WoW 2.3 on the PTR
Blah, still no WAR beta invite. Nothing new on that front that I can tell, so here we are with another look at the developing WoW "Paladin."
It turns out, as finally confirmed by an official CM, that the "rumored additional changes" were fake. Too bad, really, as they were pretty nice. Reaction to the legit changes was swift, and in many cases full of anger and frustration. The biggest point of contention bar-none was the total absence of threat reduction. Now that I'm finally rolling in almost all epics, this is something I will fully admit the spec needs most in PvE. Those saying it's not a big deal, or that they haven't had a problem or seen another Ret Paladin have a problem with threat are playing with undergeared n00bs. There's no other way around it.
Personally, I'm not that phased by this omission. From what I've seen, all the (documented) Paladin changes are straight-up buffs in their own right (ignoring, for a moment, the buffs to Hunters in the way of a dispelling Arcane Shot, a potential Disarming Shot, or the impending removal/reduction of their deadzone). Having decided to resume playing and refusing to respec to something boring (I.E. Holy), I've become an almost exclusively PvP oriented Paladin. I've felt the drawbacks of the spec, even while well geared. The changes in 2.3 are going to help me tremendously. My run-in with a purge-happy Shaman last night in AV reminded me how nice it will be to finally have undispellable seals. I'll be smacking harder, running faster, and critting a little more often. I'll also be piling on a nasty trash debuff of my own in the form of new and improved Vindication.
On the PvE scene, things aren't so rosy. Overall, Ret will be doing substantially more damage than before with no additional threat reduction. N00bs pointing out "ZOMGBoSalvLAWL" don't seem to understand that when everyone else in the DPS pool has Salv on, combined with their inherent/talented additional threat reduction, the Ret Paladin is still sticking way out in front on the threat meter. Blood Elf Paladins will continue to have the upper hand on the Ret PvE scene, since their Seal of Blood provides somewhat more consistent and less spikey DPS (as well as hurting them just enough to draw healing and thus help keep their mana up). Vindication will bring some nice utility in lower-tier and small scale content, but I seriously doubt it will be allowed to proc on raid bosses or even most raid trash. CS back at 6 seconds should finally ensure that all judgments stay refreshed, but you'd almost be better off throwing on a shield and using a 1H for this as well as adding Vindication.
Paladins unsatisfied with the changes should approach 2.3 rationally. Get your character(s) copied to the PTR when you can (I've been trying for two days, when the queue wasn't full, and keep getting errors - still no luck). Run some dungeons. Pull aggro even after waiting to engage and holding back during the fight. Wipe horribly, and take screenshots. Submit feedback via the built-in UI elements on the PTR that allow you to do so. Blizzard will no doubt be keeping a close eye on many of the changes they're trying out, including the changes to Ret. With regard to additional issues that were brought up at Blizzcon (I.E. spell damage dependency), I expect these things to be sorted in time.
Patch 2.3 brings many other additions and changes that I'm excited about. As an engineer, I'm looking forward to building my flying machine. It will become much easier to work on my Blood Elf Paladin as well (he's 43 now, specced Ret of course) with the increased leveling speed from 20-60. There's a hot new Ret libram hitting the heroic vendor for just 20 badges (Libram of Divine Judgement - Your Judgement of Command has a chance to grant 200 attack power for 10 seconds. I hear it has a high proc rate - around 40%).
We're not there yet, but we're getting there. If we never get there, we have Death Knights and Warrior Priests. In the meantime, go and strike faces. Bring QQ posts to the Paladin boards about something other than how OP and overrepresented Holy Paladins are in arenas. Laugh at that Shaman who still thinks he can purge your seals off. See you in game.
It turns out, as finally confirmed by an official CM, that the "rumored additional changes" were fake. Too bad, really, as they were pretty nice. Reaction to the legit changes was swift, and in many cases full of anger and frustration. The biggest point of contention bar-none was the total absence of threat reduction. Now that I'm finally rolling in almost all epics, this is something I will fully admit the spec needs most in PvE. Those saying it's not a big deal, or that they haven't had a problem or seen another Ret Paladin have a problem with threat are playing with undergeared n00bs. There's no other way around it.
Personally, I'm not that phased by this omission. From what I've seen, all the (documented) Paladin changes are straight-up buffs in their own right (ignoring, for a moment, the buffs to Hunters in the way of a dispelling Arcane Shot, a potential Disarming Shot, or the impending removal/reduction of their deadzone). Having decided to resume playing and refusing to respec to something boring (I.E. Holy), I've become an almost exclusively PvP oriented Paladin. I've felt the drawbacks of the spec, even while well geared. The changes in 2.3 are going to help me tremendously. My run-in with a purge-happy Shaman last night in AV reminded me how nice it will be to finally have undispellable seals. I'll be smacking harder, running faster, and critting a little more often. I'll also be piling on a nasty trash debuff of my own in the form of new and improved Vindication.
On the PvE scene, things aren't so rosy. Overall, Ret will be doing substantially more damage than before with no additional threat reduction. N00bs pointing out "ZOMGBoSalvLAWL" don't seem to understand that when everyone else in the DPS pool has Salv on, combined with their inherent/talented additional threat reduction, the Ret Paladin is still sticking way out in front on the threat meter. Blood Elf Paladins will continue to have the upper hand on the Ret PvE scene, since their Seal of Blood provides somewhat more consistent and less spikey DPS (as well as hurting them just enough to draw healing and thus help keep their mana up). Vindication will bring some nice utility in lower-tier and small scale content, but I seriously doubt it will be allowed to proc on raid bosses or even most raid trash. CS back at 6 seconds should finally ensure that all judgments stay refreshed, but you'd almost be better off throwing on a shield and using a 1H for this as well as adding Vindication.
Paladins unsatisfied with the changes should approach 2.3 rationally. Get your character(s) copied to the PTR when you can (I've been trying for two days, when the queue wasn't full, and keep getting errors - still no luck). Run some dungeons. Pull aggro even after waiting to engage and holding back during the fight. Wipe horribly, and take screenshots. Submit feedback via the built-in UI elements on the PTR that allow you to do so. Blizzard will no doubt be keeping a close eye on many of the changes they're trying out, including the changes to Ret. With regard to additional issues that were brought up at Blizzcon (I.E. spell damage dependency), I expect these things to be sorted in time.
Patch 2.3 brings many other additions and changes that I'm excited about. As an engineer, I'm looking forward to building my flying machine. It will become much easier to work on my Blood Elf Paladin as well (he's 43 now, specced Ret of course) with the increased leveling speed from 20-60. There's a hot new Ret libram hitting the heroic vendor for just 20 badges (Libram of Divine Judgement - Your Judgement of Command has a chance to grant 200 attack power for 10 seconds. I hear it has a high proc rate - around 40%).
We're not there yet, but we're getting there. If we never get there, we have Death Knights and Warrior Priests. In the meantime, go and strike faces. Bring QQ posts to the Paladin boards about something other than how OP and overrepresented Holy Paladins are in arenas. Laugh at that Shaman who still thinks he can purge your seals off. See you in game.
posted by Vaelin at 4:11 PM
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