WWI '08 Panel: Paladin (UPDATED)
by Zach Yonzon 
Jun 28th 2008 at 1:30PM
There weren't very many exciting things for Paladins at the Worldwide Invitational Panel earlier today, and this reflects the development we've seen leak out from the Wrath of the Lich King Alpha. The sneak peek of the Alpha showed that while most classes have proposed talents and abilities mapped out, there's still very little work done for Paladins. This doesn't mean Blizzard isn't thinking about the class, though. In fact, from the few things they've mentioned, it looks like they're moving in the right direction.- Confirming something the Paladin community has known for quite some time now -- Retribution itemization
blowsis very poor. They're moving itemization for Retribution Paladins to share items with Death Knights and Warriors. This means future Retribution items will have no Intellect on them... could this herald some Strength as mana mechanic? - UPDATE: Also on the Retribution Paladin front, Blizzard mentioned during the Q&A that Retadins will have their group utility increased by making them more efficient DPS-wise. No details on exactly how, but this little bit of information should send a thrill down the spine of every 2-hander swinging Paladin out there.
- Hand of Purity is a new "reactive healing" spell for Paladins, something that the oft-maligned 'two-button healers' sorely need. It will work as a clutch Prayer of Mending-type spell. Will it be instant cast? As the two staple heals of a Paladin unenviably have casting times, maybe this new spell will actually be something to thank the Light for. Having another healing spell to cast during encounters should be a real blessing.
- Speaking of blessings, overlapping Blessings have always been a problem with Paladin support, with active Blessings like Blessing of Freedom and Protection overwriting passive Blessings already on the target like Blessing of Kings. Blizzard plans to allow these spells to be non-exclusive and rename them. Not much, but it definitely addresses existing issues.
WoW Insider is on the ground in Paris at the Blizzard Invitational bringing you the big announcements and latest Wrath news as it happens. Check out our latest coverage!Filed under: Paladin, Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King, Worldwide Invitational
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nightsbane Jun 28th 2008 1:34PM
F you blizzard. you didnt bother beta testing paladins in the original wow beta and it looks like your not going to do anything worth a damn in the WotLK alpha/beta
F you Blizzard!
Ichthus Jun 29th 2008 5:22AM
Paladins have fairly different mechanics on game play than a lot of other classes. Shamans were in a bigger hole than Paladins. Hunter pets have been screwy for a while.
Paladins, overall, are decently stable even if they aren't OMGAWESOME!!!!1!!1. Paladins can get parties most of the time, just not as ret. They're talking about improving/fixing that. Just because they haven't announced something doesn't mean they're not going to do something about it.
Basically, grow up, shut up, and wait until it actually reaches beta. Alpha means that 'not all features implemented'. Beta means 'all features implemented, but not necessarily working right'.
Shinkou Jun 28th 2008 3:37PM
@ Ichthus
Right now I'd say we're about average to a little below average as far as Holy goes. We've got great mana regen thanks to our crit mechanics but as for overall healing there's much more to be wanted. Two spells? Not even a HoT or group healing spell? C'mon Blizz.
Currently my guild is in SWP content and as an officer and Paladin lead I'd much rather have some resto shamans, CoH priests, and resto druids in the raid than 2-3 Paladins. I've heard of some guilds having paladins in the raid outside in group 6 just so they can buff whenever the raid needs.
From Kara to most of Hyjal Paladins are great but beyond that in which the overall raid starts taking large amounts of damage single target healers like us just can't keep up as well. Don't get me wrong, we're amazing single target healers but other than that... eh. Same goes for pvp. All you need is to have a rogue kick, mage CS, hunter silence shot and we're pretty much done since nearly everything we need and use is in that one tree alone.
Overall I'm hoping that Hand of Purity will help us with those problems and for Christ's sake make aura's raid wide just like Shaman totems. Otherwise, I'll be switching back to my Priest in WoTLK or rerolling a Resto Shaman.
Germ Jun 28th 2008 1:38PM
There better be exciting stuff for paladins! There better be!
