Ret was only bad in the beginning due to the hot-nerf they did in the tbc prepatch to them, due to horde i guess was complaining at being killed by retri paladins(since it was balanced for 70 not 60).forget to even think of lvl as healer priest
mobs literally spawn faster than i could kill them, i had to respec to shadow to quest (it was quests in Nagrand, I STILL remember that, a quest in south-east zone u enter a camp full of mobs and closed walls with a gate, so basically u stuck inside)
HOWEVER
that was TBC launch, pre-spell power unify dmg and healing gear, which if i remember right was introduced later in TBC, meaning that TBC classic will have it? So maybe u'll be able to do solo quests?
I can say easily 100% : patch 2.0, if u try lvl as healer, just lube ur a88 and enjoy it because u are f8cked anyway
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yes u are right and i remember it clearly
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no: u cap at 50, still 50g is not easy gold
I think only in wrath did gold start to be easier to get with more dailies, tbc while did have dailies pre 2.4 they were orgilla which is after flying, nether dragon which also after flying (i think even epic flying not regular one?) and shatari sky faction which also needs flying
And i remember clearly with the normal 60% flying those quests were PITA, with constant daze and drop and canon bombing dismounting u, so unless u are an AH player, 50g IS a lot of gold for just respec
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ret was indeed garbage in 2.0
TBC had massive changes, retribution was reworked massively mid-tbc, i remember a patch where paladins were so OP they nerfed them in less than 24 hours (i think it was 2.4?)
ret as dps had a LOT of utilities but dmg? well in raids with seal of blood maybe (but still stretch), still ret brought unique dps buffs and debuffs that 1 ret in a 25 raid is always good