It feels really good to have a gap-closer that works on its own and doesn’t incur the GCD, but unfortunately Steed of Liberty is usually a little weaker than sticking with good ol’ Blessing of Freedom. I think SoL should be buffed so that it’s better than BoF in situations where you’d expect it to be better (not currently the case), while BoF remains the better option when targeted Freedom on an ally is necessary.
Really it just needs a shorter cooldown (36 —> 30 sec), but here’s a more detailed suggestion that solves other issues along the way:
- Reduce Divine Steed’s CD from 45 sec to 40.
- Reduce Unrelenting Charger’s Steed duration increase from 2 sec to 1.
- Merge Divine Spurs into Steed of Liberty. It now reduces Steed’s CD by 25%, up from 20 (duration reduction remains the same). So along with the earlier base CD reduction, this makes Steed a 30-sec CD.
- Have SoL make Steed immune to movement impairing effects for its full duration (it no longer casts Blessing of Freedom).
- Make it so that Unbound Freedom, as a follow-up to SoL, retains its functionality: “…and when you use Divine Steed it also casts BoF on a friendly target.”
- Move Lead the Charge to where Divine Spurs was previously located.
So while yes, basically the same thing could be achieved by just buffing Divine Spurs to a 33% CDR, this more nuanced approach is better because it fixes other stuff as well. PvE gets a slightly shorter Steed CD for free. Steed of Liberty can’t be countered by dispels (let us have our ~3 sec every 30 sec). I nerfed Unrelenting Charger to 1 sec because I believe it holds Steed back from having baked-in immunity; now a 40% duration reduction will make Steed 3.6 sec for Templar and 3 sec for Herald (totally balanced). And replacing Divine Spurs with Lead the Charge has two benefits: it streamlines Steed talents from 4 down to 3, and it clears a path to Stoicism for PvP builds.
I don’t know if the devs read feedback lately because there were no changes to the paladin tree from when it was first added to the 11.0.5 PTR (other than I think Golden Path was removed and then added back). There were hundreds of posts in the feedback thread. You really aren’t going to get an entire class tree redesign right on the first go and without any feedback from people who have played the class for years. I doubt the devs read class forums, but I’m trying anyway. Let’s start to iron this stuff out. Steed of Liberty is the tip of the iceberg.
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Sign me up! Well thought out ideas.
Steed of Liberty has been fun to play with already in certain PvP scenarios. I have been slowly retraining my brain to think and use Steed of Liberty essentially like Heroic Leap. Run over very quickly to HoJ/Blind and then right back on target.
The main thing holding Steed of Liberty back is the cooldown. It really should be 30 secs when opting in to take this talent and Spurs should also be baked into it. Not only because it makes good sense but it also cuts down on the steed talents.
I also like the idea of moving Lead the Charge up to where Divine Spurs currently is.
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Hear, hear! I love my Steed in PvP! Great ideas presented here.
(I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the changes, and why the duration of Steed was shortened, among other things…)
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Glad you guys feel the same way.
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Steed of liberty will always be unplayable if it shares a choice node with regular freedom.
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For sure, I was excited for this talent then it hit live and I could not believe it was a choice node with having bof. How did anyone think that was a good idea? What a tease.
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This ^
Should have been a choice node with unbound freedom.
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I can’t imagine anyone choosing this over freedom.
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I think it’d be viable sometimes with a shorter cooldown and if we didn’t have to blow another talent point on Divine Spurs.
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Or, steed replacement option. Blade of Vengeance- Divine Steed is replaced by Blade of Vengeance(passive), Blade of Justice now thrusts you to your target (travel time simlar to charge) and consumes 1 use of Blade of Justice, does Blade of Justice damage.
Cant use Blade of Vengeance to run away from enemies, but we already couldn’t as Steed is a CC magnet, Ret needs movement that ignores snares and slows similar to Shadowstrike more than it needs its Steed and Blessing of Freedom to happen more often. Pressing Steed to move fast and Blessing of Freedom to deal with a snare or slow feels so pointless when you press both because you REALLY want to get somewhere and you catch a fear or stun and both buttons were wasted GCDs. Taking away the mildly faster than normal walking steed and instead using a near instant movement button would help a ton with keeping up with slippery specs. It would also help Ret get Rebuke’s since Ret inturupts require you to be inside of the enemy character model.
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That would be a fun mechanic, don’t get me wrong, but Charge on a 10-sec CD that gets reset by auto-attacks sounds kinda broken. It’d also be funny (not necessarily a bad thing) that we can’t kite away anymore because our main generator yoinks us to the target.
Tbh I don’t think Blizz is going to reinvent the wheel in regard to paladin mobility, and so our best bet is to get what we have to work properly. Getting Steed off the gcd was a major change and victory imo. Now we need Steed of Liberty to be a real alternative to Blessing of Freedom. If it were, it could be a playstyle choice, but more likely is that the situation would determine which is better, which is a buff to Ret so long as you’re willing to play both.
That said, if you want to offer ideas for alternative talents to Steed such as this BoJ one, or Wings of Liberty or something, by all means. I don’t think it’s likely but you never know.
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Identify what lets WW, DK, DH, Fury, and Arms Zug Zug and and heal while doing damage, and give that to Ret. Fleeing the scene of an objective or just generally running away is not how I want paladin to need to be played to live.
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LOL fair enough. But idk, Ret is better right now than all of those specs you listed besides Fury, and was extremely strong at the end of DF. And I’ve always enjoyed kiting melee.
There’s this push and pull between Rets who want to be a melee spec and those of us who want to be something a little different. I’d be open to shifting Ret from high range to mid range — for example Jurisdiction could increase BoJ and FV to 15 yds instead of 20 — and in exchange gap-closing could be made more reliable in some way…
Just not to the extent you suggested. Don’t make me zug that hard.
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The frequency of the instant mobility possible could be tuned to match some other specs, but I don’t imagine subtlety rogues would opt to give up Shadowstrike and Shadow Step in exchange for steed + range, especially when they basically also additionally have a steed ability now, and invisibility to catch up to the target. I don’t expect warriors to give up Intervene, Charge, and Heroic Leap in order to get some range and a mildly fast run button.
The fact remains, instant mobility > range plus steed that you’re slowed, stunned, incapacitated, feared, and snared as soon as you use it during. It isnt a preference issue, it is a one design is obviously ideal and the other is ineffective issue.
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Yea but Ret is often better than those specs so clearly our kit as a whole functions.
What’s better about it then them? Numbers? That is something tuning is involved in. Gameplay wise, we don’t feel like paladins.
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Lol rwt is not better than all of those maybe only havoc. Arms fury ww dk are all the same as ret.
We dont “kite” because we want to and itd just for fun. We kite because wr literally have to . If you sit facetanking an arms and ww you will 100% die. Hell the ww alone can kill you in its burst
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Exactly, and while we might be inclined to kite to try to live, without instant mobility, while facing specs that have it, excape or maintaining distance is very unlikely. If you play a melee spec that benefits greatly from your teammates peeling for you, but instead they are busy peeling for their healer, you might be playing Ret.
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