End game as a paladin in classic, is it fun?

[Diemaco]

So I'm thinking of rolling a paladin in classic. I already levelled a paladin when WotLK hit and loved it. I also liked the end game as a paladin in WotLK. All specs were viable in raids at this point. I dual specced prot and holy and could tank and heal whenever I wanted to. I'm pretty sure I'll like levelling a paladin in classic too. However I'm not sure about the end-game content when I hit 60. I was wondering if it was fun to play a paladin at 60 in vanilla?

I played a warrior in vanilla myself. I tanked MC through AQ40. I really liked the challenge of tanking, especially as MT. It's probably part of the reason why I liked playing pala in WotLK so much.

Your only viable raid role in classic seems to be to go holy, though. Ret dps was very low and prot pallies lacked utility: no taunt, no spiritual attunement for mana regen during tanking. Now I don't mind being a healer at all, I'm just wondering if it'll be fun and/or challenging to play a holy paladin in end-game raids, or if it's just going to be a lot of spamming flash of light on the MT?

Also, were retribution paladins were any good in pvp? I know they were good duellers but I'm wondering about their role in battlegrounds. If holy in raids turns out to be too boring, could I still have fun in pvp?

In other words, I'd like to know if I'll have fun as a paladin at 60. Could any paladins from back in the day enlighten me?

[Thunderball]

Well that depends if you find spamming Flash of Light for x hours fun.

[Ave07]

If you plan on doing raids I would say holy will be the only viable spec unless your guild is ok with you going ret.

Prot is useful for dungeons as back in vanilla I would tank as prot for dungeons.

Ret kind of sucks in PvP as a shaman can easily purge your seals and buffs. I would say shockadin is the way to go fir PvP.

[wholol]

So I'm thinking of rolling a paladin in classic. I already levelled a paladin when WotLK hit and loved it. I also liked the end game as a paladin in WotLK. All specs were viable in raids at this point. I dual specced prot and holy and could tank and heal whenever I wanted to. I'm pretty sure I'll like levelling a paladin in classic too. However I'm not sure about the end-game content when I hit 60. I was wondering if it was fun to play a paladin at 60 in vanilla?

I played a warrior in vanilla myself. I tanked MC through AQ40. I really liked the challenge of tanking, especially as MT. It's probably part of the reason why I liked playing pala in WotLK so much.

Your only viable raid role in classic seems to be to go holy, though. Ret dps was very low and prot pallies lacked utility: no taunt, no spiritual attunement for mana regen during tanking. Now I don't mind being a healer at all, I'm just wondering if it'll be fun and/or challenging to play a holy paladin in end-game raids, or if it's just going to be a lot of spamming flash of light on the MT?

Also, were retribution paladins were any good in pvp? I know they were good duellers but I'm wondering about their role in battlegrounds. If holy in raids turns out to be too boring, could I still have fun in pvp?

In other words, I'd like to know if I'll have fun as a paladin at 60. Could any paladins from back in the day enlighten me?

The end game for pallies mostly lean towards healing and can be quite boring.

But at least you're the best healer in the game, some will argue that priests fit that role but paladins are the most mana efficient healers in the game and they can outperform priests ( albeit by a small margin) in most cases outside aoe healing.

Pvp wise holy is (again) the best spec for bgs and dueling, in duels they can outlast almost anything whereas rets struggles vs a lot more match ups.

The class is a brick wall , it's trade-off is relatively low damage compared to most classes , discounting fully stacked reckoning stacks though, you're basically auto attacking for damage as ret most of the time.

Honestly, I can't tell you if you'll have fun with pally at 60, some love it more than anything, the class identity fits well with the whole defensive side of the light, a protector.

[Jurwi]

If you're super into healing, it will be fun.

As for ret/prot, it's pretty much a struggle.

[siskokid21]

I've been debating Hpal or Hpriest, and honestly the only reason i'm turned off paladin is how boring they are to level. Auto attack and seal for 60 levels is pretty snoozefest

[JustaWarlock]

Do you like recasting blessings every 15min?

[socialmaker]

It's boring but you are crucial in raids and very sought after. Good luck respec-ing every other day to farm anything and keeping 3 sets of gear to do subpar roles most of the time. As a healer you are good but geared to the teeth and you will find it super mana intensive in the beginning.

I'm not rolling my priest for example until phase 2 minimum (Anathema/Benediction).

[rad586]

Do you like recasting blessings every 5min?

Fixed that for you. Blessings were 5-minute duration in vanilla.

Which meant after casting blessings on every raid member in 40 man raids, you had 1-2 minutes spare to start casting them again !

[Velerios]

Fixed that for you. Blessings were 5-minute duration in vanilla.

Which meant after casting blessings on every raid member in 40 man raids, you had 1-2 minutes spare to start casting them again !

WRONG! Blessings are 5 minutes, GREATER BLESSINGS with raid-wide-effects have 15 minutes. Somehow people are always forgetting them.

What you described was vanilla before 1.9. After this, we became the greater blessings. So no, recasting every 5 minutes will be not the case in classic!

[Sezh]

I'm pretty sure I'll like levelling a paladin in classic too.

Then your bar is set real low, no class has been less fun to level at any point in the history of the game.

[Uriel]

Then your bar is set real low, no class has been less fun to level at any point in the history of the game.

Spec prot, pull half the area, let them hit themselves with HS, BOS, retri aura and shield spike while spamming conc or healing yourself, leave combat with decent mana and life. (assuming you use judgement/seal of wisdom)

[1 + 1 = 3]

No, cause Alliance... silly you.

[Gjin]

I enjoyed holy paladin alot during vanilla, before naxx gear you need to management ur mana a lot and it can be quite fun when you master it. Or if you like ret more, then you need some specific gear to be useful in raids.

[JustaWarlock]

Fixed that for you. Blessings were 5-minute duration in vanilla.

Which meant after casting blessings on every raid member in 40 man raids, you had 1-2 minutes spare to start casting them again !

Greater blessings.

[Gaidax]

Well that depends if you find spamming Flash of Light for x hours fun.

Pretty much the answer right there. That's your paladin endgame. Add occasionally spamming Decursive.

[Hittion]

Depends if you like healing.

Not being sarcastic pally is arguably the best healer in classic but it sure as shit isn't a compete dps or tank.

[Gaidax]

I have to add, I personally mained Paladin whole vanilla... and since these times I refuse to even touch anything with healing spec - this is how much burnout trauma I got from that crap.

The only meaningful place where you could do anything else was really PvP and even then Ret at best was meh - basically a shitty Arms warrior with a couple of heals (because that's all you had mana for) and a bubble. Holy healer paladin was leaps and bounds better in PvP, but at least it was not mandatory like in raids, simply because you did a lot of BGs with randoms who did not give a shit anyway.

Serious Holy Paladin raider healer in BG - that's like 50% path to victory done right there. Ret on the other hand? You are just yet another pleb that does not really have any sort of serious impact.

[Rotted]

From what I've read from online forums, mostly here, reddit and official. Ret can be viable right at endgame nax wise. Nothing much before then. Apparently if you get corrupted ashbringer it's a beast of a weapon for rets because it's life steal can crit and its buffed by your spell damage. I was tempted to roll one just for that reason honestly.

Then I read the class priorities on it. You're 2nd priority for it which is pretty good, but who gets the most benefit from it? Melee. Fucking. Hunters.

[Gaidax]

From what I've read from online forums, mostly here, reddit and official. Ret can be viable right at endgame nax wise. Nothing much before then. Apparently if you get corrupted ashbringer it's a beast of a weapon for rets because it's life steal can crit and its buffed by your spell damage. I was tempted to roll one just for that reason honestly.

Then I read the class priorities on it. You're 2nd priority for it which is pretty good, but who gets the most benefit from it? Melee. Fucking. Hunters.

Yeah... don't count on that. Even in this VERY unlikely scenario - you basically need to be a healbot whole classic to even get to the point where you can even be considered for that.