Gamespy: Wrath of the Lich King New Info and Reaction

by

Gamespy just unveiled a whole bunch of new information about the upcoming WoW expansion. There’s a lot more information about the Death Knight, Northrend, and instancing in general.

Northrend

  • Players to have optional and different starting zones
  • "Not just be a land of ice and snow."
  • Way bigger than Outland
  • Un’Goro makes a return
  • Flying mounts unlocked at level 77
Matt’s Reaction

Good. It was hard enough for me to kill stuff as it as a Disc/Holy Priest when I turned 70 in Hellfire without having all my kills get tagged. These screenshots are beeeeautiful. I always thought of Northrend as a big giant popsicle. Glad to see Blizz is varying up the location. Flying mounts will be used for levelling at 77+.

Raiding and Instancing

  • All raid instances will have both 10 person and 25 person versions
  • 10 and 25 versions will be on separate cooldowns (Can play in a 10 man earlier in the day and a 25 later)
  • At level 80, every major encounter and boss fight can be experienced with a group of 10
  • Heroic dungeons in WotLK will have separate loot tables than their non-heroic versions
  • Another Troll instance or zone: The temple of Zul’Drak
Matt’s Reaction

Very good move by Blizzard. Karazhan is the most popular raid instance in the game by sheer difficulty level and accessibility. It is a lot more difficult to find players for a 25 player instance than a 10. I don’t see what the high end guilds will have to complain about. If anything, there is now more stuff for them to do. The 25 player loot will be substantially be more greater than the 10s. I’m curious to see how that will be pulled off. But either way, loot is loot. This will provide a great alternative from having to farm copious amounts of "Frozen Primals" or something.

In any case, us elitist Guilds still get our fun and challenge. The casual players will get their fill by being able to experience every raid dungeon in the game. You can even 10 man Arthas.

I’m also glad Blizzard learned more about their badge system. It was a great idea to have in TBC, but the incentives were just bad. Magister’s Terrace proved that Blizzard is willing to adapt new principles by separating loot tables.

Lore

  • Malygos, dragon leader of the Blue flight, makes an appearance
  • Worgen and sons of Arugal return
  • New encounter based on a Warcraft III mission (Helping Arthas destroy Stratholme?)
  • P.E.T.A. makes an appearance known as D.H.E.T.A.
Matt’s Reaction

Eh, I approve. I’ve always liked Blizzard lore. I’ve followed a lot of it since the original Warcraft. I wonder what other easter eggs we’ll see in the game. Hopefully we’ll get to see some SG-1 references at some point.

Death Knight

  • Can apparently turn dead teammates into ghouls (Necromancers in Guild Wars)
  • Starts at Level 55, available to any player with a 55+ character
  • Starts at a Necropolis over EPL
  • Can Dual Wield
  • Are not double racials (Undead/Gnome, for instance)
  • Every race can be a Death Knight
  • The Tanking DK relies on parrying (2H tank for real?)
Matt’s Reaction

2 Hand tanking. This is going to be amazing. Just about everyone in the Guild will have a Death Knight now. The ghoul ability can even be used in arena. Imagine a team with Druids, Hunters, Mages, and other classes with pets (or the stupid mini Gnome trinket). The alternative will be an Enhancement Shaman variation. This will be very good news for Guilds with cheap tanks. Now they don’t have to spend copious amounts of gold to constantly respec their character. They can simply load up the right runes in order to satisfy whatever role they need to fulfill.

Vehicle System

  • Ability to drive stuff around and interact with people or objects
  • Gamespy Example: Players will fly over a human settlement being overrun with the Scourge, lowering a ladder down to pull up and rescue civilians. In one dungeon instance, players will be able to "liberate" some blue dragons that they can mount up and fly around, fighting their way up a massive tower.
  • You can ride a mammoth which has it’s own combat abilities
Matt’s Reaction

This has to be the most coolest part of the expansion. Have you wished that you were able to shoot missiles at other players on their mounts? It seems like this might be possible in the expansion.

I’m really excited about the expansion now. I can’t wait!

WoW Bloggers to Follow on Twitter

by

 twitter

Still haven’t started using it yet? You might want to consider it now. More WoW bloggers have begun to use twitter as a way of keeping in touch with each other and for the purposes of micro-blogging. It’s also a nice distraction and a quick way for me to get fast responses from other WoWers.

For example

finish-this

 

bof

 

nope

As you can see, it’s a great way for me to interact with other players and bloggers. If I need to ask a quick question which isn’t worth launching WoW for, I turn to the community. Right now, the WoW twittering community is fairly small. But if you use twitter, here’s a few bloggers that you might be interested in following:

@justanna – Too Many Annas

Favourite tweet:

if I were queen of the world for a day: 25 engineers = Doomwalker, Voidreaver, and 23 FelReavers vs. Illidan.

@LadyJess – Lady Jess

Favourite tweet:

PS: My shadow priest was raid healing!

@Fimlys – Asleep at the WoW

Favourite tweet:

Falling asleep at my desk!

@gamedame – Game Dame

Favourite tweet:

La la laaaa LA la LLLLaaaaa! (My American Idol audition.)

@Aylii – Shamanistic Rage

Favourite tweet:

A Resto shaman fighting an elemental shaman is the new prot warrior fight.

WoW Insider: 30 If Statements Priests Adhere To

by

Talk about being uber late this week. I blame it on the technical difficulties! In any case, it’s up now.

EDIT: Oh yes, you’ll probably have noticed that I’ve made a grammatical error. It’s intentional. Because at the end of the year, if you add up all the extraneous words you’ll find a secret message.

Or I’m yanking your chain. Up to you guys to decide which is which.

Improv Healing on the Fly (and Anything Else for that Matter)

by

Improv comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood. Photo © David Bergman / www.DavidBergman.net

Last Sunday, we took down Reliquary of Souls but it was not without it’s challenges. Bosses come in multiple flavors. If you take a step back and examine it from a wider angle, you start spotting patterns. Blizzard starts recycling certain mechanics and everything becomes more apparent.

In the case of RoS, identify with the fact that it is a 3-stage process.

Now, the typical step for a raiding Guild when working through a multi stage process is to attack each phase individually. Our Guild explains the strategy and plan of attack for the first phase, then we go in and grind our way through it until the 1st phase is relatively mastered (minimal losses).

We expect wipes.

Once we get the initial step done, we outline the second phase and conduct a differential of our own: Identify the abilities of the boss, and how to counteract them. Now we have the information we need to battle through phases 1 and 2.

But the unexpected happens

What do you do in the unlikely event that the phases go through flawlessly and you’re left walking into phase 3 completely blind?

This is the raiding version of the hail Mary for healers, their coordinators, and the raid leader. If executed, you will look brilliant. If you fail, you have nothing to lose because you can claim you didn’t know what to expect.

How do you handle the unexpected?

I can only think of 2 cases where you can go into an encounter healer blind.

  1. The raid hasn’t been briefed
  2. You’ve sustained losses but there are enough healers or utility players to deliver a serious attempt

I don’t care what your title is. You can be the raid leader, the healing leader, coordinator, administrator, class leader, or whatever. Personally, I’ve assumed the title of Grand Master Matticus of Healonomics, 1st class.

But you share one common trait: The organization and setup of your healers.

Here are the facts

Since you’re reading this, you will have more time to make a decision than I will. I had exactly 2 seconds to issue instructions but I knew the following facts:

  • Paladin tank is main tanking
  • All healers are alive and accounted for
  • Healer loadout consists of 1 Resto Druid, 1 Resto Shaman, 3 Holy Paladins, 2 Holy Priests (1 CoH, 1 Imp. DS)
  • Group 3 consists of Shadow Priest, 2 Holy Paladins, and the 2 Holy Priests
  • Resto Druid in MT’s group
  • Gradually increasing shadow damage to the raid over time
  • 3 players randomly chosen will take nature damage spikes of ~7000 periodically
  • Forgot to buff Shadow Resist

Our raid group never even discussed the possibility of entering phase 3 at this point but no players were dead at this point.

The thought process

As healers, you know what the first priority of the raid is: The main tank. I don’t know what kind of damage our Prot. Pally was going to take so I fell back to tried and true methods. I assigned the Resto Druid and 2 Holy Pallies onto the main tank.

Second order of business is to ensure that the supply of life to the raid doesn’t get cut off. Since both Holy Priests were in group 3, it would make sense for the Imp. DS Priest to use their downranked Prayer of Healing before switching to the bigger guns. Doing that ensures the healer group stays alive because all they are doing is spamming Prayers.

The last job is the rest of the raid. I had 1 Paladin, myself, and a Resto Shaman left over and assigned them to the raid. Circle of Healing and Chain Heal tag team pretty well. Whatever CoH misses, Chain Heal latches on to.

The orders ensue

That entire step of recognizing the jobs that need to be done and figuring out which healers should take no more than a few seconds.

The trick here is to stay firm and don’t change anything. Don’t second guess yourself. Once you’ve decided on a course of action, stay true to it.

I barked out over vent quite clearly and named healers individually and their targets. Make sure you don’t rush and babble and risk your players not being able to understand what you are saying. Be loud. It’s important to assert everyone’s attention as this is a critical moment. There is no time to type this stuff out and spam it in your healer chat. Once you go into a situation like this, you’re on the clock.

So how did I do?

On this particular attempt, I failed. Our first try at the third phase of RoS resulted in a 3% wipe.

Because I forgot to buff Shadow Resist.

But you learn something from every failure and every success. You learn what worked and what didn’t. I used the exact same setup on the subsequent attempt resulting in the first kill. Build upon your previous results. If it’s not broke, don’t try and fix it and muddle it further.

Dear DPS Classes: You’re Hurting Us

by

 
Image courtesy of weirdvis

Dearest DPS,

We’ve had a wonderful relationship over the years. I’ve enjoyed your care and watchful eyes that you’ve had over me. But lately, I’ve found my feelings to be hurt on multiple occasions. Your words, once supportive and kind, have begun to sting more often. I appreciate all the advice and the criticism that you’ve given to me lately on the hardships we’ve had to overcome so that we can work together more effectively as a team. As we’ve continued in our affairs together into exotic locations like Black Temple and Mount Hyjal, your words have slowly been falling upon deaf ears.

You’ve been telling me lately that I’ve been doing things wrong or incorrectly. You’ve made fun of my friends and comrades who have done their best. I’ve held your hands and have never let go.

I can’t be the only one feeling this way especially after reading the scathing notes you’ve sent me:

  • That I just couldn’t keep you up anymore
  • Questioning my endurance
  • Faking everything
  • Doing it incorrectly

I can no longer accept this! I will not take this kind of abuse from you any longer. I have stood quiet in the shadows ever so obedient and mindlessly accepting your words. Why do you berate me so on the tasks we have done multiple times? Why do you continue to insist on giving advice to healers that know what they are doing? Why do you point fingers at us first like scolding a child taking a cookie from a jar?

We know the job that needs to be done. Do you? Do you not realize relationships take 2 in order to work? It has to be mutual! You sit there on the couch pressing the same buttons day in and day out expecting us to support your lifestyle without any effort from you whatsoever!

I grow tired and weary. I will settle for you telling me the objective that needs to be done and I will take care of it. But don’t you dare tell me who to heal and who to stay away from. I believe I’m a better judge of that than you! If you keep insisting on blaming me and my friends for your inexcusable mistakes, then our relationship will be have to be reexamined again!