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.