Nightsbane Jun 28th 2008 1:39PM
unlikely, shaman gets raid wide totems, raid wide unleashed rage, windfury for all melee now, redone weapon enchants that help melee and healing and caster dps. we dont get shit
paladin Jun 28th 2008 1:38PM
Well, I hope they address some inherent design issues. For example, Seal and Judgement of Command scaling with spell damage (look it up on wowwiki.com). The superiority of Seal of Blood over Seal of Command. Abilities like Exorcism, Holy Wrath, Consecration and so on that scales only with spell damage, we still don't have an AP to SD talent like Shamans now have. Chronic mana issues, often when I raid I always bring at least 40 mana pots to ensure I don't run out of mana and yes I chug em by the minute.
Make Exorcism and Holy Wrath usable on Humanoids, yes I said it! :D
summerty Jun 29th 2008 2:02PM
Mana problem? Pick up Alchemy, get the trinket with +40% return from mana pot, and stack Int. Spiritual Attunement and shadow priest in group help a lot too.
CursedSeishi Jun 29th 2008 5:23AM
Well so far, I'm not too impressed with what they are doing for the paladin class. Sure it may be boring, but every healadin I've seen has had no issues with healing people. The change to blessings is also nothing to ooo ah, I've only used BoP when I jump off aldor rise, and never ran into any instance where i needed it, much less freedom. and here's something funny to me...
"They're moving itemization for Retribution Paladins to share items with Death Knights and Warriors"
It might be me, but dont we already use those items? I know almost every bit of gear I have used was DPS Warrior gear, now im using the welfare honor pvp gear because it adds to my stats without really harming me.
If anything, the retribution tree needs a way of mana regenning besides being healed (which we shouldnt be getting), chugging pots constantly (costly), or having a shadowpriest with in the party (which is almost a necessity in raids for retadins.) Sure seal of mana works, but then that detracts alot from our dps, and its wasted as a judgement because of our improved JoC.
In short: Blizzard, either lessen our dependancy on mana (unlikely) or give us a talent to either gain mana back on damage done, or a passive mana regen based on Attack power (also unlikely)
Iwanttobeasleep Jun 28th 2008 9:29PM
"every healadin I've seen has had no issues with healing people."
It highly depends on the instance. If you're in one where the entire party is taking damage, and it's enough to kill them, paladin healing can be really useless. This isn't so much of a big deal in 25-man raids, where RLs can assign paladins to tanks, where healadins excel, but if you're doing 5 or even 10 mans, it can really suck having no HoT, instant heal (holy shock doesn't count), or group heal. There are a few heroics I refuse to heal (unless I'm with a paladin tank, for the most part), just because it's such a headache and they typically involve wiping a few times.
It's not horrible, of course. But doing well in those types of instances really depends on having good tanks and DPS, and good DPS are hard to find because they get spoiled by the other, versatile healing classes.
Daddywarbuck of Farstriders Jul 10th 2008 3:16PM
"""It highly depends on the instance. If you're in one where the entire party is taking damage, and it's enough to kill them, paladin healing can be really useless. This isn't so much of a big deal in 25-man raids, where RLs can assign paladins to tanks, where healadins excel, but if you're doing 5 or even 10 mans, it can really suck having no HoT, instant heal (holy shock doesn't count), or group heal. There are a few heroics I refuse to heal (unless I'm with a paladin tank, for the most part), just because it's such a headache and they typically involve wiping a few times."""
What are you talking about? You just have to predict the future...you do this by looking at battle, see who's going to be hit and start healing. Heroics are holy pallys' bread and butter. Additionally, if you don't have improved blessing of protection and don't use it damn near every 3-8 minutes to solve multi party damage, you're doing something wrong.
Shattered Halls
Anenome Jun 28th 2008 2:03PM
This is utter BS. I've been waiting to see if they would do anything with paladins before deciding to give up my prot pally to go Deathknight, seems pretty clear that Blizz's attitude towards paladins is still that they suck and will always suck.
Angel Jun 29th 2008 5:21AM
Really dissapointing! I play a paladin for 3 years and we always get the left overs... We get nothing! not even leftovers! As other classes get a lot but decide to take the left overs too :D
I mean Blizzard common!
Procris Jun 29th 2008 5:21AM
Slightly sad as the class i play is paladin and looks like yet again blizzard has no idea what they are going to be doing with the class. What with shaman really evolving as a class, its a huge disappointment the paladin clearly isn't. Thats not to say the paladin won't be getting any attention but the situation seems really dire. Talents aren't in alpha and i already get the feeling that whatever talents the paladin does get will be a mere after-thought.
Retri gear with no int? Yeah thats going to be fun.. Paladins damage comes completely from mana, not to mention every other spell including heals. Honestly i can understand they want all 3 plate wearers to use the same itemization but i hope this isn't going to gimp pallys just to save Blizzard the effort of actually creating paladin items.
I've got a 70 priest, a lvl 60 shaman and planning on rolling a Deathknight come expansion. Paladin has got to offer something pretty exciting come release to actually keep me interested. Again, afterthought class....
Menalaous Jun 28th 2008 7:03PM
They keep saying that they are wanting to move in the direction of WC3 for warriors, do it for pallys! With the introduction of Death Knights ( the arch-rival of a Paladin and their direct opposite in Warcraft) it seams we should see some use of the DK to balance the Pally. Or even some way to make ret slightly more offensive making the pally a little more leveling friendly. I love my pallies, but between 25-40 life gets lets say, dull
BigFire Jun 28th 2008 2:44PM
As the old jokes goes, since no one at Blizzard DEV plays Paladin, they really don't know what to do with the class. This tradition looks to continue in the expansion.
Witty Jun 28th 2008 2:48PM
Like most of the previous posters, I'm also disapointed with with the lack of attention that the paladin class is recieving. However, I don't think we need any loladin protest as of yet. We are still about 6+ months away from getting our hands on the expansion and God only knows what Blizzard will do in that time span.
I'm just saying don't start your QQ'ing just yet.
Joseph Jun 28th 2008 2:56PM
Wow, I had really been holding my breath for the WWI hoping to see some of the new Paladin changes released, but nothing. Absolutely nothing.
suicidalzebra Jun 29th 2008 5:22AM
Like I'm sure everyone who plays a Paladin and has kept abreast of the latest Alpha changes for other classes I was very disappointed by the information released for my preferred class. It's not that any of the points raised were 'bad' per se, they just seemed extremely lacklustre compared to the changes seen on the various Leak sites for other classes and the information regarding Hunters today. Compare what was announced to Titan Grip, a New Pet Talent system, Demon Form etc. and you just feel that you're being left out. It's not even so much that little is said, rather nothing said (or leaked) really stimulates any excitement or enthusiasm.
I remain cautiously optimistic ahead of the Beta, and eagerly await the Paladin updates I'd expect in mid-to-late July. But my optimism diminishes with every update in which Paladins are a seeming afterthought. Truely, the old Youtube Blizzard Developer Meeting parody video has rarely seemed more relevant.
Oh, and in case you haven't seen that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq1XBs3XCaI
Heleth Jun 28th 2008 4:51PM
If this is really all they've got to show by release my raid will have one less blessing. This is pathetic.
CursedSeishi Jun 29th 2008 5:22AM
i gotta agree with that video suicidalzebra lol.
It certainly seems that way. Makes sense though, if Blizzard is as horde-centric as people say, that means they havent really played any alliance classes *coughpallycough*, so of course they dont know how to handle us.
First off, forcing us to roll on the same gear as a warrior was bad enough, now they throw in deathknights, yay for all the more runs ill be stuck doing to get a decent piece of armor. :\
And then of course, if we have to share gear with those two, what about int? None of those guys need it, we do. Just sealing and judging really eat up magic, god... I'm going to feel sorry for Tankadins if this also applies to them...