Dual Spec Lvling 70-80Follow

Firstly, the leveling changes don't affect your character after 70. They're only in place to make getting TO Northrend faster, so that's a non issue for you. Also, I'm sure that you can probably do fine healing normal dungeons as a Ret spec, but I must ask if you have any Ret gear to go with your already mentioned Prot/Holy gear? If the answer is no, then why have a Ret spec? Prot gear with a Ret spec isn't going to be nearly as good as Prot gear with a Prot spec when soloing, and Ret healing won't be as good as Holy healing, so I'd say only take a Ret spec if you actually have Ret gear.

You also may have a tough time convincing groups that you can indeed heal if not specced for healing, although with the shortage of healers it may be a little bit easier.



I was close to the same boat you are in with regards to my gear going through NR (Kara/Badge/ZA/a few T5 items), and I went back in forth between Prot and Ret as I leveled, so I had the opportunity to tank a few instances as Ret spec, but I had a decent Ret kit for when I was that spec. Again, if you do have Ret gear, then I'd say that's a viable option. If not, I don't see the point.

Prot leveling is just fine, albeit a little slower for some things, but the changes to tank damage have made it a much more viable option than it used to be.

EDIT here: cause I forgot 1 thing I wanted to say, lol. There wasn't a single quest while leveling that I was unable to complete as Prot, or even Ret spec with my Prot gear on, but there were definitely some that gave me trouble when trying with my Ret spec in Ret gear.



Yes, and no. Paladins still rely on SP to tank, just don't need any from gear anymore. The Prot talent Touched By the Light currently gives 10/20/30% of stamina as SP, but soon with give 20/40/60% of our strength as SP, and that alone (with applicable raid buffs obviously) is plenty of SP to tank effectively.

Also, as you seem to know already, we get a lot more use out of strength now than before. Our spells now scale with AP and SP (are there any that don't? I don't remember ...) and BV was buffed (although still not "OMW GREAT"). You'll want to find a nice tanking weapon for 1) the stats beign more appropriate and 2) better damage from melee/Hammer of the Righteous. Since HotR scales with weapon DPS, and SP weapons have notoriously low DPS, they just aren't that great anymore. Same with enchants, you'll get a lot more out of actual tanking enchants then any SP enchants. BC Potency, Mongoose, Accuracy, or if you want to go spendy Blade Ward or Blood Draining are pretty much the best enchants for your weapon, and obviously stats, stamina, or defense for others.

TL;DR - I'd go Prot/Holy if you like those 2 roles unless you have a Ret kit, then I think you'd be fine with Prot/Ret for leveling and using the Ret spec to heal. Just, I wouldn't advise taking a Ret spec without Ret gear, it wouldn't be as efficient for just healing/tanking purposes.

Edited, Sep 14th 2009 12:45pm by Maulgak

Exactly, won't really know till you try it ;)

As for upgrading to quest greens as you mentioned, it may take longer than you'd think before you start getting good upgrades, particularly for your Ret gear. The gear jump from BC to WotLK is not nearly as big as the gap was between vanilla WoW and BC. I had much of my BC Holy/Ret gear when I hit 80, and a fair amount of my BC Prot gear as well. Your mileage may vary of course, but don't expect to be in full quest greens by the time you leave your first zone like many did in BC.

I guess I left out the bold and assumed you hadn't been through NR at all >.> lol, reading comprehension ftw right? ;)

Anyway, yw for the advice, and hope you have as much fun leveling your Paly as I did :)