Returning player, can I get some thoughts on 7.3 Paladin?

[Cephelapoid]

Hi Guys,

I started playing Wow again about a month ago after a bit of a lay off.

I've been viewing Paladins with envious eyes recently, as I see them running around Argus, and was wondering how they where to play?. No better place to come for answers than here right?.

Firstly, are they fun to play right now?. (Ret in particular)

Is it worth focusing on the Tank spec for world content?, or is Ret good enough?.

I'm looking at the DPS and Tank specs really, as I've never been a big fan of healing.

Some honest opinions would be really appreciated, so thank you in advance.

[Razorice]

Dunno about Retribution, never played it.
However, I find Protection to be really fun, especially if you have decent gear and good amount of haste.

[Ryuji]

To me, Ret is fun to play. Getting the Tier 20 set bonuses + having the Soul of the Highlord legendary ring helps a ton though with smoothing out the rotation. The mobility is...eh, but at least it's not DK levels of pls.

You can go Prot if you want but Ret honestly does fine in open world content. The Argus vendors help a lot with that since you can get ilvl 910 stuff.

You can also consider treating Holy Paladin like a sort of Disc Priest as well if you want to lean more towards damage while still being able to heal people just fine(particularly for dungeons). It's fun to burst high DPS as holy lol.

[Felkor]

I like playing retribution ; crusade is a ton of fun for me (but has his own drawbacks) and I like the gameplay articulated around a burst window (or in case of crusade, a burst glazed door). In addition the paladin has a tons of survavibility, and with the right talents is probably the most resilient dps spec in world content.
The spec is not perfect ; slow outside crusade, the judgement mechanic is underwhelming, and the lack of mobility can be frustrating.

It's fun to run prot on dungeons or multitargets fights. I however don't like the shield of the righteous mechanic, which results to a poor "passive tanking" ability, our active mitigation being extremly efficient in compensation.

Holy is right now the most widely used spec of the class in high end (M+ or Mythic raiding). It performs very well, but I'm not playing this spec since nighthold release, so I can't tell much about it right now

[Vintersol]

I'm not a fan of windowed damage. Neither crusade, nor colossal judgment is fun for me. It's all about taste. I've switched to frost dk, just because i like the direct damage more outside of cooldowns. Since i don't raid anymore it's more appealing to me.

[Mackem]

I'm not a fan of windowed damage. Neither crusade, nor colossal judgment is fun for me. It's all about taste. I've switched to frost dk, just because i like the direct damage more outside of cooldowns. Since i don't raid anymore it's more appealing to me.

I have done the opposite, I found Frost DK to dependent on the Breath of Sindregosa and feel the Paladin style suit me better, and enjoy building up HP to spend on Templar's Verdict - just need some DPS Lego's now (have the boots and wrists)

[Paladin Wolf]

I have played Paladin for a long time, and feel that Ret is a lot of fun. I didn't like the HP system when it first came out, but I feel like it's at a good point now. It's hard to get gear with haste on it sometimes, but getting it up to around 30% makes the rotation feel really smooth. Judgement debuff is almost always up.

I can solo most things with Boros by my side as a tank, so almost no reason to go Prot if you don't want to.

[Mackem]

Is there a Haste Cap? I am at 30% at the moment

[Deleted]

Summary:

Holy: Fun and Strong. From current new tier bonus on PTR, Holy will stay strong (mandatory in a raid setup) through incoming 7.3.5.

Protection: Fun and Weak (7.3). Personally, I think it is a fun and easy spec to play. But comparing with other tank specs, protection paladin is slightly on the weaker side, both raiding and mythic+. But if you are not into competitive play, then it shouldn't be problem.

Retribution: Dps is fine on Normal and Heroic TOS. Mythic raiding is another story, but since you are a returning player, you shouldn't need to worry about it. Play style is definitely on the easy side, even with the new legendary ring. But to many players, it is not a bad thing.

[Deleted]

Paladin is fine for casual gaming. Wondering around the world is extremely easy (at least in comparison with non stealthing classes). Most world content is soloable so no need for going prot unless u into pulling a dozen mobs together. Casual pvp is also really fun and rewarding (at least i have quite some fun when doing unrated content).
Going high end is another story and for mythic raids and rated pvp pallies (prot and ret) struggle.

[Paladin Wolf]

Is there a Haste Cap? I am at 30% at the moment

There's no real cap for any of Ret's stats. They have our stats pretty close in value right now, so don't overlook a Crit/Vers item if it's higher ilevel. I've had a lot of success using SimC addon and RaidBots website.

[Talvindius]

I have played Paladin for a long time, and feel that Ret is a lot of fun. I didn't like the HP system when it first came out, but I feel like it's at a good point now. It's hard to get gear with haste on it sometimes, but getting it up to around 30% makes the rotation feel really smooth. Judgement debuff is almost always up.

I can solo most things with Boros by my side as a tank, so almost no reason to go Prot if you don't want to.

You should use Maximillian if you have him. He's a better version of Boros. He gives you the old 10% stats kings buff while you quest which makes things easier.

[xxcloud417xx]

Is there a Haste Cap? I am at 30% at the moment

There's no cap, basically try to not be lower than 25% (personal preference for me anyway, some could argue no less than 22% or even 20%) so the rotation isn't chock full of downtime, but your next breakpoint after is 31.25% for another global within your judgement window. It's not really worth stacking to 31.25% though if you're neglecting better ilvl gear for more Haste though. Generally speaking you're pretty much best off taking the ilvl upgrade in most cases.

[Deleted]

How are Paladin tanks in high mythic? Or atleast 10-12 mythic?
I want a plate tank as they have good looking armor. DKs are too slow for my taste. I played Warr from Vanilla to MoP but when MoP released I really started to hate Warriors.
Paladin, pretty spells & nice armor. How are they overall? Are pala tanks still the "crazy dps" tank in mythics? Im lvling up another monk for tanking too but their gear looks so bad :/

[Morally Grey Storm]

Suffering is a choice, and we can refuse it. That is the wisdom of the Qun.

[Vrenni]

How are Paladin tanks in high mythic? Or atleast 10-12 mythic?
I want a plate tank as they have good looking armor. DKs are too slow for my taste. I played Warr from Vanilla to MoP but when MoP released I really started to hate Warriors.
Paladin, pretty spells & nice armor. How are they overall? Are pala tanks still the "crazy dps" tank in mythics? Im lvling up another monk for tanking too but their gear looks so bad :/

ToS mechanics in terms of the high damage normal attacks (white swings) is the hardest thing for a prot pally to deal with easily. As such you don't see as many in the higher levels when it comes to raiding.

As you're talking about M+ a paladin is fine unless you're aiming to be pushing the highest keys out there. Since that is where for example Blood Death Knights shine the most considering how self-sufficient they are.

Keys up to 16-18 are fine as a prot pally. The damage we can bring is nice, but it's not ridiculous compared to the other classes. It can be noticable though, for sure.

As prot pallies are looking great for a lot of Antorus raids, and remains great in M+ it's certainly a great choice as long as you're not aiming for the highest levels that anyone pushes in the game

[GreenJesus]

Removing exorcism, hammer of wrath, and 45% movement speed increase for 3 seconds every 5 seconds has really hurt the spec for me. Crusade just speeds up the same boring gameplay. Avenging Wrath used to allow you to use hammer of wrath outside of execute range which changed up your rotation and gameplay. Crusade changes nothing except making everything you do just faster. Changing Judgment to Colossus smash was a horrible idea as well.

I main Holy and to me it is actually a lot of fun since they removed holy power. A lot of cooldowns to maximize your ability makes it pretty fun to play.