Paladins
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Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our nature
Tank Talk continues this week with one requisite "Why does my ingame life have to suck so hard?" story in deference to a point made by commenters on our first column. We will then take a look at the most fundamental decision you will encounter as a raiding tank -- and one you are likely to make, and then re-make, on just about every boss encounter in the game. There is a Druid on my server who messages me almost daily asking me to come tank his heroics. What annoys me is not being asked to tank per se, but that he, too, is a feral Druid. His gear isn't as good as mine simply because he hasn't raided past Magtheridon, but he's sitting on at least three of the better pieces of Tier 4, crafted epics, and several of the badge pieces that I'm still using to tank Tier 6. At a matter of fact, with the advent of two different badge vendors and badge drops from 10-man and 25-man bosses, his stats are significantly better than the ones I had tanking most of Tier 5. This guy literally has the gear to do just about anything in the game short of the more advanced content in Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau, and I used to point to him with no small measure of Druidic pride as proof of what a little elbow grease could accomplish.But he still wants me to come tank for him.I started getting irritated with the constant begging at one point and asked him, "How can you possibly have any difficulty getting groups? Everybody in LFG is looking for a tank, and your gear is excellent."At his computer, I'm sure he was shrugging. "You do it faster than I do.""I really don't. Just get some good DPS and you'll be fine."And then the truth came out: "Well, I don't really like tanking. I'd rather DPS." Ah.
Prot-Gear for Holy Paladins: will it help?
Reader Ron dropped us a line about a basic gear quandary. A Holy paladin who cruised most of his instances with Bear tanks, Ron has amassed a small collection of paladin tanking gear. And he's kept it around, since experience has taught him to never throw away class-appropriate gear. His current Holy kit doesn't pack the spell crit to unleash the full-fledged DPS frenzy of his Shockadin. His question? Ron would like to know if swapping out some of his Holy gear for a bit of Defense and Avoidance might make his dailies a little easier. The easy answer here is...
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy paladin gear enchants, part 2
In my last Light and How to Swing It, I covered some good enchants for the upper part of an endgame healing paladin -- the head, shoulders, cloak, chest and bracers. Now it's time to head below the belt (har) and take care of hand, ring, leg, foot, weapon and shield enhancements. Okay, hands and rings aren't technically below the blt, but I ran out of room for them last time. Gloves Major Healing: As a holy paladin, you're all about healing. Whether you focus on PVE or PVP, more raw plus healing is always an excellent choice. The only drawback here is that the mats are pretty pricey. 9/10 PVE, 9/10 PVP. Blasting: It doesn't sound like a paladin enchant, but Blasting is an inexpensive alternative to Major Healing for healadins. Spell crit isn't quite as good as it used to be, due to the Illumination nerf, but it's still useful -- particularly if your gear lacks crit.
How to convince tanks to PuG
I'm getting back to WoW Insider after a month's real-life-related absence and have been spending some time playing catch-up on the site. One of the articles that caught my attention was Matt Rossi's popular "One reason tanks won't PuG," in no small part because I play a tank and my own PuG runs have been few and far between of late. My main, a Tauren Druid, respecced from balance to feral at level 69 because there were so few tanks on my server, and I literally spent months and months tanking PuG's to get experience and gear. During that period I saw everything from rogues rolling on +healing maces to warlocks needing on tanking cloaks, and I learned that you never can tell what you're going to get from a PuG. Yes, you'll get hunters who can't trap, mages who never resheep, rogues who mistakenly believe they leveled a warrior, and priests who Power Word: Shield you straight off the pull -- but you'll also find people who know their class well, or are in the process of learning just like you are, and who are fun to be around. I have now killed Illidan with a contingent of people who showed up to my PuG's back when I was a wee lolbaretank in quest greens and Heavy Clefthoof, so as a matter of personal experience I think PuG's are a somewhat underrated way to meet people who will later turn out to play crucial roles in how you experience the game.I don't PuG as frequently anymore due to time constraints and increased time spent leveling alts, but I still hang out in LFG from time to time for the pure enjoyment of meeting new people. Yes, it is often difficult to PuG tanks and healers (I would submit, as someone who typically tanks or heals in dungeons, that it is also difficult to PuG skilled DPS), but a lot of people could make it easier on themselves than they do. If you're having problems finding a tank or healer for your PuG's, try these.
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy paladin gear enchants, part 1
A few months back, I did a rogue column on how rogues can enhance their gear with enchantments, gems, armor kits and the like. Well, it's time for paladins to get a similar guide -- in three different forms! Yes, since paladins have three main specs for three different roles, they need some wildly different enchantments. Today, we'll look at above-the-belt enhancements for a regular ol' endgame healing paladin, soon to be followed by prot and ret recommendations. (Shockadins, just grab the caster junk like usual.) Head Glyph of Renewal: This item, available for 90g once you get revered with Honor Hold or Thrallmar, gives you a one-time boost to your head item's healing and mp/5. Revered with HH/Thrall isn't too hard, and you need all the mp/5 you can get, so pick this up if you're planning on any serious healing. 10/10 PVE, 7/10 PVP. Glyph of the Gladiator: On the other hand, if you're the arena type and find yourself a bit lacking in the two key PVP stats, you might want to pick up this stam/resil item from revered with Shattered Sun Offensive. It's pretty useless for PVE, though, so save it for your _____ Gladiator's set piece. 3/10 PVE, 9/10 PVP.
