My judgments temporarily boost my speed by 50% for 3 seconds. Call it something other than the long arm of the law. We’re Paladins. We’re not police officers.
Inquisition is a base line skill that procs without having to expend holy power. It must function similarly to its original version, Vengeance. Tweak what procs it, but make it a passive buff.
Bring back empowered divine storm from WoD as a baseline passive.
Change Divine Storm’s visual so that it retains the same aesthetic as the WotLK version.
Provide a glyph option so that the visuals of our skills are swords, instead of hammers. I.e. Judgment is a sword, not a hammer. Divine Storm is a swirl of awesome swords and not hammers. Emphasize: glyph option.
Make Divine Purpose a baseline passive.
Update the visuals, but retain the same aesthetic of Hammer of Wrath.
Make Hammer of Wrath hit harder.
Transform blessings into auras. I.e. Wisdom Aura restores mana for everyone affected. Kings aura grants a mini-shield.
Make Retribution aura’s current version a baseline passive and replace the aura with a boost in some damage-related stat. For example, Devotion aura mitigates damage taken by x%. Retribution aura increases damage given by x%. If someone dies, Paladins will still proc Avenging Wrath.
Strengthen Word of Glory by increasing hp healed and let Word of Glory share the Selfless Healer passive with Flash of Light.
These are the changes I really want to see as a Retribution Paladin.
If we’re going to emphasize the talent tree’s relevance for diversity and options, I want the talent tree to emphasize certain aspects of class fantasy. Talk with your writers and see if we can include Dark Paladins or Shadow Paladins, much like our Priest brethren. They get to be Shadow Priests? I want Shadow Retribution Paladin. If not, I want to command dragons. If not, I want to command and be enveloped with holy fire. The talent tree should not be used to rebrand core mechanics or offer subpar experiences.
For me, losing control of my Paladin in WoD due to empowered divine storm and ridiculous Divine Purpose procs is what made the class so fun. Reigning in the madness is what made the game challenging and engaging. The Divine Storm visuals during WotLK makes Divine Storm feel powerful. Our current graphic rendition of Divine Storm is clean, but it’s not a storm. It’s one or two revolutions of hammers running in a straight line. We might as well call it Divine Hammers. This point can be seen by searching up videos of divine storm wotlk.
I do agree though with everything you said. Basically we had the best iteration of Ret in WoD, with holy power and it was the most fun I have ever had in this game. Since they changed Ret for legion, I have found my time in the World of Warcraft slowly peter out. I was hoping that Blizzard would change Ret for the better for Shadowlands with all the wonderful messages from those in here and the beta testers. Basically, we all seem to be on the same plain of thought but for some reason Blizzard seems to function like a 5 year old running around screaming with their ears plugged and eyes closed while the adults (testers and fine folks here making amazing suggestions) speak with great thought and devotion for our class/spec.
Sadly, this will be my last expansion I would say. This was the last hoorah of sorts. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt with 2 expansions of this gross negligence of our spec. I figured surely they have enough feedback to realize they are off the mark.
That is what I get for assuming. When I saw that the beta is in the tuning phase, I could see the writing on the wall. God bless all those that stay true to the faith. I am weary and I cannot anymore.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. WoD ret was the last time I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game, even though the X-Pac itself was meh. Ever since then I have been on this roller coaster of playing like crazy for a month or two and then not touching the game for a few months. Ret has always been my true love of this game and it saddens me every time I log onto him and get bored after a few hours.
The mutual sentiment is real. Relentless community input is our only chance. I have yet to purchase the Shadowlands expansion. Whether you take part in Azeroth or not, thanks for sharing this huzzah. I’m sure there are Blizzard employees that peruse the forums. It’s nice to share the same indescribable feeling. Light be with you, fellow Paladin.
Seeing changes for Arcane Mages and Enhancement Shaman, there are definitely other classes that share our feeling of cynicism. This forum is the only opportunity we have to share our voice. I’m not sure when, but remain steadfast. I’m sure Blizzard developers want an intimate relationship with members of the community. I’m not sure if there is a dedicated Retribution Paladin specialist onboard Blizzard’s development team. It’s important to share your feelings either way. It might seem bleak because of the lack of immediate feedback by Blizzard, but these changes are important for us. You’re not alone, fellow Paladin. Light be with you and hold your head high.
Blizzard’s modern version of seals is the Night Fae ability, Blessing of the Seasons. I’m not sure if there are metrics the developers are measuring, but they may hone in on it if the majority of Paladins are well receptive. Now that auras are back, seals are worth re-exploring!
