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Build Shop: Paladin 5/8/41 + 7
Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.Welcome back to the wonderful world of Build Shop! I've got a lot to say this week, since this is a spec that is near and dear to my heart (even though my Paladin is Protection spec these days) -- Retribution. I've tried to strip it down to the essentials (or what I think is the essentials) so that you can shift points around depending on what you want to do with it.
Hybrid Theory: Magisters' Terrace, stomping all over your comfort zone
We've been talking about Magisters' Terrace a lot. I have been talking about Magisters' Terrace a lot. Lucky you, we're going to talk about it some more!Magisters' Terrace is the brand new 5-man that came with Patch 2.4, so it comes across as much harder than it actually is. It is hard, sure, but not the soul-rending pain we're all feeling right now. All new dungeons require a period of adjustment. I remember when Dire Maul first came out, way back in the day. Everyone thought it was utterly horrifying.During this period of adjustment, you're going to run into groups being far more strict about group composition. Once the community has become accustomed to the difficulty level of Magisters' Terrace, things will ease up. Currently, a lot of damage specced hybrids are having a rough time finding a group consistently due to one pretty large factor: A lack of crowd control. There are a lot of things you can(and should) do to make up for that, and knowing those things will do a lot to contribute to speeding up the adjustment period.
The Light and How to Swing It: Badge rewards in 2.4
Now that the patch is upon us, it's a good time for reflecting upon all the new badge rewards available to us in the near future. As a hybrid class with 3 main viable specs (healing, tanking, DPS), it's no wonder that there's a lot of new badge gear for paladins in this patch. Allison did a fantastic write-up of new badge gear for druids a few days back, so I figured I'd follow her format as it relates to paladins! HolyItemization for Healing specs has been pretty solid when it comes to badge gear, and the new stuff is no exception. Just like the Pier 1 set that 2.3 introduced, you'll find lots of healing, spell crit and mana per 5 on the new gear... just more of it.
Defense cap defined
Many WoW players (and several of our readers) often comment that there is no such thing as a defense cap. This is true in the strict sense that there is no upper limit on how much defense you can have, nor any statistical diminishing returns. However, that's not to say that there's not a point where the utility provided by more defense starts to fall off – so there is a point where the utility given by more defense actually provides a practical diminishing return, and that point is referred to as the defense cap.What is the magic number? 490 defense for Warriors and Paladins, and 415 defense for Feral Druids. To come about this number, you need to do a little math. First, it's important to note that a raid "boss" mob is considered three levels above the player. This means that the math is based off the boss mob being a level 73 mob, and the player being level 70. A player's base defense is defined by the formula Base Defense = level * 5. A player that is level 70 would thus have a base defense of 350 (70 * 5 = 350).
Shield me, my love
Warriors of all shapes and sizes have one thing in common, their need for a good shield. They are the life blood of any tanking strategy. They give us health, protection, and threat. For a protection warrior, the shield is often time the most important part of their inventory. This is both a blessing and curse. While a good shield can't help a bad tank become good, a bad shield can easily make a good tank bad.There are a few key stats in a shield to look at. First, the armor – one of the most important stats for a tank. It lets us take less damage from each hit, which means our health lasts longer and our raid survives more. Block Value is another important stat, and helps determine how much damage a shield will outright mitigate when an attack is blocked. Finally, stamina and defense are also always present on a shield, and are again, a key stat for a warrior.While these stats are beautiful all in their own way, their infrequency in upgrades presents a problem for some warriors. To show what I'm talking about, let's take a look at what shields are available for the protection spec warrior at level 70.*
The Light and How to Swing It: State of the class
When I first decided to roll a Paladin, I had no interest in healing or tanking. I rolled one back in the days before Burning Crusade, back in the heyday of the Reck Bomb. The idea of having what seemed essentially like a Warrior who had access to spells and could self-heal was extremely enticing. I've also had a fascination with the Paladin ever since I played Final Fantasy IV (released here in the States as Final Fantasy II). I've had a Paladin in every game I ever played where it was possible to have one.I used paladins to great effect when I played Warcraft 2, and as anyone who's ever played Warcraft 3 can tell you, paladins were central to the story (Arthas Menethil, better known these days as The Lich King, started out as a Paladin of the Silver Hand under Uther the Lightbringer, the original Paladin). Oddly enough, when I started playing WoW back in June of 2005, my first character wasn't a Paladin (I rolled Horde, and thus couldn't). However, as soon as I started playing as Alliance on a different server, I created one immediately.
