Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath of the Lich King expansion discussion.

Don’t Worry, it Gets Harder

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I just finished doing a partial Black Temple clear on my Priest. I decided to swap Priest specs for the night and try my hand at full Discipline. I really like it a lot. Would I switch to it full time at 80? That’s going to depend on the healing corps we have then. I’m grown comfortable between deep Discipline and deep Holy specs that I don’t foresee it being any trouble at all. I think every healing Priest should take the time now where it doesn’t really matter to try out both sides of the coin and become fluent with both types of specs.

Yes, it really doesn’t matter.

I’m being outhealed by Retribution Paladins and Healing Stream totems. But that doesn’t bother me at all one bit. The game has fundamentally changed and raid instance difficulty has been toned down a lot to the dismay of some and the delight of others.

Karazhan now takes an average of 1 hour.
Zul’Aman bear runs can be done with 17 minutes left remaining on the clock.
Black Temple? Illidan down within 2 hours.

And that’s a good thing.

But don’t take the current game in stride. Don’t assume that things will be this easy at level 80, because it’s not going to be. You get yourselves new bosses, new mechanics, and new challenges to toy with. Relax now while you can and have some fun. It’s back to work when you ding 80. Allow yourself to get complacent for a while, but keep it in the back of your mind that things will only get harder from here on out.

Some guild’s are pissed off because all that they worked hard for means nothing. Some guild’s are happy (and back together) because they were able to get over the hump that stopped them from raiding in the first place. My guild was able to take down Kalecgos and Brutallus for the first time this week. We still have some time remaining in order to bring down the rest of Sunwell. I know I’ll be working hard to get that Kil’Jaden achievement (I’m up to 2175 points).

The clock is ticking. Now is the time to hurry and explore the game. Visit the bosses that you thought you’ve never seen. Raiding guilds should trial players for the time being. Swap players around and bring in alts.

It will get harder. Don’t take it for granted.

Guides to 3.0.2

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Didn’t feel the need to do one of my own. Already technically contributed to the Priest column (and really inaccurately at that).

Happy patch day!

Most likely not going to update a whole lot of addons. Not sure how much more we’re going to raid. Just going to update raidframes and thats it. Going to try to configure key bindings via WoW default interface (Thats going to be fun).

To do list

  • UBRS for the Leeroy title
  • Leveling every capital city and smashing said leaders
  • World domination

Might squeeze in some study time in there. Who knows?

Healing Naxxramas – Four Horsemen (10 man)

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4H-title

Here it is. Welcome to the most potentially complicated 10 man boss ever. By popular request (from Jove!), I’ve nailed down the process of how to handle the Four Horsemen on Normal Naxx mode. I’ve seen a few questions asked by a people asking me if I’ve ever done this fight before. I did do it on 25 but I didn’t feel qualified to address this on 10s. I’m not going to write about a fight until I get to experience it myself first hand (and that will continue to always be the case with boss fights).

The Four Horsemen have had a reputation for being the most difficult encounter before Burning Crusade hit due to the level of timing and coordination that it required from players. The Wrath variants, while a little easier, will still require some semblance of coherent teamwork.

The Abilities

The Knights have their own individual debuffing marks which gradually increase the amount of damage that tanks and other players around them take:

Note the fact that it is a stacking debuff which increases the amount of damage you take. The first debuff is applied after 20 seconds and then every 12 seconds after that. It has a max range of approximately 65+ yards and is applied one everyone within the vicinity. You cannot use any abilities to make the Mark fall off (Divine Shield, Ice Block, etc).

Every Horseman must have a player nearby that can get the Mark. If there is no player within 65 yards of the Horsemen, the raid will take massive damage and subsequently wipe.

Each Knight has it’s own unique spell:

Placement

4H-placement

Four Horsemen is unlike most encounters you’ll see in the game as the bosses are on preset scripts that take them to specific locations. Sir Zeliek will always go to the back right of the room, for example. When setting up, send your Caster/Healer pairing to the back end along the left and right walls respectively.

4H-right Note: I really recommend using a healer class and a class that has the ability to heal itself (Balance Druid or Elemental Shaman), but I stress that the fight can be done without either of the two. The healer in the back has to compensate by being really on the ball with their regeneration and healing if such a player is unavailable.

Left: Matticus sneaking up the right wing. Those Knights won’t know what hit them!"

To activate the event, all you need to do is walk up to them and shoot them before they automatically race off to their locations.

Lady Blaumeux and Sir Zeliek do not move from their positions at all for the duration of the encounter and remain stationary. Korth’azz and Baron Rivendare are tauntable and movable.

Strategy

This strategy used makes sense if you remember the fact that each Knight has their own debuff that they apply. Each tank is required to pay strong attention to their debuffs.

Raid DPS starts out at the front of the room working on Korth’azz and Baron Rivendare. The raid will be positioned on the front left side of the entrance engaging Korth’azz first to eliminate the Meteor effect as quick as possible.

Caster tanks

Once the Knights are in place, they’ll start locking onto the players that are closest to them. Zeliek does have his own chain damage type spell (Holy Wrath) and that’s why the Zeliek tank is going to be alone for the first half of the encounter.

The magic number of debuffs before you move? 3 maximum.

Once you get 2, signal the other tank on Lady Blaumeux. Remember, the debuffs have ranges. The only way to shake them is to outrun the original Knight.

Example

I was tanking Zeliek and I had a boomkin as a partner on Blaumeux. When we got to 2 debuffs, we’d slowly cheat towards the middle. Once we hit 3, we made a mad dash to the other side and star tanking each others original mob. As I ran by, I loaded up my boomkin partner with Renews, a Prayer of Mending, and a Shield. Similarly, he’d hit me with a full stack of Lifeblooms.

4H-switch-caster

Center: Me and my Boomkin homeboy tag teaming. Note the Shadow Bolt from the left and the Holy Wrath from the right about to nail the two of us. He’s running right towards my original Knight and I’m running left towards his Knight. Void zone on the bottom left.

Don’t worry extensively about the damage being done. The Holy bolts hit me (clothie Priest) for about 2500.

4H-DPS-Z

Be aware that Lady Blaumeux does put out void zones. She targets the player when she does so. Keep your eye on the ground and when you see the black hole, side step it. Try to be tactical and strategic about your placement. Don’t place them in the path between Blaumeux and Zeliek. (Pictures at the bottom)

Melee tanks

Set up 1 healer on the front right and the front left. Those healers will be assigned to the tanks that are immediately close to them.

Got the raid set up on the left? Good. They need to stay within 8 yards of Korth’azz to distribute the meteor equally. Here’s the tricky part of the encounter which is based mainly on observation and inquiry.

Tanks will still switch after 3ish or so debuffs, but there is a trick. The two tanks for Rivendare and Korth’azz have to run towards each other and meet in the middle. Then they taunt off each other, and turn around and run in the direction they were originally coming from. The raid group and the supporting cast will need to stay in their locations. Some things have changed. The DPS group runs towards Korth’azz (meteor guy) and the lone healer on Rivendare will also follow. The idea here is to shake off the original debuffs. Let the tanks switch their targets. When the original debuffs fall off, they return to their original targets.

Example

That last part may not have been clear, so let me try again.

Ubertank the Death Knight tank is on Korth’azz left. PseudoPally the Paladin tank is on Rivendare on the right. The third mark’s about to hit, so they run towards each other.

At this point, they’re within melee range of each other and will soon begin to acquire debuffs from both Knights.

PseudoPally tanks Korth’azz, turns around, and drags him back to the bottom right. UberTank, the smart Death Knight that he is, realizes that PseudoPally’s taunt affects more than 1 mob at a time and waits for PseudoPally’s taunt to go off before using his own taunt to peel Rivendare off and back to the left.

The two Knights have now switched locations allowing time for the original debuffs of the raid to wear off. DPS stays for a few seconds and DPS Rivendare. After the FIRST MARKS WEARS OFF, they run towards Kor’thazz and the Paladin on Rivendare switches back to healing PseudoPally.

Both Knights should die within seconds of each other as the DPS will be split amongst them fairly equally.

Korth’azz and Rivendare down

At this point, the initial Knights are dead. The entire raid will then move up and start working on Zeliek and Blaumeux. The same tank switching principle applies. All healers will collapse back to the original spawn platform where the Horsemen stood. If any player that isn’t a tank picks up too much of one debuff, have them turn around and run back towards the south side of the central platform. At that distance, the Mark should easily slip off and allow them to resume.

Get the raid to focus on Blaumeux first before the Void Zones become a pain. You don’t want to deal with Ziliek’s proximity chain Holy spell just yet anyway.

After 3 Marks, PseudoPally and Ubertank will have to switch and continue to do so. Just mind the Void Zones! Keep that up, and the boss will go down.

Congratulations! You just killed what was once considered the toughest boss in Naxx!

Healing

For Priest tanks, I suggest keeping a Renew on yourself to help lessen the blow. When you reach around 60%, drop a Greater Heal. If you’re healing the other tank near you, don’t forget to use Binding Heal and maintain Renews on the two of you.

When you’re on the just the two Caster Knights, work out a rotation with the healers. Try not to eat the Marks. Sometimes you have to because of LoS issues or because you just have to.

Action shots

WoWScrnShot_101108_202357WoWScrnShot_101108_203748

Above left: Even at this distance, I can still hold aggro against this boss. Note the positions of the Void Zones. As I’m tanking, I try to position as many of them together in a cluster as much as possible.

Above right: Me trying to shake off the two Marks on me. I’m at the back of the platform not healing and the other 2 healers are aware of this. We’re each taking turns switching on and off.

WoWScrnShot_101108_203824WoWScrnShot_101108_204100

Above left: A Starfire about to kill Void Zone queen here.

Above right: The results of our labor. A 2H sword. Where’s my freakin’ caster loot?

EDIT: 11/25 – Modified strategy for the Kor’thazz and Rivendare aspect. Look for the Strikethroughs.

Did I forget anything? Please post a comment! Questions? Post those too! I’ll do my best to get to them! Otherwise, feel free to check out my healing guide for the Naxxramas bosses.

4 Key Guild Related Tasks to do Before Wrath Hits

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Its Wrath Boarding time!

The Wrath plane has landed and passengers are boarding soon! Are you going to be taking it first class or taking the back seat in the economy section?

Veneretio wrote a hot post about dealing with the last few weeks before the new expansion hits and the game resets.

So what does Vene say is the most basic thing to keep in mind as time passes by? His number 1 is to continue to make goals for yourself. He admits that “a lot of what you get now [will be] replaced later”. I’m inclined to agree. Even the most equipped players will be hanging up their present armor and gear once they approach the upper level 70s.

For me, most of my hard work was done over the summer. My reputation has largely been grinded out. The last one was Sporregar (which I felt took forever, personally). I may not have enough gold to live and spend lavishly, it will be enough to function comfortably once raiding expeditions start up again. I’m not as invested in my alts as other players are. I level them and gear them to the point where I know I can switch healers if necessary for raids with different people. My Priest is my main and any fun stuff like Achievements and Titles go straight to him.

While Vene says to make goals, Matticus has another rule that’s more prominent:

Relax!

I’ve played this game hard for over 2 years with intermittent breaks. Realistically, the point at which we start raiding as a 25 man unit will not occur until the Christmas holiday arrives. This means that most raiders will be out of action due to Christmas and New Year parties. This pushes back our raiding until early January.

I don’t know about you, but I plan to take it easy as much as I can over the next few weeks. Outside of WoW, I have a few papers, several exams, and a presentation to deliver. The assignments are due within 3 weeks. The presentation is due 4 days after Wrath releases (and I want to finish constructing it first so I don’t have to over the weekend).

Now is the time to get all the real life stuff out of the way. Finish off your work projects. Get cracking on school essays. Bury yourself in the textbooks and take time away from the game where it doesn’t matter as much anyway. If you have goals to complete, then by all means, go ahead and try to get them done. But leave a bit of room for yourself if you’re a progression oriented player who wants to sky rocket to 80.

Revisit loot

Numerous guilds will be wiping their DKP systems and starting fresh. Take the time to examine your loot system. Find out what worked and what didn’t. What would you have changed differently? Try bringing it up as soon as you can. Work out any kinks or problems with the loot system so that you don’t have to do it later when it matters the most: In the middle of a raid.

Roster check

Examine your roster again. Try to ascertain who is likely to stay and who is likely to go. Find out if there’s any holes in there that need to be plugged. My guild has lost a Rogue already and we may lose a mage. We realize that we can always sift through and acquire replacements during the leveling process, its far better to find players now so that the guild can spend more time knowing about new players.

Promotions

Now is an excellent time for promotions. If anyone is stepping down or retiring from the game, its a good time to find players who have demonstrated veteran and leadership qualities to take their place. Raid leaders: Let others take over. See if anyone has expressed interest in doing so. Try to find alternative raid leaders to run your raids. It’s great to have alternate leaders in place in case your main guy needs to sit for a while. There are no less than 6 people in my guild who are qualified to run and lead raids.

One of my guild officers have stepped down and I’ve been promoted. If you do decide to promote someone, the most important thing you can do is outline their tasks. Tell them straight up front what they are expected to do. I signed a 2 month contract as an officer because I wasn’t sure if I was willing to do this long term. I’ve served in a leadership position before but I didn’t feel particularly effective at the time. In my case, I’m being asked to provide healer presence to officer chat and contribute to raid strategy. I also get a vote in what raid directions the guild should go in. I’ only agreed to do this on the interim. Between responsibilities with my blog, WoW Insider, and school I don’t know if this is a position where I can actually contribute to.

Wrap up loose ends! Get it done quick whether its real life related or in game related! Need a title? Hurry and join a group or form it on your own! Want to push reputation? Start soon before people stop running certain instances!

Quick leak: WoW Insider’s going to be doing a quick and comprehensive guide for the various classes when 3.0.2 becomes official. The brass wants us to outline major talents, and changes to the way we operate and other things of interest.

Help me out. I have to write something up by Sunday. I already wrote about healing at level 80. What would you like to know about Holy Priests at level 70 in regards to the new patch?

I plan on including stuff about:

  • Talent suggestions
  • Quick spell overviews
  • Game mechanics that affect us

Anything else you can think of?

Image credits: photos71

Bank of Matticus Goes Public

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banking

Due to requests from certain Hunter bloggers, the Bank of Matticus Financial Group has decided to go public. As part of the public disclosure process, CEO Matticus Moneycus has decided to reveal various assets that the public needs to know if they wish to invest in this banking powerhouse. Matticus leads a syndicate of prominent WoW Investors who have entrusted him with their finances and assets.

Hydroponics

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This is but a fraction of the hydroponics sector of the Bank of Matticus. Herb specialists continue to acquire species of plants around the clock to invest in Inscription the moment it becomes available.

Consumables

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In a bid to stream line workers, over 1000 Gnomes were released with severance pay with the option to rehire within the next year. Simply put, there is too much supply of consumables and not enough demand for them.

Ore

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Efforts to equip the soon-to-arrive Death Knights are well under way. They’ve agreed to become Smithies in order to augment themselves. Here is a fraction of some of the Ore and Stone that’s been gradually accumulated.

Supplementary

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The supplementary portion of the bank has largely been liquidated or is still in the process of being liquidated. Epic gems have largely been sold as well as a significant number of normal gems. Food consumables still remain as do other high performance consumables.

You’ll notice the gold count looks unimpressive. There’s a good reason for that. Bank of Matticus finances are spread out through a network of Dwarven and Goblin banks. In the event of a security breach, it will not result in the complete loss and destruction of BMF. Rest assured, hard currency sits at the 5 digit level. But that information cannot be disclosed here for the time being. It’s a result of Enchanting mats and numerous amounts of cloth being liquidated. The fifth bank tab has been hidden as it contains sensitive items and materials. Negotiations are currently underway Ironforge International Bank of Commerce for rights and access to a 6th tab. This is expected to happen within a year as assets continue to accumulate.