Protection 11 Point Talent

I just came across this which seems like it could allow paladins some more interactivity or at least a glimmer of hope.

All over again

It's really quite amazing how much can happen in just a few short weeks. Nerf after nerf after nerf quite literately. This post is of course in response to the latest post from Blizzard poster (and developer) Ghostcrawler.

I understand that any class redesign as sweeping as what has happened to paladins will require some tweaks but seriously how could they be THIS off with their calculations? It's also interesting to note how quick they are to apply hotfixes to quell the QQ from the community yet Arcane Mages and Balance Druids are still running rampant with very little notice apparently. Why is retribution and paladins in general always under such a harsh light by not only the players but act as the target for rapid nerfs?

So far Ghostcrawler has stated that they don't listen and make class decisions based on player QQ. This is false as all the feedback has come from the QQ of others at this point--not enough time has passed for accurate data at level 80. He has also stated that they LOVE retribution paladins yet every action in the past and in the recent time period has been to the contrary seemingly catering to every other class that plays the game. What's worse is that Holy is STILL vastly underpowered as a healer in any setting PvP or PvE and Protection and Holy is suffering from the damage nerfs on all seals. It's really becoming a challenge to believe anything GC says anymore and this feels like TBC all over again right before release (and classic WoW coming out of open beta furthermore).

Blizzcon Begins

So far some interesting panels about changes made for WotLK and where they want to take the game. I am loving the idea of having dual-specs.

It's been a while

I haven't posted in a long time but I felt the need to mention how great things are with Retribution now in beta, I hope it lasts..

The Fallout

Now that the patch has hit and Season 3 has begun I thought I'd take the time to post my thoughts on the changes and how they worked out. After weeks of debate with friends and myself I decided, like many arena Retribution Paladins, to go with the cookie-cutter 0/20/41 build. I had to give up some damage but gained utility in the process, even if that utility varies in reliability. I'll come right out and say it, I'm not thrilled about losing damage and the benefits, while good, are hit and miss in arena. Stoicism is nice to have but I'm still stunned virtually every time even with the meta gem for 18 stamina and 5% stun resistance. Totaling 15%, it still isn't much but it really makes me consider spending points elsewhere and even getting the 12 agility and 3% increased crit damage meta gem, considering the spell removal part of Stoicism isn't fantastic either with the variety of abilities that now serve that function (hello Arcane Shot). I find that with the talent I am stunned constantly and also stripped of my buffs in 1-3 removal abilities, so again it can't be banked on unlike Sanctified Seals (excellent talent).

Improved Hammer of Justice is another reason for this build and while reducing the cooldown by almost half on the spell (with the Gladiator set bonus) you have to invest deep in Protection to gain the benefit. In the matches I've had so far I can't say that having this talent either has made or broken anything, it's just nice to be able to use your abilities more often. In theory it can help to take out healers but between trinkets and Cleanse/Dispel Magic and all the passive healing a lot of these healers get (minus Paladins) it can be really challenging or impossible to kill a well geared healer as Retribution without assistance so Imp HoJ is a bit of a wash.

Moving backwards a bit to Improved Righteous Fury I find that while it's a good talent both in strength and in placement in the tree it fails in the same place Stoicism fails, as it is easily removed by many classes and thus useless considering the mana cost to recast (especially now with the double mana cost bug for the spell).

Blessing of Kings is a great all around buff to have even if it can be removed as there are still PvE concerns where it probably helps the most, but as Retribution I can even see this being let go from the build as you will most likely have Blessing of Freedom on yourself to keep in melee. This leaves Guardian's Favor and Precision, which again because our buffs are so easily removed, GF points could be spent elsewhere. Precision lets us compensate for +hit on gear while adding spell hit that is void from all plate armor in the game. This compensation also allows us to focus more on other stats to increase our longevity and offensive power. Having to essentially waste 5 points to get this talent though many object with and so do I.

As you can tell I'm being probably unfair to these talents because when they aren't removed by players they prove their worth, which is true of course but when your only means of preventing this from happening is a 30% chance then most of the time those talents will not shine and that's my complaint. They fixed this issue with Sanctified Seals, I'd love to see Stoicism buffed to maybe 60-80% removal resistance (they could remove the stun portion for all I care as it goes unnoticed 90% of the time) and place it for maybe 5 points in the Improved Devotion Aura spot and remove that talent entirely. For a class built around their buffs there needs to be more "Protection" for them to remain intact.

With all that said I'm still having a great deal of fun both in PvP and PvE despite not having the threat reduction talent and I'm looking forward to what other changes are in the works for our class.

More Retribution Changes In The Works?

As most are aware the Season 3 date has been pushed back by a week so as of this writing we are less than 5 days away. While a disappointment there is nothing you can do about it but wait sadly. Personally, I'm using this time to decide on what to buy gear/gem/enchant-wise and also how to spend talent points.

Now getting to the meaty news, two new changes have been made today that have the official Paladin forums buzzing.

• Crusader Strike has lost its 40% spell damage bonus and instead uses 110% weapon damage.

• Sanctified Judgement will now refund 80% of the Seal's mana cost rather than 50%.

The SJ change just won me over on the talent, as before it was only a marginal savings for 3 points, now it's much more substantial and will cause me to go even more crazy trying to spend my talent points to yield the greatest benefit. Mana expenditure has always been a problem for Retribution Paladins and with this change it's a vital talent to pick up.

The CS change had mixed reviews in light of current gear sets that still have spell damage on them. In some ways it's a buff (if you're wearing S3 or Warrior-type dps plate), and a nerf if you're still wearing any of the tiered sets or S1/2 gear. I feel that Blizzard is making good on their promise that our reliance on spell damage will be lessened if not eliminated for Retribution however since the change is happening before our eyes some, if not most, are caught in the painful transitional phase. This is a step in the right direction no doubt as we can focus more on melee stats rather than also adding spell damage to the mix and I really don't believe this will be the last change the playstyle will be getting. Consider the following Blue post that was made recently:

"Ret badge rewards are there, technically, but it isn't as apparent as there's still some class changes coming that will be "finishing" the intended vision of hybrid itemization.

You don't want the DPS plate now, but we want you to want it. Similar to the Heart of the Wild change, and the first 'lean' into having kitties desire rogue itemization. It's an overall change in itemization focus as we move forward, and into Wrath. We're in a state of transition now, and it's going to be a bit uncomfortable in some cases."

Link

I think it was around Blizzcon and the Death Knight announcement that they said that they wanted to not have special plate (outside of healing plate I assume) for Warriors/Paladins/Death Knights, rather that they could share any dps/tanking plate much the same way that Feral Combat Druids and Rogues can both benefit from the same items. I think all of these factors are part of this transition and in a few months or at the latest when the expansion hits we should be looking at a brand new paladin and I can't wait.

We have a date!

Blizzard in a most unusual form announced a few days ago that patch 2.3 would be released this upcoming Tuesday (11/13/07) and one week later (11/20/07) would begin Arena Season 3, which also brings along with it all the new PvP gear. Blizzard has said that these dates could change if something terrible goes wrong with the current PTR build of 2.3 but everything appears to be well thus far, which is a good sign.

Needless to say I'm excited as are most Paladins who have a soft spot in their hearts for the Retribution tree. I truly hope this is the start of a bright new future for the spec.