Recent Beta Updates and Some Clarifications
I am a consultant in the IT industry. For those of us whose workdays pass in front of a workstation only to relocate to a different one when they arrive home, the concept of “testing” is often met with a collection of barely audible grunts followed by a symphony of lethargic sighs. It’s okay. I’m right there with you and can both empathize and sympathize. The fundamental shortcoming of “testing” as a concept is that its enjoyability (I made that word up) is limited by the enjoyability ((c) Synovia, 2008) of the system being tested. Fortunately for us, the bandwagon for World of Warcraft testing has many seats and the ride itself is not at all uneventful.
As with any large-scale beta testing, changes can be assumed, tweaks can be expected and deviations from original intention should not arrive unconsidered. World of Warcraft stands as no exception and in Blizzard’s latest round of fine-tuning they have kicked off a game of musical talents.
Let the music begin!
Recent Beta Updates
What I’m going to do here is present the recent changes factually and without explanation but then follow it up with my take on the changes and their effect on the Paladin. As of this morning (although I don’t claim these changes to have been implemented “this morning”), the following updates have been made:
- Divine Strength now increases Strength by 3% per rank (up from 2%)
- Vindication now only has 2 ranks with each rank reducing the afflicted player’s statistics by 10% for a total of 20% reduction (down 1 rank but up 5% in reduction)
- Pursuit of Justice now only has 2 ranks for an 8/15% movement and mount speed increase. However, it now only provides 1/2% chance to not be hit by spells (down 1 rank but down 1% chance to be hit by spells)
- Improved Blessing of Might now increases the effectiveness of your Blessing of Might by 10% per rank (up from 4% per rank)
- Guarded by the Light has been simplified to now give a 15/30% mana cost reduction Consecration, Holy Wrath and Avenger’s Shield (changed from 10/20% chance when you parry or dodge and attack to cause your next Consecration, Holy Wrath OR Avenger’s Shield to cost 25/50% less mana)
- Holy Shield now has 6 charges inherently (up from 4)
The Change to Divine Strength
Without a doubt, this change was implemented to equalize it with “Divine Intellect” from the Holy tree which was already set to be 3% per rank. Whereas Intellect is the Holy Paladin’s primary base statistic, Strength is the Retribution Paladin’s base statistics.
The Change to Vindication and Pursuit of Justice
With respect to both of these talents, I believe they were adjusted to receive a maximum of 2 talent points each in attempt to free up 2 talent points out of a seemingly bloated Retribution tree. Concerning Vindication specifically, however, I believe a secondary point of logic behind this change was an attempt to make this debuff a bit more potent given the absence of any healing reduction effects in the Retadin’s PvP arsenal. I, personally, have never been a supporter of the “let’s give another class a healing debuff” movement and as a result, I am happy to see this well-deserved buff to an ability to gets little mention in the PvP community.
The Change to Blessing of Might
I’m going to be completely forthright with you here: I haven’t the slightest idea what motivated this enormous buff to an already excellent talent. Well, perhaps claiming lack of even a “slightest” idea is misleading given I can somewhat understand the motivation to assign it more effectiveness. However, this is a first-tier talent and although I’m not at all complaining about its recent update, I was content with the 20% increase it gave to the blessing.
The Change to Guardian of the Light
This high-tier Protection talent was initially yet another proc in the Paladin arsenal (or should I say “pain in the Paladin arse”) but since has been reworked to be a static 15/30% mana cost reduction to three of the Tankadin’s aggro-generation abilities. I believe this was done as part of Blizzard’s stated effort to usher the Paladin towards less reliance on procs and chance (i.e. Seal of Command supposedly moving to a fixed 50% proc rate as opposed to 7 procs per minute). All in all, I feel this is a solid change for this talent and now results in a respectable bucket in which to place talent points.
The Change to Holy Shield
Holy Shield is already one of a Tankadin’s proverbial “bread and butter” skills but at only four charges it has assisted in sending quite a few Paladins to the back of the tanking bus when it comes to solo-tanking raid bosses. This is due to the fact that since Holy Shield is a very large source of a Tankadin’s overall mitigation, their cause is hurt by the fact that even against a single-targetting raid boss their cooldown for Holy Shield would still be ticking at the time its final charge came off. This left the Paladin somewhat susceptible to extra damage during these small intermissions and thus assisted in the decision of many raiding guilds to lean the way of Druids and Warriors for solo-target tanking. I believe the intent of this change is to not only strength the Tankadin’s “niche” (niches being something Blizzard has clearly stated they desire each tanking class to have) but also give them more viability with respect to raid boss tanking.
Some Clarifications
Recently, I made a post on the official Paladin forums requesting clarification on various WotLK Paladin mechanics. What I got in reply was a collection of steadfast, definitive answers to a few of my questions and a collection of wavering assumptions regarding some others. After some research of my own and some conversations with folks currently in the WotLK beta, I have arrived at a concrete (as of the moment) list of things I would like to clarify:
- Contrary to my previous post about the new Seal/Judgement system, casting any one of the three Judgement spells does NOT trigger the GCD
- A Judgement spell (any of them) cannot be cast unless you have a Seal up
- Although the 3% raid-wide crit granted by Heart of the Crusader applies to any of the three Judgement types, it is NOT stackable
- Retribution Aura now scales with AP/SD (whichever is greater) and currently, for Retadins in Beta, hits for around 130-150 per proc
- Spell Power is replacing both “+damage and healing” as well as just “+healing” effects on items. What this means is that a Shadow Priest and a Holy Priest, for example, may both have the exact same amount of “Spell Power”. However, the coefficients for healing spells are being increased to compensate. The net result is that, say, 1300 Spell Power will “feel” as though it were somewhere around 2500 “+healing”
No doubt further changes will come necessitating further clarifications. Beta testing within the World of Warcraft is an exciting time. It allows us theorycrafters the opportunity to whet our enormous appetites for the science behind our passion. As updates are made and changes are implemented, you can expect to hear about them promptly right here on WoWPaladin.org.
This is Synovia, taking her leave.
Related Posts:
Like this article? Join us today with the more of the latest discussions on Paladins by signing up to the wowPaladin.org Discussion Forum! All our expert fellow members are more than happy to answer your questions!
Shaun said,
July 24, 2008 at 5:56 pm
First off, you guys are amazing. But…. Can I get a clarification on a clarification real quick?
With the change from healing + damage to just spell power, how will that affect my current gear? I’m currently a holy paladin with +1300 healing and +620 damage. What should I expect that to change to, if anything?
Khassad said,
July 24, 2008 at 6:53 pm
GJ Synovia !! :)
It would be really interesting to have some clarifications on blessings and the new “Hand of”.
I read forums related to WotLK beta (both EU and US), but informations and feedbacks are poor.
For example I wonder if any “Hand of…” overwrites the current blessing on the target. If the new for of “Salvation” is actually effective. If the new “Sacrifice”, that is no more a viable anti-CC, is completely useless.
wowPaladin.J said,
July 24, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Hand of doesn’t overwrite blessings anymore. That’s the core reason why Blizzard wants to split it out as a different set of spells.
As for whether Hand of Salvation is really effective, I’m not so sure. But Blizzard is scaling up tank’s threat to a level that is similar to when Blessing of Salvation is present on the raid. So even if Hand of Salvation is not that effective, Blessing of Salvation is no longer needed due to the change. But I think it’s a nice situational spell to drop aggro on any target. Anyway, I don’t think anyone will be testing this extensively for a while. Seems like you will need a proper party in a proper dungeon to really try things out, which may take a while for the new beta tests to hit 80s.
Synovia said,
July 24, 2008 at 11:23 pm
To Shaun:
The accepted difference between +healing and +damage is 2/3. By this I mean that, ideally, if you were to have two pieces of gear that are intended to be of the same item level, but one is a +damage piece while the other is a +healing piece, then the +damage piece would probably have a +damage value of approximately 1/3 the +healing found on the other item. So in your example, given that you have 1300 +healing, you should expect that to equate to approximately 1300 * .33 = 429 Spell Power.
To compensate for the much lower values being used for both healing and damage spells, the coefficients for healing spells will all be greatly increased to a degree that 429 Spell Power should feel just as though it were 1300 +healing when casting Flash of Light or Holy Light, etc.
To Khassad:
Like J said, the “Hand” spells are now completely seperate from Blessings. The spells that are now part of the “Hand” spells are: Salvation, Sacrifice, Freedom and Protection. “Hand” spells are part of the physical school meaning they cannot be dispelled, purged, etc. By default, Hand spells will last 10 minutes (I believe). Currently there are no plans for “Greater Hand” spells that would last longer than 10 minutes.
Synovia said,
July 24, 2008 at 11:24 pm
This just in: Hammer of Wrath no longer resets your swing timer, has had its mana cost slightly reduced and is now usable on targets at or below 35% health instead of 20%.
wowPaladin.J said,
July 25, 2008 at 12:05 am
Are you sure that Hands are becoming Physical? Wowhead still says that it’s a magic buff though. Check http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=1044
Synovia said,
July 25, 2008 at 1:42 am
It’s an assumption based on the fact that Blessing of Freedom and Blessing of Sacrifice were recently moved the Physical school
Ghmou said,
July 25, 2008 at 4:20 am
I like the streamlining of the Ret tree - really great.
How about the Prot tree? /beg
I’m tired of feeling bloated every time I spec Prot. =X
Shaun said,
July 25, 2008 at 6:28 am
Ok….. I’m loving this mad-pally-love but…..
Is it just me or does it seem like they are making paladins too strong? I for one am a major fan of walking onto a battle field and being able to take down anything and anyone, but I also don’t want to get nerfed to shit within the first week of actively playing wotlk. Yes, warlocks got cool stuff as did everyone else. But the only thing that even catches my eye on anyone else is the chaos bolt. A very powerful/scary weapon, awarded to a spec that nobody even plays…..
Are we becomming too powerful compared to everyone else, and if so, should we expect a horrible nerf early on?
Shaun said,
July 25, 2008 at 7:28 am
Ok.. I know this is the 50th comment on this and i’m really sorry.
So I get the part where 429 spell power would be equivalent to around 1300 healing. But wouldn’t that 429 spell power also be equivalent to some amount of spell damage?
What i’m asking is, with 1300 healing and 640 damage, am I going to gain any spell damage from this or will it stay the same?
Kalenian said,
July 25, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Shaun-
Do you have any gear that has only +damage or do you have any gear that is +damage/healing instead of +healing?
Shaun said,
July 26, 2008 at 12:29 am
All of my gear is of the both + healing and plus + damage. Example, 180 healing, +60 damage.
Arkhen said,
July 26, 2008 at 12:53 am
Awesome info man, keep on the good work!
Now i agree with another post that this paladin changes will be nerfed-over time, i´ve never seen so much changes/buffs on a single class since way back in pre-BC, so imho the only thing we could do with this is to enjoy it while we can…
Kalenian said,
July 26, 2008 at 1:04 am
Well this is what i’m trying to figure out:
Currently you get ~33% of your +healing as +damage. Therefore, if you have 1300 healing you should have (.33)(1300)=429 damage assuming that you have no +damage gear. Is it possible that your numbers are off or that you overlooked some +damage gear or enchants?
Shaun said,
July 26, 2008 at 2:18 am
Odd… Apparently my numbers are … off?
If you have a chance can you look at me on wowarmory, character name is Falerdon on Kael’Thas.
Sorry for the randomness, trying to understand how all of this works and whether i’ll see a difference from the change from +healing and +dmg to spell power.
Kalenian said,
July 26, 2008 at 2:42 am
You know, it may be due to the holy paladin +damage/healing from intellect talent… I guess I’m not really sure. I’m at work right now (which blocks the armory), so if no one says anything until I get home (around 5 PM CST) I’ll take a look at it :)
Overall though, I believe that it was stated that you will not see a difference in healing being done.
Synovia said,
July 26, 2008 at 2:52 am
Sadly, I do think that Paladins will be “adjusted” but I do believe most of the substantial changes will occur during Beta and not once the expansion has gone live.
What’s good for us is that I believe most classes got rather important buffs with WotLK. For example, the Rogue 51 point Subtlety talent allows them to essentially “Vanish” for free 3 times over 9 seconds. Have you ever been Ambushed 4 times in 12 seconds before? ;)
The Frost Mage 51 point talent is a hefty stun - a mechanic that to date has never been part of the Mage Arsenal aside from Impact alone.
Affliction Warlocks received yet another DoT effect that not only deals damage over time and increases damage from DoTs by 15% but actually heals the Warlock for 20% of all damage done during it’s duration when it concludes.
I believe we’ll see the Paladin getting “tuned” a bit prior to release but I don’t think the nerf bat will swing too hard.
Kalenian said,
July 26, 2008 at 3:33 am
I agree Synoia. Right now the only issue I see with ret is that when the stars align perfectly a ret paladin could put out 25k burst in around 2 GCD (stun + crit CS + crit white + crit SOC + 18k judgement + crit DS). No matter how rare this would be, it just can’t be allowed to happen, ever. Every other strength (on demand burst, off healing, hands) that a ret paladin has is easily offset by a lack of reliable interrupt and being easily kitable due to a lack of a snare or intercept like ability.
Now I’m just crossing my fingers about Hand of Freedom being considered physical… the only reason I’m wary is due to the Holy tree talent that reduces the chance that your Hand spells will be dispelled by 30%. Has someone who is IN the beta confirmed anything?
Kalenian said,
July 26, 2008 at 3:45 am
Also, is there any word on how Sacred Shield is going to work? Does it have a duration? Is it dispellable? Does it have a duration? Can it be on more than one person? Does it count as a “Hand” spell (since before it was called Hand of Purity…)?
Synovia said,
July 26, 2008 at 3:51 am
Well put, Kalenian. Even as strong as Retadins in WotLK are at present they certainly still have weaknesses. As far as the “Hand” spells are concerned, I have not gotten any definite confirmation yete as to whether they are magic-based or physical. I will find out today and let you know. The same goes for Sacred Shield.
Kalenian said,
July 26, 2008 at 3:57 am
Appreciated :)
Proudfoot said,
July 30, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I read that Sacred Shield has a 30 second duration and I’m sure it’s dispellable just like everything else.
Healing paladins won’t see any changes in how hard your heals hit with the “spell power” changes… However, Prot and Ret paladins will see thier heals hitting much harder then before (which is good IMO).
Hand spells couldn’t have been changed to physical or the talent “Blessed Hands” wouldn’t exist.
Casting any one of the three Judgement spells DOES trigger the GCD
“The 3% raid-wide crit granted by Heart of the Crusader applies to any of the three Judgement types, but it is NOT stackable.” - Unfortunate. It would be nice to have 9% extra crit LOL.
Proudfoot said,
July 30, 2008 at 4:48 pm
“Retribution Aura now scales with AP/SD (whichever is greater) and currently, for Retadins in Beta, hits for around 130-150 per proc”
Question, is this with or without the improved ret aura talent? At level 80 I think ret aura with the talent and no spell damage hits harder than this. Basically I’m asking what the coefficent is.