SlySoft's latest AnyDVD HD release strips BD+ from Blu-ray Discs
The title pretty much says it all here, folks. Just a few months after SlySoft revealed a beta of its AnyDVD HD software which obliterated BD+, v6.4.0.0 has finally arrived and proudly possesses the ability to "remove BD+ protection from Blu-ray Discs." Among the other changes is an option to enable / disable BD+ removal, a fix for seeing a black display with some BD discs and other minor DVD-related tweaks. Brimming with excitement? Hit up the read link below -- your next download awaits.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
WoW Insider Show live on WoW Radio tomorrow
Yes, indeed, after a short trip away from the podcast, I will be back on tomorrow afternoon, live on WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST. Turpster is supposed to be there as well, and both John Petricelli (the Big Bear Butt blogger) and Matthew Rossi (who, I hear, once wrestled a bear and won) will be on the show with us. It'll be a rip-roaring adventure as, I'm sure, we'll chat about all the recent changes in patch 2.4, as well as all the kerfluffle over tanking and protection specs, and why Blizzard is banning a famous Arena hunter. We'll also hit on when patch 2.4 might go live, and of course we'll be reading listener email (which you can send to us at theshow@wow.com).Should be fun, and I don't know about the rest of the guys, but since I'm in Chicago, I'll likely be celebrating St. Patrick's Day, so I'll bring green beer along (for everyone of age, of course). Tune in to WoW Radio tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm EST to join us for the WoW Insider Show, the best bear-related WoW podcast you'll ever find.
Prot Paladins display their unrivaled threat generation
Many Protection Paladins voiced their disagreement with my recent post to Hybrid Theory, my weekly column on Hybrid classes. The complaints were many, and the flames burned bright. Thus, I'll clarify my stance a little more. Oh, and the title up there? It's a joke. Seriously.First off, let me say that my recent Hybrid Theory had a lot of sardonic, cynical little jokes. In all seriousness, I would not tell a Balance Druid that I raid with to "go be useful and Moonfire spam something." I don't think that you're viable Main Tanks for a progression oriented 25-man raid, but if you can have fun with something and your raid will actually let you do it, more power to you. That doesn't mean you should advertise yourself as a tank when applying to a raid group, but there you go.As far as Protection Paladins go, I believe my stance is not wrong, but I overstated the extremity of the situation. No, Protection Paladins are not only brought along on raids to cheer in the background waving pompoms. I did not mean to say Protection Paladins absolutely cannot tank bosses like Lady Vashj or Kael'thas. My intent was to say that in most raids and situations, a Protection Warrior or Feral Druid(not for Kael, obviously) will be top priority.
Hybrid Theory: What can I do? part 2
Hybrid Theory comes to you yet again from blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart. You're in for thrills, chills, and quite possibly some useful information, but I doubt it. Last week on Hybrid Theory, I got into some of the basic details of what would make you and your spec desirable in a raid. I covered the DPS specs, and this week I'll be covering tanks and healers. Warriors, priests, I'll be leaving you out of this one. I love you, really, I do! But it's that conditional love, where I only love you if you're specced how I like. I hear Rossi, Knox and Harper still love you! Man, they sound way cooler when you refer to them by their last names, don't they? Like detectives, or super heroes....Right. Anyway! I'll be detailing the strong points of the tanking and healing specs of our beloved hybrids, and the utility you provide. Should you be looking for a new raid group anytime soon, these will be the things you'll want to keep in mind when asked what you can offer a raid. Having good gear and knowing how to play is also a plus, but this is a start.Never fear you QQasuals(just kidding!) out there, next week I'll take a step back from the raiding scene and cover some of the new toys in Patch 2.4 and what they mean to you. However, it isn't next week yet, so read on!
