Interview with Epic Advice

There’s a new Warcraft side to the community. It’s not really a Wiki. It’s not a directory. It’s not a news site or a blog. It’s nothing like those.

Welcome to Epic Advice! The premise is simple.

You ask questions and you receive answers from other players who might know. It’s entirely peer driven. There isn’t a single “authority” that has all the answers. Everyone pools their knowledge into answering questions. Sometimes it can be much more straightforward than browsing forums or wading through database sites to get a simple answer.

I managed to catch the team behind Epic Advice in a brief email interview to shed further light on their unique project.

So before we get on to talking about Epic Advice, I’m sure the community would love to hear more about you guys. Why don’t you introduce yourselves?

Corey: Introductions always seem so boring.  I’m Corey – I own my own web development company, and do a lot of freelance programming/system administration.

Aaron: My name is Aaron, I work for an international association as their lead web developer developing and managing about 7 websites. I also work with Corey on the side, doing programming and design work.

I’m guessing you guys play WoW as well. What kind of characters do you play and what do you do in game?

Corey: I started playing WoW shortly after the beta, raided molten core with my friends, saw naxx at level 60, wrote the original PallyPower – and find it awesome that they still use my "buff grid", although my code was horrible and the new guy maintains it better. I did it all again towards the end of Burning Crusade. I haven’t been playing during WoTLK, I started my own company and needed all the time I could find. I hope that someday I can make enough money to pay myself to play this game again.   I played many characters, but the best fun I ever had was being a 39 feral tauren druid pvp twink named ‘Cowbellie’. She eventually became quite the DPS cat.

Aaron: Many old school priests probably know me best by my priest, Jesta. I used to write a lot of shadow priest articles, before shadow priests were truly embraced. I am currently one of the GMs of a guild on Lightning’s Blade (US) called Untamed, we’ve cleared everything but Heroic Anub’arak, which were hoping to get this weekend! I also was the author of "VampWatch", which was a popular shadowpriest mod used to track how much mana restoration you were causing (back before Replenishment existed). Currently I am raiding on a DK named Jadra in my guild.

What exactly is Epic Advice about? It’s slipped under the radar for a while. When did it launch even?

Corey: You cheated – thats two questions. 

Epic Advice is about World of Warcraft.  It is a Question and Answer site, a knowledge exchange as it seems to have been dubbed.  We hope to provide the community with a place to help ask and answer questions about World of Warcraft, from the early leveling process, to the cutting edge raiding instances.

It launched about 24 hours before you found us- It seems you’ve scooped everyone on this one.  It hasn’t really been under the radar for long.  We had been talking about the concept of doing a ‘Stack Overflow’ for WoW, have been playing with the idea of writing our own software to handle it.  An opportunity occurred when Stack Exchange hit its beta.  We could launch the site using their engine to see if it was something that the players even want us to work on.

Aaron: Yeah we launched on the night of the 6th, sorta told a few friends who told more friends, and um, this is where we are now. EpicAdvice’s goal is to try to create a centralized location to find answers about the game itself, and hopefully organize it so you can find what you need. The rest of it, corey seems to have summed up perfectly.

Who came up with the idea and how did the team get formed?

Corey: I can’t remember which of us mentioned it first, but I remember being instantly in love with the idea.  I’d also like to say that the team has not fully formed yet.  We will need more moderators, and hope to find a few good ones during this beta phase.

Aaron: I’ve known Corey for a long time, we’ve been friends for like, 8 years? Over the past year and a half or so, we’ve been doing work together and just advancing ourselves as programmers. We have a lot of pow-wows brainstorming web-application ideas and this happened to be one of them. I have a passion for WoW, just like I have a passion for programming, and this was the perfect project to get involved with to play off both sides of what I enjoy doing.

Where did the inspiration behind the site come from?

Corey: The amount of time we spend on Stack Overflow basically started the concept rolling.

Aaron: Couldn’t of said it better. Also the fact that the WoW forums are so unorganized and hard to find information in, which is the same problem that plagues a lot of programming forums. Since the release of StackOverflow, its been a lot easier to find programming related material. So, we took that concept and decided it would be an amazing fit for WoW.

The WoW forums generally aren’t known to be the best place to go to for help or advice without some guy coming along with a smartass remark. How do you plan to control trolls and the like?

Corey: Well, the cop-out answer is "we don’t".  The idea behind the site is that the community will reward the positive, and punish the negative on its own.  This site isn’t really for me to control, it is for the community to control.  I just want to lay down a few basic rules and let the community decide from there.  You build up reputation by providing good questions, or good answers.  Hopefully the trolls and flames will get ignored or downvoted, while the informative and well-thought gain good reputation.  We are not here to flame, we are here to answer and ask questions.

Aaron: He’s nailed it on the head, its up to the community to "down-vote" those trolls, which will cause them to lose reputation, and in-turn, lose privileges they may have on the site. It self-polices itself pretty well, and we will look hard at the system rules we have in place to see if we could tweak it more to fight the trolls. But for the time being, I think the community will police itself just fine.

What the current plans for the site? What kind of features can we look forward to in the future?

Corey: Right now – We are in a very early concept beta.  We aren’t sure we are going to stick to the current engine behind the site – there are a few features we want to add that may not be possible within the Stack Exchange system, but we want to start asking/answering questions now to build up a good user base and community.

As far as what kind of features we plan on implementing.  Thats where we want some of your input.   There is already a question on epic advice about just that.  Perhaps you should sign in and post an answer.  We can also be reached via e-mail: team@epicadvice.com

Aaron: We also have some amazing ideas written up in our todo list for new features to implement, its just a matter of time before we can get to them. We both have real jobs, this is just a hobby right now more or less. We want to make it as easy as possible to talk, show, link and organize answers as possible. A rough "item linking" system is already in place (thanks WoWhead!), but we’d also like for people to be able to link characters from the armory, spell ranks, tag a question with a specific "patch version" and so forth.

