WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogobig.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. View our terms of service here: http://legal.aol.com/terms-of-service/full-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[An introduction to the holy paladin's healset]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/19/an-introduction-to-the-holy-paladins-healset/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/19/an-introduction-to-the-holy-paladins-healset/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/19/an-introduction-to-the-holy-paladins-healset/#comments Seasoned paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine, now with a strong hint of holy. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Some say that hell is other people. Still others claim that hell is repetition. As for myself, I ask, why not both? I recognize now that resolving to level this paladin solely through the Dungeon Finder was a decision fueled by the type of naïveté only afforded to the impetuous. "Surely it can't be that bad," I assured myself as I began my journey at the eager level of 15. Now, fifty five levels later, I can only shake my head at my own hubris and rock myself to sleep at night.

Granted, I may be waxing a bit melodramatic here, but don't judge me until you have spent as long as I have "randomly" queuing into the same section of Blackrock Depths.

There is a silver lining to all this, however; repetition, although tedious, helps reinforce muscle memory. I could map out every Clique binding I have while mumbling in my sleep. One thing that I made sure to do while making my way up the leveling ladder was to really get to know my heals: how they functioned and in what situations they would be most useful. Therefore, this week I'd like to touch on those most important of abilities to the holy flavor of paladin, our heals.

Continue reading An introduction to the holy paladin's healset

Filed under: ,

An introduction to the holy paladin's healset originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysHoly-Paladinholy-paladin-healingholy-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itholy-pallyholy-pally-healspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[So you want to be a holy paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/so-you-want-to-be-a-holy-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/so-you-want-to-be-a-holy-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/so-you-want-to-be-a-holy-paladin/#comments
Seasoned paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

On a clear day, just after the sun has set and there is no moon in the sky, if you are very, very lucky you can just make out the approach of Warlords of Draenor. People with expensive telescopes and bucket hats will insist that it's Mercury, but I've learned to never trust anyone wearing a safari vest.

Let's address the question that is undoubtedly burning in your mind: should I use the "boost a character to level 90" feature on a paladin? Well that's a very good question, thank you for asking it. If you don't already have a paladin at max level and want one, Warlords provides a great opportunity to hit the ground running with your new favorite class.

Personally, I'm not entirely sure what I will boost. One thing I've always wanted to try was a holy paladin, which would seem to be an easy option given that my protection offspec saw about as much use as Denver's offensive line during the Super Bowl. But just jumping into a completely new role with mostly new abilities never appealed to me, especially if that first jump happened during raid time. I like to be able to prepare for my inevitable failure so that I can write up a short list of excuses why I Beaconed a hunter pet and healed only myself for four consecutive attempts.

Scenarios like that are why I try to learn a class from the ground up. Not everyone is like this though; many people prefer to go on the internet and read about these things. Therefore, as I'm leveling I'll recount what I've learned - my triumphs, my mistakes, my body count - in the hopes that should you choose to exalt one of the Light's blessed warriors out of the dregs of the single digits to the heights of the nonagenarians, you might find the transition just a tiny bit easier.

Continue reading So you want to be a holy paladin

Filed under: ,

So you want to be a holy paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysHoly-Paladinholy-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itholy-pallypaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Paladining at BlizzCon]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladining-at-blizzcon/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladining-at-blizzcon/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladining-at-blizzcon/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Paladining at BlizzCon
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Wow, what a weekend. Not only was the convention a lot of fun but it was great to meet fellow paladins and non-paladins alike. Most of my time was spent meeting people, watching panels, and playing demos. Amidst the chaos I didn't allocate much time to mulling things over, how the proposed changes in Warlords of Draenor would affect how I, and so many other ret paladins, approach the game, so now that I've had a decent night's sleep and my liver is mostly alcohol-free, I'm spending my day off in blessedly quiet reflection.

We didn't see much of any class discussion this year, and unless I missed an entire panel there wasn't a single paladin-related question throughout the entire convention. There are some big questions that it would be nice to have answered, like the permanency of holy power, the relative weights of our stats, the deletion of the warlock class, etc. We did get a few overall changes, changes that will affect ret in turn, so let's see how some of these could impact our day-to-day facesmashing in Warlords of Draenor.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Paladining at BlizzCon

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Paladining at BlizzCon originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslevel-100-talents-paladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittertiary-statswarlordswarlords of draenor hit expertisewarlords-of-draenorwarlordsofdraenorhitexpertisewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after patch 5.4]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/24/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-patch-5-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/24/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-patch-5-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/24/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-patch-5-4/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution after patch 54 Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Back in June (Wow, seriously? Tempus fugit, I suppose.) I shared my thoughts on some of the changes coming in patch 5.4. As is typical for me when it comes to change, I was a bit harsh in some of my pre-judgments and, now that we are well into the newest content Blizzard has to offer, I'd like to revisit a few of those points.

Inquisition's longer duration
Originally I was not very happy about this change. I felt that maintaining a relatively shorter duration buff was part of what distinguished a "good" ret paladin from a "bad" one, as if squeezing out a tiny amount of extra DPS would make a dramatic difference in performance, and that making it easier to maintain would make the spec utterly boring and unchallenging.

Boy, was I wrong. It took some getting used to at first, for as Inquisition's duration doubled the WeakAura bar that I used to track it remained the same, resulting in far too many early refreshes than I care to admit. But after the honeymoon I had settled into our new relationship pretty well. It may only be an additional 30 seconds, but it did wonders for setting my mind at ease when I went to refresh it.

I still wonder if this is where the devs will stop with it, or if they'll eventually make it passive or allow other abilities to extend its duration (essentially making it passive anyway). I would like to think that Blizzard has learned a great deal from how much tanks are enjoying active mitigation and realize that, on the whole, "active" is fun whereas "passive" is not.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after patch 5.4

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after patch 5.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguardian-of-ancient-kingsguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysinquisitionpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-5.4retributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsiege-of-orgrimmarwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Strength DPS gear in Siege of Orgrimmar]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-strength-dps-gear-in-siege-of-org/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-strength-dps-gear-in-siege-of-org/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-strength-dps-gear-in-siege-of-org/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Strength DPS gear in Siege of Orgrimmar WED Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

A new patch means more gear, and more gear means another gear list. Let's get to it before I change my mind and write about how awful it was trying to solo Valithria Dreamwalker in 10-man heroic Icecrown Citadel as holy -- I still can't shake the nightmares.

Unless otherwise noted, the following gear can be found within the Siege of Orgrimmar raid. Non-tier pieces appear in normal, warforged, heroic, and heroic warforged varieties, similar to the gearing scheme in Throne of Thunder.

Oh, and although I covered Siege of Orgrimmar two-handed strength weapons in a previous article, I will briefly repeat their drop locations for the sake of completeness.

Head
Helm of the Night Watchman - drops from the Spoils of Pandaria encounter.
Thranok's Shattering Helm - drops from Galakras.
Helmet of Winged Triumph - token drops from Thok the Bloodthirsty.
Magdalena's Murderous Crown - drops from Ordos on the Timeless Isle, and named after death knight theorycrafter and community member Magdalena.

Neck
Juggernaut's Ignition Keys - drops from Iron Juggernaut.
Malkorok's Tainted Dog Tags - drops from Malkorok.
Anafielle's Spiked Choker - drops from Ordos on the Timeless Isle, and named after ret paladin theorycrafter and community member Anafielle.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Strength DPS gear in Siege of Orgrimmar

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Strength DPS gear in Siege of Orgrimmar originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> 5.4-paladin-gearfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsiege of orgrimmar gearsiege-of-orgrimmarsiege-of-orgrimmar-lootsiegeoforgrimmargearwow siege of orgrimmarwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowowsiegeoforgrimmar (Dan Desmond) Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Step into the Hearthstone Arena]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/19/step-into-the-hearthstone-arena/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/19/step-into-the-hearthstone-arena/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/19/step-into-the-hearthstone-arena/#comments Step into the Hearthstone Arena
The Hearthstone beta has started, and most of us here at WoW Insider have been captivated by the free-to-play card game like a cat to a laser pointer. I know that I have sacrificed what would have been a very productive weekend for the greater good of gaming. Okay, so I probably wouldn't have cured cancer or solved world hunger, but still the game is very addictive despite being quite simple on its surface.

As I'm exploring everything Hearthstone has to offer, I have to say that one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game is the Arena. Essentially, the Arena is a game mode where you assemble a deck using one of three randomized heroes and a selection of semi-randomized cards and square off against other players. The more you win, the larger your heap of treasure will be. Lose three times and you're out, though you'll still receive some rewards for the highest level you were able to obtain.

Gallery: Step into the Hearthstone Arena

Continue reading Step into the Hearthstone Arena

Filed under:

Step into the Hearthstone Arena originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 19 Aug 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> hearthstonehearthstone arenahearthstone arena modehearthstone betaHearthstone-arenahearthstone-hands-onhearthstonearenahearthstonearenamodehearthstonebeta (Dan Desmond) Mon, 19 Aug 2013 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Why ret's tier 16 bonus isn't as bad as everyone thinks]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/14/why-rets-tier-16-bonus-isnt-as-bad-as-everyone-thinks/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/14/why-rets-tier-16-bonus-isnt-as-bad-as-everyone-thinks/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/14/why-rets-tier-16-bonus-isnt-as-bad-as-everyone-thinks/#comments Why rets tier 16 bonus isnt as bad as everyone thinks WED Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

As we enter what are surely the twilight builds of the patch 5.4 PTR we are approaching the "speak now or forever complain about it afterward" part of the marriage between test and live servers. Feedback, I would argue, is more important at this stage, the mechanics stage where general ideas are taken from someone's brain and sculpted with pixels and code, than during the tuning stage, which is more or less a giant equation in need of balancing.

So I donned my lead-lined undergarments and pillow armor and plunged headfirst into the PTR Discussion forums, looking for posts featuring ret discussion. What I found was disappointing, to say the least. Instead of discussing the nice buffs to Inquisition, Guardian of Ancient Kings, or Unbreakable Spirit, most every forum entry I stumbled across was decrying our tier 16 four-piece bonus.

For the unaware, Wowhead shows the current iteration of our tier 16 bonuses as follows:

Tier 16 two-piece bonus: When Art of War activates, all damage is increased by 5% for 6 sec.
Tier 16 four-piece bonus: Holy Power consumers have a 25% chance to make your next Divine Storm free and deal 50% more damage.

The four-piece bonus was reworked once, boosting the free Divine Storm's damage by 50%, but has otherwise remained untouched since. After some initial skepticism I began to really look forward to the bonus, something reminiscent of our tier 10 two-piece ("Your melee attacks have a 40% chance to reset the cooldown on your Divine Storm ability") from a time when the ret paladin reigned supreme.

As such I had a hard time understanding how these players could scream for change from their soapbox daises. I read through soul-crushing thread after soul-crushing thread, expecting to find some sort of logic I could latch onto in an attempt to see where they were coming from. The remainder of this article contains the main points I was able to glean from their diatribes, followed closely by why exactly I think these individuals are off their gourds.

Continue reading Why ret's tier 16 bonus isn't as bad as everyone thinks

Filed under: ,

Why ret's tier 16 bonus isn't as bad as everyone thinks originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin tier 16paladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentsPaladinTier16pally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution paladin 5.4 set tierretributionpaladin5.4settiertier 16tier 16 ret pallytier-16-set-bonustier-16-set-bonusestier16tier16retpallywow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Weapons and stats for ret paladins in Siege of Orgrimmar]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/31/weapons-and-stats-for-ret-paladins-in-siege-of-orgrimmar-wed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/31/weapons-and-stats-for-ret-paladins-in-siege-of-orgrimmar-wed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/31/weapons-and-stats-for-ret-paladins-in-siege-of-orgrimmar-wed/#comments
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Weapons have always been my favorite piece of gear. They're iconic and powerful; they define our spec more clearly than any spell or ability. So when I stepped into Throne of Thunder and finally saw Zerat, Malakk's Soulburning Greatsword drop, I took one look at my aging Shin'ka, Execution of Dominion, a pale copy of its normal and heroic variants, and quickly tossed the axe aside. And then did the same thing to Zerat when we saw Uroe, Harbinger of Terror drop from Lei Shen. And again when a heroic Greatsword of Frozen Hells gracefully tumbled from the heavens and landed on the corpse of Horridon, nestled in whatever pockets or pouches or sacs a massive direhorn may have.

As patch 5.4 and the Siege of Orgrimmar loom on the horizon, some exciting and deadly instruments wait to be plundered. Since this will (okay, might) be the final raid of the expansion, now is a good time to reexamine our stat weights before we make any judgment calls on the bludgeons that those savages have to offer.

Continue reading Weapons and stats for ret paladins in Siege of Orgrimmar

Filed under: ,

Weapons and stats for ret paladins in Siege of Orgrimmar originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> 5.4-ptr5.4-weaponsfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysnew gear for world of warcraft 5.4newgearforworldofwarcraft5.4paladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretributionretribution paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributionpaladinsiege of orgrimmarsiege of orgrimmar weaponssiege-of-orgrimmarsiegeoforgrimmarsiegeoforgrimmarweaponswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The need to resuscitate first aid]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/24/the-need-to-resuscitate-first-aid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/24/the-need-to-resuscitate-first-aid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/24/the-need-to-resuscitate-first-aid/#comments
Having played a paladin for the majority of my WoW career, first aid has never been anything more than a novelty to me, a way to accumulate a few extra achievement points by wasting some cloth that could probably be put to better use making bags or craftable gear. It has been years since I have used a bandage with the express purpose of actually healing myself from a grievous injury, as opposed to either attempting to clear out some bag space or trying to point out just how useless the things are. After archaeology's introduction, the newfound relevance of fishing thanks to good ol' Nat Pagle and the Anglers, and cooking's dramatic makeover, I think it's about time Blizzard breathed some life back into first aid.

In order to figure out how the blues can go about resurrecting this flat-lined secondary profession, let's examine how they have done the same with the others.

Continue reading The need to resuscitate first aid

Filed under:

The need to resuscitate first aid originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 24 Jul 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> first aidFirstAidwow-first-aidwow-professions (Dan Desmond) Wed, 24 Jul 2013 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[3 things retribution paladins should borrow from windwalkers]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/16/3-things-retribution-paladins-should-borrow-from-windwalkers/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/16/3-things-retribution-paladins-should-borrow-from-windwalkers/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/07/16/3-things-retribution-paladins-should-borrow-from-windwalkers/#comments 3 things retribution paladins should pick up from windwalkers Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

After about a dozen or so failed attempts, I am finally leveling a monk. I'm not sure I could even tell you why I failed to push myself past level 20, but almost every jade-colored Grid square I had started would eventually meet the business end of the word "Delete" before learning how to ride a bike.

Now I am jabbing and kicking my way into Outland and, somewhat shamefully, am having a complete blast. I almost feel bad that my weekly playtime on the monk is exceeding that of my paladin by a significant margin, though after reading through the forums and seeing many posters make comparisons between ret paladins and windwalker monks, I don't feel quite as bad.

Indeed, in many ways my monk reminds me of my paladin -- a melee class using a secondary resource reminiscent of combo points and maintaining a damage-increasing buff feels right at home. Still, though, there are a number of major differences between the specs, enough to make me a little jealous of what monks have that paladins don't.

Continue reading 3 things retribution paladins should borrow from windwalkers

Filed under: ,

3 things retribution paladins should borrow from windwalkers originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmonks-and-paladinspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretributionretribution or windwalkerretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributionorwindwalkerwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in 5.4]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/19/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-in-5-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/19/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-in-5-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/19/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-in-5-4/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution in 54 Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Earlier last week we got our first glimpse of the 5.4 PTR as Wowhead and MMO-Champion mined a massive amount of data from the latest update to the test realms. With new features like virtual realms, proving grounds, and flex raids, it's easy to be overwhelmed. As for myself, the first thing I did was hit Ctrl+F and searched for "Paladin" to see what, if any, changes we were due. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting a whole lot of changes for retribution -- we seem to be in a nice place, comfortably in the middle of the pack for DPS with heaps of utility to boot. Boy, was I mistaken.

Before we get into the discussion, do remember that none of these proposed changes are finalized. The "test realms" aren't named that by chance; the developers want to see how things like this play out on a large scale, larger than their internal testing can accommodate, and sift through player feedback from the community. So while we shouldn't get too worked up over one thing or another on the PTR, it's always beneficial to react to changes, at least in a civilized and logical manner.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in 5.4

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in 5.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-5.4paladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-5.4ret 5.4ret paladin 5.4ret5.4retpaladin5.4retribution paladin 5.4retribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributionpaladin5.4wow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Two great things about the contemporary ret paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/two-great-things-about-the-contemporary-ret-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/two-great-things-about-the-contemporary-ret-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/two-great-things-about-the-contemporary-ret-paladin/#comments The Light and How to Swing It These are some of my favorite things
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Patch 5.3 has turned out to be a great time to be a ret paladin. Well, in my opinion it's always a great time to be a ret paladin, but this new patch and the changes it brought with it really drive the point home. Granted, the only change we saw was a buff to our weapon-based damage via Sword of Light, which, while being a welcome boost to our DPS, isn't necessarily the most earth-shattering, game-changing thing in all of Azeroth. Still though, it opens some doors and allows us to be more competitive in the DPS game.

I have to admit, my inspiration for this column came from reading Matt Rossi's warrior column, The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Survival and the modern warrior. As I was reading through the piece, I found myself unconsciously caressing my keybind for Divine Shield, no doubt a realization of how blessed we paladins are when it comes to self-preservation mechanics and abilities. Some of the troubles that Matt detailed I have either sidestepped or easily handled with our generous toolbox, and his angst has given me a newfound appreciation for the veritable arsenal of useful spells at our disposal.

This week I'll be touching on a couple of our newer abilities that have proven time and time again to be so valuable and effective that I can't imagine playing a paladin without them.

Continue reading Two great things about the contemporary ret paladin

Filed under: ,

Two great things about the contemporary ret paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 04 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmass-exorcismPaladin-Glyphspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinret paladin 5.3retpaladinretpaladin5.3retributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itunbreakable-spiritwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Tue, 04 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/#comments Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Throne of Thunder has been out for a good long while now, and many of us have been raiding its depths every week. Personally, though, I took a short break from raiding at the launch of patch 5.2, and had only seen many of these fights on LFR. It wasn't until recently that I picked the raiding game back up and joined a new group, though with them working on their second heroic boss I was a tad behind in terms of progression. So I did a bit of research and, through trial and error each week, have crafted a short list of notes for each boss, including talents, glyphs, and special abilities to look out for.

Usually my "default" talent build is something like 221223, with Mass Exorcism, Double Jeopardy, and Templar's Verdict glyphed. In my summaries below I will try to emphasize the usefulness of certain talents and glyphs, whether they deviate from this core build or not.

Also, these tips are primarily for normal mode encounters in Throne of Thunder, though some of them may be applicable to LFR and parts of heroic.

Continue reading Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder

Filed under: , ,

Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret cheat sheet throneret-paladin-glyphsret-paladin-talentsretcheatsheetthroneretribution cheat sheet throneretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributioncheatsheetthronethrone of thunderthrone of thunder lfr cheat sheetthrone-of-thunder-raid-guidethroneofthunderthroneofthunderlfrcheatsheetwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Bringing the SW:TOR legacy system to WoW]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/bringing-the-sw-tor-legacy-system-to-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/bringing-the-sw-tor-legacy-system-to-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/bringing-the-sw-tor-legacy-system-to-wow/#comments
I had a lot of fun during my brief stint as a Sith Inquisitor in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The leveling was great, the storylines were compelling, the instances were interesting, but I eventually went back to World of Warcraft in the end. SW:TOR didn't feel very unique, it didn't have enough to grab me and hold me, to suffocate me with its content and keep me away from Blizzard.

Even so, there were a few differences between Bioware's entry into the MMO space and our site's namesake, one of them being the concept of a server-wide legacy. SW:TOR's legacy system, if incorporated into WoW, could be a great way of introducing leveling bonuses and the like, something WoW has historically done via heirlooms and guild perks. Personally, heirlooms have always left me feeling a bit too overpowered and take some of the fun out of the leveling process -- I've even leveled characters without heirlooms, just because it's more challenging and, thus, rewarding.

Continue reading Bringing the SW:TOR legacy system to WoW

Filed under: ,

Bringing the SW:TOR legacy system to WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> heirloomslast-names-in-wowlegacy-systemStar Wars: The Old RepublicWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (Dan Desmond) Thu, 02 May 2013 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Four transmog sets for today's retro-bution paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/four-transmog-sets-for-todays-retro-bution-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/four-transmog-sets-for-todays-retro-bution-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/four-transmog-sets-for-todays-retro-bution-paladin/#comments
Four transmog sets for today's retrobution paladin WED
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Before we jump into our completely serious, no-nonsense discussion this week, I suppose we better touch on the one piece of retribution-related news coming from the 5.3 PTR:

Sword of Light now increases damage with two-handed melee weapons by 30%, up from 15%.

Naturally I, like many of you, got a warm fuzzy feeling reading that particular sentence. Higher overall damage from weapon-based attacks? Sign me up!

While I don't mean to bite the hand that feeds, I am concerned that this is merely a bandage meant to keep ret from lagging too far behind until 6.0 and, as such, ultimately fails to address the cause of the problem.

I'm just spitballing here, but there was talk at the tail end of Cataclysm and the very beginning of Mists that in our calculated stat weights for T14H BiS, strength was already somewhat devalued in comparison to secondary stats, especially haste, and that this could lead to ret scaling much less efficiently than other melee using similar gear.

Regardless, the buff is appreciated, but I'm more looking forward to what the next expansion has in store for our spec.

Continue reading Four transmog sets for today's retro-bution paladin

Filed under: , ,

Four transmog sets for today's retro-bution paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> best pally transmorgbest wow transmog setsbestpallytransmorgbestwowtransmogsetsfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin transmogpaladin transmog setspaladin xmog setspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspaladin-transmogpaladintransmogpaladintransmogsetspaladinxmogsetspally transmog setspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspallytransmogsetsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittransmog geartransmoggeartransmogrificationwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: No hybrid taxation without representation!]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-no-hybrid-taxation-without-repres/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-no-hybrid-taxation-without-repres/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-no-hybrid-taxation-without-repres/#comments The Light and How to Swing It
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Lately I've been browsing the paladin forums, usually with a stiff drink in hand. I'm not quite sure what draws me to those forums - almost every ret post is about PvP or Inquisition, but over time I've managed to find a few that validate my searching with their thought-provoking, insightful, and sometimes humorous nature. The other day, for example, I stumbled upon a post that made me scratch my beard stubble, put down my watered-down gin, and think. In it, the author briefly introduced the notion that he or she felt that players trying to heal in ret spec shouldn't be summarily votekicked for offending the linear sensibilities of the patrons of the Random Dungeon Finder.

Reading through the back and forth provided some good entertainment, and a few individuals earned my respect for being able to heal or tank effectively while also sustaining decent DPS numbers (if their stories are true, of course), but all of this got me thinking: should paladins (or hybrids in general, for that matter) be unshackled from the "one spec-one role" dictum that has dominated the thought-space of WoW players for years?

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: No hybrid taxation without representation!

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: No hybrid taxation without representation! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyshybridpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret-healerret-tankretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-hybridwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Swap seals, not sandwiches]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-swap-seals-not-sandwiches/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-swap-seals-not-sandwiches/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-swap-seals-not-sandwiches/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Not being particularly captivated by anything in patch 5.2 so far, I've recently picked up a prot warrior and have carried him through some of the lower level areas. This isn't the first time I've tried leveling up a warrior; back in Wrath I had a level 80 fury warrior that was loads of fun, at least until Blizzard nerfed Titan's Grip and my poorly equipped berserker cow lost his ill-gotten mojo.

Since then I've tried to recapture that magic but there was always something that bugged me about the warrior playstyle: stance dancing. Being forced to choose between creating complicated macros or increasing my number of keybinds by some unseemly factor, I have typically opted for the hidden choice that was retiring the character. Thankfully this aspect of the warrior class seems to have been toned down a bit in Mists, so I figured I'd give our shielded brethren another go.

As paladins we don't have to deal with stances that lock us into or out of certain abilities (though many have pleaded with Blizzard to change that), but we do have something similar -- the seal system.

The Swiss Army seal

If you happened to pick up the paladin class sometime after vanilla WoW, you were fortunate enough to level up under the new seal regime. Under the old system, seals were a short-duration buff that was immediately consumed upon casting Judgement (back then they didn't skimp on the vowels!) I vaguely remember this mechanic, back when my friends first introduced me to the game. I very much disliked having to recast my seal so often, as many others did, I'm sure.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Swap seals, not sandwiches

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Swap seals, not sandwiches originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-sealspaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsealswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to key-bind your retribution paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/how-to-key-bind-your-retribution-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/how-to-key-bind-your-retribution-paladin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/how-to-key-bind-your-retribution-paladin/#comments Image
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

There are few things more frustrating while playing video games than being unable to control your character properly. In select cases this can be due to some fault in the game itself, but more often than not it tends to be a hardware malfunction. I had an increasingly difficult time playing Halo 3 when I would whip my controller at the wall in a blind rage every time someone would counter-snipe me just when I found a particularly good perch.

Recently though, my troubles have been with my mouse. My Logitech G500 has served me well for a few years but countless hours of furious clicking in games like Diablo III and Torchlight II have taken their toll. After some careful deliberation I decided to get the G500's older brother, the Logitech G600. I felt, playing as much WoW as I do these days, investing in a self-proclaimed "MMO mouse" would be sensible.

When I got the mouse and unboxed it, however, I was not prepared for just how many buttons this thing has. I sat with my spellbook open trying to find the most reasonable arrangement of keybinds for longer than I care to admit. Eventually I settled on a group of binds that I'm slowly but surely getting accustomed to, though not before I "misclick" and toss a Hand of Protection on a hunter.

This week I'd like to go over keybinds, discussing some general tips and going over two different schemes that I've used that hopefully some of you will find useful (unless you're left-handed, in which case I apologize that these tips may not be all that helpful for your sinister situation). If you have another setup you'd like to share, please do!

Continue reading How to key-bind your retribution paladin

Filed under: ,

How to key-bind your retribution paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyskey-bindskeybindingspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladin keybinds 5.3retpaladinkeybinds5.3retributionretribution paladinretribution paladin key bindingsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributionpaladinretributionpaladinkeybindingswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Ret gear in the Throne of Thunder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-gear-in-the-throne-of-thunder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-gear-in-the-throne-of-thunder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-gear-in-the-throne-of-thunder/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Ret gear in the Throne of Thunder Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

As Notorious B.I.G. would say, "mo patches, mo gear." Well, I imagine he would have said that if he could have played World of Warcraft.

There's just something about pouring through datamined loot and finding out where it all drops that excites me. In fact, I don't get into the whole "new patch hype" until I look at the gear, and then I'm suddenly hit with the realization that we're getting new bosses, new content, and new items.

Despite how much fun I had in putting this article together, gear lists have proven to be very dry. They have their uses, particularly as bookmark fodder for a quick reference of what drops where, so instead of trying to fluff this post up, I'm going to just lay it all out at once. Before I do that, however, I need to mention a few things.

There are some discrepancies between Wowhead's data and that from the PTR itself. You might notice weird or incorrect tooltips or entries that don't correspond to data on the site or on the test realm. In all cases, I defaulted to the test realm as the final authority on the matter.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Ret gear in the Throne of Thunder

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Ret gear in the Throne of Thunder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> 5.25.2-gear5.2-plate-gearfeaturedgearguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsplate-gearretributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Putting the retribution back in retribution]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-putting-the-retribution-back-in-r/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-putting-the-retribution-back-in-r/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-putting-the-retribution-back-in-r/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Putting the retribution back in retribution
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Group dynamics are a pretty important part of any multiplayer game, and World of Warcraft is no exception. From dungeons and scenarios, to battlegrounds and raids, and multiple things in-between, learning how to work with other players is an essential part of playing the game. Friendships are made, rivalries ignite, and respect is earned through cooperation and determination.

Of course, these things look great on paper, but we all know that there's a darker side to grouping. People needing on greens, random AFKs, loudmouths, Kingslayer Orkus trying to solo a boss while the rest of the party is elsewhere -- all acts protected by the mechanics of a system that randomly matches players into a group who would never have met before, and will likely never meet again; you will never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the Dungeon Finder.

Personally, I try to be as lenient and forgiving as I can, but everyone has their limits. Eventually you snap, and instead of trying your hardest to uphold the virtues of your order, you fight back. As paladins, our spellbooks come fully-stocked with an assortment of group-based abilities to abuse in situations such as these. Some of these tricks are easy and relatively innocuous, while others are much more complex, requiring precise timing and concentration, but have a much larger payoff.

Disclaimer: This article is satirical in nature. I implore you not to do any of these things anywhere outside of a group full of friends that will find these antics amusing to all parties. Remember, what to you may seem like harmless fun might actually be something that can ruin someone else's day. Please use caution, discretion, and good judgment when goofing around.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Putting the retribution back in retribution

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Putting the retribution back in retribution originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> dontactuallydothisstuffguysfeaturedgroupingguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysimseriouspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the battle of the bonuses]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-and-the-battle-of-the/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-and-the-battle-of-the/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-and-the-battle-of-the/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

This PTR cycle of patch 5.2 has been pretty quiet on the retribution front, or so it seemed. The few changes we're seeing are mainly talent-centric: Regardless, I've always been a bit disappointed when we go through a patch unscathed. I suppose one could take it as a sign from the devs that they think ret is doing okay (whether this is true or not seems to be a matter of personal opinion), but it's a tad boring to not see any retribution news in with the list of changes.

Despite this lack of alteration, it seems there's still something we can get excited and/or worried over -- our tier set bonuses. Our tier 15 two-piece bonus, Exorcism putting a debuff on your target that makes it take 6% increased Holy damage from you for 6 seconds, seems to be fairly solid. With Exorcism's cooldown being 15 seconds (reduced by haste through Sanctity of Battle, of course), and Art of War giving us a 20% chance to reset Exorcism's cooldown on autoattacks, this buff should have a pretty high uptime. Personally, I don't really find it particularly appealing, but I don't hate it either. It's a two-piece bonus, it's not the star of the show.

Our four-piece bonus, however, has stolen the limelight and caused quite the stir not only within the ret paladin community, but apparently even at Blizzard as well as the blues ping-ponged between two ideas before finally (albeit momentarily) settling on one.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the battle of the bonuses

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the battle of the bonuses originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret-paladin-tiertier-15tier-15-bonuseswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Is it time to kill flying mounts?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/22/is-it-time-to-kill-flying-mounts/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/22/is-it-time-to-kill-flying-mounts/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/22/is-it-time-to-kill-flying-mounts/#comments Is it time to kill flying mounts
My first true WoW leveling experience was in Burning Crusade. I remember skulking through the zones on my night elf druid, riding my nightsaber from one quest hub to the next. I remember thanking Cenarius that druids could stealth, an ability that helped me avoid Horde players. Even with this gift, though, I would still get caught up in PvP every once in a while. It didn't help that during those tense moments I froze up and panicked simultaneously, randomly flailing about while the other player steadily ended my life.

Eventually I heard about flying mounts, and that once you hit level 70 and paid 5,000 gold you could grace the skies with your presence. Of course, if you're still leveling and nowhere near the requisite amount of gold, you become less concerned with getting your own mount than defending yourself against enemies that may appear out of thin air.

After a while, I was able to hit 70 and somehow managed to scrounge up the coin for my flight training. I suddenly felt safe; I could quest, I could explore without having to look over my shoulder, and if anyone tried to attack me I could just pop into bird form and put all of my weight onto my space bar. I felt a greater sense of control, one that I actually got so accustomed to having that when the Isle of Quel'Danas opened up, an area that only allowed ground-based travel, I felt refreshed.

Continue reading Is it time to kill flying mounts?

Filed under:

Is it time to kill flying mounts? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> flying-mountflying-mounts (Dan Desmond) Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Does your UI change the way you see the game?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/breakfast-topic-does-your-ui-change-the-way-you-see-the-game/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/breakfast-topic-does-your-ui-change-the-way-you-see-the-game/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/breakfast-topic-does-your-ui-change-the-way-you-see-the-game/#comments Image Out of all the MMOs that I have played in my day, none have had the robust community of addon developers that World of Warcraft has, a talented group of individuals that allow the player to create a personalized and unique window into the game world. It has always been something that I've embraced, and one of my favorite activities within the game has been to spend a few hours completely reworking my user interface. I thoroughly enjoy rearranging furniture, too -- I think there's something wrong with me.

However, for almost a year and a half I have stuck with a suite of addons called RealUI; I'm a sucker for sleek, minimal displays, so I just melted when I saw this setup in action. However, I think letting my addon creativity stagnate has had a deleterious effect on my enjoyment with the game. It used to be one of the ways I invested myself in WoW, but now I just download a package, unzip it, and start playing. It's like going to IKEA and buying a preassembled coffee table -- sometimes I enjoy hammering wooden dowels into a poorly-drilled hole with my shoe.

Do you think whatever combinations of addons you use affects the way you enjoy your gaming experience in Azeroth? Also, is UI tweaking as much a minigame as playing the auction house is?

Filed under:

Breakfast Topic: Does your UI change the way you see the game? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredgame-discussiongamer-discussionuser-interfaceworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Dan Desmond) Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Why retribution DPS is a-okay]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-why-retribution-dps-is-a-okay/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-why-retribution-dps-is-a-okay/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-why-retribution-dps-is-a-okay/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Why retribution DPS is aokay Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Towards the tail end of Ulduar and into the beginning of Trial of the Crusader, I was in a guild that had a rogue that would consistently top the DPS charts. I would run so many heroics and PuG raids to get gear, all the while practicing what could laughably be called our "rotation" in retrospect, and I would still fall short. Over time, however, I began to notice that even though I wasn't beating him, I was beating many others. Soon the time came when I was neck-and-neck with him, always biting his heels and waiting for him to allow me an opportunity to beat him, once and for all.

When I eventually did overtake him and saw my character's name on the top of Recount, the feeling was greater than any boss kill. You can't ever see a boss collapse and have the feeling that you did that all by yourself, that you were the sole reason for this victory, because it took a combination of other players, all supporting each other, to see that end result. The DPS race is totally different -- aside from healers keeping you alive (which, if you're properly aware of your surroundings and your threat, shouldn't be an issue) you shoulder the responsibility to push out as much damage as you can. Seeing yourself at the top is a much more personal victory because you can honestly say that you did that, that you pulled yourself up there and truly earned that spot. And from what I understand, this is not a unique experience.

I have talked to quite a few players who have expressed concern over some fairly recent SimulationCraft results that show retribution ranking near the bottom out of all available DPS specs. Even ignoring SimCraft, many more players have expressed concern over their damage output as they compare it to their fellow raiders, guildmates, and random DPSers in LFR. Despite this mounting evidence, I have asserted that retribution is in a nice place -- not great, not OP, but comfortable. Indeed, Ghostcrawler tends to feel the same way. So what's the story here? Why does it seem like everyone and their uncle think ret is doing poorly?

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Why retribution DPS is a-okay

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Why retribution DPS is a-okay originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladin DPSret-paladinRetPaladinDpsretribution-dpsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsimcraftwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Utilizing retribution's utility spells]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-utilizing-retributions-utility-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-utilizing-retributions-utility-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-utilizing-retributions-utility-s/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Utilizing retributions utility spells
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Sometimes it's easy to get yourself on a one-track mindset and put all of your effort and energy into maintaining the best DPS rotation you can to top the charts and kill those bosses dead. I often forget that I'm even playing a hybrid class as I swap around talents and glyphs to squeak out as much damage I can. Thankfully, the designers threw a number of challenges into our latest raid tier, situations where a retribution paladin's utility toolkit can not only shine, but produce truly epic moments and make the player of that classiest of classes feel truly fulfilled.

The last time I talked about utility was back in March, where I tossed some ideas around about how to introduce these spells to the newcomer or, in my case, to the utility-challenged. As with many classes, you're given a plethora of powerful abilities as you level up that work well in a wide variety of encounters, but both keeping track of these abilities and finding the best situations to use them in can be overwhelming. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to flesh out these spells and describe how one can and should use them.

Pretending to be a holy paladin

For the full experience, stare at your raid frames while on /follow with your guild's shadow priest. If you die, blame the shadow priest.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Utilizing retribution's utility spells

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Utilizing retribution's utility spells originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsret-paladin-talentsret-paladin-utilityRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for Terrace of Endless Spring]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution talents and glyphs for Terrace of Endless Spring
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

I really like Terrace of Endless Spring. In my eyes, Terrace represents a continuation of the process of experimentation the developers began in Trial of the Crusader, namely that of making raids smaller without holding any actual content back. This experiment was continued in Cataclysm in Throne of the Four Winds, but I feel it wasn't quite a success until Terrace. Shrinking raids is a tricky proposition, but the surface area of this instance is balanced out by the complexity of its encounters.

For you regular readers out there, you might have noticed I seem to have skipped right over the second half of Heart of Fear, Nightmare of Shek'zeer. Truth be told, I didn't really find these encounters interesting enough to devote an entire column to tackling them. Don't let my apparent entomophobia hold you back, though -- please do feel free to discuss Wind Lord Mel'Jarak, Amber-Shaper Un'sok, and Grand Empress Shek'zeer in the comments below!

Anywho, let's jump right into the encounters for Terrace of Endless Spring. If you're looking for some raid guides for these bosses, Icy Veins has a great set on their site.

Protectors of the Endless

Similar in many ways to Ulduar's Iron Council, the Protectors can be pulled in a different order to vary not only the difficulty, but the gear drops. As on Iron Council, you will only be attacking one target at a time, a fact that shapes the talents and glyphs we want to use in this encounter.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for Terrace of Endless Spring

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for Terrace of Endless Spring originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslei-shipaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotectors-of-the-endlessret-paladin-glyphsret-paladin-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsha-of-fearterrace-of-endless-springtsulongwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for retribution, part deux]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-retribution/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-retribution/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-retribution/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Gearing options for retribution, part deux Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

I know you all have been waiting for this post with bated breath ever since I unveiled the first half of the list a few weeks ago. "Wonderful," you whispered quietly to yourself as you read that article while snuggled beneath a warm blanket, "now I know where all of the best gear comes from!" Then Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring opened up and you found yourself in a haze, unsure of where you should focus your coin attacks. Well fear not, stalwart reader, for this post is here to save the day!

Okay, so gear lists are kinda boring -- truthfully, they are probably just as boring to read as they are to write. But I'm going to try something with this list in an attempt to forestall the drooping of the eyelids. As embarrassing as it may be, I am going to walk through my own gear and discuss which upgrades will provide the most bang for my elder buck by determining the relative value of each piece using some generated stat weights. My hope is that this process will make it easier for you to pick out the amazing upgrades from the mediocre upgrades and the higher-ilvl downgrades.

It should be noted, of course, that stat weights fluctuate as you accumulate gear, and therefore in reality there is no single set of weights you should always go by. A good practice to get into, if you're looking to maximize your DPS any way possible, is to download SimulationCraft and generate your own weights.

Setting up

Before we jump into the list, here is a link to my gear setup at the time of this writing. Of course, you can always visit my Armory and make fun of me because my sword clashes with the rest of my transmog (I'm too lazy to find a more fitting sword). Anyway, I imported this data into the latest version of SimC and generated some stat weights using default settings and 25,000 iterations.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for retribution, part deux

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for retribution, part deux originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysheart-of-fearpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsplate-gearraid-gearret-paladin-gearterrace-of-endless-springwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for The Dread Approach]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-talents-and-glyphs-fo/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution talents and glyphs for The Dread Approach
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Mogu'shan Vaults is a visually appealing, mechanically interesting raid instance, and I've had my fair share of fun sticking my neck into the place, but for one reason or another Heart of Fear has been a refreshing change of pace. Of course, I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before I get sick of giant bipedal bugs painting the floor with my innards, but for now I'm just enjoying the ride.

At the time of this writing, the second half of Heart of Fear has yet to be opened in the Raid Finder, and my own guild has been grinding away at Blade Lord Ta'yak, so I admittedly have limited experience of the new raid. What experience I do have, however, has had me thinking and strategizing for different ways to approach these new bosses.

We decided to try out Zor'lok after sitting on Elegon for a few nights, so we were probably a bit undergeared for our first foray into evil bug central, but that made all the tinkering and readjustments all the more fun because they produced tangible results (or, in some circumstances, created new problems).

Anyway, this week I decided to go over what I have learned.

For a full description of these fights and their associated mechanics, check out these raid guides over at Icy Veins.

Imperial Vizier Zor'lok

I have to confess that this is probably my favorite encounter thus far in Mists of Pandaria. Patchwerk-type fights have their place, but for whatever reason I really like fights where it is up to each raider to account for their own survival. Alysrazor in Firelands is another favorite of mine, primarily because of her second phase with the swirling tornadoes - at least, before the speed of the fiery tornadoes was nerfed so hard that dodging them with any sort of run speed boost became harder.

As you can probably guess, my favorite part of this encounter is Attenuation, though it's really how all three separate platform mechanics combine in the end that wins me over.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for The Dread Approach

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution talents and glyphs for The Dread Approach originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysheart-of-fearpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-glyphsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretribution-talentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[A solution to the LFR "problem"]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/02/a-solution-to-the-lfr-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/02/a-solution-to-the-lfr-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/02/a-solution-to-the-lfr-problem/#comments A solution to the LFR problem Our very own Olivia Grace recently sat down with Gamebreaker.tv to discuss player complaints about the obligation that many raiders out there feel to run LFR each week, a topic that has been hotly debated in, among other places, this thread on the official forums with the ghastly Zarhym naturally representing Blizzard.

In the video, Olivia raises a good point that many people may not immediately realize - the game isn't forcing you to run LFR every week, it is the social pressures of being in a competitive raiding guild, the very nature of which makes it basically mandatory to seek every advantage you can to edge out your competition. And while many players cite a myriad of issues with LFR, few offer any real, workable solutions. I have seen a couple non-workable solutions, however, so let's briefly discuss them.

Continue reading A solution to the LFR "problem"

Filed under: , ,

A solution to the LFR "problem" originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> lfrraid finderraid-lockoutsRaidFinderraiding (Dan Desmond) Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution reader mailbag]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-reader-mailbag/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-reader-mailbag/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-reader-mailbag/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution reader mailbag
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

When my guild first started in Mogu'shan Vaults and we were working on The Stone Guard, I was rapidly approaching what felt like a breaking point. I believe our first combination was Jade, Cobalt, and Jasper Guardians, and I was having trouble managing my rotation and cooldowns while simultaneously dodging mines and trying to wordlessly negotiate with my chained partner which of us would be moving toward the other. I vacillated between rage, frustration, and despondency, wondering if this was an accurate reflection of how the entire tier would go.

Luckily I had some good friends willing to listen to my ranting and incoherent babbling. They managed to eventually convince me to not give up, bite my lip, and give myself some time to get readjusted. I'm still not the best ret paladin in the world, but I'm having a much easier go at working through my abilities and staying out of bad stuff ... most of the time.

Anyway, my inspiration this week came from quite a number of you who had emailed me asking some of the same questions I asked myself at the start of my level 90 activities, most of which can be summed up with a single inquiry: "How can I improve?"

Balance your DPS with your survivability. Most people will correctly tell you that the most important skill you can develop, whether it's for PvP or PvE, is self-preservation. If you die, you can't do any damage; it's as simple as that. However, what use is staying alive if you're spending so much time watching the floor that you're being outclassed by Mr. Grubbs?

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution reader mailbag

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution reader mailbag originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladin cooldownsret paladin DPSRetPaladinCooldownsRetPaladinDpsretributionwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the saurok rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/18/how-to-defeat-the-saurok-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/18/how-to-defeat-the-saurok-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/18/how-to-defeat-the-saurok-rare-spawns/#comments How to defeat the saurok rare spawns When a couple friends of mine in high school would talk about the lizard-people living underground, controlling the world's governments and manipulating our society, something tells me they weren't talking about the saurok. Much like the grummles (a miserable race of gnome-like Sherpas, though some people are quite partial to them), the mogu shaped the saurok through the powers contained within the waters of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Their intention was to make the saurok their enforcers, their troops, their battle-worthy servants that would reinforce borders and protect the mogu empire. Instead the saurok grew out of control, so much so that the mogu emperor lead a campaign to rip the souls out of the rebellious reptiles.

Now, you may be thinking about that old saying, "my enemy's enemy is my friend," right? Well, unfortunately that's not true all of the time -- in this case we just have two enemies, much like that one Shado-Pan daily. While the saurok don't have the resources or power of the mighty mogu, they are still quite the nuisance.

There are a number of saurok champions scattered across Pandaria, all of which share the following abilities:
  • Grappling Hook Much like Rushing Charge, Grappling Hook will prevent you from straying farther than 20 yards away from the target, at least for more than 5 seconds at a time.
  • Vanish The saurok sheds all DoTs and disappears into the shadows. Don't freak out like I did the first time I fought one; it didn't evade, it just took the cowardly rogue's way out. You do have a shot at hitting the saurok before he disappears, so make it count.
  • Smoked Blade If you failed to bring the saurok out of stealth, he will use Smoked Blade which hits for 55% of your health.
  • Vicious Rend A stacking bleed that deals moderate damage, Vicious Rend also functions to provide a sort of soft enrage for the saurok rares -- you need to kill them before the damage from the bleed, in addition to other sources, becomes unmanageable.

Continue reading How to defeat the saurok rare spawns

Filed under:

How to defeat the saurok rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> mists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-raresrarerare-spawnssaurok (Dan Desmond) Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for ret paladins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-ret-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-ret-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-gearing-options-for-ret-paladins/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Gearing options for ret paladins WED Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Earlier last week I updated my retribution guide for Mists, so if you're still scratching your head wondering what your talents do or why everything and its mother is spitting out holy power then please feel free to give that a look. Part of that update was to plug in the latest stat weights that help us determine, among other things, which pieces of gear we want and which ones we could probably do without. With heroic dungeons and three difficulties of raids available for plundering, as well as Hallow's End fast approaching, this is a great time to figure out which pieces you'll want to set your sights on.

Before we jump into it, however, a quick examination of those aforementioned stat weights shows us that the main stats we're looking, aside from strength, are hit, expertise, and haste. Note that pieces that natively possess hit and expertise are particularly nice because it will make reaching those caps much easier.

Remember that our tier won't reliably drop until Terrace of Endless Spring and Heart of Fear are released, but there is a small chance it will drop from Sha of Anger. Also keep in mind that gear out of Mogu'shan Vaults has raid finder, normal, and heroic equivalents.

I am going to try to squeeze this all into one post, so I hope you'll forgive me if I refrain from my usual snarky one-liners and bad jokes in order to provide useful info like drop locations and item costs.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for ret paladins

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing options for ret paladins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsplate-gearret-paladin-gearretributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Popular, a way to keep an eye on the Joneses]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/wow-popular-a-way-to-keep-an-eye-on-the-joneses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/wow-popular-a-way-to-keep-an-eye-on-the-joneses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/wow-popular-a-way-to-keep-an-eye-on-the-joneses/#comments WoW Popular, a way to keep an eye on the Joneses DNP While the plural of anecdote is certainly not data, it does provide some interesting observations. WoW Popular is a site that compiles tons of data about talents, glyphs, gear, enchants, gems, and even reforges for each class and spec and ranks them all based on their "popularity."

The site's author states that the purpose behind the site is to provide a "one-stop-shop for... players who don't have the time to fully research what talents, enchants, glyphs, gems or gear to work on next," but this pill is a bit hard to swallow. As Albert Einstein once said, "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right," meaning, in our case, that just because a majority of players use one talent or glyph does not mean that it is the right one to use in all situations, or that any of the data aligns with what theorycrafting has calculated as "optimal."

Does that mean the data the author has collected is without value? Not at all -- watching the trends of what the site claims to be "top players," a designation I assume is assigned based on their level of progression, can provide many valuable insights into the community as a whole. Blizzard collects a ton of data like this to make sure that any single talent or glyph doesn't pull ahead of the others. Similarly, if a certain trinket or other piece of gear is suddenly being used by a large group of people, there has to be a reason behind that. Is it the mechanics of the gear that is edging out competitive options, or is it just sheer availability that is making it so ubiquitous?

I encourage you to check the site out and draw your own conclusions -- just remember to take your skepticism with you!
Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

Filed under:

WoW Popular, a way to keep an eye on the Joneses originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> Mists-of-Pandaria-Glyphsmists-of-pandaria-talentswowpopularwowpopular.com (Dan Desmond) Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the mantid rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-mantid-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-mantid-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-mantid-rare-spawns/#comments How to defeat the mantid rare spawns The enigmatic, apostrophe-loving mantid remind me a bit of the aliens in the movie District 9 -- bug-like, unpleasant looking creatures that, despite appearing to be foreign and strange, harbor the same kinds of emotions and instincts as humans. And while the mantid don't have large puppy dog eyes to draw our sympathy like the prawns, they do have a rich and complicated history that simultaneously invokes sympathy and uncertainty.

The Klaxxi are fighting a war against their own people, attempting to restore sanity to the mantid by dethroning their fear-driven queen, while being regarded as heretics by the remaining dominated legions of their kin -- but can we really trust them? Our alliance with the Klaxxi may simply be a marriage of convenience, and as soon as the empress is dealt with and their house is in order the re-unified mantid may turn their sights back to the pandaren, and us.

For now, however, there are a few "evil" mantid champions that need to be dispatched, all of which share the following abilities:
  • Blade Flurry - The bug will wildly jab and prod in a cone in front of itself, dealing massive damage to anyone caught in its swath.
  • Tornado - Summons a tornado that travels in a circular path, triggering Harsh Winds for any players that get too close.
  • Windsong - Buffs the mantid's attack and movement speeds and makes it immune to snares and roots.
To squash these bugs, lots of room will be required as you will need to keep clear of any tornadoes that spawn. Ranged classes will find kiting to be near impossible while Windsong is up, meaning that the majority of this fight will have to be conducted within melee range, unless you have a tank chum. Run through the mob when he begins to cast Blade Flurry if you're in melee range, otherwise just get the heck out of there.

Continue reading How to defeat the mantid rare spawns

Filed under:

How to defeat the mantid rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> mantidmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-raresrarerare-spawns (Dan Desmond) Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the pandaren rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-pandaren-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-pandaren-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-pandaren-rare-spawns/#comments Could We Find More Like That Defeating the pandaren rare spawns One thing I noticed while leveling was how much of my inventory was being filled with zany flavor items and mountains of random stat food. Between that and the pandaren racial bonus, Epicurean, I formed this preconception that all panda-shaped people loved to eat food and do kooky things, so imagine my surprise when NPCScan informed me that a pandaren rare was within my scanning range just waiting to go toe-to-toe.

I like to believe that maybe these particular pandaren are just looking for A Worthy Opponent (see what I did there?), and that I just get so caught up in the exchange of punches and blows that I forget not to kill them.

Like the jinyu, and the rest of the rare spawns, the pandaren rares all share the same set of abilities:
  • Spinning Crane Kick - A whirlwind of feet and pain, the 3-second cat for this attack can't be interrupted, but the target can be stunned or crowd-controlled during the animation. Just to be safe, make sure that you don't engage the pandaren in an enclosed area.
  • Chi Burst - The pandaren will only use this ability if you are more than 15 yards away from them, a mechanic surely designed to force you to deal with Spinning Crane Kick in some fashion. And at over 200,000 damage per cast, I would say it's pretty effective.
  • Healing Mists - The one ability you will want to save your interrupt for, Healing Mists heals the pandaren for 30% of their maximum health. Stuns and crowd control should also work if you find your spellbook lacking a reliable interrupt.
The main strategy here is to stay close to the target for the most part, only moving away from it during Spinning Crane Kick. Also, interrupting Healing Mists will prevent you from dulling your blades against the bears' furry backside while you race to outpace the healing.

Continue reading How to defeat the pandaren rare spawns

Filed under:

How to defeat the pandaren rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> could-we-find-more-like-thatmists-of-pandarianpcscanpandarenrarerare-spawns (Dan Desmond) Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the yaungol rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-yaungol-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-yaungol-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/how-to-defeat-the-yaungol-rare-spawns/#comments Could We Find More Like That Defeating the yaungol rare spawns
I'm not a huge lore nerd but I still find some of the backstories in WoW pretty interesting. Take the yaungol, for instance: they originally were a tribe of tauren that got separated from their brothers and sisters in Kalimdor when the Sundering ripped Azeroth's Pangaea-esque supercontinent apart.

The yaungol originally settled in Townlong Steppes until the encroaching mantid threat forced them to breach the Serpent's Spine and resettle their people in Kun-Lai Summit. Unfortunately for them, Blizzard says they're not "good" tauren, so we get the privilege of dispatching with their champions.

Like the rest of the rare spawns, the yaungol rares all share the same set of abilities.
  • Yaungol Stomp- A particularly deadly ability, the yaungol puts his foot down on your shenanigans and deals massive AoE damage if you happen to get caught within its radius, in addition to a lovely little 2-second stun.
  • Bellowing Rage - Occasionally the rare spawn will put up a buff called Bellowing Rage that will almost double its damage but reduce its movement speed by 20%.
  • Rushing Charge- Much like the pandaren rares' Chi Burst, Rushing Charge is another mechanic designed to prevent players from merely kiting the rare around and avoid the melee-based stomp mechanic. The yaungol will charge you if you stray more than 20 yards away from them.
What you're going to want to do to take down these furry foes is pretty simple - stay out of the AoE, watch out for Bellowing Rage, and keeping yourself close enough to not get charged. I've found that the easiest way to avoid Yaungol Stomp is to just run through the guy, because the ground effect of the stomp is always in front of him.

Continue reading How to defeat the yaungol rare spawns

Filed under:

How to defeat the yaungol rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> could-we-find-more-like-thatmists-of-pandariararerare-eliterare-spawnsyaungol (Dan Desmond) Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: 4 tips for leveling retribution in Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-tips-for-leveling-retribution-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-tips-for-leveling-retribution-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-tips-for-leveling-retribution-i/#comments The Light and How to Swing It 4 tips for leveling retribution in Mists Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

I wanted to get some hands-on experience in the race to level 90 before I wrote this article, so I took a few days off work, stocked up on caffeinated goodies, and bribed Matt Walsh into letting things hit him in the face by promising to shell out a metric ton of bacon-wrapped scallops for his eager consumption. Unfortunately for him he doesn't have a good agent because I neglected to mention that this payment will be made over the next two thousand years. I sure hope neither animal goes extinct before then!

Originally I planned to write this as soon as I was done leveling, but real life intervened and separated me from my precious internet connection for a few days while I moved. I apologize for the delay, and I hope that at least a few of you still find these tips useful!

Questing

Some people prefer to quest their way to the level cap -- I am one of those people. It's a great way to see the sights, get your reputations up, earn some coin, and get a few nice pieces of gear, so why not? Well, before you trigger that loading screen between Azeroth and Pandaria, I have a few pointers to help you get those last five levels.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: 4 tips for leveling retribution in Mists

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: 4 tips for leveling retribution in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-levelingpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret-paladin-levelingwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after 5.0.4]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/12/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-after-5-0-4/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Retribution after 504 Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

For me, the most anxiety-inducing change that came with patch 5.0.4 was the prospect that I would have to find a replacement for my beloved RealUI -- the previous author Nib stated that he/she would be unable to continue its maintenance, causing hundreds of minimalistic UI lovers to suddenly cry out in terror. Thankfully these pleas were silenced as someone else offered to take up the reins and pushed out a new revision just in the nick of time.

Before giving an official verdict on any of these changes I wanted to raid a bit to see them in action. Unfortunately I've had to resort to sidelong glances at Dragon Soul as my guild is finishing up T11 metas and mounts for everyone before the expansion closes. I did, however, get to down heroic Ragnaros again for another pretty bird and run a handful of Hour of Twilight heroics, so I did get at least some experience.

Naturally talented

The redesigned talent system feels more like a wider selection of powerful glyphs than any previous iteration of talents that we've seen before. I remember getting to the Bronze Dragonshrine in End Time and someone asked if I could CC one of the dragonkin. I was in the middle of typing out, "I'm not specced into Repentance, sorry :(" (complete with sad smiley face so they knew I was truly sorry) when I realized that I could just open my talents, unlearn Burden of Guilt and pick up Repentance in like 10 seconds flat. Similarly, on a quick jaunt through heroic Firelands we arrived at Alysrazor without much of a plan for slowing down the meteor when I remembered I could unlearn Repentance and pick up Burden.

Of course, being this flexible comes at a price, and that price is straight cash. As I struggle not to finish that Randy Moss quote, think about whether you agree with the gold requirement for changing talents. On one hand, it's a pretty effective gold sink as anytime anyone wants to change a talent they will need to pay a nominal fee. On the other hand it seems a bit outdated to hold on to one reagent when tossing out most others. We can save that discussion for another time, though.

I have to admit, tier 5 for me is usually between Holy Avenger and Divine Purpose. Sanctified Wrath just isn't producing comparable numbers in sims and it doesn't really have its own niche in which to excel.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after 5.0.4

Filed under: ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution after 5.0.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch 5.0.4patch-5.0.4patch-5.0.4-changesPatch5.0.4retribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Customizing your ret paladin in Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-customizing-your-ret-paladin-in-m/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-customizing-your-ret-paladin-in-m/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-customizing-your-ret-paladin-in-m/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Customizing your ret paladin in Mists WED Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Last week I unveiled my retribution guide for the upcoming launch of Mists of Pandaria. I covered an exhausting number of topics, but I found that a couple items might be better as a separate post -- races and professions.

For anyone starting a new paladin in Mists after hearing how awesome it is on the beta, or for anyone looking to change your races or professions, this article is for you. Let's dive right in, shall we?

Choose the right race

Generally, my advice for selecting which race you want your paladin to be is to pick one you will be able to watch running around and hitting things. If you don't like the look of your character, you probably won't like playing it regardless of how awesome the class or spec may be.

With that out of the way, there are some really good DPS options out there if you're a member of the Alliance. And if you're Horde -- well, at least you can look good.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Customizing your ret paladin in Mists

Filed under: , ,

The Light and How to Swing It: Customizing your ret paladin in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-professionspaladin-racespaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprofession-perkswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria: Guide to retribution paladins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-retribution-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-retribution-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-retribution-paladins/#comments Mists of Pandaria Guide to retribution paladins DNP Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

The mists have parted, the continent of Pandaria is open, and new foes await us in the numerous raids and dungeons that the lost continent has to offer. Whether you're leveling a ret paladin for the first time or min-maxing your way to the top of the charts, now is the perfect time to become acquainted with all of the changes that a new expansion inevitably brings.

This guide will bring you up to speed with what being a retribution paladin in Mists is all about, from what our talents look like to what food we should be eating. It is my intention to update this guide continually with any major changes we may experience.

[Last updated for patch 5.4.0, build 17359 on 9/12/13.]

What's new in Mists?

New talent system With the intention of cutting down on cookie-cutter builds, Blizzard redesigned the talent system so that it was based around player preference and situational usefulness. Players now receive their core abilities automatically when selecting a spec, and talents serve to supplement different styles of gameplay.

New abilities While our class has not received another violent makeover like what we saw in Cataclysm, we did receive a few goodies:

Absolve Bolstering our defensive arsenal, Absolve removes all harmful magic effects from your target when Hand of Sacrifice is cast.

Blinding Light Reminiscient of Eadric the Pure's ability in Trial of the Champion, this AoE CC is our level 87 ability and will probably see more use in PvP than PvE, though it could have some usefulness in controlling large packs of mobs, provided you have a tank ready to pick them up after the CC is over.

Boundless Conviction This passive allows us to carry up to 5 holy power at one time. With the increased cap, we don't have to worry as much about "wasting" holy power when we use Judgment or Exorcism from range.

Devotion Aura No longer just the domain of holy paladins, this revamped version of Aura Mastery carries a little more oomph than before with the addition of 20% magic damage reduction. Keep this button handy.

Emancipate With the loss of 1/2 Acts of Sacrifice, ret needed a snare removal tool to replace it. Enter Emancipate.

Hammer of the Righteous Protection was kind enough to loan us their AoE holy power generator. Divine Storm will be our new AoE holy power finisher.

Higher holy power generation The holy power system has been improved upon for Mists, with Judgment, Crusader Strike, Hammer of the Righteous, Exorcism, and Hammer of Wrath all generating the resource. Hopefully this will make our playstyle more proactive and engaging than before.

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria: Guide to retribution paladins

Filed under: , ,

Mists of Pandaria: Guide to retribution paladins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists of pandaria ret paladinmists-of-pandaria-paladinmistsofpandariaretpaladinmop ret pallymopretpallypaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladin mopret pally mopret-paladin-gemsret-paladin-glyphsret-paladin-rotationret-paladin-statsret-paladin-talentsretpaladinmopretpallymopretribution paladin mopretributionpaladinmopwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider