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Paladin tips from Pallysucks
I personally think Paladinsucks is at its best when they're angry and foaming at the mouth. While it's usually about changes to the Paladin class, lately the changes to their class have been pretty good. So today they've got something else to rant about: Paladins who, well, suck.If you can make it through all the caps and frustration, there's some pretty good rookie tips for playing a Pally in there: if cloth in your party or raid is getting beat up, use Blessing of Protection on them. If you're CC'd with Frost Nova in PVP, don't just stand there-- cast Cleanse or Blessing of Freedom. Out of mana? You better have Judgement or even just Seal of Wisdom up and running. And while it seems as basic as finding your trainer, a few Pallys still mess this up: if other healers are out of mana, and you've got some left, it doesn't matter how far you specced into the Retribution tree-- start spamming that Flash of Light (or the heal of your choice-- unpowered healing is better than nothing).Unlike MastGrr, I won't yell, but while everyone thinks of Pallys for their surviveability, they actually have a lot of tools they should be using to help the raid out as well. If you're a Pally just starting out, or haven't picked up on some of the more complex subtleties of the class yet, these are some great tips.
WoW Moviewatch: DPS-adin III
Esotarious is back! Being a DPS-adin myself, I'm always excited to see pallies do respectably in PVE and PVP DPS roles. You may recall that back in September, Mike Schramm gave Esotarious a quote to use in his next video. We're happy to report that yes, Mike is indeed quoted near the start of Eso's latest creation. I really can't get over how good this makes paladin DPS look. I actually put on my pvp gear and headed out into Arathi Basin right after watching this video. Though his Dark Edge of Insanity makes my Herald of Woe look like a sponge bat, Esotarious has inspired me and legions of paladins everywhere to stop shutting up and buffing and get into the fray!Here's the link to the Dark Paradigm forums where Eso and his fans discuss the video. You'll also find links to download the full high-quality version of the movie there.
The Burning Crusade -- you vs. your guild
New races, new (to your chosen faction) classes, 10 more levels. That's the short-form of what The Burning Crusade is going to deliver to us, come January 16th. Many guilds are focusing on the push to 70 and refining strategies for 25-man raiding. Many players are understandably eager to try out the new races and classes available to their chosen faction. Can these two goals mesh, or are we going to see a shift in the player-guild dynamic? My earliest guild wasn't started to beat endgame content. It was there for a group of people who enjoyed playing in each other's company and so that these people would have an easily accessible pool of resources for leveling and grinding up to 60. When we hit 60, the usual drama set in, as not everyone hit the level cap at the same time. Some people got bored or frustrated with the lack of progression at 60 and went off to look for raiding guilds. Others were happy just hanging out with friends, and still others were a bit upset that they were left behind and were feeling pressured to level to 60 so the guild could progress together. Now that the expansion is going to be upon us, I see the potential for the same type of splits amongst guild memberships. Some are going to want to power level to 70 to get back on the raiding wagon, while others will start fresh new characters that they hope to one day get to level 70. Then there are those people who want to savor the new content and while do a bit of leveling and a bit of playing around with the new low-level content.
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Adventures in Beta: Blood Elf Paladin, Level 1-5
Having successfully leveling my draenei shaman to 6 without breaking the beta, I decided to skip over to the other server and check out how my beloved Horde are handling their new blood elf pals. Since I had made a draenei shaman, I decided on a horde paladin -- though not without trepidation, because I might want to play one in live someday. Unfortunately, most of the blood elf faces and hairstyles scream "I would have made fun of you for playing World of Warcraft in high school!" I finally made a kind-faced, black-haired paladin and entered the new starting area. It was just as I feared. Although the blood elf area was beautiful, it was also filled with dancing, flirting Paris Hilton clones. It struck me that unlike the draenei, the blood elves were clearly a well-organized society. Their area is clean and beautiful, and whereas with the draenei you're a survivor and one of the few that can save the race, with the blood elves, you're ... just another blood elf.
Everybody loves healing
It's true! Comments to an earlier post suggest that a large number of you really get a kick out of keeping your fellow gamers alive. Blizzard's well-equipped you for this, with priests, druids, paladins, and shamans standing ready as class options. Personally, I've been the main healer for a group with all four of those classes, and can understand the satisfaction one gets from keeping a group going and not letting anyone die when a pull goes wrong.So if everyone loves healing so much, and with almost half the classes able to heal a 5-man or 10-man group as main healer, why is it that we still see the LFG channel inundated with "LF1M Healer for [instance here]. Will pay 5g! Will walk your dog! Will buy you flowers!" ?