There are a ton of ideas we have floating around and we will take the best approach possible to try to implement them.

Bonus stuff with Corey:

Favourite drink: Coffee (mountain dew a close second)

Favourite movie: Too many to mention.

If you had a million dollars, the first thing you would do is: Laugh

If you weren’t doing your current job, you would be a: WoW Player

Top 3 sites you frequent the most for fun:

1: Stack Overflow (http://stackoverflow.com/users/91914/gnarf – its my crossword puzzle collection)
2: XKCD
3: this space intentionally left blank

Your personal hero is: Underdog

Warcraft is like: Crack?

Any shoutouts? They know who they are.

Thanks for your time guys!

So if you have any burning questions or the desire to help, head over to Epic Advice! You may wish to check out the FAQ before doing anything.

Blizzard Reads Kestrel’s Aerie (Priest Changes for 3.1)

I don’t have much time. I’m rushing a quick post before I head to school (Delivering a 10 minute presentation on Forensic sciences). I’ll publish a post later with my thoughts on it. I am absolutely creaming my pants right now. When I alerted Wyn, she was virtually speechless as well. In case you haven’t seen them, here they are on WoW Insider. I wanted to point your attention to something though. Last year, I had the opportunity to do an interview with Kestrel (of his self titled Aerie). In it, he asked me what I thought the 51 point talent would be.

 

Turns out I was wrong. It would end up being Penance. But look at the recent blue posts for Priests!

Well, well, well. Will you look at that! A talent named Power Word: Barrier that’s a shield effect! I’m predicting it’s going to be replacing the spot where Diving Spirit is. But Kestrel my man, this is proof that Blizzard reads your blog, eh?

Interview: Holy Priest vs Discipline Priest

I had an idea the other day to interview two healing Priests of different specs. I wanted to see what choices they make under similar circumstances. Figured it would be fun to ask them both identical questions to determine where the differences started between them! Hopefully this post will help shed some light for Priests that are still mulling over what spec to select for in end game.

Where did I find my Priests from? The Plusheal forums naturally!

Questions	Yaxley (Discipline)	Deklen (Holy)
First, a brief introduction about yourself:	My character is Yaxley, a discipline priest. I’m an officer of the Apostles of the Phoenix raiding guild.	I am an officer and healing leader of the guild Phoenix Rising on Mannoroth (US) in which I play a Dwarf Priest named Deklen.
What is your current level of progression?	I’ve cleared Obsidian Sanctum 10/25 (no drakes up), Naxx 10/25, and Malygos 10. Currently working on Malygos 25.	Phoenix Rising has successfully completed all 10 man content and has completed all 25 man content with the exception of Malygos (We plan to start attempts on him this coming week).
What factors influenced your choice to pick your spec?	I felt discipline was a more challenging spec than holy, and when the new talents were announced for 3.0, I was very intrigued. I liked the concept of almost having a healing rotation with many spells to choose from that integrate well together.	I really enjoy the diversity of healing spells available to priests, and holy priests in particular. I enjoy the complexity that comes with having to choose the correct healing spell for the given situation.
What stats are the most important for you?	Intellect is my most valuable stat, as it contributes to every aspect of my healing. A bigger mana pool means bigger returns from Rapture, Shadowfiend and Replenishment. It also boosts crit for more throughput and more Divine Aegis procs. Haste is what I look for second, but only until about 10%. After that I feel stacking it is hurting other stats.	For the expansion, I have chosen to keep spirit at the top of my priority list when it comes to gear selection and augmentation; however, with that being said, I value Intellect much more so than during BC raiding. I reserve yellow sockets for Brilliant Autmn’s Glow, attempting to maintain some semblance of balance between spirit and intellect.
What trinkets are you presently using and how do they help?	Right now I’m using the Egg of Mortal Essence from Emblems of Heroism along with Forge Ember from heroic Halls of Stone. I use the Egg mostly for the raw spell power, though the proc is a nice to have when it goes off. Forge Ember gives a nice hefty amount of crit and I love the proc for a nice spell power boost. I carry around a few other trinkets for different situations; I usually use Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon for long fights as Disc casts enough spells to make it worth a fair amount of regen.	I am using the Majestic Dragon Figurine and the Spirit World Glass. The two trinkets provide excellent mana regen for boss encounters. Spirit World Glass really shines when there is predictable incoming damage in which I am able to pop the on use ability after a clearcasting proc, followed up an Inner Focus + Greater Heal to allow for maximum regen time spent OO5SR. If the full 20 seconds is spent not casting or "cheating" the rule, it usually will return about 35-40% of my 20k mana pool.
Your 3 top spells in order of usage on any given raid are:	1: Flash Heal, 2: Penance 3: Prayer of Mending.	1: Flash Heal 2: Circle of Healing 3: Prayer of Mending
Which raid encounter in the game is your favourite?	Kel’Thuzad. There is a lot of action going on with a lot of situations where my quick single target heals and shields help. A lot of tank damage, as well as the ice blocks which require people to be healed quickly for a large amount.	Sapphiron. The encounter really tests the healers both on raw healing power as well as their regen techniques/skills. In addition, the fight in particular showcases just how awesome bouncing Prayer of Mending can truly be.
What’s the worse?	Heroic Thaddius. Its a boring fight when done correctly, and a painful fight with a long corpse run (with frogger slimes and pipe boss in between!) when not executed correctly. And if it were not for levitate I’m sure the Super Mario jump would make it even worse for me.	Heroic Patchwerk. While there is some skill involved in trying to keep your mana going throughout the fight, I find little enjoyment in spamming Greater Heal on the MT/OT and praying they dont get 1 shot from a hateful strike. P.S. Holy Paladins are disgusting for this fight.
How do you handle AoE healing?	In a five-man, Prayer of Healing is my spell of choice. In a raid, its not as useful as you need to heal outside your own group. As Disc you need to be more aware of who is taking damage and who is going to need the most help. I usually throw shields around the raid on every cooldown for the Borrowed Time buff, but I try to keep them on the tank and the squishiest members of the raid. Prayer of Mending on cooldown as well, this is especially useful during the Vortex in the Malygos encounter.	Before casting an AoE healing ability I first determine what caused this person to be damaged, and if they are in close proximity to other players. If they are alone I usually cast a Flash Heal, if they are grouped up I would obviously cast Circle of Healing. In fights like Gluth and Loatheb though, I use Prayer of Healing considerably more (After decimate and when necrotic aura drops off, respectively).
How do you gem red, blue and yellow slots on your gear?	Red: Luminous Monarch Topaz Yellow: Luminous Monarch Topaz or Brilliant Autumn’s Glow (depending on if I’m losing spell power for other stats in an upgrade). Blue: Seer’s gems	Red: Runed Scarlet Ruby (I dont believe the +Spirit/+Spell damage gem is in the game yet). Blue: Sparkling Sky Sapphire Yellow: Brilliant Autumn’s Glow
Your gut reaction to the Circle of Healing nerf is:	I like it, as it brings Holy spec back in line with Discipline, where you need to choose your spells carefully. I’d rather they were more creative than using a cooldown, however, as CoH spam is useful in situations. But as it is now, it is useful in nearly all situations – which lead to one button healing.	I don’t think it will be as bad as everyone is thinking it will be. Yes we will loose some AoE healing ability but those who spammed the spell mindlessly never really understood the true potential of priests and instead relied on a crutch. That being said, I will miss it!
What type of healing are you assigned to by your leaders when raiding (tank or raid, etc)?	I’m assigned to the main tank or an off tank nearly 100% of the time. I still heal the raid from time to time when the boss is trying to break through my shield!	Either myself or the GM are responsible for healing assignments, but I usually put myself on raid healing as we have a healthy supply holy paladins but only 1 restoration shaman and 1 restoration druid.
Do you enjoy playing your spec? Does it satisfy you?	I love discipline spec. I’m not sure I could heal any other way. I’ve healed as a Holy Paladin and as a Resto Shaman in the past, and discipline definitely takes the monotony out of healing. Managing cooldowns and being smart about what spells to use used to be something relegated to DPS classes.	Yes, I very much enjoy healing as a holy priest. As I said before, the diversity and complexity of healing abilities available to the priest is the reason I choose to heal and, ultimately, is what keeps me interested and entertained while healing.
What 1 piece of advice would you give other players who were to play your chosen talent specs?	Don’t ever rely on healing meters to judge your performance. At least until Blizzard adds absorption amounts to the combat log.	The biggest problem I have observed with new healers is their inability to observe and react. It is so easy to fall into the habit of tunnel visioning your raid frames that you forget to observe what exactly is happening around you.
If you could make one addition or change to your spec, what would it be?	The obvious change would be more AoE healing tools, whether it be talents to modify Prayer of Healing or Holy Nova. But since that would be trespassing into Holy’s niche, I think more talents to make Renew useful to a Disc priest would be good. Perhaps allowing it to crit, or to be included in Rapture returns.	I don’t believe I would change anything currently given the present PVE environment…PVP on the other hand is a different situation entirely though.

Special thanks to Yaxley and Deklen for participating!

Image courtesy of mmagallan

Matticus Interviewed

It all started with a PM from Blog Azeroth which exploded into a full fledge interview. Had lots of fun answering this one from the WoW Blogger. Go read it!

Most important question asked?

Will the blog still be going? For that matter do you foresee WoW itself still alive in a decade?

The blog itself will be up. I chose this name so that it wouldn’t exactly be limited to just World of Warcraft. It’s World of Matticus and whatever happens to be contained in that world will be up to me. Blizzard’s stories have been compelling in every game they’ve produced. If they keep up story telling and designing the games the way they are now there is no reason to see WoW even remotely slowing down at all.

20 Questions with Veneretio (tankingtips.com)

Whenever the Zul’Aman gong has been banged, Matt gets a chance to sit down with a WoW Blogger chosen this week by his Sinister Squashling. Find out a little more about your favourite bloggers as he tries to get to know them a little more!

This week, Veneretio of Tanking Tips lowers his shield long enough for him to answer a few questions.

I didn’t know your blog until a few months ago. I tried to find an about page but I couldn’t! Willing to tellus us a bit more about the blogger behind Tanking Tips?

Well I guess it’d make for a boring 20 questions if I didn’t [Editor's note: I clearly fail at getting my point and intent across. Oh well. Next time!].

What motivated and jumpstarted you to blog?
What most people probably don’t know is that I started blogging about 4 years ago. I’d say I first was motivated to blog just because I wanted to make a high traffic website and I tried every avenue possible from blogging to running a forum to contests to articles to polls to well you name it. I later found out that just blogging about one’s life wasn’t terribly interesting. And by later I mean 2 years later I found out… >.< Fortunately that taught me a lot of valuable lessons about blogging in general though and it’s why I’ve been able to approach my tanking blog in a professional manner from day 1.

What jump started TankingTips.com can be accredited to leaving my 2nd guild in 3 months. Basically, I knew in leaving that I was about to lose all the discussion surrounding everything I’d wrote in the guild forums for the 2nd time in 3 months. A prospect I wasn’t very happy about to say the least. The motivation came from missing blogging and really enjoying over analyzing every little detail of tanking. I’d read and re-read the works of everything from Ciderhelm and Wanderlei to Satrina and Berginyon. I wanted to create my own tanking reference something that wasn’t going to disappear on me in a few months. (I’m still in the guild I left to upon the creation of TankingTips.com well over a year later)

I notice you play an Orc Warrior (Ew, an Orc!). Why that instead of another tanking class?

Simply put when testing out the toons, I fell in love with Charge at level 4 on my Warrior. As to why I chose an Orc, it was because they looked the coolest and felt the most like a Warrior. As to race, Horde was the only option. Something about playing a fantasy game then being a human never really sat well with me. Not to mention having to see annoying Gnomes, grumpy Dwarves and hot Night Elves all the time would have been a little more than I could take. Ah… then again maybe I could have handled it.

What’s a typical WoW raid night like for you?

Log onto WoW and jump on Ventrilo an hour before raid invites start. Invite the chick that does the healer invites half an hour before raid invites start. Convert the group to a raid. Remember to set the instance to Normal so she doesn’t yell at me. Remember to give her assist so she doesn’t yell at me. Remember to set it to Master Looter so that… well you get the picture. 15 minutes before the raid, start doing pre-invites (ie. the people that I know are coming) and start arguing with Miss Inviter of all Healers except Paladins that we need to get a 2nd paladin into the raid somehow for another round of buffs. This is also the time in which she’ll bring up any and all matters of extreme guild importance that are impossible to discuss in 15 minutes especially while doing invites. 8 minutes before the raid everyone else brings up any and all matters that they think are of extreme guild importance. 5 minutes before the raid the 10 people I wanted to invite 10 minutes ago log on so they aren’t late for the raid.

Raid invites officially open and I’m bombarded with tells. The first wave is easy which really means I’m still inviting people I should have invited 15 minutes ago. I hop channels with Miss anti-Pally buff and Doctor DPS and we start hashing out who the final slots should go to. The conversation basically goes something like this:

Miss AP: I’m taking this person and this person because I need 9 healers.
Me: You can have 7.
Miss AP: 8.
Me: 7 + a Prot Pally
Miss AP: Deal.
*Raid successfully acquires 2nd Paladin Buff*
Me: Any opinions on who else we should bring Doctor DPS?
DD: What? No, whatever. I’m talking to a chick on AIM atm leave me alone.
Miss AP: We need more warlocks.
Me: We already have 3.
Miss AP: I know, we need more.
Me: I’m inviting another rogue.
Miss AP: I’m leaving the raid.
Me: We’ll just heal it with 6 + a Prot Pally I guess.
*Raid successfully fills all Melee Slots*
Me: Okay, so-and-so’s Brother wants to come and so does Guild Member X that’s never raided but been in the guild for 4 years and I don’t have room for either.
Miss AP: Are they Warlocks?
Me: No.
Miss AP: Hmm… do they have the gear?
Me: Everyone has the gear, Blizzard handed everyone the gear. They just have to do like 4 heroics and they’ve got the same gear we had 2 weeks ago.
Miss AP: You sure there aren’t any more Warlocks around?
Me: I’m flipping a coin.
*Flips*
Me: Okay, it’s Ancient Guild Member X
*Checks Armory and notices he doesn’t have the gear*
Me: Uh… we probably should take the Brother. I think he could be a valuable asset in the future.
*Checks Armory and notices he doesn’t have the gear either…*
Me: Then again maybe I should just invite another Warlock.
Miss AP: I knew you’d see it my way.
DD: Huh? Can I bring my rogue yet?
Me & Miss AP: No!

…and somehow this happens everytime taking about 15 to 20 minutes ending with a full raid and plenty of time to spare so that we pull early. (We grant 30 minutes for invites) The raid lasts 2 and a half hours. I start it off by insulting the healers (especially resto-druids for their inability to rez), the rogues, the hunters and women in general. I spend the entire raid thinking of quick replies to shots directed at me because I don’t do something exactly how TankingTips.com says or because I’ve said something “Canadian” all the while desperately trying to hold off over-aggroing Warlocks to the chorus of “Your threat is not fine”. I deflect the banter by giving away Miss AP’s gold, forcing Shadow Priests to pay the raid when they die and of course, making fun of the healers, rogues, hunters and women. Somehow this plus consistent, steady progression fits into every raid night with us usually accomplishing more than we expected and ending early.

What direction do you intend to take your blog to?

I want it to become a stronger reference site while also maintaining the blog aspect of it. It’ll get a new design for WotLK and if I’m really ambitious a 2nd design that you can turn on when you’re at work. (I’ll call it TankLite or something along that lines, it’ll have less branding and load faster and maybe even look like you’re actually doing your job lol) Don’t think it escapes me that traffic is highest weekdays during working hours Overall though, I’m pretty happy with how things are and I’ll be maintaining my strict focus on Warrior Tanking. The podcasts will continue, you’ll probably see a few more slideshows and possibly even the emergence of video content. I’d like to delve into UIs since it’s a completely untapped area for the site and perhaps if I’m really ambitious look into creating an add-on or two. Finally, I’ll continue to watch out for a guest blogger or two especially if I can find one that’s a more involved raider than myself and you’ll eventually actually hear a 2nd voice on the TankingTips.com podcast.

Let’s talk about Wrath. Be honest. What excites you and what disappoints you?

