Positive Feedback

Paladin changes in the Wrath beta have been coming hard and fast. Lots of changes have been for the better, lots are 'meh'. I'm going to take a quick look at some of these.

This list comes from the beta forums, via Rill (much kudos).

Changes:

• Holy Wrath is Instant.
• Lay on Hands is 20 min cooldown instead of 1 hr. Also costs no mana.
• Divine Intervention is a 20 min cooldown instead of 1 hr.
• Ranks of all Seal Spells have been removed. There is just one rank now that scales with level/gear depending on the seal.
• Seal of Wisdom and Light scale with Spell Power.
• All Seal spells now last 2 minutes instead of 30 seconds and are no longer consumed when casting a Judgement spell.
• Blessing of Freedom changed to Hand of Freedom. 25 second cooldown, immunity to movement imparing effects for 10 seconds.
• Blessing of Protection changed to Hand of Protection. Same effect.
• Blessing of Sacrafice changed to Hand of Sacrafice. 2 min cooldown, lasts 12 seconds. Transfers 30% of the damage taken by the target, to the caster.
• Blessing of Salvation changed to Hand of Salvation. 2 min cooldown, lasts 10 seconds. Reduces the target's threat by 2% every second for 10 secons.
• Righteous Fury changed to increase threat by 90% instead of 60%.
• Avenging Wrath now increases all damage and healing caused by 20% for 20 seconds instead of just damage by 30%.
• Hammer of Wrath's animation speed increased and is a .5 second cast and affected by haste. Can now be used by targets at 35% health instead of 20%.
• Retribution Aura damage increased. Example: rank 6 causes 26 holy damage in live. In beta causes 62 holy damage.
• Judgements are currently affected by global cooldown.
• Divine Shield and Divine Protection cooldowns are no longer linked.
• Forbearance timer increased to 3 minutes from 1 minute.
• Divine Protection now only has one rank. Additionally, Divine Protection will absorb 50% of all damage and reduce your attack speed by 50%. Duration increased to 12 seconds.
• The following spells now scale with spell power and attack power: Consecration, Exorcism, Judgement of Wisdom/Light/Justice.
• Righteous Defense no longer costs mana and the global cooldown has been removed.
• Seal of Blood now increases Judgement damage by 45% of weapon damage.
• Seal of Command now increases Judgement damage by 30% of weapon damage, 60% on stunned targets.
• Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.
• Seal of Righteousness deals damage based on weapons peed plus an amount based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 25%.
• Seal of Vengeance damage over time effect duration increased to 18 seconds and now applies its effect on every swing, causes damage based on attack power and spell power, and increases Judgement damage by 10% per stack of the damage over time effect.
• Summon Warhorse and Summon Charger mana cost removed and no longer causes a global cooldown.

Removals:

• Judgement has been removed. (See Judgement Notes further down)
• Forbearance has been removed from Avenging Wrath.
• Seal of the Crusader has been removed. (*sniffle* We had such good times!)

Additions:

• Judgement of Wisdom (see Judgement Notes further down) - Appears to give you mana back when cast. Might be a bug. Checked to see if it was just Judgements of the Wise kicking in but it does it with or without it.
• Judgement of Justice (see Judgement Notes further down) - Still works as if you had cast seal of justice and judged it. Except you don't have to cast seal of justice before judging anymore.
• Judgement of Light (see Judgement Notes further down) - Still works as if you had cast seal of light and judged it. Except you don't need to cast seal of light before judging anymore.
• Seal of the Martyr - Alliance version of Seal of Blood.
• Seal of Corruption - Horde version of Seal of Vengeance.
• Divine Plea - 5 minute cooldown. Channeled 6 sec cast. While Channeling this spell you gain 50% of your total mana. Animation is a blue book and fist that hovers over your head while you kneel and channel the spell. Requires level 71. Currently affected by haste.
• Sacred Shield - 40yd range, 35 mana, instant cast. Uknown cooldown, requires level 80. Each time the target takes damage they gain Sacred Shield, absorbing 500 damage. They cannot gain this effect more than once every 6 seconds.
• Shield of Righteousness - 6 second cooldown, instant cast, requires shields, requires level 75. Slam the target with your shield, causing holy damage equal to 200% of your block value. High threat.

Talent Specific Notes
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/talents2.html

Changes:

Holy

• Spiritual Focus moved to T1 from T2.
• Divine Intellect moved to T2 from T1.
• Divine Strength moved to Protection T1.
• Healing Light moved to T2 from T3.
• Unyielding Faith moved to T2 from T3. Increased the resists % from 5/10 to 15/30.
• Improved Lay on Hands now increased armor bonus of the target by 50% instead of 15% and the duration reduced to only 15 secs instead of 2 min. Also reduces the cooldown of Lay on Hands by 4 minutes instead of 20 minutes.
• Illumination moved to T3 from T4
• Improved Concentration Aura moved to T4 holy instead of protection.
• Pure of Heart now reduces the duration of curse and diseases by 50% instead of increases resistance by 15%.
• Holy Shock has had damage/healing increased, mana decreased, range increased, cooldown decreased.

Protection

• Divine Strength moved to T1, from Holy T1.
• Anticipation moved to T1 from T3. Now increases your Dodge by 5% instead of your Defense by 20.
• Stoicism moved to T2 from T4. % increased.
• Redoubt moved to T2 from T1.
• Toughness moved to T3 from T2. Increased % of bonus armor value from 10% to 20%.
• Improved Righteous Fury no longer increases threat.
• Improved Hammer of Justice decreases the cooldown by 30 seconds instead of 15.
• Improved Concentration Aura moved to Holy.
• Improved Devotion Aura moved to T4 from T1. Now increases healing effects on targets with Devo aura by 3%. Also increases armor bonus by 50% instead of 40%. Also uses 3 talents instead of 5.

Retribution

• Improved Blessing of Might now increases AP bonus by 50% instead of 20%.
• Vindication is now 2 points instead of 3 and decreases stats by 20% instead of 15%.
• Pursuit of Justice is now 2 points instead of 3 and reduces chance to be hit by spells by 2% instead of 3%.
• Eye for an Eye Eye for an Eye: All criticals against you cause 10/20% of the damage taken to the attacker as well, instead of 15/30% damage return for spell attacks only.
• Divine Purpose changed to reduces chance to be hit by ranged/spell by 3% and reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 30%.
• Repentance duration increased to 1 minute PvE, 10 seconds PvP.
• Fanaticism increased crit strike chance of judgements to 25% instead of 15%.

Removals:

Protection

• Precision removed.

Retribution

• Sanctity Aura has been removed.
• Improved Sanctity Aura has been removed.
• Improved Seal of the Crusader has been removed.
• Sanctified Judgement has been removed.

Additions:

Holy

• Seals of the Pure, T1, 5 points
• Blessed Hands, T5, 2 points
• Infusion of Light, T8, 2 points
• Sacred Cleansing, T9, 3 points
• Enlightened Judgements, T9, 2 points
• Judgements of the Pure, T10, 5 points
• Beacon of Light, T11, 1 point

Protection

• Divine Guardian, T4, 2 points
• Touched by the Light, T9, 3 points
• Guarded by the Light, T9, 2 points
• Shield of the Templar, T10, 3 points
• Judgements of the Just, T10, 2 points
• Hammer of the Righteous, T11, 1 point

Retribution

• Heart of the Crusader, T2, 3 points
• Sanctified Retribution, T5, 1 point
• Sheath of Light, T5, 3 points
• Judgements of the Wise, T6 3 points
• Sanctified Wrath, T8, 2 points
• Swift Retribution, T9, 3 points
• The Art of War, T9, 3 points
• Righteous Vengeance, T10, 5 points
• Divine Storm, T11, 1 point

Judgement Notes

The Judgement spell has been removed. Now, you have three Judgement spells. Judgement of Justice, Judgement of Wisdom, and Judgement of Light. When you cast a seal, you are able to cast one of the three judgements. When you cast the judgement, you get the effect of the judgement itself plus your seal will judge the target as well. However, you no longer have to recast your seal after using a judgement spell. (May be a bug?)

Example:I cast Seal of Command. I cast Judgement of Wisdom on my target. My target will then have the effect of Judgement of Wisdom but they also took damage as if I had judged command on them too.

Currently, doing a judgement with any seal will deal various amounts of holy damage. Unsure if there are plans to change that or not.

Keep in mind, these changes are just the Paladin changes!!! It's almost like a completely new class by itself. It's obvious that Blizzard has give a LOT of thought about how to make the Paladin better and it shows. Will all these changes make it out of beta? No way. Some are too powerful, some are about useless. There's a lot of good feedback on the beta forums for the devs to chew on. Ghostwalker is already gathering some info and giving ideas on the info s/he would like to see.

I'm hoping to get a beta invite. I'd sure like the opportunity to tell them that Prot damage needs to scale better if nothing else.




Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat