I've been having a hard time deciding what I want my spec to be as well: both at 80 and leveling to 80.
Kompera wrote:
Imp. BoKings or Divine Strength? Or both?
Personally I hate what they did to Kings, and most of the builds I have put together I just did not have the points for Kings. The other builds I had points in Kings, but not a full 5, making it basically worthless (at least in my opinion).
Strength is going to be a MUCH better stat for us, increasing our AP and BlockValue by a considerable amount. I personally will be going with Divine Strength as the first 5 points in the tree, and most likely leaving Kings alone.
Various posts have been condemning Kings to a "Ret build only" talent, and the more I play with the calculator, the more I think it's true.
Kompera wrote:
I've also hated losing Ardent Defender, which I have (had) pre-patch.
I think I need to hang on to Reckoning, as I'm only 2 weeks at 70 and it's still pretty valuable at my progression level.
I still have Ardent Defender in the builds I've been looking at, but in your case I'm not sure it'll be a huge dramatic loss. Leveling instances this talent was never the life saver it can be in a raid scenario. Also you mention you haven't been 70 long. Based on that I'd have to agree Reckoning is still a viable talent for you. I was thinking of picking it back up again, but my gear won't change (much) with the patch, just the fact I can gain XP again, so for me I don't think it's worth it. Those with less avoidance, keep Reckoning in.
Kompera wrote:
And I'm not so sure I'm weighting the usefulness of Touched by the Light and Guarded by the Light well against other Talent options.
Touched by the Light: no reason to not take this talent as soon as one is able to get it (after Avenger's Shield naturally :P). With basically no spell power on gear anymore not taking this talent would be a huge disservice to you and anyone relying on you to keep threat.
Guarded by the Light: the calculator you used seems to not be up to date. This talent also reduces spell damage taken by 6%. While certainly increasing it's usefulness, I don't particularly think this will be as useful leveling up to 80 as some other talent. I believe it'll definitely be wanted once you reach 80 and go raid, but before then, can probably put the points someplace else.
Kompera wrote:
Is Imp. Devotion Aura the tanking Aura of choice, for the very nice looking +6% to incoming heals for not only the tank but to everyone within range?
Yes: Devo for tanks, Ret for Ret, Con for Holy. I can still see tanks using Ret in the absence of a Ret Paladin on occasion, but I'm sure Devo will be the most run Aura by tanks.
Kompera wrote:
On gear, with the change to Anticipation I'll have lost uncrittable, and 20 Def looks to be a hard amount to make up. I suppose I can swap my
Crystalforged Sword for a slower weapon with Def, which would also give me better damage from HotR. Are slow(er) formerly Warrior weapons going to be the Paladin's tanking weapon of choice post patch 3?
I have noticed this as well. Not just the change to Anticipation, but some of my gear is also losing Defense Rating with the patch as Blizzard re-itemizes tanking gear with Strength. I'm not entirely convinced though that swapping a weapon out with Wrath so close is going to be necessary or worth the time/effort. Then again, I have the cotton-candy-mace, lol, but for those with a blue weapon, you may very well be able to find something relatively easy to suit your needs better. Run Kara for a King's Defender? It's faster, but going to Heroic Mech for a Suneater may be worth your time.
EDIT: I forgot to add a link to what I'm thinking of speccing when I log back in to my Paladin:
0/52/9.
Thinking to put the last point in Benediction as I hit 71, then get Seals of the Pure maxed out, Heart of the Crusader maxed out, then respeccing to my raid build at 80. I'm not 100% sure on this yet. May end up putting Reckoning back in at some point should my avoidance be low enough to accommodate it, or possibly other talents. Anyway, hopefully I gave you a few things to think on :)
Edited, Oct 14th 2008 5:57am by Maulgak