In an era where every pixel matters in the methotical world called m+ the design of blessed hammer is simply outdated. When cast it is but a singular hammer that spins around you that is only good for generating holy power in between packs and very unhandy and frustrating for everything else. Ill give some examples to show why this spell needs changing.
1: Lets say you have gone into a pack, used your 2 charges of judgement to get aggro on casters and avengers shield to kick. Now you have a mob on your right that you want to go pick up and the only spell you have left is blessed hammer. Well jokes on you trying to get aggro because it spawns on your left side when cast and goes out in a circle. So you either gotta wait until it makes a full loop or wierdly turn your character to make it hit earlier. And even if you do that u gotta pray that your dps has not damaged the mob because it only does 4k dmg where as judgement does 44k. So the spell is effectively useless for gathering mobs.
2: So since the spell cannot be used to generate aggro it would be presumed that it is used as a filler for when you have consecration down & aggro on all mobs. But again jokes on you because they took out holy power generation of avengers shield so then your only spell outside 1 min+ cds for generating holy power is judgement which has a 4.3 sec cd and only 2 charges. Consecration doesnt, avengers shield doesnt, SOTR is a spender. So you are forced to use the bad targeting noodle spell in order to generate even when you dont have 100% aggro which just feels like you are hitting a dead button. might as well just be called “get 1 holy power”, because you cant reliably rely on it actually hitting anything and be usefull to you.
3: Now you finally have been dealing with this spell that is only usefull when you are not hitting mobs and have gotten to the boss. yubiii! Its such a lovely spell for tanking bosses. Its a useless 4k dmg spell that only hits the boss once because it goes in a circle away from you. So its super unrewarding to press in single target and might as well again be called “get 1 holy power”
You have already implemented what could be an easy fix with divine hammer for retribution paladin. Make it have more hammers and hit more frequently. You could also go all crazy and combine Hammer of the Righteous and divine hammer. Make the spell so that when you use it and have a target cast some hammers out to hit the target and make them come back circling you when they have hit. Then if used with no target just have them spin around you. If you press the button multiple times just have a lot of hammers flying around you. Could look cool as hell with 8 or more hammers. I think the talent needs a change and there is many ways to do it.
I’m not sure why you’d gather up mobs like you said in your hypothetical scenario.
First off you send your shield into a caster to get them to move into a bunch with the melee. Your shield hits 5 mobs. Now you have judgement x2 and taunt (which you neglected to mention) and somewhere early in there you threw consecration down which is an aggro magnet. Now you have HP you have sotr that hits within 8 yards.
We haven’t even spoken about divine toll yet.
If you struggle gathering mobs as a prot pala you’re doing it wrong. (And yes I’m making assumptions you’ll refute but if you pull like you alluded to above then…)
Yea blessed hammer is poor for aggro, just like a power drill isn’t the right tool for needlework.
Im trying to enlighten that the spell is way to undeterministic and therefore only usefull for holy power generation.
If you try and think about when you actually use the ability do you ever use it in a scenario where you Actually need it to hit? Its used when chain pulling in between packs as a generator, its used when you already have consecration down and just need a generator filler.
When i play tank i want every single button i press to have intention and to be able to be used with absolut precision. If i play with the same group i get to know exactly how much aggro i need to gather before chain pulling if my fire mage is in combust, i know that i need to throw out an extra judgement if someone ninjapulls because my shadow priest likes to dot before i have aggro. All of these small things add up to be able to have the presicion i want to able to control the run as i want. This spell cant be used like this. its too random and therefore the reason why the title is that it needs to be more deterministic. I cant as it is currently implemented throw this spell out and have any certainty that it actually performs the action that i want it to have except for giving me a holy power. I think this is fine on a dps but on a tank i think the bar for the main generator of my class to be higher than that.
I do agree that it needs to be reworked since it is kinda outdated but still solid in it’s own right. It hits mobs on average twice, up to 3 times if they have huge hitboxes, sure it doesn’t do much dmg but it’s primary function is holy power generation while moving and secondarily providing a debuff that prevents small amount of dmg on next auto attack on mobs, that part can also reapply itself after each hit. It could definitively be much better as ret version but as it is it’s fine. Also avenger’s shield does give you holy power when you succesfully kick with it with Punishment talent specced(right under rebuke on class tree).
Edit: And ye currently it gives you parry buff via 4p.