Returning ret pally seeks wisdom

[Litre]

I realize this will probably evoke several "n00b" comments, but I'm willing to put myself out there. I've been playing wow since about 2 months after vanilla released. As with most folks, I have several alts and until just before wrath's release, my priest was my main. I leveled a pally up and hit 70 about a week before the expansion released. I was able to level up and hit 80 with no problem, but shortly after hitting 80, I got the itch to play my hunter again. I leveled up my hunter and pretty much made her my main until about a year ago. I played my pally for about 4 months, ultimately ending in a hiatus starting in February of 2010.

Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago. I re-upped my acct after the 4.0.1 patch, and, obviously, everything had changed. My spells were different, my rotations had changed, and I had a lot to re-learn. I did my best to research and find out what was necessary to get back to my old comfort zone, but have yet to get there.

In doing PUGs, it's seriously apparent how far behind I am DPS-wise. I understand that most of it is gear/gem/enchant-related, but even before I took my hiatus, my DPS was higher than it currently is. On a good run, my DPS will be between 2-3kDPS. Before I took my hiatus, I'm pretty sure I was at least around 6-7k DPS (although, I could be wrong). My gear is about what you'd expect: lingering quest greens, some dungeon blues, and a spattering of heroic purples here and there. All of this notwithstanding, I can't help but think the majority of my problem is in my rotation, or that I'm quite simply doing something wrong. I'm hopeful this is where you can help.

This is my current rotation:
SINGLE TARGET - CS, Judgment, Exorcism, TV (if at 3 holy power) and then HoW to finish things off (or repeat cycle as necessary)
AoE - CS, Holy Wrath, Consecration, DS (if at 3 holy power), HoW if necessary/repeat as necessary

The above roation seemed to be a quasi-consensus when researching a few different forums, but I'm hopeful I can get y'alls input on whether or not I'm just not doing something right. Again, I'm willing to yield on the gear/enchant/gem part, but for now, I'd like to focus on whether or not my rotation is FUBAR.

Thank you in advance!

[Kenjji]

there is no real "rotation" anymore, more like a prio system looking like 3hp tv > cs > HoW > exo > judgement > holy wrath > consecration keeping wings off Cd and using zealotry when you're sure you can use the full 20 seconds of it

[Lothaeryn]

retributions rotation is more time based than ability dependancy now, the major factor into rets rotation now is the time it takes fro your crusader strike to come off of cooldown, this is why haste has become a major secondary stat for ret.

The optimized amount of haste for ret would bring your CD for CS to about 3 seconds, or in a close range to it, this will help you optimize your rotation to allow you to use as many abilities as fast as possible.

your basic single target rotation will be: CS>filler>CS>filler>CS/TV(depending if you got an extra holy power) and repeat, using HoW whenever you can in the rotation, but note that it will not generate holy power.

your basic aoe will be the same, except you replace DS with TV, but if you have the mana availiable to waste, you can also use Concecrate in the rotation.

the reason why it is ill advised to use two fillers between a CS is because they only have about a 40% chance to proc a holy power. By using two at a time, you reduce your chances to proc a holy power after the CS, and also reduce the amount of fillers availiable for the rest of your rotation.

the stat priority changed slightly in the patch, str is still first if you can get it, hit is second as well, (expertise third if you beleive you are missing too much of it, though that is least likely with raiding gear) the change in stat priority is the demand for haste over crit, since haste is desired to lower your GCD for CS, you want to at least get your haste in the range to get your GCD to about 3.5 if your gear does not supply it to that point already.

so stat priority is as follows:

1. str
2. hit
3. exp
4. haste>crit

there was a thread started by Ronark a month or so ago about the stat weights and rotations when 4.0.1 went live, that would be the better place to find more information, but i hope this helped you a bit with your questions.

[Badpaladin]

To add to Kenji's post, don't be fooled by the mastery procs. The TV isn't free, and you want to ideally use it as a filler spell in between CS's. Doing otherwise is a DPS loss in the long run. More than anything, get the priority down like a clown charlie brown with tons of target dummy testing and heroics. The HoW versus TV thing is a bit hard to tell, so try either one out:

HoW > TV 3HP > CS > TV HoL > Exo > Judge > HW > Cons
TV 3Hp > HoW > CS > TV HoL > Exo > Judge > HW > Cons

The reasoning is TV's crit chance is abysmally low while HoW crits more often than it doesn't. I could be incorrect about that though, as I'm not 100% up to date with today's changes.

[Xs]

Get http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a...ls/clcret.aspx

Put in HoW > Exo > HW > J > Cons

Win game

[Litre]

Excellent, excellent, excellent information, everyone. This has illuminated my issue tremendously. I was focusing on the rotation as opposed to nailing CS when it became available. I'll focus on acquiring more haste as a means of reducing CS's cooldown as well.

Again, thank you very much for the information!

[Lothaeryn]

The reasoning is TV's crit chance is abysmally low while HoW crits more often than it doesn't. I could be incorrect about that though, as I'm not 100% up to date with today's changes.

The crit in TV depends on whether or not you chose the talent for it in the holy tree over the dmg increase to your seals in the prot tree (cant remember the names of those talents). For me, Tv crits 30% of the time, so 1 out of every 3 TV will crit more than likely, HoW is a high priority for damage, but should only be used if CS is on a CD, if not, it wont generate holy power and delay your next TV in your rotation.

still, i wasnt on the beta, so the scaling at 80 more than likely make it more appealing to use HoW regardless of whether or not CS is up or not.

[Xs]

And you're doing it wrong if you're specced 5 points Holy

[Lothaeryn]

And you're doing it wrong if you're specced 5 points Holy

it doesnt really matter when you get to 85, chose the crit over the seal damage, and still do top 3 dps in ICC

[Badpaladin]

The crit in TV depends on whether or not you chose the talent for it in the holy tree over the dmg increase to your seals in the prot tree (cant remember the names of those talents). For me, Tv crits 30% of the time, so 1 out of every 3 TV will crit more than likely, HoW is a high priority for damage, but should only be used if CS is on a CD, if not, it wont generate holy power and delay your next TV in your rotation.

still, i wasnt on the beta, so the scaling at 80 more than likely make it more appealing to use HoW regardless of whether or not CS is up or not.

Beta is all kinds of fucked right now, HoW and Exo are both dealing more damage than TV heh.

And you're doing it wrong if you're specced 5 points Holy

Negligible, negligible, negligible.

[andr0id]

Beta is all kinds of fucked right now, HoW and Exo are both dealing more damage than TV heh.

Even in release, my recount data for TV is completely lackluster. It does slight more damage than CS and only crits 18% of the time. Even the crits are lame compared to Exo and HoW. If I play how I was "supposed to play" according to the beta experts with TV being highest pri, I would barely be able to kill Elwyn Forest Murlocs (Well, I exagerate a bit)