Ret Paladins viability in Classic

[Somalion-eitrigg (Somalion)]

Lolret started on classic for a reason

[Kraisqf-herod]

@Neme-whitemane

By that logic, you could bring in a DPS holy paladin to fill your last slot.

There’s a difference between not optimal and not viable.

@Neme-whitemane

Yes and no. All classes should have general weaknesses. I hate homogenization. But we’re literally talking about having the whole Retribution class being demolished with dispel/purge.

And Priests get destroyed by viper sting, Rogues get destroyed by dots, Mages get destroyed by earth shock/grounding totem.
At least a paladin can recast their seal trading GCDs and making the shaman spend more mana.

@Neme-whitemane

The priest buddies with a druid/paladin and the viper sting goes away.
The rogue buddies with a druid/paladin and most of the dot’s goes away.

The Ret Paladin groups with anything that puts pressure on the shaman to make it stop wasting GCDs on offensive dispels…like a rogue or hunter or feral druid or another ret paladin or mage or warlock or warrior.

Meanwhile the druid or paladin in the same area is receiving those stings too and are likely gonna cleanse themselves and use many GCDs on not healing…
Meanwhile if the rogue is having dots cleansed, they are likely getting tons more dots. Hunter stings and Rogue poisons can’t be dispelled by priest, Warrior and Rogue bleeds can’t be dispelled, Warlock dots are magic and curses (so you’ll need a mage/warlock to decurse the rogue and paladin/priest to dispel magic).

Your arguments are dumb theorycrafting and don’t reflect PvP.

[Volitar-burning-blade (Volitar)]

Really not as bad as people will tell you but there is a big stigma against them.

Hard to find a group because everyone is so min max oriented even if they have no business doing so.

[Patti-kirtonos]

Play how you want and find a guild in which you fit.

If you look at the guilds who killed rag week 1, you won’t see a single ret paladin.
If you look at the guilds who will clear bwl, aq, and naxx, the week they are released, there also won’t be a single ret paladin. As said before in this thread, holy paladins bring everything a ret paladin brings and MORE.

While leveling you can heal as ret, dps as ret, and maybe even tank as ret (I’ve tanked as enhance so I’d think pally tanking must be just as easy while leveling)

At 60, people will start to get on your case as a ret paladin, unless you try very hard.

The sad thing is, you can try REALLY hard as a ret pally to dps, yet you’ll be beaten in dps by derpy rogues. A rogue auto attacking and using sinister strike, slice and dice, and eviscerate, will always out dps you, even if you’re using all these cooldowns, engineering, etc.

[Versath-bloodsail-buccaneers]

@Kylekatarn-grobbulus

In my world. Tell that to all the mages and rogues (among others), at or above my level, that I rip apart in world pvp.

So you kill a few lowbies and think your a pvp god? ret paladins are a meme spec bud.

[Mário-duskwood]

honestly with world buffs anything is viable

[Kraisqf-herod]

@Patti-kirtonos

If you look at the guilds who killed rag week 1, you won’t see a single ret paladin.

“Guilds” - Or guild. That guild could have done it with 20 ret paladins if they planned for it and didn’t have their own class preferences. They did it with speed in mind and could have really done it any way they wanted. Right now the biggest bar to entry to an entry level raid is stigma.

@Patti-kirtonos

If you look at the guilds who will clear bwl, aq, and naxx, the week they are released, there also won’t be a single ret paladin.

BWL probably won’t… AQ40 and Naxx will have Ret Paladins…Tier 2.5 makes the dream work.

[Neme-whitemane]

@Kraisqf-herod

There’s a difference between not optimal and not viable.

Depends on how you gear. If you stack spell damage and have a fast, high DPS 2H weapon, its damage is okay. In endurance fights and AoE, you’ll actually out-DPS Retribution spec. I played one for fun.

@Kraisqf-herod

Your arguments are dumb theorycrafting and don’t reflect PvP.

Could say the same for your arguments. Since there was no rated PvP of any kind in vanilla, it’d be impossible to say whether your theorycraft panned out.

All your theorycraft basically relies on your buddy to pressure the dispel/purge while ignoring the fact that you and your buddy have very little burst (no Seal of Command) and are probably doing about 2/3 the damage without your seals. In the end, your team ends up being pressured.

[Cacks-tichondrius]

ret pallies are total garbage

source: played one in vanilla for a year before i switched to holy. after i switched it was like greyscale turning into full color mode.

[Priapis-proudmoore (Priapis)]

They’re good as nightfall swingers.
Youll have more trouble with anti-ret rhetoric than anything else though.

[Aristos-pagle]

Paladin are really really good at helping others shine. I don’t think anyone can deny that. A Ret Paladin is just as useful as a Holy. Just know the viability is not focused at how awesome the Paladin performs, but rather at how it helps the others perform. No one will ever say, “Oh boo, a Pally.” They all want your blessings.

“You can do it, err…WE can do it!” - Paladin