With the new Cataclysm Beta Build 12539 going online there have been a lot of updates to the game.
As a class Paladins change significantly in this build due to the addition of Holy Power as a new resource and the restructuring of their talent trees.
Being a main tank the following changes to Protection were of high interest to me:
Ghostcrawler New Protection tree
There are no bonus Stamina talents. Prot paladins get +10% Stamina at level 10 for choosing Prot spec. We also cut the Spiritual Attunement mechanic and the "Improved Divine Plea" mechanic. Instead, Prot gets Judgement of the Wise (sans the raid Replenishment effect) as a passive, just like Ret. In essence, the melee paladins should rarely run out of mana, and if they do, they always have Divine Plea for emergencies.
Mana will still matter to them in the sense that if a Ret or Prot tries to be a healer or spam Consecrate, they'll blow through their bar more quickly than it will refill. But if they are using their normal attacks, mana should stay in a steady state.
(Note that Prot can still use Consecrate without spamming it by taking the long duration talent.)
I personally like the stamina boost being built into choosing Protection since that is part of what you need as Protection. Before with 51 points in a talent tree you could afford to put points into a stamina boost, however now that we are down to 31, it is better to be out of the talent tree since they were mandatory points anyway.
Next up, Seal of Wisdom is now dead... sigh
Ghostcrawler Re: R.I.P. Seal of Wisdom
Seal of Insight: Fills the Paladin with divine power, giving each single-target melee attack a chance to heal the Paladin and restore 4% of the paladin's maximum mana. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal Holy damage to an enemy.
Judgement: Unleashes the energy of a Seal to judge an enemy for Holy damage. Judged targets move slower and cannot flee. Attacking a judged target has a chance of healing the attacker.
"Move slower" is a cap on run speed, as it is today.
Judgement is considered a melee attack for purposes of restoring mana via Seal of Insight.
We're iterating on all of this quickly though, so things might have changed by the next beta build. :)
Actually looking at this, I like it as well, as it provides a way to do both old seals in one single spell.
All of the talent trees have changes as well, but so far there has not been an official update to the patch notes. Once they show up, we will post them here for your viewing pleasure.
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