WoW Rookie: Soulstone and you
As a priest, pally or possibly a lower level shaman, you are often bestowed with the responsibility of a soulstone, giving you the ability to self-rez. And as we all learned from Uncle Ben in Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. If you have never had the chance to be on the receiving end of a soulstone, it is easy to make a rookie mistake. While it is by no means complex, there are certain do's and don'ts that aren't always obvious. With that in mind, here are some things to remember if you are given a soulstone... If you are new to the soulstone business, odds are your warlock is too. If you have never played a warlock, you might assume that when a soulstone expires some kind of elaborate fireworks display appears in the warlock's UI, informing them that the group is screwed if they wipe if he doesn't conjure another stone. Without a proper mod, this is not the case. Odds are your new level 21 warlock friend doesn't have the fancy mod. So pay attention to your soulstone, and when you see it expire, or a minute or two before it expires, let your warlock know in party chat or in a /whisper. Your lock will usually appreciate it.
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I rolled my class because ...
When you first get World of Warcraft, staring at the race/class selection screen can be a daunting task. There are so many factors to choose from, and you're unlikely to know anything about how the classes really function besides what you read in the manual. And, as you can see by the many people who start out arguments with "I rolled a ____ because the character description said ...", you can sometimes be horribly mistaken about what your class will end up doing. My first class ended up being a druid because "I can be a cat! Cool!" Unfortunately, I was so scared of wasting mana that I hit everything with my staff and quickly grew bored. Also I thought Teldrassil was the entire world and that I was almost finished with the game. After learning a bit more about the game, I rolled a paladin because I could do damage and heal myself. That got scrapped around the time the damage began looking ... not so hot. Finally, my friend's enticements to join the Horde grew too strong to resist. I rolled a rogue for two reasons: I could hide instead of fighting things, and I could steal stuff from people. I also decided on a troll because troll females stand up straight and have mohawks. (Ah, the days before everyone rolled undead for Will of the Forsaken!) As I leveled to 60 and raided MC, BWL and AQ40, I discovered that hiding and stealing may not have been the best reason to roll a rogue. The Twin Emps do not work well with pickpocketing. Other classes, such as druids who want to use their hybrid skills in raids and paladins who bemoan their lack of tanking abilities, claim they were misled at character selection. Why did you pick your character's race and class, and do you have any regrets?
Server-first Shaman ring drops to a Pally
Lots of people have already tagged Blizzard's move to start dropping Pally items to Horde and Shaman items to Alliance in raids (even though neither side can actually roll those classes for another month, much less have 60s that can use the BOP stuff) as a bad one, but here's more proof. A-Team, a guild over on Stonemaul-A dropped Kel'Thuzad, and got a server-first loot item: the Ring of the Earthshatterer, the ninth piece of Shaman Tier 3 armor. That's right, they got a historic, server-first, BOP drop-- and none of them could use it.The drop went to a pally (screenshot) in the hopes that a GM could come along and make it the Pally ring, but as you might expect by now, no dice. As a guy who plays a Shaman main, that especially tugs at the heartstrings.Unfortunately, don't expect a change on this one-- the CMs have said any non-faction drops should be considered free Nexus shards. But considering that a guild running Naxx could farm Nexus shards in their sleep, that these drops mean there's even less chance that the right stuff will drop for a guild that actually needs it, and that these useless items will continue to be useless until someone finally gets a BE pally or Draenei Shaman to 60 (at absolute best, you're talking days after the expansion releases, if the servers are even up by then), it's too bad that Blizzard has resolved not to fix this one. Grats to A-Team for the nice drop, but shame on Blizzard for not letting them use it.
WoW Moviewatch: Take 40 paladins and 40 shamans...
And who do you think wins? In the case of this raid on the Scarlet Crusade server, neither side emerged victorious. The onslaught of 40 paladins and 40 shamans coming together to fight crippled and crashed the server. (Perhaps this means that Blizzard won?)
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WoW Blog Roundup: 2.0.1 Edition
The patch came out yesterday and as you'd imagine, we have some opinions from around the WoW blogging community... Paladin Sucks checks in with an interesting piece regarding 2.0.1 pally specs (go figure) and why they like the talent system. Paladin Sucks likes something? Wow! Tobold looks at the changes for healers in 2.0.1. He is not happy. Like Mike, Photon at AFK Gamer is none too thrilled about Blizzard's response to the planned warrior protest. Lauren from Mystic Worlds looks at the different talent specs in 2.0.1. Hopefully 2.0.1 keeps Lauren around for a bit. Relmstein has some suggestions for new loading screen tips. Finally, Not Addicted checks in with one of my favorite topics, the level one alt forum troll! If you happen to read a good blog entry, or you write one yourself, let us know!
