While I am not in the alpha/beta there are a few things that are very concerning about the way Retribution is shaping up. While I do not have access to the alpha to test these changes directly, on paper they are at the least worrying.
Lets start with the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Retribution Aura. As a passive it was barely tolerable, but as an active ability it highlights the fundamental flaws of the ability and forces negative choices on the player going against the very theme and flavor of paladins. Swap to the aura, or try and save someone. Thematically if you renamed this something like sacrificed souls it would fit as a dk or warlock ability perfectly.
Suggestion: Change it so that allies damaged within x yards increases the paladin(s) mastery by x% and causes shield of vengance to do x amount of increased damage. Simply put the harder us and our allies are hit the harder we hit back.
Shield of the Righteous: This will be the only defensive cd that any class or spec cannot use in mythic+ due to the gear swapping restrictions. Also it has the dubious honor of being the first ability that will not be allowed inside of that content because of the restriction. Granted paladins have a ton of defensives already, but being denied part of your toolkit is never fun, especially content where every trick counts.
Solution: Lift the restriction on weapon and shield slots.
The Lvl 45 Talent Row: Selfless Healer is going to be the default talent. Justicar’s Vengance remains a trap talent, and Healing Hands is just a dead pick for anyone who does arena. While having a shorter cd on Lay on Hands is nice, more sustained self/off healing is going to win out.
Solution: Justicar’s Vengance, have it do healing first=to a WoG, and then calculate the damage off effective healing done. Leaving the stun bonus as is. That leaves open counter play with mortal strikes etc, and removes the trap elements.
Healing Hands: Restore WoG’s BfA functionality.
With that being stated ret paladin’s are notorious for their inability to agree on anything. I think this is due to the many iterations that the spec has had over the years and what people fell in love with. As a Wrath baby this is my perspective.
Consecration: I like this ability, and have missed it since it was either gone, or buried behind more viable talent options. I am glad this has returned. I know ground AoE has its issues, but I would hope Blizzard doesn’t tune around it having 100% uptime, or at least shortens the cd on the ability some.
Seals: This is a hot button topic. I would happily settle for having them as a talent option that way people can opt in, or out of this play style. This felt iconic to me, and it sucked during Legion when we lost them.
Inquisition: The passive haste on this ability is nice, but its just a boring maintenance buff.
Divine Steed: Please put in a glyph that lets us use the old Speed of Light animation in place of this. FYI scribes would make bank on this.
Lvl 30 Talent Row: Move Repentance baseline, and make the talent so it is instant cast, and usable in combat with a reduced duration. Otherwise I see this as remaining a dead talent outside of specific scenarios.
Shield of Vengance: It is not respected as a defensive. One idea on how to make this respected is that it deals increased damage based on the duration remaining when it ends (regardless of how it ends). to the lowest health target in x yards.
These are just my thoughts on how alpha is shaping up. Not sure if the devs even read the class forums, but if someone would pass this feedback along I’d be very appreciative. Thank you.