There’s an ongoing discussion on the wiki on how to call things like “viper”, “magi”, “berserker”, “marauder”, etc. There isn’t a clear official name, and personally, I’m pushing the player angle against more technical terms.
So, I just want to see what’s the name you use for them, and hear your opinions. After all, the wiki should be friendly for the players, and it’s pointless if we use names that people don’t understand.
Feel free to add new names to the conversation, and I will update the main post with them. Note that the likes of “Power” and “Healing” already have an official name, attribute, thus why “attribute combination” is the correct term , but I’ve never seen anyone use it ingame.
If by any chance someone from ArenaNet is reading this and wants to chime in, wiki editors would be very grateful to get this sorted for good (if it’s with an unique name the better).
I’ve called them stat combinations all along. As in, if someone asks “what is a good stat combo?” I will instantly think in terms of the prefixes such as those you list, rather than a balance of stats on the Hero Panel.
I usually call them “stat block” or just “stats”.
Prefix is one accurate option as the various names (Magi’s etc) are used as prefixes.
I think the old name Item Nomenclature is a good one, as is the current, along with various redirects. I don’t think there is an established term.
‘Stat combination’ is the one that I see most, by far. But as already mentioned, if you just point all the common terms to the same page it sort of solves the problem . . .
The wiki has called these “prefixes” for 10 years; I’m not sure why it’s important to change the terminology.
A lot of people say Stat Combo or simply “armor stats” or “weapon stats”. But those are generic terms that can mean a variety of things including prefixes. Attribute Combination isn’t any more correct than anything else, since even Miyani doesn’t use the term. (The Anthology of Heroes refers to “stats”, not attributes.)
tl;dr no need to reinvent the wheel. Prefix has worked for a decade, so why not stick with that? (And of course, redirects for any common term are also appropriate.)
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‘Stat combination’ is the one that I see most, by far. But as already mentioned, if you just point all the common terms to the same page it sort of solves the problem . . .
Not entirely, since everywhere in the wiki we will be referring to this as “something”, and if that something isn’t clear enough, people won’t understand what we’re talking about.
Also, redirects are no good for search engine indexing. It’s also pointless to call it “A” and then have 90% of the traffic come from redirects from “B”.
I usually call them “stat block” or just “stats”.
Prefix is one accurate option as the various names (Magi’s etc) are used as prefixes.
I think the old name Item Nomenclature is a good one, as is the current, along with various redirects. I don’t think there is an established term.
The problem with item nomenclature is that “viper” isn’t an “item nomenclature” in any way, it’s not a correct name page. Also, it’s too generic and unclear, and no one uses it ingame.
I’d say atttibute combinations. as the attributes specify the type of your gear, precision/power/condi/toughness/vitality/healing/expertise/concentration/ferocity.
Where stats are the actual numbers involved in your gear:
“Link the hight of your toughness attribute, please.”
- “I have 2500 stat points in the attibute toughness”
“That might be too tanky for us”
- “I chose my attributes carefully, and I think I can use this very well as the attibute combination Trailblazer is suited for WVW roaming”
But names and attibute combinations are mostly trivial.
“Are you using infused gear?”
- “I am using part Pahua, but the recipe’s for the ascneded gear are hard to come by and I do not like the Tangled Depths Meta too much so the other gear is just Trailblazer. I do have infusions for the Pahua gear.”
Confusion? not really as in most cases the meaning is clear from context anyways:
“You can stat change other gear with the exotic insignia.”
- “Ï do not believe the amount of stats will change when I change attributes.”
“You know what I mean "
- “Yes, I do. I just do not had the luck to have all ascneded pieces drop yet,”
“You can craft them.”
- “Yes but to aquire the gear is expensive and using boxes with attribute selection saves me a lot of effort.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t craft exotics, as the gear also needs insignia’s and the exotioc insignia with these attributes are pretty expensive.”
-“You could be right but I can craft exotic but not ascended”
“You could get more stats by getting all ascneded”
-“True, but I’m low on gold.”
Color most often indicates the rarity of the item:
“a green berserker’s ring”,
“send me a blue scepter if you have one”,
“I got some nice yellows…”
, when omitted it is an exotic ring, noone uses “an orange ring”.
Ascneded value gear tend to be referred to as ascendeds or pink gear.
Sometimes ppl say my legendary gear, but purple also happens…
There is the named attributes (Verata’s, Zojja’s and Yassith’s) which are ascended
there is the common attributes (sinister, viper and berserker(zerk)) which are exotic and lower and which are used to communicate the attribute of your gear, for easy communication this is also used for legendary and ascnededs even though they should default to the named options..
stats are the value of the attribute, but their use is also the same as attribute sometimes causing a trivial discussion
prefix and suffix are mostly an outdated mechanic, but their use is relevant to be able to read the attribute combinations of exoytic and lower level gear. ( IMHO the only place you still find in this age of asnceded gear is on exotic jewelry in niche builds, often with regard to the attribute concentration which translates into the attribute boon duration and the other way round.).
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I can’t quite figure out how to explain the way it works in my head, since I’ve never really thought about how I use the terms before now. Like, I think of them in terms of prefixes and attributes, but I say stats or stat combos in map chat or whatever because… it’s easier to type? There’s also some kind of shaky poorly defined distinction between prefix and stat combo in my head, I think where prefix is about the specific names/items and stat combo is more about the desired end result you want from a certain collection of names?
This isn’t helping is it haha!
I’d say just be as official/technical as you can be on the wiki and people can use whatever words they want, since if the game/wiki will be around for years to come then the most common player-used terminology will probably change. I mean, at least half the time I say “class” but I wouldn’t want the wiki to stop calling them professions just because of it. (I know that’s not exactly the same but still)
I would use “Prefix” when referring to the names of the prefixes (e.g., Viper, Minstrel’s). If I were referring to any set of stats (e.g., Power/Precision/Ferocity), I’d use “attribute combination” or “stat combination” interchangeably.
Rationale: The name assigned to the combinations is the prefix in the item name. The actual attributes or stats in the various combinations should be self-explanatory.
They’re the Prefix used to identify an Attribute Combination on a piece of Equipment. So I’d just call them Attribute Combinations, like on the wiki page. Snappy I know.
Would prefer “Prefix” myself, to have a keyword to search for, and have a clear definition for it.
However I don’t think it is the most used word for it, but also “Stats” and “Attributes” etc sounds so generic I would kind of have to guess at what they’re talking about.
And a few like “Attribute Combinations” etc sounds strange since we have multiple near identical stat sets like Berserker/Assassin where the only difference is the main stat. And using just “Combinations” runs into the combo system.
I honestly don’t know, really feels like everything is so generic that they make no sense.
I typically have to dig up the page on the wiki searching for berserker, or soldier or some other name, and navigate a few pages to find the list of different stat attributes.
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My friends and I usually use a phrase that could be rendered in English like “How are you stat-ed?” (obviously we’re not EN native speakers). So, I’d say “stat combination” sounds more non-native-friendly.
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