WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Glyph of Inquisition and the myth of the no-brainer]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-glyph-of-inquisition-and-the-myth/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-glyph-of-inquisition-and-the-myth/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-glyph-of-inquisition-and-the-myth/#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!

Back in October, the blues issued a challenge to themselves, a goal for their new talent system in Mists of Pandaria -- there would be no mandatory talents, zero "no-brainers" or similarly choiceless situations. The same has been said for glyphs in the past, straight from the mouthparts of the head crab himself.

Now we all know that there has always been a chasm of varying width separating what the designers intend for a system and what we as players experience. Sometimes the devs do really well and the gap is but a crack in the sidewalk, while others look more Springfield Gorge, and others still like Valles Marineris on Mars. Even so, we can hardly blame them -- we players, as a whole, are a fickle bunch. It is only natural that a group numbering in the millions would have diverse opinions on what works and what doesn't, particularly when it pertains to how each of us play the game.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Glyph of Inquisition and the myth of the no-brainer originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredglyphsguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 23 May 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria Beta: Finally, a portable reforger]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/21/mists-of-pandaria-beta-finally-a-portable-reforger/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/21/mists-of-pandaria-beta-finally-a-portable-reforger/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/21/mists-of-pandaria-beta-finally-a-portable-reforger/#comments Image
Deep in the heart of Kun-Lai Summit, at The Grummle Bazaar, lies a vendor named Uncle Bigpocket who, at some point, will sell the Grand Expedition Yak, this expansion's version of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. It's a beautiful beast, but what caught my attention were the vendors on the side of it. One of them is named Cousin Slowhands, a NPC who seems like he probably sells water and food and the like. The second vendor, on the other hand, is named Mystic Birdhat, Arcane Reforger.

Many players have posted on the forums (we've even floated the idea), pleading for some type of portable reforging tool. Well, it seems Blizzard was listening! While the price for the mount would appear to be about 60,000 gold, the possibility of account-wide mounts makes this purchase worthwhile. Hopefully, someone in your raid or dungeon group has some deep pockets!

[Thanks to Runek for the heads up!]
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Finally, a portable reforger originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 21 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> arcane-reforgerbreakingcousin-slowhandsgrand-expedition-yakmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamystic-birdhatportable-reforgerreforgereforgerreforgingwow-portable-reforger (Dan Desmond) Mon, 21 May 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Wowscan: A new tool for making gold]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/wowscan-a-new-tool-for-making-gold/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/wowscan-a-new-tool-for-making-gold/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/wowscan-a-new-tool-for-making-gold/#comments Image I have had my hand in the cookie jar that is the Auction House a few times during Cataclysm, and if there's one thing I learned, it's that information is your best friend. I downloaded Auctioneer / Auctionator to spot cheap bids and track how my own sales were doing. I browsed The Undermine Journal for data like average prices, standard deviations, and recent auctions. Even WoW Insider's own Gold Capped column helped me identify potential markets and provided general advice. All of these things made my profits possible.

Well, a new tool has entered the mix: Wowscan. I have to admit, at first it struck me as a bit too much like The Undermine Journal. Certainly Wowscan works very similar in that it scans auction data and posts it on its site in a searchable format. Now, I'm no Basil or even a Fox, but after some experimentation it seems to me that there are a few advantages and disadvantages to a site like Wowscan in comparison to TUJ.

First of all, and probably the biggest difference that I've noticed, is that Wowscan has the ability to compile all of its realm data into one searchable list. For example, if you wanted to find the absolute cheapest auction of Reins of the Swift Spectral Tiger, all you have to do is select All Realms and search for it. From all of my dealings with TUJ, I have never found the option to search all of the realms at once. Since most of my use of TUJ was focused on a single realm, searching multiple realms at once never really became an issue for me. This function becomes valuable when you are looking to buy an ultra-rare item and don't care how much money you have to spend on realm transfers to get it.

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Wowscan: A new tool for making gold originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> auction-housebreakingwow-goldwowscan (Dan Desmond) Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Readying your ret paladin for Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/#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!

It's hard to believe it's already May 2012. It seems like just last week that I was standing in line at BlizzCon with my guildmates, trying to make small talk and failing completely at it. Most of our interactions involved people watching and commenting on the information put forth at the various panels like those annoying people in the movie theater who feel the need to rate every preview on whether or not it will completely suck (see above).

