Honorshammer's Challenge! (Ret PVP Nerf)

“I don’t watch the News anymore; I think it makes me a happier person” – Honorshammer

“Ret Nerfed again!”
“Ret PVP is dead!”
“Okay, which one of you pwned some poor GM so he had us nerfed?”
“Reroll DK if you want to Arena as DPS, reroll Druid or Priest if you want to heal, or just roll Rogue/Mage/Priest and faceroll your way to Gladiator.”
“Do you really need any more proof after this, anyone can see it cleary, Blizzard hates Paladins!”

These are just some of the comments that have filled the forums since the announcement of the nerf to Vindication. For those not aware, here’s the official word from the Developers:

“We are in the process of completing a hotfix that could go live as early as this afternoon that will make the Paladin talent Vindication no longer reduce Intelligence or Stamina from the target it is applied to. The talent will continue to reduce Agility, Spirit, and Strength as it currently does. We felt this change will help balance the ability out, especially in the lower arena brackets where they are very prominent, while not being a negative impact on a Retribution Paladin’s PvE dps.Once this hotfix is live, the tooltip will be incorrect until we can update it in the next content patch.”

Nobody likes to get nerfed, and I will be the first to admit the reasoning does look a little shaky on the surface. Balancing around the ‘lower brackets’ seems akin to balancing around a 5 man normal dungeon, instead of Raids.

I’ll even further agree that Ret seems to have some very knee jerk nerfs directed at it and that it does feel a little bit “picked on”at times.

I think too many times, we read forums about what our class can’t do, or how bad off our class has it compared to other classes. It leads us to looking at those other classes with envious eyes and wondering why the Developers ‘hate us’ so. The problem comes when you let the negativity of the forums spill over into the game and affect the entertainment value, let’s call it fun, that you get from the game.

I know I’m guilty of this. It’s probably why I’ve got an entire stable full of alts. You start thinking “Gah, (insert class name) stinks, I’m changing to (insert new class name).”

You go to the forums to get or give advice or just to discuss your class with others who are knowledgeable about the class and share the same passion for the play style that you do. What you find far too often, not only on the General WoW forums, but on specialty sites like Maintankadin, PlusHeal and Tankspot, is many people complaining about what their class can’t do. While it’s important to understand the limitations of any class, the main reason for understanding your weaknesses is so you can work around them and minimize them.

I rolled my Paladin in 1.9 after one of the biggest nerfs to Paladins in the history of the game at that point. But I didn’t know about it. I wasn’t reading the forums. I didn’t know Paladins had been nerfed “INTO THE GROUND” as the saying goes. All I knew at the time was that I was having fun leveling my Paladin.

I talked with fellow Blogger Veneretio and I loved what he said, “I always write about what we can do, not what we can't. The tank topics that Tankspot released a while back do reveal issues with Warriors though. Some have been fixed. Some haven't. You'll never hear me write it even if there is a problem.”

That’s pretty much the same approach I’ve taken.

If you read the forums right now, you’ll hear how ‘once again’ Paladins are falling behind as a Tank choice. I took it seriously enough to get my Warrior up to 80 (though he’s not quite there yet). I wanted to have a backup plan.

Then I talked to my Raid Leader and he put in perspective : “I guess the only thing I can say is that if you are not having FUN on the pally ( not worried about effectiveness as I care more about the player not the class).”

So I thought about it last night as I tanked in Ulduar. I thought about it again as I was doing 3s with my Arena team.

I had blast tanking Ulduar. My 3s team is very fun.

Sure, I wish I had a shorter cool down interrupt off the global cool down.
Sure, I wish I had a distance closer.
Sure, I wish I had another tanking cool down.
Sure, I wish the Developers would get Ret to the point in PVP where all it needed was small tweaks every now and again, not major rewrites every other patch.
Sure, I wish itemization was a little better.
Sure, I wish the T8 Legs had a different graphic.

And I bet every class has a laundry ‘Wish List’ of buffs they’d like as well.

Am I worried the changes to Block will upset the Tanking balance. You’re darn tootin’ right I am. Am I worried the Developers will give Warriors their 4pc set bonus as a talent, but not give something similar to the Paladin. Absolutely, and that would stink.

Do I worry that Paladins will have a harder time tanking bosses or have a harder time having success in Arena? Yep.

But this ole boy was tanking Bosses when ‘everybody knew’ Paladins couldn’t do it. I tanked ole Magtheridon into ground without a Shield Wall. I did the pull on Hydross without Charge. I walked the line of keeping 2nd threat on Gruul. I did it all at a time, when ‘Paladins couldn’t do it’.

I believe that if it got to the point where I felt like it was holding back our Raid group for me to be a Paladin tank, then I would have to reevaluate it, but we aren't anywhere remote close to that. We aren't even in that Area Code.

So here’s my challenge to you if you are getting disgruntled with your class, regardless of what class you play. Stop reading forums for a week and just play. You aren’t going to miss any earth shattering news that you won’t be able to catch-up on within 10 minutes on MMO-Champion once the week is over.

As you play, ask yourself if you are having fun. If you are having fun, then stick with the class you enjoy playing, and choose to ignore the stuff on the forums. If you aren’t having fun, then yes, maybe it’s time for a new class, or possibly even a new game.