encounters are not design around a class that would be really bad for the game. And for the tip you should know that pures are not the same they were. A rogue can selfheal as good as a ret paladin with less energy given for that so where is the hybrid ?
are you talking about ret pve or pvp?
ret pve is actually not bad at least we arnt completely bottom and ive seen good rets really wrecking up there on the charts ....
ret pvp on the other hand gives me nightmares ... ret is only a 15 second class in pvp thats about it....
He's saying that a mage can opt to go fire on aoe fights, frost on cleave fights, or arcane on single target burst fights, whereas ret is stuck with one option on all 3 (since other specs are taken by holy, prot).
Ret is in a decent to fine spot in PVE, but PVP is still a shitshow this expansion. Bear in mind, that applies to most classes, as the balance is laughable and the burst (both heals and DPS) is too high, and there is too much instant, aoe CC flying around. Ret has not fared as well as some other classes (warriors, feral, even enhance) and still needs tuning even with the 5.2 changes (IMHO).