Your Warcraft Identity vs Your Blog Identity

focus

Image courtesy of ijsendoorn

Here’s a sight that I’m starting to see more often around the WoW blogosphere. Bloggers are shifting the focus of their blog onto something else entirely. Incidentally enough, a post on the Blog Azeroth forums asked this very question:

Does anyone have any experience of changing the focus of their blog? I like being the Feather Duster, but would it be a bit dishonest of me to keep going like that, when a large proportion of my posts will be about alts?

Those of you just starting blogging have time to think and to plan ahead. The blogs that are already established have problems doing a 180 shift and writing about other topics on a full time basis.

Why is that?

When you brand your blog, brand it as you

Whether you’re aware of it or not, the moment you start a blog it is considered your image. You have to pick your face and your brand accordingly. Many WoW bloggers blog from the perspective of their class. Some solid examples here are dwarfpriest and resto4life. Instantly by looking at their web addresses, you already know what they’re going to be about.

By that same token, when you look at a blog url like worldofmatticus.com, www.groupsofwords.com or toomanyannas.com, you don’t have that same feeling of knowing what you’re getting yourself into. Heck, you might not even be aware that they’re WoW blogs. But this gives us an advantage further down the road.

ChickGM asked me a good question a while ago:

Why World of Matticus? Why not World of Mallet?

When I started my blog, I did not know how far I wanted to go with it. I didn’t know if I would be changing the focus of my blog in the future. I didn’t know if I would still be playing and writing about my Priest 8 months down the line or if I’d be bored. That’s why the blog is named after me and not any of my toons so that I have the flexibility to change.

Another possibility is if I decided to change servers and the name of the toon was already used. Wouldn’t be cool now, would it?

What’s wrong with changing focus?

Nothing.

Imagine what would happen if:

Coke stopped selling drinks and sold cars
Nike stopped selling athletic wear and sold desktop computers
Amazon became a lingerie and womens wear company instead of being an online shopping powerhouse

It’d be weird at first, right? It would take time to get used to the fact that your favourite companies aren’t selling the products you wanted from them in the first place. The end result is that you turn to their competition to get the stuff that you want.

Let’s apply this perspective to WoW blogs. I have a Shaman kicking around that I use if muscle is needed anywhere. There’s a few select blogs that I go to in order to catch up on Shaman related stuff.

What were to happen if they were to one day stop writing about their Shaman and decide to write about Mages instead?

And this right here is a big pet peeve of mine. If I go to a Shaman blog, I want to read about Shaman stuff. I’m in for a surprise if I go to Warlock blog to read about Warlocks and find out that the author has shifted his focus to Hunters even though everything about the name, the layout, and the posts just scream “WARLOCK STUFF”.

What would happen if Phaelia decided to just write about Rogues one day and switch her mains? It would suck massively :(.

So for all of you potential bloggers out there, keep these ideas in mind when you first start writing. If you pick a brand and a name that’s distinctly associated with a class, you will find it hard to shift later on down the road when you’ve already established yourself as an authority in said class. If you don’t have a problem with that, then by all means feel free to continue.

I just want to repeat myself and say that there is nothing wrong with changing your focus if you can plan for it accordingly.

But if you do plan to change, expect a pretty hefty uphill battle as you may lose some readers. It could take some time to re-establish your audience numbers to what it was before the swap.

An Open Letter of Support to the Bear

Master BBB has been feeling rather drained lately. I don’t blame him one bit and I just wanted to echo his sentiments.

I know exactly what he’s going through.

Sometimes I yearn for the days when my blog was little known and I was getting under 100 hits a day. I could write whatever I want and be damned with what readers think. I made a comment in BA chat one day that writing a blog is akin to a parent-child relationship: Both want to be like the other.

The kid wants to grow up because he wants to do all the cool things that adults do like drive cars and watch R rated movies.

The parent wants to be young again so they don’t have to worry about all the responsibilities.

I suspect the same semblance here applies to blogging or at least in my case.

Between the time I started my blog last year and now, I some how became an authority. I don’t know where it came from but when you start getting a steady stream of a 1000 visitors on a daily basis, people read you for a reason. Whether it’s to laugh at you, to read about you, to find out more about you, they’re there for a reason.