Threat and damage scaling more aggressively with tanking gear is going to be amazing. I’m looking forward to the day that I out dps everyone in a heroic while wearing my conventional tanking gear. The ability to easily AOE tank content that I outgear is very enticing too and I think it is really going to push Warriors to do 5 mans a lot more than they do now. (A step towards the end of raid-only warriors I hope) To be more specific, I get excited a lot just by reading the play by play. Loading up mmo-champion.com every day and just seeing what’s new be it for Warriors or not. In particular, I’m really looking forward to even bigger Shield Slam crits and the fact that I’m going to crit a whole lot more often than I used to. Shockwave looks great, Weapon Throw looks astounding and I can’t help but hope that perhaps with In combat charge than maybe just maybe we’ll see some viable Prot PvP.

The disappointment only comes from parts of the WoW community. There’s a minority of people that just hate everything and it’s really a downer. We get a nerf, they complain. We get a buff, they complain. Most people can’t really put their finger on it, but if they really looked closely at my blog, it’s very rarely negative. (and when it is, it’s almost always in jest) The game is suppose to be fun, entertaining and motivating. For me that extends even to the discussion of it. I’ll always be the guy saying, “Okay, this is what we got, what are we going to do with it?” So for me what’s disappointing is the people that just aren’t giving Blizzard a chance.

Some would say there is a special relationship between a tank and the healer (or a healer and the tank). Fact or fiction?

I’d have to say fact. It’s not by pure accident that I do 95% of my runs with the same healer. It’s also not by accident that I tease the healers in raids the most and always try my best to make them feel good. (haha, somehow those are the same) While tanks don’t have to trust nor respect their healers, I can guarantee when they do and it’s returned in kind that what’s accomplished is far greater than the opposite despite superior strategy, gear and skill. In general though, we’re kinda forced to like your frail kind since our life is in your hands from a very early point in the game. Be it raiding or even PvP, we have to rely on healers and as a result, we naturally create stronger relationships with them.

When it comes to raiding, I feel like that’s where the tank/healer relationship really starts to solidify. While the dpsers are just watching the numbers go up and tracking personal performance against the next guy, Tanks and Healers are actually helping each other’s performances rather than competing.

Do you know where Elvis is?
On the Twisting Nether realm, he is so difficult to accurately located because he is, in fact, 2 entities not 1. They go by the alias’ Commandant and Dalrem. I’ve never talked to them, but reports indicate that Elvis’ Commandant entity is the bigger loser of the two.

If you could change (or add) something to your class, what would it be and why?
Mana Bandages. I want freakin’ Mana Bandages already. I really want everyone to have them, but if I have to change my class, give me those things. Somehow, someway. I hate waiting. Also, I’d like all food to be twice as effective for Warriors.

Let’s say I wanted to start tanking as a Warrior as a fresh 70. What are some of the things I have to do first ( in a nutshell?)

Read my entire website.

Seriously though, you’d need to have a mic and not be afraid to talk on ventrilo. You have to be able to mark targets. Mostly, you’ve just gotta experience it. Tank 5 mans, a lot. This really is something that needs to start far, far prior to 70 though. Sunken Temple especially should require Warrior’s to tank it before even being able to continue leveling. Finally, you’ve gotta get ready for being called a noob, a lot. Do your research and stick to what you’ve read and keep doing it. Sometimes when you get called a noob, you really are one… sometimes you’re not. Either way, you’re learning.

Overall, good tanks have natural leadership qualities and are able to focus constantly on the task at hand. You can screw up a lot of aspects of tanking if you’ve got those things in your favour from the get go.

Speed questions

When not WoWing, you:

Blog, Work, Watch tons of Movies, Party when I can, Golf on occasion

Favourite beverage of choice when playing WoW
Coke

Tanking is like:

Being the general

Favourite movie

The Matrix, Transformers or whatever is really cool and I just saw in theatres.

Tanking music you recommend:

None, it makes me harder to hear when I’m talking.

Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel?

Alba obviously even if she can’t act.

Most OP tanking class: Warriors, the way it should be.

Nerf: Rogues.

Top 5 blogs/sites (doesn’t have to be WoW related)
www.tankspot.com
www.mmo-champion.com
www.smashingmagazine.com
gmail.google.com
www.netvibes.com

Can’t play WoW without my:
Ventrilo

Shoutouts to:
Ibex especially Sioux and Speidel who put up with me the most. Not to mention Rungo and Eclectic that I talk with more now in-game than I do IRL.

Kavtor ala E X A L T E D for being the unofficial co-writer of TankingTips.com
Ciderhelm, the hardest working website owner I know.

My readers, that I fondly like to call “The Comment Community”, they’ve made the site a success. I just tell them what to talk about.

The Tank Bloggers!!!

Thanks again to Veneretio for participating this week! Don’t forget to subscribe to his blog!

20 Questions with Fimlys

Every week, Matt gets a chance to sit down with a WoW Blogger chosen this week by Wolpertinger in a mug. Find out a little more about your favourite bloggers as he tries to get to know them a little more!

This week, Fimlys of Asleep at the WoW has been forced graciously agreed to be my blogger of choice this week.

Tell us a bit more about the blogger behind the blog:

My "real" name is Michael. I live in Orlando, FL (Mickeyworld). I am a computer programmer by day and a crime-fighter by night… Well, not so much the crime-fighter, but I really am a programmer.

I am over 30, male, married and have 2 "smallish" kids. I like mana coladas, getting caught in the raid.  I’m not much into strength food.. I am into the campaign. I like killing mobs at midnight, in the vaults of SH.

I understand that your alias is Fimlys (which is also the name of your main character). Is there a particular history behind that name?

First off, yes, you can call me Al.  You can also call me Fim. In addition, it is pronounced Fim-liss (maybe with a bit of a lihss sound…).. Ok, that out of the way.  I really don’t care how you pronounce it.
I think I have a post about this too, but for you who are too darn lazy to go find it on my site (hint hint).. I really have no clue. Wait, something is coming to me. You mind if I just make something up?  No? Cool.. Ok.. Here it goes:
In college somehow I was saddled with the nickname Fizz (don’t ask..).  When I started playing WoW, I create a character named Fizz.  He was a human mage. I quickly grew bored of him and wanted to create another character. I had read that Hunters were pretty easy to solo, so I rolled one.  For some reason I got in my head that I should have this shtick that all my characters start with F. I was also trying to come up with a name that fit a night elf.. Not really knowing what that entailed, I came up with Fimlys. I wanted something a little difficult to pronounce so I could correct people all the time and harass them for messing up my name.

In your opinion, how could the Aldor and Scryer forces (once mortal enemies) come to terms with each other AND start cooperating? Would you say that is almost as surprising as US forces working with the Russians on joint exercises after the Cold War?

I can’t believe it! How could they do this to me? They have completely jacked up everything I hold sacred and dear! I’m quitting… /wowquit.   (Seriously… not all that sure I care, but it could be as surprising as that)

How on EARTH did you end up playing a game like this?

1) I have been gaming all my life.. Well, most..
b) I am a HUGE RPG nut (First computer RPG game was Ultima III, I think)
III) I played FFXI for a while since I am also a FF nut (see a pattern here?)
*) I migrated to WoW when it came out because it was just more FUN than FFXI and I was much more into "solo" play than grouping and FFXI has required grouping in the mid game. (I also had played and liked the Warcraft games in the past)
This "solo" pay mindset I had is very interesting because I have recently professed that what KEEPS me in WoW is the social aspects now.  I get bored quickly if I have nobody to chat with.  I love running instances and going on raids

The 2.4 patch has JUST been released. The next thing on the horizon is Wrath of the Lich King. What are you looking forward to the most?

"Noobzone Chat"…  "Where is BLAH?".  "Why can’t I fly?"..  "How do you get the frizzlemadizzle?"…. I LOVE THAT STUFF!!!!

Well, I am really looking forward to the new content. I really got energized by the release of TBC and I can’t wait for the interesting changes that are in store for WotLK. 

Your epic Gryphon is flying over the seas of Azeroth somewhere only to get shot down by Horde insurgents and by sheer luck and skill (you are a hunter, after all), you manage to make it to a deserted island. You lose your possessions and all of your gold in the process. You think to yourself that a stereotypical deserted island HAS to have a lamp of some kind. After hours of searching and digging, you manage to find a rusty old lamp which you activate and out pops a genie who grants you 1 wish. What will it be?

A can of Frobozz Magic Grue Repellent.

How’s your Hunter loaded and specced? Any significant reason as to why that path?

He is a bit different.  He is currently specced BM (which I am sure will make BRK smile) and I am loving it.  However, to be a bit different, I have most of my gear still chosen/gemmed/enchanted for AP from when I was MM.  I have a large amount of AP and a nice wittle shot speed.. My crit isn’t as high as some, and neither is my dodge, but I get by.  Kenny usually is picking up 1/3 of the damage I do at this point, so I don’t think that is so bad.

Your Priest is Holy (and receives an official Matticus seal of approval) and you have a Hunter. Which do you enjoy playing the most?

I’m not really sure.  I think that I actually feel like I have less to worry about as a Priest. It is almost a relief not to have to send in/out the pet of ultimate destruction, trap, kite, misdirect, time the shots, etc… I DO love me my hunter though.  He was my first, and you know how it is with your first…

So why did you level a Priest instead of a Paladin, a Druid, or a Shaman?

The guild had a couple of healing Paladins and a couple of healing Druids and a healing Shaman.  All of our priests had switched specs to SP or Disc and there was need for a Holy Priest. Soooo.. being the oh so good Guild Samaratin that I am (cough, cough), I leveled my priest.
Actually, to buck the trend when TBC came out, I rolled a Draenei Priest.  Everyone was rolling Draenei Shaman and I wanted to be different. He was really just for me to play with and have fun, thus his name, Fhuun…
I am actually leveling a Druid also right now, she is level 61 (yeah.. SHE). Right now she is a Boooooomkin and I’m enjoying it.  Might eventually go Feral tank, might eventually go tree.. Who knows! That is the beauty of da Drood.

How has 2008 been so far for you and your blog? Any upcoming features or highlights that your audience can look forward to?

2008 has been super-dee-duper.  Having joined up with the Blog Azeroth community has been a blast! I have also moved my blog to a "self-hosted" environment and that has sucked all my time down the drain..
I have gotten a lot of new readers from the community and I’ve loved that people (you guys!) have started to leave comments.. It is pretty satisfying when you ask a question and get answers!
Upcoming features?  Well, I really would like to get more into the "Addon Reviews".  I am an Addon Whore..  I don’t have as many as some, but generally I’m the one everyone in my guild comes to with addon questions. I try to keep up with the latest styles and trends and I’d love to share that with my readers.

Speed Questions

Favorite Quote

I’m pretty partial to the double quote ("), but on occasion I use a single quote (‘) when necessary.

Most used spell:

Well, on my Priest it has to be Heal.. Hunter? Does Scatter Shot count? (Hmm.. maybe it is Rez Pet…)

Favourite song:

Serenity by Godsmack (for the moment, I am a fickle pickle)

Warcraft is like ______:

Heroin (but kinda in a good way… maybe.. maybe… can I go back to playing now?  please? please? please? please?… hey! give me back my keyboard! HEY!!!! I can’t play without that! WHAT IS THE !*@$!&@$ VENT INFO????  AAAAAGHAGHGHAGHGHAGHHGAHAG)

Worse class to play against 

Slicka the Wonderdrone… What? That’s not an answer?  Well.. When I HAVE done PvP, I really have come to hate Rogues.  Stupid stunlock… mumble mumble..

