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Ready Check: The human element of the Raid Finder
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid. These past few weeks have been quite the doozy here for Ready Check as we've discussed the future of raiding in Pandaria followed by the more current notion of raid accessibility, two seemingly different topics that are heavy intertwined. This week, we'll be brushing into another similar topic as we delve into the newest tool that Blizzard is releasing in order to increase raid accessibility across the board: the new Raid Finder. Currently on the PTR, the Raid Finder has been running rather hit or miss with some of the playerbase at the moment. A few are avid PTR-goers, while others have only just now popped into the process. For either group, they certainly don't have a lack of being vocal on the forums. Despite what problems some players have been raising, I feel and have experienced that the Raid Finder tool will go over amazingly well. A lot of the complaints that we hear now are the exact same ones that were given for the Dungeon Finder when it was being released, and while not everything from 5-man content transitions to raids, both will have the same success. Join me as I defend the single tool that I will probably never use in this game.
Ready Check: Looking at raid accessibility
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid. Last week, we brushed upon the topic of what the next expansion might hold for raiding. Specifically, the talk centered around the concept that raiding cannot be Blizzard's sole focus any more. As much effort as has been put into raiding, not every player is capable of getting involved with it. The argument was that Blizzard needed to focus on other content for max-level players aside from raiding and questioned what impact that would have on raiding overall. First, at little bit of information. The blog Player vs. Auction House went off the norm and provided a little bit of numbers gleamed from WowProgress about T11 raiding before 4.2. While there is some interesting data as it relates to last week's topic, that isn't the focus I want to bring up. An argument was put forth that Cataclysm raiding is less accessible today than it previously was. I feel this is a great topic to delve right into this week.
Raid Rx: How to stop worrying about healing
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. Annnd the BlizzCon hangover continues. I think we should have two BlizzCons a year. Perhaps one out in the east (or maybe a separate one in Europe)? I think it'd be neat! But alas, I'm digressing. This week in how to maintain your healing sanity, I wanted to discuss a problem that most healers have experienced at some point in their healing careers. Ever go to bed sweating stressing about your healing? Felt particularly bad about your performance because you just kept dropping the ball? Have that sinking feeling in your stomach after a particularly bad night? If this happens to you consistently, then you just might be suffering from worry!
Raid Rx: Thoughts on the next expansion and healers
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. Wow, what a truly fantastic BlizzCon! Had a blast at the WoW Insider party meeting all of you. I want to take a moment to fire some shout-outs to everyone who approached me just to say hello. It's quite humbling! With the new Mists of Pandaria expansion on the horizon, has anything really changed for healing? We didn't really experience much in terms of a philosophy change. In fact, healing itself was hardly even addressed at all. So what gives? What can we expect for healers going into 5.0? Not much, sadly, but read on anyway.
Ready Check: Looking into the future of raiding
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. BlizzCon 2011 was a great source of new information for a lot of players. One of the things that Blizzard didn't really speak about, however, was the future of raiding in the next expansion and beyond. Since The Burning Crusade, Blizzard has made enormous strides in changing the face of endgame content. It started with the reduction from 40-man raiding to 25-man raiding along with the introduction of 10-man raiding. In Wrath, we saw an even larger change, with every raid having a 10-man option that allowed even greater access to the raiding scene than ever before. Now, 10-man and 25-man are, to Blizzard at least, considered to be on equal footing. With each expansion has come a drastic change to the raiding scene, yet nothing was announced for the next game. This leaves us rather up in the air as to where Blizzard intends to take the raiding scene. WoW is becoming a game of accessibility, where the end goal is to make the largest amount of content available to the widest audience. In light of this, it is time that we don our tin foil hats in taking a look at what the future might hold for raiding players of WoW.
