I have leveled my Paladin to 9 and from what I can see judgement and consecration are the only damaging abilities? That seems really boring to me in the long run. Have I missed something?
Yep. You also have Exorcism and Holy Wrath (only vs undead) and Hammer of Wrath (not worth the mana to use).
Yep.
You will not be using Consecration because itâs too mana-intensive. Also, you should not use Judgement on cooldown for the same reason.
Auto-attacks, judgement, consecration, exorcism against some targets and hammer of wrath.
Not every class has to be for everyone. If itâs not your cup of tea, then pick another class. Iâm enjoying it so far.
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@OP - the reason for this is because in very early WoW paladins had Crusader Strike and Holy Strike - the same 2 abilities that Scarlet Gallants and Champions have. However, they made paladins way too OP (Crusader Strike increased holy damage taken, Holy Strike dealt ~200% weapon dmg as holy damage), and so Blizzard decided to remove them altogether.
They never added anything to compensate for this until TBC when paladins received Crusader Strike (which used to deal holy damage at first, but got nerfed almost immediately) and then Divine Storm in WotLK (which also used to deal holy damage⌠for a very short time).
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Yes, that is the way of lolret
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Exorcism, Holy wrath on Undead / demon targets
Hammer of Wrath on targets less then 20% health
Retribution aura / sanctity aura
Seal of righteousness / Seal of command & its judgements
Blessings (Kings Might, Wisdom, Sanctuary)
Holy shield (prot talent)
Holy shock (Holy talent)
It is basically the same for every char, there is a certain âoptimumâ rotation, that can be changed depending on the situation.
your enjoyment level all depends on what you expect and how you feel about that rotational aspect.
The Paladin is probably the least desirable class unless you really associate yourself with it, other classes deal a lot more damage or can be a lot more fun.
Utility is the Paladins strongest point, in a 5 man I can help heal if needs be, or even tank mobs to relive the MT if the pull was unexpected (an extra Pat etc) and I can give useful âbuffsâ and Auras.
If you are happy being the all-rounder then stick with it and learn more about the paladins abilities and be a useful part of the team.
Also, donât be concerned about not being top slot on the damage meter, I prefer to be a happy third and know that I am doing my job/task well helping the group survive and conquer the instance.
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Holy damage is the only magical school that can not be âresistedâ fully or partially in the game.
Now that is a post from somebody passionate about their class 
I think itâs awful that instead of playing around with the numbers, they flat out removed them both subsequently neutering the Class as a viable DPS choice.
Bloodthirst for Warriors is another ability they savaged rather than sensibly, moderately tuning it.
Ret Paladins could have actually been fun to play if theyâd just been remotely imaginative and less knee-jerk in their decision making. Itâs not hard to balance at all, all you need to do is effectively make Crusader Strike mimic Shamans shock spells and Holy Strike mimic Stormstrike since the two classes are supposed to mirror one another to an extent.
If Classic + ever happens, something like this would be amazing:
Crusader Strike:
6 second CD, refreshes judgement on target. X% weapon damage (tune as appropriate)
Holy Strike
20 second CD, extra attack/short attack speed bonus/set amount of Holy Damage (tune as appropriate) next 2 sources of Holy Damage increased by 20%. - Or just totally copy Execution Sentence because itâs obvious that ability was the true successor to Holy Strike (Iâve since realised Iâm an idiot and itâs clear Templars Verdict was the re-purposed version of Holy Strike but I think Execution Sentence would be cooler because of aesthetic + would stop burst potentially being too extreme)
This would be easily achievable in my opinion. Make Crusader Strike an ability learned at level 10 and make Holy Strike the 31 point Ret talent and youâd see a colossal number of people wanting to play it.
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Seal of crusader -> judgment -> seal of rigtheous / command -> exorcism if undead-> when target low and prepare to run in fear use judgment. In all this time auto attack. Auto attack crits are nice
impressiveâŚ
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Has nobody mentioned that rolling ret may not be the best idea for classic?
I feel like youâve missed a very large amount of memes that have been around since roughly 15 years, all revolving around rets.
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Iâm actually leveling as a full holy paladin. Both as questing and as a healer in dungeons. Itâs not for everyone , but once you get into the flow it is like casting mantras.
It is slow , it is mana intensive and you will never beat a full on dps class like rogue or hunter. But I find it enjoyable, like all of classic , it is slow and fun
I donât know what Execution Sentence is (I have barely played WoW beyond Cata), but Holy Strike is like a Heroic Strike but holy damage (and much stronger).
Get 11+% crit chance and watch your SoC procs absolutely obliterate mobs and players 
I donât have any proof but Iâm nearly 100% convinced that Execution Sentence is what Holy Strike eventually became
edit:
(actually come to think of it, itâs actually Templars Verdict minus the Holy Power aspect)
It was released in Mists of Pandaria and was a single target ability on a fairly long cooldown that did Holy damage over a few seconds and then a huge burst of Holy damage at the end.
Having two âstrikeâ abilities would be a bit dull. If they ever did go down the Classic + route, it would make sense in my mind to just port over Execution Sentence from retail WoW and adapt the damage accordingly.
Itâs a huge shame they removed both of those abilities in Vanilla because Crusader Strike and Holy Strike being a mimic of Shaman shocks + Stormstrike just seems to make a great deal of sense since thatâs the route I feel they were originally taking.
That way youâd have near perfect parity between the two
Seals = Totems
Judgements = Flametongue/Rockbiter/Windfury
Reckoning = Lightning Shield
Crusader Strike = Shocks
Execution Sentence = Stormstrike
The reaosn they have a not-so-full rotation itâs becuase they are supposed to do other things while fighting.
You are supposed to throw off-heals and check if your team needs BoP/BoF or Cleanse. Ret Paladina are not supposed to dedicate themselves on meter-topping, they are supposed to be an asset for the team.
So are Shamans, yet they still have an attacking skill set that doesnât make you want to walk on Lego barefoot.
Paladins were designed to have more attacking moves and they were scrapped at the last minute for no discernible reason. Balance is a really, really poor excuse considering we know how drastically low Ret Paladin DPS is.
I bet any money that if you asked the Vanilla devs if scrapping Crusader Strike and Holy Strike was a mistake, they would hold their hands up and agree.
How come no1 mention reckoning? The most dmging skill when somebody attacks u.
Forcing crits makes playstyle very engaging and it pops dmg off the roof. We are talking about double+ the dmg when its mastered.
Yes it can be forced and no Iâm not talking about private servers simple /sit macro. In some sense it was made even better in classic than at private servers.