If there is nothing to judge, let them come to us. One tweak you may enjoy is changing crusader aura to function like MoP Hunter’s aspect of the cheetah. Weaker speed boost, but applies to all nearby party members both while on and off a mount. This will balance our ability to run old content and smooth our questing experience. Thumbs up.
If there was we wouldn’t be in this mess… If there was we wouldn’t have been ignored this whole time… It’s abundantly clear that no one with any influence over design decisions plays this class, let alone this spec.
Blessing of seasons from what I understand is nothing like seals. its a rotating buff of who knows whats going to come up next its more akin to roll the bones for rogues.
Seals you knew what you had and what you would use during sutiations. Healer needed mana toss Seal of wisdom and judge. Melee was low on hp and healer was having trouble Seal of light and then judge to help(the heals werent much but it was better than doing nothing)
While you had a seal judged if you wanted aoe seal of command. if you wanted harder hitting st seal of blood(at the cost of your own life with this one.)
Point is we were a utility knife of sorts between auras, seals and blessings. But blizzard slowly removed our utility that we had. That is what was so bad was that they removed what made us wanted in groups. From stat blessings to being able to provide healing to melee with a judgement(even tho it was small heals everything helped). Now we are almost an Arms warrior with no ms effect or charge or leap.
The transition from BFA to Shadowlands suggest that Blizzard wants Paladins to have a strong foundation first. Streamlining the abilities by making them holy power dependent ensures that anyone who decides to heal shortly after tanking/dps’ing can do so.
One of the problems that Blizzard faces is trying to compete with a gaming market that encourages four-button systems. League of Legends/Dota2 mostly have four buttons. Valorant/Overwatch have three additional buttons. Part of the problem may be user retention. From a user perspective, only a fraction of players raid or experience the end-game experience. Rather than complicating class mechanics, Blizzard focuses on teamwork and ramping up the difficulty of the raid bosses. It’s unlikely any company has a dedicated employee for specific roles. The industry standard seems to rely on professional input. For example, League of Legends may invite current and former professional players to test run a new development. Blizzard most likely keeps a close eye on top raid and mythic dungeon teams. The only way to convince Blizzard developers to reinstate desired changes is to provide constructive user feedback. Describe why you want the mechanic and what purpose it serves.
Blizzard’s primary goal is to provide an optimal player friendly environment. This isn’t a company that’s trying to sabotage itself, regardless of upper management performance demands.
I often see Paladins arguing for number adjustments, rather than QoL skill changes. Numbers can be tuned. If exorcism is a skill you really want to see again, vocalize it. Write a post detailing your excitement. Pathos is a strong persuasive device. It’s important you continue to engage the community and let your light shine. Don’t fret.
One of the benefits of having once tasted the glory of seals is that the Paladin’s current version is at its bare minimum. Is there a reason Blizzard removed seals to begin with? While Blessing of the Seasons doesn’t function like seals, it’s still a skill that provides varying stat boosts. It’s not the same, but its existence signals hope.
It is aggravating if it feels like the developers aren’t listening to us. When developers lurk these forums, which thread do you choose? If you’re in favor of mobility adjustments, be specific. What mobility improvements do you want? Do you want to add three charges to divine steed? Do you want faster reload times? What about attaching movement speed to hand of freedom? Is a movement speed buff after casting judgment necessary? If yes, why? Should we move faster while Avenging Wrath is up? What about Heart of the Crusader right now? Is it necessary? Why is movement speed important and in what situations? In raiding, do we need that movement speed buff? If so, what kind? In pvp, do you need a movement speed buff?
I’ve seen some posts to reintroduce long arm of the law. Vocalize why it’s important to have it and how we suffer without it. Describe to me when Blizzard removed it and what they included to balance us.
While we had long arm of the law, we didn’t have cavalier. We never had a sustainable movement speed buff except crusader aura. The scope of the previous four years is meaningless because we didn’t really have anything before your timeline. Crusader aura is the only movement speed buff I can think of that has been consistent, which Blizzard put as a baseline passive in our spell book.
The Warrior and DK is our closest comparable. Wrath walk is all DKs really have as a movement speed boost. Warriors have charge, intervene, and heroic leap. How will movement enhance our ability to play? What purpose is movement supposed to serve? Is it for raiding? Questing? Clearing old content? PvP? Is it just a matter of feel? Should Paladins have a baseline movement speed improvement so that we can outrun other plate armor classes?
Seals were removed in the pruning just like blessing were. I will be honest when tbc comes out I will be playing it because to me that was when paladins were fun we had seals and we still had to juggle mana usage with our abilities.
