All Stories

Every story, article, column, piece, and so forth on World of Matticus ever published.

SYTYCB: Last Details and the Rest of the Seven

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sytycb

collage-2

And here we have the remaining 3 underbloggers! Crutch was able to sneak a submission in on the last day under the wire which we liked enough to squeeze him into the remaining positions we had open.

Unfortunately, Sindaga had to withdraw from the competition due to time commitments and other real life responsibilities. Good luck in your endeavors, Sindaga (and keep trolling the Plusheal forums)!

Let me just say that by getting this far, the top 8 bloggers have earned the right to contribute to this blog and this community as guest posters.

But only one will be able to earn the 3rd blogging position. Who will it be?

Competition begins now

Two posts will be scheduled later today at 10 AM and 2 PM courtesy of Tulani and Crutch. Be sure to give them some excellent critiques and feedback! The other 5 bloggers will have their posts featured Wednesday and Thursday.

Wrath Content Patch Spells Doom for Raiding

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armageddon

This is a guest post by fellow guild and Enhancement Shaman all star Aylii who has become worried by the recent announcement of the pre-Wrath content patch and what it could mean to current end game raiding.

A few hours ago, Eyonix posted that the pre-Wrath content patch will be released in the coming weeks, which means that Wrath is just around the corner.

Like in the pre-Burning Crusade content patch, we will get to experience many of the new changes that will be coming to wrath a bit early, without needing the new expansion (Inscription to 375 anyone?). However, there is one flaw in the release that has me worried, and that is the new class spells and talents.

So far in Wrath, we as bloggers have read and kept track of the many changes to our respecting classes in the coming days. From the addition of many AOE healing spells, the change in mana regeneration and it’s respective talents, the warrior dreaming of duel wielding his two-handers, we have watched it all. There is one darkness that looms over all of these changes, and it mostly revolves around something many of us do casually or hardcore:

We love to raid.

Many class mechanics in Wrath were drastically changed to handle the encounters for the future. Crushing blows were removed. Intense need for mana regeneration destroyed. Changes in how we attack and defend. All of this tuned for Malygos and Arthas.

Yet it is released now, when we are still killing bosses who will preform crushing blows, still begging for blessing of salvation because we know we will pull, still chugging our mana potions. The sad thing is, there is most likely nothing we will do to stop it. For, after all, the pre-BC bosses were never changed, so why should the post-BC bosses be changed for wrath?

Crushing Blows

When I read about these changes, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “Gridlock is never going to get his Warglaive now.” The reasoning, Illidan will become undoable with the changes to talents. In the new content patch, Shield Block will be changed to a 40 second cooldown with Improved Shieldblock. Your Warrior will be crushed if he saves his shield blocks for shear. Sure, you can use a paladin to tank Illidan, but then the flame tanks will be crushed. I’d hate to imagine Sunwell guilds trying Brutallus now.

Threat

Every boss in BC is tuned to have threat control. In the content patch, we will be losing the main ways we reduce threat, Salvation and Tranquil Air. The talents will be still there, but until tanks (mostly warriors and druids) get some new gear from Northrend, they will not be able to keep up threat, unless they tank in Arena Gear. Goodbye Reliquary of Souls.

Itemization

So far I know of three classes (specs) who are getting major itemization changes: shaman, druid, and warrior. The smart enhancement shaman currently wears leather gear, which will leave them weaker after the patch due to the new stat bonuses they get (1 ap per str, agi, int). Similarly, protection warriors, who focus on block value and stamina, will be unable to keep threat because none of their gear has strength. Blizzard has stated that they will make the transistion easier for classes such as these, but gear only accounts for one of the problems.

These are the highlights of Eyonix’s post, but it is just that, highlights. There are other things in the content patch that we might see that can kill raiding, such as:

Potions

Potions. Potions. Potions.

We love them, we need them, we crave them. Soon we will be without them. Currently, in Wrath, if you drink a potion, you get potion sickness, which makes you unable to take another potion. Current bosses are tuned to make us chug mana pots, and even with three classes now supplying mana, I fear the changes will not be enough until we hit Wrath itemized gear.

Downranking

If the downranking nerf makes it into the content patch, kiss your healers goodbye. As I write this now, there is currently no alternative to healing people up besides using the max rank heal, which means more mana, which means out of mana healers who have to sit on their butts and watch their aggro loving dps and tanks die. I sincerely hope that Blizzard does not include this in the content patch, ot better yet, unnerf the nerf!
Whatever Blizzard does, I hope they do something about this. Myself, and many other raiders, still wish to raid before Wrath.

Source: Eyonix Post

Now it’s your turn. Do you think raiding will become even more difficult? Would this alarming change add even more pressure to your Guild to start knocking out bosses and seeing more of end game?

SYTYCB: The Top 7 Underbloggers and Competition Details

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sytycb

I was overwhelmed by the number of quality submissions that I received last week. I ended up with over 16 of them. Many of the people that applied were really good writers. In the end, it was decided that we would make the cuts there and turn this into a competition.

Join us in the search for the 3rd blogger on World of Matticus.

The Format

I had originally cut the list down to 8. Due to time restraints and other commitments, one of them had to bow out. I did not have the time or ability to scramble another replacement. Now, there’s no way I can gauge a blogger’s commitment, writing ability, and creativity off of one post. Ergo, I’ve decided to run them through a blogging gauntlet. Every week for a period of four weeks, I pick a post format and style that they have to write. It’s up to them to craft the post itself. They need to come up with the title, the content and any original images on their own. This is done over the weekend. When the weekdays start, the cut off is in place and then I’ll gradually showcase their submissions on the blog for you to read and provide your own feedback on.

Who gets cut and who stays is determined by Wyn and I. We’re not going to list our criteria because frankly, it’s a little hard. How do you answer the question what makes a good blogger? It’s subjective and it’s a decision that we can only make after we see what our underbloggers come up with.

Styles

1: Teaching: A post of value that’ll teach a player how to accomplish something. Could be how to do a complicated boss fight from a class/role perspective or PvP stuff or make money, etc. Sky’s the limit.
2: List: I love lists. They’re short, they’re sweet and they generally get good press and it always stirs up a lively discussion.
3: Player Improvement: Here’s a great one. Take a forum post or a blog post from somewhere. Make sure its got a problem that can be addressed. Write about how they solved it, if applicable, and how you’d do it differently or offer an alternative solution. (IE, question and answer post)
4: Rant: The rant. Can you stir up the masses? The point here isn’t whether you’re right or wrong. The point is to see if you can emotionally charge up the readers and get them passionate about something whether they agree with you or disagree with you.
5: Diary: One aspect about blogging is that some readers are interested in what you’re doing. How have you progressed and grown throughout the game? Downed a boss lately? Completed an event? Attained a mount? Achieved a special ranking? But here’s the catch: A lot of bloggers out there keep diary-like posts already. The trick here is to make yours outstanding and memorable. Whose to say bloggers can’t be story tellers?
6: Updating Post: Pick a blog post that a blogger you’ve admired has done that is outdated (like any of my old ones). How would you change and update it so that it’s relevant today? Did the blogger get it right then? What changes would you make about it now?
7: Debate: This is the sort of devil vs angel kind of post. A few months ago, I wrote a post about an internal debate I had in my head where I weighed pros and cons. When Wyn signed on, we both disagreed with each other on certain aspects of the game where we’d both pick a side and write a post presenting our arguments.

For week 1, I had all of our underbloggers write a rant. WoW players can be very passionate and vocal about anything within the game. But can they translate that emotion onto the screen and get an audience riled up? We’ll find out this week.

Your Underbloggers

If you’ve hung around the Plusheal community or trolled my comments, you might recognize a few of their names! I’ll introduce the other 3 later on.

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Again, their posts will be showcased as the week progresses so keep your eyes peeled and don’t forget to comment with your thoughts!

Deep Thoughts, by Wynthea

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So…. Blood Elves are addicted to magic. It makes sense then, that they can be Mages, Warlocks, Palladins, Priests, and Hunters. But what’s up with the Rogues? Did they kick the habit somehow? Maybe they’re on the patch?

Luv,
Wyn

Contest Closed – Details to Come

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Just as an FYI, thanks to everyone that’s sent in their submissions! Wyn and I will be sorting through them. The underbloggers that have impressed us will get an email early in the weekend with some instructions for round 2.

Oh come on, you don’t honestly think I can judge a potential writer by one blog post, eh? 😀

After all, I need to somehow weed out the ones that’re submitting just for fun and the ones that’re deadly serious and committed.

All I can say is that there’s a lot of you that are neck and neck just from me reading them. This is a lot tougher than I thought.

I have to admit, it makes me wonder why some of you don’t already have your own blogs with some of these stunning pieces. I know Wyn’s been blown away by several of these as well.

Not accepting any more submissions for the time being, sorry!