Anyway, with any luck Mists will be released by the end of summer (I'm betting on an August launch, myself), so what better time than now to get your paladin ready so that you hit the ground running when the servers come back online?

The time will come during the next expansion when your hard-earned purples will be replaced by mismatched greens, but more work put into getting the best purples available to you now will keep that dreaded day far in the future. Also, how hard you hit is dictated by the strength of your gear, and the amount of time it will take you to kill a mob is dependent on how much damage you can dish out.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Readying your ret paladin for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslevel 90Level90levelingmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[A proposal for scenarios in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/a-proposal-for-scenarios-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/a-proposal-for-scenarios-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/a-proposal-for-scenarios-in-mists-of-pandaria/#comments Image We have seen and heard a ton of information on questing, dungeons, and even Pet Battles in the Mists of Pandaria beta, but one thing that has been absent thus far is also one of the things I'm most excited about -- scenarios. From what information we received at BlizzCon, we know that Blizzard intends for scenarios to be phased and quest-like in their presentation. They could be used to move stories forward, with players interacting with non-player heroes directly and even fighting alongside them in important battles.

An idea for this new game mode that I have been tossing back and forth with a few friends is creating a series of how-to scenarios that introduces the player to the aspects of group play. Meloree at Sacred Duty has suggested this as a prerequisite to entering the Dungeon Finder, but I think even having the option would improve grouping experiences dramatically. Tanks could enter dungeons and raids with a better grasp on basics like threat, positioning, and proactive cooldown usage. Healers could learn mana management, throughput efficiency, and this fabled triage model that we keep hearing so much about. Damage dealers could become familiar with high-movement fights, interrupting, and burn phase cooldown maximization.

Clearly, this seems to be well within Blizzard's capabilities to produce. We already see NPCs that tank, heal, and DPS in the game in various quests. In my opinion, there are only a couple of things that may stand in the way:
  1. Is this something the designers can do easily and quickly, or would a significant amount of resources need to be allotted to the development of this idea?
  2. Would players react positively to such tools being made available to them? Would they feel pressured or upset if they failed to complete the scenarios in their chosen role?
What do you think? Is this something you would use? Would this help the dungeon running and raiding experiences, or is the potential for disaster too great here?

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A proposal for scenarios in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dungeonsgroup-skillsgroupinginstancesmists-of-pandariaplayer-rolesrolesscenariosskillswow-scenarios (Dan Desmond) Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retribution]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/#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!

Before we begin, go take a look at the new beta build 15640 currently being mined. Some of it is a bit wonky and messed up (Blessing of Might now gives 0 mastery, huh?), but some big ret changes can be found.
Blizzard seems to be cleaning up some spell mechanics and tooltips by taking a weed whacker to those abilities that have both attack power and spell power dependencies. The new version of Sheath of Light, Sword of Light, boosts our SP by an additional 20% of our AP.
I'll wait until the number crunchers at Elitist Jerks have a chance to digest this material before I say whether or not the extra 20% conversion will make up for losing our double-dipping AP bonuses on things like Censure and Word of Glory, but really this move just strikes me as trying to clean up the mechanics so the devs don't get a migraine every time they want to tweak a few numbers. Hopefully, we'll come out of this change with most of our limbs intact, and the blues will successfully save a few brain cells in the long run.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retribution originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists beta]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/#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!

Well, comrades in arms, as the old Azerothian saying goes, the squeaky player gets the beta invite. I'd like to think my sobbing in coffee shops and passionate diatribes secured me a spot in the Jade Forest, where I can run around in the beautiful scenery competing with dozens of other players trying to tag one of the three quest mobs that respawns every six days, but I must admit to myself that I'm no more special than the 99,999 other players who received invites at the same time.

In short, I got into the beta. We've already been over what we expect to see when the mists part, but experiencing it firsthand is something else entirely.

The silent filler

One of the first things I noticed after rebuilding all of my macros and assigning keybinds was how disjointed the rotation felt when I was smacking the collection of wild creatures grazing around the outskirts of Dawn's Blossom. Judgment on the pull, Crusader Strike when in melee range, Hammer of Wrath under 20%, Templar's Verdict at 3 holy power ... but something was off. As it turns out, I had forgotten about Exorcism.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists beta

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The Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Dan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-paladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria Beta: Mysterious ruins found beneath Scarlet Halls]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/mists-of-pandaria-beta-mysterious-ruins-found-beneath-scarlet-h/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/mists-of-pandaria-beta-mysterious-ruins-found-beneath-scarlet-h/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/mists-of-pandaria-beta-mysterious-ruins-found-beneath-scarlet-h/#comments Image After we received a tip about a bug in Scarlet Halls on the Mists beta servers, I decided to give it a look for myself. The bug in question, located in the mash-up of the old Library and Armory wings, was actually a door frame that was a tile or two out of alignment, allowing the player to drop through the old monastery and onto an expansive field. A small bump on the horizon indicates that something is off in the distance, so I started running ... and running ... and running. Eventually, I reached some ruins, accompanied by what looked like hand-drawn blueprints for future content. The architecture of the ruins, especially the staircase, could indicate some sort of troll origin. Add to that labels written out for several "jungle zones," and you've got yourself a very troll-friendly area.

I think this is a pretty neat look at the development process; however, I hope it gets patched up soon. Things like this remind me of Alex's article last August about Z-axis secrets and how discoveries such as this -- unfinished content that wasn't meant for our eyes in the first place -- can lead to both a loss of immersion and higher expectations for future content.

Anyway, now that we've gotten that depressing bit out of the way, you can follow my journey in the gallery below!

Gallery: Mists of Pandaria Beta: Ruins beneath Scarlet Halls

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Mysterious ruins found beneath Scarlet Halls originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> designer-areadeveloperdeveloper-areamists-of-pandariascarlet-hallssecret-area (Dan Desmond) Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Mists beta retribution roundup]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/#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!

Last time, I promised to pack as much comprehensive beta information as I could into this post, so I won't bother boring you all with the story of what exactly happened in that hotel room at BlizzCon. Instead, I'll stop wasting precious words and get right to it!

As always when discussing content in an open beta, everything is very much subject to change.

New glyphs

This is probably the most retribution-relevant thing to come out of the recent Mists of Pandaria press tour. Sure, there's all the new zones, Battlegrounds, UI updates, and Pet Battle stuff, but the uniquely paladin piece of the pie is curiously small. Sacco wrote a detailed listing of all of the new glyphs available, but when perusing the paladin glyphs, I noticed something interesting -- there are loads more healing/utility glyphs (Cleansing, Protector of the Innocent) and cosmetic glyphs (Bladed Judgment, Fire from the Heavens) than glyphs affecting damage output (Double Jeopardy, Immediate Truth).

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The Light and How to Swing It: Mists beta retribution roundup originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Dan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists of pandaria paladinmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betaMists-of-Pandaria-Glyphsmists-of-pandaria-press-eventmists-of-pandaria-talentsmistsmistsmistsmistsMistsOfPandariaPaladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Refreshing the retribution utility toolbox]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-refreshing-the-retribution-utilit/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-refreshing-the-retribution-utilit/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/14/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-refreshing-the-retribution-utilit/#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!

I have always been a staunch supporter of the Ret Paladin DPS Equality movement. Ever since my male blood elf first picked up a two-hander and started swinging, I've been quite fixated with the entire meter-chasing DPS subculture that manifests itself in at least a small handful of raiders in each and every guild. There were a few tricks that felt too dirty to use (I'm looking at you, agility gear during Wrath), but for the most part, I have enjoyed the process of milking as much delicious damage from my character as possible.

Lately, however, I have found myself examining this philosophy in a wider scope. Sure, battling for the top spot on Skada has been fun, but is that truly what we should be aspiring to? Is there more to being a ret paladin than golden combo points and a big weapon? Clearly the answer to this question is, "Of course, Dan, are you mental? We have so much utility -- get the net!"

Well ... chyeah, right! Actually, you are right -- our utility spells are among the things that set us apart from other classes and keep us from being just better-looking rogues. But is their mere existence enough, or should our playstyle involve some form of active utility? What would this look like, and is it even feasible?

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The Light and How to Swing It: Refreshing the retribution utility toolbox originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> active utilityActiveUtilitybatman was a ret paladinBatmanWasARetPaladinDan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itselfless-healerutilitywow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[What type of loot system works the best?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/what-type-of-loot-system-works-the-best/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/what-type-of-loot-system-works-the-best/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/what-type-of-loot-system-works-the-best/#comments Loot drama is most often the biggest and juiciest type of drama. Lots of different guilds handle loot distribution differently, though most either do need/greed rolls or use master looter paired with some sort of external system. Sigtyr on the official forums brings up the loot council method, where a few individuals in the know get to decide who gets what piece. Sigtyr certainly feels that, despite objections from the peanut gallery, this system works the best for his group.

This discussion raises a good question: Is there such a thing as the "best loot distribution model"? When Star Wars: The Old Republic launched, Bioware seemed to have gotten a whiff of loot drama in games like WoW and even EverQuest (where anyone could loot anything, anywhere), devising a new system that is in use in its normal-mode operations (the SWTOR equivalent of a raid). There, most loot is auto-assigned based on class and spec. Personally, I've found that model to be frustrating because, among other things, it doesn't select against someone's receiving the same piece over and over again. Overall, I think that system fails because it takes the option away from the players and makes gearing up through operations as frustrating as needing on a piece of gear in the Raid Finder.

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What type of loot system works the best? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dkpepgplootloot dramaloot systemsLootDramaLootSystems (Dan Desmond) Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: 4 ways to start retadin combat off with a bang]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-ways-to-start-retadin-combat-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-ways-to-start-retadin-combat-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-ways-to-start-retadin-combat-of/#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!

One of the perks of this job, at least in my mind, is receiving reader mail and interacting with the community. I love doing what I can to help people new to the spec; it's really why I started blogging and writing about retribution paladins in the first place!

Anyway, last week I received an email posing the following question:
I have noticed that some other ret paladins have very high initial DPS. How are they doing this and how can I do the same?
The string of abilities and buttons you hit at the beginning of combat, called opening sequences or openers, are a much-discussed topic among theorycrafters and the community at large. Naturally, your first few attacks can set the pace for the rest of the fight. Fortunately, the spec is forgiving enough that even if you flub a button at the beginning of an encounter, your overall DPS won't go straight in the toilet. Even so, I have a few pieces of advice up my sleeve from my own experiences that can help you start the fight off right.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: 4 ways to start retadin combat off with a bang

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The Light and How to Swing It: 4 ways to start retadin combat off with a bang originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Dan DesmondDanDesmondguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretributionretribution openersretribution-dpsRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretribution-raidingRetributionOpenersthe light and how to swing itTheLightAndHowToSwingItwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Dan Desmond) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: What was your first world drop epic?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/26/breakfast-topic-what-was-your-first-world-drop-epic/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/26/breakfast-topic-what-was-your-first-world-drop-epic/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/26/breakfast-topic-what-was-your-first-world-drop-epic/#comments The video above is slightly NSFW-ish for some strong language -- but man, is it a hoot!

Torrg over on the official forums posed a very nostalgic question:

What was your first epic world drop?
Sadly, my first purple was something I couldn't use. I was leveling my very first character to 70 during The Burning Crusade, a night elf druid, and I was doing some quests in Tanaris. I was just outside of one of the hives of silithid working my way in, sneaking around in cat form trying to avoid as many of those horrid bugs as possible, when I backed right into one of the suckers. It was an epic battle as I fumbled with keybinds, running around the mob trying to Shred it (OK, perhaps I wasn't the brightest druid out there).

Somehow I came out on top -- and what do you know, the creepy crawler dropped a Gut Ripper. I was crushed when I found out that I couldn't use it, so I sold it on the Auction House for a couple of hundred gold. That kind of money is a decent chunk of change for a new player in their 40s, but with the daunting cost of flying mounts and training later on, it wasn't much more than a drop in the bucket.

So what was your first Professor Plum?

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Breakfast Topic: What was your first world drop epic? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> colonel-mustart-was-way-better-than-professor-plumEpicfacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionlootpurplesWorld-of-Warcraftworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Dan Desmond) Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Should Blizzard leave heroic encounter difficulty alone?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/should-blizzard-leave-heroic-encounter-difficulty-alone/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/should-blizzard-leave-heroic-encounter-difficulty-alone/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/21/should-blizzard-leave-heroic-encounter-difficulty-alone/#comments When the Raid Finder was first introduced, I had high hopes for its impact on the game. While the main reason behind the implementation of this system was arguably to get as many players experiencing raid content as possible, at the time, I was more interested in the impact it would have on the progression races between all of the top guilds in the world. I have always had a great deal of admiration for players in these types of guilds and have watched intently during each new tier as they all vied for world firsts. I believed the Raid Finder could benefit this type of competition by preventing heroic encounters from being nerfed while the content was still current. Surely, I thought, if so many people are able to experience raiding like never before through this new tool, Blizzard would have no pressing reason to make heroic encounters any easier.

