Forum post of the day: Faith in healing
The community seems to be in agreement that Paladins need a little love. At one point the champions of light, along with Warriors dominated the arenas. It's pretty clear that Paladins have been left behind in PvP. This class has found a niche alongside Druids and Warriors in the tanking corps. But is this the only place for a Pally any more?
Lolbubble of Ysera opened a discussion about how well Paladins fair as PvE healers. The thread continued with some of the pros and cons of holy heals. Pallies have the ability to bless their party members, which is always pleasant. They are also mana efficient, especially when there's a knowledgeable player behind the keyboard. They tend to be focused healers, falling short of Prayer of Mending or Chain Heal. This is not necessarily bad if the player is assigned a tank to heal, but not great for overall raid heals. Paladins also have a noticeable lack of reusable instant healing spells.
Lolferal of Blackrock suggested that Paladins become less useful healers throughout endgame progression:
Paladins are a great healer when leveling up
Paladins are a great healer when doing early 70 dungeons
Paladins are still great when doing beginning 10 man / 25 mans
Paladins start to show downsides when you begin to do more difficult 25 mans
Paladins start to be really crappy when you begin to do toughest 25 mans
Blizzard has some plans for Paladins in the future. Right now, Pallies have a very limited number of spells to rely on as healers. In Wrath of the Lich King, this class expects to see Hand of Purity, which is supposed to behave similar to the Priests Prayer of Mending.
For right now, what's the best role for a Pally?
