Joe Perez
Articles by Joe Perez
Totem Talk: Post-BlizzCon restoration shaman thoughts
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. It has been a very exciting weekend for every World of Warcraft fan. BlizzCon is that one yearly event where news unlike anything else we've heard all year comes out. We were treated not only to the announcement of the next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, but a plethora of changes for every class and spec. The big news outside of the expansion was the announcement of the new talent system. In patch 5.0, a new talent system will come along and replace the one we have grown to know right now. It came as a bit of a shock, especially after we were bumped down to the 31-talent point system we have now. The system has a lot of exciting things that will have an impact on our healing; probably most important is that talents will no longer be a key factor in determining a character's power.
BlizzCon 2011: Heroic Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery redesign
One of the most exciting things last year was the announcement that in the Cataclysm expansion there would be a redesign of classic dungeons into new heroic modes for level 85. Shadowfang Keep and The Deadmines got quite a face lift including new layouts, new boss mechanics and in some cases entirely new bosses. The redesign was quite successful, and the new instances were fun and fresh and breathed new life into content that had previously been considered stale. With the announcement of the new expansion, Mists of Pandaria, there was a very exciting announcement that we will be receiving three new heroic dungeons as redesigns. These rediscovered zones are Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery. Both are iconic instances and most players have some fond (or not so fond) memories there.. During the Dungeon and Raids panel we received a few bits of information about each of these revamps. Join us after the break for details.
BlizzCon 2011: Hands on with Mists of Pandaria
I'm sure that you've already heard the news of the next World of Warcraft expansion: Mists of Pandaria. As an added treat to the reveal of the next expansion, those in attendance at BlizzCon have the opportunity to sit down and spend some time with the new race and the new starting zone. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to play through what was available and to get to know the new Pandaran race just a little bit. We also got to spend some time with the new class, the monk. Join us after the break for more information.
Totem Talk: Restoration's pre-BlizzCon special
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. Can you feel the electricity in the air? Can you feel the anticipation? This is one of the most anticipated weeks of the year for those of us who play World of Warcraft. Everyone from the most casual to the most hardcore of players tends to love this upcoming weekend. It will be a weekend of news, a weekend of events, and a weekend of amazing meetups. BlizzCon will be an amazing time, for sure, and an opportunity for many questions to be answered. There will be several panels of interest to us and plenty of opportunity for us to ask questions. The World of Warcraft Class Talent System panel, World of Warcraft Dungeons & Raids panel, and many more will all have potential news for us. This week, I'd like to talk about what we could possibly get news of this weekend.
Totem Talk: Restoration's pre-patch 4.3 activity guide
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. With patch 4.3 on the PTR and the next tier of raid content under way, many of us are wondering what to do to fill the time in between now, in the time after the great nerf, and the next content patch. Some folks have recently expressed concern at being bored until there is something new to do. Truth is, there is still quite a number of things that you can do while you are waiting for the next big patch, from the very little things like just socializing with guildies and friends, to tying up those loose ends in the current tier of content. This week, I thought we could take a look at a number of various options you have at having fun and keeping busy in the pre-patch world.
Totem Talk: Restoration's first week with PTR patch 4.3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. It's been a very exciting few weeks for restoration shaman as a group. First, we got to see the new look of the tier 13 shaman gear. It's a good-looking set, that's for sure. We then got a chance to see our tier 13 set bonuses. Both the two- and four-piece set bonuses are actually quite nice, and I'm looking forward to getting to check them out in a live environment soon. Last week, though, we got news of the PTR going live, and with it came a number of restoration shaman changes. To be honest, there were just a lot of general shaman changes in the works on that patch right from the get-go. For the past week, I've been playing around with the PTR and the changes, through both new dungeon content and current raids. Today, I'd like to share my experiences of the last week with you.
Patch 4.3 PTR: Shaman class changes
Patch 4.3 is now up on the PTR, as well as the official patch 4.3 patch notes. With the latest build comes a rather large amount of changes for shaman of all three talent specializations. Some come as no shock; others were things I don't think many of us planned on seeing. Everything, though, seems aimed at bringing balance back to the class on every front. As always, we look at the upcoming changes for any patch with both excitement and trepidation. Will our changes make a difference for the better or the worse? Are they buffs or are they nerfs? Will we finally get that spectral moose we were promised so long ago? As always, remember that these changes are tentative, and since they are on the test realm, they are subject to change at any time that the developers at Blizzard Entertainment feel they should change. So what's in store, and what does it mean for shaman? Jump after the cut for the full list.
