Hi, I basically got done levelling up and starting to get into raiding with my Shaman, got epic flying, have a steady flow of gold going and all, but I realize I am not really feeling the class afterall
I was very interested in making a Paladin because they just look really badass but everyone says that I’d be better off going prot rather than Retribution because it’s just that much easier and useful
What do you think of retri in TBC?
2 Likes
I find Paladin in TBC incredibly boring and actually gave up levelling mine before 70, but actually Ret is really decent dps and a lot of raids run one, just one though. Prot Paladin is by far the best dungeon tank and every raid needs one, just one though. If you can cover 2 Paladin roles you will be in with a reasonable chance of a raid spot.
If you don’t enjoy it though, park it and reroll until WOTLK where Paladin becomes much more interesting to play.
Levelling as a Prot is fun, but slow. I like it. Retri is faster, but gets killed so much, and I hate corpse runs 
Every raid ideally wants 3 paladins, one of each spec.
Prot would be better if dungeon running is your thing; there’salways a short supply of tanks. But for raids? Either works, most just want paladins for the 3 blessing raid compositions.
Would running Heroics as Retri be a bad idea?
No, of course not. Run heroics as any spec that you’d like.
1 Like
Heroics are easy, if you want a better time of it then gear up with long lasting crafted items first. Example would be Ragesteel Shoulders, or Swiftsteel if you’re a Blacksmith. Red Belt of Battle etc.
Rets do good dps and bring good buffs, you shouldn’t have trouble doing Heroics as Ret.
In TBC pre-patch leveling was super fun and efficient. Not as efficient as having guildies to boost you (because they went to farm PvP thing) but still really good, comparable to the fun I had on mage. With Prot/Holy build it was good for open world and instances. Vanilla Pala is slower but still I did run a “test” Pala prior to TBC and it still was “good”.
Paladins and Shamans can use shields for a reason too 
For leveling in open world it’s quite handy…
In TBC I went Holy for raids and Holy/Prot for dungeons… but if you want to be a DPS just note that in optimal comps Ret won’t be stacked. In realistic scenario - whoever signs up will raid
IMHO you can have some fun as Ret with various builds, some meme-ish like Shockadin which in PvE on short-ish fights can have nice burst DPS (still you won’t win meters unless something is short lived and you crit-alot).
And you still have other two roles available plus WoTLK where AFAIK with enough mp5 gear HPala can be mana neutral/positive - infinite healz.
Ret Paladin is godtier in TBC arena. Ret Rsham in Season 3 and 4 is the one of the best arena composition you can have (you can oneshot anybody with 0 CC, nobody can do that in TBC).
Ret Paladin is broken in TBC due to seal twisting. The skillcap is low, but the damage are insane.
forum experts 
PvE as ret is only fun if you play with a shaman that knows how to put down windfury. Else it is pretty boring imo.
Yeah… No, ret paladins are definetly not godtier and the best class in arenas. That’s just objectivelly false.
2 Likes
As a main Pala player (started with HPala in Classic, went Prot MT for my guild in raids and am now Ret Pala since T5) I feel the class and have a lot of fun playing it.
Some comments are fully right, u dont stack Pala in neither of the specs, gearing a HPala is super easy, Prot Pala gearing is okish, if you dont have a Prot Warri against you but T6 gear as Ret Pala is rly rly bad, u are always last in getting loots especially tier tokens, cause u compete against caster classes.
PvE IMHO is rly fun and you clap monsters of end game content in an instance. Only group quests are a pain, as Prot u can most likely solo them if u have the right gear but as Ret its undoable.
I rly enjoy playing the Pala. A lot of change in gameplay depending on specc and I rly feel strong as Ret and Prot cause I can dominate DPS/dmg intake meters against most other classes but this always depends on the whole raid comp 
One of each spec of Paladin is near mandatory in every decent looking Raid composition.
Holy paladin is an amazing tank healer. Be warned tho, you press a grand total of 2 spells.
Ret paladin is a decent dps that boosts other dps, and ofc buffs. Apperently a bit boring but wich class isnt in TBC? they all press 2 or 3 buttons in total aniway.
Prot paladin is the BEST Aoe Tank in raids and dungeons, without a speck of competition, absolutely mandatory to have one in raid and competes with Druid for main tank spot.
Thankfully, Druid gear is completely different from Pala gear so no competition there. Stack SP for max Aggro and hp for surv.
Any guild that runs a Prot warrior at this point as main tank is either casual or trolling.
You only need 1 per raid, unless you RMT your way throught t4/5 gear good luck catching up.
Why would you need to do that?
Blacksmithing - Stormherald or Lionheart = T5 quality weapon + T6 quality shoulders
Engineering - Goggles = T5 quality helm
Bracers - Multiple high quality affordable T6 BOEs and badge items
Belt - Red Belt of Battle (T5 and 2nd BIS), very affordable.
Badges - Covers trinket, neck, cloak, boots + potentially other spots
Kara (T4) and ZA (T5 quality) for the rest.
You can gear up as a Ret Paladin without stepping foot into a 25man raid and be putting out enough dps to slot into a T6 raiding guild.
How exactly is ret pala boring in pve ? Imo ret pala in pve is one of the most difficult classes to play in tbc if you want to play them at high level.
Also, if you play in any guild above decent level, you’d always want 2 prot paladins and 1 retri. Nobody wants a holy pala, cuz its the worst healer in raids, and if you want to min/max your raids you want 2 prot palas and 1 feral ideally, nobody brings prot warrior for the same reason as holy paladin - its just the worst performing tank and esentially gives nothing to the raid. Overall all 3 specs are fun imo, and is one of the few classes right now that presses more than 2 buttons
think retris give better buffs than warrs/rogues
and they will get much easier to play in wotlk
and wings look awesome their dps is not bad either i think its good
I never said it’s the best class in arenas. I said Ret Rsham is one of the best arena composition you can have in S3 and S4 with armor penetration gear, and if you can’t go past 2k with that, delete your acc honestly.
It’s so easy to play, I mean who can 100-0 a Druid in a single stun (HoJ) ? Oh and I didn’t mention that you counter 99% of double DPS team with BOP Blind + Bubble. Force trinket then HOJ Wings and Sceal twist, gg wp 10k damage instantly.
Meanwhile, Warrior need 10x more to get past Rogue/Mage Rogue/Lock Rogue/Shadowpriest hell.
But I acknowledge 1 thing, the skill cap of Paladin Ret is not that low. A good Ret is godtier. A bad Ret is trash tier, but it is very easy to be good as Ret. Meanwhile, average Warrior/Rogue can do well fast but the ceilling is way higher.
if you ever die to a ret as rdruid its time to delete your acc i think
rl and sprog are not common at all
there are more warrior druids at r1 than ret shams 2.5+
dont think they have a hard time x)