Aside from WoW, do you play any sports or engage in any hobbies?

Sports, ok… Watching Football on TV.  Watching Baseball on TV.  Watching my son play Baseball.
Hobbies, well… Other than the obvious computer gaming, I also am into console gaming (SURPRISE!) and I like to read books (which are those big rectangular things that look like a bound stack of paper). But I try to spend most of my free time (well, when I am not playing WoW) with my family

I’m bad at managing my schedule and time. Any ideas to help a poor sap?

Um… Sleep is for the weak?  I went to a school where sleep was considered a nuisance. Make sure you have fun in school!  All nighters are fun!  I didn’t have something like WoW while I was in school, but I did spend most of my time NOT doing my school work. 

Ehhh… I’m really not a good role model when it comes to time management..

Your 3 favourite shows on TV:

American Idol… uh, no…  Don’t watch too much TV.. Here is what I get to watch:
1) Scooby Doo
2) Ben 10
3) Dora the Explorer

(I also like CSI [NY and Vegas mostly] and Eureka and old episodes of SG1)

One thing you would say to others who have a desire to blog:

Have fun and write for you. You can’t always please everyone, but you SHOULD always be able to please yourself. If people see you enjoy what you write about, you will get an audience. 

But then again, what do I know?

Shout outs to:

I like to give a shout out to my awesome guild.  They keep me in this masochistic game. Also to the Blog Azeroth community, especially the stupendous BAChat peeps.. Too many to name, but you know whom you is. I really must thank you for throwing me under this bus… Don’t think the favor won’t be returned.. MUAHAHA HAHAAHA!  … *cough*.. Ahem… Sorry…

Thanks again to Fimlys for agreeing to do the interview! Don’t forget to subscribe to his blog!

Tobold Interviews a Gold Seller

MMO Blogging enthusiast Tobold managed get in an interview with a gold selling company that’s not based in China. I don’t support RMT at all in any shape. With that being said, that does not mean I’m not curious as to the motivations and foundations behind them. Im always interested to learn about everything and anything (I have Wikipedia as my home page for crying out loud). Tobold asked some intriguing questions and received some ever interesting answers.

EDIT: RMT stands for Real Money Trading (or the process of exchanging real money for virtual currency and items).

After posing this perspective I’m often asked, “So why do Blizzard ban RMT accounts then?”, and the answer is always the same. To open a WoW account requires both a CD Key and subscription, but as Chinese credit cards are not accepted this become a 60-day pre-paid game card. A Chinese workroom would pay around $35 for both these resources, the majority of which goes right into Blizzard’s pockets. As a rough estimate based on experience within Chinese workrooms, I would say 200,000 workroom accounts were banned in 2007, 99.5% of which would have been replaced by a new account (with a new CD key and pre-paid card) right away. Based on these numbers, the banning of Chinese “Gold Farmer” accounts was worth approximately $7,000,000 last year alone. Now you can better understand why RMT continues to exist and why legal action against RMT is extremely selective.

Obviously a controversial piece like this would garner a few negative comments. Sure enough, a brief look at the comments showed several dissatisfied readers. True, Tobold had to publicize the address of the company in question but I think a link is a fair trade off in order to ask honest questions and get honest answers. The world revolves around a give and take relationship and you can’t expect to get something for nothing.

There’s been documentaries and interviews of serial murderers and rapists and other criminals done before in the past. It doesn’t mean we support what they do. Interviews like this help in expanding our understanding and view of deviant acts like this.

If you’re against buying gold or RMT in general, then it’s highly unlikely that reading an interview like this will change your mind.

In Vancouver, we have a special place in the Downtown East side called a Insite. It’s essentially a safe injection site for drug users to go to in order for them to practice what they do in a safe place. This government funded installation is meant to help drug users in a controlled environment that is fully staffed. Obviously a place like this can send the wrong kind of message; namely that the government supports illegal drug use. On the other hand, if an individual is going to shoot cocaine or do drugs anyway, at least there’s a hygienic place that exists where they can go to in order to do it safely without overdosing themselves.

Applying this to WoW and RMT, I’m more aware of the trades and practices that dealing with Chinese RMTers can do. This organization reports itself as being in America which means it is subject to American laws and business practices. I’d like to say that offers an element of comfort to players who might be desperate enough to turn to RMT in the first place.

Disclaimer: I mentioned it earlier and I’ll say it again. I don’t support RMT at all. But I still like to learn. If you’re going to comment, please do it respectfully with regards to the views of others.

Technorati Tags: gold, gold selling, rmt, money, interview, tobold

20 Questions with Phaelia (Resto4Life)

Every week, Matt gets a chance to sit down with a WoW Blogger chosen from a hat. Find out a little more about your favourite bloggers as he tries to get to know them a little more!

To kick off this weekly feature, Phaelia of Resto4Life was gracious enough to set aside some time in her schedule to answer a few questions.

1: Where did the name Phaelia come from?

When I was much, much younger I started a fantasy book. “Phaelia” was the name of its main character. I later used the name when I created my Ranger in EverQuest I, but I don’t think I was aware where I’d pulled it from. It was only years later that I found an old 3.5″ floppy with the aforementioned book on it that I realized where I’d originally used the name.

2: You picked a Druid as your class. How come?

So, why a druid?

