So.. now my favorite spec is officially THE WORST in PvP

[Deleted]

has ret ever been really viable? I used to switch ret now and then for some casual arena play (~2,2k) in the last 10(?) seasons and can't really remember a single 'viable' season.

[Matt0193]

has ret ever been really viable? I used to switch ret now and then for some casual arena play (~2,2k) in the last 10(?) seasons and can't really remember a single 'viable' season.

S5, but that's not really much to say. Shit was so broken then it was unreal. There was some success with Ret in S11, Vanguardscleave and Triple DPS were the only two comps I can remember people going.

It sucks, it wouldn't be bad if Ret was at least good against either Melee or Ranged, but you're sub-par against both. You're gimped by disarm, silence and stuns, your selfhealing and CDs are a joke (Trained until you bubble, either it's broken by the Warrior that's in every team or it's waited out and then you're trained again until death) and you have few tools to use to lockdown an enemy. If you have uptime your damage is minimal outside of CDs as you have no tools to force out CDs. Sure you've got the best mobility out of all Melee with Emancipate and Freedom but what use is it when you do fuck all to begin with?

Ret either needs more specific tools to deal with specific types, such as a Disarm or Silence/Ranged interrupt, or additional defensives to supplement Bubble and Divine Protection.

[Bombino]

first of all: http://www.twitch.tv/vanguardstv

second of all: it's not the worst spec

[stickyjam]

sorry man, i roll shadow and the extra % on armor is hardly a buff. Granted im not anywhere close to 1700mmr, but if im being trained and rolled as hard as I am post patch, id really hate to see what its like post 1700!

This man speaks truths.

Armor buff means nothing when peoples burst ignores armor.

[Deleted]

Do you remember vanilla rets? They were able to kill 2 warriors in ease ... They never died 1v1 or 1v2 ... Flash heal heald them for 50% of health or something like that ...

[Ermelloth]

Actually, Rets at lvl 72-74 remind the Vanilla tendencies a bit. From lvl 54, when Emancipate is introduced, up to level 72, Ret already becomes very good in PvP, and after Wings become available at 72, becomes one of the top specs if played well.

In addition to my main 90 Ret, I have a lvl 72 Ret twink. In this bracket Rets are absolutely amazing since their FoL heals for full or nearly full HP, Exorcism (without CDs) hits as much as Frostbolt or even more and we have every other tools already beside Guardian, HA and Mastery / Inquisition, but considering people have 15-17k HP max they aren't really needed. I often ended random BGs with 25-0 score and being first in DPS by far, and when I tried some Arenas, I often could solo a healer (except Dpriests whose absorbs seem imbalanced at this level).

The major difference between lvl 72's strong Ret and lvl 90 non-viable Ret is the relative amount of damage / enemy HP, of course, but also this: during bubble / HoP lvl 72 Ret can heal 80-100% of his HP, like it always was in BC and WOTLK (and was our main defensive strength). Now, in 90 Arena, Ret can heal 20-25% of his HP maximum while bubbled and if it's direct FoL casting, his mana is off after 3 casts. This huge self healing cut is what made us bad and broken. Give us the ability to heal ourselves at least to 50% HP during CDs or reverse Battle Fatigue's nerf to Rets and we are fine.

[Deleted]

I just rolled an Unholy Dk instead, I would prefer to play Ret paladin instead, but blizzard insists on everyone playing the fotm classes.

The same old Warrior, Hunter, Mage and Dk classes are op as usual. I cannot speak for pve, but in terms of PVP, I know a few players that refused to level fotm classes and just end up quitting wow. At the same rate, Blizzard are losing subscribers by the millions (quite literally) for their biased attitude to certain classes in both PVP and PVE.

[Dabrix32]

I was posting about how bad Ret was during the 5.4 PTR months ago. People just screamed L2play...Hahah jokes on you now!

[Coraulten]

Ret--Trained until bubble

Enh sham--Trained until dead

[Angelyka]

Not enough haste on pvp gear for ret to have sustained, no passive dmg reduction, hands are good but not enough to make ret viable for serious arena. Shit even Vanguards
dont play ret outside shaman/hunter/ret and that comp works better with war/DK

[Deleted]

There are too many people maining paladin so they want ppl to reroll because their numbers shows that, that keeps people sub'd.

[Ermelloth]

There are too many people maining paladin so they want ppl to reroll because their numbers shows that, that keeps people sub'd.

It might be the reason... Look at the EU data from RealmPop:

http://wow.realmpop.com/eu.html

Look at Class diagram. Once Paladins held 2nd place (even at start of MoP) and now dropped from 2nd to 4th. Warriors, however, got from 5th to 2nd, bypassing Magi, Druids and Paladins altogether. DKs dropped horribly from 5th to 7th.

[Futon]

Ret is very capable if you're playing the right comp. Ret/hunter/resto shaman or disc priest still works really well. The problem is it's just a different play style. It's got more of a cata play style rather than MOP. Takes more synergy and skill than other current comps. It's certainly a fun comp. As a hunter i've always enjoyed playing with a ret. They bring so much utility, burst damage, and off healing.

What rating are you stuck at that you're complaining?