Matticus

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

No More WordPress for Me

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Well, at least I won’t be using it to write my posts and pages anymore. I’ve used a combination of ScribeFire and the WordPress dashboard to craft my posts. At the moment, I’m compiling my post via Windows Live Writer! I should have made the switch sooner. But man, this program rocks! It handles like any other Office program which is great because the feeling of familiarity is there (I’ve had to work with Word a lot throughout school).

Features

Free: I like free. Do you like free? I think I’m getting the bang for the buck here.

Scheduled Posting: Yes, you can do that on WordPress as well. But you’d have to be logged in to your WordPress account. With WLW, I don’t even have to have my browser open anymore.

Inserts: My current WordPress is setup in such a way where I could not use the WYSIWYG editor on WordPress itself or else it would break my blog. As a result, I’ve had to hand code everything in HTML. Now there’s a big time pain. I can insert links, pictures, tables, videos, and Wikipedia links with relative ease.

Adaptable: WLW works with many different blog services. Among the most notable includes WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and so on. Oh, if you have more than one blog, it can handle multiple accounts simultaneously.

Spell check: I still have to proofread my post. But at least it’s quicker now and I don’t have to guess how to spell a word properly. A simple right click and a list of suggestions can fix that.

Previews: What this does is it allows you to download your style. Therefore when you preview it, you can see how it looks formatted as if it were on your own blog.

Plugins: You can expand and customize WLW with different features based on your tastes. Right now, I’m using Insert Video, Text Template, and Insert Wikipedia Link.

Mac Users

For my MacBook, I’m going to give ecto a spin. This one came highly recommended to me courtesy of Siha.

On a side note to feral tanks

When you’re about to tank Azgalor, please don’t shift to Cat form when he’s under 5 yards away from you.

Our Main Tank did just that yesterday and he exploded. I had iTunes open with the Benny Hill theme queued. Talk about timing.

Healers Spill: White Lies we Tell Tanks All the Time

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Wiping sucks. It’s going to happen to any Guild of any size at any point. But there are good wipes and then there are bad wipes. I’ve caused my share of bad wipes (but not in my current Guild, obviously, because I know some of them read my blog). Tanks are delicate creatures and have to be treated in a certain way. Even though some tanks might be shall we say aggro challenged, it is better if we merely nod and admit fault even though it isn’t really ours so that the run can be finished. I’ve seen tanks get emo when their ability is questioned and leave the group hanging. Then the group spends a good hour in LFG trying to find a tank to finish out Heroic Slave Pens. Sheesh!

Anyways, I know I’m safe because I don’t think a lot of tanks read my blog (I think).

“Sorry, lag”

It happens sometimes. Our connections do hiccup and we go offline. As healers, we often blame our ISP. Every so often, it isn’t the ISPs fault. You see, there’s this new file sharing technology called bittorrent that we as healers might have forgotten to turn off…

“It’s not you, it’s me”

The tank happens to take about 18000 damage within a space of 2 seconds. There’s nothing we can do about it. 2 seconds is enough time for 1 spell. Sometimes we just can’t keep up with the damage with 1 healer. You just absorb so much punishment that you NEED 2 extra bodies to keep you alive and going. There’s no way around it. On the other hand, maybe I forgot to use my max rank heals.

“It happens to a lot of tanks”

Tanks are used to dying you say? Well, yeah. All tanks are used to it. They’ve died many times and they’ve got the durability loss to prove it. So what if you died? It’s no big deal. Nos Staminitus is a common affliction that affects many tanks. But don’t worry, there’s a special cure. There’s tons of consumables in the markets designed to help get you up. Er, your health that that is.

“Oh your gear is fine”

You look great! Honest! Even though you can’t seem to withstand several crits or crushings in a row, at least your armor is all shiny and stuff! I guess I’ll have to actually work up a sweat to keep you alive.

“You’re the best tank ever!”

I’ve had to say this on more then one occasion. I swear, some tanks seem to have the largest egos in the world. I guess it’s because they’re needed so often. There are some players in the world who have top end gear and top end weapons. But holy cow they just can’t seem to deliver! And I’m not talking about Taurens, either!

Have you ever lied to your tank? Or even your raid/party? Why and what was the situation?

Special thanks to Trackhoof and others who requested to remain anonymous for their input

Weekly Digest: Worst Change in 2.4, SSC Mistakes, and GQuitting Properly

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What’s Happening in WoW

Mallet now has Lord Sanguinar’s Claim and the Breeches of the Avatar. I now sit at ~2050 healing without any additional raid buffs.

What’s Happening with the Blog

It’s been fairly quiet recently due to midterms. So nothing much here either!

Latest Blog Posts

Here are the posts from this week:

20 Questions by Matticus

This week I had a chance to sit down with Galadria of the Holy Light.

In case you missed it, last week BBB was interrogated via 20 questions (his blog).

Past Hits

Past columns I have written that still hold true to this day.

Trends in the WoW Blogosphere

The biggest trend at the moment is a no brainer. Everyone’s out there buzzing about the changes to 2.4 and speculating about reactions and impacts to the game.

Blog Spotlight

A Dwarf Priest – There’s several excellent healing resources to be found if you see through it. The site looks a bit narrow for me, but it still works! What’s the blog about? I think the name speaks for itself =).

Matt Likes: Priest PvP Tips vs. Other Classes. If you’re a Priest whose planning on going toe to toe against other players, you will want to take a look at this. It may not help you kill them, but it can help you survive a few seconds longer.

20 Questions with Galadria

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20 Questions with Matticus

Every week, Matt gets a chance to sit down with a WoW Blogger chosen by Highlord Bolvar Fordragon’s mustache. Find out a little more about your favourite bloggers as he tries to get to know them a little more!

This week, Galadria of the Holy Light was awesome enough to stop healing for a few minutes to answer a few questions.

First, for anyone who may not have an idea of who you may be, how about a little introduction?

I play a Holy Priest on the Uldaman US server. Our guild has raided through Kara. I have been playing WoW for about a year with my husband, we started playing together (he’s a Hunter if you’re curious). We’ve been married for five and a half years and live in Austin, TX with our gorgeous English Bulldog Missy. If you can’t tell from the SuperCoolPoints on my Blog we love to watch movies.

How has 2008 treated you so far (both in game and in RL)?

This year has been good for me, though it’s flown by. Personally, I’ve got a lot of goals (haven’t gotten around to any of them, but I will!) and I’m looking forward to working on them. I’m not playing Galadria as much as I’d like, since our guild fell apart so it’s kind of hard to say how the year has treated me. I’m still enjoying it so I guess it’s treated me well!

If you could roll a new class and archtype what would it be and why?

What I’d like to see is coming in the expansion. Batman is one of my favorite comic characters because he is so dark (I LOVE Christian Bale as Batman because you really see the sad and tortured side of him). Wolverine from X-Men for the same reason. I love the “Devil with a Good Heart” archetype. I think the Death Knight will fit that type if character very well. I’m not sure if I’ll be getting one, we’ll have to see if I have an alt up to 70 by then!

Your fictitious cousin Renaldo Geraldo Waldo is in a bind (Yes, I watched Family Matters). He works at Blizzard as one of their developers. The executive developers at Blizzard gave him a 24 hour window to design a new type of healing spell for Priests to compete against the overpoweredness of Shamans, Paladins, and Restoration Druids. He knows of no other Priest to turn to (lets assume I’m incapacitated in some fashion due to too much ale) and by helping him out with this big favor, you know he will owe you big time. What is the one healing spell that you suggest to him that be put in game?

An AOE (or party-wide) HOT would be cool. Something like the T4 set bonus but actually viable. Then improve it with talents and make it castable on other parties.

What was your motivation behind your blog and what inspires you?

I started my blog because I wanted to be better and more knowledgeable about my class. If I was going to be telling others what I think, I’d better be informed! It’s worked too! The game is what really inspires me. Almost every post idea comes from something in game.

If your kid wanted to play WoW, how would you react?

Depends on the age. If I thought s/he was mature enough to handle the people they would likely encounter I wouldn’t have a problem (with some strict time limits)

I could use some new tunes to listen to while raiding. What would you suggest?

I’m a big fan of Bare Naked Ladies so I listen to them a lot. The music is upbeat and I know ALL the words so I jam along. I also like Eminem for raiding. There’s something primal about some of his music and it fits well with killing bosses. Now for one you’ve probably never heard of. Chicane. The genre is called Trance. It’s kind of like Techo, but softer. The music is very ethereal and calming.

