20 Questions with Matticus of WoW Insider and World of Matticus

Have you ever had that feeling that you’ve reached the end or the top and look back and say to yourself, “Well, were do I go from here?”

Or maybe put another way, remember in Forest Gump when Forest reaches the Ocean he says, “And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going.”

Well, that’s the plan here. I think we’ll just keep on going. What do I mean by that? Glad you asked.

You see, we’ve interviewed some great Hunters here.  Pike gave us some insight into Role-Playing (link).  BigRedKitty put to rest once and for all why BRK will forever be referred to in plural (link). And our latest interview with Lassirra of The Hunter’s Mark, provided us with a frank and honest take on being a Hunter tha’s accomplished almost everything as well as the Hunter Community as a whole. (link)

Then while I was thinking of who should The Hunting Lodge interview next, you all responded in a loud voice that you wanted to hear from other players that might not be Hunters. I listened and heard that you all REALLY wanted to get to know who all is out there, their class, and in some ways, how Hunters and other classes work together and complement each other.

On that note, I’m excited and humbled to have one of the most accomplished Healers in WoW  join us today, Matticus.

Yes, that Matticus. You know Matticus of WoW Insider, and brings to you Raid Rx and Spiritual Guidance among others. As well as World of Matticus, which should be a favorite for any Healer.  Don’t believe me?  Well, then you need to check them out.

I guess I’ve babbled on enough, so let’s meet Matt.

Thanks again for doing this Matt; I truly appreciate your willingness to take time out for this.  Before getting to the 20 Questions, let’s get to know you a bit.

Life must be a bit hectic at the moment, between WoW Insider, World of Matticus, and real life, are you finding it difficult to squeeze in any play time?

Not at all. I’d chalk it to my ability to micromanage, planning, and scheduling. In truth its probably because I’m only taking two classes right now. In the past, when I took 3-4 classes, it was a lot more challenging. I’d often write post outlines and ideas during lecture lulls (or periods where the prof goes off on a tangent). Having a disciplined raiding schedule also helps. Starting on time every time is a big bonus. I’m blessed to have such a good crew to work with.

I read where you’ve always played a healer? Do you find yourself playing the healer more out of necessity or is there something inherent in the role that you can identify with?

When I first started healing, it was mostly out of necessity. My roots in healing came from previous games. In Guild Wars, I’d play a pure Monk just to heal. I wasn’t aggressive enough to DPS. In other games, you’d find me in more of a support role than anything else. The main reason is because I never felt comfortable or “good” enough to be in the sort of front line position that tanks and DPS are known for. With that being said, I do have an Elemental Shaman that I like to mess around with every so often. Even though I don’t normally DPS very often, players will find that I’m more than capable of defending myself.

Like the unfortunate 80 Mage who tried to knock me out when I was farming for Sons of Hodir. I never realized how much damage a Flame Shocked, Lava Burst, Chain Lightning could do.

Now that we got to know you a little bit, let’s get to our 20 Questions:

1. With all the different healing classes and races out there, which is truly your favorite? Why is that?

The Dwarf Priest will always be my flagship character. Out of all the possible healing classes and races, I believe that this combination is best suited for me. I suspect it’s because of the history I’ve had with this character. In terms of options and responses, the Priest will own every other healing class hands down in regards to what spell to use in any given situation. The Stoneform racial bonus is enough for me to buy an extra few seconds of staying alive or getting rid of a disease of some sort at the right time. So there are some strategic reasons as to why I play this specific combination.

Aside from that, Dwarves can strike fear into the hearts of anyone!

2. You’ve been playing a healer even before WoW (e.g. Guild Wars and Team Fortress), has there been any lessons or things you’ve learned from one game and been able to apply it in WoW?

A: Stay alive. Because if you stay alive, your team mates can stay alive. This applies to any type of team game. You’re no good dead.

B: Don’t stay out in the open. Hide behind walls. Line of sight stuff if you have the option to do it. Get out of the way. Why heal out in the open on Warsong Gulch if you can park yourself between two massive tree stumps and heal without the other team having a clue of where you are? You can’t shoot what you can’t see. Take advantage of the surrounding terrain.

C: Try to anticipate where people are going and what they do. An important lesson I learned is to put yourself in the roles of your victims or your captors. 99% of people think the same way. If you know what you would do in a situation, chances are that other player is going to do the same thing.

3. But now having played as a Healer in WoW since basically the beginning, would you say your perceptions on Healers have changed? What I guess I mean is, how have you seen the Role and the Classes evolved from “Vanilla” WoW, into Burning Crusade, and now in Wrath of the Lich King? What are those changes, and how has it impacted your play style, perceptions, enjoyment of the game?

My perceptions have not changed at all. I’ve healed some of AQ 40 and have participated in every raiding instance through Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. I’ve seen Discipline go from a “just-for-fun” PvP healing spec to a bonafide, eyebrow raising raiding spec that can compete against the other healing heavyweights. The addition of new spells have made the game a lot more enjoyable then it was before. In vanilla, healing was done in a turn order. Priest A would go in, tax his mana, and tag out for Priest B who would do the same for Priest C. With Burning Crusade and Wrath, Priests are now taking a much more active role compared to experiences of vanilla.

4. Your main is a Dwarf Priest, but you have other classes as well. How would you rank each Healing Class, and what their strongest area of the game is? (For example, for raiding you’d suggest what class, for Arena, etc…)

I’m almost hesitant to answer this question because I know that no matter how I answer it, I’m going to be skinned alive. Instead, what I will do is rank each healing class on an “effort” meter. The effort meter is how much effort and work it takes to play a class and ranks from effortless to armpit sweat inducing.

A: Shaman – Brain Heal guides all.
B: Paladins – Nothing wrong with Paladins. See next line.
C: Priests – Circle of Healing nerf knocks Priests down a rank.
D: Druids – Mostly because I don’t actually know how to play one yet.

But in all due seriousness, each class does have its own specialities and the like. It’s not possible to seriously park one class above the other. It’s going to depend a lot on the encounter that the healers are going through. Different classes will excel at different jobs. A melee class is going to have a difficult time on cleave or whirlwind intense fights. Spellcasters will have it tough on silence inducing encounters.

For healers, we undergo the same things. Fights involving movement will make Michael Jordan’s out of Resto Druids and Holy Priests. Unpredictable damage gets handled by Resto Shamans even if they put both hands behind their backs. 20 minute fights can be carried by Paladins without so much as having to use the can.

5. We hear a lot about the “Whack-A-Mole” syndrome with Healers. Isn’t this basically what a healer does though? Hit the spell to keep up the Tank or heal up another player?

That is precisely what it is. Some players find it too boring. Some peoples love it because it is too boring. Healing is always going to involve keeping a player’s health up. It’s going to require a certain mentality and approach no matter what class you are.

6. Given this, what are some of the changes (core, game mechanics, talents, etc…) changes that need to be done to help improve game play for Healers?

I’m not sure if its the mechanics or talents that need complete overhauls. I think there needs to be encounters that seriously need to push players. If you really want to fry a healer, make them heal, move out of stuff, move into stuff, and so forth. Give them something to do in addition to whacking moles. There’s only so much spellpower coefficients, or spells that can be changed.

7. So with the Ulduar (3.1) patch notes starting to be released and character transfers being signed up, what are some things your excited about? And what are some that just make you sigh and scratch your head?

Power Word: Barrier. I’m really excited to see how that looks. I suspect it’s going to drop my healing done even more. I’m anxious to see how it looks and how it will play out. Ulduar is, of course, at the top of my list. I’ve already copied my characters onto the PTR and I know a number of my guild has done the same. I will be going in there first chance I get to get a feel for the area and write down my thoughts, experiences, and strategies as I see them.

Changes that do give me pause are the mana regeneration ones. Depending on how severe, I may have to rethink how certain assignments are done. Mana management is something every class needs to know how to do. Some classes can last a lot longer than others. I have to wait and see.

8. What is your opinion of the direction Blizzard is taking WoW? How about the role of Healers? Do you see anything exciting in the future?

Healers will always be healers. We’ll always be expected to patch up the ground pounders and the spellcasters. So long as Blizzard continues to devise interesting content, I’ll always be healing. Blizzard has a reputation of being incredibly tightlipped when they want to be. It’s hard to get excited about stuff that’s not known about.

9. I’d like to see what you’d recommend for a 10 and 25 main raid? You’re the Raid Leader, what classes and specs would you bring to a 10/25 man raid? And why?

I don’t prefer so much classes as I do roles. For a 10, I’ll assemble a 2-2-6 (2 tanks, 2 healers, 6 DPS formation). For 25s, depending on what I’m going for, I’ll reconfigure the raid accordingly. 3-7-15 is the default if I’m heading into unfamiliar territory. For Ulduar, I’m cautious enough that plans are in motion for a 4-8-13 combination. If I need a CC on something, it makes no difference to me if its an Ice Trap, Hex, or a Sheep as long as a target gets CC’d. This flexibility allows me to really look hard at the players instead of the classes. I don’t want to have to put up with an unruly Prot Paladin for the sake of having a Prot Paladin to get us through content.

10. There’s some debate over Hunter Pets and how Healers treat them in-game. What’s your opinion on this? Should Hunters really expect their pet to receive heals and rezzes just like every other player? Or do you think the Healer should focus on the Hunter and the Hunter their pet? Or is their some middle ground?

The Hunter will always be the main priority for me. I will do what I can to watch over pets. But I will sacrifice the pet if necessary to do my job. The primary objective of healers is to keep up the health of players, period. Everything else, including healing pets, is secondary. Understand that I said it is secondary and not irrelevant. If I get a chance to Renew a Gorilla, I’ll do it. But if going out of my way to do that could result in a risk to a player, I won’t. A Hunter without a pet can still do stuff. A pet without a hunter cannot.

11. What is the biggest mistake Hunters make that you’ve seen? What is one thing that we need to do better that would make your job easier?

To me, highlight reel hunters drop traps right on my feet. It’s almost as if they expect I’ll pull aggro at some point. When healing fights with a new tank (gear or experience wise), there is a high risk of this happening. Dropping one of them Ice Cube traps goes a long way to giving me time to run. They also do that… disconcerting shot or whatever it is that make mobs run around in circles.

Feigning death with low health is a heart stopper for us. It works both ways. We actually THINK they’re dead and they are automatically deselected from our screen forcing us to reacquire them as a target. It’s a pain in the ass, but it is a necessity. Most Hunters I know feign death with full health and drop aggro before it becomes a problem. It’s the ones that feign death after pulling and taking a few hits that cause me to curse.

12. Easy question – give us your 3 Greatest WoW and Non-WoW moments.

1. My first time in Molten Core. Took about 45 minutes to setup and organize. But working in tandem with 39 other players is an eye opening experience from the days of 5 mans.
2. Illidan’s death. Climatic it was.
3. Kil’Jaden’s death. Truly a one of a kind encounter. I wish all players have a chance to experience the complexity that this type of fight takes.

13. I like to get an idea of the personality of the players, so what is something we might not expect from Matticus?

Are you sure this is something you really want to know?

On Twitter and on my blog, I can sometimes come across has a hard person. I’m a lot nicer than that and I make a concerted effort to double check everything I write so that people don’t get the idea I’m trying to be an ass or anything. There will be some days where I absolutely fail at that and where people will throw back everything I say. It’s the hazards of blogging (and the 140 character limitations of Twitter).

14. You write professionally for WoW Insider, and you also have World of Matticus, but I see your pursuing a degree in Law Enforcement. How is that working out for you? And what are your vision and goals for the WoW Insider, World of Matticus, and life in general?

It’s tough. It’s a lot of work mentally. Law enforcement has its ups and downs. A lot of students and people don’t often realize the amount of stuff that needs to be done to do well in the program.

WoW Insider – I’ve recently revived the Raid Rx column that’s devoted to organizing healers in raids. It’s more of an advice column to players that are at a loss to how to set up. Right now, I’m trying hard to convince the brass to create a spinoff called Hockey Insider which would cover hockey related news. Not having much luck there on that front ^^.

World of Matticus – I’ve picked up a Resto Shaman blogger! I’ll be looking to expand on that front as well. A search is underway for a Holy Paladin to be a regular contributor. I started the blog as a primary Priest blog before I expanded into raiding and leadership columns. Now I’m looking to shift towards a healer centric blog where it can be a resource for every healer and leader.

Life – Finish. School. Fast. Profit’s somewhere in there, too.

15. There are many who feel that the Official Forums are basically a vile pit of nastiness that may put out an occasional golden nugget. Do you ever visit and post? If not, is there a way for Blizzard to improve upon this?

No and I attribute that to a lack of time. I’m either busy reading, writing, or raiding. The times I do visit the forums is when a blue post is made that I need to take a look at. Blizzard provides the facilities where people can discuss and present ideas. It’s up to the people to not abuse that right. You can’t realistically expect Blizzard to reach out at players from the monitor and slap them around whenever players write something moronic. It is difficult for people to change. You put a 15 year old behind a screen and give them a keyboard, and they’ll say the rudest and destructive stuff without caring what people will think of them. You put a 15 year old in front of a linebacker, and he won’t say anything short of “hello Mister”. Until Blizzard hires 11 million goons to moderate the activities of players, there’s not much Blizzard can improve.

16. So, besides your own sites where would someone interested in getting some solid, but understandable information on playing a Healer go? Any awesome sites out there you would like to recommend?

I try to keep up with Elitist Jerks once in a while. MMO Champion and WoW Insider are places I check out for news or developments. A number of blogs like Too Many Annas, Resto 4 Life, and Banana Shoulders are excellent sources for information about the class. Sometimes, I’ll even go straight to the source and ask them a question directly (to which they’ll respond “Did you read my blog this week, Matt? I did do a post on that, you know…”).

17. Being successful and securing a regular spot with WoW Insider, having your own highly respected blog, what are some tips you would give to others that might be thinking of blogging?

See this thread I wrote: 20 Tips for Starting a Really Killer WoW Healing Blog (http://www.plusheal.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1130)

20 Tips for developing a real killer healing blog. I could easily give a day long seminar on the topic. A good tip to start with is to “Pick a niche and stick with it”. If you’re a Ret Pally, write about Ret Pallies. Branch out gradually as time progresses.

18. Are you playing anything outside of WoW at the moment?

Some Rainbow Six. Sometimes I’ll do a bit of Red Alert 3. I’m partial to shooters and RTS games.

19. I know Blizzard has announced that WoW Subscriptions are continuing to increase, and as the WoW player base continues to expand internationally we’ll probably continue to see increased numbers. But do you think that WoW has finally run its course? That is probably the best it’ll be? Or can Blizzard pull a rabbit out of its hat and say “TA-DA!!” and continue to keep our interest?

It’s going to take a monumental effort to dereail the Blizzard cash cow. The reason its so large is because there are so many people playing it. The only direction WoW can go is up. We saw it in the transition from Burning Crusade to Wrath. Blizzard learned what worked and what didn’t.

Of course, a bigger budget from having 11 million subscriptions can only mean good things.

20. Finally, back to trying to get to know you a bit better, what are your pre-game rituals? We know about the Bio-breaks, and snack supply, but what about anything else? Are you like a hockey player that must smack each side of the goal post before the face-off?

Hah, no. When I’m playing street hockey with my friends, I’ll talk to my goal posts for a bit. I don’t have a lot of pre-raid rituals in regards to WoW. I’ve stopped drinking during raids. I found that it affected my performance.

Well thanks again for taking out the time for this. I know I’ve enjoyed it and hope you have also.

I’ve enjoyed reading and answering them! Good luck with your blog!