Preparing for Arthas
It's almost time, time to pull the Holy Mightstone out of my Bank. It's been in there since I did the quest back at level 55 in what now is called Vanilla WoW. I've been saving it, saving it for Arthas. Now we storm his citadel.
My thanks to Maintankadin poster, Erendis for coming up with that.
Today is Patch day. I am really excited to join my team as we dive into the first wing of Ice Crown Citadel. Of course it being Patch Day, be prepared for Extended Maintenance. Also be prepared for servers to be unstable and Addons to break. As I told a guildmate last night, it's a pessimistic view, but you're much less likely to be disappointed.
(Icecrown Citadel drawn by Peter Lee.)
As for the Patch itself, the New LFG tool looks absolutely fantastic. It should make finding groups easier even for my Hunter. I'll be running it as often as I can on both toons to maximize my Emblems of Frost income.
Speaking of Emblems of Frost, it looks like the Weekly Raid quest will be taking us to some old haunts to grab some additional Emblems.
As far as Tankadin changes this patch, we've lost one of our emergency buttons. Lay on Hands will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others. By giving us the debuff Forbearance, it will lock out Divine Protection (Paladin's Shield Wall) for 2 minutes. If you want to use both Lay on Hands and Divine Protection, put DP up first, then Lay on Hands. I usually saved Lay on Hands for right after my Ardent Defender proced. I won't be able to do that anymore. Lay on Hands will be an absolute last resort now. If I'm completely out of tricks, I'll pop it, otherwise, I won't be able to use it.
This should put the final coffin in the Aura Mastery/Improved Lay on Hands spec. The Crusade (0/53/18) looks to be the spec to go with in Ice Crown.
It annoys me that Paladin's lost a tool for PVE Tanking because the developers couldn't find a way to balance it properly when used in PVP. This isn't the first time Tankadins have been negatively affected by the PVE/PVP Balance. I have a feeling it won't be the last.
Tankadins did receive a minor utility buff with the changes to Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. Divine Guardian is now a 20% damage reduction for the entire raid, and we no long have to use Divine Shield with it. We should be healable when using Divine Guardian.
With the propensity of AoE effects in Ice Crown Citadel, I can Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian being a strong utility for Protection Paladins. I would suggest that your three 'flavor' points are best spent in these talents.
I can't wait to start trying out some new bosses, and start working towards some new gear. Tankadin T10 4 piece bonus is rather lackluster so I'm looking at some offset gear this Tier. There is one fight, Deathbringer Saurfang, that looks like the set bonus might be useful for. He has a stacking debuff that can be dodged, and parried. Since he is early in the instance, virtually no one will even have the option of using the 4 piece on him, so we will have to wait and see if the 4 piece will be important on later bosses. With our 4 piece being so unique, I doubt it will be important, and if it is, expect the other tanks to say something about it.
Arthas: Foolish Paladin. You think with your meagre powers you can defeat me?
Honorshammer: Not with my powers alone. *Breaks stone* But with the power of those that come before. The power of all my fallen comrades. The power of all those whose lives you ruined. You who claim to be King of the Grave WILL taste death today. On the Light I swear it.
Honorshammer: Not with my powers alone. *Breaks stone* But with the power of those that come before. The power of all my fallen comrades. The power of all those whose lives you ruined. You who claim to be King of the Grave WILL taste death today. On the Light I swear it.
My thanks to Maintankadin poster, Erendis for coming up with that.
Today is Patch day. I am really excited to join my team as we dive into the first wing of Ice Crown Citadel. Of course it being Patch Day, be prepared for Extended Maintenance. Also be prepared for servers to be unstable and Addons to break. As I told a guildmate last night, it's a pessimistic view, but you're much less likely to be disappointed.
(Icecrown Citadel drawn by Peter Lee.)
As for the Patch itself, the New LFG tool looks absolutely fantastic. It should make finding groups easier even for my Hunter. I'll be running it as often as I can on both toons to maximize my Emblems of Frost income.
Speaking of Emblems of Frost, it looks like the Weekly Raid quest will be taking us to some old haunts to grab some additional Emblems.
As far as Tankadin changes this patch, we've lost one of our emergency buttons. Lay on Hands will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others. By giving us the debuff Forbearance, it will lock out Divine Protection (Paladin's Shield Wall) for 2 minutes. If you want to use both Lay on Hands and Divine Protection, put DP up first, then Lay on Hands. I usually saved Lay on Hands for right after my Ardent Defender proced. I won't be able to do that anymore. Lay on Hands will be an absolute last resort now. If I'm completely out of tricks, I'll pop it, otherwise, I won't be able to use it.
This should put the final coffin in the Aura Mastery/Improved Lay on Hands spec. The Crusade (0/53/18) looks to be the spec to go with in Ice Crown.
It annoys me that Paladin's lost a tool for PVE Tanking because the developers couldn't find a way to balance it properly when used in PVP. This isn't the first time Tankadins have been negatively affected by the PVE/PVP Balance. I have a feeling it won't be the last.
Tankadins did receive a minor utility buff with the changes to Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. Divine Guardian is now a 20% damage reduction for the entire raid, and we no long have to use Divine Shield with it. We should be healable when using Divine Guardian.
With the propensity of AoE effects in Ice Crown Citadel, I can Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian being a strong utility for Protection Paladins. I would suggest that your three 'flavor' points are best spent in these talents.
I can't wait to start trying out some new bosses, and start working towards some new gear. Tankadin T10 4 piece bonus is rather lackluster so I'm looking at some offset gear this Tier. There is one fight, Deathbringer Saurfang, that looks like the set bonus might be useful for. He has a stacking debuff that can be dodged, and parried. Since he is early in the instance, virtually no one will even have the option of using the 4 piece on him, so we will have to wait and see if the 4 piece will be important on later bosses. With our 4 piece being so unique, I doubt it will be important, and if it is, expect the other tanks to say something about it.
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