World of Mattous on mattous.co.uk

Black Temple Cleared!

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:04:00 +0000

Well I never got round to saying we downed the Illidari Council (the day after we killed Mother Shahraz) and then Wednesday/Thursday re-cleared up to Illidan again. Sunday we spent pretty much all day wiping on him learning the fight — our best attempt was 8%. Monday one of our fire resistance tanks didn’t show, but Tuesday we had another geared up and after a few more hours of wipes we killed him! Black Temple cleared! Only 6 bosses left in the game that I’ve never killed! We’re not geared for Sunwell yet but in a few weeks we’ll be going and giving it a go. I’m well pleased with our progress — it took the guild about 2 months to clear MH and BT!

Side note: during our Illidan kill attempt, around 32%, my keyboard batteries died. When Maiev showed up I ran to get another to plug in. Thankfully while I was away I didn’t wipe the raid. Also had someone banging on the door while all this was going on — didn’t answer it, still no idea who it was! Even with all that I still managed to come second on the healing meters. Go me!

Illidari Council defeated 12/08/08

Illidan Stormrage slain 19/08/08

Drops:

Black Bow of the Betrayer
Zhar’doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer
Chestguard of the Forgotten Conqueror (x2)
Chestguard of the Forgotten Protector

Illidari Council defeated 12/08/08

Illidan Stormrage slain 19/08/08

Your mother!

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Well it’s been a good week for Antihero! Tonight we killed Mother Shahraz! We only killed RoS yesterday so I’m pretty surprised that we made it so quickly. We didn’t have masses of Hearts of Darkness so could only spare enough to get everyone 3 parts of their shadow resist gear, which meant we were slightly gimped. I had around 254 buffed and there were some people who were a lot less. We wiped a fair bit because of the lack of resist and people failing on getting Fatal Attraction. Illidari Council here we come!

Mother Shahraz defeated 11/08/08

Loots:

3x Pauldrons of the Forgotten Protector
Leggings of Devastation

RoS down! Plus a nice upgrade

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Today I finally got an upgrade for my Red Riding Hood’s Cloak from Karazhan. Gurtogg Bloodboil finally dropped some healing loot! Shroud of Forgiveness is way better looking than my old cape — for one thing — but it also gave me 36 more healing, 120 health and about 1.2 more mana regen! I guess those are the kind of upgrades you get when you go from Tier 4 to Tier 6! Best priest cloak until the twins in Sunwell.

Oh and while writing this post we had 2 tries on RoS and downed him on the second try of the day! That’s 6/9 BT! Time to go farm for Hearts of Darkness! Then it’s Mother Shahraz!

My new cloak — Shroud of Forgiveness

Reliquary of Souls defeated 10/08/08

Magtheridon Rocks!

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:11:00 +0000

It’s been almost 2 months since my last blog post — I’ve just not been able to find the time for it! I’ve got loads of news though on what I’ve been up to since I moved to Magtheridon. Moving server was by far the best decision I’ve made in my WOW career. Magtheridon is such an awesome server — you can guarantee pug Karas will be running any time you need, day or night! They don’t fail. Out of the 5 or so I did, none had any problems doing a full clear in about 4 hours. Pug Gruul’s are just as frequent as Kara — again with no problems clearing the whole instance. Maggy raids also run fairly regularly and SSC/TK pugs do happen, but the ones I went with didn’t do so well! Pug 70 content aside, one of my favourite things about the server is the weekly level 60 content pugs. We’re not talking MC runs here (though they do happen) — we’re talking full Naxx clears, AQ40 clears and BWL. There’s a group of people that clear all the 40-man level 60 content every week. I have my Tier 3 ring from Kel’Thuzad to prove it — that’s something that, when the expansion hits, will not be obtainable ever again. So I’ll be holding onto that!

I spent my first few weeks trying out several guilds, none of which I liked. I applied everywhere I could and eventually found somewhere I liked. The guild’s name is Antihero — when I joined they were 4/5 MH and 3/9 BT. Since joining we have killed Archimonde 4 times now (and I got my T6 head — my first part!). We killed Teron Gorefiend without too much bother with constructs in the raid, and have killed Gurtogg Bloodboil twice and had some decent attempts on RoS (best being about 30% on phase 3). So now we are 5/5 MH and 5/9 BT. MH clears now only take us about 3 and a half hours — and that’s usually with about an hour of wipes on Archimonde because we still seem to have some problems there, and will continue to for a while I expect. This week they decided to make me an officer also, which is cool — all I really do is assign healing targets but it’s nice to be more involved.

So all in all I’m very happy with the move. I’m getting to see and beat content that previously I’d only seen in videos, and if we can clear BT before the expansion is released I’ll be one happy priest! There are still people back on Bladefist that I miss but actually a lot of people I knew from there were already here, came with us, or have moved recently to join us. It’s a great server and anyone looking to find a new place to call home — I highly recommend checking it out!

Naxxramas — the best looking instance in the game

Archimonde Down 07/07/08

So long and thanks for all the fish

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:09:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been thinking about a realm transfer and it’s now official. I’m planning on migrating my Priest to Magtheridon. This decision was not one that was made lightly — over the last two years I’ve developed a strong attachment to my current server Bladefist. I made a lot of good friends here but unfortunately they have now mostly all gone, migrating away to different servers over the last 3-4 months. My decision to move to Magtheridon was quite an easy one to make — not only is it one of the best PvE realms in Europe (mostly thanks to Nihilum) but also one of my best WOW mates Krakemake has just started his own raiding guild there. They had their first raids this week — the first instance they went to was Mount Hyjal, completely skipping SSC and TK! This seems crazy to me as that kind of thing could never be done on Bladefist!

This post is really going to be about me saying goodbye to Bladefist. I’ve grown very attached to the place and it’s actually surprisingly difficult for me to leave, even though now it’s an awful realm to play on. I first arrived on Bladefist when my guild British Beef transferred from Agamaggan in early 2006. We merged with two guilds to form United Legions soon after the move and started progressing through ZG and eventually started raiding 40-man MC and BWL. By the time TBC was released we had renamed the guild to Final Formation, cleared ZG, AQ20, MC and were 7/8 BWL. Many of the core members leveled to 70 faster than others when the expansion hit, causing problems with early TBC progression. After struggling to get Karazhan on farm the guild disbanded a few months after the release of TBC. After spending a few months in other guilds I went back to leading British Beef and we got Karazhan on farm but struggled with 25-man progression despite having several guilds join with us. We merged with a guild around Christmas 2007 to form Mental Warfare. In this guild we saw fast progression through 25-man Tier 5 instances, getting 6/6 in SSC and 3/4 in TK in about 4 months of raiding. The guild however was victim of several corrupt officers who stole everything in the guild bank and migrated away — this combined with my 2-month break from WOW to focus on University resulted in the death of the guild.

The rest of my WOW history on Bladefist (the last month) has been told in previous posts on this blog which brings me back full circle. I’m now back in British Beef and preparing to transfer, selling as much as possible before the jump. I’ll certainly miss this place but I’m hoping that I’ll come to enjoy playing on Magtheridon as much as I enjoyed playing on Bladefist.

I want to take some time to say thanks to all the people that made my time on Bladefist such fun:

Mattmpg, Pearshaped, Mortiis, Rembo, Deadrood, Demonfly, Czakky/Ticktick, Garaina, Toots/Toofly, Grimpy, Nilmos, Krakemake, Sunstorm, Althulurs, Oomootwo, Eb, Skaythn, Undeadmage/Starcraft, Boogyman, Darkstorn, Flos, Brumdar, Heidegger, Psyaxe, Miquel, Elderpowah, Gael, Amagaad, Azu, Banamano, Blagdor/Hubie, Cryss, Didz, Hexor, Padington, Schism, Smoken, Marn, Icyone, Ironlung, Sharpeye, Thetroll, Narshe, Smeg, Skemtar, Rozal, Mooncalf, Arem, Aten, Dion, Thugcoolio, Rimos, Mogard, Morogh, Nekronis, Nadir, Spiritto, Bloodash, Galvatron, Corann, Yourepwned, Bloodyfist, Zeloth, Ukar, Vandrake, Sizer, Orit, Jerpa, Walish, Shadowknife, Solfk, Tseng, Hanzi, Darel, Darknessorc, Vitriol, Pog, Doggydogg, Comunero, Urthaz, Fashia, Purepwnage, Loobooja, Exu — and my apologies to anyone I missed!

Thanks to all the members who were ever in any of my guilds: British Beef, United Beef, United Legions, Final Formation and Mental Warfare.

Thanks to Bad News for leading those Naxx raids — because of you I can say I’ve cleared 13/15 in old school Naxx and cleared AQ40. Also thanks to everyone in Khaos Dragons and Megiddo for the raids this past month.

ZG Cleared 16/8/06
Onyxia Down 30/9/06
AQ20 Cleared 1/10/06
MC Cleared 20/10/06

Good luck to everyone that I’m leaving behind and to all those that have moved to different servers. It’s been emotional — so long and thanks for all the fish!

Mattous (level 375 fishing, among other things)

ZG Cleared 16/8/06

Onyxia Down 30/9/06

AQ20 Cleared 1/10/06

MC Cleared 20/10/06

What's been keeping me busy

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Well my first two weeks of being back on WOW have been fairly eventful! I haven’t had much time to blog however as I’ve also started a new job as a web developer for a company in Stockton called TeesWeb!

So here’s a bit of an update of my recent goings on in WOW:

Loot: My Badge Loot Comparison post came in handy — I’ve managed to save up 100 badges and bought my Adorned Supernal Legwraps. When fully buffed this pushes my healing to over 2000 which is a pretty big margin! The best bit of loot I got though was my new Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat from the fishing daily quest — I really do love this thing! The next day I got an Eye of the Sea which sold for a very respectable 350g!

Guild: The guild I applied for a few weeks ago — Khaos Dragons — was a bit of a disappointment. During my 2 weeks of belonging to the guild I only got to see one 25 man progression raid, which really wasn’t what I was expecting. So I’ve left and joined the guild Megiddo who are at about the same level of progression (if not a bit further) and raiding 4 nights a week without any attendance troubles.

Downings: There was a new first for me this week — downing Rage Winterchill for my first time! The fight was fairly easy once we managed to get the waves of trash under control. Managed to reach Friendly with The Scale of the Sands — not a lot of use to me until I get my (now optional) attunement quest done though. The one progression raid I was in with Khaos Dragons was actually very successful, getting two first kills for the guild in one night — we killed The Lurker Below and Morogrim Tidewalker without too many problems. Shame that after that there were no more 25 man progression raids.

Exploration: I decided to get back into a bit of Azeroth exploration this week as dailies were getting boring. I managed to beat the fatigue debuff for long enough to reach the edge of the world and stay there for a bit until I went out of mana. Also took a look at what’s behind the mountain range south of Tanaris, Un’Goro and Silithus. Checked out Ironforge airport and the farm that sits in the mountains in southern Wetlands. I’m thinking up some posts for my WOW exploration discoveries — even if they’re not really breaking news, exploring is still one of my most favourite things to do in WOW.

Reputation: I finally made it to Exalted with Thrallmar and Lower City after doing a string of heroics! Not much useful loot there for me but it’s another few exalteds to add to my collection! My Shattered Sun Offensive reputation is about halfway through Revered at the moment but has slowed down a bit these past few days due to daily boredom and exploring fun!

Others: I finally reached 375 fishing — the new daily quests really gave me more of a reason to get into fishing again and it’s a new way to relax after a hard night’s wiping. I also got my first PvE title: Mattous, Champion of the Naaru — and completed my Black Temple attunement (not that it’s needed anymore), getting my Medallion of Karabor.

On another note, a lot of my long-term friends on my current server Bladefist have been moving to different servers due to a lack of hardcore raiding opportunities. When I say a lot I really mean it — practically all of them have left now and they were pretty much the only reason for me sticking with this realm. I’m strongly considering moving server, but there will be a full post about that sometime soon!

Me in my new Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat

Rage Winterchill defeated

The edge of the World

In the mountains south of Silithus

Badge Loot Comparison

Sat, 17 May 2008 11:37:00 +0000

This post looks at the new healing badge gear available for me to buy. As I’ve been away since before patch 2.4 hit I never really thought about what badges to get. So when I logged yesterday the vendor was already unlocked and I had 165 badges burning a hole in my Traveler’s Backpack. Here’s the comparison of what gear I currently have versus the badge loot:

Boots of the Incorrupt vs Slippers of Dutiful Mending

+4 Stamina, +1 Intellect, +11 Spirit
+1 red socket, +2 Spirit socket bonus
+29 Healing, -8 mp5
Cost: 65 Badges

Trousers of the Incarnate vs Adorned Supernal Legwraps

-12 Stamina, +3 Intellect, +6 Spirit
+1 Blue socket, +1 Red socket, +4 Stamina socket bonus
+26 Healing
Cost: 100 Badges

Robes of Heavenly Purpose vs Gown of Spiritual Wonder

+15 Stamina, +12 Intellect, -5 Spirit
+1 Red Socket, +2 Spirit Socket Bonus, -1 Yellow Socket, -2 Blue Sockets
-9 Healing Socket Bonus, +17 Healing
Cost: 100 Badges

Vindicator’s Band of Salvation vs Anveena’s Touch

-7 Stamina, -1 Intellect, -22 Resilience
+15 Healing, +5 mp5
Cost: 60 Badges

Ethereum Life-Staff (+ Talisman of the Sun King) vs Gavel of Naaru Blessings

+17 Stamina, +10 Intellect, -62 Spirit
+108 Healing, +6 mp5
Cost: 150 Badges

I decided to go with buying the boots first, which are possibly the biggest upgrade I can afford (the legs are better but I have limited funds for an enchant and gems). I also bought the ring because it gives me a nice boost to my mp5 which I lost on the boots and a bit more healing. I’ll be working my way through getting all of these except maybe the Gavel of Naaru Blessings because of the huge spirit nerf that I would take. I have 20 badges left so it’ll be a while before I can afford the next item!

My return to WOW last night went well — I’ve got loads of screenshots that I’ll share in a later post.

My return to WOW — first stop, an old enemy

My First Guild Application

Sun, 11 May 2008 15:46:00 +0000

I’ve been running guilds for so long in WOW now that I can’t remember the last time I applied to join a guild — simply because I haven’t needed to. I did join a guild after my level 60 guild Final Formation fell apart a few months after TBC was released, but I didn’t have to apply to join them, they just took me on my word. This got me thinking — I’ve read literally hundreds of applications over the years but never had to fill one out myself. So I took careful time writing it, making sure everything was answered and made sense. I know Skathyn, GM of Khaos Dragons, in real life but to keep his other officers happy I applied because they don’t know me, even if he does. Their recruitment is closed so I’m really hoping that I get in — I’ve bigged myself up as much as possible!

I’ve decided to move my return to playing WOW forward a bit. I’m hoping to start up again on Friday the 16th which is less than a week away now and I’m excited! I’ve applied early so hopefully (assuming I get accepted) I’ll be raiding with them on Sunday also — it gives them a chance to ask me any questions. They haven’t done yet but I’ve had a couple of their members give me the thumbs up so that’s a good thing! If I don’t get in it’s not the end of the world — I’ll just have to look elsewhere, or will more likely just lay low until Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK) comes out. The guild isn’t as far progressed as my previous guild but given another month or so I think they’ll be caught up. They are currently 2/4 TK and trying to add a third night of 25 man raiding to their schedule so hopefully I’ll get some good raids out of them!

I’ve started looking at the new badge loot that’s available properly now — comparing it to my current gear, trying to decide which gear is worth getting. It looks like a lot of the gear is well worth it. I currently have about 150 badges so I’ll probably end up getting 1 or 2 items at a push. In my next post I’ll talk about the comparison and work out which items would be the biggest upgrade so I can decide which to buy first.

Blackrock Mountain — 3 days before my last login on WOW, March 10th 2008

Coming Soon

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:03:00 +0000

This is just a placeholder for my upcoming World of Warcraft (WOW) blog, expected to start June 1st. Expect to see layout and style changes as and when I get time. Stay Tuned.

About Me:

I’m a long-term WOW player — my account has been active since the release date in Europe. Since then I’ve had many characters, my main for two years now being a Holy Priest on the Bladefist European server. My time in WOW has been spent leading guilds, participating in and leading end game raids. Currently taking a break from the game to focus on my final term of University. I’m looking forward to playing again and sharing my experiences as a priest, guild leader and raider.

Hyjal, July 2006