I figured I would update everyone on my take of the Protection Paladin changes for 3.0. Just to give all the people that are nervous about the changes an idea of how it looks like it's planned to work. Take this all with a grain of salt you trollers =P.
Basic Class Changes And Additions
-All Paladin gear has been revamped, strength has been added to all pieces of gear and spell damage has been removed.
-Block value from strength is now 2 to 1 ratio or so. 500 str = 250 sbv (shield block value)
-Paladin’s core talents are now based heavily on sbv with the addition of Shield of righteousness. The strength added to the existing gear will benefit this new ability which I believe will be the main threat building ability for a paladin at level 80.
Slam the target with your shield, causing Holy damage equal to your block value plus 300. This spell causes a high amount of threat.
6% of base mana, 5 yd range, Instant cast, 6 sec cooldown (obtained at level 75)
-Due to the addition of strength and the fact that Hammer of the righteous is based on weapon damage, I believe that a spell damage weapon is no longer the way to go for threat generation on a paladin. I think it would be advisiable to pick up a dps based main hand weapon such as the brutalizer off supremeus. Hit rating is also another factor as well as expertise
-Divine Protection now works like a shield wall, reduces damage by 50% over a period of time
-Ret Aura damage increased dramatically
-Holy shield damage increased dramatically
-All Judgements have been revamped
-Seal of righteousness still seems like the seal to use for threat
-Sacred Shield may be a good mitigation ability
Each time the target takes damage they gain a Sacred Shield, absorbing 500 damage and increasing the paladin's chance to critically hit with Flash of Light by 50% for up to 6 sec. They cannot gain this effect more than once every 6 sec. Lasts 30 sec.
-If Divine Plea isn’t channeled it will be an awesome mana gaining ability
You gain 25% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your spells is reduced by 100%.
Instant, 1 min cooldown (Obtained at level 71)
-Avenging Wrath no longer triggers forberence, damage reduced by 10%
Increases all damage and healing caused by 20% for 20 sec.
8% of base mana, Instant cast, 3 min cooldown
Talent Changes
Here’s my build
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...13251533312321
or
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...14251533312321
Now, going over the build from top to bottom
-Blessing of kings
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing total stats by 2% for 10 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
6% of base mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast
Not even worth taking now due to the amount of points needed to be invested in it. I say let the holy paladins take this one while we get more useful skills.
-Divine Strength
Increases your total Strength by 15%.
Totally worth getting if even just for the pure block value gained from it. But due to carrying a warrior weapon this will help with tps from white damage.
-Anticpation
Increases your chance to dodge by 5%.
Changed from +20 defense, huge change. Plan to stack more defense after the patch and see an overall drop in avoidance.
-Toughness
Increases your armor value from items by 10% and reduces the duration of all movement slowing effects by 30%.
Added a 30% reduction for movement slowing effects. Could be useful for fights like Vashj where mobs hamstring you.
-Righteous Fury
While Righteous Fury is active, all damage taken is reduced by 6%.
Still the same, the only difference is that the 90% threat is built into righteous fury now
-Blessing of Sanctuary
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage taken from all sources by 3% for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack the target will gain 10 rage, 20 runic power, or 2% of maximum mana. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
Huge change, and a huge buff for paladin tank mana gen. Plan to use this as your main blessing now over kings.
-Redoubt
Increases your block value by 30% and damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks.
Increases block value by a large amount, very very good to take. More SBV = more damage
-Guarded by the light
Reduces spell damage taken by 6% and reduces the mana cost of your Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells by 30%.
Huge buff to reduce the mana cost of some main abilities, will help with the loss of int from gear, and the constant paladin mana problems
-Avenger’s Shield
Hurls a holy shield at the enemy, dealing [ 7% of AP + 7% of Spell Power + 338 ] Holy damage, Dazing them and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets. Lasts 10 sec.
30% of base mana, 30 yd range, Instant cast, 30 sec cooldown
Instant cast now, so can be used more effectively. Before when using this you would lose all chance to dodge block or parry during the cast time. With instant cast it’s not an issue.
-Touched by the light
Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 30% of your Stamina and increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 30%.
Huge buff that offsets the loss of spell damage on gear, when nearing around 30,000 hp you will have around 900 spell damage without a piece of spell damage gear.
-Judgements of the Just
Your Judgement spells also reduce the melee attack speed of the target by 20%.
Thanks for giving us thunderclap for free blizzard
-Shield of the Templar
Increases the damage of your Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells by 30%.
Must have talent for threat gen for obvious reasons.
-Hammer of the Righteous
Hammer the current target and up to 2 additional nearby targets, causing 3 times your main hand damage per second as Holy damage.
6% of base mana, 5 yd range, Instant cast, 6 sec cooldown
Based off of weapon damage, so it’s also an incentive to carry around a dps type warrior style weapon over a spell damage weapon. Very good ability on ptr with a low mana cost.
If anyone has any ideas or comments I'd love to hear them, I'm still not 100% sure how everything is going to work yet.