My wish for retradins!

[Talen]

i like how you all seem to have missed the whole "dps with 1h+sheild" when caster shammies have been that way since classic.

Does that caster shaman actually USE that weapon? No...he doesn't. Its largely a stat stick. As is the shield. The caster shammie WEARS a 1H+Shield but he DPSs with spells.

So,...no; it hasn't been overlooked.

EJL

[Talen]

Just as an exercise, I thought I'd think about how much work would need to be done for this.

At the end, I think surprisingly little. Most of it would be in balancing the damage.

First, we'd have to recognise that the spec has to have a shield and 1H weapon. That improves armour and adds stats. Would their be DPS shields? Or would the class make use of the defensive stats and procs of tanking /healing shields?

Second...the toolkit.

Prots toolkit is suprisingly complete. However, it would need to borrow from Rets to provide a truly meaningful DPS toolkit. BTW - I'm basing this on the Cataclsym Paladin.

Single Target
Crusader Strike
Shield of the Righteous

AoE
Hammer of the Righteous
Divine Storm
Consceration

Ranged
Exorcism
Judgement
Avengers Shields

I would like to toss HShk in here as well as a ranged HP generator.

Utility
Holy Wrath
Hammer of Justice
Rebuke - requires Shields?

Procs
Divine Purpose
Art of War

Cooldowns
Avenging Wrath
Guardian of the Ancient Kings

You'd also want to have a look to see which moves can be converted to require shields to integarte that aspect into the look. Or add new ones - e.g. Spellcatcher: charge to shield to store the next direct damge spell and then fire it back at your current target.

Third - the effect on tanking
Yes, I feel you would need to take into account tanking.

There are several ways that this could be done.

1: Tanking moves require a 2H weapon.
2: A stance mechanic
3: Off role tanking is possible - e.g. ShoR gives 15% block mechanic in addition to damage while TV returns as the single target DPS finsiher - but raid tanking requires appropriate gear and talents.
4: There are a couple of other ways to address this issue

Or a mix....separate the roles (via stance and weapon mechanic) but you may want Rets capable of tanking dungeons (include SHoR and a talent allowing 2H wielding with shield)

EJL