Ret to be nerfed "to the ground"

by Eliah Hecht Oct 15th 2008 at 3:00PM

Now Ret pallies, don't panic. Ghostcrawler was joking in that quote, but it was too good not to use for a headline. As most people have figured out by now, Retribution's damage post-patch, especially in PvP, is a little overpowered. GC says that Blizz is worried specifically about the burst damage potential, and the fact that it's Holy damage, which resistances typically do not affect. It took them a while to diagnose this particular balance issue, because there was a bug with weapon equipping; now that that's fixed, Blizz is in a much better position to figure exactly what needs to be done.

GC also says that they think Ret DPS is good in PvE right now. They want to make sure that sustained PvE damage is not negatively impacted, and they don't want to over-nerf PvP either. That said, there are going to be some changes soon, "perhaps even hotfixes." I doubt anyone is very surprised. How would you adjust the situation, dear readers?

Tags: gc, ghostcrawler, nerfs, ret, retribution

Filed under: Paladin, PvP

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)

marc Oct 15th 2008 3:04PM

Didn't they say that Ret was "working as intended" at BlizzCon?

Collin Oct 15th 2008 3:46PM

they were being sarcastic

nokturnus Oct 16th 2008 9:17AM

True, here is part of the interview where Kalgan confirms it is working as intended: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A7sfV58O3Mg&NR=1

Naix Oct 16th 2008 9:50AM

haha!

*With torches and pitch forks*
NURF! NURF! NURF! NURF!

Drae Oct 15th 2008 3:05PM

i actually just snorted the water i was drinking when i read that heading, and nooooo but DO NOT do that again damn it! and also ret is OP yes, but wat about arcane mages hmmm? pretty OP too tbh!

muffin_of_chaos Oct 15th 2008 4:46PM

Even if Arcane Mages were OP these days...and they aren't, especially compared to Ret Pallies...they aren't a hybrid class like we are. Paladin is one of the two classes that can spec to be tank, dps or healer.
The fact that we can so easily do so much damage without being a pure dps class such as mages or rogues is ridiculous.
Now imagine that ret pallies were nerfed and suddenly moonkins were buffed to be the naturally best damaging class in the game. This is as silly as that is.
I like raid viability, keep that. I don't like having advantages I shouldn't.

Ryan Oct 16th 2008 11:26AM

I think we've found an Arcane Mage. Classes are never overpowered when you're the one playing them.

Geamo Oct 15th 2008 3:06PM

I liked the changes to the judgment system-ace ideas.
Personally, I would adjust the divine shield system-although I would have expected resilience gear to knock off some of the crit chances that Ret's are getting.

Arcaria Oct 15th 2008 3:07PM

"How would you adjust the situation, dear readers?"

I'd probably spend 3 days crying on the forums and threaten to either reroll or just stop playing altogether. If that doesn't work then I'd jump in front of a bus. This afterall, is the WoW way.

Brofessional Oct 15th 2008 3:34PM

This is reminiscent of the glory days of Shaman in classic WoW.

Burgylleb Oct 15th 2008 3:07PM

I'd start by rolling a druid....

Sparrhawk Oct 15th 2008 3:10PM

People are scared of change

I for one hope (misguided that it is) that PvE DPS is left alone, do what ya want in PvP

dmendro Oct 15th 2008 3:10PM

I'm sorry, but after extensive PVP'ing last night, everyone seems to be pretty OP with certain talent trees for their respective classes. Damage across the board has been raised skyhigh. I've been blasted to oblivion by warlocks, mages, shaman and rogues since the patch hit last night. If we need anything it might be a tweak to big bursts that open an attack. However, as the ngiht went on, people were already adjusting and figuring out how to break up the big bursts of abillities. (Stun, fear, feign death (loses focus on target), trinkets, etc.).

rick gregory Oct 15th 2008 3:19PM

remember, though, that the new talents are balanced around gear and stats at 80, not 70. Things will be a bit out of whack for a bit.

gundamxzero Oct 15th 2008 3:30PM

Feign death has always made you lose target. The point is, even undergeared pallies own hard in pvp against any class.

Worcester Oct 15th 2008 3:47PM

When a Pally can out-burst an Ambush Rogue (as happened to me last night) I'd say there was some kind of balance issue.

I don't mean that he beat me soundly out of skill... I mean he insta-gibbed me. Maybe 2 shots at most.

D.O.T. Oct 15th 2008 4:16PM

I wish people who haven’t played against pallies for an extended period time would stop whining. “He beat me! Mama Blizzard please nerf them. It can’t be me, because “I” have skill.” Riight. Nice basic of comparison there. As if the other player doesn’t have skill, eh?

What this tells me is that 1. People are lazy because they can’t be bothered to develop new strategies against new spells. 2. People are selfish because they think they have an entitlement over other classes.

I’d understand a cry of nerf if it was an ongoing LIVE issue for a good length of time, but as soon as people get introduced to something different they wah wah wah.

My advice: Stop complaining about paladins and start seriously looking at your own self. And people who go “I know it’s not me,” should actually pay more attention to the game mechanics.

Asgaroth Oct 15th 2008 6:20PM

Yeah, but ret damage in comparison to everone else is even higher! You can't compare apples to oranges.

Deq Oct 21st 2008 2:30PM

For Ret Paladins to be even near the top in DPS is a severe mistake on Blizzards part. Warriors and Rogues should be at the very top of the melee DPS scales. Ret Paladins have other abilities to entice raiders and guilds such as Buffs and Auras and now even a sap like ability for CC (WTF??.) The ret paladin has become more of a one man army then a fair and balanced class. No that's not funny. It's pathetic. If you wanted that, the console games offer thousands of options to do so. Instead the rogue and DPS warrior have to compete with these PvP spec'd paladins. The paladins have a viable healing tree and an EXCELLENT Tanking tree. Why does blizzard feel the need to give them my DPS spot as well? Honestly, what would you pick: A dps warrior with a 2 min buff of slightly increased health OR slightly increased damage or a Paladin offering more than 200 more dps than the 2nd place DPSer despite being poorly geared with buffs, cc, AOE, and even more damage with holy damage.
You joke about the "QQers" but seriously??" Arcane mages may be OP but as a DPS spec they aren't invading 2 other classes entirely.
Paladins now have 4 possible jobs. Healing, Tanking, DPS, and PvP. All of which they now excel at. Other classes are struggling with 2 or 3. There is something SERIOUSLY wrong with that.
Enjoy your World of Pally Craft. Call me when things get closer to balanced. Fable 2 just came out.

crsh Oct 15th 2008 3:10PM

If you reroll, you can't go wrong with a mage or warrior, the classic "They're Kalgan's favourite classes!!!1one".

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