My main character would be considered an "off spec" paladin - Im currently 11/11/29, but thats mostly because I spread out my talents in order to keep the same play style I had before the Paladin Revamp. Blizzard decided to take two of my favorite abilities - Consecration and Blessing of Kings - out of the Retribution tree and move them to the other trees. Before that I was Retribution with a dash of Holy to help with healing.

At any rate, I actually do my best healing when Im on the front lines - Judging Seal of Light on the monster the main tank is fighting, then keeping it there via melee strikes and Seal of Command for extra damage. Then if I see healing is needed, it only takes a moment to target the tank, throw a few light heals, and go back to swinging.

Of course, in raids Im often scolded for not staying in the back with the casters. On certain bosses, I understand that - its called strategy, and Im a big fan of it hehe - but on the trash mobs and melee-able bosses, I get a bit frustrated when Im told to hang back. I believe this stems from the duality of the Paladin class - from lvls 1-59 you are, for the most part, expected to be melee'ing in the 5 man groups, but as soon as you hit 60 and enter anything 10 man and up, you are expected to heal, cleanse, and be quiet about it. When I think of Paladins, I think of Knights with holy swords defending honor and justice and charging in bravely against the strongest foes, not standing back and praying that everyone lives through the battle. I guess thats just me and my point of view, though.

What I think the downfall of MMOs (and what leads to this kind of conversation) is the drive for efficiency. If you arent maximizing your potential, speccing just the right way to fulfill the role your class is most efficiant to fill, then people say you are playing your character wrong. I dont see the paradigm shifting any time soon, as the only way to do so would be for an MMO to hide all the stats from the player. Without numbers to crunch, theres no way to maximize efficiancy, and thus the cycle is broken. It would be interesting to see an MMO more focused on social interaction and the true spirit of adventuring then the amount of damage on your latest dropped weapon.

Ah, dare to dream...

-Arturis

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