Why is this passive a thing? Functionally, it doesn’t do anything. It activates when someone dies, which means: Your raid group is probably going to wipe. your M+ group is probably going to wipe (If tank or healer). World content & soloing, it’s just not going to do anything.
And if it does go off, what if i already have avenging wrath up? does it stack? does it extend? does it override? What if my AW/wake of ashes cooldown recovers, do i hold it off?
This ability is a functionally poor use of design space, even if it is thematic of a holy warrior seeking vengeance for a fallen comrade. We’re balanced around having it, an ability that we have no control over, and honestly should not want to activate. And for regular gameplay, this could be literally anything else ret may have had in the past. sacred shield, seal of command/vengeance/blood, holy prism, any iteration of retribution aura, …taking rebuke or cleanse or hammer of justice out of talent & put it back baseline for paladins. literally anything.
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And in a very real way, it means Ret tends to get weaker over the course of the season, as people gear up and learn the fights and die less.
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Yea I’ve said it before but “getting weaker as everyone else gets stronger” should be enough to validate Blizz reworking this.
I know its not high up on the list as it is still around (and has been for a while), but I have to at least believe this is at least a known problematic design element.
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It’s nuanced but it definitely creates a “mirage” that Ret is “strong” or “doing well” over logs when the reality is that it will dip harder than the rest.
Or at least, it’s scaling will seem to stagnate when the reality is that it was just lower from the start.
It should be deleted.
And then we get weirdos, who can’t be bothered to check wowlogs, coming on the forums crying Ret is “at the top of X/is OP” because they did 1 raid where they played with monkeys who kept dying throughout an encounter giving the Ret 40+ sec of additional uptime on wings…
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I mean its thematic as all get out.
…but its terrible from a human behind the keyboard prespective where a player is incentivized (even mildly) when their teammates die, on a spec that has BlessSac and LoH
I agree on just remove it outright.
Like, I would expect a Warlock or Death Knight to have a flavor text reward ability on allied deaths, not Paladins
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I agree that its very thematic and I really appreciate what the devs were trying to accomplish with Instrument of Retribution. Unfortunately, I also agree that its terrible in practice. Boosting our damage when others screw up is going to continue causing us scaling and community perception issues for as long as it is kept.
I would very much love to see it changed to a defensive bonus instead of an offensive one. A Ret becoming unstoppable after seeing an ally go down is just as thematic as a damage boost (perhaps even more so) and plays much better with logs and groups.
Give us something like a 50% DR for 4 seconds after an ally goes down, or 4 seconds of bubble, or a 50% duration Divine Protection.
Having that little bit of time to get the tank up while we keep the group safe sounds more Paladiny than a damage boost.
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Given how I’m often second on the threat table IF a tank goes down in M+…
I would greatly appreciate a substantial DR that lets me battle rez without getting deleted 
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Haha- yup. If the tank goes down I’m usually dead faster than I can hit a defensive.
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