Shadow could potentially get multiple raid spots… Rets will almost invariably get 1 and only 1.
For pvp, Shadow had more comp diversity in OG vanilla, but I’d be skeptical it gets as much usage in TBC-Classic as people better know how to shut them down… They have a top tier comp however, with UA warlock and Rshaman in 3s, and a number of 2v2 options. In most other cases the shadow isn’t bad per se, just a weaker option than a warlock.
Ret on the other hand is being pretty criminally underrated here, but is extremely comp limited. Ret/Arms/Rshaman is going to be the most likely comp you’ll see with ret, and it’s basically a full on zug melee cleave. I’m told the same comp with an Rdruid has actually had a bunch of success on pservers as it actually has a bit more longevity than the rshaman version, but I never saw the rdruid version in og tbc so i can’t comment for sure… In theory, Ret/Mage/X should also work as Ret/Mage is one of Ret’s stronger 2s comps (Ret/Shaman being the top comp for 2s later on) but good luck finding a mage that doesn’t want to run RMP.
Beyond those, “shockadin” is technically workable in a few comps, but it’s definitely more of a meme build. I’d probably run it in a healer/shockadin/war comp just to give it a bit more output over a normal “double healer” setup.
For healing, I won’t comment on pve healing, but pvp healing you’ll be far better off running priest vs paladin, as it has more comps open to it.
That said, despite the talk of various comps and what’s meta, if you only care about your wepaon/shoulders (which are rating gated), keep in mind that none of them are rating gated very high, and you shouldn’t have too hard a time getting them unlocked as whatever spec you prefer, even if that spec isn’t the “meta” option.
In the 2v2 arena bracket it was arms warrior + holy paladin or g t f o
Yet instead of nerfing the truly OP warriors, blizzard nerfed feral due to nothing more than warrior QQing on the forums about losing their monopoly as the only option for main tank.
3% crit to the entire raid and refreshed blessings can be a really big deal on fights. And even alliance rets can deal decent dps as long as you have stormherald.
Leveling now for TBC on either class is premature.
In the case of Priest, we don’t know what patch we’ll be playing. If it’s patch 2.0.1, you want to level a Dwarf Priest. If it’s later, you probably want to level a Blood Elf - which you can’t do right now.
In the case of Paladin, you definitely want to wait until Blood Elves are released.
In terms of which class to play, I’d probably lean towards Paladin.
Priests in TBC tend to either be adequate-but-not-exceptional healers or budget Affliction Warlocks with mana restore. They’re useful, but they don’t actually bring much special. In a perfectly optimized raid, you’d probably only bring one.
Paladins, on the other hand, go from being the worst class in WoW to a very solid class with three viable specs. They’re all the most versatile of the hybrids. With the other hybrids, you tend to end up hyper-specializing to the point where you’re virtually useless outside of your specific role. With Paladins, almost any decent build can tank (dungeons at least) and contribute somewhat reasonable (although still Paladin-level) dps. All three roles have a place in raids and there are multiple raid spots for them.
So far all the private server data shows this isn’t necessary at all. Listen, I want ret to be good just like everyone else. But the fact is there’s just no downside to not having one.
I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m not saying it’s right, I’m not saying I think it’s how it should be. I’m just saying this is how it is.
For casual guilds it will be fine. But min/max guilds won’t be worrying if they don’t have a ret pally - especially ally.
A dynamic one that is actively seal twisting and going full blown min-max will likely be of more use. BUT - those madlads are few/far between.
TBC is going to be a nightmare for all us pallies and warriors. We’re just not as hot a commodity as we are right now.
Paladins as holy now are kings of the hill. In TBC you literally will bring only 1.
Prot and ret definitely got better, and doing Hyjal or Tidewalker without a protadin would be sucky. Plus, the rep farming in SHH would not be as efficient. But other than that? Eh.
Maybe but it doesn’t hurt to have. I have seen plenty of ret Paladins raiding on endless.gg so it is not a huge burden to bring one and they can be quite handy, especially since their dps (on horse side atleast) is competitive if not better than other melee, excluding t6 rogues with glaives
What in God’s name are you talking about? Have you ever done serious raiding in TBC on a Holy Paladin?!
In TBC no Holy Paladin has any need to down rank below rank 6 ever…and that’s considered a low maintenance heal.
Most of the time you will be twisting in higher ranks of HL and maintaining 1500+ HP/sec easily, and are capable of much more…but that really isn’t needed until the end of Tier 5.
However on Vashj, a well geared Holy Paladin is over 2000+ HP/sec sustained, using consumes and 2 tide stacks. And that’s still Tier 5.
Edit: meant to hit 2k+ and not 3k+
Rets have 4 points of utility:
Crusader Strike refreshes ALL Judgements on a target…ie Light, Wisdom, and Imp Crusader are maintained by the Ret.
Blessings.
Imp JotC is 3% raid wide crit.
Imp Sanctity Aura is +2% damage to everyone in the group.
Ret’s damage is solid…you can push 2k by endgame in TBC…but unless your Hunters and Locks are really bad you won’t come close to their numbers.
However you don’t have to…Ret offer more utility than any other class combined with solid DPS.
As for Prot Paladins, they are gear intensive, more than a Warrior or Druid…however all 3 tank specs are outstanding in TBC if geared and played well.
The only difference is Druids pull ahead in Sunwell. However any tank is viable throughout the expansion.
The fights are modern in their difficulty. You can’t just mongo through them.
Even now on Netherwing raids aren’t overloaded with locks. And their content will be more difficult than what we get since they’re artificially buffed.
Except prot paladins are they only tanks that can’t tank certain fights due to mechanics.
Illidan with shear sticks out.
As far as HPS goes - no - there’s no data supporting 1500+ HPS. In fact the new theorycrafting and data we have from private servers shows HPS topping out about 1700 in full T6 on Druids/Shaman/Priests.
Paladins are capping about 900 HPS. There’s 1000s of log crunches on these numbers as well.
There are also fights where having a Prot Paladin makes a fight nearly trivial. Felmyst being the first I can think of but any trash heavy fight lends itself to Protadins having a core role.
The short answer, OP, is play what’s more fun for you. Don’t buy into the hyper min/max meta that optimizes the fun out of the game by turning it into a linear progression skinner box.
