Riot Act Forum

Cata Change Discussion

2010-04-14T13:11:21Z

From the first preview, here’s what I got out of it:

Blinding Shield: another CC probably on a really long timer. Looks good for prot BG pvp. Very situational for the other two specs.

Healing Hand: PBAE heal? I’m sure this will get used as often as holy nova. oh wait, it doesn’t do damage. lol

Guardian of the Ancient King: A cool looking pet that does your job for you. Here I thought blizzard wanted to make paladin class more interesting to play, not less. But at least it looks cool.

Spec change:

Holy: we are going to nerf your best ability so you can use some of the crappy ones we made. But at least you don’t have to worry about refreshing sacred shield anymore. Oh, you’ll get a new heal, but we’ll figure that out later.
Mastery: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more. (I literally lol’d here, sounds like an april fool joke)

Ret: We need to nerf your defense abilities and give you offensive abilities. Let’s nerf Divine Shield, take away Cleanse. Ok, we are done. What, offensive abilities? Um, we’ll get back to that. Hey, you got Holy Shock now, does that count?
Mastery: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased. (What holy damage? consecrate?)

Prot: You are going to have unlimited charges on holy shield, so you can finally tank h25 anub’arak lol. Just kidding, we are going to somehow figure out a way to make you press more buttons. That’s it.
Mastery: constant blocking. nice change

Prot Gearing

2010-03-08T04:57:02Z

After talking with a few different tanks of all sorts and progression, I’ve re-done my BiS gear. It’s not the current stacking armor route that some go for. I believe this path will lead to a better result is most cases, but not all.

The difference between this gear set and a stacking armor one is the following-

These are the stats for each set, unbuffed

Armor Set Other Set Difference

37545 Armor 32857 Armor - 4688 Armor
562 Defense Rating 585 Defense Rating +23 Defense rating
32.09% Dodge 34.30% Dodge +2.21% Dodge
22.98% Parry 23.28% Parry +.30% Parry
10.88% Block 11.80% Block +.92% Block
149 Hit 223 Hit +74 Hit
28 Exp 28 Exp Even *Glyphed*
1845 Block Value 1845 Block Value Even

**Both of the listed sets above included 4p tier 10, so add that cooldown in for both sets if you would like.

Now, the difference in the armor is the most of any stat, and given that, its roughly a 3.13% Difference on a level 83 mob. Compare the differences in both sets, the “Other Set” come out to a .3% increase in avoidance. In the long run, its up to the tank and what they think is best, that was an agreement out of all the tanks I talked to. It also comes down to what you can get and drop rates.

Now, Ill also add that I kept the gems, and all the enchants but one(Glove enchant) the same for this side by side overview. You can gem at you own will, I went with pure Stamina for all sockets, and Id recommend agility/stamina for a few sockets for the armor set, or even both.

Ill start by listing my personal BiS List, with gems and enchant I plan to use.

51209 HP
32857 Armor
585 Defense rating
34.30% Dodge
23.28% Parry
11.80% Block
1845 Block Value
223 Hit
28 Exp *With Seal of Corruption up and Glyphed*

Head- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51266
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41380 http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40130
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50369

Neck- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50682
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119

Shoulders- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51269
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=36767
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44957

Cloak- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50718
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44471

Chest- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51265
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=36767 http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44465

Bracer- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50611
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119 x2
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44944 http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=55628 (BS Only)

Gloves- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51267
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119 x2
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38376 http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=55641 (BS Only)

Belt- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50691
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119 x3
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41611

Legs- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50612
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119 x2, http://www.wowhead.com/?item=36767
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38373

Boots- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50625
Gems- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119 x2
Enchants- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38966

Ring 1- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50642
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119

Ring 2- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50622
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119

Trinket 1- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50364

Trinket 2- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50356

Optional Trinkets- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47451 http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50344 **
Can swap with these based on what you need for certain fights etc.
**Id use this on a fight that I can keep the buff up. I find a lot of times that the stack falls or doesn’t get to a full 10 stack etc for most of the fight.

Weapon- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51869
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44496

Shield- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50729
Gem- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40119
Enchant- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28282

Libram- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50461

Difference between a good ret and a great ret

2010-02-03T15:38:22Z

First of all, I’m not claiming that I’m a great ret, because I can’t even do some of the stuff I’m about to mention reliably. The misconception is that raiding ret is only about dodging fire while doing dps. That is the absolute minimum any raider should be capable of. Nowadays people use DPS as a indicator of whether you “know your class” or not. Being able to DPS as ret is as simple as doing addition subtraction. In comparision, if I can’t even do these, obviously I don’t know math. However, if I only know how to do addition and subtraction, I can’t claim that I know math either.

Ret pally is a pally first, then a ret. Paladin is the class with perhaps most raid utilities. A single paladin spell can turn the tide on entire raid encounters in some situations. First of all, lets talk about talent spec.

No, not the DPS skeleton talents 5/5/51, I’m talking about the other 10 points where most guides would just tell you to “spend them wherever you like”. These 10 points provides some of the most important utilities ret pally bring to raid. You should be able to answer these questions anytime anywhere:

Can you get Aura Mastery?
Can you get Divine Sacrifice? What about imp dsac?
What other talents would you pick along the way?
Can you fit vindication and imp blessing of might in your build? So your tank / dps has some extra talent points to spend.
Will you still be able to get pursuit of justice if you get a combination of the above talents?

After getting your talent spec set, now we should focus on using these utilities spells.

=========================================

Cleanse: Do you have mouseover cleanse? so you can dispel without losing target to save healers’ GCD and avooid potential wipes.

Art of War: Any decent ret knows to use art of war proc to instant cast exorcism. Do you cast flash of light with it? When? When you get pcold on Anub hard phase 3, do you flash yourself right away to give healer a buffer or do you just tunnel vision the boss and hopefully everything will work out? When you get decimated by stinky, do you sit there and pray healer AoE would hit you or flash yourself and keep going?

Holy Wrath: ICC being an undead instance, this AoE 3sec stun is perhaps one off the most powerful tool in here. I don’t need to go into details about this spell on the Anub hard fight, there’s plenty of guides on it. But do you have to rely on guides to tell you when to cast a spell? When you go up the blood wing of ICC and one of the tacticians just sapped your tank, what do you do? “Fuck it, i’ll just keep aoeing. healer will heal him up.” or “Let me holy wrath all the mobs so tank wouldn’t take any damage.” ?

Lay on Hand: Most ret would keep this to themselves in case of emergency. Only to find out a min later when he needs to bubble, he can’t. Lay on hand is a great tank saver, and can also be used to grant some mana to healers.

Repentance / Turn Evil: controlling 2 targets at once, perhaps the best CC class in ICC.

Aura Mastery: What effects are affected by this? When should you use this?

Divine Sacrifice: What does the basic spell do? What does the improved version do? When do you use this? Do you always Dsac with bubble? or can you Dsac with Divine Protection so you don’t lose any DPS? Or even if bubble is down, can you Dsac with Hand of Protection? These are the questions you should know before starting an boss fight.

Divine Intervention: What does this spell do now? On saurfang in ICC, could you possibly soulstone the pally and have him DI the first person getting mark? Stuff like this should come across every pally’s mind and be tested.

Divine Shield: Which spells penetrate DS? Do you bubble taunt when tank goes down to buy the raid a couple more sec dps time? Not necessary? Ask yourself that question again next time you wipe at 1% on a boss.

Hand of Reckoning: Where can you use this spell to DPS? (If you tell me nowhere, you aren’t even trying.)

Hand of Freedom: do you just use this on yourself or others as well? Do you use this on the kiter on Rotface as he’s running across the slime pool? Do you use it on the tank on Dreamwalker who’s desperately trying to get to the new mob while snared? There are way too many uses for this spell on others.

Hand of Sacrifice: Similar to Divine Sac, but when do you use this? on who? Will you be able to survive the damage? (since you most likely coupled bubble with dsac) Is it worth it to even sacrifice yourself to keep that person alive? (hence the name)

Hand of Salvation: How exactly does this spell reduce threat? What does the glyph for this do?

Hand of Protection: What debuff does this spell remove, what doesn’t it remove? Applications like Anub hard phase 2 can be found in some others fights in ICC.

===================================

If you can use these spells effectively in a raid, you are on your way to become a great ret raider. Otherwise, might as well replace you with a rogue, who would do more damage anyway.

Ret Gearing Choice (3.3)

2010-01-26T14:08:55Z

Stat Priority:
263 hit rating
100-150 expertise rating
enchant: AP > crit > agi > haste
gem: 1 nightmare tear to activate relentless meta, 20 str for all red and blue sockets, 10str/10crit for yellow socket ONLY IF you can get socket bonus.

Heroic All Plate BiS:
Head: [Sanctified Lightsworn Helmet]
Neck: [Ahn’kahar Onyx Neckguard]
Shoulders: [Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderplates]
Back: [Winding Sheet]
Chest: [Sanctified Lightsworn Battleplate]
Wrist: [Polar Bear Claw Bracers]
Hands: [Fleshrending Gauntlets]
Waist: [Coldwraith Links]
Legs: [Sanctified Lightsworn Legplates]
Feet: [Blood-Soaked Saronite Stompers]
Finger1: [Skeleton Lord’s Circle]
Finger2: [Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance]
Trinket1: [Death’s Choice]
Trinket2: [Tiny Abomination in a Jar]
Main Hand: [Bryntroll, the Bone Arbiter] or [Shadowmourne]
Ranged: [Libram of Three Truths]
DPS: 11,681 (12,451 with Legendary)

Normal All Plate BiS:
Head: [Sanctified Lightsworn Helmet]
Neck: [Ahn’kahar Onyx Neckguard]
Shoulders: [Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderplates]
Back: [Winding Sheet]
Chest: [Sanctified Lightsworn Battleplate]
Wrist: [Polar Bear Claw Bracers]
Hands: [Fleshrending Gauntlets]
Waist: [Coldwraith Links]
Legs: [Sanctified Lightsworn Legplates]
Feet: [Blood-Soaked Saronite Stompers]
Finger1: [Skeleton Lord’s Circle]
Finger2: [Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance]
Trinket1: [Death’s Choice]
Trinket2: [Tiny Abomination in a Jar]
Main Hand: [Bryntroll, the Bone Arbiter]
DPS: 10,506