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 2013 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Throne of Thunder With Protection Paladins: Being awesome]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/throne-of-thunder-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/throne-of-thunder-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/throne-of-thunder-protection-paladins/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Breaking encounters in the Throne of Thunder with protection paladins Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

It's not a new phenomenon for protection paladins to be able to use their extensive utility toolbox to mitigate or outright circumvent fight mechanics; it's something that we've been doing since Uther first picked up a blunt object. Throne of Thunder continues that lofty tradition with all sorts of mechanics that can be ducked or dodged by crafty paladins with an excellent sense of timing and the proper addons or macros. We'll also touch on whether it's a good thing that one corner of WoW's tanks can break aspects of an encounter, and the ramifications of such possibilities.

Continue reading Throne of Thunder With Protection Paladins: Being awesome

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Throne of Thunder With Protection Paladins: Being awesome originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itthrone-of-thunderwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: In defense of stamina]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-stamina/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-stamina/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-in-defense-of-stamina/#comments This looks like a 200% spike event. Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

If you have spent much time on the official forums at any point since the beginning of -- oh, say, Cataclysm -- you'd notice that there is a particularly prevalent slur that is oft flung around in tanking discussions. This slur cuts to the very core of what it means to be a tank, it is an accusation of seeking vainglory over properly gearing ourselves for survivability. Worse, it is an accusation of being behind the times on tank theorycrafting due to either apathy or incompetence. It is the Scarlet S.

Stam stacker.

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

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The Light and How to Swing It: In defense of stamina originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itstaminawow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Mastering the Troves of the Thunder King as a paladin]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mastering-the-troves-of-the-thund/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mastering-the-troves-of-the-thund/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mastering-the-troves-of-the-thund/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A look at 52 tanking loot Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Fortune and glory, kid. Nothing animates like the prospect of a massive pile of treasure, especially when you're racing against the clock and greedily snatching up as much as you can. The trick, in the end, is to be prepared for any obstacles thrown at you -- that is what separates the Indiana Joneses of this world from the Satipos. And if you prefer to be the former and exit the scenario with more gold than you can carry, you'll need to do your homework before you plunge into this exciting new feature from patch 5.2.

Thankfully, paladins tend to have a lot of tricks up their sleeves and with the new talent system that is doubly true. With the right preparation, we can make the most of our toolset and claw our way to the end of the loot run with a minimum of muss or fuss.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Mastering the Troves of the Thunder King as a paladin

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The Light and How to Swing It: Mastering the Troves of the Thunder King as a paladin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentstroves-of-the-thunder-kingtroves-of-the-thunder-king-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Tanking the first three bosses of Throne of Thunder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-tanking-the-first-three-bosses-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-tanking-the-first-three-bosses-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-tanking-the-first-three-bosses-of/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A look at 52 tanking loot Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Like jumping into a cold pool after spending too much time in the hot tub, tanking Throne of Thunder after weeks of tier 14 may be a bit of a shocking experience. (Sorry, had to.) This place is no joke -- the health and damage requirements are ratcheted up severely from the previous tier of raiding. The bosses will hit harder and the mechanics will be tighter, but on the other hand, the loot will be even shinier. Honor and glory awaits in the halls of the Thunder King.

The first quarter of the dungeon is designated as the Last Stand of the Zandalari, and you'll be seeing some old, tusked faces. Let's talk about what you'll need to do to withstand everything that the finest warriors of that dying land can throw at you.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Tanking the first three bosses of Throne of Thunder

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The Light and How to Swing It: Tanking the first three bosses of Throne of Thunder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> council of eldersCouncilOfEldersfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyshorridonjinrokhjinrokh the breakerJinrokhTheBreakerpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch 5.2Patch5.2protection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itthrone of thunderThroneOfThunderwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: A look at 5.2 tanking loot]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-5-2-tanking-loot/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-5-2-tanking-loot/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-5-2-tanking-loot/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A look at 52 tanking loot Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Another patch, another tumbling pile of loot that we will spend the next half year greedily chasing like a kid in a candy store. Y'know, if the kid was only allowed to visit the candy store once a week, and the store owner handed him a random piece every time he visited. Still, it's pretty exciting, the possibilities of a new patch. Aside from all the interesting new stuff to do, a new patch always presents the opportunity to grow your character in power and effectiveness through ever-increasing item levels.

5.2 is unique in that, for the first time, most raid drops will have five different versions of item level value. With the introduction of Thunderforged items, we now can collect Raid Finder, Normal, Normal Thunderforged, Heroic, and Heroic Thunderforged flavors of each and every raid drop. Despite this cacophony of loot, for the purposes of my sanity and yours, I'll only be listing the normal-mode version of each item in the list ahead.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: A look at 5.2 tanking loot

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The Light and How to Swing It: A look at 5.2 tanking loot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: A review of tier 14 from a tanking perspective]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-review-of-tier-14-from-a-tankin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-review-of-tier-14-from-a-tankin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-review-of-tier-14-from-a-tankin/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A review of tier 14 from a tanking perspective Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

With the Throne of Thunder echoing in the distance, it will not be much longer before tier 14 is a fading and pleasant memory for many raiders. I think it's a fair assessment to say that this tier has been one of the most successful in WoW's history, at least from an encounter design perspective. An unexpected follow-up from the doldrums of Dragon Soul, the raids of Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Spring have been interesting and (most importantly!) engaging -- especially for tanks.

Remember that in the closing days of Dragon Soul and Cataclysm, there was a general feeling of ennui in the raid tanking community. Between the nullification of threat, the introduction of Vengeance, and the seeming dumbing-down of raid mechanics throughout Cataclysm, the sentiment was that Blizzard had given up on making tanking interesting at anything but the heroic raid level. And even then, by "interesting" it meant you would have to cope with much, much more damage. Obviously, it's human nature to assume that past is prologue and as such many tanks assumed the worst was yet to come.

So imagine the surprise when the mists dispersed and the land of Pandaria revealed an unexpected renaissance for raid tanks.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: A review of tier 14 from a tanking perspective

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The Light and How to Swing It: A review of tier 14 from a tanking perspective originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredFeng-the-Accursedgaralonguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslei-shimeljarakpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittier-14will-of-the-emperorwind-lord-meljarakwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: A not-so-hasty retreat]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-not-so-hasty-retreat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-not-so-hasty-retreat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/02/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-not-so-hasty-retreat/#comments The Light and How to Swing It 52 roundup for protection Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Ghostcrawler created panicked ripples in the tankadin community when he unexpectedly declared on the forums that he had "plans to try and lower the value of haste relative to dodge and parry." I'm sure you, as I, have read over these quotes multiple times, so I won't repeat them all in full for the sake of not wasting the humble electrons shooting through your computer.

Nonetheless, the key takeaway is that he feels the main problem is paladin tanks are prioritizing haste, which wasn't supposed to be a major tanking stat, over dodge and parry. (More on that in a bit.) He foresees that a fix might have to involve a nerf to Shield of the Righteous, the primary beneficiary of our haste; though this would be accompanied by some kind of buff to keep our survivability level.

Likewise, GC is concerned with protection paladins taking haste plate out of the mouths of those specs it was designed for -- DPS death knights and paladins among them -- and thus causing unnecessary friction in a group. And, of course, he's worried that protection paladins might turn their nose at good tanking gear with dodge and parry stats, considering them garbage. (Again, we'll revisit this.)

Thankfully, the crab recognizes that above all, having haste as a tank is fun, and he claims he wants to preserve that. Which is great. So, let's look at this whole crazy mess, and figure out where we are and where this might leave us.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: A not-so-hasty retreat

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The Light and How to Swing It: A not-so-hasty retreat originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredGhostcrawlerguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysHastepaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[5.2 round-up for protection paladins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/19/5-2-round-up-for-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/19/5-2-round-up-for-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/19/5-2-round-up-for-protection-paladins/#comments The Light and How to Swing It 52 roundup for protection Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I must admit, while following all the changes of path 5.2 as they trickled out, the one change that got me really, really pumped was the further loosening of transmog rules. In 5.2, a one-handed sword (as just about all our epic weapons are this expansion) can be transmogrified to an axe or a mace. In addition, many weapons from earlier expansions that were designated as mainhand weapons, have been changed one-hand weapons.

Combined, this means that in 5.2, no matter what actual weapon I have, it can look like the Gavel of Unearthed Secrets -- an iconic paladin weapon if I ever saw one. Sure, swords are great (the Crusader's Glory is particularly nice), but when I think of paladins smiting the undead and enforcing the will of the Light, I see them holding a massive hammer in their hands. So I'm excited to return to that motif.

But obviously there's a lot more going on in patch 5.2 than transmogrifying! There is a new tier set with new set bonuses worth digging into, as well as a slew of class changes that are coming down the pike.

Continue reading 5.2 round-up for protection paladins

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5.2 round-up for protection paladins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5.2featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspatch-5.2protection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Level 80 paladin solos some Mogu'shan Vaults bosses, gets Vengeance hotfixed]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/level-80-paladin-solos-some-mogushan-vaults-bosses-gets-vengea/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/level-80-paladin-solos-some-mogushan-vaults-bosses-gets-vengea/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/level-80-paladin-solos-some-mogushan-vaults-bosses-gets-vengea/#comments
A great video is making the rounds right now of an exceptional player using some unintended consequences to solo multiple bosses in Mogu'shan Vaults -- and as a protection-specced paladin no less! He apparently downed Stone Guard, Feng, and Elegon before Blizzard caught wind of the escapade. You can see a video of the Elegon kill above.

How he pulled this off was by taking advantage of a series of design choices that Blizzard made, combining them all into a hilarious example of the law of unintended consequences in action.

To reach a decent item level, the paladin equipped various bind on equip rares that drop in Mists zones which all had a required character level of only 80. And because he was only level 80, he was avoiding the combat ratings drop-offs for levels 81 and 86 that a normal character wearing those pieces would be subjected too. This would allow him to get an insane amount of secondary stats like haste (I've seen that he had 95%!) and mastery (88%, apparently).

Continue reading Level 80 paladin solos some Mogu'shan Vaults bosses, gets Vengeance hotfixed

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Level 80 paladin solos some Mogu'shan Vaults bosses, gets Vengeance hotfixed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingelegonFeng-the-AccursedhotfixMogushan-Vaultspaladinprotection-paladinsolosoloingstone-guardvengeancevengeance-nerf (Matt Walsh) Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Terrace of Endless Spring]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-te/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-te/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/05/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-te/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Terrace of Endless Spring is a weird conclusion to the joyous majesty of tier 14. We go from one large raid to another large raid, and then the tier caps with chasing a Sha back to his Breakfast Nook of Fear. I suppose, however, you do have to give Blizzard a hand for managing to efficiently cram so many bosses into such a small area. The economy of space in there is very well executed.

Nonetheless, all meta discussion aside, from a tanking perspective, Terrace of the Endless Spring is nothing to write home about compared to the rest of the tier. The fights are okay, but don't really require the same engagement that fights in Mogu'shan Vaults, or even the Heart of Fear, demanded. Regardless, it being the last raid of the tier, the damage is higher and the need to keep yourself on two feet is oh-so-pressing. There are definitely some good tricks in your toolbox that will help keep you vertical and the thus the raid from going pear-shaped. Let's explore them.

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

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The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Terrace of Endless Spring originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslei-shiPaladin-Glyphspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itsha-of-fearterrace-of-endless-springtsulongwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Heart of Fear]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-he/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-he/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/15/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-he/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

You know those awful kids in your neighborhood who, on a hot summer's day, would find an ant hill and roast the little suckers inside with their grandmother's magnifying glass, or push rocks and sticks in the hole in an attempt to starve the inhabitants? That's how raiding the Heart of Fear feels for me sometime. It's a hive of six-legged-pants-wetting terror and we're just adding onto the troubles of those poor insects. It's a little cruel, really -- kicking them when they're down.

Incidentally, you know what class that awful kid grew up to play? A warrior; it's a fact of behavioral science. (OK, probably a rogue. But I have to get my shots in.)

Anyway, when it comes to demolishing your way through piles and piles of exoskeleton-clad fanatics and extremists, sworn to protect the only female they have ever known, you'll need every tool and trick at your disposal. Much like in Mogu'shan Vaults, this expansion's iteration of talents and glyphs gives us a wide amount of latitude in how we approach a fight, and can provide some decisive advantages. Let's talk about how!

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Heart of Fear

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The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Heart of Fear originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysheart of fearHeartOfFearpaladin glyphspaladin talentspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentsPaladinGlyphsPaladinTalentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Thank the Light, encounters are interesting to tank again]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-thank-the-light-encounters-are-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-thank-the-light-encounters-are-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-thank-the-light-encounters-are-i/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote a column bemoaning the current state of tanking in Cataclysm and specifically how terribly boring the encounters were to tank. It was a common complaint throughout Firelands that only got worse in the doldrums of Dragon Soul. The majority of fights in those two raids were soul-suckingly droll when it came to tanking them, and the most pessimistic of us saw the repetition of the boring tank encounter model in DS as a terrifying new trend in encounter design.

Combine that with the recent removal of threat and you had some serious tank ennui. I closed out the column with a similar sentiment and down-cast eyes as Mists loomed ahead. The prevailing fear was that the trend would continue and fights would get easier and more boring to tank with every successive raid tier.

However, 11 months and an expansion later, I'm happy to report that the trend that I and many others had feared was arrested in this first burst of raid content. In Mists of Pandaria, especially in Mogu'shan Vaults, the game took a huge leap forward with regards to making encounters that are not only interesting to tank, but all fun and engaging as well.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Thank the Light, encounters are interesting to tank again

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The Light and How to Swing It: Thank the Light, encounters are interesting to tank again originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredFeng-the-Accursedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysMogushan-Vaultspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itstone-guardwill-of-the-emperorwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-mo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-mo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/17/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-talents-and-glyphs-for-tanking-mo/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

My brawny colleague Dan Desmond covered this topic for his two-handed cohort earlier this week, but I think it's also worth exploring for all the tankadins out there. Namely, what talents and glyphs can be utilized to make tanking the first raid of tier 14 a little easier?

Sure the new hotness is Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (and I'll get to those!), but I expect that the vast majority of players are still actively working on clearing Mogu'shan Vaults, or are slogging through it weekly in LFR for precious, precious VP. Even if you've been doing this place ad nauseam for the last few weeks, there are always little tweaks that can be made to get the job done faster with less damage taken!

For reference, these are the base talents and glyphs I go with. So any suggestions I make will be what deviates from those. Especially with regards to Glyph of the Battle Healer, you should make sure to have that up at all times and should be actively tanking with Seal of Insight. It can make a noticeable difference in your survivability, and can pay some dividends for the survivability of your melee colleagues.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Talents and glyphs for tanking Mogu'shan Vaults originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredglyphsguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysMogushan-VaultsPaladin-Glyphspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-ittalentswow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Getting better control of your active mitigation]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-getting-better-control-of-your-ac/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-getting-better-control-of-your-ac/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/03/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-getting-better-control-of-your-ac/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Getting better control of your active mitigation Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

The other week I wrote about the control gearing strategy, though only briefly touched on one of the major cornerstones of that approach: a control-focused rotation. With such a rotation you can squeeze every drop of active mitigation survivability out of the accompanying gear design, and as a result you'll be much less squishy than if you were depending on passive mitigation to carry the day for you.

When first starting out with tanking in this expansion (be you a brand new tankadin, one returning from a long hiatus, or even just a bit rusty), a sense of how to optimally perform the rotation may seem just out of reach. It takes practice, for sure, to hammer down in your muscle memory and reflex pathways the priority of your abilities, so you know just which attack to use at any given moment.

For all the oxygen devoted to proper gearing, in the end, the single greatest boost you can give to your survivability is to perform your active mitigation properly. Let's talk about how.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Getting better control of your active mitigation

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The Light and How to Swing It: Getting better control of your active mitigation originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: "Control" and the new tank gearing paradigm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-control-and-the-new-tank-gearin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-control-and-the-new-tank-gearin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-control-and-the-new-tank-gearin/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Control and the new tank gearing paradigm SAT Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I admit, I'm a bit of a jerk to have dropped the bomb that I did in my last column, regarding the new gearing paradigm described by Theck recently. It really is a huge shift for us and how we choose to gear ourselves, and I admit it is disconcerting at first glance. However, I assure you, it's based on solid theorycrafting and will allow you to tune your damage profile to something that will not only make your job easier, but your healers' as well.

Why so much hit and expertise?

So, as I explained in the last column, your gearing priorities will be the hit and hard (yes, hard) expertise cap, then focus on either haste or mastery, depending on taste (more on that ahead). Your dump/reforge-from stats will, sadly, be avoidance.

With regards to hit and expertise, the reason you want the maximum of both is due to the workings of our active mitigation system. In order to generate holy power, we need to hit things. Crusader Strike and Judgment must all connect to allow us to stack the good stuff (Avenger's Shield procs just need to be cast to build holy power). And thus, the more steady and guaranteed our holy power generation (HPG) is, the more reliably we can hit Shield of the Righteous and get its buff up.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: "Control" and the new tank gearing paradigm

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The Light and How to Swing It: "Control" and the new tank gearing paradigm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysHastepaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 20 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the mogu sorcerer rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/how-to-defeat-the-mogu-sorcerer-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/how-to-defeat-the-mogu-sorcerer-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/how-to-defeat-the-mogu-sorcerer-rare-spawns/#comments How to defeat the mogu sorcerer rare spawns
Over the past two weeks my colleague, Dan Desmond, and I have talked about how to quickly and efficiently to dispatch champions of the various races of Pandaria. Lording over all of those "lesser races" at one time (or, in some cases, even creating them!) were the mogu. A race of imperious and vindictive creatures, the mogu featured among their ranks sorcerers of great power who could bend flesh and stone to their will.

Sprinkled throughout Pandaria you can find some rare examples of these domineering magi. They're not terribly difficult, compared especially to other rare spawn types, but they can certainly hold their own. It's never a bad idea to go into battle with one knowing what will surely be thrown at you.
  • Dark Bolt: This is what the mogu will be spamming at you. With no cooldown and a second-and-a-half cast time, expect lots of these to be thrown your way. They don't hit for much, so they should be easy to shrug off.
  • Shadowbolt: Offering a much larger beating than Dark Bolt, this spell has a 1.8 second cast time and a five-second cooldown. Considering it hits for significantly more, you'll want to do your best to interrupt it whenever you can, if you can. If only to make things easier for yourself.
  • Voidcloud: Pretty straightforward -- the sorcerer spawns a cloud, and if you stand in it, you'll die in short order. Avoid the clouds, which will not be hard at all.
Unlike the pandaren rare spawns, for instance, there are no special mechanics forcing you to cope with the mogu's attacks. It's a very by-the-book mob to fight: don't stand in the bad, interrupt the most painful spell, and drop the enemy.

Here is a list of each mogu sorcerer, their location, and what special item they can drop: Good luck clawing your place at the very top of the Pandaria food chain!
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.

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How to defeat the mogu sorcerer rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> mists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-raresmogumogu-sorcererrare-spawns (Matt Walsh) Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How to defeat the hozen rare spawns]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-hozen-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-hozen-rare-spawns/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/11/how-to-defeat-the-hozen-rare-spawns/#comments
How to defeat the hozen rare spawns
There's just something about the hozen that makes me so happy. It's probably their bizarre dialect where nearly every word is some variation of ook or grook or dook, or perhaps their propensity for scatological haikus. Either way, you can imagine my apprehension whenever I came across one of these pinnacles of hozenhood. Clearly it had to die -- if only for a shot at the plentiful gold, experience, and perhaps a rare item that it might be holding -- but boy did it hurt to ook that grookin' hozen in the dooker.

Like the pandaren, jinyu, yaungol, and other rare spawns, no matter how slight one of these adversaries may look, you still want to approach them with caution. The hozen rare spawns possess several punishing abilities that make it a threat to anyone with lead feet. Likewise, this is not a boss you want to fight in close confines. These abilities are:
  • Bananarang: The hozen throws a banana, which spins out in a line away from him, and then returns. If it connects, the target takes 45% of their maximum health as physical damage. Yee-ouch.
  • Going Bananas: Flipping his lid, the hozen bounces around and does physical damage to anyone he lands on. No much you can do other than run around and attempt to evade any landings. Though, admittedly, this will be pretty easy if there's enough room for you move around.
  • Toss Filth: Puts a debuff on the target, increasing damage taken by 11%. Can stack, and each stack lasts 30 seconds. Basically makes the fight a race against the clock.
Basically, the best way to approach these is to constantly be on the move. Get your licks in, don't get hit by the banana when it goes out, and try to avoid getting stomped on. Not much you can do about Toss Filth, so just focus on getting the hozen down before it stacks too high, or kite if that's possible with your class. Cooldowns are a must as the fight draws on, if you have too many stacks of the debuff.

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How to defeat the hozen rare spawns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> hozenhozen-peace-pipehozen-raresmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-raresrare-spawns (Matt Walsh) Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Insider's Guide to the Anglers]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-the-anglers/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-the-anglers/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-the-anglers/#comments Guide to the Anglers The entire continent of Pandaria seems to ravaged by war, doubt, and uncertainty, but you wouldn't know it by visiting the Angler's Wharf. There you'll find a crew of light-hearted folks that are too busy sitting on a dock by Krasarang Bay with a fishing line tied to their toe. The humble fishers there have a variety of dailies and rewards that make it a breeze to level fishing -- and worthwhile to boot. If you're like me and actually enjoy the quiet solitude of casting a line in some far-off corner of WoW then this faction is just icing on the cake.

A soggy introduction

Before you hit level 90 and begin the interminable grind that is the Pandaria daily shuffle, your first introduction to the Anglers will be in Soggy's Gamble, in the southeastern corner of the Dread Wastes. All of the quests in that hub reward reputation with the Anglers, and in total should be enough to put you in striking distance of Friendly before you ever do a single daily. Make sure you complete these for an early boost to the rep.

Now, let's dig into what the Anglers have to offer, exactly.

Continue reading WoW Insider's Guide to the Anglers

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WoW Insider's Guide to the Anglers originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> anglersanglers-wharfdailiesfishingfishing-dailiesguide-to-anglerskrasarang-wildsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-reputationnatnat-paglereputationreputation-guide (Matt Walsh) Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Warlord's Ashes, hidden daily of the Dread Wastes]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/the-warlords-ashes-hidden-daily-of-the-dread-wastes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/the-warlords-ashes-hidden-daily-of-the-dread-wastes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/08/the-warlords-ashes-hidden-daily-of-the-dread-wastes/#comments
The Warlord's Ashes, hidden daily of the Dread Wastes
One of the more interesting dailies in all of Pandaria is one that won't even be assigned to you by a quest giver. When questing through the Dread Wastes, or later while doing dailies in that zone, you may have spotted a curious tablet propped up at the base of an urn. According to the tablet,
Warlord Gurthan, master of beasts and conqueror of men, waits here.
He waits for the Earth to LAY before him as beasts once did.
He waits for the Sun to KNEEL before him as men once did.
Reminds me a bit of the clue to a puzzle in a Resident Evil game or something. Essentially, you (and another warm body) need to arrange yourself so one is lying down in the green circle, and the other is kneeling in the red circle. Doing so will send colored beams directly to the urn, and release the spirit of Warlord Gurthan.

Strike the Warlord down, and collect the ashes. This item will begin a quest, which you can turn in at Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver, which rewards the standard 5 valor points, 2 Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, and a smattering of gold coins.

Unfortunately, this isn't available every day. Only on days in which the Klaxxi dailies involve the Terrace of Gurthan, fittingly enough. Nonetheless, it's a great little quest that rewards those willing to explore a little.

Considering how there is absolutely no indication from NPCs that this quest exists, I wonder how many more of these hidden gems are just waiting to be found out there. And if there aren't any, there should be, because this is the kind of thing that makes it fun and rewarding to get out and poke around every nook and cranny in Pandaria.
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.

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The Warlord's Ashes, hidden daily of the Dread Wastes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> daily-questsdread-wastesklaxximists-of-pandariawarlord-gurthan (Matt Walsh) Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Pre-raid gearing for tankadins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-pre-raid-gearing-for-tankadins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-pre-raid-gearing-for-tankadins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/06/the-light-and-how-to-swing-pre-raid-gearing-for-tankadins/#comments The Light and How to Swing Preraid gearing for tankadins Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

It was a fairly painless five levels that brought you to the top of the food chain in Pandaria, and, as the expression goes, now you can play the game. If you're officially leaping on the gear treadmill and getting ready for raiding, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Thankfully there is a lot to do, and easily available sources of gearing, so the task isn't particularly onerous. Before you know it, you'll be geared and ready to tank anything the sha toss at you.

Briefly, what kind of gear do you want?

I don't want to delve too deeply into this, because it's a whole 'nother column's worth of exposition, but when it comes to gearing I strongly recommend grabbing pieces that will emphasize a control style of tanking. That is, anything that boosts our active mitigation by making our holy power generator abilities hit, hit more often, and our active mitigation more powerful.

Specifically we're talking about first gearing to cap hit and hard cap expertise (yes, hard cap). Then go for haste and mastery in equal amounts. Reforge out of any avoidance you have to achieve these goals. As such, you'll want to go for gear which has hit, expertise, haste, and mastery -- and if you're lucky, avoid anything with dodge or parry (or worse, dodge and parry).

For the gritty details behind the "control" strategy, I strongly recommend this blog post by Theck. Now, that said, let's get down to brass tacks!

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Pre-raid gearing for tankadins

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The Light and How to Swing It: Pre-raid gearing for tankadins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariaPaladin-Gear-Guidepaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsPre-Raidpre-raid-gear-guidepre-raid-paladin-guideprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 06 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Could We Find More Like That? Defeating the jinyu rare elites]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/05/could-we-find-more-like-that-defeating-the-jinyu-rare-elites/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/05/could-we-find-more-like-that-defeating-the-jinyu-rare-elites/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/05/could-we-find-more-like-that-defeating-the-jinyu-rare-elites/#comments Could We Find More Like That Defeating the Jinyu rare elite While leveling through Pandaria on opening night, Dan Desmond and I made a point of tracking down and killing any rare elites that haplessly wandered into our path, eventually earning us the Could We Find More Like That? achievement by the time we hit the level cap. A key part of our setup was the addon NPCScan, which would alert us to any rare elite within targeting range, and of course the plucky gumption that only a retribution and a protection paladin can bring.

While the rare elites aren't nearly as difficult as their denomination may imply, they're also not to be taken lightly. Each type of champion has a skill set of three abilities which can prove to be very deadly if the proper precautions are not taken.

The rare elites that hail from the jinyu have the following weapons in their arsenal:
  • Water Bolt This is an ability with a cast which, despite the temptation, should not be interrupted. You'll need that 15 second cooldown for the next ability which is far deadlier. This is the ability that the jinyu will be throwing at you the most.
  • Torrent This channeled attack does 28% of the target's maximum HP as damage every second. It must be interrupted immediately, or you'll be dead in no time.
  • Rain Dance The jinyu will channel this spell (it cannot be interrupted) and toss balls of water into the air, which will then come crashing down around you. Don't stand in one place, to avoid getting hit. Each ball of water will deal 65% of the target's maximum HP as damage.
So, essentially, the way to defeat the jinyu elite is to keep moving during Rain Dance and be sure to interrupt Torrent ASAP. The key to fighting one is more awareness than anything else.

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Could We Find More Like That? Defeating the jinyu rare elites originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> could-we-find-more-like-thatjinyumists-of-pandarianpcscanrarerare-elite (Matt Walsh) Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling from 85-90 as a tank]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-leveling-from-85-90-as-a-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-leveling-from-85-90-as-a-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-leveling-from-85-90-as-a-tank/#comments The Light and How to Swing It The prot paladin 504 survival guide SAT Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

With the change to Vengeance in Mists of Pandaria, a tank's solo damage has just about cratered compared to previous expansions. Gone is the heyday of Wrath when we could kill things on our own, one on one, without our six o'clock shadows coming in. Here again are the unhappy days of The Burning Crusade, where there was plenty of time for a bathroom break between the engagement of an enemy and its much-subsequent demise.

I expect many tanks will be switching to their retribution offspecs to speed up the onerous process of leveling. Yet, for those brave few who refuse to take the easy way out and enjoy the long, possibly rewarding slog that is wading shin-deep in molasses -- excuse me, I mean leveling as a tank -- I sing your praises (in a "Here's to you, Mr. Leveling as Prot for old time's sake when it's taking three times as long" kind of way). It might not be the fastest or most efficient path, but for those who choose to take it, let's talk about how to make the process as painless as possible.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling from 85-90 as a tank

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The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling from 85-90 as a tank originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin levelingpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentsPaladinLevelingpally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Post-patch 5.0.4 round-up for tankadins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-post-patch-5-0-4-round-up-for-tan/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-post-patch-5-0-4-round-up-for-tan/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-post-patch-5-0-4-round-up-for-tan/#comments The Light and How to Swing It The prot paladin 504 survival guide SAT Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Finally the pre-release patch has come and we're in that exciting interregnum time between the tired, old content and the piping-hot new stuff. There were a lot of changes made to the protection spec and, on the whole, I really think Blizzard nailed it. Yet, there are still a lot of growing pains, as with any pre-release patch, and today I'm going to talk about ways to mitigate that so you can finish out Cataclysm at the top of your game and totally ready for everything Pandaria has in store.

How it feels

Active mitigation is definitely a huge playstyle change -- cataclysmic, even. In the past, all we did was stand there and let our defensive stats do the work for us, and throw in a cooldown things got hairy. Now our survivability depends on us being on top of our game, landing our attacks, and managing our buffs more intently.

If this seems overwhelming, it really shouldn't.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Post-patch 5.0.4 round-up for tankadins

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The Light and How to Swing It: Post-patch 5.0.4 round-up for tankadins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: The prot paladin 5.0.4 survival guide]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-prot-paladin-5-0-4-survival-g/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-prot-paladin-5-0-4-survival-g/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-prot-paladin-5-0-4-survival-g/#comments The Light and How to Swing It The prot paladin 504 survival guide SAT Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Here we are, less than a week away from the pre-release patch of Mists of Pandaria, that moment before the expansion finally drops and we actually have something to do in WoW once again. It's an exciting time -- and, for sure, kind of a scary time in that change is always a little bit disconcerting. Like starting in high school for the first time, there's little comfort in having to navigate newly incognita terra.

The pre-release patch dropping on Tuesday marks a new hill for us to conquer. Everything is changing, from our talents to our glyphs to our rotations to (at the most basic level) how we keep ourselves alive. In order to hit the ground running and be able to tank just as well (or hell, better!) than you were under the 4.x rules set, it's critical to make sure you know everything you need to know about the upcoming patch and do everything you can do in advance.

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The Light and How to Swing It: The prot paladin 5.0.4 survival guide originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria: Guide to protection paladins]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/09/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/09/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-protection-paladins/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/09/mists-of-pandaria-guide-to-protection-paladins/#comments Mists of Pandaria Guide to protection paladins Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

As August begins, we are rapidly approaching the end of beta. Blizzard has indicated they are in the final stages of tuning for Mists of Pandaria, and with that comes the confidence to report on what we can reasonably expect our spec to look and perform like in the next expansion.

Mists will be a pretty monumental expansion for us. We have some massive playstyle changes coming, as well as the game-changing new talent systems. Active mitigation, as well, will require prot paladins to adjust to a new style of tanking.

This guide is intended to be a 101 introduction to the prot paladin as it stands in Mists of Pandaria. It'll cover everything from how to handle active mitigation and your rotation to how to spec, how to gem and enchant your gear, and everything in between. As we get closer to launch (and even after then), I'll continue to update it, so be sure to bookmark and check back in the future.

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria: Guide to protection paladins

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Mists of Pandaria: Guide to protection paladins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> active-mitigationfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-paladinmists-of-pandaria-talentspaladin-gemsPaladin-Glyphspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-rotationpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-rotationprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Where tankadins stand in Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-where-tankadins-stand-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-where-tankadins-stand-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/04/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-where-tankadins-stand-in-mists/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A look at the changes so far coming in Mists Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Last time ,we talked about the basics of what paladin tanks are going to be working with when Mists launch. What we didn't talk about was the remainder -- whether it be how certain mechanics feel or how we're shaping up with regards to the other tanks classes and the content itself.

The TL;DR version is that we look to be in a pretty good place overall. Our rotation is miles ahead of our current Cataclysm rotation in terms of quality of life, and on the opposite side of the planet from that drinking bird practice regimen known as the 969 rotation in Wrath. There's a little more to play with and balance in our toolbox these days, thanks to the pick-'n-mix of the new talents system, which is definitely a good thing if variety and engagement is your bread and butter.

In terms of actual gameplay balance with regard to the game and the other philistines competing for our jerbs, we're in a decent place as well. That is, we're no longer in the Wild West days of Wrath, where patch cycles saw one tank class after another get brokenly good (except warriors, womp womp). The general trend of Cataclysm continues -- keeping the balance to a reasonable level among the classes -- though when it comes to the highest levels of the hardest content, the disparities start to emerge with gusto.

Anyway, that's the 50,000-mile view. Let's get down in the mud and talk turkey.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Where tankadins stand in Mists

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The Light and How to Swing It: Where tankadins stand in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-talent-changespaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-mistspaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: A look at the changes so far coming in Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-the-changes-so-far-comi/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-the-changes-so-far-comi/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/20/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-look-at-the-changes-so-far-comi/#comments The Light and How to Swing It A look at the changes so far coming in Mists Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

It seems like we're in the closing stretch of the beta cycle, and we have a fairly clear picture of how we're going to be tanking in the next expansion. There are some amazing changes and some disheartening ones. Nonetheless, they are the cards we are being dealt, and it behooves us to flip up that corner and peek at what we have so we can make informed decisions in advance, before anything can sneak up on us.

There's a lot to go over, so I'm just going to jump right in.

Active mitigation

While this was initially sold to be a much bigger deal, it's still going to make a difference in how we tank. In addition to doing damage, Shield of the Righteous now reduces physical damage taken by 30% for 3 seconds and applies the Bastion of Glory effect. Bastion of Glory in turn buffs Word of Glory by 10%, and the effect can stack up to five times.

Shield of the Righteous is now only usable at 3 holy power, so it's more than ever a finisher. You'll want to use as often as possible -- which shouldn't be too hard, since the ability is off the global cooldown and can be woven in between other abilities. Our survivability (thanks to Bastion of Glory) will be heavily tied in to how we use Shield of the Righteous.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: A look at the changes so far coming in Mists

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The Light and How to Swing It: A look at the changes so far coming in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Jul 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-mistspaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Reflections on moving from a PvP to a PvE realm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/reflections-on-moving-from-a-pvp-to-a-pve-realm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/reflections-on-moving-from-a-pvp-to-a-pve-realm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/reflections-on-moving-from-a-pvp-to-a-pve-realm/#comments Image Truthfully, I had no business ever rolling on a PvP server. I only went there because some friends went there, and I stayed there out of habit. For years, I moved in the shadows, keeping one eye warily over my shoulder, with all buffs active at all times and the button for my flying mount at the ready. When I left cities, it was only to touch ground for the briefest of moments -- grab the herb, pick the ore, kill the mob, and get the hell out.

Indeed, there's a certain pride in surviving on a PvP server, like a rabbit reveling in its luck of returning to the burrow at the end of a long, perilous day. I've been through multiple expansion launches and patch events and been ganked at exotic locales from Hellfire Peninsula to Quel'danas to the Molten Front to Mount Hyjal.

Over time, you learn to subsist from that extra adrenaline. Even if you loathe world PvP, your body feeds off of it. The heightened sense of perception becomes exhilarating. That first terrifying moment when you realize you are under attack and fight or flight instincts kick in -- there's something in that emotional response that resonates with our most primal underpinnings.

And yet, a month ago, I gave it all up. I transferred from a PvP realm to a PvE one -- and immediately, it felt like an alien landscape.

Continue reading Reflections on moving from a PvP to a PvE realm

Reflections on moving from a PvP to a PvE realm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> pve serverpve-realmPveServerpvp serverPvpServerrealm-transferrealm-typerealmsworld-pvp (Matt Walsh) Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[A look at avoidance balancing in Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/a-look-at-avoidance-balancing-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/a-look-at-avoidance-balancing-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/09/a-look-at-avoidance-balancing-in-mists/#comments A look at avoidance balancing in Mists Theck, the paladin tank theorycrafter, has recently finished a series of posts at his blog looking at the state of avoidance in the upcoming expansion. He examined every aspect of the system with the help of a deluge of formulae to come up with some very helpful information for tanks to brush up on while waiting for Mists and all its new content to launch.

In particular, in the earlier parts of the series, Theck discerned the new formula for working out each avoidance stat after diminishing returns. As a result, he was able to plot out (for plate tanks in particular) the proper ratio that dodge and parry should be balanced at.

Right now, on live, we want to keep parry and dodge as absolutely close as possible. The two have the same diminishing returns curve, which means that x points of parry will be diminished exactly the same as x points of dodge. As such, if you have 3% more parry than dodge, you're losing a non-zero amount of avoidance to the gaping maw of diminishing returns that you might otherwise keep if it was reforged to dodge.

However, as Theck has discovered, the DR curves were bent significantly apart in Mists, to the point that we'll want much more parry to keep an even ratio with dodge -- about three times more parry, to be exact.

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A look at avoidance balancing in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> avoidancedodgeparrytheorycrafting (Matt Walsh) Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: The shrinking paladin toolbox]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-shrinking-paladin-toolbox/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-shrinking-paladin-toolbox/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/07/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-shrinking-paladin-toolbox/#comments The Light and How to Swing It The shrinking paladin toolbox Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

If there's one thing in WoW that's a major sticking point at the start of every expansion, it's the constant change in each class's abilities at launch. We all know the pain: Some abilities come in, some are changed to a whole different creature, and others just fade away. People hate the idea of having to relearn their class, for sure, but most of all what I hate is the idea of losing some old friends to the march of time.

We all fondly remember one ability or another from auld lang syne in WoW. The game feels a slight bit emptier without it, though you'll cope, because there's really no way to turn back the clock. Once an ability hits the chopping block, it seldom comes back. (Unless it's Blinding Light -- that one definitely got a second chance.)

Let's talk about a few of the amazing paladin abilities that were tossed out on the heap, as well as what's currently getting its head jammed in the guillotine.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: The shrinking paladin toolbox

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The Light and How to Swing It: The shrinking paladin toolbox originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> aurasfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: 4 necessary elements of a successful tank UI]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-necessary-elements-of-a-success/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-necessary-elements-of-a-success/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-necessary-elements-of-a-success/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Four necessary elements of a successful tank UI Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

When it comes to a custom UI, information is king. Sure, there are ancillary benefits, like the pursuit of a pretty user interface, or a minimalistic one, or (be still, my beating heart) both. But when you get down to the real meat and potatoes of building a UI, the most successful are the ones that are most effective at presenting information to the player in an efficient and useful manner.

And of course, many players are perfectly happy with the stock UI, which is totally fine if that's your cup of tea. For many others, myself included, the preference is for a custom viewport into Azeroth that can distill everything at your disposal into a package that can be quickly digested by the brain, as well as all sorts of bells, whistles, and dinglehoppers that make for a more aesthetically pleasing interface. Because that's half the fun.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: 4 necessary elements of a successful tank UI

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The Light and How to Swing It: 4 necessary elements of a successful tank UI originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itUIui-configurationui-guidewow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 22 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Hero Moments: What it means to be a tank]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/hero-moments-what-it-means-to-be-a-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/hero-moments-what-it-means-to-be-a-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/hero-moments-what-it-means-to-be-a-tank/#comments The Light and How to Swing It Hero monents, what it means to be a tank FRI Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

When thinking about the biggest perks to being a tank, I keep getting stuck on the intangibles. It's much like the reasons why Indiana Jones would rob old men in yachts of their jewelry: fortune and glory. Well, perhaps more the glory -- fortune is awfully tangible.

But yes, glory. Glory is a powerful drug. For a tank, the thankless job that it is, glory can be all the fuel needed to keep going, to keep chugging along while various DPS players sip their piña colodas and sling insults at you from the safety of their deck chairs for not tanking to their exacting specifications.

And what better glory is there than those moments when it's you versus the world and all the odds are arrayed against you? Whether it's a moment when the entire raid has kicked the bucket, and it all falls to you to see the boss take his own fall, or (like a digital Leonidas) you hold off a boss for as long as possible so the rest of your comrades can flee past the reset point without accumulating a repair bill -- those moments of personal glory pop up from time to time.

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Hero Moments: What it means to be a tank originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: The framework for our Mists rotation]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/27/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-framework-for-our-mists-rotat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/27/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-framework-for-our-mists-rotat/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/27/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-framework-for-our-mists-rotat/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

The biggest change for players with every expansion is undeniably getting acclimated to the new and different buttons that one has to work with, ie, the new rotation. If you poll players on their least favorite part of the next phase of the game rolling over, invariably a large percent will shout how annoyed they are with "having to relearn their class." Some abilities which were juggernauts are suddenly akin to balloons with the air rushing out of them, others that were middle of the road also-rans are suddenly hot tickets. Getting to the point where you once again have a good sense of your class is often a pain.

While the beta is far from final, and the numbers are (of course) subject to change many times over, we're still at a point where we can begin to make some sense out of the design-equivalent of watching sausage being made. We won't know be able to say with 100% conviction which fillers are best when and where, but we can assuredly say what the framework of the rotation will be.

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The Light and How to Swing It: The framework for our Mists rotation originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 27 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysholy powerHolyPowerpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sun, 27 May 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Skill Mastery: Blinding Light]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/skill-mastery-blinding-light/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/skill-mastery-blinding-light/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/skill-mastery-blinding-light/#comments Ever since Eadric the Pure first made players spin around to avoid being blinded by his Radiance -- the bane of keyboard turners everywhere -- many paladins were enamored with the idea of firing off a flash of light and similarly dazzling those around them into incoherence. And we almost had it too, in the Cataclysm beta, when Blinding Light first debuted as a player ability. However, the spell was removed early on, only (it seems) to be put on the back burner.

Now, Blinding Light returns in Mists for a second try at making it into the paladin spellbook. This time around, it looks like it is here to stay. If you're in the beta, you can try it out yourself as soon as you hit 87.

The spell itself is pretty straightforward. On a 3-minute cooldown, you can fire off a burst of light that will cause all enemies around you to wander confusedly for 6 seconds. As a tank, I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this in AoE situations, when I need a breather from a pack of enemies that are punching me in the face.

Ret and holy paladins will find similar use for it, whether out in the wilds of Pandaria or deep in PvP. Basically, any time you need to get a large number of enemies to leave you alone for a few seconds, this spell is there for you.

Admittedly, it doesn't have the same flash or zing as some other level 87 spells, but it can very much shine in the right situations.
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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Skill Mastery: Blinding Light originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betablinding lightBlindingLightcrowd controlCrowdControlnew paladin spellsNewPaladinSpellspaladinsradiance (Matt Walsh) Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: c paladin run]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I still remember the unmitigated joy I felt, sitting in my crummy seat far off to the left of the main stage at BlizzCon 2011, as Blizzard began to go into the new talent system for Mists of Pandaria and a screenshot of the paladin tree was shown. Sitting at the top of the new tree was a tier of familiar names: Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, Pursuit of Justice -- all the names of the various speed enhancements that the class currently had. Sweet fancy Moses, it was a tier of "gap closers"!

I slap some scare quotes on the phrase gap closer because, despite that being my holy grail for the past two years, let's be honest -- the new talents aren't technically gap closers. They don't have the immediacy of a Charge or a Death Grip. But they're as close as we're going to get without some homogenized Divine Charge, and to a point, they will help us close a gap. They're acceptable substitutions, each with its own positives and negatives.

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The Light and How to Swing It: c paladin run originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Latest beta build shakes things up for prot]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

There are good beta builds, and there are bad beta builds, and then there are bad, bad beta builds. Build 15640, which went up this week, is a textbook example of the latter -- specifically with regard to how it handles our active mitigation. Considering that active mitigation (AM) is the most important change prot paladins are receiving going into the next expansion, the quality of a build hinges on how it handles this topic.

Needless to say, the next few builds are always going to include some new iteration of Shield of the Righteous, as the class design team works out the kinks and attempts to cobble together an effective version of the ability.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Latest beta build shakes things up for prot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Beta's delicate balancing act]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/#comments Image Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Ah, beta -- a time for people to begin jostling and shouting for their favorite specs and classes to receive buffs and improvements, for deficiencies both real and imagined. While the warriors are most assuredly off demanding a free sandwich or whatever slight they're currently obsessed with, let's talk about our biggest concerns going into the next expansion.

Most of these concerns, you can imagine, deal with our balance relative to the other tanks, as well as how some of our mechanics will scale as the expansion continues. And let's not forget that Mists will mark the introduction of active mitigation, and thus it is exceedingly critical for Blizzard to get that right.

Suffice it to say, there's a lot on the line for prot paladins during this beta.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Beta's delicate balancing act originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: First look at protection in Mists beta]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Last week, we talked about the first tantalizing drip, drip, drips of information that were emitted in the Mists of Pandaria press tour that occurred, as well as the various media appearances that surrounded that event. Then, suddenly -- beta. So here we are, somewhere between the ecstasy of exploring a new world of ubiquitous wind chimes and rotund, alcoholic bear-men, and the agony of the occasional and painful glance at the beta invitation status on our account page.

Nonetheless, at least we can live vicariously through the goings-on of beta players while we wistfully watch from afar. There's a lot of information coming out of beta, from datamining to the experiences of those lucky jerks already inside, and so we have lots to talk about. Let's dig in and make sense of all the changes that'll be waiting for us when the next expansion hits (thus far!). Also, please note, I'm avoiding anything that we've already learned in the past run-up -- including changes to block, the new and various talents, and previously revealed abilities like Boundless Conviction.

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The Light and How to Swing It: First look at protection in Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: A week of tantalizing Mists information]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

News hit Wednesday night that Mists beta was beginning to slowly open, capping a week that saw a deluge of new, juicy details from the next expansion. There wasn't much directly said about protection paladins in the press tour, though some tidbits got out that make for some interesting discussion. Moreover, with the launch of the beta client, datamining has begun; as a result, we already have a preliminary list of new glyphs -- which was also backed up during Blizzard's earlier presentation.

Glyphs 3.0

In Cataclysm, glyphs got a major numerical boost through the addition of prime glyphs, which were just straight buffs to various skills rather than tweaks like the major glyphs. As a result, they were easily mathed out to determine the best choice for each situation, which you likely saw listed in any class guide produced during Cataclysm's life cycle. This was pretty boring, as Blizzard saw it, and as such, the whole prime glyph system was chucked out of the game.

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The Light and How to Swing It: A week of tantalizing Mists information originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Light and How to Swing It: Being the main tank]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I've been watching an unhealthy amount of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares lately -- not the trashy Fox reality drama production, but the U.K. version, which is more focused on the food and, y'know, kitchens. Anyway, while watching the interactions between the various members of the kitchens depicted, it's interesting the parallels you see between the various degrees of chefs and how that correlates with the various degrees of tanks within a raid operation.

Without getting too, er, French, the two biggest fish in a kitchen are the chef de cuisine (or, as the rosbifs may call the job, the head chef) and the sous-chef de cuisine. This correlates directly with most tanking hierarchies you'll find, where there is a main tank and an off tank. (In some guilds, there may be a number of off tanks.) Much like how the head chef is the boss when it comes to what's being served, the main tank is in charge of handling the burden of developing the tanking strategy and executing it. And likewise, while the sous-chef is second-in-command and chief substitute, the off tank handles a similar role within their own structure.

Similar to how the head chef might not be the one always sitting there and actually preparing every single dish, the main tank isn't always the one on the boss. For both, their personal strengths might lend them better to a different, lesser role while the lieutenant gets a chance to step up and carry some of the burden. You see this in fights where one tanking class is stronger against a particular mechanic than another, like perhaps putting a highly mobile warrior on Shannox's dog Riplimb. Essentially, there is more to being a main tank than the jobs you perform. It's also the experience, the leadership, the dependability, and the prestige.

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The Light and How to Swing It: Being the main tank originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-info (Matt Walsh) Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider