Blooncyclopedia:Update history guidelines

This wiki uses its own structure for documenting updates that attempts to cover the changes in as much detail as possible. This usually means descriptions of changes from official update notes should not be copied verbatim, as their wording rarely fits these guidelines (and may contain errors). Quotations, of course, should be copied verbatim, including any errors.

This wiki uses many templates to automatically format update articles and populate "Update history" sections with information pulled from those articles. For information on using those templates, see Help:Update history.

Writing style

• Additions, or balance changes that add a new feature to a subject, should not have extra unnecessary details about what the addition is. For example, in version 8.0 of BTD6, Inferno Ring was given a new meteor attack, so the section should just state that it gained a meteor attack without elaborating on what the attack does (since the Inferno Ring page already does that).
• Lists of changes to items (such as Monkey Knowledge and Artifacts in Bloons TD 6, cards in Bloons Card Storm, or equipment in Bloons Adventure Time TD) should generally use tables, with one row per item (or multiple items with the same change), instead of one section for each item. This is to avoid creating too many section headers.
• Features or changes mentioned in update notes that aren't actually implemented should be listed in a "Notes" section, due to them not actually being a part of the update.

Change lists

Changes use bullet point lists. Each change should use a template such as {{buff}}, {{nerf}}, {{change}}, or {{neutral}} to indicate how it affects the player.

• Changes should not end in periods.
• Changes relating to timing, such as cooldowns and durations, should always be expressed in seconds, with decimal values if necessary, and suffix numbers with "s" (e.g., "Duration increased — 5s → 7s").
• Changes to a "bonus" modifier, such as a damage bonus, should prefix the numbers with a "+" sign (e.g., "Damage to Ceramics increased — +3 → +5").
• If a change is adding or removing a "bonus" modifier, it should simply list the bonus instead of comparing two numbers (e.g., "Now deals +5 damage to Ceramics" or "No longer deals +5 damage to Ceramics").
• If a change to a property of an upgrade is a direct buff/nerf, but a change to a previous tier also affects that same property by extension, then the direct change to the upgrade should be listed first, then the overall impact when factoring in previous tiers should be listed in an indented line below it. For example: " Attack cooldown modifier reduced — ×0.7 → ×0.8" and " Overall attack cooldown reduced — 0.6s → 0.5s (due to changes to previous tiers)".
• If the subject has multiple mechanics, use the |name= parameter of the change to label which mechanic(s) a change applies to. This is not necessary if a change applies to all mechanics or to the subject as a whole (e.g., "All attacks now deal +1 damage to Ceramics" instead of "All attacks: Now deal +1 damage to Ceramics").
  • The name of a mechanic should be written in lowercase unless it is official (e.g., use "Main attack" instead of "Main Attack").
  • Changes to activated abilities should just be "Ability" unless the subject has multiple abilities, or the ability has a confirmed name different from the subject's name. If so, it should not end in "ability" (e.g., use "MOAB Takedown" instead of "MOAB Takedown ability").

Use of icons

• {{buff}} and {{nerf}} should indicate whether a change is beneficial or detrimental to the subject of a section.
  • Changes that benefit elements the player controls (such as towers and powers) also benefit the player, while changes that benefit elements that oppose the player (such as Bloon types and maps) are detrimental to the player, but their update history sections should use icons according to how those changes affect the subject, not the player.
  • If the subject is an opposing element, then its update history section should include |disclaimer=y to note that the icons are relative to how it benefits the subject, not the player.
• Use {{neutral}} for changes that have both pros and cons.
• Use {{change}} for miscellaneous changes that have no impact on gameplay.

Note that this does not apply to the following templates because they handle icons automatically:

• {{rate change}}
• {{cost change}}

Sections

These sections should be in this order. Do not include sections in an update article if they would be empty.

1. Additions: A list of features added in the update. Features that do not fit in a sub-section of this section should be listed first, directly under the section header.
2. Changes: A list of changes to existing features in the update. This should also include bugs introduced to pre-existing features, but not bugs for features introduced in this update. If a section would only have one sub-heading, it should be combined with another section if possible (for example, if the only one Hero in a Bloons TD 6 update has changes, it should go under the "Towers" section instead of a "Heroes" section).
   • While official update notes often separate general changes, bug fixes, and balance changes, doing this on this wiki is generally discouraged because changes listed under "bug fixes and general changes" in official update notes may have significant effects on balance. It is better to group changes by each subject they pertain to instead.
   • List changes in the following order:
     • Changes to subjects the player controls, such as towers, powers, and artifacts
     • Changes to subjects the player plays against, such as maps, modes, and bosses
     • Miscellaneous changes
3. Pre-release: If the update has some history before its release, such as teasers, a roadmap, or differences in early videos, this is the section to document it. This can also contain an "Early access videos" sub-section listing (in alphabetical order) links to videos of content creators' coverage of the update before release. (If the early access videos are the only pre-release content, make the "Early access videos" section the main section instead and omit the "Pre-release" header altogether.)
4. Gallery: Artwork pertaining to the update. This can also contain a "Video" or "Videos" sub-section to embed official videos on the update.
5. Descriptions: Blockquotes of official descriptions of the update, both from in-game and from peripheral sources such as store pages and official websites.
6. Notes: A list of miscellaneous facts about the update, such as errors in the official coverage of the update, joke changes, and developer comments that do not fit anywhere else.
7. References: Self-explanatory.
8. External links: Links to official coverage of the update on sites like Reddit and Steam.
9. Navigation: Navboxes and year-specific categories. (If the update does not have a confirmed release date, the year category should be omitted until the update releases.)

Note that if the table of contents of an update page becomes too long, it should be moved to the right-hand side using {{TOC|right|clear=y}} to avoid cluttering the page.

Example sections for a Bloons TD 6 update

1. Additions
   1. Quests
   2. Cosmetic items
2. Changes
   1. Towers
      1. Dart Monkey
      2. Mortar Monkey
      3. Druid
      4. Banana Farm
   2. Heroes
      1. Quincy
      2. Etienne
      3. Silas
   3. Powers
      1. MOAB Mine
      2. Super Monkey Beacon
   4. Monkey Knowledge
   5. Relic Knowledge
   6. Maps
   7. Modes and events
      1. Apopalypse
      2. Contested Territory
      3. Boss Challenge
   8. Social features
      1. Profiles
      2. Challenge Editor
   9. Boss Bloons
      1. Lych
      2. Blastapopoulos
   10. Rogue Legends
   11. Frontier Legends
   12. Miscellaneous
3. Pre-release
   1. Early access videos
4. Gallery
   1. Video
5. Descriptions
6. Notes
7. References
8. External links
9. Navigation