[2022] Feedback: Paladins

In this thread, please post your feedback on the revamped Paladin talent tree, once you’ve had a chance to test Paladins in the Alpha.

Please note: We’re initially testing Protection and Retribution, with the Holy spec coming to the Alpha soon.

Thank you.

The Holy Paladin Talent tree is now enabled in today’s Alpha build.

For Dragonflight, we want to give Holy Paladins more options for caster-focused playstyles by bringing back the Power of the Silver Hand passive effect from the Legion Artifact, in addition to the active button Tyr’s Deliverance.

From today’s Alpha update notes:

• Retribution
  • Divine Protection has been added as a choice node with Shield of Vengeance. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.
  • Justicar’s Vengeance now costs 3 Holy Power and deals 7% less damage.
  • The talent locations of Ashes to Ashes and Divine Toll have been swapped.

Today’s update includes the following for Paladins:

• General
  • New Ability: Intercession – Petition the Light on the behalf of a fallen ally, restoring spirit to body and allowing then to reenter battle with 60% health and at least 20% mana. 2 second cast time for Retribution and Holy specializations, instant cast and requires 3 Holy Power for Protection specialization.
• Class Tree
  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Seal of the Crusader damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 15%).
  • Seal of Reprisal damage bonus reduced to 10% (was 20%).
• Protection
  • Rearranged various talents and created new pathways and choices.
  • Developers’ note: This week we focused on pathing adjustments for the Class & Protection trees. In the coming weeks, we will be transitioning towards talent iteration and tuning.
• Retribution
  • Final Verdict damage reduced by 6%.
  • Righteous Verdict damage bonus reduced to 5% (was 15%).

Greetings Holy Paladins!

In the next beta build we will have an updated tree ready for testing This update will include major pathing changes, new spells, and node cost reduction. We would like to give you our thoughts on our design direction for this tree moving forward.

Pathing Improvements

We’re excited at the prospect of offering tools for a casting focused Holy Paladin build existing in this tree. Our intention is for this to not overpower the melee playstyle, but we want to find room for both to exist simultaneously without impeding each other. At the same time however, we do not think separating the tree into two distinct “caster” and “melee” paths is compelling tree structure in this case. Our goal is to intermingle spells and abilities in such a way that players are encouraged to path throughout the tree, but not feel like they must pick up undesirable talents for their build along the way.

Spells Changes

We felt the overall nodes in this tree were in a solid spot and that most of the issues in this tree were pathing related. That said, we’ve added several new or returning spells in support of both the melee and caster styles. Hopefully this mixes gameplay up a bit more and offers further compelling choice, particularly in the bottom section of the tree. We’ve also removed a few nodes that we felt were not playing well including Liadrin’s Fury Unleashed and Tyr’s Munificence. Tyr’s Munificence’s effect will be added baseline to Tyr’s Deliverance.

Lay on Hands in rated PvP

We’ve decided to enable Lay on Hands in rated PvP with a 25% PvP multiplier healing reduction. This change was influenced by several factors. Modern PvP realities are that a powerful heal such as this does not have the same level of impact that it did in previous versions of the game. It is likely that if we were to go back in time with the current tools we have, our solution would have been to apply a PvP multiplier to such a strong ability without outright disabling. Given that Lay on Hands applies Forbearance, its cooldown is quite significant, and with Dampening and PvP multipliers to leverage, we feel comfortable enabling this iconic Paladin ability in rated PvP. This change will be applied soon and won’t apply to the upcoming beta build.

Here’s a preview of what you can expect to see next build:

New Talent Additions

Infusion of Light: Now learned baseline.

Divine Insight. New Talent, row 3. Holy Shock’s healing and damage is increased by 5%.

Tirion’s Devotion. New Talent, row 4. Lay on Hand’s cooldown is reduced by 1 second per Holy Power spent.

Resplendent Light. New Talent, row 4. Holy Light heals up to 5 targets within 8 yards for 8% of its healing.

Imbued Infusions. New Talent, row 5. Consuming Infusion of Light reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1.0 seconds.

Unwavering Spirit. New Talent, row 5. The cooldown of Aura Mastery is reduced by 30 seconds.

Boundless Salvation. New Talent, row 10. Casting Flash of Light on targets affected by Tyr’s Deliverance extends the duration of your Tyr’s Deliverance by 0.5 seconds. Casting Holy Light on targets affected by Tyr’s Deliverance extends the duration of your Tyr’s Deliverance by 1 second.

Divine Favor. New Talent, row 5. The healing of your next Holy Light or Flash of Light is increased by 60% and its cast time is reduced by 30%. 45 second cooldown.

Veneration. New Talent, row 8. Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Judgment critical strikes reset the cooldown of Hammer of Wrath and make it usable on any target, regardless of their health.

Relentless Inquisitor. New Talent, row 9. Spending Holy Power grants you 1% haste per finisher for 12 sec, stacking up to 3/5 times.

Empyrean Endowment. New Talent, row 10. Judgment empowers your next Word of Glory to automatically activate Light of Dawn with 25% increased effectiveness. The effect can only occur every 30 seconds.

Inflorescence of the Sunwell. New Talent, row 10. Infusion of Light has 1 additional charge, reduces the cost of Flash of Light by an additional 30%, and has a 30% chance to generate an additional Holy Power from Holy Light.

Thank you all for your continued feedback!