Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Forget About It


Well after much debate with myself and reading on the various blogs and forums, I have come to a conclusion. Blizzard cannot and will not bring Ret to a level of competitivness that will balance both PvE and PvP needs. By GC's own admission, this is extremely difficult, like 'Yikes!' difficult even. There have been more then a few good suggestions from players on different approaches to fixing the issue. I won't bother repeating any of them since no one cares. Also, there seems to be a feeling among some that players are not developers, therefore our opinions don't count. I feel that assertion is the very reason that our beloved class and spec will never reach equilibrium. As it is, it would seem that the only way to ensure that Paladins are balanced is to suck the fun the out of them.

And no I don't mean the only way to for Paladins to be fun is by having four second HoJ kills and topping every and all damage meters. I mean the macro right below might actually be the extent of Ret Paladin interaction. One button is not fun. Our 'rotation' is just hitting any one of three spells that isn't on cooldown. No tricks to it, nothing to setup, no strategy required. That macro would do that with out having to think too much about it. And according to a lot of forum trolls, the mana ineffiecency that is now causing this sitation is the price we pay for having Mana instead of Rage or Energy. At best, that arguement is laughable. At worst, it shows a complete inability to want to keep things on a level playing field among Melee DPS classes. What happened to bring the best player, not the best class? WotLK hasn't even started, and that is already out the window.

I refuse to have so much time, energy, and even a bit of emotion tied up with something that I have a feeling is destined to fail. That is just a bad idea. The writing is on the wall and it would be best to heed the warning. If by some miracle Blizzard does figure out how to balance Paladins AND make them fun, well I may be back to my Paladin. But I am tired of being stuck on the bench in hopes of something better from Blizzard. I did that for most of TBC, I won't do it again for WotLK. There is a lot fun to be had in this game. I won't miss it this time around clinging to a dead class.

But no worries. I am going to park Dradis in IF for now. Once again she will be relegated to the role of money maker and bank. And thats ok, because I need that too. I need a toon to fill that role, so why not make it the one that is least likely to actually ever provide group or PvP viabilty?

So now the internal debate rages on.... what class to play? Its a tough choice. But I have all night to mull it over.

It was foolish jumping the gun so fast with the Paladin. Everyone saw this coming from a mile away. Everyone but us Ret Paladins it would seem. Oh well.

The blog will still run though. Because, well I get bored at night, and I need something to do.

6 comments:

Alex - aka Firelight said...

I'm sorta tempted to do the same...re-roll a DK and be done with it...Being a Knight who follows the Light is destined to fail....its time for me to go into the darkness...

Dradis said...

I am thinking warlock :P DK will probably be fun too though. I am not going to wait for this "sort out". To many ups and downs over the whole course of the game, combined with the recent shenanigans, for me to have any confidence in the Blizz devs. Whatever you decide to do though, keep blogging, I really enjoy reading what you post :)

Anonymous said...

Death Knight or Enhancement Shaman for me - already got the Shaman at 63. But I'll always be a Retribution Paladin at heart, and Peregrine will always be my main - I'm very much lucky to have found a guild that still follows the old principle of bring the best player, not the class - and not trying to brag, but I do tend more toward the "skilled" side of the meter than the "lolret" side :P the raid leader is very understanding - "of course we don't expect you to do the same damage as the other guys, blizzard has royally fscked you over, not your fault" and they bring me along anyway.

SolidState said...

I have level 70: mage, priest, hunter and druid. Plus I'm planning on rolling a DK.

So (nearly) which ever class Blizzard nerfs, I should be good :)

By the way, if you think a complex DPS (or whatever) rotation is fun, Aff Warlock is the way to go from all I've heard. But in general I disagree with your line of thought, that fun is dependent on how many buttons you push.

For one thing, I really really doubt any class can get away with only one button, not if you want to maximize DPS and be responsive and agile to changing game situations. As for pressing 3 or 5 buttons, this isn't what defines fun. Fun is when you are good enough to do your job but not so OP it becomes trivial.

OTOH I don't play a paladin so take everything I've written with a grain of salt :)

Anonymous said...

I agree completely solid - my DPS was pretty damn high, but I like to think it would have been a lot less, even post-3.0, if I didn't have the skills and knowledge to play the class. Knowing when to Hand of Salvation, off-healing the Tank during Azgalor, knowing when to pop pots or wings or trinkets (Tip: Wait for the Shaman to blow Heroism, then pop wings, your best trinket, and a haste potion - and a Hand of Salvation, haha).

I know that my DPS isnt just because my class is OP, nor is my constant success in PvP, seeing as I kicked the living daylights out of an arms warrior, a fire mage (lol?) and two retadins in AV mines... repeatedly.

And it was a LOT of fun. A lot MORE fun than my Warlock, which is basically "push these keys in this order and you win". I love the retribution paladin because it is fluid and adapative, and no matter how hard blizzard nerfs us, they can never nerf our skill.

Dradis said...

@ Solidstate

I agree with you. Its not the number of buttons. But there is a certain depth in play style that is missing in the Paladin damage rotation as it stands. The only thing that has to be done is mash the button that is not on cooldown. There is not much more to it then that. And the situation abilities that we do have would seriously screw up our sustainability to use, so there is just really nothing to do. Just few spells extra at this point is enough to bring Paladins down to running on fumes within a matter of seconds. That is not fun. And I am going the Warlock route. It is a LOT of fun so far...... MWHAHAHAHAHA