HKO to take Paladins away from WoW
In an exclusive interview with HKO lead developer Hey'wod ya' Saiev'mie, it was revealed that because of the extreme ease and uselessness Paladins provide in World of Warcraft, they have been removed from WoW and transfered to HK Online. Those players that have Paladin will no doubt be happy since they'll finally be able to play a useful role in an online game. All accounts with Paladin mains will receive a free copy of HKO, and 3 days of play time.In response to the outcry of support in the Paladin forums, Blizard CM Csyrd said "We are glad Paladins are finally happy. Our goal has always been to make them stop crying." Newly appointed HKO CM Ahol Isk'y said "Hopefully the Paladin community will appreciate their new opportunity to tank mice and the occasional dog. Of course this is nothing like Illidan, but it's a start, right?"
DDO team announces more updates for Module 6
Developers at Turbine added a few small notes to the Dungeons & Dragons Online Module 6 updates list today. There's not a lot that's changed from the previous list, but there are a few good bugfixes and improvements to the UI worth nothing. Greater two weapon fighting will now enable a new left hand attack hook, self targeting spells will no longer ever be "blocked," and there's also a new Conjuration (Healing) spell in the game called "Seek Eternal Rest." Available to Clerics at 2 and Paladins at 1, it grants a +4 Sacred bonus to turning undead. Back off, zombies!Are you all excited about this update? I have no idea what kind of audience DDO still has-- I tried it once and liked how closely it stuck to D&D proper, but didn't find it interesting enough to stick around for long. I liked the fact that they tried active combat, but it just didn't vibe too well with me for the short time I tried it. Do we have a dedicated DDO audience in the house, or has everyone moved on?
The Light and How to Swing It: A field guide to bad paladins
A couple lifetimes ago, I wrote a pretty comprehensive guide to bad rogues for Encrypted Text. I considered doing the same for paladins, but as I didn't have a 70 Pally yet, I decided to hold off for a while. Well -- good news, everyone! I'm 70, and it's time to offend every race, spec and playstyle with the Field Guide to Bad Paladins. Please direct all Crusader Strikes to management. The Guy Who Doesn't Understand Hybrids Identification: A long time ago, someone told this Pally that paladins can heal, tank and DPS. Unfortunately, they never bothered to tell him that you can't do all three at the same time. Paladins of this category are notorious for trying to do way too many things at the same time. He will pop a bubble and heal himself while tanking. He will run in and try to get a raid mob away from a clothie while in healing gear. He will tank with a two-hander. Mating Call: "Don't worry, guys, I can heal myself! Wait, it keeps getting interrupted ..." Habitat: Low-level instances. Management: This guy's heart is in the right place -- his brain is just elsewhere. This problem can usually be corrected with some education at low levels. If he keeps trying to tank and DPS at the same time, suggest he roll a Death Knight. "They can tank with two swords!"
A primer on the WoW Paladin community
The internal dynamics of a class in a given game are usually quite impenetrable to outsiders. People with only a cursory knowledge of a given game, or people who are working through the game for the first time, often see these dynamics as mysterious and unpredictable. Even veteran players often have little idea what is going on within a class they've interacted with for months. Among these enigmatic groups is World of Warcraft's Paladin class. Blessing of Kings' Rohan gives us a brief primer of the Paladin community, ostensibly to promote a greater understanding of a class that seems to want to have it all.At the crux of the conflict, according to Rohan, is that the Paladin community is split into three camps according to the roles they want to fulfill. Holy paladins want a greater variety of healing abilities to supplement their role as primary healer in most raids, Retribution paladins want greater DPS and increased raid viability, and Protection/Hybrid paladins are generally supportive of any kind of buff, provided it doesn't result in heavy specialization into either the Holy or Retribution archetypes. The result? No matter what changes are made, whether in healing, DPS, or utility, the community as a whole doesn't sound happy. That's not uncommon in a game as big as WoW, but it's particularly pronounced for Paladins.The one point on which the Paladin community is likely to come to a consensus though, is that they would all look really spiffy in a brand new murloc suit.