Ready Check: How legendaries destroy PVE
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. By now, everyone is familiar with the bitter arguments that follow the release of any legendary weapon. There are always the petty squabbles over who should get it first, which class or spec gains the most benefit from it, even down so much as to who should be allowed to get the item at all. Beyond those things, there is always the riled-up PVP crowd. PVP doesn't offer itemization or choices to mirror or match legendary items by any means, and every legendary item has long been a must-have for any serious PVPer. Basically, you have a legendary, you rock face without even questioning it; without one, well, you just better pray you end up matched on equal footing. Every legendary has done this, and each one has created a new controversy, yet no one ever gives any consideration to the opposing side of the game. Yes, legendaries come from PVE, and any raider can technically get one with dedication, but they have just as of an unbalancing impact on the raiding scene as they do the PVP-verse. This week, we'll be looking into those negative reactions.
Ready Check: What to do when there's no raiding left
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. As we all sit by our computers, patiently awaiting for some news about the oncoming patch wherein we get to finally kill that blazing dragon that has been a bane upon all my alts for the entire expansion, it can be difficult sometimes to find things to do. Sure, there's still a raid that not everyone has completed on heroic difficulty -- in fact, most people haven't -- yet what statistics we have access to shows that not every raid group has any interest in heroic raids. Some raid groups just want to clear out normal and be done with it. With only seven bosses to tackle, clearing our Firelands certainly isn't an all-week affair. What to do then when the current raiding content is cleared? The number of bosses in Firelands isn't really a major concern; even with nearly double that in the first raiding tier of this expansions, several raiding groups would clear out everything available well before weekly resets. Keeping your raiders engaged in content while not overwhelming them is just as much the job of the raid leader as it is Blizzard's. There is a lot of content out in the world of Azeroth -- years worth, in fact. It's up to you to exploit it all.
Raid Rx: Raid healing wish list for BlizzCon
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. We are one week away from BlizzCon! I cannot wait! While most of the healing changes have already been outlined for 4.3, I'm sure there are a few things that you wish would be different. I have a list compiled myself of things that would be interesting to have or revert back to. However, you and I both know these are things that will never happen. But who cares? It's fun to think about the possibilities, at least. I'm sure there'll be other exciting announcements next week. Maybe we'll see some new healing reveals that Blizzard's planning for the next expansion.
Ready Check: Handling raid drama
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Greetings, raiders. As we await more information to come down the pipeline, it's time to sit back and reflect upon some of the more mundane issues that face raiders in the coming months. These past few weeks, we've been discussing various methods of loot distribution and how they work (or sometimes don't). There are times where these systems can fail so badly that they cause loot drama within the raid. Other times, it isn't as melodramatic as loot. Raids are nothing more than groups and people, and in groups, not everyone will always get along perfectly. Raid drama is, at times, an unfortunate side-effect of being within a raid. While we all hope for the perfect raiding team that is without any issues at all, sometimes the worst comes to pass and conflict arises. These are the times that test the leadership skills of a group organizer. This week, we'll go about discussing how to properly handle raider fallout.
Raid Rx: Preparing for heroic Firelands
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. After the earlier Firelands nerf, a number of guilds that had been struggling on some of the later bosses (Majordomo Staghelm and Ragnaros, for instance) have either cleared it out or are extremely close to doing so. With tier 13 content (and Deathwing) looming soon, it makes sense for leaders to maximize the equipment for raid groups. Healers are definitely not an exception. As a healer, you'll find that challenges will ... heat up. Anyway, this week you'll find a list of things you should know and keep in mind as you and your raid group start making headway into the next level of Firelands.
Ready Check: Looking into roll-based loot systems
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Greetings once again, raiders. While the rest of the writers are off in their lofty towers of 4.3 land, I am stuck here in the trenches of reality. Fret not, we'll soon be climbing out of this foxhole that we've found ourself in, but the time is not quite right. I promise you though, when next we hit 4.3 content with our feet running, it is going to be an epic adventure that you won't want to miss. In the meantime, it's back to the discussion on loot systems. Gear, after all, doesn't distribute itself. Last week, we talked about various DKP systems and the advantages or disadvantages that they hold. While DKP is a fairly common system that you'll probably see in most guilds, it isn't the only popular choice. This week, we'll be taking a look into roll-based loot systems and how they too can be an effective method for distributing purples.
Raid Rx: Firelands nerfs
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. The great Firelands nerf has arrived! Those of you who have been struggling on progression bosses (normal mode or heroic mode) will no doubt have found that the the barriers have been lowered significantly. Good or bad, that's entirely up to you and your philosophy. On the one hand, content is now much more accessible. On the other hand, there are many of you who wish you had had more time to take down bosses pre-nerf. The overall nerf, though, changes several aspects of healing. I find myself not needing to work as hard. That doesn't necessarily mean not paying attention during a raid. With a lower amount of healing required (due to lower damage on several bosses), it just means fewer spells having to go out. Even though it might feel a little demoralizing to me, it is a little relieving in the sense that content can be seen more easily by players who normally wouldn't have been able to experience it. We'll go over my thoughts on this week, along with some ways to make healing engaging again.
Ready Check: Looking into DKP loot systems
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Welcome back, raiders. In our last edition, we talked about the importance of having a solid loot system as a part of a solid raiding team. Loot is the end result of playing this game, no matter which sector it is that you choose to focus on. Having a great distribution system for all the shiny trinkets that your raid stumbles across insider the corpses of giant beasts helps to ensure that everything runs smoothly. As was mentioned last week, each loot system is judged based on how equally it distributes loot as well as how well it rewards player participation. This week, we'll be taking a look at one of the more common loot systems that you come across in WoW and how they all rank. Remember, loot distribution is always something that should be taken seriously, but more than that, there is no one right answer. Which system works for one raid group might not pan out for another. The ultimate goal is to avoid any and all loot problems in a raid; provided that a system avoids that, then the rest doesn't matter.
Raid Rx: The full healer skill set checklist
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. Heading out to BlizzCon this year? Make sure you stop by the WoW Insider meetup! Would love to hang out and meet more of you and talk more healing shop! I get frequent emails from players who are new to raid healing. They're not necessarily new to raiding, but it does seem like a fair number of you out there have DPS characters that are your main. Maybe on the weekends, you switch to a healer for a different change of pace. One of the main topics that routinely appears in tweets, emails and carrier pigeon is the topic of healer skill set. What are the basic things that raid healers should know how to do? Is there anything at the advanced level? We're not going to refer to any items or gear in this post, largely because we're talking about what healers need to be able to do.
Ready Check: How to handle raid loot systems
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. There is one simple truth that we must all face: Loot is the most important factor of WoW. We all play for different reasons -- some for friends, others for the thrill of downing new content, and some to be the best. With all of these things, the end result is the same. Run dungeons, you get gear. Deal in PVP, you get gear. Raid? You end up with gear. Gear is unavoidable. It is always the end result of any activity that you perform. Every game has its end, to a story, to a plot -- and WoW's end is gear. Unlike single-player games wherein loot control is not an issue, WoW deals with multiple people and limited gear. There's only so much stuff to go around, with far more people wanting to get it. To facilitate who gets what, players have relied upon constructed systems of loot distribution. While the way in which loot is handled will vary from guild to guild, there are several standardized systems that are fairly popular. This week, we'll be taking a look at why loot systems are important and the things that you can do in order to minimize loot-related issues within your raid.
