wowPaladin.org

During WWI, Blizzard have revealed a little more about Paladins. The information provided wasn’t a lot, but this time the leaks are a lot more interesting as it shows where the developers are heading with Paladins.

Perhaps the two main things that anyone would notice first, is that [1] Paladins are getting a new healing spell — Hand of Purity, and [2] improved itemizations for Retribution Paladins. Can I say yay?

Let’s have a look closer at the new healing spell. Hand of Purity, a reactive spell. Blizzard stated that it will be similar to Prayer of Mending, ie a player is healed when it’s taking damage. It’s different in that it’s apparently for single target only, as opposed to Prayer of Mending that jumps among players. Truth is, when I first read that it is a reactive spell, I was thinking something along the line of Judgement of Light. I was hoping that it would be some sort of DPS version of it, ie the harder you hit the target, the higher your party are being healed. It allows Retribution Paladins to go upfront and go all out because the damage output now helps maintain the party’s survivability, as opposed to just going upfront to refresh Judgements which may help, but usually negligible.

However, let’s tone down a bit. We have been focusing too much on Retribution Paladins. How about Holy Paladins that don’t want to go upfront? This will be an awesome additional for them. How so? Hand of Purity will effectively be an auto-heal when a player is being hit. It will allow Holy Paladins to heal multiple target at the same time, a capability that is not possible at the moment. Adds run loose? Throw a HoP on the adds’ target, and continue healing the tank while your HoP heals the player automatically without your intervention, just as long as he’s being hit. Pretty fun huh? Would be awesome if it contains multiple charges. In fact I’m actually pretty confident that it will be of multi-charges seeing how it heals only one single target. Blizzard can’t be giving us a strip-down version of Priest’s skill now can they? EDIT: However, it really depends on how Blizzard wants to structure the spell. It could be just a one-off big heal upon attacked, a proc effect with no charges upon attacked, or multiple charges; each being plausible for different situations.

Moving on to the promise of improved itemizations for Retribution Paladins, previously Blizzard mentioned that they do not want to have class specific items anymore. That is, they do not want to have items with such specific stats that only a certain class may find them useful. This matches with the information that we have here, showing that Warrior, Death Knight and Retribution Paladin will most likely share the same items in the future. Hence in WotLK, Retribution Paladins’ main stats will probably switch to strength, stamina, and critical strike rating much like an Arms Warrior. In addition, it is likely that there will be a new talent that converts a percentage of strength into intellect and spell damage to make up for the lack of such stats in the new items. This allows Retribution Paladins access to a wider range of gears in the future, and is definitely a good change.

Question now is, is it wise to keep this restricted to only Retribution Paladins? Do Holy and Protection Paladins still have to seek out for a totally different set of gears? We will have to see. Personally I think that it will be pretty stupid to leave out the other 2 trees like this.

Now what do you think of these changes in Wrath of the Lich King? Do you like it? Or do you think that it should be done even better? Don’t be shy, input your comment here!

Looks like I was wrong, it is Diablo 3 after all! Totally looks like a game that would make me defect over. :O Do check out the cinematic teaser and the gameplay video included at end of the post. This looks even more promising than Starcraft 2 in my opinion! I’m glad that after World of Warcraft, Blizzard is now loaded with money to develop a few major titles concurrently. This is definitely good news.

So far only 2 classes (a blue post mentioned that there are only 5 classes) are released — the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. I would relate Barbarian to a Warrior, and a Witch Doctor much like a Warlock actually for those who didn’t play Diablo 2. Truth is, much of Warcraft 3 were mirrored from Diablo 2, so it wasn’t too surprising to see how Diablo 3 might be similar to WoW, which mirrors Warcraft 3.

Well, like every other game from Blizzard though, I expect this to take some time before it is released. Then again all of us are more than happy to wait just a little while for such a legendary title. Of course you would! Wouldn’t you?

Press Release:

Extra Information:

For more information about Diablo 3, do check out the official Diablo 3 website.

Cinematic Teaser:

Gameplay Video:

Diablo 3 World Premier At WWI:

There have been a lot of speculations lately online, regarding Blizzard’s new splash screen. It is widely regarded that Blizzard is prepared to make a major announcement about an upcoming game title that they will be developing and release in the future! This announcement will most likely be released at the WWI (World Wide Invitational convention) event, held in Paris during 28th of June to 29th of June 2008, which is like another day to go.

One of the main hype about this game revolves around Blizzard’s daily changes to their new splash screen. MMO-Champion captured the changes pretty well in the following picture. Click to enlarge.

Note how the ice/crystals are slowly melting/opening up to reveal what’s inside. Currently at day 4, the new splash screen reveals a pair of eyes, possibly being Prince Arthas or Lich King from WoW: Wrath of the Lich King. Others argued that it could still refer to something from Diablo 3, mainly based on the news that Blizzard has recently acquired Diablo3.com for future development.

If you would like to read all sort of crazy ideas about what the new splash screens are about, here are some links that I came across:

Links:
[1] MMO-Champion.com
[2] Diablofans.com
[3] Diabloii.net

If you want me to take a wild guess, I would say… neither. I side with the speculations that say, it is a brand new franchise. And it has to be another MMO game just like World of Warcraft. Why? Take a look at Blizzard’s employment page.

You can’t help but to notice a list of job openings for a Top Secret Next Generation MMO. I doubt if Diablo is to be turned into a MMO, it would still be called Diablo 3. And we know that Starcraft 2 is not a MMO. So what are the possibilities left?

It would however be very funny or disappointing, if the announcement is merely to announce the actual release date of WoW: Wrath of the Lich King. I mean a lot of us would still be very excited to hear the news, just not quite worth all these hypes that we’re going through. Time will tell.

This review is written for Killerguides.com’s Unofficial World of Warcraft Paladin Guide in the most neutral sense possible, despite the fact that they are an advertiser of this site.

Often, a lot of new players come into the game not knowing a lot of basics of the game. Surrounded by others who already have numerous 70’s, they seem to be isolated pretty badly. Ask a basic question, and they will be shouted at as a noob and so on. But really, not everyone knows about WoWWiki and WoWHead etc when they first play right?

This guide is excellent for new players who have just started. Opening the pdf file that I was sent, my screen was shown a beautifully designed e-book of 195-page of goodies. Yes, I was actually pretty surprised at its 12-page long of Table of Contents because I sure am used to low quality, and overpriced e-book claiming that they could solve all your problems.

This guide covers all the basics you need to know about playing a Paladin, and even more. From choosing a server, selecting the right race, explaining how in-game mechanics work, to giving an overview of various Paladin roles in-game, talent-by-talent analysis, and making money with your Paladin, etc they have got it all covered. It will save you a lot of time researching on things yourselves. They even have walkthroughs on Paladin quests for both sides, equipments and talent suggestions for different levels, and finally pointers on where to level.

If you are looking around for the new sets’ stats, here’s it. New and improved version of pvp awesomeness. There are some passive effects being added onto the sets, for example on Vindication, the gauntlets now also come with “Improve damage dealt by Crusader Strike by 5%”. On Redemption and Aegis sets however, the passive effects are both the same, being “Increase the critical effect change of your Flash of Light by 2%”.

These additions are definitely welcomed. However, for Aegis being a Protection set, why is there an effect for Flash of Light is beyond me. It’s true that Paladins rarely pvp in Protection Spec, just that itemizing the armor sets like this only further pigeonholing them. At least that’s what I think.

Nonetheless, here are some pictures taken off MMO-Champion regarding the new Paladin Brutal Gladiator’s Sets in Season 4. Have a look.

Brutal Gladiator’s Redemption Set

Brutal Gladiator’s Aegis Set

Brutal Gladiator’s Vindication Set

Season 4 Item Prices

Seems like tonight after the maintenance, you will be playing on a whole new season to chase after new sets of armors and weapons. For the casual players however, season 2 will now be available for purchased under battleground honors, so not too bad for you too. :)

A video to keep you entertained as I get back to my daily routine after finals. Much like what you would expect from the title, this a Holy/Shockadin pvp video. :)

Higher Resolution?

Source: Warcraftmovies.com

What does patch 2.4.3 has in-store for Paladins? Summon Warhorse available at level 30?! Woah… That’s godsend for my low level paladin alt! Then again, everyone else will be getting their mount at level 30. Booo… Not as exclusive as I wished it would have been.

And if you still haven’t read it from anywhere yet, yes season 4 is coming next Tuesday. It is a bit late but just thought I would include it for those of you who still somehow missed it.