Well, it seems I was wrong, for in the very next tier of content Blizzard released, we saw progressive nerfs to these difficult fights. Personally, I prefer to keep these encounters the way they are, at least until a new tier is released. Something just feels wrong to see the hardest fights available made easier through a series of hotfixes. Even with respect to my own guild's progression, having sweeping nerfs hit Firelands just as my guild was putting in some really good attempts on Ragnaros felt like Blizzard moved the finish line, taking what would have been a very gratifying kill and turning it into an accidental one-shot that contained none of the catharsis we had felt during previous boss kills.

What do you think? With the Raid Finder now a reality and a new expansion looming on the horizon, do you think the difficulty of heroic raid encounters should be static, like those from tier 11, or should they be more flexible?

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Should Blizzard leave heroic encounter difficulty alone? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Dan DesmondDanDesmondheroicshotfixhotfixeslfrnerfnerfsraid finderraidfinderraiding (Dan Desmond) Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: In defense of Inquisition]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-inquisition/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-inquisition/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-inquisition/#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!

When your paladin first hit level 81 and you visited your trainer, I bet you had no idea how much of an impact that little ability called Inquisition would have on your future DPSing career. OK, maybe if you read the tooltip you could have had some idea, but I will fully admit that I completely forgot it was in my spellbook until a short while after I hit 85. And to be fair, at the time it was a really lackluster ability. Sure, Exorcism hit like a truck thanks to the new version of The Art of War, and Hammer of Wrath still hit decently hard, but other than those two abilities, Inquisition didn't really buff a whole lot. One of the main selling points of Inquisition (if not the main selling point) came when Blizzard changed our mastery from 3 free holy power to X% extra holy damage off your most used abilities in patch 4.0.6, allowing Inquisition to boost an even larger percentage of our damage by 30%.

So, thanks to our mastery, Inquisition is here to stay. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? In case my own opinion wasn't made clear in the title, I have been a long-time supporter of this ability. However, I know that there is a very large group of players with a dissenting opinion, and that's OK. Some preferred the Wrath model of retribution to the current model, and for others, it's just the opposite. In an effort to make my reasoning clear, I'm going to pick a few of the most common complaints I have seen or heard. Hopefully, my responses won't make me seem like I'm a masochistic freak who loves to stare at a countdown and plot in advance exactly when to refresh it.

Because I'm totally not -- my therapist assures me that I'm a completely normal person.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: In defense of Inquisition

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The Light and How to Swing It: In defense of Inquisition originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpDan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysinquisitionpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretributionRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Should there be a hide option for RealID?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/should-there-be-a-hide-option-for-realid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/should-there-be-a-hide-option-for-realid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/should-there-be-a-hide-option-for-realid/#comments No matter how much we may love playing with our guilds and friends, sometimes we just want to take some time off and play in single-player mode. However, with the pervasiveness of the RealID system, is it truly feasible to go off the grid to do this? Syl over at Raging Monkeys attempts to tackle this very problem, arguing enthusiastically that we should be allowed this option, that it would not only be convenient but also would benefit those relationships we have built both in-game and out.

Personally, I'm a bit torn on the issue. On the one hand, I can identify with this situation, as I have been there many times before. My own friends would always want to level alts together, but our goals for those characters never quite lined up. I'd find myself creating secret alts on another faction, sometimes on another server -- not only to experience more of the story and lore than I had before, but to just be alone. Of course, this was all before the RealID system was implemented, because after its debut, I was not able to start a new draenei paladin or blood elf rogue without being flooded with questions and, admittedly, a little guilt.

On the other hand, there is a very simple solution to all of this: Put your foot down. If someone asks why you're on Area 52 rolling a worgen warlock (or why you're even rolling a warlock in the first place, yuck), I think we all can agree that the best solution would be to honestly and delicately state that you need some time off, away from all of your in-game obligations -- including those inquiring minds. But is confronting your pursuers really that easy? For some, this type of thing comes naturally, and I for one am extremely envious of these people. For others, confrontation of this sort is not something we want to deal with, and the option to hide from RealID becomes a safe, albeit passive-aggressive, option.

What do you think? Is this a feature that Blizzard should be working on, or should these players find other means of enjoying the game in solitary peace?

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Should there be a hide option for RealID? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> anonymousbattle-netbattle.netBattleNetBlizzardBlizzard-Entertainmentprivacyprivacy-issuesprivacy-settingsreal-idRealId (Dan Desmond) Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-fall-of-deathwing-ret-editio/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-fall-of-deathwing-ret-editio/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-fall-of-deathwing-ret-editio/#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!

This is it, guys and girls. This is the moment we have all been training for while hitting that poor target dummy in Orgrimmar, because only repeatedly bashing a plank of wood will truly prepare you to square off against a dragon as epic as the big DW. So pick up your weapon, your bag of tricks, and your handful of cooldowns -- it's time to kill Deathwing the Destroyer.

Spine of Deathwing

I remember when there was wild speculation on what the Deathwing fight in Dragon Soul would actually look like. The devs announced that we would jump on him for part of the fight, and my strange brain secretly hoped that we would start at his tail and work our way up, maybe chopping off his legs and wings into a giant container of dry rub so the Titans could come on down and throw it on a massive barbecue. Honestly, we should have done that with Onyxia so she couldn't be resurrected 14 times!

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition, part 2

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The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpDan DesmondDanDesmonddeathwingdragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysJoystiqmadness-of-deathwingpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-retribution-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3raidingret paladinsRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itspine-of-deathwingtalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition part 1]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/-fall-of-deathwing-ret-paladin-part-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/-fall-of-deathwing-ret-paladin-part-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/-fall-of-deathwing-ret-paladin-part-1/#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!

Well, here we are, the first two of the final four bosses of the expansion. That is, we think Deathwing is the final boss of the expansion -- it is still unclear whether Blizzard will pull another We're not done with the next expansion yet! raid on us like it did in Wrath with Ruby Sanctum. Regardless, we have a raid that needs a conclusion and a guide to go along with it, so let's get started!

Please note that this guide, like many others I have written, is for the normal version of each encounter. Some mechanics, like Fading Light and Twilight Sappers, either work differently or have been removed on the Raid Finder difficulty.

Ultraxion

I really wish I had more to say about this fight, but Blizzard isn't having it. Simply put, Ultraxion is this raid's Patchwerk with the addition of a button. Yes, you really do just stand in one place, run your rotation train on him, and hit a button when the situation calls for it. I honestly wish there were more to this fight, but there it is.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition part 1

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The Light and How to Swing It: The Fall of Deathwing, ret edition part 1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blackhornclass-helpDan DesmondDanDesmonddragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3ret paladinsRetPaladinsRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsultraxionwarmaster-blackhornworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the Siege of Wyrmrest Temple]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/04/ret-paladin-siege-of-wyrmrest-temple/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/04/ret-paladin-siege-of-wyrmrest-temple/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/04/ret-paladin-siege-of-wyrmrest-temple/#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!

Now that everyone has seen plenty of Dragon Soul, I think it's perfect time for a raid guide! In all seriousness, I've always enjoyed looking up other strat ideas and little tidbits of useful information on things that I had already been doing, and there are still plenty of people out there who are either just starting Dragon Soul due to holiday schedules or something similar, so there we go! This week we will take a look at the first four bosses of Dragon Soul: Morchok, Warlord Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj the Unsleeping, and Hagara the Stormbinder.

Morchok

He looks intimidating, but really he's just one big rocky pushover. For the majority of the fight, all you need to focus on is avoiding AoE damage and hitting the boss. In terms of positioning, most strats call for the DPS and healers to stack up at max melee range so that Morchok can focus his extra Stomp damage on your tanks and not you. Therefore, when you see Crusader Strike light up, don't go any further in.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the Siege of Wyrmrest Temple

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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution and the Siege of Wyrmrest Temple originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Black Bloodclass-helpDan Desmonddragon soulDragonSoulfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyshagarahagara-the-stormbinderJoystiqmorchokpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3ret paladinsRetPaladinssiege-of-wyrmresttalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guideyorsahjyorsahj-the-unsleepingzon-ozzzonozz (Dan Desmond) Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: How to evaluate your DPS using World of Logs]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/how-to-evaluate-your-dps-using-wol/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/how-to-evaluate-your-dps-using-wol/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/how-to-evaluate-your-dps-using-wol/#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!

When it comes to tanking or healing, it's pretty obvious when you're doing things correctly. The metrics for these important roles typically involve staving off death as long as possible, whether it be through drawing a monster's ire or invoking the name of some unseen deity to mend the wounds of one's allies. As members of the damage-dealing brigade, we ret paladins can be said to adhere to the same requirements in that we attempt to kill our adversaries before they kill us, but truly gauging a DPSer's value involves more than just looking at meter addons like Recount and Skada. Today, we will discuss the use of a very versatile and amazingly useful tool known as World of Logs in the context of retribution paladin DPS.

Buffs gained

In my opinion, buffs gained is one of the more handy parts of World of Logs. Here, you can see what buffs you gained throughout the course of an encounter, from Bloodlust to Divine Guardian and beyond. Notice that if you click on the pound sign (#) next to any ability, a graph comparing your damage done with overall raid DPS will pop up at the top of the screen. Underneath that graph will be your selected ability, with green boxes representing the uptime on the buff or debuff. The check box next to the name of the ability will overlay this uptime information on top of the graph itself.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: How to evaluate your DPS using World of Logs

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The Light and How to Swing It: How to evaluate your DPS using World of Logs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpDan Desmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysJoystiqpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld of logsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideWorldOfLogswow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Raid gear for ret paladins in Dragon Soul]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-raid-gear-for-ret-paladins-in-dra/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-raid-gear-for-ret-paladins-in-dra/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-raid-gear-for-ret-paladins-in-dra/#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!

Before we begin talking about upgrades in Dragon Soul, we need to discuss the three separate tiers of raid gear available in patch 4.3. Thanks to the introduction of the Raid Finder, a lower tier of the same gear that drops from normal and heroic Dragon Soul is readily available to those who queue for it. This lower tier is of ilevel 384, the same level gear that drops from Ragnaros on normal difficulty. If you had done any heroic Firelands raiding and got some gear, you will find that the Raid Finder tier is seven ilevels behind that gear.

For most pieces, you will want to upgrade as normal (from 378 to 384, for example). For tier gear, however, it appears that the new two-piece T13 set bonus overpowers the itemization difference between heroic T12 and Raid Finder gear, at least for now. If you're available to do additional testing, I'm sure the theorycrafters at the Elitist Jerks retribution thread would adore you for contributing. For the time being, I would pick up some lower-ilevel tier and test it out while still holding onto your heroic T12. Remember, four-piece T13 is our ultimate goal here, so don't skimp on those loot rolls.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Raid gear for ret paladins in Dragon Soul

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The Light and How to Swing It: Raid gear for ret paladins in Dragon Soul originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpDan DesmondDanDesmonddragon souldragon soul lootDragonSoulDragonSoulLootfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3ret paladinsRetPaladinsretributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Dealing damage in Dragon Soul heroic dungeons]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/ret-paladin-dragon-soul-heroic-dungeons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/ret-paladin-dragon-soul-heroic-dungeons/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/ret-paladin-dragon-soul-heroic-dungeons/#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!

This new series of heroics runs akin to the Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection trio of Wrath in that you must complete them in a specific order. In the interest of fitting all of these encounters in one post, I will need to truncate a lot of descriptions and irrelevant details. If you have any questions or suggestions for your fellow ret paladins, please feel free to drop a comment below!

Warning: This post contains strategies and brief descriptions of the new heroic dungeons in patch 4.3 that may or may not be spoiler-esque. As always with my columns, proceed with caution.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Dealing damage in Dragon Soul heroic dungeons

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The Light and How to Swing It: Dealing damage in Dragon Soul heroic dungeons originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 4.3-ptrclass-helpDan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysheroic-dungeonspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-retribution-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3retributionretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Secondary stat discussion for the discerning ret paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/09/ret-paladin-secondary-stats/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/09/ret-paladin-secondary-stats/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/09/ret-paladin-secondary-stats/#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!

Since we're approaching what should be the final content patch before Mists of Pandaria, now would be a good time to discuss secondary stats. We saw in Wrath that things like haste and crit got out of control near the end of the expansion; a mage in my guild longs for the days when he could get his crit up past some absurd number and make fire "good again."

I don't have the heart to tell him that no amount of crit will ever make him good -- but I digress.

Let's take a look at those stats on our gear other than King Strength and how they work together to give us some big numbers.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Secondary stat discussion for the discerning ret paladin

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The Light and How to Swing It: Secondary stat discussion for the discerning ret paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsthe light and how to swing itTheLightAndHowToSwingItworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Ret talent preview for Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/26/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-talent-preview-for-mists-of-p/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/26/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-talent-preview-for-mists-of-p/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/26/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-ret-talent-preview-for-mists-of-p/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned retribution 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 compliments!

This year marked my very first BlizzCon, so naturally I camped nearly every WoW class and talent panel I could manage. With bated breath and a semi-charged smartphone, I sat ready to transcribe my thoughts on any and all retribution tidbits that flowed forth like honey from the developers' proverbial beehive. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how much faith you have in the ret community to produce cogent questions), there weren't many big revelations related to our spec at any of the Q&As. There remains, however, one relevant topic that we can discuss, and that is the revamped talent system coming with Mists of Pandaria.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Ret talent preview for Mists of Pandaria

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The Light and How to Swing It: Ret talent preview for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzconblizzcon-2011class-helpDan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspandaria-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 3]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/12/retribution-paladin-firelands-strat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/12/retribution-paladin-firelands-strat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/12/retribution-paladin-firelands-strat/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned retribution 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 compliments!

We're on the home stretch, ladies and gents. We have slain Shannox and Lord Rhyolith. We have squashed Beth'tilac and Alysrazor. Now only three bosses stand between you and that pretty orange mace that has "The Retribution Dream" etched on the hilt. However, before you start making vacation plans with your beloved future acquisition, we need to get through those roadblocks.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 3

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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpDan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.2retribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.2wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.2wow-patch-4.2-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution paladin feedback]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-paladin-feedback/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-paladin-feedback/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-retribution-paladin-feedback/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned retribution 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 compliments!

Before we begin, let's have a quick overview of our snazzy new tier 13 armor, complete with set bonuses!

Aesthetically speaking, I really like the look of it. Sure, the helm is a bit gaudy, but I think the color scheme and overall design really fit the concept of paladin well. Blizzard stated that it based the design off of Guardian of Ancient Kings, but it obviously went beyond that just a tad. Also, for those of you not keen on plate dresses, this set should be right up your alley!

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution paladin feedback

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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution paladin feedback originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-feedbackclass-helpDan Desmondfeaturedguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysJoystiqpaladin-class-feedbackpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspaladin-tier-13pally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-4.3retribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentstier-13world-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/paladin-retribution-firelands-guide/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/paladin-retribution-firelands-guide/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/09/13/paladin-retribution-firelands-guide/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. This week, Dan Desmond walks you through the Firelands.

Before we delve into some strategies for dealing with another two bosses within the Firelord's domain, let's have some quick words about the most recent Censure hotfix. Yes, it's a marginal DPS increase, made even more marginal if you need to switch targets often and drop your stacks -- but the important thing is that Blizzard's working on it. Trust me, more buffs are coming.

Last time, we covered some tips for dealing with Shannox and Lord Rhyolith. This week, we continue the two-for-one deal and bring you two very add-centric fights, Beth'tilac and Alysrazor.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 2

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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> alysrazorbeth-tilacbethtilacclass-helpfeaturedfirelandsguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 1]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/retribution-paladin-firelands-part-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/retribution-paladin-firelands-part-1/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/retribution-paladin-firelands-part-1/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. This week, Dan Desmond walks you through the Firelands.

Firelands has been out for a couple of months now. Many have gotten their hands dirty fighting against the minions of Ragnaros; a few have even beaten the elemental lord himself. But many more are just rolling up their sleeves, waiting for their friends and guildmates to get bored of playing in the sun (seriously, it's going to be there for another 5 billion years -- I think you can play a little Warcraft here and there and it won't mind). Well then, what better place to start than at the beginning?

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 1

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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpfeaturedfirelandsguideguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslord-rhyolithpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsragefaceretribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itrhyolithriplimbshannoxtalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infowow-talent-guide (Dan Desmond) Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider