I'm really trying to figure this out and I can't get my poor mind to wrap
around it. I've heard good and back, praise and damnation.

1.9. The Paladin.

In simple terms I can figure, what happened? More importantly, where does
that leave the Paladin as a character and where do I go from here in
terms of reassigning my points?

I want to be support fighting in an instance or group and I want to be
able to heal as needed.

(It occurs to me that's exactly what I do with my Druid. The D has its
tricks and ways of doing it, I want to know what the new Paladin's tricks
are.)

Thanks!


DrM

I'd also like to know the ramifications of the changes, my paladin is
pretty low level and I don't really know the class.

I'd also like to know the ramifications of the changes, my paladin is
pretty low level and I don't really know the class.

"Dr. Mojo" <drmojo@none.xyz> writes:
>1.9. The Paladin.
>
>In simple terms I can figure, what happened? More importantly, where does
>that leave the Paladin as a character and where do I go from here in
>terms of reassigning my points?

I haven't tried to play under 1.9 yet, so I can't really answer the
allocation question, but from what I can tell from the patch notes, I don't
think a paladin's role has changed all that much. It does look like fury
has been fixed a bit so you stand a slightly larger chance of holding
aggro, but tanking with a paladin is mostly stupid anyway - you're
neglecting your role as the guy who's there to jump into that role (or the
healer role) when the going gets bad. A paladin's job is to save the day.

I can name at least three times in the past where a single thing I did
turned a near wipe into victory. Things like a last-second lay of hands
on the main warrior, a heal of the priest just as they were about to go
down from getting aggro, or getting in the last couple needed hits on a
baddie when everyone else had died. A warlock friend recently showed me
another goofy thing to do - act as their 'storage battery'. Meaning,
healing their ass constantly while they are hellfiring, which lets it do
the full devastating damage without them being dead at the end. Try to find
a priest willing to do that one! *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.

"Dr. Mojo" <drmojo@none.xyz> writes:
>1.9. The Paladin.
>
>In simple terms I can figure, what happened? More importantly, where does
>that leave the Paladin as a character and where do I go from here in
>terms of reassigning my points?

I haven't tried to play under 1.9 yet, so I can't really answer the
allocation question, but from what I can tell from the patch notes, I don't
think a paladin's role has changed all that much. It does look like fury
has been fixed a bit so you stand a slightly larger chance of holding
aggro, but tanking with a paladin is mostly stupid anyway - you're
neglecting your role as the guy who's there to jump into that role (or the
healer role) when the going gets bad. A paladin's job is to save the day.

I can name at least three times in the past where a single thing I did
turned a near wipe into victory. Things like a last-second lay of hands
on the main warrior, a heal of the priest just as they were about to go
down from getting aggro, or getting in the last couple needed hits on a
baddie when everyone else had died. A warlock friend recently showed me
another goofy thing to do - act as their 'storage battery'. Meaning,
healing their ass constantly while they are hellfiring, which lets it do
the full devastating damage without them being dead at the end. Try to find
a priest willing to do that one! *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.

Dr. Mojo wrote:
> I'm really trying to figure this out and I can't get my poor mind to wrap
> around it. I've heard good and back, praise and damnation.
>
> 1.9. The Paladin.
>
> In simple terms I can figure, what happened? More importantly, where does
> that leave the Paladin as a character and where do I go from here in
> terms of reassigning my points?
>
> I want to be support fighting in an instance or group and I want to be
> able to heal as needed.

Well that last sentence is pretty much the job description for a
paladin. So you're definitely playing the right class. The patch
tweaked some of the mechanics a bit, and made some changes to the
talents (some good, some bad -- overall it's a wash IMO) but the
fundamental role is still basically to survive and keep the group
alive.

Soloing is unfortunately still rather dull, though you can have a bit
more fun with judgements and such if you like. Still, if you're
soloing as a paladin there's no substitute for friends to chat with
while you seal-and-autoattack.

In a group, my best advice is to zoom all the way out, turn on NPC
health bars ("V" key), and then just pay attention to what's going on
around you, where the bad guys are, what the rest of your party is
doing, who needs help, etc. The mindset here should be to watch for
problems, fix them, and generally keep your party alive.

As you level (if you still are), look through your spellbook every once
in awhile at all the abilities you have and think about how they could
be used, especially in groups. There are a lot of things a paladin can
do, and it can take some time to get used to them all.

But really, the biggest thing you can do to help your play is just stay
focused on your role as group-defender and general problem-fixer. Even
if you don't always get things right at first, the fact that you're
trying to do the right thing will make you a pretty good paladin, and
with some practice you can become a very good one.

Dr. Mojo wrote:
> I'm really trying to figure this out and I can't get my poor mind to wrap
> around it. I've heard good and back, praise and damnation.
>
> 1.9. The Paladin.
>
> In simple terms I can figure, what happened? More importantly, where does
> that leave the Paladin as a character and where do I go from here in
> terms of reassigning my points?
>
> I want to be support fighting in an instance or group and I want to be
> able to heal as needed.

Well that last sentence is pretty much the job description for a
paladin. So you're definitely playing the right class. The patch
tweaked some of the mechanics a bit, and made some changes to the
talents (some good, some bad -- overall it's a wash IMO) but the
fundamental role is still basically to survive and keep the group
alive.

Soloing is unfortunately still rather dull, though you can have a bit
more fun with judgements and such if you like. Still, if you're
soloing as a paladin there's no substitute for friends to chat with
while you seal-and-autoattack.

In a group, my best advice is to zoom all the way out, turn on NPC
health bars ("V" key), and then just pay attention to what's going on
around you, where the bad guys are, what the rest of your party is
doing, who needs help, etc. The mindset here should be to watch for
problems, fix them, and generally keep your party alive.

As you level (if you still are), look through your spellbook every once
in awhile at all the abilities you have and think about how they could
be used, especially in groups. There are a lot of things a paladin can
do, and it can take some time to get used to them all.

But really, the biggest thing you can do to help your play is just stay
focused on your role as group-defender and general problem-fixer. Even
if you don't always get things right at first, the fact that you're
trying to do the right thing will make you a pretty good paladin, and
with some practice you can become a very good one.

In all honesty, what you're looking at as far as the new Paladin goes
is a combination of things, offtank, combat medic, buff/cleanse and
moderate DPS. The important thing is that the Paladin can be the
lynchpin that keeps everything together and stops a run from wiping.

As a paladin, you can pull everyone's fat out of the fryer. If the
priest is getting attacked by 1 or more mobs, whack on Righteous Fury
and Consecrate around the priest. Hell, whack Blessing of Protection on
the priest and take all the aggro. If the Mage decides to go heavy
artillery, Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Sacrifice will either
stop or remove some damage from him while he's busy nuking the place.
The warrior who gets constant heals is more than happy to go hell for
leather against multiple mobs, knowing he is practically unkillable.
Anyone who uses mana will always appreciate the free mana that Blessing
of Wisdom provides and Blessing of Kings goes well for Rogues who could
always use +10% Agility.

With a combination of buffs, cleanses, heals and even judgements you
can keep the group upright, functioning and mobile while watching them
wreak bloody vengeance. A Strath run is always good when you can whack
Judgement of Light on a high health mob and watch the melee fighters
get health back while attacking.

Some people say "shaman DPS is outrageous" but the Horde also say
"Paladin Survivability is outrageous". Most horde look at a single
paladin and go "I could attack but it's going to take a while to kill
them and there's no guarentee I'll succeed".

U-Boat
"Yea though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I shall
fear no evil because I'm the toughest muthaf*cker in the valley."

In all honesty, what you're looking at as far as the new Paladin goes
is a combination of things, offtank, combat medic, buff/cleanse and
moderate DPS. The important thing is that the Paladin can be the
lynchpin that keeps everything together and stops a run from wiping.

As a paladin, you can pull everyone's fat out of the fryer. If the
priest is getting attacked by 1 or more mobs, whack on Righteous Fury
and Consecrate around the priest. Hell, whack Blessing of Protection on
the priest and take all the aggro. If the Mage decides to go heavy
artillery, Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Sacrifice will either
stop or remove some damage from him while he's busy nuking the place.
The warrior who gets constant heals is more than happy to go hell for
leather against multiple mobs, knowing he is practically unkillable.
Anyone who uses mana will always appreciate the free mana that Blessing
of Wisdom provides and Blessing of Kings goes well for Rogues who could
always use +10% Agility.

With a combination of buffs, cleanses, heals and even judgements you
can keep the group upright, functioning and mobile while watching them
wreak bloody vengeance. A Strath run is always good when you can whack
Judgement of Light on a high health mob and watch the melee fighters
get health back while attacking.

Some people say "shaman DPS is outrageous" but the Horde also say
"Paladin Survivability is outrageous". Most horde look at a single
paladin and go "I could attack but it's going to take a while to kill
them and there's no guarentee I'll succeed".

U-Boat
"Yea though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I shall
fear no evil because I'm the toughest muthaf*cker in the valley."

"U-Boat" <rico_autofire@yahoo.com> writes:
>As a paladin, you can pull everyone's fat out of the fryer. If the
>priest is getting attacked by 1 or more mobs, whack on Righteous Fury
>and Consecrate around the priest. Hell, whack Blessing of Protection on
>the priest and take all the aggro. If the Mage decides to go heavy
>artillery, Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Sacrifice will either
>stop or remove some damage from him while he's busy nuking the place.

You know, you gave me some good ideas there, thanks!

I got a chance to play a bit last night, and other than having to figure
out the trees all over again (I did a lot more holy than I did before!), I
think I really like the changes. I can buff myself for 30 minutes as an
aggro magnet without losing seals, Command is nicely beefed up and
actually has a semi useful judgement, and judgements STICK so long as I
keep beating on the enemy. I'm looking forward to grouping with paladin
2.0. *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.

"U-Boat" <rico_autofire@yahoo.com> writes:
>As a paladin, you can pull everyone's fat out of the fryer. If the
>priest is getting attacked by 1 or more mobs, whack on Righteous Fury
>and Consecrate around the priest. Hell, whack Blessing of Protection on
>the priest and take all the aggro. If the Mage decides to go heavy
>artillery, Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Sacrifice will either
>stop or remove some damage from him while he's busy nuking the place.

You know, you gave me some good ideas there, thanks!

I got a chance to play a bit last night, and other than having to figure
out the trees all over again (I did a lot more holy than I did before!), I
think I really like the changes. I can buff myself for 30 minutes as an
aggro magnet without losing seals, Command is nicely beefed up and
actually has a semi useful judgement, and judgements STICK so long as I
keep beating on the enemy. I'm looking forward to grouping with paladin
2.0. *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.