Raid Rx: How to handle button mashing syndrome
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. Wildstar. Firefall. Counterstrike: GO. Novus Aeterno. Those are games I either looked at or tried out at PAX Prime in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Keep them in the back of your mind if you're looking for future games to get involved with. And now, back to some weekly healing for thought! My friends, I have noticed a trend among newer healers. Players new to the art of healing are reporting some slight bruising or sore fingers. Now, I have a theory as to why this is happening: I call it button mashing syndrome. I was at a friend's place a while ago and watching him heal. He was really smashing the healing spells through that keyboard. But there is a fine line between mindless, panicky button smashing and tactical button mashing. Now, if you are a member of my guild, you would immediately attest to the fact that I am a button masher. In fact, when I'm speaking over Mumble during a raid, my players like to comment that it sounds like there's a building under construction on my end due to the massive sounds of keyboard pounding going on. (I'm actually sporting a Razer Black Widow Ultimate. If you're not familiar with it, the keyboard is reminiscent of the old IBM keyboard that was really clunky but durable.) So what's the difference?
Ready Check: Dealing with a dead tank
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. At last we come to the end of this little miniseries that we've had going. First, we talked about how to deal with a poor DPS within a raid group; then we talked about dealing with a poor healer. Now it is time that we bring the discussion to tanks. Often, raid leaders find themselves being far more lax with tanks than they would be with other players. Tanks are a rare commodity; finding a good one is perhaps harder than it is to find a DPSer or even a healer, yet a fantastic tank is the cornerstone of any solid raiding group. Tanks take a brunt of the responsibility in many encounters, so it can be difficult to admonish them at times. That being said, it is just as important to keep the tanks up to snuff as it is any other raider. Given their limited representation within a raid, a poor tank has a far larger effect on a raid than any other role. If your tank just can't pull it off, everything else quickly falls apart; they don't really have anyone else who might pick up their missing slack the way that other roles could. It is important that your tanks know their stuff and get the job done.
Raid Rx: Reforging tools and concepts for healers
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. Today we will dive into the wild realm of reforging. One of the DPS players in my guild moans about the players he sees in different pickup raids ("That guy has 900 hit rating -- wait, that's 900 hit rating over the cap!"). That's why this week I wanted to shine the spotlight on one of the reforging calculators that you may not have heard about. The place is called WoW Reforge! It does have a set of defaults for the different classes (including healing specs). As always with all calculators, you have the capability to adjust the weights and stuff on your own.
Ready Check: Dealing with a weak healer
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Welcome back, raiders. Last week, we talked about how to handle a low DPS player within a raid. The article focused more on the way that players attempt to deflect attention from any issues that they might be having; while that's useful information, there are other sides as well. This week, we will be focusing on healers. Much as with DPS, there are no weak roles within a raid. Everyone has to perform up to par in order to succeed; furthermore, just like DPSers, healers can get equally defensive when approached about a problem. Join me as we explore many of the ways in which a healer can attempt to deflect proper blame against them and ways in which you can help them improve. Remember, a raid leader's strongest tool is information.
Raid Rx: The evolving healing strategy
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. Before the age of videos and dedicated boss pages, boss kill strategy was extremely elusive. We're talking back during the vanilla era of Warcraft. The time it took for guilds to crush bosses took weeks (sometimes months). The top-end 40-player raiding guilds all consisted of the best that the game had to offer. Guilds below them had a player consistency involving 10 really good players, 25 mediocre ones, and five AFK raiders. How did those players learn? Who did they get their strat videos from? With no Encounter Journal, everything was done from a trial-and-error standpoint. The general plan for healers in these pioneer raid teams? Heal all the things. Eight to 12 healers were used (at least, when I did them) for learning. It was a race to see if we could stay alive long enough to destroy raid bosses. Some of the bosses in Blackwing Lair took 20-30 minutes. Fast forward years later, and now we have all these different tools at our disposal. There are videos and the attached commentary that walks players through what happens on select stages of an encounter. Blizzard itself has provided a database of abilities within the game. Walk-throughs are littered across the internet on major information sites, blogs, and forums. Rarely is there ever a unique strategy to a boss, because we watch the pros undergo various attempts with different approaches. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don't. Eventually, they settle on a method that delivers constant kills. That information gets released and filtered down to the rest of us, which we then adapt ourselves. Originality isn't exactly common anymore.
