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

Max-Maxing: Drawing the Line

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I love it when I get pushback from raiders adamantly stating that they can DPS in whatever spec they want. Heh, I counter that by saying I can fill the raid with whatever player I want.

It’s been a little over two weeks after Mists drop. I find myself keeping a stack of those talent changing reagents handy because I know I’m going to keep altering them between pulls and trying something new. Even Angelic Feather, a talent that I had previously written off, is something I’ve found useful for on Feng. I drop it strategically in front of people as they’re rushing Wildfire out of the raid.

Progression minded players are always going to look for the best choices. When leaders are looking at the roster and deciding who to take, DPS is a big component (but not the only one). They’ll take a look at player A and player B. If player A is specced different than player B but both are geared similarly and there’s a 12000 DPS difference between the two with A on top, suffice it to say we can come to the conclusion that A’s spec is far superior (or his play could be that much better).

If the raid chief comes in and asks player B to switch specializations to what A is doing, B should switch because that’s a huge benefit to the overall team.

Believe me, I’d love to see the day where all specs were created equal. Where cosmetics and rotation were what ultimately dictates what we players want to do. But we’re not quite there yet. There’s always going to be a superior spec or two among the different classes. We want these bosses dead so we can move onward to the next one. Of course, it needs to be said that different bosses means different strengths and weaknesses.

The line between talents are a little blurrier. There’s a general “theme” among them, but there’s something unique about how each talent approaches that role. Now, there may not be a right answer when it comes to selecting talents. But there’s a “righter” answer. Think to yourself how that can best be done with your talents.

I mentioned earlier the example of Angelic Feather. I noticed when using Body and Soul that there were times where people received Wildfire more than once and I couldn’t shield them again. I switched to Angelic Feather and placed it between the raid and the agreed upon Wildfire point. Feedback has indicated that those feathers are a big help in getting people out quicker.

And then there’s the food buffs.

How much are you willing to work for an extra 25 stats?

The cost/benefit for an extra 25 of your main stat just seems to be obscene. Is it really worth it? I don’t know. I figure those stats are only worth it if you’re coming across 2% wipes or phase transitions. This is, you know, assuming that you’ve already maxed out your character as best as you can elsewhere.  I’ve almost hit max cooking, but I still need to whip up more banquets.

Oh and a bit of hotfix news!

That clicking bug seems to have been resolved. That one’s been giving us fits. We’ve had to wipe a quarter on our attempts due to inabilities to interact with the object.

Priests also received a buff: 25% healing to Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending. Not sure when it goes live, but hopefully soon. Yay!

First impression on raiding with fixed mana in MoP

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So we’ve just had our first raid in MoP, Mogu’shan Vaults. It was pretty interesting from a healer perspective. Fixed mana has been one of those ultimately strange concepts from the time it was announced, and to be fair we weren’t quite sure how it would play out in a regular raid. I’m here to give you my first impressions on it, and a few opinions.

Again these are just my opinions, and my observations.

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Save Those Lucky Charms, Raiders!

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I chuckle slightly to myself when I get messages from players who are excited (smug) after using an Elder Charm of Good Fortune on Sha of Anger throughout the week.

For those of you not in the know, those Charms are used to give you a bonus roll on any raid boss. It has a chance of giving you flasks, gold, or an item off that bosses loot table. Using it on outdoor bosses or LFR gives you a little something extra for your efforts. You might get gear that you can use for raiding or for PvP.

However, those of you who are clever should know to actually save these when you’re raiding normal or heroic modes. If there’s something specific you want off of a boss, wait until the bonus charm UI kicks in and activate it then. In addition to the standard loot that drops for the raid, you can get a crack at a specific item off of that particular bosses loot table. You don’t want that dirty PvP gear, right?

We managed to get the Stone Guard down last night after a few hours of gruelling attempts and the charm roll sprang up. Can you guess how much bonus loot we picked up in a raid of 25?

Not 2.

Not 4.

Not 7.

Try ten extra items.

Our raid received a total of 16 usable raid items last night off of the Stone Guard.

Personally, I feel that the charm system is a godsend under the loot council system. The bonus roll fires off and the raiders receive their rewards in their bag. When we get around to distributing raid loot, a player that would’ve wanted a set of legs might’ve won some from the bonus roll and won’t need it from the main loot window allowing us to ship it over to another player that needs it.

I’m actually curious as to how EPGP and DKP and other points based guilds are going to deal with loot gotten from the charms. Are they going to be considered “under the table”? Should players contribute a minimum number of points whenever they win even though it’s their charm to be used?

Activities to Do at 90 to Ready for Raiding

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Hit 90 within the first 18 hours of day 1 on a diet of Amped and pepperoni steaks. Rice never tasted so good on the second day. I celebrated my 25th birthday yesterday with nothing but heroics and scenarios! Whew! Real party’s happening on Saturday so I have some more time to gear up for raids next week.

As more and more of my guildmates and friends are hitting 90, I’m getting increasingly asked “What do I do now to get myself ready for next week when the raids open?”. You should be exploring any reasonable method you have to increase your gear, your reputation, or your professions.

Your Klaxxi reputation should be up if you cleared out a reasonable portion from Dread Wastes. Go to Niu Zao Temple, by your 450 ilevel gloves.

Go do Scenario: Arena of Annihilation

The first thing you can do is tackle the Pandaria Ring of Blood set of quests. Thankfully, this time it isn’t outdoors where it’s subject to other people stealing your kills or tagging your mobs. Open up your Scenario Finder and queue into it. Accept the quest within and you’ll get yourself a nice 450 weapon.

Do the Temple of White Tiger quest

In Kun-Lai summit, you’ll eventually run into a quest where you help out Anduin unlock the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (Temple of the White Tiger). If you’re leveling up, you can skip and bypass those for now. Once you hit 90, the only way to unlock the area is by completing that quest through.

Spec your level 90 talent

I admit, I forgot to do this.

Unlock Flying

Once you’re 90, head over to your faction foothold in the Vale. On the top floor, there should be a flying trainer next to the flightmaster.

Level up your professions

Check with your guild bank and see if there’s any open mats you can use. For tailoring, I’m seeing a ridiculously large number of cloth drops and I was able to get that out of the way quick.

BTW Enchanters, I don’t know abut you, but I’m thrilled at how easy it is to switch between dust and essences. You?

Start Golden Vale dailies

There’s many factions you can gain reputation with. But in order to unlock the meaningful ones (Like Shado-Pan), you have to start at the Golden Pagoda with the Golden Lotus in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. I believe Ruins of Guo-Lai is the first step.

Buy justice points gear

You can’t do it yet until you hit revered with a few of the factions, but you can shore up your gear some as you steadily gain reputation. The justice point vendor for all the factions is located in Niu Zao temple in Townlong Steppes. He’s on the fortifications at the back.

Dungeons

You need 440 item level to queue into heroics! If you need to, mix and match some gear from other specs and queue in before switching back to to your main set but only if you’re off by 1 or 2 item levels)! I found myself able to heal a DPS geared tank, even! Heroics aren’t as challenging nor as difficult as the Cataclysm initial set of heroics were so you’ll find them a little more forgiving and you can get away with it for now.

I know, I shouldn’t be encouraging it, but I’ll make an exception.

Grats to everyone that’s hit 90 and others that are about to! Can you think of anything else you should do at level 90? (Or other questions?)

Need Gear for your Fresh Level 90 Priest?

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It’s all right here in this link. I’ve included a list of items (along with some alternatives). In addition, I’ve created a few tables with relevant priest look from each of the major reputation vendors.

Remember, it’s not a best in slot list. It’s a relatively fast in slot list. The goal is to get your Priest geared up as much as possible to hit dungeons and raids for the real good stuff. I tried to minimize the RNG as much as I can, but ultimately there’s going to be a few elements involved.

Good luck and I’ll see you at 90!

EDIT: If I run into anything on the way up, I’ll add it. I’m sure there’s a few out there I may have missed. I deliberately did not select PvP gear (but you can maybe get away with 1 or 2 pieces if you need to).