Posts with tag paladins

Our BlizzCon Bingo game is back for its second year -- last year whether you won or not depended on what you saw, but people mostly were able to complete the necessary five across, with or without the help of the free space. This year, things are a little tougher, mostly because we just don't know what Blizzard is going to do -- will they announce the third expansion? Will they announce a new IP? Will they announce anything, or just treat the whole weekend as a Wrath preview?

Whatever happens, make sure you print out your bingo card before you go, and then throughout the weekend, cross off everything that you see on there. If, by the end of the weekend, you've nabbed five across, you win! And while last year, all you won was the satisfaction of seeing something cool, well heck, let's throw something else into the mix -- if you're the first person to personally show me a completed bingo card by the end of the convention, I'll have a prize waiting for you.

And no cheating! Trust us, there'll be plenty of Paladin complaining at the Q&As -- you won't have to go do it yourself.

Talents like Grace in the new Discipline tree seem aimed at making Discipline priests very viable tank healers in Wrath, in addition to their current role as highly survivable in PvP. However, one of the problems inherent in the tree for a tank healer is that their shield based abilities, Reflective Shield and Divine Aegis, deprive tanks of rage and/or mana that they'd need for being healed. (Apparently it's also an issue for Runic Power for DK tanks.)

Redoubtable Blizzard poster Koraa comes to the rescue with words of reassurance: if rage/mana generation continues to be an issue with these spells (since they absorb damage and thus either prevent the tank from gaining rage via damage or mana via healing that damage) then there may well be changes to allow them to be less of a problem. We're warned that this would be a last resort fix, however.

I'd personally love it if a priest could shield me as I run in on a boss without being worried that I won't get enough initial rage to start generating threat. Perhaps (as some posters argue) the bosses will be hitting so fast that rage won't be an issue. We'll see what happens, of course, but the very idea of Power Word: Shield and its related talents not cheating me of my initial threat generation makes me giddy.

With new talents and spells for all the other classes having come to light by now, it would be easy to understand if Paladins and Hunters were feeling a little bit left out. I don't have talent trees or anything to share with you right now, but I do at least have a few tidbits that appeared in the official Wrath of the Lich King Alpha forums yesterday:

• Hunters:
  • Loyalty is being removed for pets, though you will still have to feed them to keep them happy.
  • They're looking at pet stat scaling, especially in PvP, and particularly resilience; they want pets to be killable if that's what other players want to do. The idea is to make you, the Hunter, strike a balance between damage and mitigation for your pet.
  • There will be new abilities in the pet talents, including "some that will make it less painful when your pet dies just a few moments into a fight."
  • They want all pet families to be viable (Wryxian mentioned specifically turtles; they should have more DPS now while still having powerful defensive abilities).
  • Update: New pets will only need to gain a maximum of five levels, implying that if you're level 80 and tame a level 17, it instantly becomes level 75 [thanks, Wabbajack].
• Paladins: The devs recognize that Holy is at a bit of a weak point right now relative to the other healing classes. The goal is for Holy Paladins to be powerful single target healers: they should be tank healers, or be able to spot-heal a low-health target "super fast." They're working on building "mechanics that don't make running fights so punishing," as well as new talents and skills.

There's also a note for Death Knights: Death and Decay and Army of the Dead are feeling too similar, both being long-cooldown AoE abilities. To remedy this, Army of the Dead is going to become an emergency button (Wryxian compares it to Retaliation or Recklessness), while Death and Decay is having its cooldown lowered to let it become more part of your normal spell rotation.

[via DeathKnight.info]

Tank Talk continues this week with one requisite "Why does my ingame life have to suck so hard?" story in deference to a point made by commenters on our first column. We will then take a look at the most fundamental decision you will encounter as a raiding tank -- and one you are likely to make, and then re-make, on just about every boss encounter in the game.

