The single target healing nuke class should be the Priest, not the Paladin. Paladins do not fit that role or fantasy. They are commanders and battlefield leaders, meant to serve as wide-range support for their allies, not single-target support. When Uther stepped forward against the Death Knights during the Second War, his presence removed the unholy magic set upon the human army around him, not just one person.
Quote from the Warcraft book Tides of Darkness by Aaron Rosenberg
“By the Light!” Uther was standing near Turalyon and bristled at the sight. “The fiends! They wield dark magic against us!” He raised his hammer high, and its head glowed silver like the moon. “Stand fast, soldiers!” he shouted. “The Holy Light protects you!” The glow spread from the hammer, shining down upon the warriors and bathing them in its light, and when the cloaked figures raised their hands again the soldiers winced but did not fall.
I understand that vanilla WoW portrayed them differently, but that version was shaped by developers who clearly disliked Paladins (EQ history & Horde favoritism at the time) and had little understanding of their Warcraft lore. There should be a requirement for anyone designing lore heavy classes to actually study the Warcraft books and established lore before making changes. If this were the Monk or Priest class, that would be fine, since it has less historical depth; but not for Paladins.
Holy Paladin shouldn’t be so hard to fix to be made right.
For Paladin as a whole, Word of Glory needs to be renamed Holy Light and the current version of Holy Light needs to be removed.
Here’s the solution to fixing Holy Paladin:
Default Abilities for Holy Only:
Crusader Strike – range increase to 15 yd
1.6% of base mana
Instant
Cooldown: 6 sec
Strike the target for [= to 216% of spell power] physical damage and creating an absorption shield for [= to 216% of spell power] to yourself and 4 injured allies within the Paladin’s Aura for 15 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
Generate 1 Holy Power
Flash of Light needs to generate 1 holy power by default without talent
Talent Changes
Aura Mastery needs to move down one on the talent tree and replace it with Avenging Crusader and Avenging Wrath Node
Avenging Crusader
Instant
1 min cooldown
You become the ultimate crusader of light for 15 sec. Crusader Strike and Judgment cool down 30% faster and heal up to 5 injured allies within 40 yds for 260% of the damage done, split evenly among them.
While Avenging Crusader is not active your auto attack, Crusader Strike, and Shield of Righteousness heals yourself and an injured ally within your aura for [=150% of spell power]. Crusader Strike and Shield of the Righteousness also heal for an additional [=200% of spell power] over 6 sec.
Passive: Divine Armor - You only take 80% of inital damage and the remaining 20% to be divided over 10 sec.
Since avenging crusader forces the paladin to be in melee, they need to have more defensive as a healer so they don’t get instantly killed by 1 shot mechanics. For PvP, if this is chosen, it will give the player at least some chances of surviving because you’re forced to engage in melee range.
Aura Mastery
Instant
Useable while under crowd control effects.
1 min Cooldown (3min C/D for PVP)
You are immune to Fear, Silence and Spell interruption. Empowers your chosen aura and activate the effect of all your other auras for 8 sec. (4 sec in PVP)
Every talent ability that affects holy shock & judgement’s damage, healing and effectiveness should do the same for crusader strike’s healing and absorption.
Crusaders’ Might needs to get changed back to Crusader Strike, reducing the cooldown of holy shock and Judgement.
After these changes, Holy Paladin should be fine, and numbers can always be changed.