src="/image/view/69685">
Mister
Peabody Let’s Go Into the Wayback Machine!
Everyone
knows that Mister Peabody played a Paladin, so it
only fits that he would help us look back at the best class in
style="">World of Warcraft.
The Paladin has had
some serious
changes since the beginning so it’s fun to look back and see
the
path we’ve travelled to get here. Wave your hands and say
“doodelooo doodelooo
doodeloo” like Wayne and Garth as we look back at the history
of the Paladin.
My
first character created in 2004 was a human Paladin. At
that time; only humans and dwarves could be Paladins, blessings lasted
five
minutes and if we used any talent tree other than holy at end-game we
were
laughed out of the raid.
alt="Paladin PvE Armor Sets"
src="/image/view/69686/preview">
from great (ok maybe not great) to gruesome.
style="">World of Warcraft,
the New Beginning
In the
beginning, Paladins could wield most weapons but not
well. The typical fight for Paladins was a battle of attrition. The
only hope
was that the attacking enemy would run out of steam while the Paladin
sat there
self-healing. If it all went sideways we could bubble-hearth and come
back
later. Leveling a Paladin in the years prior to Burning Crusade was
quite
tedious. The Paladin had no ranged attack (except for engineering
grenades/bomb/trinkets or Linken’s Boomerang). The
Paladin’s single taunt was
difficult to use and had a nasty cooldown. The saving grace was the
ability to
heal and tank a punch (of course many Paladins had to trade in plate
for cloth
back in those days). As a main tank healer it was difficult to beat a
Paladin.
I
remember when the only fear was Turn Undead and Exorcism
only worked against undead (which wasn’t that long ago). The
early days of the
Paladin were rough. The class was really a hybrid with no direction.
Changes to
the class were infrequent and not well received.
When
battlegrounds were introduced, some of the most feared
opponents were Paladins. With stun, Cleanse, Blessing of Freedom and of
course
the almighty bubble at our disposal, we became a great compliment to
any
battleground. But in reality everyone ignored us if we
weren’t carrying a
shield. The day of the Loladin (Retribution Spec) was upon us. Remember
when
Repentance had a 6 minute cooldown? Or how about the mount that cost a
significant amount of mana? It cost so much mana to summon a Charger
that I
bought a horse so I could mount up in PvP and not be half down on my
blue bar
all the time.
Talent
Spec update as of 2004:
time. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Protection: With no
ranged attack
or real taunt, this spec was widely ignored except for Blessing of
Kings. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Retribution: Miserable
burst damage
and lack of survivability created a perfect storm of hate. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">All of that and the
best
Paladin
gear in the game was bright yellow.
style="">The Burning Crusade
and the Rise of the Tankadin
Two
important things happened when The Burning Crusade
launched. First and foremost, the Horde gained their own race with an
option to
be a Paladin, the Blood Elf Paladin. This was pretty major and led to
an
amazing rise in pretty Paladins. This isn’t hard to picture
after a good
portion of the existing Paladins of the time were Dwarf Paladins.
The
other important update (among the many) was the addition
of “Greater Blessings.” Blessings went to 15
minutes through Greater Blessings
and the use of a reagent. What a luxury to only have to recast every 15
minutes
(now it seems like a very short time, but there was great rejoicing
when this
change came into play).
Talent
Spec update as of 2007:
Still incredible viable as probably the best single target healer in
the game. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Protection: Finally
starting to
live
up to the expectations. With Karazhan being full of undead,
Exorcism
became the pulling mechanism of choice and AoE tanking moved into the
forefront. Epic tales of Paladin tanking began to proliferate. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Retribution Paladin:
The
weakest
link in the chain, this spec never provided enough burst or sustained
DPS to be
attractive in groups or raids. Some players could pull it off and some
were
very good, but at the end of the day, a Paladin spot was for tanking or
most
likely healing. style="text-indent: 0.5in;">All of this and the
best
gear in
the game for the Paladin was pink.
style="">The Wrath of the Lich
King, Mission Accomplished (aka Retribution Retaliation)
Blessings
start to get real, all three trees are finally viable
and Retribution gains its rightful place as a DPS class. The blessings
finally
go to 30 minutes and that’s not all; Seals went to 30 minutes
as well. The
Seal/Judgement
mechanics were completely
reworked and made the overall life of a Paladin less tedious.
A true
measure of the Paladin’s success is the fact that the
class is highly sought in both PvP and PvE endeavors. Early on in the
expansion
Paladins owned the top spots in PvP rankings and continue to be viable
raid
members as any of the three specs.
Talent
Spec Update as of 2009 (current):
others, this
is the tree that received the most nerfs over time, but provides
incredible
single target and now some AoE healing. With marginal gear my Paladin
can lob
15,000 point heals with some regularity. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Protection: Completely
viable spec,
the tanking Paladin has become sought after as a tank of choice. The
Druid
tanking nerfs (and healing buffs) have the Paladin holding the number
one
hybrid healer spot and depending on whom you ask, maybe the top spot
overall.
With multiple ranged attacks, a brand new taunt and some very critical
itemized
pieces of gear a tanking Paladin is welcome in any party. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Retribution: Now
we’re talking. The
Retribution tree and some of the mechanics of the Paladin attacks means
that
Retribution Paladins can volunteer for a DPS slot with confidence. style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Finally, there was
gear
that didn’t
make us look like we were heading to a Chiquita banana or “My
Little Pony”
convention. class="MsoNormal">
style="width: 462px; height: 202px;"
alt="Paladin PvP Armor Sets"
src="/image/view/69687">
from Rainbow Warrior to Northrend Gun-Metal Grey.
style="">This Isn’t the End,
It’s the Beginning
The
class is now in a position of power which can mean only
one thing; the nerf bat is coming! According to the trend in the
Blizzard forum
posts, it appears that we’re safe for the moment. The hope is
that Blizzard
will continue to balance other classes (a buff here and there and maybe
some
nerfs) and provide some tweaks without breaking anything. Many might
say the
class is still broken, but the forum angst is far less pronounced.
During
Burning Crusade it was said that five druids could complete any
content, and I
would argue that the same can be said for Paladins today. Of course it
would
really only take three Paladins to complete everything, but we
won’t rub their
noses in it.
The
Paladin has changed a lot in five and a half years. The
road has been bumpy, but for now it seems to be fairly smooth.
I’m sure we’re
going to see many more changes in the future, let’s hope we
maintain triple
spec viability. Enjoy what you have Paladins, it’s been a
long time in the
making and many of us suffered through rough times. It was all worth it.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
