So I suppose I'm back from my unofficial posting hiatus. The new theme is a template, I'll tinker with the layout replace the Drupal logo with something else later; I don't have access to Photoshop or my WoW screenshots on my work machine. Also thinking that it's probably time to update and/or prune off some of the articles in the guide section, since half of them seem to be out of date.

I think i've finally decided on a new build to go with: 0/49/12 -> 0/44/17. Dropping Reckoning and putting 5 more points into retribution. 3/3 Improved Seal of the Crusader and 2/2 Improved Retribution Aura. Reckoning rarely procs when I tank, to the point where it is more or less a waste of 5 talent points.

Patch 2.3 is going to revamp the ret tree: The current Improved Seal of the Crusader talent will be added to the spell's base ability. The new Improved SotC talent will give the same effects as Sanctified Crusader (increases critical strike chance of all attacks against the target by 1%/2%/3%).

Mana cost for Exorcism, Holy Wrath, and Hammer of Wrath is being lowered. The duration of Vengeance (the ret talent) is being upped to 30 seconds. Crusader strike cooldown will be lowered to 6. The increased cooldown blew not only because it lowered DPS, but because it screwed the Judgement refresh timing a bit if it missed (I leveled as a retnub on the BC beta realms).

Some time in the future, all gear will receive an additional spell damage bonus of about 1/3 +heal. So 1500 +heal will translate to +500. This was announced at BlizzCon, I don't know if it's for 2.3 or the expansion pack. Regardless, zomg? Supposedly, 2.3 is going be on the PTRs first week of October. I am assuming that they are aiming for a late October release, so that the holiday event stuff can be on the live realms in time for Halloween.

Unfortunately I don't have links for the following blue posts. All were pulled from the WoW class forums. The same quotations are floating around on various WoW sites, shouldn't be that hard to find.

• "Q: ETA on when zul'aman will hit ptr for testing? A: hopefully, first week of october."
• "We're pretty much focused on Retribution with 2.3, but some more general changes are being made like lowering the mana cost for Exorcism, Holy Wrath, and Hammer of Wrath. Another Ret change (just to keep the momentum going) will be an increase to the duration of Vengeance to 30 seconds."
• "Q: comon blue guys give us some teasers! Cursader strike cool down lowered to 6? A: You're amazing, that's absolutely correct."
• "No, it's about a third. So 1500 +heal would give about +500 +spell damage."
• "This is correct. It's actually in addition to the healing and is "free". It's not going to reduce the healing bonus on the gear. It's going to be in addition."
• "I believe that it was said at BlizzCon that it would be about 1/3 of healing, but that's not gospel and could change."

It's been a while since I've posted any sort of entry. I cycle between periods of feeling like, and not feeling like posting articles here just in case no one noticed. Oh, Maulgar down to my guild on our second attempt ever. A smooth kill at that. Excellent job!

So basically, I am considering exploring different tankadin builds. Specifically, to drop Reckoning and possibly pick up Weapon Expertise, the black sheep of the protection tree. I have two problems with Reckoning:

1. In order for reckoning to proc I have to get hit. Because my gear is significantly better than it was when I had first spec'd prot, I am not getting hit a whole lot (dodge, parry, miss). So it is a pretty piddly threat bonus at best. It's mostly for farming purposes to be honest...
2. My primary concern: Mobs Parry too. The more attacks, the more parries. Parry speeds up the boss' swing timer, doing more damage to me.

 

So the formulas
The defensive formulas for a boss mob are more complicated than the defensive formulas for a player. There are two formulas:

• If the difference between mob Defense skill and player Weapon skill > 10: 7% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill - 10)*.4%
• If the difference between mob Defense skill and player Weapon skill <= 10: 5% + (Defense Skill - Weapon Skill)*.1%

 

Without a racial weapon modifier, a player's maxed out Weapon Skill at level 70 is 350. Recall that these miss rate percentages are calculated against a level 73 mob (73*5 = 365 Defense Skill). At 355, the difference between the player's Weapon Skill and the level 73 boss' Defense Skill is 10, so the other formula kicks into effect. Recall that humans have a 5 point Weapon Skill bonus for maces and swords, so they are at 355.

The first 4 points decrease your miss rate by 0.4% per point.
350 Weapon Skill: 9.0% (level 70 player, no racial weapon bonus)
351 Weapon Skill: 8.6%
352 Weapon Skill: 8.2%
353 Weapon Skill: 7.8%
354 Weapon Skill: 7.4%

The 5th point is a huge jump: 1.6%! After that it tappers off significantly to 0.1% per point.
355 Weapon Skill: 6.0% (with 5 point racial weapon bonus)
356 Weapon Skill: 5.9%
357 Weapon Skill: 5.8%
358 Weapon Skill: 5.7%
359 Weapon Skill: 5.6%
360 Weapon Skill: 5.5%
361 Weapon Skill: 5.4%
362 Weapon Skill: 5.3%
363 Weapon Skill: 5.2%
364 Weapon Skill: 5.1%
365 Weapon Skill: 5.0% (with 5 point racial weapon bonus and 5/5 Weapon Expertise)

• 355 seems to be the magic number for weapon skill in regards to talent value
• From what I understand, Weapon Skill affects miss and dodge, but not parry or block.
• If this is true, it's not worth spending points in a Weapon Skill talent past 355.
• Recall that humans have a +5 bonus to maces and swords. So for non-humans: 3/5 Weapon Expertise is ideal. Anything beyond is a waste.

I've been occupied lately poking around with the guild forums/vBulletin, apparently I alternate between what I "feel like" working on lol. This is actually just something that I posted in my internal guild boards for a fairly recent 70. I figure that this might be useful to at least one person who still peruses my site. Well that and I can't think of anything else to post.

Basic Raid Etiquette
Pay attention and work as a team. Raiding is a team effort, adjust your thinking accordingly.

• Don't come to the raid flagged for PvP.
• Don't inch ahead of the raid: In general, stay behind the Main Tank.
• Watch range and LoS. I can't heal what I can't see.
• Mind your surroundings: It is very easy to become so focused on healing/DPSing that you neglect what is happening around you. Example: If black circle of unholy death forms at your feet, MOVE!
• Come prepared: Repair, buy reagents and potions to last you for the entire raid, read strategies.
• Be Keen: Keep an eye out for special attacks and special situations.
• Let people know when you have to AFK.
• Watch your aggro: What should you do when the Main Tank first pulls a mob? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
• When fight strategies are given out, pay close attention. If you aren't sure about something, by all means ask a question!

Healing
Though we don't have a whole lot of healing spells, paladins are one of if not THE BEST single target healers in the game.

• Flash of Light is your primary healing spell. It is the most efficient heal in the game (efficiency = highest HP healed/mana ratio).
• Topping off: Spam Flash of Light on people to top health off. Time it so that you aren't overhealing.
• Heal aggressively: Base your heals off of what you think your target's health will be AFTER you finish casting. Basically: Preemptively heal and ANTICIPATE DAMAGE. If you know that the MT will be taking a huge chunk of damage, cast an early Holy Light...you can always cancel it right before the spell lands.
• It's okay to overheal during certain situations, knowing when to do this is part of being a good healer. Wasting a little mana is better than a dead tank.
• Some bosses use special abilities on regular intervals. DeadlyBossMods will show a timer for these...watch it and time your heals around it!
• Learn to budget mana around fight length and potion use (you can use a potion every 2 minutes). Example: If a fight lasts 10 minutes, you might not want to burn through all of your mana within the first minute.
• Coordinate heals with other classes.
• While you are casting: Use this time to select your next healing target, it will save a lot of time in the long run.
• Begin the fight by using any trinkets and spells on short cooldowns (Divine Favor, Divine Illumination, almost all trinkets). Most fights last around 3 to 5 minutes; If you time your cooldowns like this you can use them twice.
• Remember that bandages, potions, and even buffs generate a small amount threat (using a 5g potion and then getting 1-shotted and wiping the raid shortly after sucks hard).

Cleansing
Whether you like it or not, it is your duty to cleanse! No one else can do it nearly as effectively as a paladin. Most importantly: Cleanse or you will get bitched at repeatedly lol.

• You must always keep an eye out for debuffs at all times. Cleanse FAST and cleanse OFTEN.
• Keep in mind that cleanse has a 30 yard range, that's shorter than max healing range.
• SmartDebuff is a very good cleansing mod that is easy to setup. It's a grid of names, when someone is afflicted with a cleansable debuff it will highlight in red. To cleanse you just click the name, very easy.
• Otherwise, use Clique + Raid bars (harder to setup).

Other spells
Exceptional paladins not only know how to heal and cleanse effectively, but also know how to utilize all of their spells during appropriate moments.

• Blessing of Protection: Protects the target for 10 seconds against all MELEE attacks, also prevents them from using melee attacks. This is PERFECT for casters who have aggro'd a trash mob or something. Don't be afraid to use BoP liberally. If you BoP a rogue or a warrior they will probably hate you for life.
• Auras: Know what aura to use and when to switch, mid fight if necessary. Remember that resist auras do not stack with class resist buffs.
• Most trash mobs are stunnable. If one strays, try to stun it.

One of the big downsides to the protection tree is that it offers pretty much zero single target damage. I think it's one of the issues that turns people off (well okay, in addition to raid needs and recruitment issues, but that's a different post). If you know how and where to do it, Protection offers by far the most efficient method of grinding. How? AoE farming.

I feel a bit silly: I have had access to [item]Gavel of Unearthed Secrets[/item] for quite some time but have ignored it. It's the Lower City exalted spell damage mace. Recall that Seal of Vengeance favors weapon speeds that approach 3.0; since SoV procs 20 times a minute, a 3.0 speed weapon would guarantee a proc each hit. 2.7 is damn close.

Though a 2.7 speed weapon procs JoW/JoL less, it will proc SoV nearly every single time. SoV is very very streaky with my 1.8 speed sword, which has a fail rate of about 30%. In fact, the DoT drops off of the mob quite frequently...it's a problem. A 2.7 speed sword has a fail rate of about 10%. It's worth some testing.

Also, since the AQ enchants are going to be accessible next content patch, I am wondering whether it would be better to put 2% threat on my gloves over 20 spell damage. Need to work the math out when I have time. Mmm threat.

Edit: I didn't notice all that huge of an increase in my TPS, considering I chanted it with +40 spell damage (never bothered doing that on my other weapons, the pattern dropped for me last week...I am cheap and hate outsourcing chants). BUT it was Friday and I was tired. I should test SoV more.

Oh, and I have a new tanking weapon which will be mentioned in the next "Weekly Update." I am feeling posty lately, might even make an entry over the weekend for once.