If there was one thing different you could have done to your blog, what would it have been?

Self-host from the beginning!

With that in mind, what can we look forward to from you in 2008?

Self-hosting! I’ve got some big ideas that I’ll have to see if I have enough time to accomplish when I get that set up.

You’re traveling on the roads towards Theramore in Dustwallow Marsh. You encounter a badly beaten up Orc warrior with his axe embedded into the ground beside him half broken. Voices startle you and to your amazement, you recognize the language. It sounds like a bunch of drunken Stormwind cadets and they’re getting louder almost as if they’re heading towards you. A quick glance at the peon, and in a flash you realize those cadets are coming back to finish the job they started. A quick Shadow Word: Death would end his misery and prevent the humiliation from a band of kids. On the other hand, Horde forces and the Theramore militia have a certain understanding that has been brokered by Thrall and Jaina. Do you end his life and fulfill your duty or protect him honoring the treaty? Why?

Protect him and honor the treaty. If he did something to deserve the beating he got, he should be brought to justice and can be if he’s still alive. Then the treaty was obviously broken by the other side. If I kill him then the treaty has been broken by us. On top of that I’ve killed another person just because he’s on the other side. Who knows what he was doing there?

Speed Questions

Best 41 point Priest talent:

VT… but I’m not Shadow 🙁

Worse pickup line ever:

“Did you fall from Heaven?”

Biggest pain in the ass encounter in the game?

Sunken Temple as a whole is a huge pain. As for a specific encounter, Kael sounds like a real pain. With what I’ve expirenced I’d have to say Netherspite.

Favourite type of tank:

Warrior

Do you think mages need a new rank of conjured water so us Priests can get more mana back?:

absa-frickin-lutley

Favourite in game holiday:

Halloween

If you could describe healing a raid in exactly 10 words, what would it be?:

I’ll do it in 3, Whack-a-Mole

3 posts you’d love to see other bloggers write:

I wish my Priest would…
HTML/PHP/CSS for dummies (because I’m a total Intarweb n00b)
Epic Fail stories… though someone I know already sorta did that 🙂

Steve Urkel or Samuel “Screech” Powers?

Screech… totally! Though I’m more of a Kelly than a Lisa.

Favourite NPC

Hummm… that’s a tough one… Probably Nat Pagle because I love the back story.

Shout outs to:

I’m going to copy straight from my New Years post because it sums it up nicely!

“I’d espcially like to thank Ego and Kirk for giving me something to aspire to and much inspiration. Matticus and Kestrel for sending many readers my way and helping show me how to be a good blogger. BRK, Rashtag, TJ, and BBB for making me laugh every day.”

Remember, Galadria’s blog has a lot more interesting posts and topics about Holy Priests then I could ever have covered here. While you’re at it, don’t forget to subscribe to her blog!

PTR Report: Mixing Healing and DPS Items

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PTR Report

In the past, I’ve always preached and encouraged players to take loot that’s a minor upgrade for them if no one’s needed it. It appears Blizzard has listened. After checking out the changes on MMO Champion again, something struck me as odd. The best items in the game now appear to be from vendors instead of just as boss drops. The only way to acquire them is to upgrade pieces from boss kills with a Sun Mote.

Confusing? Let me try again.

Old School

You can skimp out on gear from Karazhan and then pick it up at Gruul’s. I’ve long often thought about different ways I could get the best loot faster. For example, in SSC, I would skip out on the T5 legs for 30+ DKP and save it for the T5 helm on Vashj. I’d let the competing classes around me get their leg tokens first because I figured once they all get it, sooner or later I’d get mine at an inexpensive rate. It makes sense because our Guild would kill Fathom Lord more often then they would Kill Vashj.

New School

There’s a bunch of awesome phat loot from Sunwell. However, not all of it’s immediately accessible. There’s an awesome leggings called Pantaloons of Calming Strife. As you can see, it’s meant for Priests. There’s also another pair of leggings called Pantaloons of Growing Strife. That pair is catered towards DPS.

But here’s the catch.

For DPS casters, you have to get a sunmote AND Pantaloons of Calming Strife first before you can go to a vendor and “upgrade” it. Surely those aren’t the only DPS caster pants in Sunwell. But as a player in a Guild using DKP, I can no longer enjoy my monopoly on healing cloth.

Oh well. C’est La Vie!