My take on Prot Paladin (PTR testing)

Classes Paladin
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Ok, so PTR just got hit with DF pre-patch class talents stuff. So I figure it out since I didn’t get the chance to play in Alpha/Beta I will just drop down my share pile of feedback concerning some general tree and more on the prot one. Bear in mind that I’m not a pro class player, I’m just gonna put my thoughts and feelings :slight_smile: Here I go:

General Tree

Auras - so, right of the bat I want to share my thoughts on them. I only use Devotion, when I Tank and when I play Retri. Seriously, otherwise maybe I could use Crusader to get somewhere quickly and that’s it. Other auras are nearly non-existent for me.

So here are my thoughts:

Devotion Aura - not only reduces incoming damage by % by also could give additional % armor to everyone in party

Crusader Aura - gives % increased mount speed but also makes player/party immune (fully or partially) for any movement reducing effects

Concentration Aura - besides current stuff it also provides that spell casts are not delayed by taking damage

Retribution Aura - I would place here something like Blessing of Kings/Might, something that really gives power output on the DPS part; I mean that’s how I see this aura, to give something related to entire party and its related to damage dealing

Next.

Cavalier - Additional charge is fine and I would leave it

Seasoned Warhorse - remove it or rework it, maybe make something out of it to work like Hunter’s Disengage, to free ourselves from any rooting

And as I final note here I would really see some addition to movement.

Obduracy - this should add more % , currently the 2% is just too low; maybe stack this with some talent?

Protection Tree

Overall I’m happy how the tree looks. However I have one major issue:

Avenger’s Shield - not generating Holy Power was a bold move and I get the idea, to improve uptime of SofR; however… I do not like it. I mean, right now in Shadwolands I can build up my HP using the AS which is fantastic and I love it (with Divine Toll its even greater). When I jumped on PTR, the removal of HP generation on AS hurts. Dunno, I guess I don’t know how to improve/build my uptime on SofR :confused:

Ferren Marcus’s Strength - the primary target damage buff makes this talent a strong pick for raiding which is fine by me but either make it a 1 point purchase OR (even better) make it a choice between two talent

Across all spec trees

My last take would be on each spec tree and lack one element that could give some additional flavor to each spec: Spec Aura Buff. Maybe even those examples are wrote above.

Each spec tree has an additional talent (perhaps a Seal one?) to buff up its corresponding themed Aura:

  • Protection gets a talent on tree that buffs Devotion Aura
  • Retribution gets a talent on tree that buffs Retribution Aura
  • Holy gets a talent on tree that buffs Concertation Aura

Well, that’s my take. I wish that someone from the dev team acknowledges this and many, many other feedback notes here and in the development threads. Though I’m happy that people raise their voices. Just wish someone really hear them.

EDIT

Made some additional notes.

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This is my one major complaint with the Dragonflight Paladin changes too. If I recall correctly they tried this exact same change in the Shadowlands beta for the same reasons (lowering HP generation/SotR uptime) and ended up reverting it because it felt awful in practice. Hopefully they revert it again, because the Shadowlands version of Prot is probably the best the spec has ever felt to play. Avenger’s Shield has long been the iconic Prot ability, the one you’re always excited to press because it’s so strong and impactful. Removing the HP generation makes it feel very underwhemling compared to your other buttons, along with awkwardly breaking up the rhythm of HP generation with all your main attacks.

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Problem is that Blizzard don’t play the class due to the big difference between end and start of an expansion the difference in power is really big especielly for Paladin. In the windows we don’t have it we’re extremly squishy more so than any other tank.

Reducing our HP generation at the start of an expansion is never a good idea the result is even less WoG’s will only use them when they are free because every HP needs to go towards SoTR.

For starters Prot Paladin don’t have a cheat death nor damage reduction at a certain treshhold. Ontop of that we’re together with Monk the two tanks with the lowest health so we can litterly be two shooted by just melee hits from raid bosses between globals no other tank has this problem.

Upside this time around is our block chance, we will have a way higher block chance than any previous expansion from start which can be a good thing.

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They have FINALLY fixed it to actually work like the tooltip says it is amazing how long this took.
It is now actually a second charge of horse and not just you can store a charge

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What’s the difference? Seems like it works exactly the same on the PTR as it does on Live. What am i missing?

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How it works in the game right now and has been from legion is make you able to store a second charge so if you use one it goes on cooldown like normal however if you use the second charge you are only getting back the first charge aka it takes 45+45seconds to get back both charges and you can not use the first charge as it shares the cooldown so if you use it when it comes off cooldown it goes on a 45second cooldown again and you are not getting that second charge back ever.

Unlike how almost every other charge ability works where there are 2 separate cooldowns to the charges that is what they have done on the PTR (that is where i tested it)

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The no holy power from avengers shield is really disappointing on a couple of fronts.

  1. It wasn’t broken so don’t “fix” it. Seriously, what the hell is the obsession with taking something that people appreciate and screwing it up.
  2. It’s a prot pallies signature move. No it generates no resources…

Mediocre that they’d even consider it.

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I took a look on Prot Warrior and gotta tell ya, its awesomesauce. The sheer number of talents in general warrior tree makes me jelly. For example, one warr talent gives 20% armor increase, meanwhile paladin has 4%. Not to mention movement talents like passive increase of movement speed (not to mention charge and leap). Warr %stamina increase and reduction of impairing effects in one single talent.

I know that there should be diversity in classes, their abilities, talents and traits but c’mon, Warrior just dwarfs Paladin at this stage IMO.

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It could be the case that warriors are baseline weaker but comparably strong when talents get involved, but damn, I cannot argue that it’s awesome to look at your passives and feel like they’re really pulling some weight.

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Best class in the game

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