Paladin PTR Changes Analyzed

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align="left"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Many
changes are in the works for the Paladin
class, some good, some less good, and some are just changes. Let's not
get too
worked up since these are just getting ready to go to the PTR, but
it’s always
smart to keep your eye on the horizon.



Let's break down the latest PTR notes as shown in the forum
announcements and
how they are going to affect the best class in the game (Paladins in
case you
forgot):



   
* Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now also
increases stamina by 10%. This effect is not cumulative with Blessing
of Kings.

Good for those of us running as single Paladins in a 10-man,
semi-pointless for
the 25-man runs.

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* Charger: Can now be learned at level 40.

As expected, this concurs with the previously announced mount changes.



   
* Exorcism: Now has a 1.5 second cast time, but can
once again be used on players.

This is going to be an interesting change. Since 99% of my time is in
PvE, this
will make the spell almost useless to me. I'm not sure I'd wait that
long to
cast on an enemy in PvP either.



    * Hand of Reckoning: Redesigned. Now
does damage only when
target does not currently have the caster targeted, but damage done
increased
to 50% of attack power, occurring after the taunt effect is applied.

Making sure to keep this as taunt and not a damage spell, it appears
that
Blizzard is reworking this into a decent threat generator with more
punch.



    * Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2%
of the attacker's
maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power
and attack
power of the judging paladin.

This will reduce the potential for an uber Paladin to boost lower
geared
players by letting them leech off superior spell power. On the
flipside, it
also means that the gear of the Paladin won't gimp the spell - better
geared
party members can now get more potentially.



   
* Lay on Hands: The buff from this ability now reduces
the physical damage taken by the target by 10/20% instead of increasing
the
target's armor.

Without doing the math, this looks like a reduction in main tank
effectiveness
- meaning that the armor increase provided more benefit than this
reduction in
damage. This will require testing to really understand the mechanic
changes.



   
* Righteous Fury: No longer has a duration or mana
cost, remaining until cancelled or death. Also cancelled when a Paladin
activates a different talent specialization.

Not a huge change, as this has
convenience written all over it. The mana
costs were pretty heavy when trying to rebuff a whole raid, but it was
just a
few seconds of drinking. This almost turns RF into an Aura.



   
* Sacred Shield: When a paladin casts Flash of Light
on a target with this buff, they also now place a heal over time effect
on the
target, healing that target for 100% of the Flash of Light amount over
12
seconds.

This
could be nice. I see quite a few more FoLs being cast! There are
some questions though. What happens when a second Paladin casts FoL on
that
target, does the target get another HOT? As a tank, can I cast SS on
myself and
get loaded up by other Paladins? Of course that assumes the buff lasts
long
enough (it seems to get wiped off pretty fast in tanking conditions).



   
* Seal of Blood: This ability has been removed.

    * Seal of the Martyr: This ability has
been removed.

Interesting.
Seems like a pretty substantial nerf to Retribution DPS,
but let’s see what they’ve done with Seal of
Command. It was tough when I got
caught using these in PvP and killed myself.



   
* Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption: These
seals have been redesigned to deal substantially more damage. Now, once
a
paladin has 5 copies of the debuff from these seals on his or her
target, on
each swing the paladin will deal 33% weapon damage as Holy, with
critical
strikes dealing double damage.

More damage is good, but how will it work? What happens at less than 5
stacks?
This needs some evaluation on the PTR.





   
* Shield of Righteousness: Now deals 100% of shield block
value as damage instead of 130%.

While this looks like a substantial downgrade, the overall game effect
should
go up due to changes in Block Value:

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style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: left; line-height: normal;"
align="left"> style="font-family: Symbol;">· style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> style="">  Block
Value: The amount of bonus block value
on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block
value on
shields or block value derived from strength.

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style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: left; line-height: normal;"
align="left"> style="font-family: Symbol;">· style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> style="">  On-Use
Block Value Items: All items and set
bonuses that trigger temporary increases to block value have been
modified.
Instead of increasing their block value amount by 100% like other
items, they
have all had their effect durations doubled. This applies to Glyph of
Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren's Lucky Coin, Lavanthor's
Talisman,
Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred
Shield,
the tier 8 paladin Shield of Righteousness bonus, the tier 5 paladin
Holy
Shield bonus, and the tier 5 warrior Shield Block bonus. style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">

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is
some debate on the overall impact since there is little gear with
Shield Block
Value as a stat. This will require some testing.

[protip]Protection Paladins should consider block value as an offensive
tool too! Each point of block increases Shield of Righteousness
damage.[/protip]

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* Warhorse: Can now be learned at level 20.

Mounts are good. Mostly-free mounts at lower levels is great.



   
* Talents

         
Holy

               
Beacon of Light: The healing amount on the Beacon of Light target is
now based
on the total healing done (including over-healing) instead of the
effective
healing done. Radius increased to 60 yards. Multiple Paladins can now
have this
active on the same target. Buff indicating a player is within range of
the
Beacon target is no longer displayed.

Will
overhealing become the new chain heal? This appears to be a nice
add to the effectiveness of the spell, we'll see how it plays and watch
for
more changes.



               
Divine Intellect: This talent now gives 2/4/6/8/10% increased intellect
instead
of 3/6/9/12/15%.

Looks like a downgrade (duh?). Lower mana pools just ahead, no diving.



               
Illumination: This talent now returns 30% of the mana cost of the spell
instead
of 60%.

Another downgrade in the works. Look for less mana returning to the
lower mana
pools described above. Not a huge nerf, but Blizzard wants mana to
matter, so
this is what we get.



         Protection

               
Ardent Defender: Redesigned. Currently, any damage taken by the paladin
while
at 35% health or below is reduced. Instead, any attack that would
reduce the
paladin to 35% health or below has its damage reduced. In addition,
once every
2 minutes an attack that would have killed the paladin will fail to
kill, and
instead set the paladin's health to 10/20/30% of maximum.

Let's
see...Guardian Spirit-like with some Will of the Necropolis (a la
Death Knight) thrown in and we've got ourselves a pretty good death
avoidance
ability. Watch this one for changes as it gets tested.



         Retribution

               
Art of War: Now only applies to melee critical hits, but will make your
next
Flash of Light or Exorcism instant.

No more magic crits to help out, but reducing both cast times for FoL
and
Exorcism (and it's new 1.5 second cast time) to instant is nice.



   
        
  Crusader
Strike: Damage reduced to 75% weapon damage to match the new 4 second
cooldown.

Less damage, but more strikes. Buff or nerf, your mileage may vary.



         
   
 Seal of Command: Redesigned. This seal now deals 36% weapon
damage on
every swing, and deals substantially less judgement damage.

Without Seal of Blood/Martyr, this will probably be the Retribution
Seal of
Choice.



               
Vindication: Redesigned. Now lowers target attack power, is consistent
and does
not stack with Demoralizing Shout.

In the continuing trend of "Bring the Player not the Class" Paladins
will now be able to cast Demoralizing Roar/Shout, leaving the
Druids/Warriors
to increase health or use other options.

style="text-align: left;" align="left"> style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As
stated
earlier, these changes are being uploaded to the Public Test Realm, not
the
live servers, so don’t have a Tauren (cow) if the changes
aren’t to your
liking. There are sure to be changes to these changes so watch these
pages for
updates.