BC beta paladin changes
More interesting beta changes popping up this weekend -- Paladinsucks has brought to my attention some interesting paladin changes. Good news first -- Protection buffs! In addition to increasing the thread provided by Righteous Fury, Improved Righteous Fury now also reduces damage taken by 2/4/6% while active. And in addition to reducing the cooldown of Divine Shield, Sacred Duty also increases overall stamina by 3/6%. Nice!However, one can't live on buffs alone... and these changes come with nerfs to the Retribution tree (previously reported, but just now going live in the beta). Crusader Strike's cooldown is once again 10 seconds and Vengeance once again provides only a 10% bonus to your physical and holy damage.Paladins who want to be tanks are thrilled, while paladins who want to do damage or PvP are discouraged. (Well, that's putting it mildly, isn't it?)Update: Clarified that the Retribution tree changes/nerfs had been announced, but were only now implemented.[Thanks, Lavis!]
Burning Crusade Spells & Talents Updated
No, no -- still no hunter abilities. The main body of these changes seems to be extensive revisions to the priest abilities, making them a lot more interesting (and actually tempting me to spec higher than 31 points in any tree -- crazy!). However, there are also some tweaks for paladins, warlocks, and warriors. Check them out on the forums, or read on for the details.
The DPS-adin is at it again
Boy if Pallys who want to be DPS need a hero, they need look no further than Esotarious, the DPS-adin whose first video (of him critting over 2000 in Naxx) I showed here about a week ago. And now Eso's at it again. Lots of people had concerns the first time around (that he was critting holy dmg on undead only, that he was only showing his best crits, and that even though he said he was challenging rogues, he didn't show it). Now, he's back to answer them, and in a new video fighting Patchwerk, he breaks 1800 crits again, and again, and again, and again. Say what you will about the whole DPS-adin theory, this guy's got some great production values. I'll even give you a quote for your next movie, Eso: "Esotarious has done more than anyone else to show us what a Paladin is really capable of." -Mike Schramm, wow.com. Can't wait to see it.But, I've got two more concerns for you supposedly DPS paladins to answer, too. Find them after the jump.
Around Azeroth: How not to use Divine Intervention
Are you familiar with the paladin's Divine Intervention ability? Well, if not, it's an ability that sacrifices the life of the paladin in order to put a protective shield around another player. It's a handy thing to cast on someone who can rez when you're sure a full-party (or raid) wipe is imminent. However, Suricate sends in this screenshot of a less traditional use of the skill -- to save the life of a rogue. (Hey, can't you guys vanish?!)Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
WoW Moviewatch: DPS-adin rocking Naxx
If there's one thing the Paladin debate needs, it's more fuel added to the fire. That's why Esotarius of Argent Dawn didn't just want to tell people that Pallys in raids could do more than heal-- he wanted to show them. This video, of him DPSing during an encounter in Naxx, is crazy stuff. If you've ever thought a Paladin's role in raids was only to buff and heal, check this out. 2100 crit! That's wild, man. Of course, after the expansion hits, Blizzard is planning to take the Shammy class more offensive and the Pally more defensive (starting by nerfing Divine Shield?). But this video is evidence that Healadin isn't the only option for Pallys after 60.Update: Eso has more info about his build and the movie on this forum.
One angry paladin blog
Tobold's MMORPG Blog has an interesting link and accompanying commentary about the paladin class. The link is to another blog called Paladinsucks.com. The blogger (or bloggers, as it seems like there might be a couple folks writing there) at Paladinsucks has been keeping meticulous track of every slight, perceived or real, against the paladin class. And he has been doing this for over a year. While I don't agree with everything written on the blog, I do admire their tenacity and dedication. I am honestly shocked this is the first I have seen of this. I guess playing horde since launch and never getting into the pally class kept me ignorant. Tobold makes some good points about paladins in his post, which serves as almost a counterpoint to the arguments on Paladinsucks, starting off with the idea of rolling another class if they are so unhappy. He goes into much more detail than that, including a rather interesting take on support classes. You should definitely check it out. No matter which side of the great pally debate you fall on, both blogs make for some interesting work time reading. In fact, I make it a point to visit Tobold.com everyday, and I just might make Paladinsucks a weekly stop. Are there any other great class-specific blogs out there I am missing out on?
Has Blizzard Filled All the Class Roles?
Well, there was a ton of new info about the expansion late last week, and along with new info comes-- you guessed it-- lots and lots of speculation. One of the more interesting things that came out of the interview Joystiq had with Jeff Kaplan was the revelation that Blizzard was giving Horde pallys and Alliance shammys not just to give either side a chance to play with the class, but because they wanted to make the classes more different in how they worked. Paladins are headed for a "holy tank that heals," and Shaman can expect more "DPS and utility roles."So while we're not technically getting a new class with the upcoming expansion, we're actually getting two. Before, Blizzard had to balance out the changes they made to either one of those classes, but now they're much freer to send either class one way or the other. A few people are worried (aren't they always?) that with all the work being done on hybrids, single role classes will be left out, but Nethaera assures us that smaller, 25-player instances will actually give more individuals a chance to shine in their own roles.Which leaves one more question: Considering this class balancing act is getting harder and harder, will Blizzard ever come up with another class for us? Of course, it wouldn't be until the next expansion (which we already know is years from now), but Tigole has specifically told us it's still an option on the table. Are there any other roles that need to be filled, say, by a Necromancer or a Monk type class? Or, by differentiating the Shaman and Paladin class roles, has Blizzard filled in all the blanks?
In-Game Spam Takes Players for 35g
Well we've all seen the gold ads, and Blizzard has warned before about spammers trying to nab your account, but I'm pretty sure this is the first instance of in-game mail fraud we've ever seen. Forumgand from Emerald Dream is reporting on the forums about a piece of in-game mail that showed up in his mailbox from a player named "Blizzard." Inside was an urgent note from Scarlet Commander "Mormon" (?) and an item called Symbol of Kings, offered COD for 35g. The note says that if the Symbol of Kings is brought to LHC, a nice quest reward will be given.What's the problem with that? As any high-level Pally will tell you, Symbol of Kings is a simple level 60 reagent, available from any reagent vendor for the kingly sum of 30s. But, as Forumgand points out, a lot of Horde may never have heard of this thing, and may think the in-game mail is legit.Community MVP Palehoof has replied to the post as well, and reminds everyone that Blizzard mail never comes from in-game characters named "Blizzard." It's all special and stuff, and comes on its own custom stationery. Any in-game mail that looks normal but comes from someone named "Blizzard" or "Viviendi," or, as Palehoof points out, level one rogues named "Caydiem," probably isn't legit at all.
Paladin Conundrums
Today was the day that my Paladin had been dreading for what seems like forever; the long-awaited changes to the class that came with patch 1.9. I had been through all this before with my Hunter a few months back, and although that had been pretty painless, I still didn't quite know what to expect.I had read all about the changes, and agreed with most of them, but I still hadn't made up my mind how I was going to re-spec. I also lamented losing my nifty Consecrate AoE spell, that I had just gotten last week, but this afternoon, I dove right in & decided to go full Retribution, all the way. I figured it was closest to my previous playstyle, and will be the most versatile for PvP, which is what I tend to gear toward.What about the rest of you Paladins out there? Which path did you choose? How do you feel about the changes so far? Chime in...
Resources for beginning paladins
Defenders of the Light, mace-wielding upholders of justice, and hard to kill; paladins are the only Alliance-specific class, and a great newbie class to play. A paladin can take damage, dish it out (although more slowly than DPS classes like the rogue or mage), all the while healing, resurrecting and buffing their party. With the upcoming 1.9 patch, paladins are going to see some changes, but the first few levels won't change much, so here are a few things to get newbie paladins going:Infoceptor lists all the paladin's spells, including costs.Rampage's guide has a lot of general discussion of paladins, but also walks you through the first few levels as a human pally.WoWHealers has a basic FAQ covering race, talents, acronyms and more.TenTonHammer's guide is a good overall resource and promises a 1.9 update.Hester's PvP guide is useful, although you may want to try different strategies as well.The official forums are rich with 1.9 information and the European forums feature a guide.Paladins seem to have fallen into disfavour at the moment, but as a generally good all-round class they are fairly easy to solo with (if you have the patience to wait through the low damage output) and valuable to groups, as well as easy to get the hang of. My second ever character was a paladin and I really enjoyed taking her through instances and the like. Enjoy.[[Previous classes: Mage, Priest, Druid, Hunter]
