:20,519 INFO New Recipe 6376 Makes:item#13652
2013-05-29 15:09:26,842 INFO New item 9733 'Recipe: Feast of Bean Salad'
2013-05-29 15:09:26,963 INFO New item 12721 'Pot of Curry Pumpkin Soup'
2013-05-29 15:09:27,096 INFO New item 10165 'Recipe: Satchel of Resilient Seeker Armor'
2013-05-29 15:09:27,226 INFO New item 10220 'Recipe: Satchel of Valkyrie Rascal Armor (Master)'
2013-05-29 15:09:27,352 INFO New item 13607 'Valkyrie Destroyer Focus'
2013-05-29 15:09:27,542 INFO New item 9038 "Box of Berserker's Barbaric Armor"
2013-05-29 15:09:27,835 INFO New item 13652 "Knight's Destroyer Rifle"
2013-05-29 15:09:28,094 INFO New item 9181 'Satchel of Pillaging Student Armor'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,214 INFO New item 12644 'Feast of Bean Salad'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,336 INFO New item 21199 'Superior Rune of Svanir'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,453 INFO New item 23457 'Vigil Scout Medal'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,563 INFO New item 38063 'Reindeer Tonic'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,678 INFO New item 42671 'Master of the Arena Title'
2013-05-29 15:09:28,792 INFO New item 10136 "Recipe: Box of Berserker's Barbaric Armor"
2013-05-29 15:09:28,914 INFO New item 23645 'Goldenlight Hallow Lab Test Results'
2013-05-29 15:09:29,043 INFO New item 21203 'Superior Rune of the Wurm'
2013-05-29 15:09:29,161 INFO New item 10033 "Recipe: Satchel of Rampager's Feathered Armor"
2013-05-29 15:09:29,279 INFO New item 9985 'Recipe: Satchel of Pillaging Student Armor (Master)'
2013-05-29 15:09:29,410 INFO New item 9122 'Satchel of Valkyrie Rascal Armor'
A survey of the items: (any trade data from gw2spidy)
- The two runes are PvP versions of traded ones.
- The two destroyer weapons hadn’t been traded until yesterday.
- #23457 and #23645 are L57 and L72 Heart Karma trinkets
- Many are from Mystic Forge ‘bundle’ recipes that while they’ve been done before, they are exceptionally rare.
All of these are moderately easily explained by “we set a discovery time horizon some time ago, and we’re just seeing the long tail of discoveries happening.” Based on #38063, which is supposedly discovered by opening a Wintersday Mystery Box, this horizon is sometime well after Wintersday.
The most interesting, IMO, though is #42671 ‘Master of the Arena Title’.
The other title granting items in this track (Legend/Veteran/Soldier/Challenger) were discovered in this timeframe. For reference, the title is Obtained by placing in top 10 on Qualifying Points leaderboards [source: wiki, I don’t do sPvP]. But Legend is top 5, others are 25/50/100. It strains credulity that this one title in the middle wasn’t found until now. But let’s go ahead and say that the previous explanation still holds. Reality is wierd like that sometimes, and kittens your expectations.
End Conclusion of this pass of data:
- Due to the “discoveries since time horizon” method of data inclusion, these lists are not a canonical list of items and recipes in the game.
- There are items which are known to exist, such as PvP runes, but are just rarely used.
- Known formulatic recipes are not included. For instance, one assumes you could create a Feast-like item of Garlic Bread (L15 -10% damage while stunned), but no one has bothered to pony up the Elonian Wine, Crystals, and Mystic Coins to find out. GW2DB knows the Tray of Garlic Bread to exist as item #63275. gw2spidy has 99 for sale as #12645. No such item is in items.json, item_details.json, or recipe_details.json.
Implications:
- “New” items will be discovered all the time.
- If making a tools such as a build analyzer, you may not be presenting all the available options.
- Any system you build will have to support items being discovered throughout the day. Static databases, with only infrequent updates, are not viable.
Sadly, depending on your needs, gw2db may provide a superior API for you.