Matticus

Matticus is the founder of World of Matticus, a World of Warcraft blog.

Leveling, Holy and Discipline Priest specs

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Here’s a quick glance at my healing and questing specs on the grind from 80 to 85. My mentality behind this was to select talents that would give me an edge in either survivability or efficiency. I went for talents that helped reduce mana costs or gave me mana back. I also opted for talents that made me a little bit tougher to kill.

Starting from level 80

As Shadow (Link to talent calculator)

Notes

Improved Psychic Scream – In case things get dicey with an overpull, I can couple this talent with Glyph of Psychic Scream. I don’t send mobs flying every where and pulling even more stuff. But it might buy me the precious seconds I need to DPS something down and heal up.

Mental Agility – Cheaper dots. ‘Nuff said.

Veiled Shadows – Wishbone gets to come out more often. … What, don’t you guys name your Shadowfiends?

As Holy (Link to talent calculator)

I chose holy as my dungeon healing offspec. Mana won’t be a terribly challenging issue with the opening instances like Blackrock Caverns or Throne of the Tides. But you’ll want to consider grabbing Mental Agility on the way up.

Notes

Desperate Prayer – Yeah, yeah, not many people would choose this. But I personally like having a safety net in dungeons in case I pull something.

As Discipline (Link to talent calculator)

Notes

Chose Empowered Healing over Divine Fury. Cast time isn’t as big a factor when you’re leveling up via dungeons, I found. Still going to be using a combination of shields and Flash Heal to get over the top.

Raiding

As Shadow (Link to talent calculator)

Sorry guys, I can’t say this is the final form of the raid spec I plan to use as shadow. I’ll use this as a baseline to work with though at least.

As Holy (Link to talent calculator)

Yup, I kept Desperate Prayer and Inspiration for raiding. Darkness is another option when your mana regeneration hits a point where it isn’t a big a factor. I won’t be switching to it until I accumulate more potent gear.

As Discipline (Link to talent calculator)

So many options here. You can take out the points from Veiled Shadows and place them into Surge of Light or Inspiration (In case your party doesn’t already have one with it). But Disc by far seems to offer the most variety when it comes to talent placement.

Quick Priest Gear for Holy and Discipline at 85

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This is not a gear guide for your best in slot list.

This is a gear guide which lists how to fill in your gear slots as fast as possible via reputations, crafting or quest rewards. You’ll notice each gear slot has a number of items. The fact is, I can’t tell you what’s the best stat to stack up on. Heck, you don’t need the best possible gear to start doing heroics or raids. Your character just needs to be geared enough to bypass the healing checks that are in place (for instance, if your priest can heal X amount of damage, then you’re good to go). Therefore, I’ve provided numerous options for each slot.

If you get a piece of equal or greater stat value, you can methodically move on from that. For example, if I get a solid helm from a dungeon I just ran, then I won’t need to blow justice points on the Mask of New Snow. I can use the points on another slot where the item is still weaker and bring it up that way.

Further notes on reputations, stat allocation and gemming on the bottom.

Helms

There are a few options available here.

Arcanum of Hyjal – Guardians of Hyjal Quartermaster, Revered

Mask of New Snow – JP vendor (2200), 346
Spiritmend Cowl – Tailoring, 333
Helm of Temperance – Earthen Ring Quartermaster, Honored, 333
Lightweight Bio-Optic Killshades – BoP, Engineering, 359

Necks

Celadon Pendant – JP vendor (346), 346
Eye of Many Deaths – JC, 346
Pendant of Elemental Balance – Earthen Ring Quartermaster, Honored, 333

Shoulders

Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone – Therazane Quartermaster, Honored
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone –  Therazane Quartermaster, Exalted

Summer Song Shoulderwraps – JP vendor (1650), 346
Blight-Lifter’s Mantle – Quest reward: The Source of Their Power, 333
Emberfire Shoulders – Tailoring, 339 (PvP)

Cloaks

Enchant Cloak – Greater Critical Strike
Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect
Darkglow Embroidery (Tailors only)

Cloak of Ancient Wisdom – Earthen Ring Quartermaster, Revered, 346
Cloak of the Dryads – Guardians of Hyjal, 333

Chest

Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Spirit (Thinking this one)

Musk Rose Robes – JP vendor (2200), 346
Overly Intelligent Robes – Quest reward: Skullcrushter the Mountain, 333
Emberfire Robe – Tailoring, 339 (PvP)

Wrists

There’s like no easy way to get wrists. Pull the wrists from the Halls of Origination Quest reward and reforge the hit out to something more useful like spirit. Emberfire Bracers are another option, but you’ll need to reforge out the resilience. Forgot. You can’t reforge out resilience. Oh well. Otherwise, pray for some drops.