There is a Druid on my server who messages me almost daily asking me to come tank his heroics. What annoys me is not being asked to tank per se, but that he, too, is a feral Druid. His gear isn't as good as mine simply because he hasn't raided past Magtheridon, but he's sitting on at least three of the better pieces of Tier 4, crafted epics, and several of the badge pieces that I'm still using to tank Tier 6. At a matter of fact, with the advent of two different badge vendors and badge drops from 10-man and 25-man bosses, his stats are significantly better than the ones I had tanking most of Tier 5. This guy literally has the gear to do just about anything in the game short of the more advanced content in Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau, and I used to point to him with no small measure of Druidic pride as proof of what a little elbow grease could accomplish.

But he still wants me to come tank for him.

I started getting irritated with the constant begging at one point and asked him, "How can you possibly have any difficulty getting groups? Everybody in LFG is looking for a tank, and your gear is excellent."

At his computer, I'm sure he was shrugging. "You do it faster than I do."

"I really don't. Just get some good DPS and you'll be fine."

And then the truth came out: "Well, I don't really like tanking. I'd rather DPS."

Ah.

Reader Ron dropped us a line about a basic gear quandary. A Holy paladin who cruised most of his instances with Bear tanks, Ron has amassed a small collection of paladin tanking gear. And he's kept it around, since experience has taught him to never throw away class-appropriate gear.

His current Holy kit doesn't pack the spell crit to unleash the full-fledged DPS frenzy of his Shockadin. His question? Ron would like to know if swapping out some of his Holy gear for a bit of Defense and Avoidance might make his dailies a little easier.

The easy answer here is...

In my last Light and How to Swing It, I covered some good enchants for the upper part of an endgame healing paladin -- the head, shoulders, cloak, chest and bracers. Now it's time to head below the belt (har) and take care of hand, ring, leg, foot, weapon and shield enhancements. Okay, hands and rings aren't technically below the blt, but I ran out of room for them last time.

Gloves

Major Healing: As a holy paladin, you're all about healing. Whether you focus on PVE or PVP, more raw plus healing is always an excellent choice. The only drawback here is that the mats are pretty pricey. 9/10 PVE, 9/10 PVP.

Blasting: It doesn't sound like a paladin enchant, but Blasting is an inexpensive alternative to Major Healing for healadins. Spell crit isn't quite as good as it used to be, due to the Illumination nerf, but it's still useful -- particularly if your gear lacks crit.

I'm getting back to WoW Insider after a month's real-life-related absence and have been spending some time playing catch-up on the site. One of the articles that caught my attention was Matt Rossi's popular "One reason tanks won't PuG," in no small part because I play a tank and my own PuG runs have been few and far between of late. My main, a Tauren Druid, respecced from balance to feral at level 69 because there were so few tanks on my server, and I literally spent months and months tanking PuG's to get experience and gear.

During that period I saw everything from rogues rolling on +healing maces to warlocks needing on tanking cloaks, and I learned that you never can tell what you're going to get from a PuG. Yes, you'll get hunters who can't trap, mages who never resheep, rogues who mistakenly believe they leveled a warrior, and priests who Power Word: Shield you straight off the pull -- but you'll also find people who know their class well, or are in the process of learning just like you are, and who are fun to be around. I have now killed Illidan with a contingent of people who showed up to my PuG's back when I was a wee lolbaretank in quest greens and Heavy Clefthoof, so as a matter of personal experience I think PuG's are a somewhat underrated way to meet people who will later turn out to play crucial roles in how you experience the game.

I don't PuG as frequently anymore due to time constraints and increased time spent leveling alts, but I still hang out in LFG from time to time for the pure enjoyment of meeting new people. Yes, it is often difficult to PuG tanks and healers (I would submit, as someone who typically tanks or heals in dungeons, that it is also difficult to PuG skilled DPS), but a lot of people could make it easier on themselves than they do. If you're having problems finding a tank or healer for your PuG's, try these.

A few months back, I did a rogue column on how rogues can enhance their gear with enchantments, gems, armor kits and the like. Well, it's time for paladins to get a similar guide -- in three different forms! Yes, since paladins have three main specs for three different roles, they need some wildly different enchantments. Today, we'll look at above-the-belt enhancements for a regular ol' endgame healing paladin, soon to be followed by prot and ret recommendations. (Shockadins, just grab the caster junk like usual.)

Head

Glyph of Renewal: This item, available for 90g once you get revered with Honor Hold or Thrallmar, gives you a one-time boost to your head item's healing and mp/5. Revered with HH/Thrall isn't too hard, and you need all the mp/5 you can get, so pick this up if you're planning on any serious healing. 10/10 PVE, 7/10 PVP.

Glyph of the Gladiator: On the other hand, if you're the arena type and find yourself a bit lacking in the two key PVP stats, you might want to pick up this stam/resil item from revered with Shattered Sun Offensive. It's pretty useless for PVE, though, so save it for your _____ Gladiator's set piece. 3/10 PVE, 9/10 PVP.

In an exclusive interview with HKO lead developer Hey'wod ya' Saiev'mie, it was revealed that because of the extreme ease and uselessness Paladins provide in World of Warcraft, they have been removed from WoW and transfered to HK Online. Those players that have Paladin will no doubt be happy since they'll finally be able to play a useful role in an online game. All accounts with Paladin mains will receive a free copy of HKO, and 3 days of play time.

In response to the outcry of support in the Paladin forums, Blizard CM Csyrd said "We are glad Paladins are finally happy. Our goal has always been to make them stop crying." Newly appointed HKO CM Ahol Isk'y said "Hopefully the Paladin community will appreciate their new opportunity to tank mice and the occasional dog. Of course this is nothing like Illidan, but it's a start, right?"

A couple lifetimes ago, I wrote a pretty comprehensive guide to bad rogues for Encrypted Text. I considered doing the same for paladins, but as I didn't have a 70 Pally yet, I decided to hold off for a while. Well -- good news, everyone! I'm 70, and it's time to offend every race, spec and playstyle with the Field Guide to Bad Paladins. Please direct all Crusader Strikes to management.

The Guy Who Doesn't Understand Hybrids

• Identification: A long time ago, someone told this Pally that paladins can heal, tank and DPS. Unfortunately, they never bothered to tell him that you can't do all three at the same time. Paladins of this category are notorious for trying to do way too many things at the same time. He will pop a bubble and heal himself while tanking. He will run in and try to get a raid mob away from a clothie while in healing gear. He will tank with a two-hander.
• Mating Call: "Don't worry, guys, I can heal myself! Wait, it keeps getting interrupted ..."
• Habitat: Low-level instances.
• Management: This guy's heart is in the right place -- his brain is just elsewhere. This problem can usually be corrected with some education at low levels. If he keeps trying to tank and DPS at the same time, suggest he roll a Death Knight. "They can tank with two swords!"

I have never been able to get a paladin past level 50 in game.

Oh, I've tried to do it. My first character was a paladin, back in the days after release: my wife had been playing since Beta and wanted me to try the game out, and I often played paladins in other games. I got him to his mid 30's or so before I realized that, unlike in other games I was used to, paladins in WoW are actually very capable healers and are often expected to heal in runs. Since at that time I had no desire to do so, I rerolled warrior and the rest is history.

But as I became somewhat of a lore nerd, there were certain characters that I found out about who inspired me to go and try new classes. I played a druid because Malfurion is pretty damn awesome. I tried a warlock because of how unrepentantly evil Teron Gorefiend is. And I keep going back to paladins, thinking this time will be the time I get to the level cap, because of one man.

Uther. The Lightbringer. The first paladin of Azeroth, who lived his whole life in the shadow of orcish armies and demonic invasions, who fought for what little peace he knew in his lifetime, who died at the hands of his own student, a man who should have been as great as he was but whose flaws drove him down a road even Uther couldn't follow to save him. He lived and he died as the Light in him demanded, a hero who would not kill the innocent, would not take the path of expediency over honor and justice, would not put down his hammer even when it was death to hold it up.

Who has frustrated me time and time again by luring me back to playing a paladin even though I'm just no good at it, now that I think about it. But that's just how cool Uther was. You watch him in the WCIII cinematics and next thing you know you've rolled a paladin. You can't stop yourself. So who was this man who has caused me to swear bloody murder at my screen and yet keep going back for more?

Relmstein has been doing an excellent examination of the two seemingly strongest forces in the Arenas-- Paladins and Warriors. His second column probably should have come first-- he did a breakdown of Paladin and Warrior numbers on some of the top teams in the Arenas, and as you might have expected, they're out there. Out of the twenty teams he looked at (the top five teams on four different battlegroups), 15 had at least one Paladin and one Warrior, and 18 had at least one Paladin or one Warrior. One top team (Pretty Standard on Stormstrike) even has one Paladin and three Warriors-- two Arms, and one Fury.

So now back to Relmstein's first post on the subject-- what's the deal here? Arena is singular among most of WoW's PvP in that it isn't about capturing flags or nodes or completing objectives or earning points for your team. It's all about staying alive. And no one does that better than Paladins and Warriors. Combine that with the fact that both classes have amazing talents for either keeping others alive (Paladins can heal and stay alive), or negating the opponents' attempts to stay alive (Warriors can stay alive and do Mortal Strike), and you can see why Warriors and Paladins are so valued in the Arenas.

This doesn't mean Warriors and Paladins are unbeatable-- a Paladin needs mana, and a Warrior can be counteracted by crowd control like fear and Hunter traps-- but it does make the classes tailor made for getting in fights and remaining upright at the end. Blizzard has already said that they're fine with letting certain classes be stronger in some areas than others, so it seems, as Relmstein says, that in Arenas, the Arcanite Reaper days are back. Beware Mortal Strike and the Paladin healer in the Arenas.

Tom Chilton aka Kalgan has been promising buffs for Ret Pallies since BlizzCon. He specifically has stated that there would be changes made so that Retribution would be more than just a leveling spec, such as sustained DPS instead of just burst and less reliance on Spell Damage as a stat.

Retribution Pallies are definitely getting some love in patch 2.3, but is it enough and is it balanced? Many Paladins on the forums say no to both. They want Spell Damage to go away as a need for Pallies and a way to manage threat and they want these changes in 2.3.

Wolfblitzer calls Kalgan out as a liar in his very popular protest post, quoting from our BlizzCon coverage directly (though without credit). He also claims that Kalgan had promised to talk about threat reduction for Ret Pallies soon, but that the post was deleted.

Blue poster Drysc stated (accurately) that there was no date or patch number associated with all of the changes discussed previously. His full response to the protest is after the jump.

As Mike noted earlier today in Twitter, today/tonight/tomorrow is an exciting geek convergence. Heroes, Halo 3, and WoW 2.2. And now we have a new set of patch notes, so we might actually know the final list of what's going down tomorrow. However, these are technically termed PTR notes, so be sure and check back tomorrow for the official notes that will come with the patch itself. As always, the full patch notes are after the cut, and here are what I see as the most important things that seem to be new in this iteration of patch notes (Edit: there seems to be some dispute over which of these things are actually new. I'm sure some of them are, but my memory is a bit overtaxed right now.):

• Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 10 minutes.
• Greater Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 30 minutes.
• Lightwell: The heals from this ability are now increased by the bonus healing effects on the Priest.
• Many enchanting formulae are now available from various faction quartermasters: Dodge, Stealth, and Subtlety to cloak; Superior Agility and Threat to gloves; and Greater Agility to weapons.
• Monstrous Kaliri: This creature now has loot.

That's in addition to Voice Chat and the boatload of fixes we knew about already. But looking over these patch notes, I have one question: can this really be called a content patch? Is voice chat actually content? Where's the new zones, dungeons, class overhauls, or whatever? This just reads like an unusually big bug-fix patch to me, with the exception of voice chat. Finally, there is a pleasingly colored breakdown of everything new in 2.2 over at MMO-Champion, and as promised, patch notes after the cut.