Featured

Featured and headline articles!

World of Matticus Gets a New Face Lift

by

rebirth

Of course, sneaky tech savvy blog readers (or even Google RSS readers) would have been able to access the blog while I was undergoing upgrades. That flimsy placeholder page does absolutely nothing to restrict people. Need to find me a maintenance mo

If my blog was my toon, I’d go all out on it trying to maximize rep and getting all the necessary gear to make it better. Looking at it now, I think I did a pretty good job! You can tell what how much a blogger loves their work by not only the way they write but how they present it.

Let’s discuss the set bonuses features about the new look, eh?

Front page
  • Same blue Matticus: The blues are staying. It’s the official colors of the Alliance and it’ll be the official colors of Matticus.
  • Featured video: On the right side, Wyn and I have the option of embedding interesting videos there that we think our readers would love. They don’t have to be necessarily WoW related. For example, if you play it now you’ll recognize the tune from the Macbook Air commercial (which I believe is very fitting for the occasion).
  • Individual author avatars: This wasn’t a problem months ago as I was the only writer. But with the embrace of a coblogger and accepting guest posts, identity becomes much more important. Cemented with 110 x 110 pixels of writers.
  • Headline ticker: Don’t miss out on the latest highlight reel posts. You’ll notice the massive billboard-like plugin at the top. It will cycle through 5 recent posts that we think you’ll enjoy!
  • Advertising: Yes, advertising has become a little more prominent. They won’t interfere with the content (due to tactical and strategic placement). However, if you don’t want to be exposed to them, why not subscribe to my RSS Feed or via EMail above instead?
  • Expanded blogroll: The recommended reading on the sidebar has been expanded to encompass more blogs. Criteria? Bribery.
  • Tag cloud: Categories have disappeared from the side. Instead, you can find random “streams of thought”. The cloud functions as a keyword type thing. Actively discussed topics are the ones that are in large fonts.
  • Refined categories: Instead of being on the side, categories now appear at the top beneath the pages. Mousing over them reveals a javascript powered drop down menu that will take you to the posts that match what you’re dying to find out more of.
Article page

I’ve not only refined the look of the blog, but I’ve taken care to add extra details to the post pages themselves. Take a gander:

  • Breadcrumb trail: Never get lost again! A breadcrumb trail at the top of each post will let you know where you are at all times.
  • Related Articles: Not sure where to go after you’re done? At the bottom of every post has a list of suggested reading to follow up on.
  • Share this: If you like a particular article or post, why not share it with a friend or guildmate? Supports multiple avenues like Digg, Stumbleupon, and Technorati. You can even share it on your Blogger or WordPress blog (Twitter and Typepad too!)
  • Gravatar support: Gravatar support has finally been implemented. Now you can have your own cool image to help distinguish you from the rest!
  • Comment and trackback separation: In the past, I found it confusing to read through comments and click on trackback links from other blogs. Sometimes I would forget to visit the other blogs because I was so enamored with the comments. No more! When viewing posts, you’ll see the comments by readers first and then link backs from other blogs and sites at the bottom.
  • Commentluv support: Not exactly new, but I never announced it either. If you’re a blogger who posts a comment, the blog will automatically try to pull the latest headline from your blog.
Temporary
  • Banner and header: That will change. I’m going to try and enlist the design skills and support of the same guy that designed the Plusheal banner.
  • Twitter: I found a nifty spot for it in the top right corner. I did a lot of changes to it but I can’t see the little Twitterbird icon. I hope it shows up. Otherwise people will wonder what that random block of text means.

Whew. Time spent? Well over 20 hours. Now I can stop tinkering, coding, and tweaking and get back to the real fun stuff of writing posts!

Actually, I’m late for my raid. Oof!

Be a World of Warcraft God in 5 Steps

by

wow-god

You’ve got the game. You’ve done the raids. You’ve finished the PVPing. For some reason, and you can’t quite place it, there’s still a hole within you. It feels as if though there is something missing. You were a hardcore gamer before. In Counter-Strike you’d consistently dominate with the AWP in your hand. In Warcraft 3, dominating the opposition was nearly effortless especially with multiple tournament wins and top place finishes.

Not only that, you actually beat Tetris.

You’ve mastered shooters. You’re renowned in RTS games. Now you’ve set your eye on the MMO world. How does one “conquer” World of Warcraft?

Raid. Raid a lot.

The best gear in the game can only be acquired by tackling the hardest bosses in raiding instances. Until you’ve taken down Illidan and Archie (and now Kil’Jaden), you’re just a small pup. Get the best gear you can possibly get!

PvP Endlessly

What good are all those shiny weapons going to do if you can’t actually use them? It’s one thing for your opponents to make a note of the firepower you’re packing. It’s something else entirely when you go up to them and cleave them in half. Furthermore, a strong push to the 2000+ rating is almost a must. Non-stop BGs and Arenas are your ticket to be the Unstoppable Force.

Post often to forums

Forum trolling is an acquired skill. Some people just grow up having the innate ability to cause an uproar. The point here is to make your presence known and felt. A real gaming God is not content with just be a one man wrecking crew. Their name has to be known in households worldwide. The only way to do that is with constant posting. Reply to other threads, answer other questions, or start some discussion of your own.

Have insane amounts of gold

Like it or not, the WoW economy is one of the central pillars that drive this game. Gold makes the world go round. Without money, you can’t buy the supplies you need. Yes, although WoW Gods don’t need trivial things, armor and weapons could use some buffing and shining every so often. Although some players would be willing to do it for free, the merchants in the cities need to make a living somehow.

“Contribute” to Trade chat

It’s not enough to own the forums. You have to own trade chat! Start making references to bad movies! Make fun of Canada! Go ahead and randomly insert support for some political candidate! Get people to react to you! I saw this one guy in trade chat who said that “heals can’t crit” and I observed in amused amazement as the entire channel went off in an uproar for a good 45 minutes citing every resource base in the game that “yes, heals can in fact crit”.

Wrath Content Patch Spells Doom for Raiding

by

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?