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Talk:Homunculus
"Homunculus" usage?[edit]
Where in the current game is this called a "Homunculus"? Not a single reference that I can find. Every tooltip, every reference (except this page and its enhancements) uses "Iron Defender". I understand a need to distinguish between this and a NPC/mob, but if the term has been (largely) abandoned, would it not be better to move this page to one with a more commonly expected title? More to the point, what would a new player be reasonably expected to Search for, if looking for info on this? "Homonculus Iron Defender" or "Iron Defender (Homunculus)", perhaps, or something like?C-Hound (talk) 23:32, December 26, 2018 (EST)
(Edit) Seems it came from the U11 release notes, but by the time it went live that term was (completely?) dropped in-game - unless I'm missing something? Practically speaking (and 7 years later), I feel we should change this to common usage. Which seems to properly be "Iron Defender Companion". C-Hound (talk) 12:08, December 27, 2018 (EST)
- It's everywhere:
Hmmm - well, okay, that's one place... not "everywhere". In fact, far from - all the tool tips, the feat "Unleash Iron Defender", the control bar, the Trainer's dialogue options (before the tree itself), the "Examine" pop-up, even the <label> of the creature itself when summoned, use "Pet" if not "Iron Defender". Afaict you simply don't see the word "Homunculus" in-game outside of your lone example - it's pretty clearly been abandoned except for references to the legacy enhancement tree. Evidence of this is in most(!) every update including its introduction since U11, where few references use the word at all except for the announcement of that enhancement tree. Others' search-fu may be better than mine, but it seems "Homunculus" is used in the sub-header of the patch to that update (where, then, every line uses "Iron Defender"!) and 2 other references, and then only about 5% as often as "Iron Defender".
I suppose, more to the point of my suggestion - practically speaking, who calls it a "Homunculus"? Who would recognize the term in their Search results? When it's not called a "dog" or "pet" (or worse), it's "Iron Defender". I think, parallel w/ Wolf Companion, we should go with "Iron Defender (companion)", and let "Homunculus" become a redirect. Aside from fixing the links, what's the counter-reasoning?
(As a footnote, we also need a "Skeletal Knight (companion)" page - might as well create a parallel convention for all 3 plus any future companions, no?)C-Hound (talk) 03:42, December 28, 2018 (EST)