Thinking of coming back to pvp...but what spec..and whats best

[raziel083]

Hey all..I'm thinking of coming back to play after taking a few months off. I was holy pve for all of wotlk, but with raid sched's along with prep work involved with it, it became too much. So i'd like to get back into the pvp aspect again.

I in tbc and end of it when there was the ret overhaul i was ret pvp, and i was wondering how viable they still are in three's. I have been keepin up with changes so i'm familiar with them. But just need better pointers. Is ret in arenas still more of a support/damage dealer type more than just the damage dealer still? And will ppl arena with me as that spec? Can you throw some specs on here that i can work off of thats worked best for you? Thanks

I was thinkin of mabe also venturing down holy pvp also...though i only bg'd as holy i never went into arenas. I did try out shockadin spec but never the prot/holy spec. What works best for 3's? prot/holy? pure holy like a 51/10 or 51/0/10? or shockadin? and any specs that i can check out as well? thanks alot guys i appreciate it..

What changes also as far as gemming...do you stack mostly resilience first? I gotta regear anyway...i've only gotten the 2nd season into wotlk's pvp gear so yeah. Again i appreciate any feedback and advice.

[Prentice]

Finding an arena team as Ret is not difficult. There are numerous comps that support the use of a Ret and they are exceedingly strong comps.

There is another option aside from Ret and Holy that has noticed a significant amount of success in these same comps. A number of Ret pallys are spec'ing Protribution and are taking their arena teams even higher. I didn't come up with the name, so don't shoot the messenger. You can look up Protribution on the WoW Paladin Class Forums. See for yourself. There are several Rets running 2500-2700 ratings in 3v3 that regularly post there and a couple of them even run webstreams so you can watch em.

[raziel083]

I checked out that thread...very interesting though i didn't watch the vid...there is another thread though with alot of strategies for how it works...but only with one comp. I do see where it gets to be viable...alot more cc and survivabitlity not to mentiont the good old heal factor. That does mean completely re-gearing and re-learning play....Why do i have the feeling they'll try and nerf this comp like they did the prot/holy spec?

So i guess shockadin is really a dead spec..even for healing in pvp? what is a good pvp holy spec?

[Humbaba]

I ran resto druid(me), protribution pally, and dk to 2100 before I quit about a month ago. When our pally switched from ret to prot we gained a good 200 rating easy. Its more burst but less dmg in between trying to kill someone. It may be different in other comps but most try to kill the pally when we played and that didn'tchange even when he was prot, we'd get 2400+ teams still trying to kill him over me or the dk(not always the case of course but usually). The increase in survivability is invaluable.

[Liquid_Beaver]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/pvp-arena/prot-paly-pvp/

Second page has a link to Chronalis's website, as well as my tips too.

[scotladd]

Well, even though this thread has turned into a Prot debate, just responding to the OP I would say the best arena speck would be Holy. That's based on speck population numbers though. 12% of the top pallies in the world are ret, 9% are prot and the rest are holy.

I would think the consensus would be holy/prot, putting 17-20 points in prot, with only 1 exception.

Just my two copper.

[raziel083]

Well, even though this thread has turned into a Prot debate, just responding to the OP I would say the best arena speck would be Holy. That's based on speck population numbers though. 12% of the top pallies in the world are ret, 9% are prot and the rest are holy.

I would think the consensus would be holy/prot, putting 17-20 points in prot, with only 1 exception.

Just my two copper.

Yeah i'm probably leaning more towards holy/prot. And i'm gonna probably try out ret for a little too since i've already got alot of pvp gear for it. Not sure whether i'd like the playstyle of goin mostly prot for pvp. Though i shouldn't knock it until i try it, i just dont want to gear for something and find out i hate it. Any spec and gemming suggestions for holy/prot pvp? Thanks i appreciate the help.

[Flower]

It really depends on your composition, your playstyle, and what bracket you're playing in.

Ret's are really durable in 2s, you can play with pretty much any healer or try another dpser (rogue, ele shammy, boomkin work well) but I definitely suggest playing with a healer since its all around a more fitting comp in 2s. In 3s youre looking at rogue/ret/priest or some variation of a melee cleave. Like Prentice said, finding an arena team isn't hard, you just need to find solid players. You'll have trouble with RMP's and Wizard Cleave's, but you should wreck anything else.

As Holy you'll find a solid warrior or DK as your best bet in 2s (personally I'd lean towards the warrior since a warrior with Freedom is a scary thing) but its all preference/convenience. Prot/holy works well in 2s but I feel that holy/prot is a more durable spec. In 3s you can run as the healer of a melee cleave, or hell there's a ton of other comps out there, but holy/prot seems the way to go in this bracket.

From experience ret doesn't seem to have the survivability it used to, and once your bubble's used up you're pretty much forced to secure a kill or you've lost. Holy/prot really seems like the more predominant, and stronger spec if you're into healing, but its all debatable.

Edit: Regarding prot/ret - from what I've heard if you can get the right gear and learn to play it, it's borderline OP; but I can't say so from experience.

[raziel083]

thanx for the advice flower. Alot of good input there for me. Like i said i'll probably run with holy/prot for threes, seeming i used to love healing even though ret had always been the original reason i lvled a paladin in the first place. I had her since bc. I might run 2's as ret and 3's as holy/prot. As far as prot/ret...meh....i definitly believe its an invaluable survivability spec and i can see it workin great but it was never my style. As far as shockadins go... I guess shockadin really is dead then? How are they in 5's?

[Borigrad]

where are all these rets in 2500-2700? i havent seen or heard of one... :-\

[Ronark]

From experience ret doesn't seem to have the survivability it used to, and once your bubble's used up you're pretty much forced to secure a kill or you've lost.

BUT GCs SEDZ WE HAZ 2 MUCH!!!1!11

where are all these rets in 2500-2700? i havent seen or heard of one... :-\

It's term of jargon we use in the business world as "Not Viable".

[Flower]

BUT GCs SEDZ WE HAZ 2 MUCH!!!1!11

I actually couldn't believe GC said that; I dont see any proof of us having "too" much survivability. I completely agree with you dude.

Back on topic, Raziel I think its safe to say shockadins are dead as dead can be, they're not viable AT ALL. I don't see them making a comeback anytime in the future either. Sorry

[raziel083]

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...4,R38O-R,10747 Ok so here is my pvp holy build...i've never had to spec for it....my holy specs have always been for pvp so i'm shooting from the hip on this...its what i assume it would be. here is my ret build for pvp.... http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...e,Odpq-O,10747. So any input or suggestions would be great. As far as the ret build...i understand now alot of ppl are taking 5 points and throwing them into seals of the pure. I'm more or less going for more of the support/survival ret spec...considering thats what it seems the direction blizzard has pushed ret in.

[rathok]

Ret is 100% viable and some great comps are:

Ret/rogue/disc
ret/Rsham/hunter
ret/druid/war

Right now there are 3 real specs that you'll see from pallies in arenas and they are Ret dps, Holy healer and Prot dps. Anything outside of that is dead or dying.