Paladin seems to be the only hybrid class with 4 specs that only has 3 tier sets instead of 4. Shockadin runes are somewhat lacking. Itemization hasn’t really been there and now it’s worse in Naxx because there’s a non-negligible amount of stat budget being allocated towards reduced casting speed which is not useful for us, and therefore limits our options a lot.
Shockadin got some initial support in P5, which was great to see even though it was a bit rough still. Those of us that went Shockadin then have been feeling a bit like we had the rug pulled from under us. We spent the entire phase in P5 gearing up to find that we had only 2-3 minor upgrades to gain in AQ. I played Paladin for all of SoD up until AQ, when I switched to my rogue tank because there was nothing for me and I invested all my time into gearing as Shockadin.
I understand the position you guys have that because it’s a niche spec, you can’t justify allocating time and resources towards it. But I want to stress that it’s only niche because it HASN’T been supported, really. Instead of a mainline tier set from BWL in P5, we got a ZG set (so less stat budget than BWL) that we were hard-locked into. If we wanted to focus on DPS instead of tank healing, we had to use the strength-based ret tier set, so not only did our ZG set have less stat budget than if it were from BWL, but we were losing stats elsewhere by having to use a strength-based set just to have enough decent set bonuses to make up for the lack of real rune/itemization support.
I know it’s too late for P7 and we’ll have to get by with what is already coming, BUT if there was EVER a time to give us some attention, it would be in the Scarlet raid. Take a few extra days of dev time for the next phase and give us a 4th tier set for Shockadin and some real attention to runes and such if needed to elevate us to a decent state. We put in the time to gear up with what you did give us. Do us a solid, please. You’ll see more people playing it.
EDIT:
Added this as a standalone post below, but wanted to put it here for more visibility as well –
I wanted to come up with something to help Shockadin out while kinda working within the bounds of what we have. Right now we’re very much about spamming Holy Shock and Exorcism and it kinda just feels like Exodin. With all the set bonuses and runes that support BOTH HS and Exo simultaneously, I figure the best way to do this without an overhaul of a bunch of other stuff is to increase the value of using other abilities. Here’s what I came up with:
- Bundle the Shock and Awe effect into Infusion of Light.
- Remake the Shock and Awe rune:
Rune of Divine Edict
Your Consecration now applies a stack of Condemnation every time it deals damage to an enemy, stacking up to 5 (or 10). Casting Holy Shock (and MAYBE Holy Wrath) on an enemy consumes all stacks of Condemnation to burn them for X damage every second for 3 seconds. The burn damage is considered Consecration damage.
The X value should be based on a % of the hit that applied the stack, if possible, allowing us to scale.
This now incentivizes us to cast Consecration more, leaning into Hallowed Ground and Soul of the Dominus AND the niche we have that is similar to Shadow Priests.
Condemnation being considered Consecration damage allows it to be affected by Wrath, Hallowed Ground, and Soul of the Dominus.
Holy Wrath (and Libram of Wrath) are now more valuable for us to use, especially if Condemnation scales with the hit that applies it, and we find more value in using the T3 ret bonuses (which is currently looking to be part of our BIS anyways).
Consecration applying it and Holy Wrath being able to pop it means we find more success in AOE situations. Condemnation triggering Soul of the Dominus also means you provide better tank healing in AoE situations.
Anyway, just an idea. Would be cool to see SOMETHING, whether it’s this or another idea. We need something new and we need it to not be tied to a set bonus.