Retribution
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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.
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.
Hybrid Theory: What can I do?
Welcome to another installment of Hybrid Theory, wherein columnist Alex Ziebart assures the world that he does not, in fact, hate Retribution Paladins. In fact, he raids with a Retribution Paladin. Really. He does. Pinky swear. Let's face it, folks. A lot of raid leaders have very little idea what they're doing when they're brand new to the raiding thing. I was there once, too. Until you have some experience in the 25-man raids, you have very little idea how group synergy works or anything of that sort. As a hybrid, especially one specced in a tree other than your healing tree, this could cause you some issues when looking to break into raiding from the ground level, rather than filling a gap in an existing raid that generally knows what's what.You will most likely find that you'll need to sell yourself to raid leaders. What can you bring to the table? What can you do that a mage can't? What can you do that a rogue can't? The answer: Quite a bit! First thing to keep in mind, though, is that as a hybrid, you will probably not do as much damage as the other DPS classes in the raid. Healing specced, you will keep up just fine. Damage specced? Well, you won't keep up on every encounter. That's okay though. You don't need to. Why? Because you specifically allow those other classes to meet their maximum potential.I'll go through each of the damage specs one by one. Tanks, healers, sorry. You come next week. I'm writing a column, not a novel!
The Light and How to Swing It: Three easy steps to Retribution PvP
Regular Paladin columnist Elizabeth was crit by an insane amount of work at, well, work and her co-columnist Chris is away completing his own epic quest, so like those duplicitous Blood Elves, I'll be stealing the Light for this week and swinging it around. Since most of the stuff I write on the site concern the one thing I really like to do -- PvP -- I think I'll get into character and write about something that some people find taboo... Retribution PvP. After writing about a few rules on healing in PvP, let's indulge ourselves with a little retributive mayhem. Despite being the most ridiculed spec in the entire game, Retribution can be a lot of fun -- and painful for your opponents -- once you get some fundamentals down pat.Step one: gear upIf you are at all interested in PvP as a Retribution Paladin, you must get geared up. There are no two ways about this. Unless you have the proper gear, you will simply not perform as well as similarly-geared classes and your PvP experience will be diminished greatly. Retribution is one of the most equipment-dependent specs in the game, and you will feel it in PvP. Chris has written an excellent starter guide for all aspiring Ret Pallies, which is an excellent read for learning about the perfect Retribution gear. In order to do some PvP, we'll then need to take the next step and go beyond what Chris suggested and aim much higher as far as at least one piece of equipment is concerned -- your weapon.
Item stat changes on the PTR for Relics and Retribution Paladins
Retribution Paladins and "Classic" hybrids rejoice. Even in the midst of all these recent nerfs, Blizzard is working on a few buffs. The latest news from the PTR via MMO Champion is that we can expect to see a few tweaks to Relics and Retribution Gear alike, mostly on the good side. Various pieces of Retribution Paladin focused gear, mostly from the heroic dungeon level, has had its spell damage removed and replaced with strength. Not great news for Shockadins, perhaps, but good for Retribution Paladins, whose talents and skills have been moved more to the side of shedding all spell damage for quite some time. Druids, Shamans, and Paladins can rejoice at seeing a lot of their Idols gets a boost, with various stats and effects on them being boosted, sometimes by as much as twice their old values. There's also a somewhat interesting, but probably ultimately minor tweak coming to arena and honor weapons, as all three levels of Feral Druid and spellcaster PvP weapons have seen their attack speed reduced by 1 to 1.60 seconds. You'll rarely see any of those classes using those weapons to melee anyone to death, so it seems a bit superfluous, but perhaps it was done for consistency with the recent Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe change. There will probably be a few more changes when the server comes back up, of course, and we'll be here to deliver you the news on them, so stay tuned.
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.
Alliance to get Seal of Blood in 2.4?
Poster Tamerland from The Scryers posted an interesting nugget to consider over at the Paladin forums today, stating unequivocally that the Alliance will be getting the Blood Elf-only Seal of Blood in Patch 2.4. Conversely, the Horde should be receiving Seal of Vengeance. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, Alliance Retribution Paladins have been crying for Seal of Blood because it has, with numerous calculations, proven to be the superior PvE DPS Seal. In light of the removal of spell damage in Retribution gear and the focus on Strength (and consequently Attack Power), this has become less of a debate and more of a simple fact. Furthermore, Seal of Blood inflicts damage on the Paladin, which is absolutely great as this is incredibly synergistic with Spiritual Attunement, allowing Ret Pallies to regenerate mana as they're healed. While Seal of Vengeance has been argued to be an excellent tanking seal, Horde Paladin tanks have coasted along fine with Seal of Righteousness.Up until now, Alliance Retribution Paladins have had to balance spell damage along with other stats to optimize Seal of Command while Horde Ret Pallies happily picked up, um... *cough* Warrior gear. If the changes in 2.4 push through, the removal of spell damage severely gimps Seal of Command for PvE and consequently, raiding Alliance Retribution Paladins (yes, such things exist, believe it or not). Tamerland says that the writing is on the wall, and from the lore-shaking changes glimpsed on the PTR, his claims don't seem too far off. The chained up Naaru in the Blood Knights' basement is gone, and the lovely Lady Liadrin (I had to editorialize that. We swore these blood oaths, you know.) comes to Shattrath City to pledge allegiance to A'dal, who welcomes the Light-stealing, Naaru-shackling, demon-blood using Blood Knight matriarch in a totally WWJD moment. The stage really does seem set for such a change, and it wouldn't be the first time that Blizzard has shaken things up in order to balance things out. Paladins were formerly an Alliance-only class once upon a time, after all. Personally, I'm stoked at the possibility. I'm not too thrilled about the Alliance getting Seal of Blood ("my... precious..."), but if it does happen, it means Blizzard is actually listening to its community -- even if they don't say anything most of the time.
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!
The Light and How to Swing It: Ret gear, part 2
Two weeks ago, I presented the first part of a list of gear for aspiring retribution paladins. This week, I'm going to finish up that list and go over everything from gloves to librams to weapons. Again, this list is meant to help your up and coming or aspiring retribution Paladin get geared up correctly. Just as before, I'm going to skip over PvP gear (because that really doesn't require a list) as well as heroic / raid gear, which isn't really immediately accessible to you if you're just starting out. It was commented on last time, but just as a precaution, there is a lot of so called "Warrior" gear on this list and very little that has spell damage or intellect. As you improve your retribution set, you'll likely pick up gear that has more of those stats on it, but for now I suggest going for gear which increases strength / attack power and melee crit above almost anything else. Alright, let's get to it!
The Light and How to Swing It: Ret gear, part 1
Many of you will remember the series of articles I wrote about maximizing Paladin DPS a few months ago. The point of that series was to discuss how to DPS efficiently no matter what your spec was, but the subject of gear was only briefly touched upon. While it is important to know what to do (and sometimes, what not to do) in a fight, the type of gear you're wearing will heavily dictate how effective you are. There's no replacement for experience, but the right gear will turn a good Paladin into a great one.With that in mind, I'm creating a list of suggested gear for up and coming or newly 70 Retribution paladins, and where said gear can be obtained. I'm staying away from gear obtained by PvP because you really don't need a list for that, and raid / heroic gear is out because this list is for those of you who are just starting out. Individual pieces will be first categorized by slot, and then by the method obtained (crafted, quest, instance, etc), but I'm leaving it up to you to decide what you should get.
The Light and How to Swing It: Command vs. Blood
For a long time, there was no confusion as to what Seal should be used if you were a Retribution spec Paladin using a two-handed weapon. You would cast Seal of Command, and hope that each time you swung your mighty weapon that it would proc, dealing heavy Holy damage to your target. As a passive ability that only activated (on average) 7 times a minute, there wasn't much you could do other than auto-swing and cross your fingers (other abilities not withstanding).Ah, times they are a changin'. Burning Crusade made the Paladin class available to the Horde and all paladins got a new (but not the same) Seal: Alliance got Seal of Vengeance, and the Horde got Seal of Blood. I'm still not sold on SoV. There are times when it comes in handy, but for Retribution paladins it didn't replace the old standby, Seal of Command. Seal of Blood, on the other hand, can be looked at not just as an alternative to SoC, but a replacement. The question is... is SoB better than SoC? The answer isn't exactly cut and dry, so join me as I examine each Seal, and try and draw some conclusions.
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.
The Light and How to Swing It: Maximizing Paladin DPS, Part 1
Welcome to the first part in a three-part series on Paladin DPS! We will be examining how to squeeze the most DPS out of your Paladin, no matter what their spec. Before we get started, I'd like to say a few words about Paladin DPS in general. Paladins dealing damage is a hot button topic these days, especially where their main DPS tree, Retribution, is concerned. Retribution paladins in particular have to put up with a lot of abuse from other players and even sometimes from within their own class. The main reason for this is twofold, in my opinion: 1) some paladins, especially the new ones, spec into Ret without knowing how to gear for it, which just feeds the stereotype that paladins can't DPS or are bad at it; 2) many players are unaware of the benefits of having a Ret Paladin in their group, or are just biased because they feel that being able to wear plate, heal, and do damage is simply too much for one class to do.If you're the type of Paladin that I've described above in reason 1, then this article should help you. Though I won't be recommending gear you should shoot for (that's a topic for another time), I will be discussing the stats you should be aiming for, so you can adjust your own gear accordingly.For everyone else, it is my hope that this series lays a little enlightenment on you, so that afterwards, you can make a more informed opinion regarding Paladin DPS.Alright, with that out of the way, let's start with Retribution!
Retribution gets passive threat reduction!
I don't think I've ever used an exclamation point in a headline before, but this deserves it. It appears that Paladins' Retribution tree will be getting some passive threat reduction, as of patch 2.3. Posted just recently in the official forums by Eyonix:After further patch testing and some serious discussion, we've decided to add threat reduction deep in the paladin's retribution tree. As a result, fanaticism will now reduce threat caused by all actions by 6/12/18/24/30%, in addition to its current effect of course.How does that sound? 30% passive threat retribution seems pretty darned solid to me. Let's hear it for Blizzard -- looks like they do listen to what their customers want after all.
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.
The Light and How to Swing It: Building a better Paladin
It's an odd time to be a Paladin. The entire community seems to be embroiled in our own version of the War of the Roses -- with holy paladins on one side, and retribution / protection paladins on the other. No other class I know of fights itself from within, which is a point that's been made in this column before.With that in mind, today I'd like to examine some of the reasons why paladins have been bickering, fighting, and sometimes engaging in outright hostility towards one another.
Possible Retribution improvements
Shamans and paladins have long been in an "evil twin" type relationship, though which one is evil, I couldn't possibly say. Probably both. Anyway, since Enhancement Shaman improvements possibly destined for an upcoming patch were previewed at Blizzcon, it seems only fair that we should see some Retribution Pally buffs as well. And here they are! Crusader Strike cooldown reduced to 6 seconds, from 10. Vengeance duration increased to 30 seconds, from 15. Improved Seal of the Crusader replaced with Sanctified Crusader. Sanctified Crusader replaced with new talent, Sanctified Seals, whose tooltip reads: Increases spell and melee crit by 3% (with 3 pts) reduces the duration sanctified seals. World of Raids notes that this tooltip doesn't entirely make sense and is probably not finished. So what do you think? Do these changes take some of the sting out of the Death Knight, which many see as a slap in the face to Retribution? Note that these changes are still under development; don't count on these making it into the live game intact. Allegedly, they are bound for patch 2.3, which is still a ways off. At the very least, these can be taken as insight into how the devs are thinking about Ret.[via World of Raids]
The Light and How to Swing It: Raiding ret without the noob
For a very long time, I played a Horde rogue, and only a Horde rogue. I knew little of the ways of paladins beyond what I saw on the forums. So before the Burning Crusade, whenever I thought about ret paladins, I thought of the popular image of the "retnoob": a big, wanna-be arms warrior swinging a two-hander, talking about his leet crits, and steadfastly refusing to ever heal anyone. But after leveling a paladin of my own and reading the paladin boards, I realized that retribution and its defenders aren't what I thought they were. Many ret pallies feel betrayed and cheated by Blizzard. They rolled a holy warrior, and now they feel that their only option is to stand at the back and cast two spells. And many of the ret pallies who post on the forums don't want a huge increase in DPS -- instead, they'd prefer a way to reduce their threat and some form of increased raid utility a la shadow priests. Since Blizzard has said that they intend to buff the retribution tree, there are probably more than a few PVE paladins who are waiting for this buff with bated breath. But how can we help these paladins become good retribution pallies, instead of falling into the dreaded trap of the "retnoob"? I talked to raid leaders, ret pallies, and read the forums for sage advice on how to successfully raid as retribution. Read on if you're interested.
Ret pallies to be improved
Retribution paladins are in strong contention for most ridiculed build in WoW as today. Personally, I'm sure they don't deserve all the scorn that's thrown at them, but it's probably true that Ret is not as strong as many other trees. Well, Blizzard seems to have (finally) noticed this, and they're taking a look at it: Hello again, I just wanted to let you know that the developers have taken part of your suggestions, and are looking into improving the retribution paladin spec. You can probably expect something along the line of more sustained DPS in a raid and more raid utility, but we are not ready to reveal any details. This is still work in progress, so please be patient :)Good news, eh? Or as one forum responder put it: "Hell, it's about time." So if Ret gets more sustained raid DPS and more raid utility, will you be happy with it? What would you change in the tree?
What would it take for ret pallies to raid?
Retribution pallies have a pretty bad reputation among a lot of raiding guilds. They're widely believed to have inferior DPS and low utility. And even as feral druids, prot pallies and shadow priests have become accepted in non-healing roles, ret pallies have been left out in the cold. Megas of Hakkar is frustrated with this situation, and asks the forums: What class changes would it take for a ret pally to get a raid spot in your guild? A healing factor like shadow priests have? Some form of group mana regen? The group buffs of ret pallies include a small healing-received (DPS in the next patch) aura and a judgement that can increase crit chance on a target by 3 percent. Most of the respondees noted that they couldn't think of anything that would cause them to give a ret paladin a DPS raid slot. While there's no real hard numbers on ret paladin DPS, a lot of the raid leaders have had very bad experiences with pallies at the bottom of the DPS meters, and in the current bleeding-edge 25-mans, you can't really have inadequate DPS. There's a lot of talk about how to make ret viable in the paladin forums, but a lot of holy and prot pallies think ret is a lost cause, and it gets pretty heated in there. I don't personally have enough experience with ret pallies in a raid environment to judge their DPS. My own pally went prot at 45 and never looked back. But I do think that people who rolled pallies to DPS in PVE may want to rejudge their choice. Paladins are possibly the best single-target healing class in the game, and make respectable tanks for most instances and superior tanks for multiple mobs. One class can't be the best at everything, and in difficult raids, raid leaders are going to min/max to get the best DPSers/healers/tanks there are. I'm content for paladins to be tanking/healing hybrids. What do you think about ret pallies? Underutilized DPS resource, or waste of a raid spot?
