World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

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 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.  

PvE Armor Sets have ranged from great (ok maybe not great) to gruesome.

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:

Holy: The best (and some might say only) viable spec for Paladins at this time.

Protection: With no ranged attack or real taunt, this spec was widely ignored except for Blessing of Kings.

Retribution: Miserable burst damage and lack of survivability created a perfect storm of hate.

All of that and the best Paladin gear in the game was bright yellow.

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:

Holy: Still incredible viable as probably the best single target healer in the game.

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.

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.

All of this and the best gear in the game for the Paladin was pink.

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):

Holy: Compared to the 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.

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.

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.

Finally, there was gear that didn’t make us look like we were heading to a Chiquita banana or “My Little Pony” convention.

 

The PvP Armor sets range from Rainbow Warrior to Northrend Gun-Metal Grey.

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.