Category Archives: worldofwarcraft

Raid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwing

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Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

This is it. This is the final encounter of the expansion. Everything you've ever worked for and fought through has led to this point. This is the moment you get to help rid the world of Deathwing. First, we need to ground this oversized lizard. Immediately after the conclusion of the gunship (part two), you'll be parachuting onto Deathwing's back. We'll go over the different obstacles and what you and your healers need to do to get over the proverbial raid hump. (To the raiders who do 10-mans, you'll have to adjust the numbers a bit. I'm not as well versed on 10s, so you'll have to bear with me as I draw up assistance for the 25-man version.)

To attack the Spine of Deathwing, we need to peel off those metal plates on Deathwing's back so that we can really weaken him further. Our healing goal here is to ensure that our tanks live. Apparently, Deathwing has all sorts of little defenses that he'll use to try to shake us off; there are several threats on this fight that healers need to be aware of. You're on an extremely narrow field of battle here, so movement's going to be really limited.

What did you expect, though? You're fighting on the back of a former dragon aspect.

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Raid Rx: Healing the Spine and Madness of Deathwing originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blood Sport: How will patch 4.3 impact PvP?

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WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

With patch 4.3 imminent and Arena season 10 due to end Nov. 29, it seems reasonable to assume the patch will appear in early December. While you're racing to get your team into title range, get that last piece of gear, or just running laps of your capital city, you might be thinking forward to the arrival of the patch and wondering what your fate will be in PvP as the nerf bat winds up for another swing. Firstly, let's deal with some housekeeping.

Conquest points, the PvP equivalent of valor points, will now be far, far easier to earn from ordinary Battlegrounds. The first daily Battleground win will now award 100 conquest points, up from 25, and wins after that will award 50 conquest point, up from, well, none! The conquest cap will remain, so while it will still be far quicker to reach it through Arena, it will also be attainable via Battlegrounds of the non-rated variety. This makes it far easier for solo players to build up the resilience numbers people often demand (fairly or otherwise) for access to Arena and Rated Battleground teams or just to gear for Battlegrounds.

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Blood Sport: How will patch 4.3 impact PvP? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: How do you choose your spec builds?

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

I confess that when it comes to my specs, I am incredible lazy. I'm not dual-specced. I don't have a PVP spec. I'm just a standard PVE frost mage. I didn't even change to arcane when arcane was the only way to be a "proper" mage. I'm not into theorycrafting, and I would rather let someone else do all the work. I poke around the internet for awhile, find a spec I like, and copy it. I then stick with that spec until major changes are made and I have no choice but to fix the spec.

Some of my good friends are the total opposite. They loiter on theorycrafting websites, crunch the numbers, and constantly tweak the numbers until their spec seems ideal. A few days later, they are ready to tweak some more.

Where do you fall on this spectrum? Are you a theorycrafter who loves the numbers game and could spend hours trying to devise the perfect spec? Would you prefer to sit back and yank someone else's perfect design? Or are you somewhere in the middle? Do you study the builds and then come up with something of your own, roughly based on the work you've seen?

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Breakfast Topic: How do you choose your spec builds? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s happening in the Whispering Forest?

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Every now and then, an Easter Egg is found in game. Blizzard loves its pop culture references, secret nooks and crannies, and everything in between. Recently, this popped up: a secret grove, hidden in the Whispering Forest of Western Tirisfal.

While it's unknown when they spawn (I've heard every six hours or so, but I'm not sure), a troupe of faerie dragons slowly flies to this mushroom ring and begins to sing.

Tendrils of golden light flow and meet in the center of the circle, while ethereal music notes float all around. A beautiful little piece of music accompanies all of this, lasting about two and a half minutes. The infected animals of the Whispering Forest even come around to witness the performance. After they're done, the dragons leave and despawn.

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What's happening in the Whispering Forest? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s happening in the Whispering Forest?

Posted on by
Every now and then, an Easter Egg is found in game. Blizzard loves its pop culture references, secret nooks and crannies, and everything in between. Recently, this popped up: a secret grove, hidden in the Whispering Forest of Western Tirisfal.

While it's unknown when they spawn (I've heard every six hours or so, but I'm not sure), a troupe of faerie dragons slowly flies to this mushroom ring and begins to sing.

Tendrils of golden light flow and meet in the center of the circle, while ethereal music notes float all around. A beautiful little piece of music accompanies all of this, lasting about two and a half minutes. The infected animals of the Whispering Forest even come around to witness the performance. After they're done, the dragons leave and despawn.

Continue reading What's happening in the Whispering Forest?

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What's happening in the Whispering Forest? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: How would you spend one day as your character?

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

What if you could trade skill sets with your favorite toon for a day? I would port myself to my job, instead of sitting in mind-numbing traffic for 40 minutes. When I got to work, I would pop Mirror Image so I could have four people doing my work for me (because, you know, I'm glyphed for it!) while my water elemental and I sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. If anyone came looking for me, I'd go Invisible and Blink myself the heck out of Dodge.

Lunch would be no sweat -- I'd just whip up some cakes and be good to go. I'd take advantage of the moment and turn my boss into a sheep (or a penguin). And when the two o'clock doldrums hit, I'd do the Time Warp and make the rest of the day go by until the time came to port myself back home again. Once home, I'd set the water elemental to watch the children (making sure that it's set to passive, of course) and conjure up some more cakes for dinner. I have to confess though, I would be getting the better end of the deal, as I think my poor little mage would be less than thrilled to be dropped into Twilight Highlands with nothing more than a quirky sense of humor and a penchant for the written word.

If you could trade places with your character for a day, what would you do?

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Breakfast Topic: How would you spend one day as your character? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Azerothian technology

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

It began in the Burning Crusade with the helicopters. They quickly became the must-have item for every fashionable Azerothian and Outlander. In Wrath, we saw the Mechanohog come about and the murmurings began. In Cataclysm, engineers continue to be able to make more modern looking weapons and the goblins ride around on their mechanical trikes. The goblin starting area has been described, both affectionately and derisively, as Grand Theft Auto: Isle of Kezan. At what point does modern technology in World of Warcraft go too far? How far can gnomish technology really go? Is the game becoming too "steampunky?" Is that even a word?

Do you feel that introducing items from modern-day Earth into Azeroth interferes with the immersion of the game? Is it impossible to properly roleplay when someone just roared past you on what appears to be a Harley-Davidson with a sidecar attached to it? Or do you just shrug it off as gnomish eccentricity? Are the items properly introduced with a logical argument for why they exist, or are they there for the sole purpose of giving engineers something to do (and a way to make money hand over fist)? Do you personally own one of the mechanical vehicles, and, if you are a roleplayer, how do you work it into your storyline?
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Breakfast Topic: Azerothian technology originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Guild achievements and you

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

We are now a good 6 months into guild achievements. As a guild leader, I think the concept, as executed, is great. Although we're casual and we run all content, trying to get certain achievements has provided us with incentives to level toons, level professions and to work together.

Every week, I post to the guild web site, a tally of what we're working on and how far along we are in finishing an achievement. Doing all the Burning Crusade heroic 5-mans made people run the regulars to get enough honor to get their keys. People went into instances they didn't know existed. Attendance at our retro raid nights spiked when we announced that we needed this run for the guild achievement. We're small so the 25-man achievements will probably elude us, but people take a look at what still needs to be done and they help make it happen.

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Breakfast Topic: Guild achievements and you originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What real-life skills has WoW helped you develop?

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

I've never been a hunt-and-peck typist, but these days, my fingers can fly across the keyboard. It has certainly served me well in my employment. I can successfully type out full paragraphs with one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse. You can't see it, but I'm doing it right now. Are you impressed yet?

Okay, probably not. I'm willing to bet that any of you can do it, too. But what other skills have you acquired through playing WoW? If you run your own guild, you may have become an effective leader and a whiz at organization and planning. Raid leaders may have to become experts at dealing with conflicting personalities and steering their cohorts toward the common goal. Dealing with guild drama might have you thinking should have a degree in social work by now. Playing the auction house might have inspired you to go into the stock market (and if you have earned a fortune doing this, please share your tips with the group!) Or maybe you've just learned to suck up your disappointments and handle them without having to resort to QQ and name-calling.

Have you acquired an impressive skill through WoW that you might not have developed otherwise?

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Breakfast Topic: What real-life skills has WoW helped you develop? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Does your guild’s social reputation matter?

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If you've been on the internet in any capacity for a few years, you are familiar with the Penny Arcade theory (NSFW language). I've just come through a couple weeks of this with my guild. It resulted in one person's being kicked and another leaving. Briefly, the kicked person tried to sell tracking the Time-Lost Proto Drake for 5k gold. A person on the server paid 2,500g up front and was led on a wild goose chase, after which the ex-guild member phased, hearthed and put the "pigeon" on ignore. When an officer and I confronted the perpetrator, the lies grew ever more convoluted. I kicked him and repaid, from guild funds, the money stolen. The person who quit behaved in a manner that wasn't appropriate. I called him out on it.

These incidents have me thinking: Does it matter how you behave in a fake world? Realistically, I'm probably never going to meet 95 percent of the people on my server. In our guild Code of Conduct, I state right at the beginning, "We do not tolerate malicious, hurtful behavior or speech in guild chat, party chat, WoW chat or on Vent. This is grounds for dismissal. Honor and respect each other and other guilds. When you join this guild, you represent us wherever you go. Respect others as you expect to be respected. Your integrity and actions directly reflect onto this guild. Inappropriate conduct with other guild members and the Llane community at large is not permitted and is grounds for dismissal."

I am adamant about this. I feel that if you want to be treated with respect, taken seriously, invited to raids and not called out on the server forum, you must respect others. I've worked very hard to create a guild that is respected. When people think about us, they know we're here for the fun of the game. We don't take ourselves seriously, and we treat you fairly and with respect. Am I way off base here? Again, does it matter? How do you think your server views you and your guild? Do you care?

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Breakfast Topic: Does your guild's social reputation matter? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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