NO VIABLE DPS OPTION - Please slighty adjust Retribution Paladin

Dear Blizzard,

With Classic’s 20th anniversary rapidly approaching, I’m sure you can feel the excitement of many Classic & General World of Warcraft fans to delve back into the world of Azeroth. While many fans are very pleased with the announced changes like dual-spec, no buff & debuff limit, & instant mail between alts, there is still a particular crowd that is left grasping for a slim hope of minor changes that could help the way raid groups are organized and the acceptance and non-griefing of certain specializations. By this, I’m referring to the denial of “meme specs” like the Retribution Paladin, Shadow Priest, and potentially more.

Blizzard, I humbly request that you look into helping the Retribution Paladin not be the laughing stock of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary. We do not look to be made into a stackable class. Similar to the situation in Classic Wrath of the Lich King, there are many classes with viable DPS options, but classes like the Paladin and, in some cases, the Priest have no truly viable option to DPS. The Paladin has NO viable option to DPS or even tank for that matter. I believe DPS & Tank diversity play an important role in not only opening the options to fill roles needed but also closing the gap towards unnecessary hate towards a class simply for desiring to do damage.

What do we request? Not an overhaul. Not to out-DPS Warriors. Simply to look at some of the core reasons why the Retribution Paladins do not excel at doing even exceptional damage even while playing optimally. Simply to be ALLOWED in a raiding environment. Not stacked, but just allowed. Please Blizzard.

- Perhaps make Repentance a baseline learnable ability and replace it with Crusader Strike or Divine Storm, or a Cleave Seal. (TBF, the final Ret talent is a silence…)

-Perhaps look at making Exorcism and Holy Wrath castable against all enemies.

- Perhaps integrate WotLK Sheath of Light, spell power to attack power scaling to assist in scaling and gearing.

-Perhaps look into a more efficient mana regeneration.

Blizzard, I kindly and humbly request that you consider this an option in improving Classic WoW 20th Anniversary Edition. I believe we as fans have truly learned and adopted that some changes are ok. I truly hope that you will at least consider this going forward.

  • Humbly & forever, - Cardy
12 Likes

Blessed thread. :pray:

Think about our Shaman brethren as well.

9 Likes

u gonna need to wait for tbc and even then ret has 1-2 slots

5 Likes

Retribribution paladins are great, they don’t need a buff.

Sorry the game doesn’t revolve around raiding.

15 Likes

At least you’re self-aware of the reality. I commend that.

Ret would probably be alright with one simple change: replace the Repentance talent with Crusader Strike.

Prot would be viable with one simple change: replace the Holy Shield talent with a taunt.

5 Likes

Anyone who wants to raid tank needs the taunt though. My rogue is a pumper and needs you to have a taunt.

2 Likes

Or just understand that classic raids are super easy and no guild not a bunch of sweaty tryhard parsers are gonna turn down a reliable Ret Paladin because of “muh DPS”.

Source: Raided in Classic in 2019 as a Paladin, knew about Ret so went Holy. Got full T2+Ashkandi, swapped to Ret, FOUND IT TOO BORING and went back to Holy. Finished AQ40 before we called it quits.

4 Likes

#agree

(raid feelings)
It is really just clicking seal and judgment , with the occasional yellow stuff on the ground.
At least in Strath UD/Scholo/Naxx you can use exorcism and holy wrath.

Playing all the other melee dps’s toolkits is alot more interactive.

3 Likes

Oh I agree but it was a personal choice, my guild had no problem letting me stay Ret because we knew it didn’t matter as far as clearing the content.

2 Likes

We have SoD for that.

3 Likes

You know pally DPS for what is now called ret in original classic was low, to extent large guilds would make pallys heal or tank. So its sticking to original data.

To be fair, World of Warcraft in a large sense DOES revolve around raiding.

To your comment reguarding “Retribution Paladins are great, they don’t need a buff” that it simply incorrect and they do need a slight adjustment to even scrape the bottom of the barrel and compete against the tanks.

2 Likes

Ret is literally fine. Someone has to be the bottom of the barrel. They can’t just adjust ret and not also adjust all the other low performing hybrid specs. We have seen with every consume/world buff/bis gear that ret can do enough DPS to warrant a single spot in a raid. Just be prepared to do more than DPS. You gotta cleanse, BoP, and be ready to lay on hands to save someone.

Also, viable? Technically there are no “viable” DPS specs outside of rogue, mage, warrior.

4 Likes

ret is fine

Is that why people always gate ret pallies from entering dungeons over rogues/warriors/hunters? :thinking:

SoD exists.

1 Like

Because they should heal instead.

1 Like

Paladin healers got gated too when the option was resto druid / priest / holy paladin.

I’m in agreeance with replacing Repentance with Crusader Strike.

In reality, an Incapacitate as the final talent in a DPS tree is just not good when considering how low the damage output is to begin with.

In addition, Exorcism & Holy Wrath being opened up to all enemy types would not only be approriate but not a major change or addition as well as assist in DPS.

All Vanilla Ret Paladins need is…

  • Exorcism - Usable on all targets.
  • Vengeance - In addition to increasing damage by 15%, it will also restore 10% of base mana on crit.
  • Sanctity Aura - Increases damage done by all spell schools by 5% and holy damage done by an additional 5% for all party members.

That is all we need, nothing more. It’s ok that we don’t do warrior level DPS. Excorcism will be a minor damage boost, mana restoration on crit will play to our build and increase our sustain, and sanctity aura will make us more desirable for casters.

Super gee whiz bonus change for our Prot brothers and sisters!

  • Judgement of Justice - Prevents an enemy from fleeing and taunts them so they attack you.
3 Likes

My brother in the Light, these are our burdens to bear. Thou hath chosen to walk the righteous path, and to do so is to free thyself from the shackles of parsing. If we allow our passions to turn to bloodlust, then we will become as vile as the orcs.

4 Likes