Forum lurkers' delight

- Malthus has assembled a nice undocumented changes list.

- Malonik makes a good argument why Relics function the way they do, and why they're not just +stat items:

Hybrid itemization in this game, in particular item sets, already take into account 2 factors:

1) That hybrids cannot equip ranged items such as wands, bows and rifles and thus cannot benefit from the stats offered by said items

2) Hybrids require more stats than pure classes (such as rogues, for whom intellect and spirit are useless) as they can benefit from each and every stat.

As a result, current in-game items for hybrids ARE OVERBUDGETED in comparison with their non hybrid counter parts. If you parse the budget points spend in the tier 1 and 2 sets, Hybrids sets offer more stats than the other sets.

In other words: Don't expect more from this relics. Don't expect 'Haxxxorz relic of the eagle' with +10 stamina and +10 intellect, because it would be overpowered.

This relic are a small bone thrown by Blizzard so that hybrids can finally get rid of Egan's Blaster. They are already great for what they are; do not ask for more and be happy you have them.

- Satha explains what changed in 1.10 and how proccing is affected. No longer can you proc with two things (seal, enchant, judgement, weapon, etc) on the same swing. Interesting read.

Some updates on the Pally thingies

Libram of Truth (the one that grants your Devotion aura with an additonal +55 armor) drops off of Magmus in BRD. Just met a guy who had it on my server. It's pretty damn worthless, but better than to have just nothing. According to this guy the other two are one that grant you 20 mana off of every Seal and one that grants Cleanse -25 in cost. Them I need! Pretty cool that switching librams is something that I will find myself doing.

Lightforge Gauntlets are BoE random drops in Stratholme, this guy says Timmy the Cruel. Probably entire Scarlet area as it would make sense (they're Pallies!). According to comments it's only Timmy the Cruel, but they're still BoE. What the?

Where's the favored Shock?

Good news everyone!

I've got some bad news about Holy Shock with Divine Favor.

Apparently they work together when healing, but not for damage. Isn't this against what Eyonix said to us a month ago?

Complaints are amassing.

This just in: It's out. Update: It's not.

Connect to the server to download it.

Update: Server downtime extended one hour.

Update 2: Woot. Been waiting here for like, six hours, and still no servers up yet. Argh!

Update 3: Servers are online... Been waiting to Authenticate for like 10 minutes.

Update 4: They went down after like 40-30 minutes after they had been brought online. As I'm typing this they're still down. The note right now (9:15 PST) says that they'll be up within 90 minutes. This definitely is the worst day ever since release. The server's been down the entire day. That's pretty darn bad and most likely will be giving them quite the negative publicity within the couple of days. Expect at least a one-day compensation as well as a written apology from Michael Morhaime himself. I wonder what could've been the cause of this huge delay in the first place.

One thing I noticed though when the servers were up that as I was traveling on the boat from to Theramore, I actually didn't zone along with the boat and the other passengers to Kalimdor. Me and my guild friend fell down in to the water and had to swim back... Naturally because he was a druid he got back faster. Not really a good sign of server stability.

1.10 comes out tomorroah

Heard it on Ventrilo a couple of minutes ago. I'm in MC right now, so I don't have time to scout the forums.

Update: Here's the thread about it (click the first link). If the image don't work due to the bandwidth cap I'll upload it here later.

Update: Official post here by Eyonix.

Push it to the Limit

WANTED: Starcraft Ghost development time. This is no joke. Blizzard Entertainment PO Box 18979 Irvine, CA 92623. You'll get to play it when we get it finished. Must bring your own controller. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

Two small updates.

Appearantly patches will get bigger in the future, and 1.10 includes a stealth downloader which runs while you are playing. This is just a part of the built-up for the expansion pack. Remember; all the universal textures and objects -- such as weaponry, armor and characters will be required for you to download to ensure compatibility.

Also wipe that sweat off of your forehead. That Divine Favor not making Holy Shock crit on damage is being investigated. Hopefully it will not be a bug and Eyonix words are being held up. According to Vaelin it's up on the list offical bug list.

Deathbone Set - Pally Tank Set in 1.10

Here you go, fresh from the PTR forums. It seems as if Blizzard is turning Deathbone into a Paladin tanking set - or at least trying:

Deathbone Chest
637 Armor
+12 Stamina
+17 Defense
+5 Mana/5s

Deathbone Gauntlets
398 Armor
+14 Stamina
+4 Mana/5s
+10 Defense

Deathbone Girdle
358 Armor
+15 Stamina
+4 Mana/5s
+9 Defense

Deathbone Legguards
557 Armor
+20 Sta
+5 Mana\5s
+13 Defense

Deathbone Sabatons
438 Armor
+9 Stamina
+6 Mana/5s
+10 Defense

What you get - lots of Stam, Def, and mana regen.
What you lack - any Str/Agi/Int

Eyonix works Sundays!

Eyonix has given a minor update:

I met with the class designers late Friday, just before my WSG match on the test realms. We discussed a number of items which were gathered directly from this forum over the last few weeks. Right now, the Mage review is taking precedence, however, once those changes are locked down their time will free up and they'll be able to focus more closely on improving certain aspects of your class.

I don't really have anything new to say, only to reiterate that the plan moving forward is still to take another pass at the Protection tree, to ensure that it's as attractive as we intend. As I've also stated we plan to explore ways in which we can improve the Paladin's overall interactivity in raids, as well as tank.

There are likely some other tweaks on the horizon (likely a couple each patch).

I'll post information as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, I'll continue to read your feedback and present it accordingly.

(emphasis mine)

So it looks like he's saying:
- After the Mage changes they'll take a look at us. So the largest changes seem to be scheduled for 1.11.
- Protection will get buffed (let me reiterate: 1.9 was two-thirds of a talent review). This is something that was pretty expected to happen.
- Increased interactivity in raids. Most certainly codeword for more abilities to keep us in melee range and other stuff to do than just cleanse and heal and bless.

Going on a quick vacation...

...Not that it's important to you, but I just wanted to alert to you that I'm doing a quickie travel to California. Of course I'll bring my laptop with me and try to go online wherever I can -- but you never know, I might wind up in, *gulp*, a hotel without internet. I'll be gone up until about Friday afternoon or so.

I've got three stops:
- Disneyland (hey! I'm going there with my cousins who are 5 and 9).
- Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Blizzard HQ.

Just kidding about Blizzard HQ. Their offices are hidden as there are too many kids who want to get there. I'm not kidding. Heck, I don't want to sound like a lame-o but if they wouldn't be hiding their location I would try to go see them! I'd probably enter/not enter depending on whether I knew they had a gift shop or not.

However it looks like it's cool though. There'll probably be no more news for the remainder of the week unless Eyonix is planning on detailing specifics on what's in store for us in 1.11 (not bloody likely).

I hope you guys are having a fun spring break!

Paladin Review Redux

Looks like patch 1.12 is going to be like "1.9" 2:

...This is but one patch [regarding the Paladin changes in 1.10], and I've already stated we're looking to make the Protection tree more appealing. Improvements to the Retribution tree are a possibility as well.

...I plan to discuss a number of items with the class designers at some point this coming week, and hopefully I'll have some feedback to provide concerning the direction of patch 1.12 as it pertains to the Paladin.

- Looks like our second revision is planned on to be shared in the the same patch as the Shamans 1.12? The irony.
- Possible Retribution improvements? Sounds good as needs more versatility beyond Repentance.
- Cool that Eyonix is going to chat with the class designers soon, hopefully we'll get some tidbits from what came out of that.

Edit: Shaman complains about this so Eyonix responds.

Defender - A Music Video

First, I'd like to thank Mastgrr for the opportunity to become a contributor to this great resource for the class we all love, though sometimes bittersweetly. He recommended that I make an introductory post, so here we are.

This is my first attempt ever at such a project. When I ran across this song, I knew it had to be integrated with some WoW footage. I used Fraps (free trial version, hence the watermark) and Windows Movie Maker. Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. It's a bit slow moving, and maybe could have used more action. As a lover of the Paladin class and its background, though, it seems to get better each time I watch it. This is a lore-based movie and as such won't show PvP or "phat damage."

Enjoy

http://files.filefront.com/Defenderwmv/;4865010;;/fileinfo.html

~Vaelin - Paladin of Gilneas

Soulforge armor update, courtesy of...

I've found that many of you who've come to this blog found this due to that you searched for "soulforge armor" on Google or MSN. And because I have very little time to spend blogging right now since it's mid-terms, I've decided to shamelessly just copy/paste a very nice post by Vaelin:

Enough with the Protection business. There are more important things to attend to, like showing off Soulforge. Here's what I've gathered from the test realm thus far...

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/4189/soulforge66nw.jpg

I've shown 6 of the pieces that I've seen linked in trade chat. From what I understand, if you can manage to kill the baron in strath within 45 mins of opening the 2nd gate and entering the gauntlet, the shoulders come next, followed by the legs. We know what the helm stats are, as Blizzard showed it in the Under Development section of the website. I'm assuming the breastplate is epic also.

Final tally: 4 rares, 4 epics
Every piece has healing/spell damage
Every piece has well balanced stats
I like the new look. The purple doesn't bother me, as the silver seems to be the dominant color. Anything's better than the McDonalds look. I still won't be displaying the helm.

My verdict: Soulforge will pwn

I wonder why they decided to make the boots the fourth epic piece, rather than the shoulder pieces. Aren't shoulder pieces and the helm the most important pieces of your armor aesthetically on your character? Anyways, that's what I think. Nice to see that Soulforge looks like a pretty damn awesome set.

Why Protection still is in bad shape.

Even after the buff to Holy Shield, there's a reason as to why Protection *still* won't be a tree people will spend their points in to beyond Blessing of Kings. This guy nailed it:

So, in order to be the 3rd most effective tank in game, we have to waste 31 points on a talent we would never use otherwise, sacrificing FAR more viable talents from the other two trees... 31 points to be the 3rd most effective tank in 20-man instances or less. Wow. That is extremely broken.

(Emphasis mine).

It all boils down to that Protection lacks utility.

Even if you want to be a tanking Paladin, what are you going to do when there's a (Protection) Warrior around? Holy gains in healing, Lasting Judgement, etc. Retribution gains in damage, Repentance, Vindication, etc. So, if you're going to end up not-tanking more than you think -- why even go that deep in to Protection in the first place?

The tree *tries* to accomplish this, but really fails at it: Most people go to the first three tiers for Blessing of Kings and Guardian's Favor, so you're not special for having that. If you want to tank you're probably not going to get Improved Concentration Aura, since you're most likely going to use Retribution or Protection.

After that there's not that much beyond Blessing of Sanctuary: Congratulations! You're probably the only Paladin with this blessing, so bless the main tank and go watch the Retribution Paladins do more damage and the Holy Paladins do better healing while you stand back in the corner.

What are you going to do that's so special when you're not tanking?

Soulforge Gauntlets nerf

Brought to my attention from anonymous, Caydiem says the Soulforge gauntlets've been nerfed.

Too bad. I read a day ago about someone who complained why the Warriors' Dungeon 2 gloves weren't up to par. For example, theirs had a couple of more strength (2-4 I think) and agility (I think) whereas we got +crit, spell damage and +10 intellect. He asked how all of that they had was worth even just +10 intellect. He was making a good point -- why did they deem to give us so much favorable stats in the first place?

This brings up one of the things I've been thinking about for a while... There seems to be a trend where Paladin-specific gear usually have much better statistics on them than plain non-hybrid gear. I'm not kidding. I know it's hard to just say this without backing it up, but I'll keep it in mind the next time I think about -- as it's really just been something I've thought about before in the past.

If you have any concrete examples, please post them.

Protection, schmotection part 2

After reading my own rant a couple of weeks back, I've changed my mind. I've been thinking inside the box too much, and Eyonix's comments and requests for feedback on Paladin tanking has made me rethink my position.

I argued the changing of Redoubt and Reckoning, altering it from getting critted on to a flat percentage chance. This was with the motivator to "..let Paladin Tanks stack up on +defense gear". Because that's really what Druids and Warriors do; stack up on +defense gear so their damage received won't be as bouncy/shaky, easing the work for healers.

The reason why Paladin tanking doesn't work the same way as Druids or Warriors is due to the fact that we have an mana bar. Changing the Protection tree to make us rely more on +defense gear simply give up less mana to use our spells. It's the mana consumption, stupid!

If we dump all our intellect gear for +defense and strand ourselves with a miniscule manapool, we won't be able to tank for very long because we do not gain mana in battle as with Warriors and Druids do with rage. That's why much of the Paladin tanking is relying on being critted on, because it's just that: Paladin tanking isn't about hoarding up on +defense gear.

What boggles my mind is the reason for the +7 defense part on our ZG-enchant. This also makes you wonder why the heck Anticipation is in the Protection tree -- as it's deceitful and contradictory.

The very fact why Paladin tanks can't use get form of Taunt I don't get though. We'd still be very different kind of tanks due to the reasons described above. Maybe changing Judgement of Justice in to what Judgement of Fury was would be a nice addition to help us single target tank.

1.10 is now out on test!

Lo and behold! Go download it! The thing that's different with 1.10 than previous tests is that now you actually get to choose between pre-made characters. They're fully decked out with very nice gear I assume as the case, since this is how they did in Europe on their test servers.

By the way, make sure you don't confuse Horde Priest with Horde Mage. They screwed up the names and one of my guild members' had to waste his second transfer slot due to this.


Edit 1: Here are the new Lightforge Set bonuses. The stats of the set pieces don't seem to have been touched.


Edit 2: Guess what the Soulforge Set bonuses are? They're the exact same bonuses as Lightforge, except in reverse. Pretty clever -- since upgrading your Dungeon set is linear, that means that you get to keep the exact same set bonuses even if you've only got half of Lightforge and half of Soulforge. Clever!

Edit 3: Here's a picture of a Paladin with the Soulforge set and the AV tabard. Wow -- compared to Lightforge it really looks, well, odd. Totally not like anything I expected.

Edit 4: Here's a better picture with a comparison. Item changes and stuff are found in this thread, which is awesome. Just read it.

1.10 patch notes are up

The notes for 1.10 are up! While the servers aren't online yet, there are several interesting tidbits in the patch which will alter how you play the game completely: for example, UBRS now has a limit of ten people. Scholomance, Stratholme and BRD now has a limit of five people. Zerging UBRS is a distant past!

Here are the changes that involve the Paladin:

Paladin Changes:

Blessing of Light - Different ranks ... was never intended for them to be able to stack...
Judgement of Justice - This judgement will now always hit.
Righteous Fury - Righteous Fury will now ... generate the correct amount of additional threat...
Holy Shock - This ability now works with Divine Favor and Illumination.
Holy Shield - Mana cost reduced approximately 15%. The effect now has a small bonus coefficient from spell damage items and effects.
Eye for an Eye - This talent can now trigger while you are mounted.
Blessing of Sacrifice - This Blessing can no longer be used to prevent the death of a target...
Seal of Command - Will now be able to proc when the Paladin is silenced.
Improved Seal of Righteousness - Tooltip updated to reflect actual functionality...
Lay on Hands and Divine Intervention - Range increased.
Holy Shield - Tooltip updated to reflect that damage caused by Holy Shield causes 20% additional threat...
All Greater Blessings now have increased range.
Holy Shock - Mana cost reduced.
Most creatures that were previously immune to Scorpid Sting are now also immune to the Paladin Talent Vindication.
Fixed problem where occasionaly repeated casts of Consecration will not deal damage.
If a paladin avoids damage with Divine Shield, Eye for an Eye will not react.
Fixed stacking of paladin auras so they overlap, but only the best aura in a given category is in effect.

Relics:

Relics have been introduced to the game. These are class specific items for Druids, Paladins, and Shaman which can be equipped in the ranged slot. Currently there are a handful for each class which can be found scattered throughout Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, Scholomance, Stratholme, and The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. We hope that you enjoy the first round of available relics and we will continue to add more in future patches.

Items:

- The Lightforge Set has had its set bonuses adjusted.
- The Lightforge Gauntlets have been moved.

Finally! Finally! No more dreaded Emperor runs!

Holy Shock's mana cost reduced. I wonder by how much.

Insert obligatory Protection rant here:

Notice that there were virtually no changes to Protection. So I guess until Naxxramas comes, Protection pretty much is dead (up to Blessing of Kings) for a large majority of Paladin players. I'm cautiously optimistic of the said improvements, because I have a real hard time figuring out any type of skill, talent or ability that would make it so much more attractive that it would persuade me to ditch more damage or more healing to get more tanking (or utility, if that is the case).

Protection used to really be grabbed for three things prior to 1.9: Repentance, Reckoning and Improved Blessings of Protection/Freedom. Now with Repentance in Retribution and the increased ability of burst DPS through Judgement of Command -- there really isn't any need for Reckoning anymore either for those who want to PVP. Beyond Guardian's Favor and Blessing of Kings, Protection, well, really isn't worth it -- unless you want to tank (which you will never be asked to do anyway, so stfu and bless and cleanse while the warrior is doing his shit).

I was hoping that when Caydiem said the changes were finalized for 1.9 she had hinted at that the developers would further develop and change the trees, so that by 1.10 we'd have whatever changes they didn't have time to put in for 1.9. But I think these patch notes now set it in stone that the developers either forgot about the tree during the process or simply didn't realize that Protection pretty much sucked ass from the players' perspective. They did their job, packed their stuff and moved on to the Priests.

That's too bad. The Hunter changes and the Druid changes were pretty good *. You can always speculate as to why they completely squandered up 1/3 of our talent review. It's really stuff like this that feeds the ego of those who say that "Blizzard doesn't care about Paladins".

There's even more stuff than just this to the patch notes, so don't forget to read them in its entirety!

* As a Druid I find all three trees very viable, with a slight decreased interest in Balance as you simply can not keep up in damage when it comes to raids due to the situation where you get out of mana relatively fast. Warlocks can trade their life for mana. Mages've got Evocation and gems. Druids don't have that which makes it less attractive than Feral and Restoration for end-game.

My club of mutual admiration.

As many of you know, I've been a firm proponent of improving the Protection tree. When 1.9 was set in stone, the first thing that came to my mind was "What about Protection?".

In 13 december I wrote "Protection, Schmotection." where I gave suggestions on how to improve the Protection tree. I also argued why it was in its current state not attractive at all -- in fact, moreso than just not attractive but also confusing and contradictory.

In 30th december I said in "Just an observation." that just because 1.9 was on the doorstep it didn't have to mean that the changes were complete.

And of course, here we are today -- where changes to the Protection tree most certainly are scheduled to be in either 1.10 or 1.11.

Actually, I'm not saying I was the only one who said this -- but I'm just happy that something I've argued on for months now was finally admitted to be the case. C'mon! Just let me gloat a little! I want to smirk like a chimp.

Eyonix brings his own weapons.

Not only done it more than once before, he's done it several times: several more blue threads in the Paladin forum right now. Most of it is all about providing appropriate class feedback in a constructive manner.

Trust me, the Paladin community is very, very appreciative of the attention he's giving. My question though is... Why is this? How come Eyonix suddenly is paying so unusually much time to talk to us? It feels like there has to be one more underlying reason than just the seek for more feedback. I know, it feels wrong to think that way -- but, consider the fact that 1.10 really is about Priests and that I don't think any CM has spent this much time with a class after a revision (you can call me out on this if I'm wrong).

I don't think he's doing this due to the claims of poor CM handling during 1.9, which was prominently said a couple of weeks ago. I thought Caydiem was doing her job nicely, but she really wrote her own death sentence when she decided to praised the absolutely most wrong person she could possibly praise (who is banned now by the way, as it seems).

But why? I don't know. To calm us down?