Matticus, Author at World of Matticus

Cataclysm: Spammable Body and Soul? Sure!

August 5, 2010 by Matticus

Discipline talents got slight revamps. There are two big things that jumped out at me when I logged in earlier in the evening.

Soul Warding moves to tier 2
Borrowed time returns

Moving Soul Warding up to tier 2 opens up some interesting speccing options as Discipline. Previously, it was thought that Archangel and Evangelism was required in order to advance deeper in the tree (to me, that didn’t make logical sense). Now it looks like Priests have two routes they can go when progressing. You can pick up Improved Inner Fire and Soul Warding to get past (and I predict that being the optimum raid spec) or you select the Archangel and Evangelism combination (useful for either leveling or powering through older raid content).

If Archangel and Evangelism were in the game right now, I’d dual spec into them for sure. Just being able to power through certain farm bosses in ICC or 5 mans gives us a little bit more of something to do. Think being in Icecrown gear and tackling ToC or Ulduar on normal.

Can’t Holy Priests get Soul Warding?

It certainly looks that way.

With Soul Warding at tier 2, Holy Priests will want to snag it at max level. And who wouldn’t? Being able to cast a massive amount of Body and Soul’d shields on assorted players? Multiple sprint buffs? Hell yeah!

But there’s a problem so don’t get too excited about the prospects. As Holy, you don’t get access to Rapture which offers some mana return when your shields get punctured. This means it will be an increasing drain on your mana so you’ll need to Body and Soul your targets wisely. Remember, we’re supposed to be using out mana intelligently in Cataclysm.

All I know is, between Life Grip and Body and Soul, there will be zero reason for anyone to die in a fire now.

Also, losing internet connection at 12 AM sucks when you have a post ready for immediate publishing. Sad panda.

Configuring the Healing UI: What’s on Your Wishlist?

September 21, 2012August 2, 2010 by Matticus

You can see elements of the default healing UI in place in a recent post. A number of you asked what the configuration window for it was like.

Don’t laugh.

Here it is.

Yeah, that’s it.

I should also add that it’s certainly possible to drag it the frames around. I can’t seem to find a way to lock it but maybe that’s a user error.

You’ll notice a c heck box that says Keep Groups Together.

Unchecked, it allows you to sort groups by role, group or name.

Now I don’t expect the default interface to outright replace addons like our beloved Vuhdo or Grid. But I do believe there are some aspects of it that could use additional improvement. It’s important to discern between must have and nice to have but can probably heal without it type changes.

I’ve already mentioned the need for clearer debuffs to appear on the frames
Resizeable bars would be excellent to have because not everyone plays on the same setup
Customizable energy bars. I don’t need to see rage, focus, or energy bars but I do need to see mana bars of other players (healers specifically)

What about you? What would you like to see added? What do you think is important to have on your healing UI? What can you get away without having?

Cataclysm: The updated healing UI

July 31, 2010 by Matticus

Spoiler warning (As if the title didn’t give it away)

Check out the updated default healing UI. Yes, this is the default UI. As in, the interface you get without any customization whatsoever. I queued randomly into Blackrock Caverns (took a while, but I managed to get in).

What you see right now is actually the raid frames, not the party frames. I didn’t switch to party frames yet (I prefer my raid UI for everything and this is as close as I can get to it). First thing you’ll see is that the top left of each player has a little role icon.

Never again will I ever see the question “Who are the tanks?”

At least, I hope.

And yes, the red frame highlight shows who currently has aggro.

Yellow frame shows who I currently have selected. You can also move the frames around. I haven’t found out how to lock it in place yet.

Now we’ve got some more action going on here. The healing combat text hasn’t changed much. My personal Renews appear on the bottom right. Haven’t shielded anyone yet.

If you look carefully at our tank, you can see a Frostbolt icon on the bottom left. I almost missed it. Things like debuffs that can be removed need to be made a lot more noticeable.

Green bar shows approximate incoming heal amount. I don’t know if that’s before or after any type of Mortal Strike debuffs or healing buffs.

That’s it for shots since I’m too busy trying to keep the group alive (Prayer of Healing was the next spell cast, believe me).

Then we wipe because I cast Guardian Spirit on the wrong Pally when some Ogres and stuff wander into us.

EDIT – Back in. Here’s more:

Something that needs to improve on is the dispelling interface. It’s really hard to notice. You have to mouse over it in order to see what type of debuff it is. In the shot below, you can see a little red skull icon on the top right denoting a disease. The actual disease icon is then on the bottom left where you can mouse over and see what it actually is.

I think a better solution would be to fill the entire player frame with the appropriate dispel color which states what type of debuff it is.

For example, if I get hit with a Frostbolt, my background color could fill with a gradient blue which overrides my normal class color of white. That would make it extremely obvious I have a debuff. The actual debuff icon could still be on the bottom left.

Definitely very cool though.

Thoughts? If this continues to get developed and streamlined further, I might not have to use custom raid frames anymore.

Circle of Healing Podcast Site is Up

July 29, 2010 by Matticus

The site for the priest centric healing podcast is now available. Head on over to the Circle of Healing Podcast page. You’ll find out more about the players behind the voices along with archived episodes.

And yes, episode 3 is now available.

Apparently, we’ve got some reviews on our iTunes page. I have no idea how to find it. I’ll fiddle with it later. Feel free to leave some feedback for us. No guarantees, but at least we’ll read it. If there’s anything you’d like the Circle to address, email it to Questions@circleofhealingpodcast.com.

One thing I do want to clarify is that a number of listeners have expressed concern that it’s a little overloaded on priests.

Well, yeah.

It is going to be biased for healing priests because we’re all priests. We’ll try to make an effort to include material that’s of interest to every healing class. Ultimately, Dawn is the director and producer. I know if she wanted to form a pure healing podcast, a different team would’ve been assembled.

It’s a healing podcast with some emphasis for us Priests.

I’m there just to be the eye candy (or ear candy?)

Enjoy!

Back from Laguna Seca

July 27, 2010 by Matticus

What an exhausting and fun trip. Will have a full write-up later on this week. I’m not publishing it until I select my pictures and upload them accordingly.

Highlights

85 SPF sunscreen isn’t enough for me. I still got cooked pretty good. I’m red, and it ain’t from the alcohol.
Speaking of alcohol, 1.75 L of Bacardi for 18 bucks. What the hell? (I will need some help finishing it)
Chatting with bike enthusiasts. I’m terrible at sales but apparently good at raising awareness, talking with potential customers and directing them to the right staff. This must be what the world was like before Twitter.
I was amazed at how fast overcast gets cut through. In the morning, its all foggy and slightly chilly, but I’m standing there in shorts and a T shirt. Reminded me of typical Canadian weather.
No merging lanes. What is up with the lack of merging lanes on US roads?
I mentioned U Turn lanes before, but they deserve another nod.
Rush hour traffic in Portland or Seattle sucks. I will never complain about rush hour traffic in Vancouver again.
Monterey (did I spell that right?) seems like a cool city. I wish I could have explored the place more. Downtown was surreal with all the bikers and their bikes lined up. I’m not talking about Hell’s Angels or Harleys or anything. I wish I had pictures of it to demonstrate.
Chili’s. I ordered their ribs. Felt it was a bit dry though.
Do not chain pot Monster, Red Bull, or the 5 hour energy drink upon consumption. Chain potting Starbucks double shots seem to be okay with no noticeable ill side effects (at least, for me).
It takes 20 hours to drive from Monterey back to Vancouver. We stopped once for a 5 hour nap. I’m going to bed.