Paladin AoE

Now that I've had some time to try out my new build (this is what I currently have at 31) I figured I'll make a post about it while I still can*.

What You Need To Know

The base of this spec revolves around the use of Seal of Light to regenerate health while taking as little damage as possible and reflecting as much damage as possible. That means Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary and Righteous Fury (talented, for damage mitigation) should be up at all times, and talents that reduce damage taken (especially ones that let you block more, as it will reflect damage with the blessing) or ones that allow you to attack more often (for more damage and more chances to heal through the seal) should get priority.

Since we're basing this on Seal of Light and Blessing of Sanctuary, this only becomes an option at 30. That usually means a respec, since even if you level as Protection there isn't much point in using a main-hand/shield combination so far, and a lot of the talents go toward improving blocking. That can be a good thing, though, since if you're going to respec anyway you can experiment and do whatever you want with those first 20 talent points.

What I Like

It really does work pretty well - run into a bunch of mobs, make a train, then start beating on them one by one while refreshing your seal every 30 seconds. It'll take a while, but you'll finish the fight with your mana and health pretty much full. Doing the "mastery" quests in Stranglethorn was never this quick - you can finish them in 2 or 3 "pulls".

Slight variations are easily accessible. If the blessing can't keep up with the damage you take, judging the mob you're currently whacking should be enough to get you back on your feet. If it's going too slow and you have mana to spare, feel free to throw down a Consecration for some more damage.

What I Don't Like

Of course, it's not all fun and games here - the spec has its downsides, and while I am only starting to use it, there don't seem to be any new spells or talents that would make such a big difference in playstyle down the road. I'll get some damage mitigation, some more DPS and some more healing to improve fights, but there is nothing that addresses the real problems that bug me.

For starters, you just can't handle ranged/caster mobs very well. With only 1, you can run all the way up to the mob and kill it first, but with more than that you'll be taking a lot of damage that won't get reflected or trigger any of your talents. For casters it's even worse, since even if you get close, they still cast instead of melee attacking you, so you're still in trouble if you don't kill them fast enough.

I guess for casters the best solution would be to just switch back to your 2-hander and take 'em 1-on-1. Not ideal, obviously, but the shield is completely useless against them anyway, so you might as well do some more damage.

Now, this isn't such a big problem if you're grinding - just pick melee mobs to grind on. But who wants to do that? It's boring... Especially if you consider that I don't have any hordies over 30, so I get to see a lot of quests for the first time.

Second thing that bothers me is - it's so boring. I mean, make sure you have the right aura, Righteous Fury and you Blessing are up, and charge in. Other than refreshing the seal every 30 seconds, you really don't have to (and in a lot of cases shouldn't) do anything else. I mean, I've only just started so I'm OK with it so far, but I don't imagine it'll last very long. I guess I'll just have to see.

Is That All There Is?

Well, yes and no. Yes, that's pretty much it for soloing. No, I have no idea how well it would work for tanking (or healing). I guess the added threat from Righteous Fury should cover for the lower DPS and the added reflective damage will definitely help threat generation, so I think it'll be fine. On the other hand, taking less damage means I don't get healed as much which means I don't regen as much mana from Spiritual Attunement. Guess I'll just have to try it and see.

Now it's pretty much it - feel free to ask questions or make suggestions, and I'll keep you posted if anything changes**. Also, luckily enough, Darkmoon Faire is getting extended maintenance today, so I'll probably be starting an alt on some other realy while I wait for it. Maybe a Holy priest, just for healing instances, who knows?



* Before 3.0, that is. Who knows how talents and skills will change then? Well, obviously, the people in the Beta, to some extent, but they don't count. *grin*

** Not that you care, but how am I going to keep up my post-a-day routine if I have to talk about meaningful stuff?

So Soon? But I'm Not Ready Yet...

As I'm sure no one but me actually remembers, Cawti started out a Protection pally. Then, at some point in her 20s I decided to try out Retribution for a while until 30 or so. So far so good - I paid the 1g for the respec, and watched as things started dying faster. Also, doing quite a few instances, I've had a chance to tank and heal and I can do a pretty decent job of both - I guess the spec doesn't matter as much as gear for now, and I do have different sets for different occasions.

So first off, having done all these instances (a couple of SFKs, WC, BFD, RFK...) and the relevant quests I got some pretty neat gear, often long before I could actually use it. I had to wait 4 levels to use my Tusken Helm, and 5 to get the quest from the Small Scroll. I've also done some more Blacksmithing, and am now wearing Green Iron Leggings and Boots.

Most importantly, I'm now 30 which has a lot of implications. First, I can Summon Warhorse (although I'm still considering getting a Chocobo). Second, I have Divine Intervention - should come in very handy for using on my tanks. Finally, with Blessing of Light, I can probably do pretty well AoE grinding so it's time to switch back to Protection.

And that's where the dilemma starts - as we've all heard by now, patch 3.0 (pre-WotLK patch) is "coming soon". While the patch itself is not a big surprise, the fact that it's coming so soon is. And, going by past experience, I think it's pretty safe to assume we'll all be getting a free respec (since the new trees will be so radically different than the current ones). So why waste 5g for a respec that'll only last a couple of weeks? Not to mention that I don't even know if the AoE spec is still viable with the new talents*. Having known myself for, oh, at least 2 weeks, I can say I'll probably go ahead and respec anyway (despite common-sense suggesting I shouldn't), but I might just switch to playing another character for now, who knows?



* In case you haven't noticed the distinct lack of talking about WotLK around here, I don't go for all that Beta frenzy. I haven't even opted in to the beta, despite recurring mails reminding me that I can. I just prefer to play my games when they're ready instead of having to keep track of all the changes and dealing with all the bugs in Betas.

Nostromo, Part IV: Paladin Bindings

After a couple days' break, we're back to the Nostromo series, this time with how Cawti does it. For now, I use two different action bars with her depending on the situation - 1 for soloing/tanking and another one for healing. While I don't have any way of switching between those 2 bars using the Nostromo, I only really switch between them when starting or finishing an instance (if I'm healing it, which there's a good chance I'm not) so doing it with the keyboard is fine.

Healer Mode

For the healing bar, there isn't too much to say. My healing is mostly done using Holy Light: Rank 4, with Rank 3 and Flash of Light also making an appearance (although they are kind of useless - they just don't heal enough at this point to justify using them). So that almost fills up the center row of the Nostromo, which still leaves quite a lot open. So for now, I threw in some helpful stuff like Blessing of Protection, Purify and Divine Protection. I specifically don't have Lay on Hands there, after using it once by mistake and going OOM in the middle of a fight. And that's it - there just isn't anything else worth putting there. Well, maybe Turn Undead, although it's very situational and I dislike using fear in instances. I also gave a brief try to using the Nostromo for targeting the different party members, but that turned out to be way too confusing so I gave it up.

Solo/Tank Mode

Here we have more skills to play with, and it shows. The mappings here are a bit of a mess, although I did try to keep some order to it. The little finger was supposed to be for healing, so it has (from top to bottom) Flash of Light, Holy Light and Purify. The ring finger, originally was supposed to be for bubbling but I don't have room for Blessing of Protection anymore, so now it has Hammer of Justice, Divine Protection and Exorcism. Next finger doesn't really have any theme - it has Righteous Defense, Judgement, and my racial Mana Tap. Finally, the index finger has Seal of the Crusader, Seal of Righteousness and Consecration. As for my other skills, if they're not here, they're either in ClassButtons or my other action bars, and I click 'em with my mouse.

And that's it for Paladins and Nostromos for now. Expect the rest of my Nostromo mappings and some thoughts about playing a Paladin in the near future...


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Posts in this series:

• Nostromo, Part I: Introduction
• Nostromo, Part II: Keymaps
• Nostromo, Part III: Mage Bindings
• Nostromo, Part IV: Paladin Bindings