four man team looking for infoFollow

Hi all, great forum lots of good advice so far for me.

Three of us are now playing WoW- I puppet a 34 Paladin currently following a cookie cutter Ret build for leveling speed. Another friend of mine is using a Druid dressed/talented as a healer (an autofollow healbot)and a Rogue. Another friend has a mage he just started and is working hard to quickly catch up

Concerning my build as the paladin, we were thinking it is up to me to tank what we go after- due to the fact that the person playing the two toons (Druid/Rog) can't phisically (in real life) be main tank while running damage from the rogue.

Following a number of quides etc. I was planning to talent toward Ret until 49- where I would then respec and go Protection. I guess my question is, does my DPS and solo leveling ability fall off the table when I do this at 49? I would obviously still prefer to level and solo when I want to.

For the most part the three of us (four toons in all) will be grouping together and looking for fun in PVE.
I don't have the time nor the attitude that one day I am going to be MT for an uberguild or anything, but I would like to be able to stand in and take it on a small raid on a harder boss someday. (While still being able to level with my friends.)

If anyone has the time for some advice specific to the four toon group we have I'd appreciate it.

Thanks a ton,

poem

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 9:21am by dharamsala

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 9:23am by dharamsala

ftfy :)

No Ret will be tanking in raids, so if tanking is what you'll eventually want to do, you'll need to be Prot. Rets, with all the changes being made, are much more viable as a raid spec then ever, and I can see Ret Paladins getting raid slots in Wrath.

Leveling up though, YJ is right: you should do fine as a Ret spec tanking as long as you have a separate set for tanking purposes. At the very least a sword/board, but some more defense oriented gear would be nice as well.

Leveling speed would certainly be slower with a Prot build when solo playing. As a group it wouldn't be too much slower, if at all, due mostly to the Mage you have with you: you could AE things easier and just have the Mage go to town. But, really it's up to your playstyle.

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 9:45pm by Maulgak