G15 Tanking
Last week I covered playing with your mouse, and playing with your keyboard. In my keyboard post I mentioned that I would share with you all my Logitech G15 keyboard map. For those of you who don't have a G15, the keyboard is unique in that there are 18 programmable keys located on the left side of the keyboard. The keys looks like those pictured to the right.Each of these 18 keys can be assigned three independent functions – based on selecting "M1", "M2", or "M3" at the top of the keyboard. This gives a whooping 54 possible key combinations and functions. I don't use all these though, only the first 18 for most everything, and then the second for some random addon and programming things. So without further ado, here's what my G15 keyboard map looks like:
Forum post of the Day: Tank shortage
In World of Warcraft if you want to find a group, roll a tank. Tanks are hard to find and good tanks are worth their weight in gold, even Tauren tanks. Goosesausage of Cenarius posted some suggestions he believes might resolve the current lack of meat shields. He suggests that non-protection specialized Warriors would be capable of tanking if the Sunder Armor buff was tweaked a bit. The poster reported that he has a hard time finding heroic groups since his warrior character is currently specced for DPS. To resolve this issue, Goosesausage suggested that removing the cost of changing one's specialization might resolve the issue. I both agree and disagree with this suggestion. True it's pretty expensive to switch back and forth from prot to DPS and back regularly, but thanks to daily quests money is not nearly as short as it once was. Just make sure you do your grinding before you spec to prot. Even if there was no respeccing fee, tanks would need to acquire two sets of gear.
Show and Tell: Safety first
Your DS is important -- and that means it needs to be protected. It needs extra protection if it's pretty, of course, and so it makes sense that reader Tracy has a whole system to ensure the safety of her DS Lite. Since she also has a toddler who loves to find the DS (wherever it may be hidden!) and "play" with it, that safeguarding system is even more important. But why is this one so special? Well, other than the obvious (it's a DS!), Tracy's handheld is dressed for success in a skin from DecalGirl that matches her iPod. Such a beautiful combination simply has to be protected, so it's also wrapped in a crystal case. When not in use? It lives safely in its own armor. Listen, protecting hardware from toddlers is serious business. But this is one safety system that also manages to look good, so we couldn't help but show it off.Got something that makes you particularly proud? We like thingamabobs and doohickeys and swag of all sorts, as well as food and furniture and anything fun ... so long as it's related to Nintendo! Just take some pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
Hybrid Theory: What's a hybrid? v2.0
Hybrid Theory returns under the banner of column-newb Alex Ziebart. Incredibly biased opinions await you. If you are reading this, you have already been made a victim of his inability to create interesting graphics. No World of Warcraft players were harmed in the creation of the previous image, though that does not mean it won't hurt you.When I decided on my topic for today, I was mighty excited. A fire raged within me, and my fingers flew over the keyboard as soon as I sat down at the computer. My first column! Awesome! Yes! About three paragraphs in, I realized I should probably make sure my predecessor, Jason Lotito, hadn't done the topic yet. Unfortunately, he did. Fortunately, I completely disagree with what he said in every possible way.Perfect.What is a hybrid class? The basic answer is pretty simple: A class with multiple viable roles. Paladins, Druids and Shaman are obvious examples of a hybrid class. If you disagree with the fact that they're hybrids, you must be playing the wrong game. Holy, Retribution, Protection. Feral, Balance, Restoration. Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration. All of them are viable specs, especially in raiding. As fun as it is to mock Retribution Paladins, even they have a place in the end-game.Basically, Shamadruidins are hybrids. Don't try to argue that they aren't because you will lose.
