#0 - June 18, 2009, 6:10 p.m.
Q u o t e:
Currently, we think paladin tanks are almost there and that they just need slightly better cooldowns to handle some of the tougher boss fights. Rather than add a new ability that felt like a clone of another class’s ability, we decided to buff an existing talent that was no longer cutting it. Ardent Defender has two important changes. The first is that the damage can no longer “skip over” the 35% health level – it will always be reduced. Secondly, it has a new effect that if a blow would kill you, it instead sets you to 30% health. This portion of the ability cannot occur more than once every 2 minutes. Think of it as a Last Stand that you don’t have to push.
A second change to Protection is we want to make sure Blessing of Sanctuary is always the tanking blessing of choice. A likely change here is to have it boost stamina as well.
We also recognize that block does not provide the mitigation it once did. While we have long-term plans to change the way block works entirely, in the short term we are doubling the effect of bonus block value on items (so jewelry, but not shields).
Initial thoughts:
-Not being leapfroggable is a good thing, but it needs an ICD for the same reason that WoTN has one.
-Killing blow prevention seems like it will cause some problems, such as when stuff is supposed to instakill you (Sapph's breath, Thorim's ball lightning in the gauntet, Mimiron's rocket strikes, etc.)
-Not being an active ability=bad. More buttons to push is a good thing, it separates good tanks from bad tanks.
-Sanc boosting Stamina is interesting...but if it stacks with Fort/Kings, you're basically always going to need a Prot Paladin in every raid, which isn't good. Unique buffs are bad.
-Block change is a bandaid, and is therefore disappointing. If the increase is significant, expect hotfix nerfs once Paladins start soloing T7 content.
EDIT:
There's a nerf too, from the Retribution changes
Q u o t e:
Exorcism has a cast time of 1.5 seconds but can be used on players again.
This is a nerf for tanks since non-miss avoidance is turned off when you're casting.
...and another buff, which may affect talent choices.
Q u o t e:
Finally, we are replacing the current effect of Vindication with an attack power debuff that works like Demoralizing Shout. In PvP, Ret paladins can still debuff melee targets, while in PvE they can provide another necessary debuff in the case that the tank is not a warrior or druid. In addition, the talent may be more attractive to Protection paladins.
