Matticus

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

Healing Naxxramas – Sapphiron (10 man)

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You’re almost there. Get through Sapphiron, and Kel’Thuzad is next. I’ll walk you through what’s relevant and what’s not.

The position

As you run in for the first time, make a mental note to keep your camera trained on the animation sequence. There isn’t quite another boss in the game which has a similar or haunting experience.

Your tank should immediately run straight through Sapphiron and set up shop on the side opposite the entrance that you came in from.

I personally position my raid on one side. Pick Sapphiron’s left or right. For the purposes of this explanation, we’ll set up on the right (or north).

Phase one

Frost Aura – Everyone in the room takes ~1200 Frost damage per second.

Life Drain – A curse that will drain players for ~2400 health (Shadow damage). Sapphiron then gains about 5000 health every 3 seconds. 2 random players will get affected by it every so often.

Chill – Looks like a big Blizzard. A really powerful one. If you’re caught, you’ll take some big damage and your movement speed will be slowed.

Phase two

As you enter this phase, Sapphiron will start flying up into the air. Several things will happen:

Ice Bolt – He’ll fire off two Ice Bolts at two different players. Those players will turn into blocks of ice and become immobile. Any players within 5 yards of the Ice block will take significant damage.

Frost Breath – After the Ice Bolts are fired off, he’s going to drop a nuke that will deal lots and lots of damage.

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Wait until both bolts are fired before you move and start hiding behind them. Remember the Ice Bolt deals AoE damage upon impact. You don’t want to start grouping up together only to have the second bolt impale you and your cohorts, right?

Position yourself in such a way that the frozen player is between you and Sapphiron. Hide behind the block to avoid the insta gib that you’re about to take.

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Sapphiron will then land, and it’s back to phase one.

Rinse and repeat!

Execution

During phase one, your best friend is Prayer of Mending. Ensure that you’re firing these off as soon as you can. This is where the 2-piece Faith set really comes in handy due to the bonus (Your Prayer of Mending bounces an additional time). This will help against the whole Frost Aura crap that your raiders have to endure.

Against the Life Drains, task any player that can Decurse. This includes your Mages, Druids, and Resto Shamans. That curse has to fall off or else it will slow the kill down. This fight is a matter of endurance.

Keep an eye on the Chills that float around the room. Be liberal with your Power Word: Shield.

As you enter phase two, Sapphiron starts flapping his wings and flying. This is when you want to start falling back and spreading out. Top off as many players as you can. Wait for both bolts to land, then pick the one closest to you and hide behind it. Don’t stick around and wait. Use your instant spells to try and catch as many players as you can.

For the Holy Priests, slam your Circle of Healing. For the Discipline ones, Penance and Flash as much as possible.

Once the blocks shatter, resume phase one. Keep up what you’re doing, and you’ll end up in the clear.

Extra tips

Remember to Shadow Protect your raid.

Consider crafting around 2 Frost Resist sets if your healers are undergeared (or underperforming) to buy more time.

Potential exploit: I don’t know if this is intended or not and I’m not sure if it’s been fixed. But I’m saying it here so that I can raise awareness. During phase 2, players can run toward the back of the room onto the grated area. By standing there, you can avoid the Frost Breath that lands. Don’t even have to worry about using the blocks to line of sight.

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The Matticus Command Center

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After Kestrel posted his deskspace when I asked him to, I felt it was only fair for me to do the same.

My left monitor is a 24” Samsung T240 and my right’s a 22” BenQ FP222W H. My macbook takes up the right side. Conversations on Twitter have revealed to me that there are players out there sporting dual 30” screen setups.

That is some real real estate.

A closer look at the picture shows that I have two keyboards: A Mac keyboard on the table (which wires to my Macbook) and one in the tray right below that’s plugged into my PC.

My Steelpad is holding my black Razer and my Mac “Egg” mouse. I configured my right monitor to also plug into my Macbook so that I could mirror the display there.

Anyways, with a setup like this, it allows me to raid on my left screen and look up valuable information on the right (such as hockey scores).

I may have to take a page from the Kestrellian one and pick me up a new backlit keyboard. The characters on mine have all but rubbed off. Can’t see when it’s late at night and sometimes I end up hitting the wrong key.

There’s an ongoing thread on Plusheal where I asked players to share their setup (attachments are enabled). I would love to take a look at yours!

Battered Guildie Syndrome is a Serious Problem

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You might not have heard of this name. Although I’m certain you’ll have seen it in other players. Maybe you have even experienced it yourself.

Throughout this post, I will refer to Battered Guildie Syndrome with full caps in front as it deserves that sort of attention.

Let me tell you a story.

There once was a Mage named Miranda. She was one of the top spellcasters on her server. The guild she was in was formed like how most guilds are: A foundation of friendships. Over time, it expanded until the Argonauts had enough to launch 25 man expeditions.

This is the story of most typical guild startups.

Unfortunately, like most fairy tale guilds, there was a problem.

And that problem’s name was Larry the Stable Guy.

Note: The nickname was coined for his dogged insistence at watching Stables all the time so he could surf the net while everyone else did all the work. Sometimes he’d get so involved that he’d miss out on Horde players gaining possession of the flag from under him.

His tongue was so sharp and so smooth, he eventually worked his way to the top of the guild as an Officer.

Raids became more difficult. The atmosphere was loosening up. People weren’t hitting their tears. They were dying for stupid reasons and simply not doing what was expected of them.

But not for Miranda and her cohorts. She bought the best consumables and augments money could buy. If elite players had a spokesperson, she would be it.

Not everyone around her shared her attitude about trying hard. Why bother doing your best when bosses were dying anyway?

Slowly but surely, Miranda’s spirit and those of her friends were worn down bit by bit. Her friends couldn’t handle the atmosphere anymore. One by one, they said their goodbyes and left until Miranda was the only one left. By now, she was an Officer. The Argos had a large number of talentless players and bozos. Week after week they’d enter Naxx and continue to be stoned by Patchwerk. She was growing tired and increasingly frustrated.

One day, Miranda’s friend Faith contacted her to touch base and see how she was doing. Faith’s guild had cleared out nearly all the content Wrath had to offer. They had a starting position for a DPS caster and Faith happened to remember Miranda.

Faith practically begged and pleaded for Miranda to transfer over. These guys knew their stuff, he said. Their policy of progression is in line with yours, he argued.

But Miranda adamantly refused. She felt that she could still change the guild. Not only that, they depended on her too much. She felt she would have betrayed them had she just packed up and moved. Because Miranda didn’t budge, Faith eventually gave up and never talked to her again.

Miranda continues to feel weary and disappointment. She was in a casual raiding guild after all. But she wanted to do much more. Every time she felt like leaving, she just couldn’t do it. She felt an obligation to stay. She was afraid of the guilt that would’ve washed over her.

This is just a dramatic and fictional account of what a typical player with Battered Guildie Syndrome goes through.

Symptoms

How do you recognize a player with Battered Guildie Syndrome?

  • Inability to make a decision
  • Difficulty saying no
  • Obsessively sacrificing their needs “for the good of the guild”
  • Playing down guild infractions as nothing serious
  • Continues to go back to their guild despite wanting to leave
  • Frequently talks about leaving
  • A strong sense of loyalty
  • Personal goals do not appear to coincide with guild goals

Battered Guildie Syndrome is a very serious problem. It continues to ruin the lives and experiences of thousands if not more players to this day.

Treatment

Players at advanced stages of Battered Guildie Syndrome considered irrecoverable and untreatable. Treatment is a complete longshot at best.

For those in the early stages, a healthy dose of reality and a good wake up call have a 50/50 chance of working. Some studies show that applying a large amount of peer pressure is enough to cause players to realize that their guild isn’t working for them.

At this time, there is no known 100% effective treatment available to combat Battered Guildie Syndrome. The ability to logic and reason with the patient may have mixed results especially if their sense of reasoning is already damaged.

In the end, Battered Guildie Syndrome patients may end up continuing to be a part of their organization. Until treatment can be found, we have to face the fact that they may suffer from Battered Guildie Syndrome forever.

Image courtesy of hamma

Saving a Blown Pull With Clutch Heals

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It’s just like any other raid night in Naxx. Your group is relaxed amidst some light bantering after a large pull. The healers have about 50% mana left in the tank and can go a few extra pulls before having to sit down and drink again.

Acknowledging the green light, your tank whips out his gun, locks on to a target, and pulls the trigger. Four mobs come rushing at him as a result of his transgression.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a raider standing a bit further away from the rest of the group. Suddenly, his Gnomish form is over taken by a large, black figure.

“Shade!”, You hear yourself breathe into the mic, rather forcefully.

To make matters worse, another patrol is about to run into your group.

Another raider curses out loud as you wince.

Turns out he was off target and tabbed to yet another group of trash off to the side and manages to get their attention.

What was supposed to be a routine pull is on the verge of becoming a blown pull.

Oh crap

This is the kind of situation that healers dread. At the same time, this is also the kind of situation where healers excel. Differences between average healers and great healers are easily noticeable.

A blown pull can look like anything. It can involve any number of mobs or any number of players. It can happen at any time. A series of minor and trivial events continue to add up until it snowballs and overwhelms the raid.

Are you ready for high stakes Whack-A-Mole?

Now what?

This is when your brain shifts to high gear and your fingers start to just react on their own. I’m going to refer to this is the APC process.

Assess – The very first thing a healer does is to look around them. Examine the situation by looking at the screen. Get a visual reference on the mobs and see if you can tell who they are running to or who they’re beating on. Ideally, your raid frames will highlight red on players who have aggro. By now, you should have a mental map of what exactly is going on, who is tanking what, and who has pulled aggro with stray mobs.

Prioritize – This is the fun part. You get to decide who lives and who dies. If the players on your raid frames are flashing red, it means they have threat on some mob. If any one of those players is not a tank, I strongly suggest throwing a shield on them right away. After that, you can only pray that they drop aggro or that they live long enough for a tank to pull them off. Keep your ears open for any keywords.

For example, if you hear the word “Challenging”, you better zero in on that tank immediately.

Cast – At this time, you should have an idea of who you’re healing. You should simultaneously be vocal about who you’re healing. It lets other healers know who to heal and who not to. If they know you’re healing Bob, then they won’t waste their time or overheals on Bob. On the flip side, if Bob happens to be that guy that said Challenging, then other healers may wish to jump in on that as well.

That entire process above should take about a second to run through in your head. There’s too many variables to account for so it’s difficult to imagine what you would do under certain circumstances. But sometimes it helps if you think about what you would do in such a situation if it ever comes down to it.

It’s kind of like being in a mall and knowing where the fire exits are in case there’s a fire. Sure you may not need it. But it’s nice to know where they are just in case.

The key here is to be vocal about who you’re healing. Strong communication can turn a blown pull into a salvageable one.

Image courtesy of tvvoodoo

Single Target Healing in a Multi Target World

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This is a guest post by Holy Paladin and Disc Priest blogger Ambrosyne of For the Bubbles

By the time I dinged 80 with my paladin, I was about ready to throw in my hat.  "This is insane!" I huffed.  "I feel as if Blizzard hates holy paladins." 

This is likely an exaggeration, but I’m a dramatic soul.  Regardless, let’s take a look at what pushed me to this point.

Aoe damage.  Wrath instances seem to have a lot of it.  Sometimes it’s just masses of mobs, some of which inevitably peel off try to eat the overzealous mage.  There’s also cleaves and whirlwinds and poisons thrown everywhere and rain of fire and blizzards and mojo puddles… 

Sometimes it seemed as if taking heals off the tank for even a heartbeat resulted in a wipe.  Most instances ended up sending my mind into chaos.  Peeking into it you might have seen something like this:

“Aaaah! Poisons everywhere I need to cleanse them!”
”OH MY GOD THE TANK IS DYING!”
*heals the tank”
“OH MY GOD THE DPS IS DYING!”
*heals the DPS”
“OH MY GOD THE TANK IS DYING”
*dies*

The only good thing to come out of this (aside from the fact that I decided to roll a priest) was that I learned very quickly to make the most out of a holy paladin’s limited arsenal.

How A Holy Paladin Can Cope

Beacon – Sweet, so I can heal TWO targets at once with a semi-expensive spell that only lasts a minute!  Sadly a group has five people in it, but we do what we can. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love beacon.  I just wish I could make it magically expand to the entire group.

In a five man you’ll often beacon the tank while topping off the DPS.  This works fine, except on longer fights where beacon seems to eat up your mana, and on fights where the tank is taking really heavy hits.  Beacon alone will not keep the tank up.

Sometimes I’ll beacon myself while healing the tank, if we’re talking something really not fun like the mojo puddles in Heroic Gundrak.  

Learn to predict incoming damage – This is easiest if you run with the same tanks all the time and come to know their gear and play style, but just being familiar with their class and the boss can be enough.  When I deemed it ‘safe’, I would judge for haste, toss a holy light on the tank so that he was at full, and then quickly throw Flashes at the DPS to keep them alive.  They might not have been at full health, but they were still alive.   If I guessed correctly, by the time I cycled back to the tank he was a bit lower on health but in no danger of dying before the next Holy Light.  If I had to, I let the rogue die.  Sorry man (I’m kidding!  I let the DPS warrior die).

Sacred Shield – In most cases, you don’t need to be afraid of rage or mana starving the tank.  The additional flash of light crits are great, and the damage absorption means you have less to heal!  Don’t be afraid to toss it on yourself, either, if you have the bad tendency to get healer tunnel vision.  Or if there are mojo puddles.  I hate mojo puddles, by the way.

Grab the Holy Light glyph – The splash heal sure as heck can’t hurt.

Holy shock – It’s expensive, it has a cool down, but as an "oh no!" button, it’s great.  I have an oh no macro set up for casting divine favor, holy shock, and then flash of light. 

Be adaptable – Don’t get your mind stuck on ‘spamming flash of light’ or ‘spamming holy light’.  Read the situation and use what’s best.  In a raid, forget the meters.  Healing meters suck.  You know what a holy paladin on top of the meters is a lot of the time?  OOM. 

Have patience.  A lot of my problems resolved once I started picking up some gear out of the very same heroics that were making me weep.  There seems to be a gear plateau for the holy paladin at 80, beyond which things become manageable again.  Trust me!  If you raid, that too will make your life easier.  You have someone else healing and as a single target healer this is where you shine.  I just love healing Patchwerk.  I look forward to it every week.  It’s like Blizzard gave me cookies for being a holy pally!

Discipline priests, I have not forgotten you!  You too are considered primarily single target healers, and hey, I have one too.  What, I was frustrated with single target healing so I rolled another one?  Yes!  Guess what: you are not as limited as you think. 

If the occasional tossed renew (no, they’re not that efficient for you; yes, they’re still useful in a pinch) and a bouncing prayer of mending isn’t enough, don’t forget prayer of healing.  If it’s on cooldown, use inner focus first!   I sometimes save inner focus just for PoH.  Use your bubbles and borrowed time to your advantage. 

Hopefully my experiences, as frustrating as they were at the time (and still are-I’m looking at you, mojo puddle), allowed me to share some useful information with you.  Stick with it.  All of Azeroth needs you!

Happy healing!

Image courtesy of barunpatro