anyone ever start with prot spec early levels?Follow

My response is going to be "do what you like". People in the forums usally ask for the most effecient way to level. The most effecient is to be ret until the mid-30s and then go prot. However, it is perfectly possible to be prot from level 10 on, and if you enjoy it then good for you.

I didn't level prot from level 10, I know some people here did, and they obviously got to 70 well enough. Prot aoe grinding just becomes so much better after you get some of the talents like reckoning and holy shield, and the talents before that don't help too much towards that end.

So in summary, does it work? Yes. Is it the most effecient way to level? Nope. Should that matter if you are having fun with it anyway? Nope.

hmmm, how's this for a happy medium?

Maybe stay with retribution, but instead of a big two hander, find the biggest/slowest one handed weapon I can find and keep the shield. I won't do quite as much damage with seal of command, but it will still be a decent amount, plus I keep the benefits of having a shield.

I could live with doing 2/3 the damage of SoC as a bit 2hander if I can still wade through mobs in the process :)

Or am I just crazy?

with the changes to exp in this game. it makes even less of a difference now. as your time in the lower more talent useless bracket is small indeed.

so just play how you like untill about 40+

thats when people will start to rely on good builds and people who can effectively play their class.

and even that is pretty forgiving untill 60+ when you must do at least some research and have a focus for your toon.

Edited, Nov 14th 2007 4:24pm by RuenBahamut

LOL

Doesnt work efficiently to aoe grind with SoCommand. You need a SoL/SoW active to stsrt thinking about aoe grinding. But if you want to try it get Brutish Riverpaw Axe(2.8wep speed), Shadowhide Scalper(2.9)or Callous Axe(2.8) are the best suited for this type of theory. I tried it while levelling a twink pally to 19 and although it was quite amusing i tossed it for a 2H.

Edit: actually dont even try it

Arthorius - 70 Human Pro(t) Paladin - Khaz'garoth

Edited, Nov 15th 2007 12:31am by arthoriuss

i have a lvl 40 pally prot have lvled him most the way up as prot at lvl 23 i think it was i went with a sheild with of blocking and then added a thorium shield spike. made lvling easy. then at 32 i got the shield from gnomer and added a thorium shield spike on that. used untill lvl 39 where i have the shield from sm cath. i love my prot pally only hurts when you get 3 casters that are 3 lvls higher. so if your wanting to do it from lvl 1-70 it is very posable to do so. besides soloing grab 2 mages a healer and some other dps then just kill like 8 mobs at at time. lvl 37 or 38 i was snagging 3 rooms in sm armory at a time and just chain doing my aoe if too many toss out the healing seal sorry dont rember name. peeps love a pally who tanks like that. fast runs are good.

As you stated, Do what you like. Enjoying the gameplay is the best part of your 15$.

That be said, I've lvled from square one prot. I've never tried anything else so I'm lacking the experience of my fellow pallys in that area and this is my first toon (my priest being my second... and yes I only have 2 toons).

Being a prot pally kicks. I would start this way and just enjoy the way the charater developes. With the new patch, just grab a friend and quest your way to the top. I understand the exp comes much quicker because of the changes made in 2.3. And actually I went from 50 to 51 with my priest really fast....

Anyway, I would stay prot. Eveyone loves a tank that can live forever!!!

I played ret from 1-60 and then went prot in the 60s and ended up holy, so Ive experienced all three specs. In my own experience, Ret is the fastest against a single target by a significant degree. However, there are many places in the game that offer multimob pulls, or, at the very least, give you the option to fight multiple mobs at once if you want to -- this is where prot shines, because you can be much more efficient when dealing with multiple mobs at once, and when leveling/farming this can close the gap in terms of what you net over time vis a vis a ret pally.

If you enjoy the sword and board and surivability as a playstyle, then clearly prot is the spec for you. It's no less viable for soloing than ret, but it just involves picking targets differently and approaching situations differently from the (very common in WoW) practice of trying to pull one target and deal with them one at a time. As a prot pally you want more than one mob at once so you can be more efficient.

I was allso protection from lvl 10. I know it was not that overly effective - but I had more fun that way. Further I've been doing alot of tanking in instances - and the protectionspec made that alot easier :=).

quick update: I took Retribution until about level 22, played with SoC for a while, decided it was way too inconsistent and I still died to easily, respecced to full protection spec and haven't looked back since.

Level 31 now with all points in protection and loving it. I was able to solo the Stalvan line of quests in Duskwood at lvl 28 when it was still red in my quest log and got a very nice 1h axe several levels early. Only time I die is if I get in WAY over my head (i.e. 5+ mobs my level beating on me.

I don't have Seal of Wisdom yet, but I'm able to take on a few mobs at a time now, just have to get life/mana back up afterwards.

All in all, this is why I rolled a paladin: an unkillable tank who is able to wade into crowds of bad guys and come out with nary a scratch. Fun times.

I have a 22 Blood Elf, been Prot since 10.

Constant Redoubt is incredibly satisfying.

Just rolled my first Pally and he's up to level 11. I decided to go with Retribution 'cause of all the talk of quick leveling. I have discovered, however, that I get a certain satisfaction from healing folks (maybe I should go into medicine...hmmm.....)! So, I will probably stick with Ret until 40 or so and then go Holy. This should also make it a breeze getting in on some big instances! Yay!