Pigeon Holes, Pandora’s Box, and Paladins

A long time ago, in a realm far, far away before the kinky psychedelic world of Outland or the Gothic S&M feel of Northrend, there was a place known as Vanilla. Back in those days, a paladin was balanced around his ability to heal. More specifically, he was balanced around his ability to heal and to heal as equally as the shamans who were members of the opposite faction. It may not have been balance in the way we think of balance now, but within the parameters established by the class model by the good ol’ boys on the original WoW development team, they were as balanced as any paladin could hope.

In fact, they weren’t just balanced; they were OP in some ways. They were phenomenal healers with nasty mana sustainability because back in those days if you crit a heal, you didn’t get 30% of the mana cost back like you do now. Hell you didn’t get 60% of the mana cost like you used to before 3.2. A paladin received 100% of the mana back for every healing spell that crit. Of course, like the warrior dilemma today, paladins were up against an invisible wall that once they climbed, never had to worry about mana again. If you read any of Rossi’s Care and Feeding over at wow.com, you might find similarities between holy paladins and dps warriors.

They are always searching for BiS gear which sometimes isn’t even plate. They are often analyzed only when in BiS gear, and accordingly balanced as if we all were in it when in reality the highest performing warriors and holy paladins are the exception because no matter how much Blizzard has opened the gates of more mainstream raiding in Wrath, very few have the all the gear necessary to be completely overpowered. Both classes also suffer from their WoW release pigeon holes as well. Paladins were supposed to phenomenal healers with highly sought after defensive abilities, and warriors weren’t even expected to pay the hybrid tax even though they were designed be the one and only true tanks in the game.

Staging an Intervention

WoW’s design was much different in those days. The hybrid tax really meant healing tax, at least according to the recent post by Ghostcrawler who acknowledged warriors weren’t asked to pay it, “Warriors, and I hate to pick on them, were intended to be the best tank while also deliver dps that we would now label as competitive with rogues.” This tax was so hefty it allowed healers to only really do one thing: heal. Because of this, the paladin evolved into a formidable defensive foe. The spells in a paladin’s arsenal everyone now hates like Lay on Hands, Hand of Protection, and Sacred Shield are without a doubt overpowered. That’s right I said OP; someone sound the alarm because a self-righteous arrogant SOB paladin is selling out his brothers.

The reason, sacred shield excluded, why those spells are OP is because they were instituted back in a time when paladins were NOT supposed to counter your blasting them into the twisting nether with their own quid pro quo damage. They were intended to fight you with their defensive prowess. Bubbles, though still somewhat OP, are not what they once were with bubble nullifiers like Chaos Bolt, Shattering Throw, and mass dispel. Lay on Hands isn’t even usable in arenas, but if you happen to be on the losing end of a 20 minute (remember it used to be 60) cooldown, fighting a paladin one on one can feel like batman trying take down catwoman while resurrecting using all of her nine lives.

I know GC isn’t solely responsible for the rise of the hybrid, but he is the face of World of Warcraft right now and so he gets the credit as well as the blame, but thanks to him et al, the design philosophy changed. When it did, ret paladins rejoiced as did the other hybrids, but unlike the other hybrids, paladins now had access to crippling damage while maintaining their hybridity. Druids have forms which severely limit their use of non-specialization spells. Priests have shadow form, warriors have stances, and shaman are always limited by the totems they can drop. To be completely fair, the developers have had similar headaches balancing their new class, the Death Knight, because of their non-restrictive hybrididty; therefore anyone who might imply paladins are victims of their vintage class baggage would be incorrect. Death Knights have zero baggage and they have been such a nightmare; they are probably responsible for an increase in toupee purchases by the development team. Paladins, unlike all the other launch hybrids, have been a problem because they aren’t asked to make a single choice for their specialization.

The worst part though is most paladins trolling the forums are incapable of admitting they have a problem. Like any addict, they hop on the forums complaining about the nerfs all the while snorting their OP’dness and then nervously looking in all directions like the cat who just ate the canary. Blizzard’s only real mistake has been they have played the role of the enabler because they have been timid with necessary nerfs. “This is just ‘don’t nerf me, bro’ talk. We have been so gentle with paladin nerfs because we’ve been so concerned with returning to lolret, that paladins as a class are still very powerful in end-game LK in both PvE and PvP. Yes, it’s not fun to be nerfed. We get that. There is very little evidence we have over-nerfed paladins at any time in the past couple of years. There is plenty of evidence that we haven’t nerfed them enough.” Like a petulant child allowed to behave as they see fit for too long, paladins have turned into uncontrollable teens and now it is time for some tough love.

Unlikely Allies

Like Rhidach over at Righteous Defense, I believe the time has come. Unlike Rhidach though, I don’t believe stances are the answer. One of my favorite WoW phrases comes to mind when I think of stances, “unsophisticated response.” Stances would provide the one thing paladins need the most, choices. In the warrior Q&A, Ghostcrawler specifically states, “The purpose of stances is for warriors to have to make decisions in combat. How badly do I want to Intercept now? Should I pay the cost of Spell Reflect? Ideally, we want warriors to switch stances in combat — not every few seconds, but a few times over the course of a battle.” He also talks about what the devs refer to as metronome, or falling into a fixed rotation. The devs and the players generally agree this is boring, yet it plagues paladins as if they were carrying around a Stratholme crate in their back pocket.

Previously when sharing my disgust with the hybrid tax, I pointed tax after tax the hybrids were forced to pay, but other than GCD’s paladins aren’t nearly punished the same way the other hybrids are. They don’t have forms, stances, presences. Many of their deep talents buff up their healing as well as their offense. Judgements of the Pure, Touched by the Light, Sheath of Light, and Art of War all perform double duty by increasing damage and healing output. STOP THIS S**T! There is no reason a prot paladin needs more heal crit. There is no reason ret paladins need to heal with a HoT, and there is no reason, in the age of dual specs anyway, for holy paladins to get extra damage for their judgements.

Double duty talents is only the first step though, and if you listen real closely, you will hear the screams of paladins everywhere as you read ahead. Continue at your own risk and understand I tried to warn you. Talents not only need to not buff all abilities, they need to nerf some. Anyone who played a lock back in the pre-Wrath days knows Demonic Embrace increased your stamina and decreased your spirit. Of course, back then no lock in his right mind cared because we were able to cannibalize our own health for mana so regen was the least of our worries. In Wrath, Blizzard made an attempt to make spirit enticing to all clothies in the name of gear consolidation, so they removed the spirit penalty. I am a rabid advocate of consequences based on the decisions you make in game, whether it’s the gear you equip or the talent points you allocate. The coddling of paladins needs to stop, but it needs to happen while allowing them to remain in control of their own destiny in much the same way a druid does when he decides to shift. Talents should have penalties while buffing other abilities. The possibilities are endless really, and each is a more sophisticated response to the opportunity cost system that should always be in play with an RPG over the standard swinging of the nerf bat and hoping something sticks philosophy Blizzard has applied to paladins and deathknights this entire expansion. Blizzard is on the right track in the current PTR build because now that Lay on Hands is causing forbearance, Sanctified Light will allow healers to remove the forbearance penalty, “Sanctified Light: This talent now also has a 33/66/100% chance to prevent Lay on Hands from causing Forbearance when Lay on Hands is used on others.” I applaud the effort, and though I don’t agree with the Sacred Shield changes because of the loss of mitigation for prot paladins, it is a step in the right direction, but the tweaking doesn’t need to stop now.

Touched by the Light (retrofitted of course): Increases spellpower by 10/20/30% of your stamina but reduces healing and healing crit by 5/10/15%
Judgements of the Wise: Your damaging Judgement spells have a 100% chance to grant the Replenishment effect to up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of their maximum mana per 5 sec for 15 sec, and to immediately grant you 25% of your base mana but your healing is reduced 10/20/30%.
Sheath of Light: Change “Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 30% of your attack power and your critical healing spells heal the target for 60% of the healed amount over 12 seconds” to “increases your attack power by 30% and your critical healing spells heal the target for 60% of the healed amount for 12 seconds, but removes the crit bonus and HoT effect for targets with Sacred Shield.”
Art of War: Change “Increases the damage of your Judgement, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm abilities by 10% and when your melee attacks critically hit your next Flash of Light or Exorcism spell becomes instant cast” to “Increases the damage of your Judgement, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm abilities by 10% and when your melee attacks critically hit the cooldown on Exorcism is reset and allows it to become instant cast for the next 10 seconds.”
Leave the unmodified Sacred shield alone. Talents which nerf it allow it to be used in it’s intended implementation for the holy and prot specs. It’s mitigation for the prot paladin who isn’t casting FoLs on himself and its a healing buff and shielding for the tank who has a holy paladin healing him.

The numbers are, as always, subject to balancing, but the consequences of the talents are the most important aspect to take from the suggestions. Implementing talents with consequences allows players to decide just how valuable a talent is and whether or not it’s worth the buff to your specialization at the cost of your hybridity. Druids do it everyday, so do warriors, priests, and shaman. Isn’t it about time paladins did too?

Time for an Ambien

Rhab