I’ve been playing Ret since BC, there’s been good times and bad but Midnight feels like the Xpac to just hang it up. We put out no pressure and the burst window feels I’m slapping someone with a wet napkin. I had a priest yell and me in a random bg while 2v3 trying to reclaim a base and say “cant you kill anything” i replied with Lol, no i’m a ret. It’s sad i cant out damage a warriors passive healing, or barely a ferals while they bleed me to death and shift into bear
I don’t expect to be top the damage meter, but I’ll give it my all and at best find myself somewhere in the middle. I see constant complaints about our utility, at this point axe it and let me kill something, Support specs are fun in games like league of legends, not in Warcraft.
I went to AI to see if there was something i was missing, while it was unhelpful it did break down some real issues
Why Retribution Feels Terrible Right Now
Blizzard heavily nerfed Ret’s direct burst modifiers (like Avenging Wrath) in PvP. Because Midnight heavily increased overall player health pools, your “burst window” feels like a wet noodle. Top Ret players are pointing out that a fully buffed Final Verdict barely hits for more than a Warrior’s standard rotational ability.
- Zero Mortal Strike (MS): Because you have no healing reduction effect, any damage you do manage to squeeze out is immediately negated by passive off-healing or a single healer global. Without an MS effect, you have no solo kill pressure.
- The “Support Bot” Trap: The community complains about your utility because, in coordinated 3v3 or Battleground Blitz, Ret is only viable for keeping other classes alive via Blessing of Sanctuary or Sacrifice. If you are playing random BGs or trying to carry a lobby, that utility does nothing to help you feel powerful.
- Fake Mobility & The “Face” Requirement: Ret requires you to be directly on top of someone to execute maximum damage. Yet, your mobility is a multi-global trap (e.g., using Freedom, then Divine Steed). Freedom gets instantly purged, and enemies just walk away from you, leaving you as a sitting duck.
- Glass Cannon Without the Cannon: Your defensives are heavily outdated. Divine Shield and Lay on Hands have massive cooldowns, and once they are gone, your passive armor and baseline damage reduction are so low that you melt instantly under basic focus fire.