Paladin Spells and Animations that need updates

Any chance Paladins can get an update to some of their animations and spells?

  • Human and BE Charger
  • Consecration
    • Hard for newer tanks to see the perimeter of this on the ground in mythic+
  • Judgement and/or Hammer of Wrath
    • These abilities feel like clones, only made worst by having extremely similar animations
    • Any chance the Vanquisher’s Hammer (Shadowlands) animation could be used for one of these abilities?
  • Divine Toll is still a lame ability
  • Auras
    • It would be cool if these got visuals, similar to Shadow Form and Lightning Shield.
  • Aura Mastery (Hpal)
    • For being Hpal’s big AoE ability, this has such a terrible animation and visual. The visual doesn’t even reflect which Aura is active. =/
  • Blessing of Seasons
    • Who got Spear of Bastion renamed into Champion Spear? Could they pull some strings for Paladins? :smiley:
  • Blessing of Spellwarding and Blessing of Sanctuary[PvP Talent]
    • The visuals of these Blessings don’t even last for the duration of the buff. =/
  • Searing Glare animation and graphic is extremely bugged, would be nice if this had an animation and ground targeting effect similar to Evokers Firebreath.
  • Final Reckoning and Searing Light (Ret) share the same animation. =/
  • Guardian of Ancient Kings looks… ancient. (maybe that’s on purpose though lol)
  • Holy Prism (Holy)
  • Sense Undead
    • This would just be cool if it had that Demon Hunter Spectral Sight effect, but golden and for Undead.
  • Shield of the Righteousness
  • Justifcar’s Vengeance
    • This has no added animation, even Templar’s Verdict (not FV) has the little angle wings on the back.
  • Avenging Wrath vs Crusade/Avenging Crusader/Sentinal
    • It’s great these abilities no longer merge, but it would be kindof cool to get slight variants in the animations so it was more visually understood what type of Wings a Paladin is running.

It’s a long list, but every bit helps :slight_smile:

7 Likes

I miss when judgement came from the sky over the head of the target. That was real judgement!

9 Likes

Two things I would like

  1. Auras to give a visual while in combat.

  2. Blessing of summer renamed to Greater blessings and…

  • Blessing of summer changed to blessing of Might.
  • Blessing of Autumn changed to Blessing of Alacrity.
  • Blessing of Winter changed to blessing of Wisdom.
  • Blessing of Spring changed to Blessing of Light.

Give them all updated visuals similar to the classic blessings.

1 Like

Hmmm, all these changes. Looks like paladins need a complete rework. Wish they would give them half the attention of other classes. :smiley:

What can I say, the void is coming… the Army of Light needs more soldiers. :wink:

The Searing Glare visual bug bugs me a lot. It works fine on the first cast, but if you juke / fake-cast it then the animation is invisible for the next cast. I think I like the idea of giving Searing Glare a ground targeting effect as well, but I’d have to see it first to be sure.

Definitely want an updated Charger for humans and blood elves. :slight_smile:

1 Like

2025 almost and ret or paladins can’t still glyph out of the diablo 3 horse curse.

:expressionless:

4 Likes

Two things I forgot to mention;

  1. First is also the appearance of Blessed Hammer (Prot) and Divine Hammer (Ret).

Blessed Hammer is obviously an iconic Prot ability, but the animation for these two abilities is beginning to look a bit dated for WoW’s modern aesthetic.

If you compare the OG tier2, to the new updated model, it’s kindof similar for how Blessed Hammer looks and feels.

The Hammers are very yellow, bulky and ‘cartoonish,’ which made sense in 2010, but not so much in 2024.

Compared to the Diablo 2 Resurrected Hammerdin

  1. Lightsmith - The appearance of Holy Bulwark and Scared Weapon both feel really underwhelming.

Holy Bulwark would be cool if it gave us a slightly bigger version of the Reinhardt Shield effect from the Hpal Legion Artifact skin from Legion. :smiley:

I really liked your suggestions. The game actually still has a lot of animations that need updating.

Searing Glade needs ground and impact visuals


I agree! Last expansion, I made a detailed post about a visual rework of Searing Glare (which sadly got deleted as it was in PTR Forums).

But the main feedback is that Searing Glare needs:

  1. A spell reticule, to show it’s probable range (like Evoker’s breath spells)
  2. An impact sound, so we can know if it hit anyone.
  3. A small impact visual effect, for the same reason (something like the 2D texture used by old Arcane Explosion).
  4. A fix to hit enemies pets and summons.
2 Likes

Theme/Identity of Ret Paladins

I’ll post this here as well as I think it’s an interesting topic that doesn’t get a lot of discussion.

Ret feels like it has this weird clash of spell identity going on right now with BoJ and Crusader Strike.

Essentially, Holy vs Radiant : Swords vs Hammers.

Hammers:

  • Hammer of Justice
  • Hammer of Wrath
  • Judgement (Divine Toll)
  • Templar’s Verdict
  • Final Verdict
  • Divine Storm
  • Divine Hammer
  • Hammer of Light
  • Empyrean Hammers
  • Divine Arbiter
  • Execution Sentence

Swords:

  • Crusader Strike
  • Templar Strike/Slash
  • Blade of Justice
  • Wake of Ashes (Ashbringer)

??:

  • Justicar’s Vengeance

Blade of Justice Questions:

In terms of the animation, why is Blade of Justice a sword animation and not a Hammer?

  • Is there a significance to Swords = Radiant and Hammer = Holy, and if so, should BoJ be a radiant type spell?
  • Why does it come out of the ground and not from the sky above?
  • Would it make more sense for this to be Exorcism?
  • A different type of animation?
  • How many Hammers are too many and does this highlight something else should change animations?

Templar Strike/Slash Questions:

What does it mean to be a Templar and how do you factor it around these pre-existing abilities?

Templar
Templars stop at nothing to bring Justice to the wicked. They call down hammers of Light and unleash devastating combinations of Physical and Holy attacks to vanquish their enemies.

Templar Strikes

Crusader Strike becomes a 2 part combo.

Templar Strike slashes an enemy for (121.993% of Attack power) Radiant damage and gets replaced by Templar Slash for 5 sec.

Templar Slash strikes an enemy for (225.01% of Attack power) Radiant damage, and burns the enemy for 50% of the damage dealt over 4 sec.

While the combination of attacks hold true… baseline Templar Strikes is Radiant Damage.

There’s no Holy, Physical, or Hammers anywhere within the spell.

  • Just out of general curiosity, how do you as video game designers, keep the consistency throughout the spec?
  • Is there a worthwhile value in consistency?
  • Or does this do the opposite and maybe highlight the need for some other abilities to become “Sword animations” as well to give a better balance?

It feels like Paladins have so much of these conflicted themes condensed into the spec right now, is there any better ways to separating the two and creating more fun and engaging playstyles for both?

:smiley:

Paladin Interrupt has next to no player feedback


Rebuke has no distinct signal to indicate that it was used. Almost no sound, character animation or spell effect playe when pressing it.

This is most important for PvP, because the lack of feedback makes it harder for casters to realize Rebuke was used and play accordingly.

For instance, look at how Death Knight’s Mind Freeze has a way louder sound effect with a snowy spell effect; and Warrior’s Pummel does a shoulder bash animation and sound.

The lack of feedback also makes the skill less satisfying to press, even for paladins.

1 Like

In Dragonflight, on the Forbidden Reach Isle, there was a Rare Titankeeper Mob named Ishyra that would have a good visual for it.

I believe the ability was named “Judgement Wave.”

It would be cool to get that as the animation for Searing Glare.

1 Like

There is also the old Aegis of Light visual effect, from Legion Protection Paladins.