I sit firmly in the camp that in Classic WoW, Paladins are meant to be a support class. Supports are not meant to be the best Tank, Heal, or DPS, instead they do an average but respectable performance, and instead augment the capabilities of their allies though buff, debuffs, and damage windows. In many ways, to be a support is to be the lynchpin of the group that can save the day, or make bad situation manageable; Paladins do these things particularly well.
Unfortunately, Paladins, along with all the original hybrid classes (Paladins, Shamans, and Druids btw) kind of got screwed over in Classic and even in some later expansions due to the machinations of former developers that had a hatred of hybrids that carried over from their days in Everquest, the person in particular I’m talking was Furor (I’m not using his real name due to forum rules, but feel free to google it). This man, and his fellows, had a reputation of protesting any buffs to hybrids back in EQ, and there’s evidence of their sabotaging of hybrids in Classic; Yes, I’m saying somebody was out to get all hybrid classes in Classic, as crazy as that seems. Fortunately, based on what we’ve seen, the current dev team seems more interested in making a great experience, rather than pursuing some childish vendetta. With this fact, I have hope, and therefore inspiration to suggest some SoD-exclusive (for now atleast) changes to Paladins to make them the best Support they could be.
I feel in particular, Retribution Paladins have the most room to be more supportive of their team while still remaining effective as a damage source; especially with the runes solving most of their problems. The changes I’m going to suggest won’t really change gameplay, instead make Ret Paladins more attractive for groups beyond being just another DPS. Don’t think for second that I think Ret should be top DPS, as long as they’re within say 20-30% of the top source, they’re fine. I see 4 major changes that would help them not only be better supports, but also better DPS: Seal of Crusader, Sanctity Aura, Vengeance Talent, and Repentance.
Seal of the Crusader. Lets be honest, this ability is just bad. The Seal has extremely niche use, but otherwise is almost worse than basic auto attacks. The Judgement is only helpful to Paladins and Priests, and that’s it. The rework is intended to be useful to everyone and be a strategic choice for Paladin rather just spamming Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Martyrdom or Seal of Command.
The New Seal of the Crusader - Fills the Paladin with the spirit of a crusader for 30 sec, causing all melee attacks to be dealt as holy damage. Dealing damage will grant Heart of the Crusader for 2 minutes, increasing the damage of your next direct damage spell or ability by (X +5% of bonus spell damage), stacking up to 5 times.
Unleashing this Seal’s energy will judge an enemy for 10 sec, When the target is struck by an enemy, the enemy will deal an additional X holy damage; this damage is doubled if the enemy deals holy damage. Your melee strikes will refresh the spell’s duration. Only one Judgement per Paladin can be active at any one time.
So the new Seal of The Crusader does 2 things, 1st it grants passive damage steroids to spells and abilities for the whole party, and then the judgement causes attackers to get a free flat extra holy damage, this flat value has no scaling but instead gets more benefit based on the frequency of hits, also it scales a little better if you deal holy damage; the X’es are meant to represent a base value and spell rank.
These changes would make Seal of the Crusader far more attractive for regular use, and it judgement would be actually worth considering depending on group composition. This would is what I mean by Supports augmenting allies; they buff themselves but in the process, they help their allies too.
Sanctity Aura. This ability is rather selfish, as it only helps Paladins and the rare smite priest. It doesn’t solve any issues, and in general its kind of boring. You’ll only see a Paladin uses if they’re selfish, or if they is no other Aura needed. The rework I have in mind is meant to solve a problem, not only for Retribution, but also other clases too.
The New Sanctity Aura - Increase the Critical Strike Damage of all party members within 30 yards by 10% (+1% per 20 spell damage). Additionally, critical strikes will no longer generate additional threat. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
Particularly with runes like Art of War, Ret Paladins are going to be very crit heavy. Crits normally generate a lot of extra threat, so being able to nullify that is a big deal; Making crits more powerful is just a bonus. Imagine putting a Ret Pally in party of Fire Mages, or Rogues, really any DPS with alot of crit chance; the ability to manage that crit threat is huge. So huge, that I think this effect should be mirrored to the Horde side via Shamans, maybe an Air Totem.
Vengeance talent. Once again, a rather selfish talent but actually pretty good one. Percent damage increases get good once you reach 100 of whatever value, and by the time you can spec into this talent you’re capable of dealing 200-300 damage, making 15% great. Still, not very supportive, so my rework is rather simple.
New Vengeance Talent - Gives a 3/6/9/12/15% bonus to damage you and all party members with 30 yards 8 sec, after dealing a critical strike from a weapon swing, spell, or ability.
This new version still provides a bonus, but now applies to all damage and more importantly applies to everyone in your party. This is more than just a simple damage buff, it also creates the possibility of a raid group gearing out a Ret pally for maximum crit just to have the highest possible uptime to boost the output all the DPS. Once again, my philosophy about support is simple: Anything that boosts your damage should also help your allies.
Finally we have Repentance. Not an offensive effect, more of a utility. But Utility is still a valuable thing. The major changes I’d make would be to essentially “modernize” this ability to be useful outside its conventional niche, PvP.
New Repentance - Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 1 minute (6 seconds on players). Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids.
Its still the same ability, more or less, but now it is a long form of CC for humanoids. This will enable Ret Paladins to fulfill that niche that Mages, Warlocks, Rogues would fill, encouraging more group diversity. Humanoids, particularly casters, are some of the most problematic for groups and tanks, so making this have a proper duration let Paladins actually be helpful to the group in this regard.
As I mentioned in the title “SOD What If”, essentially these changes would exist almost entirely inside SOD. It would up to the devs to make this the new normal; something I would not object too at all, but Classic purists might have a different opinion. I figure with so many changes happening, this would not be out of the question, to enhance the experience for everyone and maybe just maybe, let Supports become a reality in Classic.
What do you guys think?