1. #1

    What is it like to play a paladin now?

    I'm having a hard time trying to decide what class to play for WoD and I've been stuck in my choice between Warrior and Shaman until recently when I started to think about paladin.

    Basically I've been playing Prot Warrior since vanilla and started playing Resto Shaman as a 2nd main if you could call it that, in BC so I know both those classes really well.
    When WotLK came out I got my girlfriend to start playing so I rolled a Paladin with her which then became my main until the Ulduar patch, which is when I went back to Shaman and Warrior. I only got to experience Paladin as healer tho and thought it was a lot of fun back then at least.

    I like tanking and healing most, because they feel like more supportive roles than dps, but I'd like to go into BGs and slay allies as ret aswell as be able to farm at a decent pace.

    So my questions are:

    Is holy still as fun to play as it was back in WotLK?

    How does ret feel like in PvE/PvP? A lot of button mashing or more like timing of attacks? For example, I feel WW monk is button mashing as there's almost always a button to press while an assassination rogue has a lot of downtime and energy pooling between attacks.

    Is prot pally anything like a prot warrior?

    And last, what makes you stick to your paladin?

    Thanks in advance :-)

    Oh and I do know classes can change for WoD, but I did hear them say that there won't be any big changes, which of course could change.

  2. #2
    The transition to using HoPo hasn't been kind to holy. Basically the game for holy right now is same Holy Radiance for HoPo (and weave in some Holy Shock) and then use HoPo on Eternal Flame or sometimes Light of Dawn if the situation calls for it (which isn't all that often). It can be rather monotonous since there's not much triage going on because of so much AoE abilities from bosses.

    Ret is more button mashing due to haste lowering the CD and GCD of the primary damage abilities. There's very little downtime.

    I've never played a prot warrior, but it and prot paladins have some similarities. The main focus is on getting resources (HoPo for pal, rage for war) and then using the percentage shield ability. For prot paladins that's Shield of the Righteous. Prot paladins stack haste because it makes HoPo generation quicker and thus means SotR covers more hits. Timing it right helps quite a bit since it's short enough that it could cover two boss hits or just one. Prot's got some big self-healing thanks to Seal of Insight and Eternal Flame.

    WoD's changes include dropping hit, expertise, dodge, and parry altogether. They're being replaced with secondary stats called Amplify, Multistrike, and Readiness. Amplify will boost other stats either by multiplying ratings like with haste and mastery or by increasing the multiplier for crit and multistrike. Multistrike is a chance to make an ability hit a second time for a certain percentage of damage or healing. Readiness will lower the cooldowns on certain abilities. Holy and Ret will see the fewest changes due to the new stats, but since the designers have said they want all secondary stats to be useful to tanks prot is going to have some changes so it can benefit properly from crit and multistrike. How they'll do that we don't know, but it might be something like a monk's Evasive Brew where crits can be turned directly into avoidance.

    Given the new secondary stats and Blizzard saying they'll try to narrow the differences in power between stats I'm really hoping we'll see different viable gearing styles appear for holy and prot. I'm also hoping that's the case for ret, but I'm not holding my breath given how DPS are stuck on figuring out what's Best in Slot all the time instead of finding ways to make the best use of stats available.

    Given the attention Celestalon has given to Seal of Faith on his twitter it's looking like they want to give holy and ret more hybrid dpe/healing opportunities, so if playing a hybrid role sounds nice to you then it might be rather nice in WoD.
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  3. #3
    Thanks for posting. I haven't really played paladin much since the introduction of holy power, I did do DS LFR a couple times in cata and holy power felt really weird, could be because I didn't play it much so I never really got into it.

    I feel like it is the holy power that has been keeping me away from the class, perhaps because it was a kinda big change after being used to the class without it for so long. Is it hard to manage it? Would it be a huge dps/hps loss if it was only managed decently, instead of perfectly? There doesn't seem to be that many skills actually using it.

    I guess I should just put some time into gearing and try it out. I haven't really wanted to do that because of limited time which I rather spent on my warrior and shaman.

  4. #4
    It's not very difficult to manage, generally HP consumers are better abilities than HP builders (unless you're Prot, in which case you manage HP "on the fly" since your consumers are off the GCD). You only "fail" at managing it if you cap out and waste HP from builders.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    Yesterday I decided to level my Paladin as Protection from 85-90. And to be honest I am not so sure if I want to keep constantly smashing buttons and watching over very short duration CDs. After about 10 Dungeones my fingers also kinda hurt.

    Is anybody also annoyed by this? Could you suggest me a tank class which does not require so tight button smashing?

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Satsu View Post
    Yesterday I decided to level my Paladin as Protection from 85-90. And to be honest I am not so sure if I want to keep constantly smashing buttons and watching over very short duration CDs. After about 10 Dungeones my fingers also kinda hurt. Is anybody also annoyed by this? Could you suggest me a tank class which does not require so tight button smashing?
    By short duration CD's you are talking about the "rotation" in other words Crusader Strike, Judgment and Fillers, or are you talking about "active mitigation" the holy power dumps Shield of the Righteous and Word of glory?

    If it's the former just know that all tanks have a rotation that needs to be spammed for optimal resource generation so you can mitigate damage, whether it be HP, rage, chi, or runes. Generally I think the most natural seems to be Prot Warrior and maybe Druid (monk requires filling with Tiger Palm). DK's are probably slower paced just due to their runes but have a lot more involved management and you also have a 1.0 sec GCD.

    If you're talking about the active mitigation abilities, you're SOL all tanks have them. DK's have the least, they have their active mitigation in the form of one button, Death Strike, but you need to by far do the most work in managing it.

  7. #7
    Herald of the Titans Daffan's Avatar
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    Ret is boring without good haste.
    Content drought is a combination of catchup mechanics and no new content.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daffan View Post
    Ret is boring without good haste.
    Ret is boring full-stop. I'm not one to blow the dust off my rose tinted glasses, but I genuinely had more fun on my Retadin in Wotlk. Holy Power killed the pacing and I fail to see the "Fun" in Inquisition.

  9. #9
    I will be dead honest with you here, I absolutely hate my retribution paladin.

    If you liked the retribution paladin during WotLK era, chances are high that you will not be happy with them at the moment. While we can and do hit quite high DPS in PvE, our gameplay is not fun at all. Inquisition is really annoying, it's not hard to keep up, but it's very annoying and you can't live without it.

    As far as PvP goes, if you are anything close to the kind of guy who likes to rush in the enemy and decimate em, forget paladin. Once you will be very geared, it will be possible for you to go all in on one person and maybe kill him if you're lucky, but that's it. We're a kind of bad support class. In fight against a warrior you will spend most of your time fleeing, against hunters and warlocks you will simply be CC'd to oblivion. Our tools are very team-oriented and not self-oriented... So you will need someone to carry you hard most of the time (hunter for example). You're an 1/2-viable DPS, a 1/8-viable healer and a 1/4-viable buffer. Those who should have the easiest time going ret are probably healers.

  10. #10
    i,ve played ret since begining of wotlk through to now i enjoy the class now as much as i did then. why is inq boring when its hitting a button once every 1 min not saying its great either but it dos,nt make or break the class dos,nt affect you much at all. now to HP with HP you now have to think a bit more what to press next but its still easy. as for dps in pve we are not as good as we were in WOTLK but we can definatly compete on most fights and excell in some.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by pinchit View Post
    i,ve played ret since begining of wotlk through to now i enjoy the class now as much as i did then. why is inq boring when its hitting a button once every 1 min not saying its great either but it dos,nt make or break the class dos,nt affect you much at all. now to HP with HP you now have to think a bit more what to press next but its still easy. as for dps in pve we are not as good as we were in WOTLK but we can definatly compete on most fights and excell in some.
    I think we are better than in WotLK in PVE. Our weakness is definitely more on the PvP side. Also, being completely inexistant without Inquisition in PvP is VERY annoying. You have to build up 3 holy power to pop Inq, THEN you can start fighting... This is annoying in my opinion.

  12. #12
    Herald of the Titans Vintersol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blinksworth View Post
    Ret is boring full-stop. I'm not one to blow the dust off my rose tinted glasses, but I genuinely had more fun on my Retadin in Wotlk. Holy Power killed the pacing and I fail to see the "Fun" in Inquisition.
    Ret is fine. It plays today like in WotLK, you have enough buttons to smash, enough buttons to generate HoPo and with 1 min inq, it's comfortable to play. Sure, WotLK ret was great too, but the MoP Version is on par, for sure.

  13. #13
    I used to play my Paladin since BC and now i will probably never play him again. Auras Gone, Old Seal System gone, all the fun is gone for me. I just can't play him anymore. He used to be so much fun in BC and even Wotlk. I would not recommend playing a Paladin anymore no matter how good they are

  14. #14
    Stood in the Fire Tyranader's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aldassador View Post
    I used to play my Paladin since BC and now i will probably never play him again. Auras Gone, Old Seal System gone, all the fun is gone for me. I just can't play him anymore. He used to be so much fun in BC and even Wotlk. I would not recommend playing a Paladin anymore no matter how good they are
    Yeah because loosing your seal every time you cast Judgement was fun < < oh and how about the short duration buffs they where fun too, auras where kinda useless anyway and you only ever changed them if your raid leader told you too...

    Anyway, I think paladins are really find to play at the moment. I quit like playing a Paladin again after the break I had from one in Cataclysm. : D!

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Aldassador View Post
    I used to play my Paladin since BC and now i will probably never play him again. Auras Gone, Old Seal System gone, all the fun is gone for me. I just can't play him anymore. He used to be so much fun in BC and even Wotlk. I would not recommend playing a Paladin anymore no matter how good they are
    I didn't think they were that good right now...

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