Holy Paladins in Cataclysm: Int is king

[Astray]

First:

Warrior

* Warriors won't be as affected as other classes by the itemization changes, the goal is to make other classes gears look a lot like what warriors have.

And second:

Some time ago there was a bluepost that said they want holy paladins to wear plate armor, and that changing holy paladins to DPS Plate but since that is a very major change, they cant do it in a content patch.

What do we have now?
They are changing every part of the game. Changing a lot of stats, even kill some off, rebelance all talent trees, redesign a lot of items.

There would be no better situation for this change.

Armor Penetration: This ability is too confusing and "mathy." It is being replaced with Mastery, a stat that makes you better at what you do. More on that later!

Oh, and there that new stat and its a "i want that as a healer and as a dps paladin"-stat.

If paladins dont get to heal in DPS plate, i will run naked through the streets of...oh forget that.

[arel00]

In two words, Item Reforging.

There will be DPS plate, with strength, stamina, crit and haste. You basically Reforge the item so Strength goes into Intellect, and the rest still gives you bonuses.

This is, imo, the most likely thing to happen.

[darkwarrior42]

Plate armor is not plate mail, but there is such a thing as plate mail. As another poster mentioned, google it. It is a royal pain in the ass to fully articulate joints in a full plate setup, as in the case of a holy paladin, having the extra protection from full plate provides no real bonus. Having plates attached to a layer of chainmail, or using chain mail between plates for articulation allows for lighter weight and easier movement. Just what one would need when they are running out of the fire between heals.

Also, please tell the Blizzard design team that leather is not leathermail. I'm sick of the leatherworkers making the damn mail armor in WotLK when in vanilla, blacksmiths did plate AND mail.

And since I know someone will point it out, the much loved Tier 2 set has a dress/skirt/kilt, and if that was made of pull plate, it would be damn near impossible to walk. But chainmail with some plate on top would be much easier.

"Mail" has always been a catch-all term in RPGs such as this. Mail made from metal, I'd give to Blacksmiths any day of the week.... but is a great deal of precedent in games for "Scale Mail" so to speak. Armor made in the same way you'd make traditional leather, but from materials noticeably harder and more durable, such as dragon scales. The result would be a suit of armor created by stitched scales (a leatherworking craft), but with a high degree of resilience (putting it above leather armor).

In short, Just as "Plate" and "Plate-mail" are not the same thing in the real world, "Mail" and "Chain-Mail" are not the same thing in an MMO. Mail is a category of armor; if it makes you feel better, think about the categories as "Clothing, Light armor, Medium armor, and Heavy armor". Effectively the same, but allows for "Medium Leather armor" and other such oddities.

[thumbwarriordx]

yes. mail is used in conjunction with plate armor to cover joints and the neck.
this is because chainmail was heavy and a royal bitch in the ass to make.

plate at some point even became lighter and cheaper.
plate and mail being used in conjunction to make a complete set of armor is just that.
mail and plate. which by the way holy paladins have no problem doing if they aren't lucky and outnumber the ele/resto shamans.

[darthceltic]

i think this means less for us, and more for other healing classes. example, shammies don't stack int, more sp. now they have to stack int, to get the sp.

i'm guessing all healing classes will now stack int over any other stat, and get crit/haste/spirit from gear (like we do)

[Napac]

In other words, Blizzard is getting REALLY fucking lazy...

[Daedalon]

Personally I think only Prot and ret palas should wear plate and Holy palas should wear mail. They then share items with shamans and most of the problems will be solved regarding int plate dropping that noone takes (since holy palas are pretty much getting extinct).

[Caean]

Personally I think only Prot and ret palas should wear plate and Holy palas should wear mail. They then share items with shamans and most of the problems will be solved regarding int plate dropping that noone takes (since holy palas are pretty much getting extinct).

And I think rogues, druids, and casters should wear a sailor's hat and a jock strap.

Seriously? Holy paladins in chain?

If you're correct and holy paladins are pretty much getting extinct, then in my opinion, it's far more likely for the healing plate drops to stay the same or increase rather than go down, thus providing a pressure for more people to roll characters who can use those drops.