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Matt’s Predictions for 2009

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2008 was a blast. I wish I did a predictions post last year. Who knows what I might’ve gotten correct? Probably nothing. But it’s not too late to do one for 2009!

2009 Predictions: What will happen? Speaking of predictions, check out Doofy’s blog for his!

WoW Blogging growth: We’ll continue to see more and more WoW bloggers entering the blogosphere. Death Knight blogs in particular will be on the rise.

Path of a Hero flourishes: Make sure you add the  guy on Twitter (@pathofahero). Epic and Legendary Path of a Hero accounts will be launched soon. This service is just a chronicling of your character’s progression. Think of it as an automated character tracker with text inserts for your journalistic needs.

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Machanima standards rise: Craft of War: Blind sets a new standard in WoW machinima.

Warriors spotlighted: The removal of the Titan’s Grip hit penalty will see Warriors doing even higher damage. Where 2008 was the year of the Druid for arena, 2009 could very well be the year of the Warrior.

Dual specs delayed: Delays from trying to interface dual speccing with alternate bars, glyphs, and talents continue. Players continue to fork over hundreds of gold in respecs and reglyphs.

Dance studios delayed: Continuing Blizzard’s trend of releasing stuff “when it’s ready”, dance studios will reach PTR status but will still not be live just yet.

Swimming mounts implemented: On the other hand, swimming mounts will arrive in the first quarter of 2009.

Achievements become the standard of guild progression: WoW Progress and Warcrafter are sites that rank your progression on both a guild and personal level. In the past, the only way a guild’s success could be measured was via the speed at which bosses were taken down. But achievements, whether you love them or hate them, will eventually be used as another comparison tool between guild A and guild B.

Megan’s arena team vs Hafu’s arena team: They will meet in the grand finals somewhere. This will be the match of the century.

3.1.0 content beaten in 4 months: Difficulty curve of Ulduar and the other unknown instance throw a big curveball to raiding guilds. Blizzard brings back “gated” content like what was done with the last bosses of Sunwell to slow down progression.

Epic gems introduced: Even though epic gems came out in the third tier of content in BC, the difficulty level of Ulduar is ramped up where epic gems become an almost necessity.

Ghostcrawler retires: After much epic QQing and players disagreeing with his perspective and discussions on class balance, Ghostcralwer promptly calls it a career. Class discussion boards and other related forums vanish as blues begin to scale back the amount of posting and responses they do to avoid community burnout.

What are your predictions for 2009?

Discipline without Penance – Can It Work?

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This is a guest post from Wistoovern, a Discipline Priest who takes a closer look at Penance to see if it’s really all that

There are some instances in World of Warcraft where individuals who take a role proceed to redefine it into "non-traditional" role. For example, there is the player that decided to level without killing anything, or the hunter that decided not to level ranged weapons at all, but instead maxed out melee. These people are proof that your characters are flexible, unique, and can fill roles that others would not immediately think of.

Along these same lines are character builds that involve or ignore talents and spells that others find key. I’m speaking specifically of the new Penance spell that all of the Discipline priests that I have met so far are just ga-ga over. However, while it might be an efficient spell depending on how you use it, I beg to differ when it is said that a Discipline priest must have it in order to be a viable party/raid healer.

My initial thought to the spell was, "Why? Priest spells have a certain ‘flow’ to them; a spell like this is only going to throw everything out of whack." Well, imagine my surprise when so many Discipline priests started extolling its virtues. Personally, I am still unmoved. I do not believe that this spell is key to Disc healing – after all, we did without it for so long. But shall I go into specifics as to why it is not so as important as others might think?

  • Stop Assuming you need it – Yeah, it’s a 51-point spell. But do ALL Beast Mastery Hunters use Beast Mastery? It’s not too long ago that Lightwell was at the top of the Holy Priest’s tree, but did anyone actually use it? Taking a talent without making sure that you will use it efficiently is useless.
  • Dual Tasking? – Let’s be honest – priests are not hybrid classes. We’re not meant to do both healing and damage at the same time. We really get to pick one or the other. We do a good job at either one (nice shadow priests, GOOD shadow priests…), but both at the same time is impractical or inefficient. So a spell that can either do heals or DPS depending on who is targeted? This can be a big problem.
  • I Mean Really, Dual Tasking? – There are only two other spells that we have that works like this: Holy Nova and Dispel Magic. However, the priest that considers Holy Nova a crucial part of his healing spells needs a reality check, and Dispel Magic (and Mass Dispel, fine) is not going to be an issue if it’s cast on the wrong target (unless you REALLY had to dispel a DoT or effect off of a player and you miss).
  • Did I Do That? YES! – Let us not forget Mr. Urkel and his occasional mistakes with such horrible results. Imagine that you go to heal someone in your party, without realizing that you have a mob targeted that has not yet been pulled. Oops…not only are you making new friends FAST, but your tank probably won’t have time to pull it off of you. Any other heal, and this would not be a problem – in fact, the inability to use healing spells on enemies can help you.
  • The Hell Does That Mean? – Well, here’s a trick that I used to use in Hyjal and Kara. Target a mob that you have to Shackle, and after they’re Shackled, leave them targeted. When you click your keyboard buttons for heals, the system will TRY to heal your target. Oops, you have an enemy targeted, so it will instead give you the "grayed-out finger" pointer. Then, just click on your healing target. Sounds bulky? It’s not! It’s a click tap-click to healing someone. Advantages: no need to use a focus, and you can still pick up the shack quickly if it breaks. Disadvantages: slightly slower than normal, takes a little getting used to, will not work with Dispel Magic…or Penance.
  • What He Giveth With One Hand... – When the GMs build spells, they do it with careful consideration to effect intensity, cooldown, casting time, mana cost, and reagent cost. If they did not, you’d see Instant 50,000 damage spells that cost 100 mana with a .5 second cooldown. No, every spell that they give is balanced through the various aspects. High effect? It will have a high casting time or casting cost. Instant effect? High mana cost or cooldown. Low mana cost? Reagent cost. And when it comes to pure healing spells, cooldowns can be death (literally). Waiting for a heal to be available – or, rather, a heal that so many people think is just "so awesome" is a crapshoot. If a six-second cooldown can kill Circle of Healing, how is Penance so great with a TEN-second cooldown?

I can’t deny that a lot of the numbers for Penance look really good. But assuming that this spell is going to be a Discipline priest’s best friend is like assuming that all druids have feral sets (they don’t) or that all Warriors have Titan’s Grip. I’m not saying don’t use it – just don’t be so surprised if your Discipline priest starts laying down the heals without Penance. It can be done. Really.

World of Matticus: 2008 Retrospective and Highlights

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Another year has gone by! Soon we shall say goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009!

2008 was a big year for World of Matticus. This year we saw a new and fresh look for the blog. 2 talented bloggers also joined the crew! In today’s post, we’re going to look at highlight events that have taken place on World of Matticus over the past year.

A big thank you to all the supporters, friends, readers, lurkers, Twitterati, forum goers, moderators, guild members, and so forth! This blog would not be what it is today without you! A lot of insight and inspiration is gleaned from the public.

Last week, I noted that I was selected by One Among Many to take part in her meme where she asks the following question:

Go back to your first few posts. Who was the first person to ever comment on your blog?

Among active bloggers, it would have to be Kestrel. It was a comment to the classic level 70 Priest gear post. It has the most views on this blog of all time.

OMGooses! Exactly what I’ve been looking for, all in one place.

Now all I need to do is run the instances to get some of this stuff to drop! (Have my Primal Mooncloth Belt, though!)

First ever WoW related comment would have to be from Pasco:

I do not like the fact everybody will get Fear Ward, would be nicer to remove this spell from the whole game (no I am not a warlock) for balancing issues.

Allow me to start another meme of my own and let’s see if this takes off.

To the bloggerati: I think your readers would love a look back at your favourite posts and activities of 2008. Would you not agree?

Here’s a look back at some of my favourite posts and highlight events over the past year!

And, it shall be written in the third person.

January

This was the start of a new year. Matt started an interview series on the blog interviewing other bloggers. The first blogger on the pedestal? Phaelia of Resto4Life. Not only that, but the time was right for Phae to launch Blog Azeroth and it seemed like a number of blogs sprung up overnight! The community continues to serve veteran and new bloggers alike to this day. Time constraints on his part has led to the never ending series to be placed on hiatus. But it’ll come back soon enough.

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One of the most popular posts during this month involved a spotlight being shone on a guild leader’s support staff. He showcased 10+3 personalities that every guild leader needs to have around. A lot of readers got a kick out it and even suggested several that he had missed! A resolution was made where he vowed that he would never pug a 25 man again. A year later, Matt’s still pugging 25s because he would never allow himself to bring his own undergeared character to guild runs. Many readers found the post on pvp battleground preform leaders revealed to be insightful and somewhat accurate in how they view their own ideal battleground leaders.

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February

Matt reached out to as many bloggers as possible via email in the hopes of enlisting their own contribution on the first of many collaborative blog posts. The end result was 7+2 healing haikus! It’s still fun to read now as it was a pleasure then. 

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Carnage, Matt’s guild at the time, saw a few members leave. Those events nudged him to write a post on leaving the guild the right way. Another Cosmo inspired headline ended up with this tongue-in-cheek eye opener of a post that plays might not have been aware of. Healers spill: White lies we tell tanks all the time contains even more excuses from healers and non-healers alike who offered their own wild stories that they’ve heard (and used)! Of course, that community-centric post further inspires another community involving post. Raiding horror stories and the opportunity it brings helped non-raiders realize that for all of its rewards, raiding can still be a big pain in the butt!

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March

The subconcious trend towards guild topic continues as Matt highlighted 20 characteristics of a mature guild member. It even gets picked up by Massively at one point. The blogger also offered a glimpse into my blog reading habits that aren’t necessarily WoW related.

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This was the month where he started his 5 part series that examined the 5 barriers of a raid healer. For those that were thinking about it, he offered 8 rules to forming your pickup raid. For another humourous story, take a look at the Matticus Hypothesis. It’s funny now just looking back on it. But man, was he pissed then.

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April

Matticus discovers that there are many tools for guild leaders but there isn’t a place that has all of them in one easy to reach place. 44 resources for the new guild leader is born! 5 Raid saving lessons from Dr House is penned after watching nothing but House reruns for a month.

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Another step toward world domination is taken when Matticus signs on with the WoW Insider team. Healing Priests everywhere are delighted that a Priest presence has returned. Your responses to Matt’s first ever Cosmo Challenge and the objective of helping bloggers have fun with their writing is complete. How to improve players without coming across as a jerk rounds out the month as Matticus looks inward to resolve his own inner demons.

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May

Positive feedback from an avid reader leads to the start of a friendly relationship. Matticus starts corresponding more which leads to Wynthea being brought on board. She makes up the 1 person department at the blog known as “Quality Assurance”. 20 things I know at level 70 that I didn’t know at level 1. 9 Traditional WoW Blog posts. Raiders become more introspective as they  compare their love of their guild versus love for themselves. Quick, critical and improv thinking on the fly is a valuable skill that merits its own post.

Wynthea and Matticus draw the battlelines and debate whether players should care about healing meters or whether they shouldn’t care (Discipline Priests know what Matt’s preaching).

June

Matticus is invited to speak on the Twisted Nether blogcast. The world finally hears the voice behind the keyboard. Outsourcing your raid instance is a common tactic progressed guilds use to get what they need fast. Another inspiration strikes courtesy of the Monique from Girls Don’t Game which helps spark confessions of a current ‘core raider.

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13 things every WoW player should know how to do is a quick lesson primer for many beginning and intro-level gamers. The game is beaten when Matticus takes down Illidan.

July

The ambitious healing blogger continues to scheme. Matticus isn’t yet satisfied. He wanted to develop the community more and offer additional ways to make the blog useful. After much discussion and collaboration with other top bloggers in the community, the decision is made. The project is green lighted. Plusheal, the all healer and newbie friendly community is established. It continues to be a resource for all healers both veteran and junior alike. Over 1000 members share ideas and tips with each other.

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A post is written on AFKing with etiquette: 4 things to remember for those of us with seemingly oversized bladders. Wyn presents her perspective on why the attitude of it doesn’t matter as long as the boss dies is wrong and harmful to raiding guilds. Confessions of a Raid healer is shamelessly written followed by Murphy’s 13 laws of raiding. An important question is answered: What should I look for in joining a guild?

August

A blog expansion begins as Matticus decides to host a contest to search for another blogger to add to the team. Readers voiced their opinions and picked their sides when guest blogger Aylii wrote about the potential doomsday scenario that Wrath raiding brings. Were the fears justified or was it really nothing to worry about? August is also full of guest bloggers who are anxious at a shot of being the 3rd blogger.

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7 points for a stress free raid helps to calm down irritated and temper flaring raiders. Matticus gets selected to participate in the Wrath beta test and over the next few weeks provides much wanted information for readers who wanted more information. A first look at the WoW achievement system is published .

September

After several technical difficulties, the blog receives an emergency visual overhaul. Reception is positive and information becomes even more streamlined. Font sizes for blog posts increase to the delight of eyesore WoW players everywhere.

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An easy process in how to be a World of Warcraft God in 5 steps is laid out for those with deity-like aspirations. As one of the few bloggers and healers with access to a WoW beta account, Matt takes a realistic look at level 80 raid healing. The third blogger is chosen to help round out the World of Matticus editorial team. Sydera, SYTYCB winner, continues to lend her wisdom in building a guild. Saresa attempts to seduce Matticus with reasons why Warlocks make the best lovers after he aptly states Warlocks aren’t his type. He counters with 12 Reasons why priests don’t make the best lovers.

October

Syd voices her love and hate for the newly added achievement system. More guild problems happen and I have to help resolve it.

In anticipation of Naxxramas, Matticus begins blogging about healing and boss strategies. NaNoWriMo is almost here and 7 ideas to jump start your WoW related novel are born. Healing became more fun with the addition of Surge of Light and Holy Concentration proccing abilities. Matt surmises Priests may not be sure which spell to use under what situation. Result? Order of Operations for Surge of Light, Clearcasting, and Improved Holy Concentration.

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Also, this guy takes the internet and the world by storm.

November

The blogopshere took a minor hit in productivity this month due to some minor expansion being released. Matticus took a rare several days off during this period of time. Several days later, he’s back with a ding being the first in Conquest to do so. A list of tips is written for those who want to fast track themselves to 80.

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In this same month, Matticus departs for free agency and works with fellow blogger Sydera to form Conquest. Bars are set and expectations remain high. No one knows how this project will turn out. The Twitterati, ever so supportive, offer a list of advice to GM-to-be Matticus in his transition from officer to executive. The Matticus doctrine is written out which continues to be the centerpiece of the guild. A guide for fresh 80 Holy Priests is written up on pre-raid gear selections.

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December

The Wrath expansion is well under way and Matticus offers up some advice for guilds that have recently formed: 11 reasons guild masters fail and deciding between normal and heroic raids. Several bloggers and Twitterati ask the Conquest loot system prompting a blog post about loot council. 

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Guild and raid efficiency continues to be a main concern that’s addressed in 7 ways to cut the crap out of guild bureaucracy. A reputation guide is written for Priests who are making their way into Northrend. It’s even applicable for casters. More guest posts are added and the process is streamlined with these posting guidelines for guest submissions.

2009: World of Matticus

The blog continues to grow and evolve in an accelerated pace. But we wouldn’t be here without you readers. We want to hear it from you: How can World of Matticus change for the upcoming year? What other topics would you like to read about? Your opinion can change the blog and make it that much more relevant to yourself, your guild, and your friends.

Feel free to leave a comment below or use the contact form.

Creativity and delivery is the heart and soul of Matticus. We want you to keep coming back. Our standards continue to go up every month. We’ll keep coming up with new blog posts and ideas to keep World of Matticus fresh for everyone.

We’ll be listening. 

Epic Guest Posting Guidelines for the Matticus

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Would the World of Matticus ever feature a guest post from you?

In a word, yes. The first thing you have to remember is that in the World of Matticus, there is but one god: Matticus himself. Guest posts usually happen when I put the word out that I needs help.

In the past year, I’ve opened up guest posting to bloggers and writers that were interested in getting their feet wet. Today, I’m officially announcing the green light for open guests posts as well as setting down guidelines and suggests for writing them. Here’s a few examples for you to consider.

While I admit that my standards are high, I’m not asking you to solo Illidan or do heroic Occulus. What I do want is to illustrate reasons and qualities for a World of Matticus guest post.

Why write a guest post?

Exposure – By writing compelling articles, stories or posts in general on other blogs (not just mine, mind you), you increase your own visibility and exposure. View it as a chance to promote yourself and your work! Now you be thinking to yourself "why write on someone else’s blog when I can augment my own?" I encourage you to think in a different direction. By writing an insanely awesome blog post for another blogger and having it published, that blogger’s audience will want to know more about you and what else you have to offer.

Trial – Not sure if blogging is the right thing for you? At the very fundamental core of blogging is to communicate. You are translating your ideas and visions from your mind onto the screen. Don’t spend time establishing a blog only to discover that writing is difficult for you or that your interest has waned. Do the writing first then build the blog. Try writing a sample post and determine if it’s something you think you’ll enjoy down the road. Web sites come in all sorts of designs and styles. The one thing that all blogs have in common is the display of information.

You’ve decided to write a guest post? Excellent! Here’s a few things you might wish to consider:

Consider the audience

In the beginning, this blog catered towards Holy Priests. As time went on, it slowly included aspects for the raiding Holy Priest. Guild business and leadership was mixed into the blog. A Resto Druid was added. Now it includes material that Guild leaders would be interested in reading.

The majority of readers on World of Matticus are primarily healers, raiders, and bloggers. That’s a pretty wide sphere of influence, if I do say so myself. Keep the audience in mind when you’re writing a post. For example, most healers may not understand certain tanking concepts and you may wish to elaborate more on terms that you’ll be using.

If you’re writing about the nature of Hunters, PvP skills for Warriors, or the latest fashion news on Death Knights, you’ll want to consider another blog unless you can make it relevant for the World of Matticus readers.

What makes this blog appealing for you? Chances are, your answer will be the same as the other many thousands of readers. Browse through the archives to find some of your favourite posts and you’ll get a handle for what works and what doesn’t.

Matticus is beneficial

The one thing I stress most from the team here is to make your information useful. Give the reader something to take with them when they finish.

How does a Discipline Priest react in this raid situation? Did your GM handle a particularly difficult problem in a smooth fashion? Topics like that would be right up the alley in the World of Matticus.

Content in the World of Matticus should help answer problems that players find in the World of Warcraft.

Matticus is professional

I don’t care if you’re on the top 5v5 team in the world, or the best ranked Ret Paladin on WWS. I’m not expecting you to be Dan Brown either.

Sydera, Wynthea and I are really picky. Syd’s a teacher (not high school, but the best one can professionally be). Wyn usually shreds my posts because they’re not technically correct or sound. I harp on the other two if their posts do not look good.

Keep the post as clean looking as possible. White space is good. If necessary, format the post and add images to help spice and liven it up more.

Check your tone. Have a unique style. Make sure what you write can be understood. This isn’t a journal or a computer operations manual. Be clear, be concise. Add some personality. Don’t be afraid to write as if you’re speaking. Be interesting and humorous. Feel free to tell a story to get your point across.

Most importantly, spend as much time on thinking of a title as you do on your post. No other WoW blogger puts as much thought, time or emphasis into post titles as Matticus.

Spell check it.

Fact check it. If you’re not sure about spells or abilities, use WoWHead.

Not all of us are blogging gods by any means (but that Matticus comes close). We’re not the best. We’re only human. Typos will creep in or lawn gnomes will occasionally break a few things. All of us invest a lot of time and care into making our post the best as possible.

Some guest bloggers in the past have been rejected and told to rewrite. Go through multiple drafts. Ask someone in your guild to look it over. World of Matticus does not involve writers who write drafts then immediately publish them. Posts will stew around for days or even weeks if they do’t feel right until a “Eureka” moment strikes.

Sounds great! How do I sign up?

Drop me a line on my contact form. You can include a post within the body of the form there or get in touch with me first and float an idea my way to see how it sounds. I’ll respond with a confirmation and a giant thank you! If I don’t respond within a week, I must’ve not received it or I completely forgot about it. Feel free to poke me with a gentle reminder!

If you have a blog, it’s a good idea to link to your best blog posts. Note that it’s not required that you have a blog.

Image courtesy of Cierpki

Stare Decisis in Loot Council

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Just about a month has gone by in the formation of Conquest. Loot council continues to be an interesting challenge because the council never knows what sort of situation will present itself.

In today’s post, I wanted to talk about an important concept that’s not only valuable in the legal arena but also in an LC guild.

Stare Decisis

This is a legal principles where judges have to follow precedents established in previous decisions. How does this apply to WoW with respect to loot council? Because the decisions we make in how we hand out loot are expected to be binding. I’ll typically follow the principle of Stare Decisis but ultimately, I won’t hesitate to go a different way in decisions of loot for progressive reasons.

Unfortunately, the reality is that virtually no two decisions are going to be the same. You will have similar cases and they’ll be decided similarly. For example, we awarded a tier piece to a Resto Shaman completing his 4 set (because Chain Heal is still whoa). But if I had my 3 piece and a 4th Priest token drop, I wouldn’t award it to me purely because of the bonus (since I don’t use Greater Heal that often to justify it). It literally is a case by case decision. This is bad in that we’re not following a precedent but good in that we’re willing to remain flexible. Remember that this is a loot council not a court of law. Items will drop again.

Decision to Reward vs Decision to Gear

For guilds that have started progressing through different raid instances, realize that you’re going to come across a dilemma and I guarantee you that it will happen. Every member on your loot council is going to ask themselves the following question when an item drops:

Should I award this item to the player who has run all the 10 mans and done all the heroics or should I award this item to the player who dinged recently dinged 80 and hasn’t had the time to get as geared as the other players?

There are two schools of thought on this and let me tell you what goes through my head every time.

Reward: I like to reward players for their efforts. They hit 80 earlier on ahead of the curve. They’ve managed to work their way into pug groups to get themselves geared. Without their efforts, the guild would not be where it is right now. Their contribution is important and I want to recognize that.

Minimum standard:  The other perspective is to gear up the weaker geared player since that player hasn’t had as much time to get where they should be at. Especially for progression kills, there’s a minimum standard that every player regardless of class has to meet. To make life easier on your raid group, the weaker players have to be brought up to speed.

The past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun for all of us (I hope). Everyone has either reached the minimum benchmarks that have been set in terms of performance (2000 DPS on Patchwerk) or have exceeded it (5000+ DPS on Patchwerk). Now that the minimum standard has been reached, I can further lean towards rewarding players that can use items off of the second level bosses such as Kel’Thuzad and Malygos.

Mind you, I’m still just one person on Loot Council.

Mixed messages?

Following a decision that was made earlier for loot is good, especially when deciding on subsequent items. But don’t chain yourself to it or lock yourself.  Keep your loot council flexible because they have to adapt.

Don’t hesitate to acknowledge mistakes.

Don’t commit.

Don’t promise.

Don’t over deliver.

Don’t bind yourself.

So like Amava says, consistency does matter.

There was a case last week where a tanking neck dropped. Both of our tanks expressed interest. We were at a dead lock. The tanks wore the same neck and they could’ve equally benefited from it. We were taking too long. I gave the instruction to roll it.

I realized later on in the evening after the raid was done that it was a bad idea. Upon further reflection, I doubt I’ll give that order again. The exact reasons that crossed my mind were the same ones that Amava listed. This would’ve been the only time (not counting our first unofficial raid) that rolls were used to decide loot. Our current tiebreaker is an officer who is not a part of the loot council and does not wish to take part in decisions. That’s a temporary fix that I need to address. My options are to elevate another player to the loot council (a DPS cloth wearer, perhaps) or set it so that in the event of a tie, my choice wins (Overlord Matticus, hmm). 9 times out of 10, we do reach a consensus. But things like tier tokens always take a bit longer since they’re useful for so many players.

By the way Amava, yes I do read your blog when I can. I read it so that you can keep me honest. Keep doing what you’re doing. I won’t punish you for speaking out or voicing disapproval.

Some more food for thought for players looking and still deciding upon their loot systems.