I’ve always written my blog to teach because healing is not an innate skill. It can be easy to pick up but it can also be difficult to master and at the core of, I am here to teach. That doesn’t mean I can’t learn. I guess it’s always been a little easier for me to adapt to then the Bear since his blog was first for himself and for his buddies and pals. I’m a long term thinker and I knew that if I kept plugging away at writing and blogging and healing, I would reach a point where several things will happen:

People start disagreeing with you
People start emailing you
People start looking up to you

A great case in point are my two posts on Karazhan and Zul’Aman requirements. if you look at the comments, you’ll see like 50+ comments combined telling me that I’m wrong, or that my numbers are off, or that certain classes aren’t required and so on and so forth. There’s also comments that say “Great starting point” or “Excellent guide” and the like.

When you enter the public light of blogging, it helps to have extremely thick skin. I credit Doc Holiday for having toughened me up for the past several years with his constant slandering and demeaning ways. Of course he’s joking, but after a while you learn to not let it get to your head anyway.

Writing for WoW Insider is incredibly different then writing for our own respective blogs as BBB would surely attest to. Our audiences are different, our expectations are raised, and we have a job to do.

I know I’ve expressed retirement many times in the BA chatroom. But I know if I did that, I’d pull a Niedermeyer and come back around Christmas. I would rather not leave at all. Some days you’re the pigeon, other days you’re the statue.

Bear, TJ’s words were right on the money. There’s got to be a reason for you to do something and it’s not necessarily always fame. While we may not always agree (DEVILS SUCK), she is incredibly blog savvy. She knows what to expect and what will happen because she’s done this whole blogging thing for a while now.

So to all of you young and aspiring bloggers out there, be careful what you wish for. The responsibility and the workload you ‘feel’ is tremendous.

When I first started playing hockey as a goalie, I was terrible. I’d let in like 10 goals per game. However, to be fair we were playing half court and I was the only netminder (teams had to carry the puck back to the center line and then cross back again if possession changed, similar to basketball). I’d get teased, belittled, degraded by my friends but I knew they were joking and I knew they were also trying to get me fired up so I’d play more and prove them wrong. My first stint in backyard hockey, and I came way out of the net way out of position allowing easy goals to go in. I didn’t have faith in my team allowing the opposing team to set up “back door” plays where they would utilize 3 or 4 different people to get me confused. But I kept plugging away at it, played as often as I could, read as much I wanted to in order to get better. Fast forward a few years later, now I’m communicating with the players in front of me more.

2-on-1 plays don’t work as much as they used to because I’ll keep shouting to the player in front of me to “block the pass” while I “take the shot”.

Criticism is always going to be inevitable and the degree of which will range from stinging to “ouch, that actually hurt”. I have never listened to any of the podcasts that I’ve done. I also don’t often read the comments I get on my WI columns (I get Wyn to do it for me and she sends me all the good ones). Major insecurity Matt, shame on yourself, right? I’ll grow out of it sooner or later.

Despite all my responsibilities, all the things that I want to do on my blog, on WI, in the BA chat, and otherwise, there’s a great crew of people that I know of that have my back. And whether Bear knows it or not, he’s got some staunch supporters covering his furry backside as well.

Every so often I’ll question myself, my purpose here, my blog, etc. BA Chat’s used to it by now because I often scream “RETIREMENT”. Sometimes when I’m not doing anything, I’ll wonder what would have happened if I never played WoW or started blogging. Sometimes I want to throw it all away and I came close to doing so at one point (then I met Wyn, but shh, don’t tell her that. Her ego’s getting as large as mine). Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything I could have done differently on my blog or if I could trade it for anything else in the world.

Then I realize that I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. I love what I’m doing. I love to write and to teach and if I had to do it all over again and endure every pain staking email and comment I’ve ever received, I’d go through it all over again because this job and hobby rock just like every single one of you who read this blog.

A quick WHOIS query shows that worldofmatticus.com was created on August 18. We’re coming up on one year. If it were possible, I’d hold like an e-barbeque and serve up some e-steaks and e-beers. I wonder how tasty e-tauren would be. I’d love to do something special, but I’m not quite sure what.

Keep your chin up and hold your head high.

When MIA Happens to YOU

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give a quick explanation for my recent absence, and weekend-only posts - Been working too hard! Unfortunately, my work-load got doubled about two weeks ago, and my resulting hours have stripped my calendar of the time I used to use for WoW-research and writing. I shall return, and Matt’s posts will once again be edited for grammatical and factual accuracy. I do have to go out of town next week, but should be back to some kind of regularity soon!

Thanks for your patience,
Wyn

6 Principles of a Successful Raiding Guild: A Teaser

There’s a contest being held by Slideshare that I fully intend on entering.

I’ve been working on this for a while anyway so I figured I might as well go ahead and enter it once I finish. Here’s a few teaser slides that I’ve had so far. I think one can easily get the gist of the main story I’m trying to tell.

