WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.The Light and How to Swing It: c paladin runhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-c-paladin-run/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I still remember the unmitigated joy I felt, sitting in my crummy seat far off to the left of the main stage at BlizzCon 2011, as Blizzard began to go into the new talent system for Mists of Pandaria and a screenshot of the paladin tree was shown. Sitting at the top of the new tree was a tier of familiar names: Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, Pursuit of Justice -- all the names of the various speed enhancements that the class currently had. Sweet fancy Moses, it was a tier of "gap closers"!

I slap some scare quotes on the phrase gap closer because, despite that being my holy grail for the past two years, let's be honest -- the new talents aren't technically gap closers. They don't have the immediacy of a Charge or a Death Grip. But they're as close as we're going to get without some homogenized Divine Charge, and to a point, they will help us close a gap. They're acceptable substitutions, each with its own positives and negatives.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: c paladin run

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: c paladin run originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 13 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshSun, 13 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Readying your ret paladin for Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/08/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-readying-your-ret-paladin-for-mis/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

It's hard to believe it's already May 2012. It seems like just last week that I was standing in line at BlizzCon with my guildmates, trying to make small talk and failing completely at it. Most of our interactions involved people watching and commenting on the information put forth at the various panels like those annoying people in the movie theater who feel the need to rate every preview on whether or not it will completely suck (see above).

Anyway, with any luck Mists will be released by the end of summer (I'm betting on an August launch, myself), so what better time than now to get your paladin ready so that you hit the ground running when the servers come back online?

The time will come during the next expansion when your hard-earned purples will be replaced by mismatched greens, but more work put into getting the best purples available to you now will keep that dreaded day far in the future. Also, how hard you hit is dictated by the strength of your gear, and the amount of time it will take you to kill a mob is dependent on how much damage you can dish out.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Readying your ret paladin for Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Readying your ret paladin for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyslevel 90Level90levelingmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoDan DesmondTue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 ESTMists of Pandaria Beta: Paladins get Ashbringer with new talenthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/mists-of-pandaria-beta-paladins-get-ashbringer-with-new-talent/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/mists-of-pandaria-beta-paladins-get-ashbringer-with-new-talent/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/02/mists-of-pandaria-beta-paladins-get-ashbringer-with-new-talent/#commentsFiled under: ,

Paladins, Ashbringer is yours -- well, for a short duration, at least. The level 75 paladin talent Holy Avenger, which is a cooldown that allows the player to gain 3 holy power when using an ability that generates holy power, now turns the paladin's weapon into the mighty Ashbringer for the duration of the spell. Paladins have been asking for iconic imagery in their sets and weapons for some time, with many paladins feeling left out or in an odd place when tier sets are designed around aspects of paladins in the game rather than the Alliance paladins of the traditional days.

Ashbringer is about as traditionally paladin as you get. Paladins, congratulations on your badass graphics for Holy Avenger, especially with something so iconic as Ashbringer being part of your kit, so to speak. How cool is that?

Blizzard has already given shaman the ability to transform into powerful ascendants, and now we see this cool new flavor for the paladin and brand new demons for the warlock. What will surprise us come next beta patch?
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderMists of Pandaria Beta: Paladins get Ashbringer with new talent originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 02 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ashbringerholy-avengermists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talentspaladinpaladin-talentspaladinstalentMathew McCurleyWed, 02 May 2012 20:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Latest beta build shakes things up for prothttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-latest-beta-build-shakes-things-u/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

There are good beta builds, and there are bad beta builds, and then there are bad, bad beta builds. Build 15640, which went up this week, is a textbook example of the latter -- specifically with regard to how it handles our active mitigation. Considering that active mitigation (AM) is the most important change prot paladins are receiving going into the next expansion, the quality of a build hinges on how it handles this topic.

Needless to say, the next few builds are always going to include some new iteration of Shield of the Righteous, as the class design team works out the kinks and attempts to cobble together an effective version of the ability.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Latest beta build shakes things up for prot

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Latest beta build shakes things up for prot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshSat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: The outlook for holy paladins in Mists of Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/raid-rx-the-outlook-for-holy-paladins-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/raid-rx-the-outlook-for-holy-paladins-in-mists-of-pandaria/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/raid-rx-the-outlook-for-holy-paladins-in-mists-of-pandaria/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

You know, after reading through and playing around with a holy paladin on the Mists of Pandaria beta, it looks like paladins didn't get a ton groundbreaking class changes. In a way, though, that's a good thing! You still get to keep the same style of play, except you have a few new spells and abilities to really augment your healing even further. You don't even have to learn any new playstyles.

If you're an awesome healer now, then you should have no problems moving into the next expansion at all. The additional AoE helpers are a bonus. Even though Holy Radiance is awesome, it'd be nice to have a few other AoE healing spells for a change.

Continue reading Raid Rx: The outlook for holy paladins in Mists of Pandaria

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: The outlook for holy paladins in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-healintellectmists-of-pandariapaladinplateraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guidewow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowFri, 27 Apr 2012 17:00:00 ESTGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock declinehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/guildox-player-analysis-highlights-the-warlock-decline/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The folks at GuildOx have gone through their database and done some simple filtering that reveals some fascinating things about who is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. GuildOx started with level 85 characters, filtered for characters with ilevel 400 gear, and then filtered out anyone with PvP gear. What you see in the chart above is the result of that work -- a representative sample of who out of the over 13 million level 85 characters in the GuildOx database is raiding heroic Dragon Soul.

If you remember the post about the complexity of systems and player retention that I made a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned Cynwise's excellent posts about the warlock decline. Well, here it is again reflected in GuildOx's data. Warlocks are the least played class in heroic raiding.

Warriors aren't doing much better, really. Most other classes seem fairly healthy, with classes that have healing specs doing fairly well and rogues absolutely ruling heroic raiding despite being one of the least-played classes in the game overall. It gets even more interesting once we get to look at the GuildOx spec-by-spec breakdown.

Continue reading GuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline

WoW InsiderGuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ClassClass-RepresentationClassesDeath-KnightDragon-SoulDruidGuildoxHeroic-Dragon-SoulHunterMagePaladinPriestRaidingRogueShamanWarlockWarriorMatthew RossiFri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retributionhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-evaluating-the-success-of-holy-po/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Before we begin, go take a look at the new beta build 15640 currently being mined. Some of it is a bit wonky and messed up (Blessing of Might now gives 0 mastery, huh?), but some big ret changes can be found.
Blizzard seems to be cleaning up some spell mechanics and tooltips by taking a weed whacker to those abilities that have both attack power and spell power dependencies. The new version of Sheath of Light, Sword of Light, boosts our SP by an additional 20% of our AP.
I'll wait until the number crunchers at Elitist Jerks have a chance to digest this material before I say whether or not the extra 20% conversion will make up for losing our double-dipping AP bonuses on things like Censure and Word of Glory, but really this move just strikes me as trying to clean up the mechanics so the devs don't get a migraine every time they want to tweak a few numbers. Hopefully, we'll come out of this change with most of our limbs intact, and the blues will successfully save a few brain cells in the long run.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retribution

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retribution originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsRetribution-paladinretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoDan DesmondWed, 25 Apr 2012 19:00:00 ESTThe alt deficiencyhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/the-alt-deficiency/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

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Do alts even count as alts when half of them are the same class as your main and the other half are rarely played?

I have a troubling relationship with the concept of playing an alt. First off, I don't really get alts. I know people who have four or six or even eight level 85 characters, geared and kitted out for raiding or Arena/RBG play. One woman I know has completely filled up two servers with level 85 characters (full character window, a server she plays Horde on and a server she plays Alliance on) that can at least run a random Hour of Twilight heroic. I accept that this exists, but I can't imagine doing it.

See, I'm middling at best about my achievements in game, but there are things I've done that you can't do anymore. I mean, every time I ran the 5-man Zul'Gurub, I kept thinking about how I'm a hero of the Zandalar tribe. Shouldn't they at least try and talk me out of killing them? Shouldn't I at least have the option to say, "Hey, guys, it's me, can we chill out on this?" and then we could express our sorrow at having to come to blows?

I can't do that on an alt. Well, OK, I can do it on the other two warriors who are also heroes of the Zandalar tribe, but you get my point. An alt's not going to have all those titles I barely realized I was earning, or my Mimiron's Head, or a Sulfuras in the bank laughing at me every time I got to the trasmogrification ethereal and get a hit of sweet, sweet gear changery.

Continue reading The alt deficiency

WoW InsiderThe alt deficiency originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>achievementsAltschangeslevelingmainTransmogMatthew RossiWed, 18 Apr 2012 20:00:00 ESTComplexity of systems and player retentionhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/complexity-of-systems-and-player-retention/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/complexity-of-systems-and-player-retention/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/complexity-of-systems-and-player-retention/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

If you don't read Cynwise's Warcraft Journal, you probably should. Cyn's been doing an excellent series of posts about warlocks in Cataclysm that are interesting and thought-provoking -- even if, like me, you're not a warlock and don't really know much about the class. For me, one of the most striking tidbits was that rogues are the second-to-least-played class overall, but the second-most-played class in high-end PvP, implying that people only play rogues to PvP. There's a lot of interesting data in there about class representation, role representation, and who is playing what and at what levels.

The post that really grabbed my attention was this one about warlock complexity in Cataclysm because it highlights an extreme form of something we've talked about before, the design philosophy that argues for increased complexity in a character's suite of abilities. In its simplest form, it can be summed up as the hitting buttons is fun argument, although at the extreme Cyn describes for warlocks, it becomes a game of if X, then Y that resembles programming your first computer in Basic. If you remember making a chain of dirty words scroll on a loop up the screen, congratulations on being old with me.

Cyn's comparison of the destruction rotation in Wrath and Cataclysm shows a rotation with seven elements mushroom out to one with 14 elements to remember and consider. That if X, then Y flowchart just got as complex as a subway map. In my experience, all DPS rotations in general have a little bit of this kind of gameplay nowadays. The difficulty is in hitting the sweet spot where the rotation is designed so that random elements or procs serve to liven up an otherwise predictable set of abilities (providing the fun in the hitting buttons scenario) without making a rotation so complex you need six to seven addons to help you plot it out.

Continue reading Complexity of systems and player retention

WoW InsiderComplexity of systems and player retention originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ComplexityCynwiseCynwises-Warcraft-JournalHitting-buttons-is-funPaladinPaladinsRotationRotation-ComplexityWarlockWarlocksWarriorWarriorsMatthew RossiSat, 14 Apr 2012 18:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Beta's delicate balancing acthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-betas-delicate-balancing-act/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Ah, beta -- a time for people to begin jostling and shouting for their favorite specs and classes to receive buffs and improvements, for deficiencies both real and imagined. While the warriors are most assuredly off demanding a free sandwich or whatever slight they're currently obsessed with, let's talk about our biggest concerns going into the next expansion.

Most of these concerns, you can imagine, deal with our balance relative to the other tanks, as well as how some of our mechanics will scale as the expansion continues. And let's not forget that Mists will mark the introduction of active mitigation, and thus it is exceedingly critical for Blizzard to get that right.

Suffice it to say, there's a lot on the line for prot paladins during this beta.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Beta's delicate balancing act

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Beta's delicate balancing act originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshFri, 13 Apr 2012 09:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/11/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-observing-retribution-on-the-mist/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Well, comrades in arms, as the old Azerothian saying goes, the squeaky player gets the beta invite. I'd like to think my sobbing in coffee shops and passionate diatribes secured me a spot in the Jade Forest, where I can run around in the beautiful scenery competing with dozens of other players trying to tag one of the three quest mobs that respawns every six days, but I must admit to myself that I'm no more special than the 99,999 other players who received invites at the same time.

In short, I got into the beta. We've already been over what we expect to see when the mists part, but experiencing it firsthand is something else entirely.

The silent filler

One of the first things I noticed after rebuilding all of my macros and assigning keybinds was how disjointed the rotation felt when I was smacking the collection of wild creatures grazing around the outskirts of Dawn's Blossom. Judgment on the pull, Crusader Strike when in melee range, Hammer of Wrath under 20%, Templar's Verdict at 3 holy power ... but something was off. As it turns out, I had forgotten about Exorcism.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists beta

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Observing retribution on the Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Dan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-paladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoDan DesmondWed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Major AoE healing changes in the Mists betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-major-aoe-healing-changes-in-the/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-major-aoe-healing-changes-in-the/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/01/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-major-aoe-healing-changes-in-the/#commentsFiled under: ,

holy radiance
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

Blizzard has been deploying beta patches at a record pace, which has a lot of stale info being bandied about as fact. The official Mists of Pandaria talent calculator is wildly out of date, and much of the commentary made over the past week is now superannuated. The developers haven't been shying away from making major class changes in these early days of the beta, and so everything is still up in the air.

What we do know for sure is that there's work being done to modify our holy AoE arsenals specifically. First, Holy Radiance still generates holy power points for us. The holy power generation mechanic was moved from Tower of Radiance and placed directly onto Holy Radiance itself. Other than that, every other piece of our holy toolkit has been updated, and for the better.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Major AoE healing changes in the Mists beta

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Major AoE healing changes in the Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>aoe-healingbeacon-of-lightdaybreakfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysholy-paladinholy-paladin-aoeholy-paladin-mists-changesholy-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itholy-pallyholy-radianceholy-shockinfusion-of-lightmistsmists-of-pandariamoppaladin-guidepaladin-holy-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsthe-light-and-how-to-heal-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoChase ChristianSun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: First look at protection in Mists betahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/30/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-first-look-at-protection-in-mists/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

Last week, we talked about the first tantalizing drip, drip, drips of information that were emitted in the Mists of Pandaria press tour that occurred, as well as the various media appearances that surrounded that event. Then, suddenly -- beta. So here we are, somewhere between the ecstasy of exploring a new world of ubiquitous wind chimes and rotund, alcoholic bear-men, and the agony of the occasional and painful glance at the beta invitation status on our account page.

Nonetheless, at least we can live vicariously through the goings-on of beta players while we wistfully watch from afar. There's a lot of information coming out of beta, from datamining to the experiences of those lucky jerks already inside, and so we have lots to talk about. Let's dig in and make sense of all the changes that'll be waiting for us when the next expansion hits (thus far!). Also, please note, I'm avoiding anything that we've already learned in the past run-up -- including changes to block, the new and various talents, and previously revealed abilities like Boundless Conviction.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: First look at protection in Mists beta

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: First look at protection in Mists beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshFri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Mists beta retribution rounduphttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-mists-beta-retribution-roundup-we/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Last time, I promised to pack as much comprehensive beta information as I could into this post, so I won't bother boring you all with the story of what exactly happened in that hotel room at BlizzCon. Instead, I'll stop wasting precious words and get right to it!

As always when discussing content in an open beta, everything is very much subject to change.

New glyphs

This is probably the most retribution-relevant thing to come out of the recent Mists of Pandaria press tour. Sure, there's all the new zones, Battlegrounds, UI updates, and Pet Battle stuff, but the uniquely paladin piece of the pie is curiously small. Sacco wrote a detailed listing of all of the new glyphs available, but when perusing the paladin glyphs, I noticed something interesting -- there are loads more healing/utility glyphs (Cleansing, Protector of the Innocent) and cosmetic glyphs (Bladed Judgment, Fire from the Heavens) than glyphs affecting damage output (Double Jeopardy, Immediate Truth).

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Mists beta retribution roundup

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Mists beta retribution roundup originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Dan DesmondDanDesmondfeaturedguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists of pandaria paladinmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betaMists-of-Pandaria-Glyphsmists-of-pandaria-press-eventmists-of-pandaria-talentsmistsmistsmistsmistsMistsOfPandariaPaladinpaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret paladinsRetPaladinsretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoDan DesmondWed, 28 Mar 2012 19:00:00 ESTRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changeshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/raid-rx-mists-of-pandaria-healing-changes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

You'll notice that there are a ton of new glyphs that have been added for all the classes. That list is by no means exhaustive. I also noticed some slight changes in the way certain spells work. I can assure you it won't be anything too drastic, but these changes are enough to keep you interested and wondering. This week, I'll be rounding up what we know healers will be getting, as well as any other notable modifications.

New for druids

Cenarion Ward appears to be a Prayer of Mending-like spell without the subsequent charges. Good spell to open with before an engagement. Won't have to pre-HoT as much. Just remember to pre-Ward.

Wild Mushroom: Bloom! Hope you love 'shrooms, since you'll be gaining the use of these in addition to your Balance friends. Anticipate a moment where big AoE healing is needed, and plant 'shrooms. Detonate after raid group takes a hit, and relish in the healing spores that explode.

Regrowth can be glyphed to remove the HoT component. Benefit? 40% increased chance of a critical heal. I guess you can configure a HoT-based class to switch to a non-HoT direction.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes

WoW InsiderRaid Rx: Mists of Pandaria healing changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>disciplinedruidfeaturedglyphsguidehealinghealing-guideholyhow-to-heallightwellmists-of-pandariamonkpaladinpriestraid-guideraid-healingraiding-guiderestshamanwow-guidewow-healingwow-raid-guidewow-raid-healingMatt LowMon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: 4 Dragon Soul tips to make your DPSers love youhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-dragon-soul-tips-to-make-your-d/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-dragon-soul-tips-to-make-your-d/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-dragon-soul-tips-to-make-your-d/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

With the 15% nerf to Dragon Soul slated for Tuesday and Mists of Pandaria's beta test here already, Cataclysm is winding down. Many guilds are on autopilot in Dragon Soul, simply clearing the place each week for another shot at an elusive trinket or item. You can buy the heroic Dragon Soul title or mount on most realms without too much trouble. With a few months of the same eight bosses ahead of us, it's easy to understand why everyone is focused on what's coming next.

I am always looking for ways to optimize my guild's raids. If there's a way that I can shave a few seconds off a boss encounter, I'll take it. There are plenty of areas in Dragon Soul where a clever holy paladin can help move things along. I currently run with a secondary holy talent build that includes Denounce specifically for the purpose of speeding up our runs. If you're still learning Dragon Soul or working on a new heroic encounter, these tips probably won't apply to you.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: 4 Dragon Soul tips to make your DPSers love you

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: 4 Dragon Soul tips to make your DPSers love you originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>denouncedivine-protectiondragon-souldragon-soul-raiddragon-soul-tipsexorcismfeaturedglyph-of-divine-protectionguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyshagarahealer-pallyholy-paladin-soakholy-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itholy-pallyice-lancemorchokpaladin-guidepaladin-holy-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsshockadinspeed-upthe-light-and-how-to-heal-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infozonozzChase ChristianSun, 25 Mar 2012 16:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: A week of tantalizing Mists informationhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-a-week-of-tantalizing-mists-infor/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

News hit Wednesday night that Mists beta was beginning to slowly open, capping a week that saw a deluge of new, juicy details from the next expansion. There wasn't much directly said about protection paladins in the press tour, though some tidbits got out that make for some interesting discussion. Moreover, with the launch of the beta client, datamining has begun; as a result, we already have a preliminary list of new glyphs -- which was also backed up during Blizzard's earlier presentation.

Glyphs 3.0

In Cataclysm, glyphs got a major numerical boost through the addition of prime glyphs, which were just straight buffs to various skills rather than tweaks like the major glyphs. As a result, they were easily mathed out to determine the best choice for each situation, which you likely saw listed in any class guide produced during Cataclysm's life cycle. This was pretty boring, as Blizzard saw it, and as such, the whole prime glyph system was chucked out of the game.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: A week of tantalizing Mists information

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: A week of tantalizing Mists information originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallysmists-of-pandariapaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshFri, 23 Mar 2012 20:00:00 ESTMists of Pandaria Beta: Challenge Mode armor sets revealedhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/mists-of-pandaria-beta-challenge-mode-armor-sets-revealed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/mists-of-pandaria-beta-challenge-mode-armor-sets-revealed/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/23/mists-of-pandaria-beta-challenge-mode-armor-sets-revealed/#commentsFiled under: ,

During the Mists of Pandaria press event, Mike Sacco and I had our fancies tickled by what little we saw of the upcoming Challenge Mode armor sets. They're vanity-only items meant for use with transmogrification, and they looked way awesome. Thankfully, we have Wowhead and Wowhead News around to show us most of the sets we didn't get to see.

I'm a sucker for winged armor, so the paladin set (embedded above) is my favorite by far. The shoulders on the rogue set are fantastic, and the shaman set seems tailor-made for trolls. Unfortunately the mage, warlock, warrior, and monk sets are still missing from the lineup, so we'll need to keep an eye out for those in future beta patches.

You can see a sampler of the currently available armor sets in the gallery below, but I do highly recommend checking out the 3D model viewer over at Wowhead as well. Wowhead has a whole slew of other models you should check out at the same time, such as mounts, more weapons, and miscellaneous quest reward gear sets.

Gallery: Mists of Pandaria: Challenge Mode armor sets

Death KnightDruidHunterPaladinPriest

It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

WoW InsiderMists of Pandaria Beta: Challenge Mode armor sets revealed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>armor-setschallenge-modemistsmists-of-pandariapandariaAlex ZiebartFri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: 4 holy talents I want to see in Mistshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/18/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-holy-talents-i-want-to-see-in-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/18/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-holy-talents-i-want-to-see-in-m/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/18/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-4-holy-talents-i-want-to-see-in-m/#commentsFiled under: ,

hand of freedom
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

When I look at our upcoming talent tree in Mists of Pandaria, I'm not blown away. Repentance and Divine Purpose are nearly identical to the versions in the retribution tree today. Pursuit of Justice and Speed of Light have been edited slightly but fulfill the same general roles. There are definitely some new talents in the mix as well, like Holy Avenger and the new Sanctified Wrath, but many of the choices are simply repeats of existing talents.

I have a few ideas on how to fix that. With equal parts of stealing talents from other classes and coming up with brand new ones, we could liven up our options quite a bit. I want to see more dynamic healing options available, rather than yet another cooldown like Clemency to manage. We spend most of our time in the trenches, pressing Holy Light and Holy Shock until our fingers are numb. Improving holy's style of healing will go a long way toward making the class more exciting to play.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: 4 holy talents I want to see in Mists

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: 4 holy talents I want to see in Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyshand-of-freedomhand-of-turboholy-paladinholy-paladin-mistsholy-paladin-talentsholy-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itholy-pallyholy-pally-talentsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talentsmopmop-talentspaladin-guidepaladin-holy-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentspillar-of-lightthe-light-and-how-to-heal-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoChase ChristianSun, 18 Mar 2012 16:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Being the main tankhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-being-the-main-tank/#commentsFiled under: ,

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I've been watching an unhealthy amount of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares lately -- not the trashy Fox reality drama production, but the U.K. version, which is more focused on the food and, y'know, kitchens. Anyway, while watching the interactions between the various members of the kitchens depicted, it's interesting the parallels you see between the various degrees of chefs and how that correlates with the various degrees of tanks within a raid operation.

Without getting too, er, French, the two biggest fish in a kitchen are the chef de cuisine (or, as the rosbifs may call the job, the head chef) and the sous-chef de cuisine. This correlates directly with most tanking hierarchies you'll find, where there is a main tank and an off tank. (In some guilds, there may be a number of off tanks.) Much like how the head chef is the boss when it comes to what's being served, the main tank is in charge of handling the burden of developing the tanking strategy and executing it. And likewise, while the sous-chef is second-in-command and chief substitute, the off tank handles a similar role within their own structure.

Similar to how the head chef might not be the one always sitting there and actually preparing every single dish, the main tank isn't always the one on the boss. For both, their personal strengths might lend them better to a different, lesser role while the lieutenant gets a chance to step up and carry some of the burden. You see this in fights where one tanking class is stronger against a particular mechanic than another, like perhaps putting a highly mobile warrior on Shannox's dog Riplimb. Essentially, there is more to being a main tank than the jobs you perform. It's also the experience, the leadership, the dependability, and the prestige.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Being the main tank

WoW InsiderThe Light and How to Swing It: Being the main tank originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-protection-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itpaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsprotection-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoMatt WalshFri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST