Who is having fun playing Ret?

Classes Paladin
1

Who is having fun playing Ret nowadays and why? Who likes what they’ve made of this spec since after WotLK? If you didn’t like WotLK variation of Retribution which version of Ret did you like and why? I’m not talking about if they are viable in PvP or PvE. Or if they are strong or not. I want to know if you think it is currently “fun to play”. I’m really curious.

2

Well, I like them. They are rather simple at the moment and don’t have as much mechanical flexibility that some of class/specs might have but they are strong and reliable.

Abilities hit and feel hard (AoE just a little bit less so). Only problem is mobility.

I love my Zandalari Prelate! Though I am aware and feeling the prunning. We’ve lost a lot but I can still enjoy what is left!

3

Can’t speak for 120, but I’m having a blast leveling one right now. Lots of hordies trying to kill me but I just pop my shields and take them out, sometimes 2 at a time. No doubt it’ll not be quite that easy at 120 though

4

I specified I was not asking about this aspect.

Is this the first time you are playing Ret?

5

As a Prot Main on War and Paladin for multiple expansions, I never saw myself playing Ret (I genuinely enjoy Prot in both PvE, PvP and World), yet one day I decided to at least farm a 2 hander and put some off-spec gear drops to use. Shortly after, a friend mentioned they needed a melee for premade key pushing, so I decided to practice Ret.

Three weeks later and it’s now my main spec - not because I enjoy it more or less than another, but because a string of RNG luck led it to higher iLevel than both my previous main character (Resto Shaman) and my alt Paladin’s main (Prot) spec, even before I started those premades.

Not long after that, it also trucked past all my characters and specs in terms of RIO, which is extremely obnoxious seeing as everyone and their mother seems to only care about that when recruiting for keys (assuming you’re lucky to get into a group that doesn’t live by some MDI meta). Sad fact is, I’d get far more invites as a 1650 Ret Paladin than I ever would a Resto Shaman of similar RIO, so long as Resto Druids are sitting pretty, purely because there are more DPS slots to play with. Even Prot Paladin can sometimes be cast aside for Prot Warriors now and then.

Do I find it fun? Yes. Yes I do.

Just like Prot, you bring the same utility you always do. You also have very solid ST damage and some serious AoE punching power, perfect for BFA’s Reaping and for M+ in general. I haven’t played DPS in a serious manner since WotLK, so topping charts as a Ret (and having various answers to almost all weekly affixes) makes for a nice break away from all the time I spent tanking and healing for arm-chair critics who flame, whine or rage-quit every 2nd key I’ve PuG’d.

Now I can just slap things with a sharp stick and care less.

6

They are an empty shell, parading under the name “paladin”.

Not fussed any more though, stopped posting on these forums or discussing changes with the spec since they announced Classic.

Will be playing the hell out of an actual Paladin class once more when it drops.

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7

Ret paladins were absolute garbage in classic though? As in they were not welcome in raids at all. And the very bottom DPS by a fair chunk. Tank paladins were absolute garbage too, and unwelcome in raids. Holy paladin was very good though.

Same as above for PvP, ret/tankadin were absolutely shocking.

1 Like
8

I am having fun playing the spec, it is quite fast and fun spec to play.
compered to the other classes i have at max i find it the most fun to actually play.

9

My first character ever was a Ret Pally, but I quickly put him aside to test other classes. Fast forwarding all the way til today, I picked him up again (did a race change) and I am a bit split about the Ret spec.

I love the plate armor, the theme, and that you can play all 3 roles as a pally. However I can’t help but feel that the offensive spells feel a bit too basic… Nothing wrong with basic, but it just isn’t as exciting as some other dps classes. I keep telling myself that it is because pallys have focus on exciting defensive spells instead of offensive ones.

But I will keep playing a pally because everything else is perfect to me. I LOVE Holy Pallys focus on ST healing. But Ret I need to slowly warm up to :slight_smile: who knows maybe I’m just not deep into Ret to fully appreciate its rotation yet.

10

I like my paladin since i created him in the dark ages of classic. The one and only thing i dislike is the removal of our mobility row.

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Thank you for replying to this post. I appreciate your feedbacks.

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Ret right now is unironically one of the best iterations that it has ever had. I don’t know which one I liked the most but wod and legion + this one are by far the best ones imo. Cataclysm was an actual joke with inquisition since exorcism did not generate HP, MoP was meh albeit slightly better and wotlk/tbc the class was a faceroll with almost no thought needed to play it. Still enjoyed it from start until now, it’s had its ups and downs but the current iteration is more than fine. Sadly can’t say the same about the other classes I used to enjoy.

When it comes to holy and prot I’ve always played them from time to time as an offspec but not as mainspec so It’s always been whatever.

4 Likes
13

I’m not very fond of ret right now but it does have its moments.

During wings it feels especially good but once they drop the spec honestly sometimes just feels like a slog, random moments of downtime that last 2-4 seconds just because the cooldowns are really long or that literally everything that we have is on the gcd.

But the biggest issue I have with the spec is the mobility definitely, the 45 second cooldown on a mobility spell that only lasts 3 seconds, that’s on a gcd for some reason (+ it doesn’t always work) just feels terrible, especially since Blizzard has never delivered on the juggernaut aspect of the “class fantasy” thing they brought in Legion.
It just feels like a gimped version of ret from previous expansions, but is somehow more competitive than them.

Best ret fun and design wise? WoD ret hands down.
Everything just felt so good, our mobility was good, our utility was also really good (back when we had sacrifice), the decision to go into a heavy proc based build that was really fun, different playstyles from the different 100 level talents that you could pick, like the only thing that I would add to from the current design is Wake of Ashes and then it would be perfect.

It was all around better, but as I said, somehow Legion and BfA’s versions are more competitive.

14

I like my Ret Paladin. I’ve been playing the spec since the end of wrath and even though we keep losing our spells/abilities that heal while doing damage, it’s still fun.

We can run in, do some damage and stay alive while doing so. If setup the way mine is, we can also heal groups while killing stuff. Adds to the fun for me since I play more as a hybrid than attempting to be full on damage. A remnant of my original healing game play.

Admitting to my shameful secret, I’ve also had one bit of fun playing as a tank on the last three bosses in Battle of Daraz’alor.

15

I’d have loads of fun playing ret, if I had a race I enjoyed to play as ret. But have to unlock zanda troll so untill then no pala for me.

16

I cannot express how much I hated it in Legion. As my main, having it changed to that literally made me quit the game. The 8 second window nonsense, all of it, it was just horrible.

Now I love it again!

I think I’d like to see exorcism back and possibly more emphasis on ranged or otherwise some kind of spell-sword type gameplay (we’re not warriors after all) but actually this expansion I am really happy with ret.

My friend who has hated paladin (especially ret) since the first day he played WoW is levelling a new one now and says it’s the most fun he’s had in ages.

My favourite time as paladin was in MoP; I still distinctly remember dueling my DK friend and using my ranged attacks / kiting / dispelling his diseases to beat him. (had no chance in hell in a straight up fight) And that gave me a real sense of class identity.

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17

I’m currently levelling a Tauren Paladin without heirlooms. I started off, maybe until about level 32 in Ret Spec but I just got bored of it so switched to prot. At the time of writing he’s level 37 so might go back and try it again in a bit after a few more abilities are unlocked.

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18

“Fun” is very subjective.
in general, it’s not all cakes in raiding, a bit better in m+.
We’re still burst classes, not much happening until wings and then it’s death and destruction for 20 sec, but after that is again 1,5 minutes of dull rotation.
Cleave is non existent, same as mobility.
Arena is a pain, no mobility, almost no cc. World content is a breeze.

The real fun is in BG. Ret in bg is uber, solid damage, great defensive, self heal.
Especially as a flag carrier can do wonders.

Also, we are still mid xpac. I have good hopes for the new extra wing proc essence, and since forever ret is a spec that works well towards the end of the xpac, we’re very haste dependant and the more stats available, the smoother and quick the rotation becomes.

19

I’m just starting to play retribution, mainly as an off-spec for when my raid group doesn’t need me as a tank or healer.

I find some of the talents difficult to use:

  • Righteous Verdict: this requires me to constantly keep an eye on that 6 second buff.
  • Hammer of Wrath with Crusade: I briefly tried it against a training dummy but I feel the rotation gets too complicated with HoW.
  • Inquisition: haven’t tried it yet, but it also sounds like it’ll just make the rotation more difficult to manage.

Currently I’m going with the simplest talent spec (Zeal, Fires of Justice, Divine Purpose). According to SimulationCraft it’s the worst, but against the training dummy I’m actually performing my best with it and getting the closest to the SimulationCraft target DPS.

20

Just forget about it. Unless you move, the 6 sec window is enough to fit in the second TV with the normal rotation as long as you don’t prioritize procs from empyrean power or have too low haste and big gaps in the rotation.