TalonBot
03-18-2009, 05:32 PM
Filed under: Paladin (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/paladin/), Patches (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/patches/), Analysis / Opinion (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/analysis-opinion/), Blizzard (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/blizzard/), Forums (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/forums/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2009/03/zach_gc-on-ret-dps.jpg
I'll be honest with you. Retribution DPS has made me a rather sad panda lately. It wasn't my DPS exactly, but I sat down to watch my brother-in-law farm Valkyrs in Valkyrion with his three-week old Level 80 Death Knight (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/death-knight/). He pulled about five mobs and proceeded to demolish them. With Cinderglacier (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53341) and Killing Machine (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=51130) proccing, he hit all mobs with a Howling Blast (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=51411) for about 6-7k each, and topped things off with a 7k Frost Strike (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=55268). It made my jaw drop. Mind you, my brother-in-law is an excellent player, so this probably isn't your average Death Knight. But then, he was only equipped in heroic gear, with his best loot being a Wraith Spear (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39221). He hadn't even hit his peak.
I know anectdotal stories like these are plenty and tangential to the issue, but if you've raided as a Retribution Paladin with equally geared and skilled players, you'll know exactly what I'm trying to say. So it was a major surprise in Patch 3.1 (http://www.wowinsider.com/tag/patch-3.1/) that the slimming down of the Retribution tree hit our DPS hard with a nerf to Fanaticism (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31883) (reduced to three ranks for an 18% crit, down from 25%) and Righteous Vengeance (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53384) (reduced to three ranks for 30% damage, down from 40%). Was it to balance out the fact that Exorcism (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48801) could be used on any target? Certainly not. At any rate, Blizzard was aware that Retribution DPS on the PTRs wasn't where they want it to be (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/04/retribution-dps-too-low/).Continue reading Ghostcrawler talks some more on Retribution DPS (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/)
http://www.wowinsider.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.wowinsider.com)Ghostcrawler talks some more on Retribution DPS (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/) originally appeared on WoW Insider (http://www.wowinsider.com) on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Read (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15673103463&pageNo=1#5) | Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1491120/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/#comments)
More... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WowInsider/~3/cwe6vKHwhXA/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2009/03/zach_gc-on-ret-dps.jpg
I'll be honest with you. Retribution DPS has made me a rather sad panda lately. It wasn't my DPS exactly, but I sat down to watch my brother-in-law farm Valkyrs in Valkyrion with his three-week old Level 80 Death Knight (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/death-knight/). He pulled about five mobs and proceeded to demolish them. With Cinderglacier (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53341) and Killing Machine (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=51130) proccing, he hit all mobs with a Howling Blast (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=51411) for about 6-7k each, and topped things off with a 7k Frost Strike (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=55268). It made my jaw drop. Mind you, my brother-in-law is an excellent player, so this probably isn't your average Death Knight. But then, he was only equipped in heroic gear, with his best loot being a Wraith Spear (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39221). He hadn't even hit his peak.
I know anectdotal stories like these are plenty and tangential to the issue, but if you've raided as a Retribution Paladin with equally geared and skilled players, you'll know exactly what I'm trying to say. So it was a major surprise in Patch 3.1 (http://www.wowinsider.com/tag/patch-3.1/) that the slimming down of the Retribution tree hit our DPS hard with a nerf to Fanaticism (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31883) (reduced to three ranks for an 18% crit, down from 25%) and Righteous Vengeance (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53384) (reduced to three ranks for 30% damage, down from 40%). Was it to balance out the fact that Exorcism (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48801) could be used on any target? Certainly not. At any rate, Blizzard was aware that Retribution DPS on the PTRs wasn't where they want it to be (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/04/retribution-dps-too-low/).Continue reading Ghostcrawler talks some more on Retribution DPS (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/)
http://www.wowinsider.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.wowinsider.com)Ghostcrawler talks some more on Retribution DPS (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/) originally appeared on WoW Insider (http://www.wowinsider.com) on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Read (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15673103463&pageNo=1#5) | Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1491120/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/18/ghostcrawler-on-retribution-dps/#comments)
More... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WowInsider/~3/cwe6vKHwhXA/)