Build Shop: Paladin 0/46/15
So recently I put together a list of all the Build Shop articles that have ever been written on WoW Insider, and I found out something surprising -- there hasn't been a Build Shop for paladins! Today, I correct that grave injustice by looking at a heavy Protection build. Without question, a Paladin is my favorite type of tank, especially for 5 mans. Who needs crowd control? Just have the Paladin consecrate everything and let the AoE attacks fly. For those of you who haven't experienced that joy yet, I highly suggest you find a good Prot paladin and let him tank your instance.I covered Paladin tanking techniques in a past article, so I'm just going to jump right into the build. This is one that people are sure to have mixed feelings about, but then again, that usually happens on Build Shop. The most scandalous suggestion I'm making in this build is not picking up Reckoning, but I have a few reasons why -- read on to find out.
The Light and How to Swing It: Year in Review
Wow. I don't know about you, but 2007 just flew by for me. It seems like only yesterday I was standing in line at midnight to grab my copy of Burning Crusade, and now it's almost a year later. While the new year has already started, it's not too late to look back on some of the changes the Paladin class has seen in '07.So this week on The Light and How to Swing It, I'm doing just that -- going through this past year and reminiscing about the good (and the bad) changes that paladins have experienced. If you've got any left over champagne feel free to break it out and join me as we toast this past year, and look forward to the year ahead!
AMIMON's WHDI solution gets HDCP certification
If you've been wondering why you haven't heard anything about AMIMON's Wireless High-definition Interface since just before CES last year, it's probably because no Blu-ray / HD DVD material can be delivered through it. Now, however, the company is hoping that its WHDI solution will be much more attractive, which isn't too far fetched considering the HDCP certification that it just received. Reportedly, the technology is now considered an Approved Retransmission Technology (ART), and since that hurdle has finally been cleared, we're elated to see that a number WHDI-enabled products should be headed our way courtesy of "several original equipment manufacturers in 2008." The possibilities here are fairly limitless, and needless to say, we're quite interested to see what AMIMON has to offer at CES 2008.
Build Shop: Warrior 8/5/48
Hey folks! This week on Build Shop I'm examining another Warrior build, but this time it's not about dealing damage with the spec -- it's about taking damage. That's right, it's time for a Protection Warrior build! This one is focused on raid tanking, and maximizing your damage reduction. It's not the most rage-efficient Protection spec out there, but 8/5/48 (and its variants) seems to be pretty popular these days. This build does skip some of the talents that make grinding and solo play easier, so I wouldn't use this one for anything but main tanking a raid instance. With that said, let's take a look under the hood and check out what makes this build so great at damage reduction and threat generation.
The Light and How To Swing It: Maximizing Paladin DPS, Part 3
It's time for another edition of The Light and How to Swing It on this fine patch 2.3 Tuesday! Today is the final installment in our three-part series on Maximizing Paladin DPS, and there's lots to go over. With the changes to healing gear implemented now with the new patch, I'll talk a little bit about what you can do with your Healing spec Paladin, but mostly I'm going to focus how to deal damage with a heavy Protection Paladin.As usual, I will be recommending talents but don't feel tied to the choices I make. As I said last time, if you need certain talents to support your style of play, go for it -- but at least read about why you should consider taking some of the talents I suggest.Let's start by briefly examining a typical healing-orientated build, and how you'll be able to deal damage in your healing gear starting today!
Taser parties all the rage these days?
We realize tasers have been getting an awful lot of attention lately after that Gator down south got a bit too feisty at a John Kerry Q&A session, but we're trying hard to believe that this story is from a parallel universe and not our own. Apparently, some women in America are gathering around hors d'oeuvres and bottled water to hear taser plugs, which is quite a leap from the oh-so-innocent Tupperware parties of yesteryear. As expected, paranoid gals are snapping up the pink versions like they're going out of style, but considering that stun gun-proof garb is just around the corner, you should probably save your cash and just stick with the BlackBerry. [Via TechDigest]