Know Your Lore: Uther the Lightbringer
I have never been able to get a paladin past level 50 in game.Oh, I've tried to do it. My first character was a paladin, back in the days after release: my wife had been playing since Beta and wanted me to try the game out, and I often played paladins in other games. I got him to his mid 30's or so before I realized that, unlike in other games I was used to, paladins in WoW are actually very capable healers and are often expected to heal in runs. Since at that time I had no desire to do so, I rerolled warrior and the rest is history.But as I became somewhat of a lore nerd, there were certain characters that I found out about who inspired me to go and try new classes. I played a druid because Malfurion is pretty damn awesome. I tried a warlock because of how unrepentantly evil Teron Gorefiend is. And I keep going back to paladins, thinking this time will be the time I get to the level cap, because of one man.Uther. The Lightbringer. The first paladin of Azeroth, who lived his whole life in the shadow of orcish armies and demonic invasions, who fought for what little peace he knew in his lifetime, who died at the hands of his own student, a man who should have been as great as he was but whose flaws drove him down a road even Uther couldn't follow to save him. He lived and he died as the Light in him demanded, a hero who would not kill the innocent, would not take the path of expediency over honor and justice, would not put down his hammer even when it was death to hold it up.Who has frustrated me time and time again by luring me back to playing a paladin even though I'm just no good at it, now that I think about it. But that's just how cool Uther was. You watch him in the WCIII cinematics and next thing you know you've rolled a paladin. You can't stop yourself. So who was this man who has caused me to swear bloody murder at my screen and yet keep going back for more?
Paladins and Warriors in the Arena
Relmstein has been doing an excellent examination of the two seemingly strongest forces in the Arenas-- Paladins and Warriors. His second column probably should have come first-- he did a breakdown of Paladin and Warrior numbers on some of the top teams in the Arenas, and as you might have expected, they're out there. Out of the twenty teams he looked at (the top five teams on four different battlegroups), 15 had at least one Paladin and one Warrior, and 18 had at least one Paladin or one Warrior. One top team (Pretty Standard on Stormstrike) even has one Paladin and three Warriors-- two Arms, and one Fury.So now back to Relmstein's first post on the subject-- what's the deal here? Arena is singular among most of WoW's PvP in that it isn't about capturing flags or nodes or completing objectives or earning points for your team. It's all about staying alive. And no one does that better than Paladins and Warriors. Combine that with the fact that both classes have amazing talents for either keeping others alive (Paladins can heal and stay alive), or negating the opponents' attempts to stay alive (Warriors can stay alive and do Mortal Strike), and you can see why Warriors and Paladins are so valued in the Arenas.This doesn't mean Warriors and Paladins are unbeatable-- a Paladin needs mana, and a Warrior can be counteracted by crowd control like fear and Hunter traps-- but it does make the classes tailor made for getting in fights and remaining upright at the end. Blizzard has already said that they're fine with letting certain classes be stronger in some areas than others, so it seems, as Relmstein says, that in Arenas, the Arcanite Reaper days are back. Beware Mortal Strike and the Paladin healer in the Arenas.
Retribution Paladins in patch 2.3: buffed or betrayed?
Tom Chilton aka Kalgan has been promising buffs for Ret Pallies since BlizzCon. He specifically has stated that there would be changes made so that Retribution would be more than just a leveling spec, such as sustained DPS instead of just burst and less reliance on Spell Damage as a stat. Retribution Pallies are definitely getting some love in patch 2.3, but is it enough and is it balanced? Many Paladins on the forums say no to both. They want Spell Damage to go away as a need for Pallies and a way to manage threat and they want these changes in 2.3.Wolfblitzer calls Kalgan out as a liar in his very popular protest post, quoting from our BlizzCon coverage directly (though without credit). He also claims that Kalgan had promised to talk about threat reduction for Ret Pallies soon, but that the post was deleted.Blue poster Drysc stated (accurately) that there was no date or patch number associated with all of the changes discussed previously. His full response to the protest is after the jump.
Last-minute 2.2 tweaks
As Mike noted earlier today in Twitter, today/tonight/tomorrow is an exciting geek convergence. Heroes, Halo 3, and WoW 2.2. And now we have a new set of patch notes, so we might actually know the final list of what's going down tomorrow. However, these are technically termed PTR notes, so be sure and check back tomorrow for the official notes that will come with the patch itself. As always, the full patch notes are after the cut, and here are what I see as the most important things that seem to be new in this iteration of patch notes (Edit: there seems to be some dispute over which of these things are actually new. I'm sure some of them are, but my memory is a bit overtaxed right now.): Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 10 minutes. Greater Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 30 minutes. Lightwell: The heals from this ability are now increased by the bonus healing effects on the Priest. Many enchanting formulae are now available from various faction quartermasters: Dodge, Stealth, and Subtlety to cloak; Superior Agility and Threat to gloves; and Greater Agility to weapons. Monstrous Kaliri: This creature now has loot. That's in addition to Voice Chat and the boatload of fixes we knew about already. But looking over these patch notes, I have one question: can this really be called a content patch? Is voice chat actually content? Where's the new zones, dungeons, class overhauls, or whatever? This just reads like an unusually big bug-fix patch to me, with the exception of voice chat. Finally, there is a pleasingly colored breakdown of everything new in 2.2 over at MMO-Champion, and as promised, patch notes after the cut.
The Light and How to Swing It: Must-have and must-miss talents
It's hard to determine the best and worst talents for a class that has three different roles. The best tanking talent is obviously going to be useless if you're primarily a healer, and the worst thing for a prot pally might be excellent with a ret build. Nevertheless, there are certain talents in all three trees that shine brightly, and other talents that make you ask "Who actually takes these?" These ... are those talents. Best Holy Talents:
