Matticus

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

How to Master Priest Tier 10, Ruby Sanctum Thoughts

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Granted, if you’re just aiming for the bonuses, the Priest healing set just doesn’t look as hot. That being said though, I picked up the four set a week and some change ago with the determination to try to master it. In terms of stats, the tier 10 is better than the tier 9 (Intellect, stamina, and all that fun stuff).

But how do you pursue the bonuses?

(2) Set: Your Flash Heal has a 33% chance to cause the target to heal for 33% of the healed amount over 9 sec.
(4) Set: Your Circle of Healing and Penance spells have a 20% chance to cause your next Flash Heal cast within 6 sec to reset the cooldown on your Circle of Healing and Penance spells.

For one thing, you can’t rely on the Renew spec that Holy Priests are using. If you’re a Renew Priest, then I think you’re better off switching out to non-set pieces. The bonuses aren’t even worth it since Flash Heal isn’t the dominant heal for you.

Another eye needs to be kept on the cooldown timer in regards to the 4 piece. 1 in 5 of your Penances or Circle of Healings will trigger the reset.

I feel like I’m playing a Rogue healer. It’s a lot to take in. Some fights, it doesn’t go off when its needed and in other fights it’s a godsend.

At the same time, it’s also dependent on who needs healing. If the bonus triggers, and the cooldown resets and no one needs healing, not much can be done.

My cast sequence doesn’t change very often in either spec.

As Discipline

Power Word: Shield, Penance, and a lot of Flash Heals. If I get the Penance reset, great! I’m also doing my best to maximize the 2 piece Flash Heal HoT. If it’s already on one tank, I’ll drop it on another tank to try to get it going.

As Holy

Circle of Healing followed by (you guessed it) lots of Flash Heals. I find I don’t Renew as often because I’d rather use the GCD on more Flash Heals. I’ll keep a Renew on myself and the tanks going at the very least.

In order to best utilize the tier 10 Priest set pieces, your style of play is going to revolve around Flash Heal as the main healing spell. If it isn’t, then that’s going to be an issue. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then you’re better off passing on tier loot entirely and gunning for non-tier sets like I mentioned earlier.

Why?

1) It lets the Priest who does play that style gear up quicker and more efficiently. The sooner their bonus gets activated, the better your raid will be. Again, it’s all about loot maximization.

2) I’m not entirely sure of this (and I know someone out there will correct or confirm either way), I think that pound for pound, non-tier items have a slight edge on stats.

Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Robe – Sanguine Silk Robes
Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Gloves – San’layn Ritualist Gloves
Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Leggings – Lightweave Leggings

On second thought, maybe it’s just the extra gem socket.

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In other news, the Ruby Sanctum is going to be in the next minor content patch. Sounds like it’s going to be a small-ish instance, possibly ToC or Malygos sized. It looks like it will contain about four raid bosses in a “Defense” type encounter, akin to Hyjal.

Bet there’s going to be a Ruby mount! Possibly a title involved? The last boss is named Halion the Twlight Destroyer (I guess he hates vampires too). “Matticus, Destroyer of Twilight”? Too much to hope for.

So, What’s Up?

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It has been a long time since my last decent sized post. I’ve never been a fan of blog posts where bloggers try to justify their absences. The pattern I see that ends up happening is that a blogger disappears for a time, comes back and apologizes, goes hard for a few posts, then disappears again before coming back and apologizing while promising never to leave again and then disappearing for good. But I am still here.

For the past month I was busy saving the galaxy, the citadel council and getting into a relationship with a really cute sounding Quarian.

So there. That’s where I’ve been. But I’m all done now. I’m done saving the galaxy. Given the choice between destroying Undead monarchies and surgically striking aliens, I much prefer the former.

The guild

How’s Conquest doing? It’s doing okay for the most part. It’s not quite excellent and it’s not at the level of super crappy yet either. I am not a happy Dwarf. Attendance has been gradually declining and we’ve been able to scramble replacements and other socials to cover the empty spots. But tonight was the first night where the raid was immediately called due to a lack of players.

I had 2 spots open and it was already 10 minutes past first pull time.

That doesn’t make me happy at all.

If you’re looking for a raiding guild to join, do check mine out and get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns. I should say that I make no promises nor guarantees on raid spots. Ideally, I’m looking for people that play a lot and can keep themselves occupied or entertained.

For example, I don’t want the guy who logs in and sits around Dalaran for 3 hours while waiting for an invite.

I want the guy who logs in and manages to farm herbs, do some quests, engage in BGs/PvP, runs random dungeons or whatever while waiting for a raid spot. If someone lags out, a simple whisper, invite, and summon and they can fill the gap at a moment’s notice. At least this way, their time won’t be a lost cause entirely.

The future

3.3 is to be the last major raid patch before Cataclysm. This is where I get a bit scared.

What the hell can I possibly write about between now and Cataclysm?

It’s going to take some serious digging deep in order to fill that time. I guess I’m a little concerned and worried about it. I did recall there being another content patch that will be inserted between now and Cataclysm. I suspect it will be something akin to Isle of Quel’danas (not necessarily a Sunwell type raid, but just quests and such to do).

Actually, while I’m on the topic, any ideas or guesses as to what it might be? Maybe the Troll city out in Zul’Drak will open up. We went by this entire expansion without a Troll raid instance.

A whole expansion with no killing of Trolls in a raid.

Vanilla brought in Zul’Gurub. Burning Crusade had Zul’Aman. Wrath? Zip.

I want to kill me some freakin’ Trolls.

With the Olympic break starting soon, perhaps I can find the time (and most importantly, the motivation) to engage in writing again. I still have some blogging assignments sitting here that are partially complete. In any case, how have you been?

Lodur Joins WoW.com

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Not sure if you’ve heard the news, but our very own Lodur’s signed on with WoW.com and will be providing his usual Resto Shaman expertise in the newly expanded Totem Talk.

Congrats!

Last I heard, he’s also willing to accept suggestion columns for Resto Shamans. Well Lodur, since it is that time of year, here’s what I want to see from you:

“How to seduce that elusive shaman”
”13 uses for totems that will satisfy your partner”
”Tail management for the new guy”

Although, those will never see the light of day.

Also, finally beat Mass Effect 2 and got the super good ending. Now I can spend my time back on WoW.

Quarians are hot. There’s something about masks and environmental suits.

Auction House Functionality on the Armory? Yes Please!

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Have you guys seen this yet? Bornakk just gave an update on Auction House integration with the Armory website.

Today, we wanted to give you a heads-up about a new service now in development that will let players access the Auction House directly through the Armory website or Armory App for iPhone or iPod touch.

Now if I’m reading that right, it means I don’t have to log into the game to purchase stuff off the auction house. And thank goodness for that. I don’t think I’m the only one for this, but there are some days where I’ll forget to purchase stuff like herbs or flask related stuff. I may not be in position to do so either if I’m not at home. Now I can buy the stuff I need as I’m heading home and it’ll be in my mail box when I log in to raid.

Of course, you have to realize that there is a catch.

It’s important to note here that certain elements of the service will be premium-based, which we’ll go into more detail on once the service functionality is finalized.

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that browsing stuff on the auction house would be free of charge. The actual purchasing would require a bit of extra cash on your part. Not sure if its going to be subscription based or not. It could be a one time fee (which would be cool too). Anyway, I doubt we’ll be seeing this in the game anytime soon. I’m going to say somewhere in the neighborhood of a Cataclysm release or in the time frame leading up to it.

Zath is Holding Another Contest

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Zath, a blog for hi-tech gadgets is holding another WoW competition and he’s giving away some good stuff. Its really easy to enter. All you have to do is follow the guy on twitter, be a fan of him on facebook, leave a comment on his competition blog post, or simply do what I did and just blog about it.

Anyway, here’s what he’s offering up for prizes:

Of all the stuff on that list, I personally would shoot for the USB cup warmer. Whether its coffee or tea, when I finish brewing it, I find that it’s way too hot for me to drink. I let it sit there for a while and then I become so engrossed in work or gaming that I forget about it. By the time I remember, it’s too cold. Does anyone else have that problem?