About World of Matticus

I’ve visited many different WoW blogs and some contained information that didn’t satisfy what I was looking for. I wanted to change that. During the summer of 2007, I decided to setup my own blog and detail my own experiences as a Priest, an officer, and as a player.

Here’s just a sampling of the topics you’ll find here:

• How to become a better player
• How to make yourself grow
• Healing techniques
• Raid strategy
• Leadership advice for raid officers
• Dealing with common guild issues

About Matticus

My name’s Matticus and I play a Dwarf Holy Priest. I started playing WoW during the summer of 2005. You can find me on the alliance side on Ner’Zuhl as alliance. In just about every kind of fantasy game I’ve played, the class that I frequently start with is a healer. In Guild Wars, I played a medic. In Team Fortress 2, I’m a medic. I think this stems from a paranoia I have that healing is a “dirty job and someone has to do it”. There’s a lot of bad healers out there and sometimes I have trouble trusting them to properly do what they’re asked. The reason I rolled a Priest (and now a Resto Shaman and Paladin) is so that the friends I play with have a smart and dependable healer watching their backs at all times.

I have held officer and class leader positions within many guilds. I’ve been on both sides of the leadership fence (following and leading) and I’m a unique player in that I’m able to understand the perspectives of both sides. Even though I’ve been in such positions, I have almost never asked for it. I believe responsibility and power are two sides of the same coin.

When I’m not busy playing WoW, I’m typically in class. I’m a 3rd year student in Simon Fraser University in beautiful BC (Canada). My goal is to come out with a Criminology degree and get a position in law enforcement or law in general.

Okay, okay here’s the characters that I have:

• Mallet (Holy, PvE Progression)
• Saphfira (PvE Resto, gathering toon)
• Valoray (PvE Holy, utility toon with alchemy and blacksmithing)

About Wynthea

I rolled my first Priest in the Summer of 2005 on my brother’s account. When I got my first post-college job and moved into my own place, I couldn’t play her anymore, and eventually she disappeared. 18 months later, my apartment had some furniture, and I could afford a computer that would run Burning Crusade. I rolled Renwein in January of 2007 on Darrowmere-US and hit 3/4 TK and 5/6 SSC before the social stresses of an incredibly small-pop server and a GM shipping off to Iraq stopped our attempts at Vashj and Kael. The small server did lend itself well to community, and I was offered a raiding spot in the top Horde guild – provided I could level and gear up for Kael over their Christmas break. Wynthea was born, made a mad-dash for 70, and nabbed one of the first 25 Kael’thas vials on the server.  We cleared Hyjal and made it to BloodBoil before a Series of Unfortunate Events took their toll. Faced with rebuilding less than a month before Sunwell, we called it, and transferred off in packs of 3 or 4.  Wynthea made it through the bulk of pre-nerf Sunwell content, and is currently working through 25-man WotLK.

I’ve held various officer, assistant gm, and class-lead positions in nearly every guild I’ve joined. I’ve found that I prefer simply being an active raider and guild contributor, and have turned down formal leadership roles since. My WoW passions are killing new bosses, theorycrafting, and helping new Priests learn how to play at an end-game level.

Having leveled two Priests to 70, and now one to 80, I am fiercely class-proud, and truly believe that Priests are, by design, the best and most versatile healers WoW has to offer. (/says a quick prayer to Ghostcrawler.) That said, I’m constantly impressed and surprised by the amazingly talented players who share my healing roster.

My Armory Links:

• Wynthea – Slayer of Illidan and countless gnomes; Red mohawk of DOOM
• Renwein – Mothballed since 2.3, occasionally runs something on the weekends. Lately, she’s been levelling…very, very slowly.
• Afiya – My first real alt, and my attempt at a Resto Druid. Which is fun, but mostly she’s how I keep from going broke on herbs and pots.

Why I’m Here

Matticus and I met via this very blog, and began collaborating almost immediately. Matt pointed out that with so many ideas and a passion for the class, I may as well have my own blog. I countered that between editing his posts and raiding, I didn’t have time for all the set-up and nurturing a new blog requires. Once he realized that he could trick me into giving him a day off without taking a break from providing content, he invited me to begin my career as Deputy-Matticus.

Editor’s Note: Best hiring move I’ve ever made.

About Sydera

My name is Sydera and I like to heal things–think Florence Nightingale with foliage. I play a night elf druid on Vek’nilash-US, and I raid 12 hours a week. As a guild officer for Conquest, I coordinate healing and recruit new raiders. I started playing WoW in Fall 2005 when a relative handed me a free copy of the game—it was love at first click. Before I discovered the joys of Broccoli-stalk healing, I played a holy paladin, and I now have alts in all healing classes. I have to say, though, bark beats poofy dresses and heavy plate in my book. My in-game hobbies include spamming lifebloom, innervating arcane mages, and feeding the trolls in trade chat.

I am delighted to be blogging alongside two such formidable priests. My desire to blog is a logical extension of two of my other hobbies. I love to write, both for my job and for fun, and I am obsessed with research of all kinds. Ever since I became a serious raider, I have relied on expert bloggers like Matt and Wyn to help me fine-tune my healing technique. After many months of reading and raiding, I wanted to share what I had learned with the WoW community. I’ve got a head full of opinions, and I like nothing better than to get feedback on my ideas. So, when Matticus posted a search for a third blogger, I jumped at the chance.

I consider Syd, and my World of Warcraft life, as a sort of secret identity. In my ordinary day-to-day existence, I don’t get to slay dragons or save alien space goat children from being cooked and eaten. Alas, I just get to teach people to speak Spanish. I suppose that’s helpful—especially since it involves sock puppets and a lot of repetition. So, I guess it’s not all that different from coordinating healing.

About Lodur

I’m Lodur, and I’m a Restoration Shaman. Though I’ve been playing WoW from the orginal beta, I have been gaming in since general pen and paper DnD. Even then I was a dwarf cleric, healing my companions. Don’t worry, I’ve done my time as a dps too and recently tried my hand at tanking as well. Most of my time online is spent on Zul’jin Alliance side as an officer and Heal Lead for my guild, Unpossible .

I orginally was a horde shaman, back in the vanilla WoW days and switched sides, finishing off my AQ/NAxx raiding days as a Nightelf Hunter. When Burning Crusade was announced and shamans would be available to Alliance, I rejoiced and started gathering gear for my soon-to-be Draenei Shaman. Now in Wrath I’m shooting chain heals at my tanks while organizing my healers, waiting for Ulduar (and beyond!) and working on my DK alt.

When I’m not in game I’m a network engineer for a major Internet provider while going back to school for video game design and programming. It was through the healer forums at Plusheal (I was surfing at above-said job) that I met Matticus, which inspired me to start writing as a guest poster. With a love for the game and the class that has healing lazer beams, I’m here to give Shammies the attention and respect they _truly_ deserve.

My characters

• Lodur (Holy, PvE Progression)
• Sigrdrifa (PvP Elemental, gathering toon)