Enchant Bracer – Greater Speed
Enchant Bracer – Greater Critical Strike
Enchant Bracer – Exceptional Spirit
Draconic Embossment – Intellect (Leatherworking only)

True Archaeologist’s Bracers – Quest reward: Doing it the Hard Way, Halls of Origination, 333
Emberfire Bracers – Tailoring, 339
Crimsonborne Bracers – Drop, Dragha Shadowburner, Grim Batol 333

Gloves

Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery

Flamebloom Gloves – Earthen Ring vendor, exalted, 359
Gloves of Purification – JP vendor (1650), 346
Roffle’s Ruffly Gloves – BoE, 333

Belt

Ebonsteel Belt Buckle

I can either score a new belt with the tailoring cooldowns or jet for the pants. Since there is already an epic level belt offered from the Guardians of Hyjal, I’ll probably skip the tailoring belt and buy the one from the Hyjal folks.

Belt of the Depths – Tailoring, 359
Cord of Raven Queen – Guardians of Hyjal, exalted, 359
Belt of the Falling Rain – JP vendor (1650), 346
Truth-Seeker Belt – Quest Reward: A Villain Unmasked, 333

Pants

Ghostly Spellthread (Tailoring)
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread (Tailoring)

Leggings of Charity – JP vendor (2200), 346
Breeches of Mended Nightmares – Tailoring, 359
Flame-Ascended Pantaloons – Tailoring, 359

Boots

Enchant Boots – Lavawalker

Slippers of Moving Waters – BoE, Valorous Quartermaster, 359
Gogarok’s Tenderized Treads – BoE, 333
Hekatic Slippers – BoP, Rajh, Halls of Origination, 333

Rings

Enchant Ring – Intellect (Enchanters only)

Ring of the Boy Emperor – Archaeology, 359
Ring of Warring Elements – JC, 346
Diamant’s Ring of Temperance – Therazane, Revered, 346
Ammunae’s Blessing – Ramkahen, Honored, 333

Trinkets

Plenty of options when it comes to trinkets. I didn’t list trinkets obtainable only in dungeons.

Mandala of Stirring Patterns – Baradin’s Wardens, Exalted, 359
Soul Casket – Valorous Quartermaster 1650, 359
Core of Ripeness – Valorous Quartermaster 1650 , 359
Darkmoon Card: Tsunami – Darkmoon cards, 359
Tyrande’s Favorite Doll – Archaeology, 359
Baradin Footman’s Tags – Baradin’s Wardens, Honored, 333
Talisman of Sinister Order – Quest Reward: Firing Squad, 325
Electrospark Heartstarter – BoE, 316

* In depth trinket analysis to be done later on in the week.

1H

Enchant Weapon – Heartsong

Shimmering Morningstar – Baradin’s Wardens, Revered, 346
Elementium Hammer – Blacksmithing, 346
Gurgthock’s Garish Gorebat – Quest Reward: Crucible of Carnage: The Twilight Terror! , 333

OH

Enchant Off-Hand – Superior Intellect

Apple-Bent Bough – JP vendor (950), 346
Divine Companion – Inscription, 346
Skyflight Beacon – Quest Reward:Doing It Like a Dunwald, 333

Staff

Enchant Weapon – Heartsong

Staff of Ammunae – Archaeology, 359
Insidious Staff – Baradin’s Wardens, Revered, 346
Very Manly Staff – Quest Reward: Crucible of Carnage: The Twilight Terror! , 333

Wand

Wand of Untainted Power – Drop: Forgemaster Throngus, 333
Wand of Dark Worship – BoE Drop: The Stonecore
Beach-Sweeper Wand – Quest Reward: Landgrab, 318

Reputation

Whew! That’s quite the selection isn’t it? Which faction offers the most bang for the buck? At first glance, it looks like Earthen Ring will be the one I choose to get reputation for first. They offer a helm, neck, cloak and epic gloves. Not bad. I’ll be representin’ them when I go dungeon diving. If I can’t score any drops for those slots in that department, then a quick visit to them. When Deepholm is unlocked and you’ve cleared out the zones, start working on Therazane reputation so you can eventually grab the shoulder enchants. Once you’re done with Earthen Ring, pick up the Guardians of Hyjal tabard and shoot for the helm enchant.

While Baradin’s Wardens also offer numerous and appealing rewards, those should be done on the side when there’s battles going on. It will take a little longer for you to get there as it’s going to depend on your server. I think the daily quests contribute to the reputation so work on those when your faction has control of Tol Barad.

Quick note on allocating stats

REMEMBER THAT ALL YOUR GEAR HAS BEEN RESET!

Focus on your basics first. In the start of Wrath, we concentrated on throughput and and regeneration. We didn’t have the luxury to go nuts with crit or haste like we do now because we actually had to worry about mana regen. Guess what? We’re repeating that stage again. So don’t go nuts with haste, crit or mastery yet. Accumulate a solid amount of spirit and intellect. Holy priests may wish to favor spirit a little more while discipline priests will want to aim for additional intellect. Let the rest of your gear build up secondary stats over time. There is no point in having astronomical amounts of haste, crit or mastery if you don’t have the mana to cast them or the spellpower for it to be worthwhile.

Once we hit the upper raiding tiers of the initial content, I suspect that’s when we can slowly reforge and adjust our stats.

Gem selection

Meta gem

Revitalizing Shadowspirit Diamond

Red

Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Purified Demonseye
Artful Ember Topaz
Potent Ember Topaz

Yellow

Fractured Amberjewel
Quick Amberjewel
Smooth Amberjewel
Zen Dream Emerald

Artful Ember Topaz
Potent Ember Topaz

Blue

Sparkling Ocean Sapphire
Purified Demonseye
Zen Dream Emerald

Gear strategy

Since I can get the epic belt (Cord of Raven Queen) by gaining reputation with the Hyjal guardians, the Dreamcloth I’ll be self-manufacturing would be better spent on the pants (Breeches of Mended Nightmares). For weapons, I’ll most likely need to get one of our blacksmiths to create an Elementium Hammer and a Scribe to create a Divine Companion. In the long run, I’ll stick to staves. With regards to trinkets, I may just set a long term goal of the Valorous trinkets. I’m not sure yet, I need to really look into them further. I’m hoping I can buy some of the BoE blue stuff. Several of the quests offer some decent rewards that will tide me over (See the wrists, shoulders and the chest).

Did I miss something? Let me know, and I’ll try to work it in. Remember I tried to avoid relying on dungeon drops or RNG stuff simply because it isn’t a 100% guarantee that you’ll get it.

Second Thoughts about the Collector’s Edition

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Ugh man, I’m so torn. On the one hand, I’d love to have the in game pet and the soundtrack. But I live on the west coast. The servers come online right at 12 AM. However, the stores on the west coast open their doors at 12 AM. I already put down a small deposit for my copies at the major mall out here in BC. Do we get to line up inside the mall or do we have to wait outside in the cold? Otherwise, I might just go for the digital copy.

Gosh, I have no idea what to do.

What did you guys do for the expansion?

So How About a Podcast?

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Over the years, the idea of establishing a podcast has continued to remain in the back of my mind. There were many obstacles in the way. For one, I lacked the technical expertise. I really don’t want to half-ass stuff and that’s why I never tried to go for it. I didn’t have the time to really learn about how to produce a really awesome show. It wasn’t until recently that those factors have been resolved and I found someone who can give me a hand with that aspect so that additional focus can be placed on the cooler stuff: Content creation. Brian Hough former co-host of Raid Warning and current co-host of The Creep will be handling the producer and moderator duties.

Well, what’s it going to be about?

Think of it as a further extension to the blog. I won’t be discussing as much about news or anything. There’s enough news podcasts out there as it is. The fact is, this blog has evolved to its current point where the team writes about 3 things: Healing, raiding and leadership. The podcast I’m envisioning will contain topics related to those 3.

One of the ideas that came up is where we’d take feedback and comments from a post earlier in the week and air it on the show. We’d like to get additional interaction in that regard and give you, the readers, a “voice”.

Granted, I don’t know if it’s going to work. I don’t know if it’s going to catch on. I don’t know if it’ll be well received either. All I know is, I won’t know unless I try.

Looking for another host

The current plan is to present a more conversational style show. Brian will be directing the discussion and acting as moderator. The potential third person and myself will do the heavy lifting.

I’m looking for someone who has a focus on the three topics of the blog. Someone who is an independent thinker and can carry a conversation. Namely, someone who shares the same passion and work ethic I do about the game.

How do I apply?

Interested applicants can submit a 2-3 minute mp3 sound file. Spend the first minute introducing yourself and why you want to do this. Go ahead and come up with one topic about healing, raiding or leadership and talk about it for a few minutes. Remember, try to be conversational.

Stuck for ideas? Try one of these.

  • What do you think of guilds establishing their own PvP divisions?
  • Do you give second chances to players who leave your guild? Why or why not?
  • Do you find 10 or 25 player raiding more appealing? Give a couple of reasons why.

Email it to me

What about the Circle of Healing podcast?

Good news! It’ll be coming back out of hiatus in early December. I have no intention of leaving but I also need to see what how the workload will be like. You can expect to hear the same, cool healing stuff in the first half of the season. Pretty sure I can pull it off. Keep an eye out for it!

Edit: For a better idea, listen to the How Stuff Works Podcast: Stuff You Should Know

Rated Battleground Additions that would Never Happen

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I am eager for rated battlegrounds to take off and I think it’ll add another PvP dimension to the game from a competitive stand point. Years ago, I used to be an avid Counterstrike player. I was a first string benchwarmer on a CS club in the Cyberathlete Amateur League back in the early 2000s. I think the furthest we got was CAL Main.

Would rated BGs move to become an E-Sport? Could they? I don’t know what Blizzard’s intentions are here. We can’t queue for battlegrounds anymore as a raid. I’m guessing we’ll be able to do that during Cataclysm and when rated BGs are available. I really hope that they allow “unrated” rated BGs like they do for arena (I don’t recall seeing that option available during the beta, but I most likely missed it). If they do decide to pursue it, there’s a couple of things that I wish would happen but for both technical and logistical reasons, would not.

Replays

I don’t even know if the tech for this is possible. Maybe they can work with the Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 folks to see if there is a possible solution. Being able to watch replays of teams going at it would be cool to have. For that to even come close though, there’d have to be some kind of client side viewer, I think. The size requirements would obviously be ridiculous too. I can see all the logistical problems already. But if there was just some way to implement it where we can watch other rated BGs going on, it would be an asset to BG teams so they can go over strategies and what worked for them and what didn’t. I used to watch CS replays to get an idea of what other teams did and how they positioned themselves. I liked the first person perspective modes just to see what they saw before those players made such clutch moves. Right now, we have to rely on VODs (or PvP videos from players).

Observer mode

Being able to float around a battleground and just watch what’s going on would be great fun too. You could “fly” from one side of the map to the other. It would allow players to actively “stream” into a match. There’d have to be some “tape delay” added to prevent ghosting (the act of telling people things they shouldn’t know, like telling players where people are when they would not be able to figure it out on their own). Doing so would also slow down or lag the match.

Practice scrimmages

Specifically queuing to play against specific teams. Would be a great way for guilds to practice rated BGs against each other. Otherwise, you don’t know who you’re getting matched up with. The team you’re facing might be weaker or stronger than you. Having intra-guild or consistent partnering teams would be a good way to just keep getting the PvP team better.

If those technologies can be implemented, I can see it elevating the PvP game upwards. I don’t know if it’d be able to become a spectator sport or anything but it would be a good first step. Alas, one can only dream. Maybe one day.

On a side note, you can count me in as one of the players that were a little sad with the removal of 25 rated BGs. I know the arguments that were made for the removal and I understand it. It’s good to take it off the regular weekly rotation. Would it be possible to bring it back just for fun though? Having 25 vs 25 epic Isle of Conquests or Alterac Valleys that are completely unrated? 25 man raiding is still going strong. I think 25 man BGs might have enough of a support base to be a niche thing to do on the side. Look at all the AV or IoC premades in the past. Just imagine the technical, chess-like nature of the match. Raiding in 25s is one thing, but doing organized PvP in massive numbers like that offers a different cohesive feeling altogether. It literally is being a general instructing different groups and players to go in select directions. The Battlefield FPS series offered epic 64 v 64 matches with one overall commander leading and good commanders are really hard to find.