Why a presentation format?

I’m always interested in exploring new ways to share ideas and concepts. Other bloggers have released action videos, some decide to do podcasts, and I wanted to try something that hasn’t really been done before.

Second, I’m a student. As a student, you’re exposed to presentations on a daily basis. Eventually, you have to stand up and give your own. Some of the lectures and presentations given by my fellow student and teachers are jammed full of text. This is my way of learning how to use Keynote without putting a grade on the line.

Would You be Interested in an all Healer Community?

EDIT: Nevermind! It’s been brought to my attention that there *is* in fact an all healer community in existence that’s been around under my nose for the longest time. Light Natured forums appear at first glance to be what I’ve been looking for. The community forum’s been broken down by class and has some extra sections devoted to general discussion and UI’s and such. How I’ve never found this place, I will have no idea. Obviously I didn’t look hard enough =). They need to do a better marketing and promotion job. I guess I’ll have to flex my blogging and WoW Insider muscle and raise some awareness. I do seem to be suffering some performance issues on the forums. They do take a while to get into the different sub sections.

This is one of the few pleasures I get from blogging. My interaction with readers sparks ideas. Sometimes they’re bad, sometimes they’re good, and sometimes I come up with a “EUREKA” of an idea that would’ve done ~~Archimonde~~ Archimedes proud.

Tonight I had a discussion with neutralise as we were discussing the impact of a raid wide Prayer of Healing. Somehow, my brain went off on a tangent. I wondered if there was a community or forum specifically devoted to Holy Priests who would discuss their trade (similar akin to the Shadow Priest.com forums). After some quick searching, Twittering, and general asking around, I was amazed to discover that there wasn’t a community already in place.

Not only that, there doesn’t seem to be places for Resto Druids, Holy Paladins, or Resto Shamans specifically either.

The only place that I know of that represents anything close is the Elitist Jerks forums. I’m not going to lie. Every time I go there, I feel fairly intimidated. There’s also a lot of information to wade through to get an answer you’re looking for.

My vision

Seeing as there doesn’t seem be a local healer community, I thought to myself why not start a healer community?

Financing is not a problem. One of the reasons I run affiliate advertising on my blog is so that I can take what I earn and invest it directly back into the community. Heh, like it or not, money makes this world go round.

I’m picturing a discussion board where healers of all shapes, sizes and progression levels can:

Exchange ideas and tips amongst individual classes
Ask for help and advice during PvE content
Discuss upcoming healer changes
Interact with other healers overall
Come for early advice and support on getting started with end game

I’d handle the maintenance and logistics of the project myself including hosting, software and such. The design and structure would be an interesting challenge to undergo.

My obstacles

Moderation - It’s a no brainer that a community like this would most likely attract some big time morons. As much as I’d like to, there’s not a chance in hell that I’d be able to completely police the place. I’d have to realistically turn to volunteers that have proven themselves fair and in possession of a back bone.

Structure - Organization of this community would have to be done properly. Like boss fights, it’s one thing to know what to do. It all comes down to execution. If I can pull it off right, I have no doubt it would be a great community. Done incorrectly, and it would just be another failed startup project. Razorbax suggested a Forum/Wiki combination but I have my reservations about that. I could go forums first and then “immortalize” epic posts after into its own Wiki for easier navigation and access.

By the way, that quote Razorbax listed? Not me.

I swear.

Name - You guys might think this is silly, but the name is important. I don’t simply want to create forums and slap World of Matticus forums on it. A day might come where I won’t be around and it’d be nice for this community to be able to stand on its own. I’d sponsor and support it, but it should have a distinct brand of its own. The challenge here is to think of a name that’s catchy, easy to remember, and isn’t already registered on the WHOIS database.

Interest - But right now, I’m getting ahead of myself. What’s the point of establishing a community if there’s no one interested in it? I ran it by the night owls still awake in BA chat, and they seemed receptive and encouraging of the idea. Still, I’d rather ask you the community in general and get your thoughts.

Any ideas, feedback, questions, or comments would be welcome. But do answer the poll first below =).

Would you participate and be interested in a community aimed for healers?

Yes, absolutely! (92%, 82 Votes)
No, not really. (8%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 89

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New Spiritual Guidance

Post is up over at WoW Insider.

If you like it, I edited it. If you find a mistake, Matt changed it back….

Go check it out!

luv,
Wyn

Matt vs Monique: Confessions from a Current ‘Core Raider

A few days ago, Monique of Girls Don’t Game wrote a great piece detailing her illustrious history and experience in Death and Taxes. While there’s no way I’d be able to match up to her story, I do feel that I can share with you a few key points in my WoW career that shaped my path in a way that won’t come to an end like hers.

Casual times, hardcore philosophies

As a student that wants to succeed in school, I knew that I had to find myself a guild that raided often enough to get my money’s worth but didn’t raid enough so that I wouldn’t get left behind. A lot of guilds rate their ‘coreness’ by the amount of time they invest in raiding.

I didn’t want a Guild that would go from 6 PM - 12 AM. There’s no way I can sustain those kinds of hours. I wanted a Guild that had reasonable raid hours. I wanted one that wasn’t going to do more than 15 hours a week, tops.

At the same time, I wanted an organization didn’t slack off, that didn’t take a casual outlook on progression, and wanted to excel. I found such a Guild in Carnage. They share the same mindset. We all strive to be the best that we can possibly be.

If it weren’t for the fact that we raid such limited hours on a weekly basis, I have no doubt that we would be in Sunwell right now.

Lesson: The game can be addicting but only if you allow it. I was able to set limits on myself.

Blizzards Intervention

Monique’s story about the world dragons are something to be remembered. They could spawn at any time and players had to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. I’ve never been able to kill one. I’ve tried them several times but the group I was with at the time was never good enough. My group had to bow out to other Guilds that were capable of doing them. They respectfully gave us a few attempts. Quite courteous.

Blizzard seemed to say enough was enough. World bosses don’t appear to be a priority for them anymore since there are only two in the expansion: Doomwalker and Kazzak. I suspect we might not see any in Wrath at all.

Lesson: They smartened up here. It’s as if they don’t want players to overextend themselves too much and drop what they’re doing to go after these world bosses.

Monique’s story is an extreme one. I know if I tried and let myself go, I could easily turn into a player who sleeps when the world wakes up. I used to do that before during the summer months just participating in epic DoTA games. Sometimes I yearn to just go and do it. With 3 high level and well equipped healers, I’d have no problem getting into a progression Guild (especially with overpowered Resto Shamans in high demand). But I also recognize that doing so would conflict with my goals in the real world and it is not something I’m prepared to sacrifice just yet.

I love raiding! I love the thrill of killing bosses! It’s who I am and what I want to do. I may not be as hardcore as Monique once was, but I don’t fit in the average WoW player demographic. Because like Monique, I’m constantly pushing myself and constantly doing everything I can to become better within reason.

Introducing the Drama Advisory System

From time to time, I’ll come across various pieces of drama on the forums or in my forays across the blogosphere. Everyone loves a good dramatic thriller, especially if it doesn’t happen to them or to anyone they know. It’s just comedy after that. I like to share them every once in a while, but no tale of drama is the same. Some of them might be relevant to some people. Others might not really care about the nature of what’s being discussed. Being inspired by the good folks at Homeland Security, I’ve created my very own drama advisory system! Before every story, I’ll prefix it with a rating so you can determine if it really is worth your time to read.

Drama Advisory System

Bloggers, feel free to use this for your own purposes (feel free to wipe the link from the bottom if you like as well).

I Hate Unannounced MIA’s

As I write this, I’m currently “borrowing” the internet connection of a neighbor. I wanted to update you all on what has been an extremely eventful (albeit fairly painful) week.

I injured my lower back earlier this week which had stopped temporary production of posts.
I received a text message earlier yesterday that knocked out my ADSL modem (cellphone, bad phone filter, etc.). A tech is being dispatched at some point later this afternoon or early during the weekend. Depending on how quick they can diagnose and troubleshoot the problem, I may not be able to make the WoW Insider show.
Wynthea’s boss doubled her work-load then went out of town, so she’s been out-of-commission.

Just wanted to keep you apprised. I haven’t quite disappeared off the radar yet.

On another completely different note, if you possess a router that has wireless capabilities, please do the following:

Disable the wireless aspect if you don’t have any wireless devices
Change your password to something that isn’t: password, admin, nimda, apple, your birthday, or your street address backwards.

All the best!
- Matticus

You Did WHAT?!?

After a while, you may play your class for so long that you may think you know all the tricks there are to know. Use SW: Death to bounce Prayer of Mending? yawn. Use Inner Focus before a mana-free spell to get the crit benefit to TWO spells? Yeah, Blizzard figured that one out, too. Fixed in 2.3 . For me especially, it can feel like I know everything there is to know about Holy Priests. But even after leveling two of them, the class still manages to surprise me. Here are a few of my favorite odd-ball ideas. Feel free to share your own!

Unusual uses for spells:

Mind Vision:
Can’t find someone that needs a heal and is out-of-range in a spread-out venue like Mt. Hyjal? Mind vision them really fast to find them, and you can run over and patch them up.

MV also works great when someone is lost running back through the instance. This way you can give them first-hand directions!

If you can MV a Rogue in a PvP situation before they stealth, you’ll be able to see them. Personally, I just like to throw Pain on them and keep them from stealthing in the first place, but that only works if they’ve burned Cloak.

Got an opposing faction flag-carrier hiding somewhere in the BG? Check their name at the top of your screen, target them manually, and Mind Vision away. Suddenly, they’re not so sneaky anymore.

Wonder if it’s worth getting an epic flyer? (It is.) MV a buddy while they’re riding theirs. Zoom!

Holy Nova:
Priests either hate this talent (Matt) or love it (Me) - but once you get used to pain-pulling 6 or 7 mobs and Nova-ing them down, it’s hard to do without it.

Don’t have an AoE DPS in Magister’s Terrace? Shield, Renew, and ProM yourself, and let someone pull the Mana Wyrms to you before the 2nd boss. You can Nova the whole room in two pulls. (remind your group that it won’t cause any threat, so they should just sit tight and let you handle it.)

Rank 1 Nova is WIN for finding stealthies before they’re ready. When I re-rolled from my Human to my Troll, I missed Perception at first: now I know better!

Okay, so the output isn’t that great, but Nova HEALS and DAMAGES with NO THREAT. If you’re pulling aggro, but about to die, and you have to run (i.e. you can’t binding heal, which is low-threat) pop a couple Novas. It’ll burn some serious mana, but it’ll get you a bit of health back, too, without getting you skewered. And anything burns less mana than DYING.

PW:Fortitude:
Everyone has someone same-faction that they can’t stand. (or is that just me?) If you ever have the opportunity, this can be really fun:
When your good buddy is about to jump off a high ledge (high, but not deadly. Think Scryer Tier or the Zepplin tower in UC) throw them a Fort right after they leap. Since fall damage is a % of total health, increasing their health pool causes them to take MORE damage when they hit the ground. Max-rank Fort is usually enough to make them go splat, just don’t forget to Levitate down yourself!

Mind-control
Most of us know that you can MC someone from the opposing faction, and buff them with anything insta-cast. This means a Fort, S.Prot, Renew, or PW:Shield. You can also let your buddies buff them. Did you know you can toss them a leather ball?

You may know this already, but in many instances, you can MC the mobs, and BUFF your own party. Try it with the Physicians in the Mechannar.

Shadow Fiend
The little guy takes a lot of crap for only lasting 15 seconds. If you find you’ve pulled more than you can handle (even with Nova!), DON’T DPS one of the targets - just set your fiend on him, and watch the little guy tank. He doesn’t generate a lot of threat, so be careful, but he might just buy you enough time to get yourself healed up.

If you have a Pally that’s open to it, get him to throw a might on your Fiend. He gets a lot of mileage (and you get a lot of mana!) out of buffs. Those scrolls of strength or agility you may randomly get and vendor? keep ‘em. He likes those, too.

Fade:
Fade is pretty misunderstood mechanically. It’s not a threat-dump, it simply reduces your threat on the aggro table by 1,500 for 15 seconds. Anything you do in those 15 seconds adds threat normally, (be nice if it was threat-free, wouldn’t it? HEY BLIZZARD!!!) and at the end of the time, the 1,500 you lost comes right back. What you might not know is that if you fade and don’t do anything else…. the mobs won’t pay attention to you again until you DO something, even after the 15 sec are up. If you’re running for your life on a boss reset, pop a holy nova or two to get a little no-threat healing in, and then Fade. THEN DON’T DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU’RE SAFE. It won’t save you the repair bill every time, but it works often enough to be worth trying.

SW:D
This one is pretty well-known, but bears repeating: a well-timed SW:D can break you out of some types of CC (like Polymorph). Make sure you cast it right as they’re finishing up their cast - the backlash damage will knock you out of sheep!

Racial: Hex of Weakness (Troll)
Okay, so reducing damage dealt by 35 is pretty worthless. But reducing healing taken by 20% is pretty win. ANY boss that gets healed should have this thrown on them. Because it’s a curse, I especially like to toss it on arena teams with a Paladin or Priest healer. Just another reason Troll Priests are more than a pretty face.

Levitate
Sure, Shamans can walk on water, but we don’t even get our toes wet. You can fish, summon your flying mount, eat or drink, and do just about anything but jump this way. Very handy when wanting to fish deep water or farm Primal Waters uninterrupted.