Paladin Class Blog Information

Ok, here's probably the most significant one for yours truly. I think we've made it out ok, but I'll need to make some adjustments.

The biggest thing is that Holy Power is now Retribution-only. Holy and Prot will no longer have the secondary resource. We'll get into that in a bit.

Holy:

They want to reinforce the idea of Holy healing on the front lines, and as such, there will be new spells that either have a shorter range or are more effective if you're in close range, which is also part of the Mastery.

Holy Light and Flash of Light looks pretty much the same.

Light of the Martyr allows you to sacrifice a moderate amount of your own health to heal an ally for a moderate amount.

Light of Dawn is still there, but obviously with no HoPo requirement.

Holy Shock is also still there.

Infusion of Light works, I believe, mostly the same.

Beacon of Light is still there, and unless it does already, it now also refunds mana when you directly heal the beacon'd target.

New Mastery: Lightbringer, which increases the healing of your spells based on how close you are to the targets. So that's the main thing to reinforce that theme.

Sample Talent: Beacon of the Lightbringer:

Increases the bonus of the Mastery and has it apply to your Beacon of Light if it's closer - which I'd guess is a way for players to opt back into the more ranged style.

Protection:

Ok, this is my spec, so I'm sensitive about it. Main thing that's kind of shocking is that Holy Power is no longer a thing for Protection. It's going to be weird to adjust to no HoPo for the first time since Wrath, but I think the spec looks like it won't be too dissimilar.

Shield of the Righteous is now a 3-charge ability on a 12 second recharge, but also lasts 4.5 seconds baseline. That'll be weird.

Light of the Protector replaces Word of Glory, making it automatically self-target and heals for 50% of your missing health - so much like WoG now, you'll probably be using it more as an emergency button.

Redoubt is a passive that makes autoattack crits give you a charge of Shield of the Righteous or Light of the Protector - which I guess might also have charges?

Mastery: Divine Bulwark seems to work the same, but with no more Bastion of Glory. Given that Light of the Protector is percentage-based, that makes sense.

Offensively, Avenger's Shield, Judgment, and Consecration seem to work more or less the same, and Grand Crusader's still around. Hammer of the Righteous is now the main melee strike, and it simply AoE's when you're in your Consecration (really wonder if Glyph of the Consecrator's effect will be available, as I've learned to love that thing.)

Sample Talent: Blessed Hammer

2-charge attack with a 3 second recharge, this is actually a Crusader ability from Diablo III, sending a divine hammer that spirals outward and replaces Hammer of the Righteous. Might be useful to get more range on picking up enemies, and the two charges could be good for snap-threat.

Retribution:

Ret's keeping Holy Power. The main thing they seem to be emphasizing is using melee attacks rather than ranged spells - reasonable, since basically Crusader Strike and Templar's Verdict are the only melee strikes Ret uses right now.

Blade of Justice looks like it might replace Exorcism on your bars, as a Holy damage strike that generates 2 Holy Power, on a 12 second cooldown.

Judgment has a 12 second cooldown for Ret (unchanged for Prot) but now also increases the damage taken by the target from your Holy Power generators for six seconds - and Judgment doesn't seem to generate HoPo itself (but with the two from Blade of Justice, it probably balances out.)

Templar's Verdict and Divine Storm look roughly the same, though both deal pure Holy damage.

Conviction is a new passive that gives Crusader Strike and Blade of Justice a chance to generate an additional Holy Power. No word on Hammer of the Righteous. I wonder if you'll just have to rely on Seal of Righteousness and Divine Storm for AoE.

Hand of Light seems to work pretty much as it does now, affecting Crusader Strike, Blade of Justice, Divine Storm and Templar's Verdict.

Sample Talent: Lothar's Might (might I suggest Uther instead? I thought Lothar was a Warrior.)

30 yd range, instant, 30 sec CD.
Flings a blade of Holy Light at the target location. Reactivating will teleport the Paladin to the blade and deal moderate Holy damage to enemies nearby.
Replaces "Hand of Hinderance," whatever that is.

This is basically one of Tyrael's moves from Heroes of the Storm. Good inspiration for Paladin abilities.

Paladin Analysis:

Holy Power has been pretty controversial since Cataclysm. I'm sure a lot of Rets are sad that they're stuck with it, and a lot of non-Rets are sad to be losing it. I'm a little ambivalent. It's possible that with the various charges of Shield of the Righteous, it might still have much of the same rhythm as before. I don't know enough about Holy to really be able to judge the changes.

As crazy as the loss of Holy Power for two of the specs is, I actually don't think these are such profound changes. Again, I'll have to get my hands on it. It's going to be weird that Protection will essentially not have resources, but that was the case originally.

Well, as a 9-year Prot Paladin, there's a lot to digest here, but there's still a lot to go through! Tomorrow we'll be getting Warlocks, Death Knights and Shamans!