I originally created a Hunter in the first phase of the open beta since it was the class that most closely corresponded with the Ranger from EverQuest. But then Mr. Phae decided that he wanted to play a Hunter as his main. Knowing how much he’d end up “showing me up” if we played the same class, I chose the “next best” thing, the Druid. The Druid also had a strong affiliation with nature, and the video where the beautiful Night Elf shapeshifts into a sleek purple panther didn’t hurt either. Little did I know I would NOT be playing Feral.

Phaelia was my first real healing character, and I was fortunate enough to have the leisure to spec Restoration since I was levelling with my husband’s Retribution-specced Paladin. I’ve since discovered a real love for it and think I’ve found my calling. I doubt I could play any other role long-term and be as happy.

3: How did you get your start in World of Warcraft or gaming in general?

Like many, I’ve been gaming since the early days of the NES. I used to watch my older brother play Mario Brothers and get so excited that I’d kick the Reset button on the front of the console. He’d subsequently ban me from his room for the morning/afternoon.

I started playing EverQuest when I was in college, initially atracted to the pretty picture of Firiona Vie on the box cover. I had an extremely hard time levelling up and spent an inordinate amount of time in zones that were far too low for me for fear of dying. I had the opportunity to experience all aspects of the game over the course of 5 years: guild leadership, RPing, in-game marriages, and finally a raiding guild lead by a certain female High Elf Enchanter. I remember being so disappointed to find out that “she” was actually a “he.” I eventually got over it, though, and the two of us are approaching our 3-year anniversary this July.

4: Aside from WoW and blogging, what’re your other interests and hobbies?

As if I have time for other hobbies! =) I’ve been a long-time fan of X-Men comics, especially the two characters Rogue and Gambit. I also enjoy web design and development, movies, tabletop roleplaying, and cooking. I am the quintessential geeky girl.

5: If you could shape shift into ANY other form or animal, what would it be and why?

A unicorn … no, a pegasus. No, a PEGACORN!! Scratch that. I’ll take a Pegacorn and shift into a bunny rabbit instead. They’re sooooo cute. Druids definitely need an ambient form.

6: If you could change or add an ability to your class what would it be?

Out of combat resurrection. The lack makes me angry enough to spit tree sap.

7: Let’s hypothetically assume Blizzard goes out of business and decides to shut down their servers and WoW for good. You have 5 hours before the server shutdown is permanent. What would you do in 5 hours?

First of all, I’d port to Moonglade and purchase the Formal Dangui dress I’ve been eyeing since beta (it’s 50 GOLD!). Then I’d go buy a hippogryph from Cenarion Expedition and fly around fishing in far off, dangerous places until the world (of Warcraft) came to an end.

8: Blog Azeroth: Success or not quite there yet?

Success!! Lots of people have commended me on how well it’s doing, but — as my husband has pointed out — what did I expect would happen when I put together 100+ people who like to write on the Internet?

9: What’s in store for 2008 in terms of Resto4life?

I’ve been resistant to doing an HEP analysis (one that allows you to break down every item in terms of the raw +Healing it provides), but it would be pretty useful. So that’s a big project I’m looking at doing long term. I also have some plans to create Restoration Druid-based t-shirts and even have an artist friend who’s interested in splitting profits with me. I’m really hoping that can help offset some of the cost of hosting so that this becomes more of a recreational hobby than an additional expense! Other than that, I just hope that I can continue to grow my readership by delivering quality content that is either easily applied to everyday gaming or just consumed for its entertainment value.

And now for the speed questions.

10: Coffee or energy drinks?

Coffee. Red bull tastes like liquid sweet tarts mixed with cough medicine.

11: Raiding or blogging?

Blogging while I raid.

12: Overpowered: Rogues or Warlocks?

Oh, tough call. I’d have said Warlocks, but from what I understand of Season 3, Rogues are pretty much the bane of a Restoration Druid.

13: The White Tree of Gondor or the Tree of Nordrassil?

If you’re asking if I prefer the Lore of Warcraft to the Lore of Middle Earth, I’d have to go with Middle Earth. My knowledge of Azerothian lore is disappointly lacking.

14: If I weren’t a Druid, I would’ve rolled:

Priest without a doubt. I’ve actually played a Priest to 60 before and, while I didn’t enjoy their style of healing nearly as much as that of a Druid, I know I’d have to play a healer and they DO get the best looking armor sets in the game. /jealous

15: Mining, Skinning, or Tailoring?

Tailoring!! Without a doubt, tailoring is the most enjoyable tradeskill I’ve ever levelled. And I’ve done so on three different characters.

16: Aldor Rise needs an escalator: Agree or disagree?

I have insta-cast flight form. My favorite thing in the world is to run past someone waiting patiently for the elevator, flip off the edge, pop birdie form, and laugh at the /whisper of “!” NO ESCALATOR!

17: Given the opportunity, you would rather write a WoW blog for: WoW Insider or NY Times

I’d not like to write for anyone, really. I enjoy my freedom of expression and design. But if I had to choose, I’d go with WoW Insider; the audience there seems much more appropriate.

18: The road to success is paved with:

Well, I’m guessing it isn’t “Chardonnay” but it should be. Let’s go with “Passion”. The most successful and HAPPY (more important) people are those who are passionate about what it is they do.

19: Matthew Perry, Matthew McConaughey, or Matt Damon?

Matt Damon; he seems to me to be the most intelligent of the three.

20: Thanks for the interview. Shouts to?

Mr. Phae for all his support and help; Valenna for his friendship; Kestrel for his kindness; Vonya, Amanna, and Kirk for the inspiration; and to all the Druid authors out there that make our mini-blogosphere such a wonderful, welcoming, and warm place to be!