Totem Talk: Restoration tier 13 set bonuses and Firelands nerf
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. So last week, we talked about the aesthetics of the shaman tier 13 set. It is a pretty good-looking set overall, and it was very nice to hear what the community had to say about it as a whole. You guys certainly offered quite a bit of insight into how you view the set. We also took some time to make some speculative guesses as to what we might see in the next patch in regards to shaman healing and even discussed how the developers looked at healing as a whole. Another week has come and gone, and it certainly has been full of excitement. We got our first glimpses of the restoration shaman two- and four-piece set bonuses for tier 13, and I thought we could take a moment today to talk about that as well as what the current tweaks to the Firelands raids mean for you as a restoration shaman. Oh, and in case you didn't see in Sunday's The Queue, that handsome dwarf shaman on the playing card is yours truly. I'll freely admit that I squeed a bit when I saw that arrive in my inbox.
Totem Talk: Tier 13 and Patch 4.3 for restoration
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. Last week, we had a chat about transmogrification and your choices as a restoration shaman. We also covered the shamanistic style through the years, covering the various tiers of gear and how they were defined through their art style -- strong tones of the elements and classic Warcraft shaman iconography. This past week, we finally got our first look at the shaman tier 13 set. Opinions have been varied, ranging from love and adoration of the set to outright hatred of it. So I thought this week we could talk a little bit about the shaman tier 13 armor set, as well as speculate as to what we might see this week in the upcoming patch 4.3 information and what it could mean for restoration shaman.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman transmogrification guide
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. In patch 4.3, not only will we get the chance to punch Deathwing in the face, we can do so with a whole new style. Not only will we be getting a new tier of raiding to go through, as well as new 5-man content to explore, but there will also be some extra features added that we as players have been asking for quite some time. Transmogrification will allow us to take our current armor and weapons and transform them to look like other pieces of gear. Vanity items may sound like a silly request by the players, but when you've had as rich a history of iconic gear sets as shaman have, it can be pretty awesome. Over the years, shaman in particular have had some pretty amazing and visually stunning sets of gear. Let's take a look! Also, if you listen to the lyrics of the classic song above, you'll notice that not once do they specifically mention pants. (I'm ignoring the mention of suit.) Long live the kilt!
Totem Talk: Head of shaman healing for a day
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. We've spent the last couple of weeks going over the history of the restoration shaman, dating back from the days of vanilla WoW all the way up through Cataclysm. I feel that no matter what your current stance is on shaman healing, we can all agree that it has been one roller coaster ride from then until now. I'm an amateur game designer currently working on my own little indie game. Whether or not it will see the light of day is a topic for another day, but needless to say, things like class balance and character design are always of interest to me. With that in mind, I did pose a question for the last two weeks. It seemed like a simple question, but the answers I received were incredibly well thought-out. It made it hard to choose just a few for this week's article, and it may wind up making into a second part later on. Let's see what you, the readers, would propose for class changes to restoration shaman if you were head honcho for a day.
Totem Talk: The later history of restoration shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. Last week, we started our trip back to the beginning of the days of our restoration shaman pioneers, those brave souls who endured 40-man raids, laggy servers, limited toolkits and short-duration totems! They survived the harrowing times of downranking and the collapse of the 40-man raid into 25-man raids and helped restore the Sunwell. Truly, this was a time of legends. This week, our trip through WoW's history will lead us toward more recent events. While we can reminisce about the good old days of the release and first expansion of WoW, we can't deny the impact the current expansion, as well as the one before it, had on the evolution of the shaman healer. I mean, it's not like they heralded the end of the world as we know it, right?
Totem Talk: The early days of restoration shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. This has been a pretty exciting week for every player and every class, it seems. As I'm sure you heard, patch 4.3 is already in the works and building up to the epic confrontation with the mad dragon aspect Deathwing himself. Along with what will likely be the defining fight of this expansion, we also got some interesting news about vanity gear and some additional storage for those of us who are massive pack rats. While we look forward to patch 4.3, this week I thought it would be the perfect time to start looking back on restoration shaman through the years of WoW's history a little bit. After all, we've come so far, and it's ever so fun to Back It Up once in a while. This week's header just seemed appropriate for the topic -- hope you enjoy the sounds of the wonderful Caro Emerald!
Totem Talk: Restoration crit and haste and mastery, oh my!
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. Last week, we took some time to revisit the optional talents for restoration shaman. There were some good comments on the talents and many good questions in the comments. I hope you enjoyed the piece. Continuing the reader-requested posts, this week we'll be talking about a restoration shaman's secondary stats. Reader Shazzyy asked for a discussion on this topic, which means that we will be talking about crit, haste and mastery and not only how they affect restoration shaman, but also possible builds concerning them. As always, if you want me to cover a particular topic or have any questions, feel free to email me or send me a message on Twitter.
Totem Talk: Revisiting restoration's optional talents
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. The ask a restoration shaman article last week is something I'd like to start doing a little more regularly. You guys provided some awesome questions and offered amazing feedback. Seeing readers answering questions as much as asking them makes me proud to be a member of the shaman community! Today's post comes as a request through last week's call for questions. When our talent trees were revamped to the current model, one of the goals was to make some optional but fun talents. Some of the talents have proven to be insanely useful and almost mandatory, while others seem completely out of place. Today we're going to talk about some of restoration's "optional" talents. Oh, and if you have anything you want covered in a Totem Talk post, feel free to email me!
Totem Talk: Ask a restoration shaman (again)
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. Last week we talked about shaman with axes and a little bit about the restoration shaman two-piece bonus from tier 12 gear. The last week has certainly been a busy one for most folks. With the video now out for DREAM Paragon's 25-man heroic Ragnaros kill and an idea of their group's raid composition, it has been a week of speculation and debate. There's one thing that always will remain constant -- there are always more questions to be answered! This week, we'll be taking reader questions that have come in through comments, Twitter or email in another installment of Ask a Restoration Shaman!
About the Bloggers: Joe Perez
About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on some of our more longstanding staffers in earlier About the Bloggers entries. What do you do for WoW Insider? Back in February of 2010, I was hired on as the class columnist for Totem Talk: Restoration for all the healing-minded shaman. While that has been my primary focus, I try to help out with other items like interesting news or account security tips whenever I can. I've even stepped in and helped out on a Phat Loot Phriday. I also have been known to help out around the stage area for the WoW Insider meetup at BlizzCon!
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman, axes and mana concerns
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how. For the last few weeks, we have been covering the various bosses of the Firelands raid. Beth'tilac and Rhyolith were taken down, Shannox and Baleroc have been toppled, Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm were retired early. This week, though, will not be about Ragnaros -- at least, not quite yet. This week, I thought we could talk about a wonderful little zone drop and how it shapes up for restoration shaman. I also thought we could talk about the tier 12 two-piece set bonus for restoration shaman and how useful it is in heroic dungeon and raiding environments.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman healing for Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. You've bested Beth'tilac and ruined Ryolith. You've shot down Shannox and become the bane of Baleroc. You've been making your way through the Firelands, killing bosses, collecting epic gear and carving a path to the final encounter. Two more bosses stand in your way: one, an oversized legendary firebird who used to fight for the dreaming dragonflight, the other, a traitor to all of Azeroth, driven mad by the shattering of the nightmare and the realization that he could not bring his lost son back to life. It is now up to you to douse the flames of the bird and keep the cat occupied with a ball of yarn.
Totem Talk: Restoration shaman tips on healing Shannox and Baleroc
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how. We've gone from tracking your cooldowns to talking about downing bosses in The Firelands. Last week, we discussed taking down a giant, fiery arachnid and stepping on the toes of a rather crotchety old elemental that needs a little assistance turning left and right. Now that our first foray into the Firelands is complete, and with a couple of kills under our belts, it is time to venture further into the land of fire and really ugly elementals! This week, we will be talking about two more bosses in the land of Ragnaros' rule. One is supposedly the greatest hunter of all time, though I have yet to see him kite General Drakkisath while his party deals with the adds, so I can't verify this claim. The other seems to think that he's in a Peter Jackson movie and that we are apparently a raid full of Sir Ian McKellens.This week's image is supplied by the wonderful and talented MagicalMelonBall. I stepped into a Crystal Prison Trap once, and the carbonite jokes just keep coming.