Matticus

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

Guide to 4.2

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Just in case you missed it, the Matticast crew talked about the imminent patch 4.2 drop. Things like the valor cap, the new Encounter Journal, class changes and the Legendary quest.

Healing changes

You can find more detailed information in the latest patch notes. But here’s what they are at a glance.

All healing critical strikes now heal for 2 times a normal heal (+100%), up from 1.5 times a normal heal (+50%).

Priests

As a result of the critical strike change, Crit appears to have become attractive. It’s possible to see some 50k absorbs. Otherwise, no additional changes have been made to Priest healing at this time.

That’s not a bad thing.

Druids

Symbiosis (Mastery) has been removed and replaced with Harmony. Harmony increases direct healing by an additional 10%, and casting direct healing spells grants an additional 10% bonus to periodic healing for 10 seconds. Each point of mastery increases each bonus by an additional 1.25%. Healing Touch, Nourish, Swiftmend, and the initial heal from Regrowth are considered direct healing spells for the purposes of this Mastery. All other healing from druid spells is considered periodic.

Paladins

Many healing spells have had their mana costs adjusted.

Illuminated Healing (Mastery) has been adjusted slightly so that if a paladin refreshes an existing copy of his or her own Illuminated Healing on a target, the new absorption amount will be added into the old absorption amount and the duration will be reset. The total absorption created can never exceed 1/3 of the casting paladin’s health. Paladins are now Val’anyr!

Shamans

Improved Water Shield has been redesigned and renamed Resurgence. When Water Shield is active, Resurgence causes critical direct heals to restore mana (Resurgence rank 2 is roughly equal to 150% of the old Improved Water Shield value when a Healing Wave or Greater Healing Wave critically hits, and scaled down accordingly for faster or multi-target spells).

Mana Tide now grants 200% of the caster’s Spirit, down from 400%.

Glyph of Unleashed Lightning (new Prime glyph) allows Lightning Bolt to be cast while moving. Handy in tandem with Telluric Currents.

Legendary Thoughts

Start the quest if you like to check it out and such. But don’t force your guild to give it to you. It’s for the casters this time around.

Lack of Spirit Cloth Gear

Yeah, I’ve seen a whole ton of discussion about this around. There aren’t a whole lot of drops and it seems that most of the stuff is going to either come from faction vendors or Valor vendors.

Look, they didn’t forget anything. This was done for a reason. We can still rely on reforging to get the additional spirit if necessary. Prioritize Spirit trinkets to help offset the loss. The Jar of Ancient Remedies is something you’ll want to keep handy (as in, don’t sell it or get rid of it otherwise).

It was my fault.

I used and abused spirit mechanics too much and they the nerfed drops because of me :(.

Firelands raid bosses

It seems that reputation for Avengers of Hyjal are only obtainable from the Firelands raid instance. You can get up to Honored with taking down trash (I just got up to Friendly after about 2 hours and chain dropping battle standards).

You can find the Firelands raid instance out in Mount Hyjal. Just head to the big, flaming castle in the southern part of the zone. No attunements are needed. Feel free to zone right in. Recommended boss order is to start with Shannox, Beth’tilac, Lord Rhyolith and Alysrazor before finishing out the last three.

Need to know where to get started for healing?

  • Beth’tilac
  • Lord Rhyolith
  • Alysrazor
  • Shannox
  • Baleroc
  • Majordomo Staghelm
  • Ragnaros

Plus Heal’s New Look

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plus-heal

Just in case you haven’t been there in a while, I just wanted to let everyone know that Plus Heal’s been completely redesigned and has moved over to Enjin’s systems. The move lets me add additional information and resources on the page without any programming or software headaches. We’ll be in a better position to offer additional support and resources for healers who are new to the game or who are veterans wanting to sharpen their skills further through individual class forums. The forum has a guilds and leadership section where players can go to ask questions about policy making, decisions or who are just looking for a place to ask for advice.

In the future, what I hope to add is class specific strategy for each boss and what needs to be coordinated by healers in advance. Nothing overtly complex, but just enough so that you don’t go into encounters completely blind either.

If you created an account over a month ago, you’ll need to recreate it again as past user information has been nuked (but post information was successfully imported).

Hope to see you there!

They Are Making a Comeback!

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As I’m patrolling the WoW recruiting forums for additional DPS players, one of the common themes I’ve noticed is that players are looking for core raiding positions within guilds. Not only that, but their progression isn’t generally high enough to make that type of demand. It looks like the 4.2 patch might just be the massive rejuvenation the raiding player base has been hoping for. Players who were thought to have permanently retired from the game look to be dusting off their WoW accounts. Combine the new encounters in 4.2 with summer being here and players having additional time to do stuff, this might be looking good for everyone in general.

Ner’zhul itself is down to something like 5 competitive 25 man raiding guilds on Alliance side (if that). Undoubtedly, there are way more 10 mans. I wonder what this means though for players who are looking to get back into the game. I presume that 10 man raiding rosters tend to be more stable and have way less turnover compared to the 25 man guild raiding counterparts.

I don’t know. What do you think, 10 man guilds? Are your rosters rock solid?

Raiding in 25s might offer easier access. But the scarcity of them might mean that its harder to find one that fits times and playstyles. It looks like its going to be a buyers market for guilds looking to augment their raiding force going into Firelands because of all the new free agent players coming back.

Speaking of recruiting tools, more on this later.

Occuthar Strategy, the new Baradin Hold Boss

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This mutt has been available on the PTR for some time. He had way too much health on 10 man during my initial times with him. He’s much more manageable now. You’ll find that this fight is a slight DPS check and skill check.

When you first engage the encounter, the tanks will need to pull him back to a corner and point him away from the raid. The rest of the group will need to stand and spread out around him. Naturally, there is a tank switch involved. When your first tank eats the shadow debuff, your second tank needs to taunt right away until that debuff wears off. The second tank needs to stay off near the side so as to not get hit by Searing Shadows.

Watch out for large, glowing circles around the room. Stay out of those. The DPS check kicks in when he does his Gaze of Occu’thar ability. He launches those little eyeballs of his from the top of his head and sends them towards every player. They’ll hit for around 5000+ damage a second. Have everyone gather up in one central location and light up your AoE. If you don’t kill the eyes quick enough, they’ll explode and dish out 25000 damage to everyone nearby. Spread back out as soon as that’s done!

Enjoy the ridiculous amount of PvP gear that’s bound to drop!

Here’s a kill video from Memento  Mori and Method on 25 man in the PTR

Valour Cap Lowered

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Just saw this in the latest iteration of patch notes.

The maximum number of Valor Points which can be earned in a week from any and all applicable dungeons and raids is now 980, down from 1250.

  • The maximum number of Valor Points awarded for completing Rise of the Zandalari dungeons remains at 980.
  • The maximum number of Valor Points awarded for completing Heroic dungeons remains at 490.
  • The number of Valor Points awarded for killing a boss in the Firelands is 70 in 10-player mode, and 90 in 25-player mode.
  • The number of Valor Points awarded for killing Occu’thar in Baradin Hold is 35 in 10-player mode, and 45 in 25-player mode.
  • The number of Valor Points awarded for killing a boss on Heroic difficulty in The Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent, and Throne of the Four winds is 35 in 10-player mode, and 45 in 25-player mode.

Looks like Blizzard’s trying to slow down the valor income rate significantly. Instead of getting a chest piece in two weeks, we’ll have to wait three weeks. Not sure if I like this. There’s not much of a point to go back doing Blackwing or Bastion on Heroic with the reduced valor there either. Well, unless you’re going for completions sake.

EDIT: Should be Valor right? Darn this split English language thing!