I'm a brand new Pally, starting up the Ret tree until I get seal of command, I'm level 18 or 19 now but have been trying to read as much as I can. I see that the majority of people say that Ret in the outlands is not the way to go but I don't see anyone saying what is the way to go.
I see a lot of talk about end game builds but what about leveling through the higher levels and the outlands especially if you intend on doing most of it solo. Wouldn't all out DPS be best in normal solo play or can you get enough DPS with the Holy or Prot builds to not see a substantial decline in your xp/hour.
I'm not saying that I know anything at all yet, just need some things cleared up in my mind so I can get a better grasp of this pally thing.
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If not ret, then what??Follow
- If you're Holy, expect to either level slowly or level via instance grinding. Which is boring, but very profitable loot-wise. Ask Dilbrt, he'll know.
- Prot paladins actually level very well provided you know what you're doing. Once you hit 35 and get Reckoning, then Blessing of Sanctuary and Holy Shield, you can combine all that with ret aura and consecrate to get some ridiculous reactive damage. You'll actually appear to kill mobs faster if you're fighting groups of three than if you were fighting just one. Also, you're annoyingly hard to kill.
This doesn't mean ret is useless, it's proabably the best levelling spec up until 50+ imo, but the general opinion is that you should respec by the time you hit Outlands. Not just because ret supposedly peters out on the damage charts, but because you'll be expected to either heal or tank in groups and raids, since much better DPS or support DPS can be found in other classes.
I'd advise staying with ret until you either get bored or you hit 40, then respeccing. Sword-and-board is my personal advice for Outlands, but if everyone listened to me there'd be no paladin healers.
- Prot paladins actually level very well provided you know what you're doing. Once you hit 35 and get Reckoning, then Blessing of Sanctuary and Holy Shield, you can combine all that with ret aura and consecrate to get some ridiculous reactive damage. You'll actually appear to kill mobs faster if you're fighting groups of three than if you were fighting just one. Also, you're annoyingly hard to kill.
This doesn't mean ret is useless, it's proabably the best levelling spec up until 50+ imo, but the general opinion is that you should respec by the time you hit Outlands. Not just because ret supposedly peters out on the damage charts, but because you'll be expected to either heal or tank in groups and raids, since much better DPS or support DPS can be found in other classes.
I'd advise staying with ret until you either get bored or you hit 40, then respeccing. Sword-and-board is my personal advice for Outlands, but if everyone listened to me there'd be no paladin healers.
I can only comment on Prot build, as I haven't done enough with the Holy tree to know it's in and out's.
The Prot tree is commonly accepted to be the AE grinder tree of the paladin spec. This is due to it's ability to grow more potent with the more mobs you have on you at any one time.
For the most part there isn't much difference from soloing in Pre-TBC areas, and Outland. A Prot pally will still try to find mobs who don't cast spells, and don't have to many stuns, knockdowns, or other effects which would slow down not only your damage potential, but also your healing potetial.
While soloing I tend to try and keep anywhere from 4-7 mobs on me at any one time, this seems to be a decent number where incoming damage and BoL/JoL balance out. With that number of mobs, you will also find Reckoning and Redoubt/Holy Shield being up more often, which leads to more shield blocks meaning more damage to everyone on top of Ret Aura and your normal sword slashes.
Unlike the Ret tree, Prot doesn't lay down huge numbers(Not counting Avenger's Shield Crits), but lays down a constant high rate low DPS count, which is why having more mobs makes the tree potentially more potent(With the above restrictions) in terms of damage and XP/hour. More mobs means more mobs effected by Consecration, shield spikes, Retu Aura, BoS shield blocks, ect and all mobs being effected about evenly across the board, so should commonly see 2-3 mobs die at one time.
The biggest bane of Prot builds are spellcasters, since armor doesn't do squat against spell damage. You will have to decide which way you want to deal with each spellcaster type seperately. Some you can just soak up the damage and not suffer to badly, others should be used with SoJ instead of SoL for those fights in order to stun as much as possible, or you can carry a Ret style set of gear including a great weapon to try and up your single target DPS high enough to take down the spellcaster a bit faster.
If I am going after any spell casters, first thing I see is how easy it would be to get some form of melee type mob in combat with me, to assist in procing Reckoning and whatnot. The Ogres of Nagrand are a good example of this being a decent tactic since the Ogre spell casters are more annoying then dangerous(at least I find them more annoying the dangerous).
Another bonus to leveling Prot is the fact that if your server is anything like mine, tanks are in demand more so then healers and far more then DPS. So you should have an easier time getting groups, on top of having a good solo potential.
It's a bit early so I might be leaving out some information, but that's Prot soloing in a nutshell.
The Prot tree is commonly accepted to be the AE grinder tree of the paladin spec. This is due to it's ability to grow more potent with the more mobs you have on you at any one time.
For the most part there isn't much difference from soloing in Pre-TBC areas, and Outland. A Prot pally will still try to find mobs who don't cast spells, and don't have to many stuns, knockdowns, or other effects which would slow down not only your damage potential, but also your healing potetial.
While soloing I tend to try and keep anywhere from 4-7 mobs on me at any one time, this seems to be a decent number where incoming damage and BoL/JoL balance out. With that number of mobs, you will also find Reckoning and Redoubt/Holy Shield being up more often, which leads to more shield blocks meaning more damage to everyone on top of Ret Aura and your normal sword slashes.
Unlike the Ret tree, Prot doesn't lay down huge numbers(Not counting Avenger's Shield Crits), but lays down a constant high rate low DPS count, which is why having more mobs makes the tree potentially more potent(With the above restrictions) in terms of damage and XP/hour. More mobs means more mobs effected by Consecration, shield spikes, Retu Aura, BoS shield blocks, ect and all mobs being effected about evenly across the board, so should commonly see 2-3 mobs die at one time.
The biggest bane of Prot builds are spellcasters, since armor doesn't do squat against spell damage. You will have to decide which way you want to deal with each spellcaster type seperately. Some you can just soak up the damage and not suffer to badly, others should be used with SoJ instead of SoL for those fights in order to stun as much as possible, or you can carry a Ret style set of gear including a great weapon to try and up your single target DPS high enough to take down the spellcaster a bit faster.
If I am going after any spell casters, first thing I see is how easy it would be to get some form of melee type mob in combat with me, to assist in procing Reckoning and whatnot. The Ogres of Nagrand are a good example of this being a decent tactic since the Ogre spell casters are more annoying then dangerous(at least I find them more annoying the dangerous).
Another bonus to leveling Prot is the fact that if your server is anything like mine, tanks are in demand more so then healers and far more then DPS. So you should have an easier time getting groups, on top of having a good solo potential.
It's a bit early so I might be leaving out some information, but that's Prot soloing in a nutshell.
Go ahead and stay ret until at least 40. 40 you can switch to prot if you want to aoe grind, or you can stay ret. If you want to level quickly then you can stay ret all the way to 70. Myself, I was ret 1-58 and then switched to holy for 58-70, but the reason I did that was so that the moment I hit 70 I already had holy gear and to force myself to learn how to grind/quest as holy, so I didn't have to respec to farm. I don't know if I'd recommend others doing that, it slowed my leveling down.
thanks everyone, can't believe I didn't see a "lawl ret" comment anywhere yet.
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can't believe I didn't see a "lawl ret" comment anywhere yet.
no kidding, someone deserves a rate down. you got fans to think about . . . /disapoint
lol rate down when you say it, rate down when you don't say it, you got yourself into quite the pickle here.
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but if everyone listened to me there'd be no paladin healers.
in a perfect world, paladins would be on the very bottom of the healing totem pole...er no, rangers would, but you get the idea.
but this is the world of warcraft. paladins are apparantly the highest on the pole.
i've leveled 1-70 as holy on muralimohan, and 1-70 ret on camila. haven't leveled a pally as prot, but i've seen others who have. especially with the new changes to quest/level XP ret is definitely the fastest way to get to 60. as holy i leveled almost completely through instances and by grouing with friends. as ret i did many instances for drops, but leveled mostly via questing. most prot pallys level through a combination of grinding and questing (especially quests that require larger numbers of mobs killed).
due to the higher xp from quests ret, which was always the fastest leveling, is by far the fastest way now. up to 60 i've never had anyone not want me in their groups. past 60 you start getting more doubt as to your skill and you need to be very good to be welcome. questing from 60-70 is still the fastest way, but holy or prot will get you in more instances and therefore better geared.
in the end, i'd reccomend ret to 60 and after that its up to you. if you're willing to do your research and do extra work, you can stay ret and be some good DPS. if you want to have the best gear and start building tanking/healing skills and reputation you might want to respec holy or prot.
just a note, you'll still need to do your research as holy or prot, but its much more if you want to be a competitive dps'er as ret.
if you choose not to level all the way as ret, i reccomend prot, cause holy is slow and painful leveling haha...
due to the higher xp from quests ret, which was always the fastest leveling, is by far the fastest way now. up to 60 i've never had anyone not want me in their groups. past 60 you start getting more doubt as to your skill and you need to be very good to be welcome. questing from 60-70 is still the fastest way, but holy or prot will get you in more instances and therefore better geared.
in the end, i'd reccomend ret to 60 and after that its up to you. if you're willing to do your research and do extra work, you can stay ret and be some good DPS. if you want to have the best gear and start building tanking/healing skills and reputation you might want to respec holy or prot.
just a note, you'll still need to do your research as holy or prot, but its much more if you want to be a competitive dps'er as ret.
if you choose not to level all the way as ret, i reccomend prot, cause holy is slow and painful leveling haha...
Gukagim wrote:
Quote:
but if everyone listened to me there'd be no paladin healers.
in a perfect world, paladins would be on the very bottom of the healing totem pole...er no, rangers would, but you get the idea.
but this is the world of warcraft. paladins are apparantly the highest on the pole.
You mean in a perfect D&D world?
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thanks everyone, can't believe I didn't see a "lawl ret" comment anywhere yet.
lawl holy.
Crap, that didnt work, did it?
Holee cr@p Jack!You are sage now! Conga-rats mate!
lawl ret.
Edited, Jan 13th 2008 12:54pm by muffinyumyum
lawl ret.
Edited, Jan 13th 2008 12:54pm by muffinyumyum
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