Kalgan Speaks!

In this thread he addresses a lot of questions man of us have. Here are the juicy bits, first is regarding Ret spec viability:

...It isn't an immediate goal for every spec to be optimized for every aspect of the game (arenas, battlegrounds, solo-ing, raiding, heroics, etc).

...getting each class reasonably represented in highly rated teams is a more important goal, and unfortunately the paladin class happens to be somewhat grossly over-represented in this regard.

Then what is our pvp damage spec or are we never suposed to damage in pvp?

If you want to do damage in pvp as a paladin, then I'd say that ret is your spec. It just so happens that it's outshined by the reality that holy paladins are much more likely to help your team win.

I understand the illum nerf, but where did the 50% come from? It seems like a larger cut than needed!

Now that's a valid point. We're certainly keeping an eye on the 50% number.

Kalgan, what exactly is the purpose of the retribution tree?

It's an effective solo'ing/questing/"grinding" tree. It's also an effective tree for damage in [solo] pvp...Ret pallies can do some surprisingly strong raid dps if they're in a good melee group dps composition [thanks to new Improved Sanctity Aura].