All Stories

Surely by now you’ll have realized that the world has expanded. I made an offer to Wynthea weeks ago that she literally could not refuse. World of Matticus will now officially have two Priest bloggers for your consumption. I didn’t introduce her at first because I figured it’d be better if she did it. I’ve enjoyed the posts she’s written thus far and I hope you guys have as well.

Why is she here?

I’ve updated the About page and included her illustrious history there, but I’ll post a brief excerpt here on what the story is and how (she thinks) we met:

Matticus and I met via this very blog, and began collaborating almost immediately. Matt pointed out that with so many ideas and a passion for the class, I may as well have my own blog. I countered that between editing his posts and raiding, I didn’t have time for all the set-up and nurturing a new blog requires. Once he realized that he could trick me into giving him a day off without taking a break from providing content, he invited me to begin my career as Deputy-Matticus.

(What really happened is that she kept bugging me on GTalk about all the errors in spelling and grammar I was making to the point where I just handed her the keys to my blog and told her to run wild. Yes, I’m that easy.)

If you’ve followed me from the beginning, you’ll know that I have never done any sort of post regarding formulas, spreadsheets, mathematics, graphs, or any of that stuff. Reason?

I don’t do math stuff. I’m not very good at it. I’ve read math stuff from other bloggers and I lose them after the second sentence. But I know there are a lot of players that are interested in the hard evidence and the logic to support certain priest theories and I firmly believe that she can provide the information better than anyone else (after consultations at least).

In other words, she does the actual math and theorycrafting. I translate it and “sell” it so that the rest of the us can understand it.

What else do I get out of all this?

A precious day off.
Someone that can proofread all this stuff.
Cookies.

What’s Different

We’re different on so many levels that I believe we’d actually complement each other effectively on the perspectives that we’d bring.

 

What’s Similar

On the other hand, we’re not so different to the point where I think we’d alienate each other.

We’re both CoH (pronounced coe) Priests
We’re at similar levels of progression
We both like pandas
We are both committed to improving our gameplay

Who is the better Priest?

I’m sure this is a question that people are dying to know. Unfortunately, there is no possible way to prove who is better than the other. We play on different servers in different factions. We both claim that we’re better than the other so I guess we’ll never know who the better Priest really is.

Edit: I forgot to mention. All emails sent on the contact page utilizing the form will be sent to her in addition to myself.

Do not let the others mislead you. This is not the case. The first rule of BA chat is whatever is said in BA chat stays in BA chat. And this is for good reason, I assure you.

Why?

Because the world isn’t ready. The public isn’t ready. What about the kids? They’re not ready! The discussion, the drama, the stories, the tales, the classified information, the pictures are shared in an isolated and contained environment. Should it be publicized, the chaos and damage that would ensue would reach proportions of an epic scale rivaled only by the Sundering itself! I have always considered BA Chat “Off the record” where anything could be said at any time for any reason. Now I’ll have to self censor what I say under fear that it could be used against me at any time without notice.

How many casualties have we suffered? How many eyes have been gouged? Oh the humanity!

Matt is podcasting live, RIGHT NOW on WoW Insider!

Go Go!

Hey Matt,

I’ve got a good one for you, and I know it’s one you’ve covered before – but a slightly different perspective.

I’m a Hunter Class Leader for my guild, and there’s a pack of Hunters who just came back. They’re very enthusiastic about what they’re doing, but one of them really needs help… he’s just not making the most out of his spec, or his gear, and he’s convinced he’s doing the right thing.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve got a huge problem with this. The guy wants help, but is of resolute mind that running Karazhan will solve all of his loot woes, and that the PVP gear he’s got will be great for PvE. His spec can do well in PVP, sure, but he doesn’t get that it’s not same as PVE, particularly in emphasis on stats… and what worries me is that he wants to raid with us. Not just Karazhan, he wants to come to Gruul’s, Mag’s, ZA, and whatever we do after that.

If he had half a mind about the way he was gearing, I’d be fine… but this guy is even wearing Shaman mail with his PVP gear. No, not +strength or +agility and +crit, anything that’d be useful to Hunters… plus HEALING Shaman mail!

What’s worse is that his DPS has a long way to go before he should even think of raiding. It’s merely OK for Karazhan, and I wouldn’t have issues with him in heroics, but I wouldn’t take him to anything past that.

The Guild Leader’s asked me to offer some helpful suggestions on our forum, and I have. The immediate response from this hunter was that, as helpful as I intended it to be and as nice as I put it, that I have a holier-than-thou attitude, and I’m just trying to make his life difficult, and he’s worked so hard for his PVP gear, that spec is what works for him, that the shaman gear’s the best he can get, blah blah blah.

I’m trying to be patient, understanding, and all of those good characteristics; but this guy makes me want to take the kiddie gloves off. My job is to help, not to coddle, and the person in question is a grown adult, who has no license to be acting this way. What makes things worse is that he feels since he’s been in the guild longer than I have, he doesn’t have to listen to me if he doesn’t want to.

If you have any advice whatsoever, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’m at my wit’s end here.

– Can’t Disregard the Huntard

Dear Can’t Disregard,

That’s a sticky situation. By broadly addressing the subject, and maintaining a respectful tone, you’ve done your job perfectly. Since the Huntard’s excuse for his laziness is to question your authority, It’s time for your GM to stop delegating this task fully to you. The message that needs to be passed on is this:

“For our guild to progress, those we regularly field for raids must be in top condition. To achieve this, our class-leaders have been asked to review the gear and spec of prospective raiders. Those who choose to disregard the advice of their class leads should expect few, if any, invites to raids above Kara-level. I (The GM) will have the final say on whether a raider is acceptable.”

This clearly explains the situation, establishes your authority as a class-lead, defines the choices open to the prospective raiders (comply, or don’t), defines the resulting consequences, and describes the appeals process all in a concise manner.

Since your GM obviously knows this guy has no clue what he’s doing, it should be easy to make sure your raid leaders and anyone else doing invites is aware, too. Then, when he asks for an invite, they can let him know that they can’t make an exception to the policy just for him, and when he implements X of your suggestions, he may ask for another invite. (2 things are important here. You MUST NOT make exceptions for other idiotic raiders, and you have explicitly tell him that he’s welcome back IF he complies with the rules. That keeps it from being personal.)

Alternatively, to save LOTS of time remember my personal staffing mantra:

95% of all guild problems can be solved with a good Gkick. The other 5% can be solved by recruiting.

– From Wynthea

Dear Can’t Disregard,

You should listen to Wyn because she is full of win. She gave you the long answer to a short answer problem. I believe the problem can be solved quite easily. You’re a Hunter, are you not? If only Hunters had abilities that could misdirect additional threat to other players…

– From Evil Matt

Problems in your guild? Need some help and advice? Not quite sure who to turn to for those relationship problems in WoW? Feel free to contact us!