Ret: Clarification Requested on WoG Nerf

#1 - Feb. 24, 2011, 11:58 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Most Ret Paladins understand why WoG was nerfed, we just don't understand why this spell in particular was hit so heavily when the problem seemingly lies elsewhere.

The Selfless Healer talent is too good right now simply because of how much it can heal a friendly target. If this is one of the reasons WoG was hit, why not simply adjust this talent in particular so it is not so powerful?

Additionally, too much RNG is another large problem that has a large bearing on the success of SH and WoG in. Because resource generation is still very whack-a-mole, it is possible to get back to back procs on DP that make talents like SH and WoG extremely powerful. I don't understand if the potential to cause this imbalance exists with the large RNG base Retribution resides in, why is this not corrected?

PvP will take a very large hit when the WoG nerf goes thru simply because offhealing is the only true niche the Retribution Paladin has that allows it to reliably compete. With a 20 sec CD attached to WoG, it will be impossible to reliably offheal thus removing most of the motivation for taking a Ret Paladin in competetive PvP period.

Not only that, but personal surviveability will take a large hit as well with the loss of our only viable combat healing spell. Without WoG, the only other viable healing spell is Holy Light when under the effects of Crusade. The other heals simply take too long to cast and cost too much for too little gain, hence why they are almost never used. Indeed, unless helped by a miracle, these healing spells simply cannot be used in combat because they are too easy to interrupt and give too little back.

No doubt the developers must have known this in deciding on this nerf, so my questions are:

1. If WoG is going to become nigh-worthless for Paladin personal surviveability, will Retribution look to be receiving additional survival mechanics to compensate?

2. Will Selfless Healer be changed or removed if offhealing is to be so curtailed as to not be worth bringing to PvP?

3. Does this signify that additional offensive utility may be implemented to compensate for the large PvP loss both to the Ret Paladin personally and to their viability as a Rated BG/Arena partner?

4. If RNG is so large a factor in WoG's success, will we see steps taken to reduce it and make it more streamlineed thru the rotation?

On the subject, it also appears as though the WoG nerf was put into place because Templar's Verdict was almost never used in PvP environments. Understand that Templar's Verdict is rarely used in this environments simply because it is highly mitigated by both armor and resilience as well as Ret surviveability being tied to WoG since no other heal could reliably be used in combat.

If you want Retribution to use it more often, it should be strengthened to more reliably counter the formentioned mitigations as it can many times hit for a rather low amount for the amount of time and HoPo used. Have the developers considered perhaps allowing TV to deal a set percentage as Holy damage to increase it's power and appeal? Mastery helps, but alone TV could probably use some tuning.

Last question: have the developers considered giving Retribution an effective combat healing mechanic that is not tied to such rigid restrictions as WoG is set to be? Perhaps a personal healing mechanic like a HoPo version of Recuperate that can only heal the Paladin himself without similar potential as WoG for becoming too powerful thru RNG?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.
Forum Avatar
Community Manager
#89 - March 29, 2011, 7:49 p.m.
Blizzard Post
03/26/2011 5:52 AMPosted by Gadhri
Yeah, you do. They already said it. They said "We feel a stronger heal that you can use less often is more compelling than a weaker spammable heal".


03/27/2011 11:47 PMPosted by Ashrial
20s isn't overkill if that is how often Blizzard wants it available. Players often have very divergent expectations as to what they should and shouldn't be able to do. I think this is yet another example of that. Blizzard wants Rets and Prot to be able to heal every 20 seconds, they clearly do not think it is overkill (yet) because they have left its cooldown intact.


I recently spoke to the devs about this, and their direction on it has not changed. We want Ret to be able to heal. However, if a Ret paladin is healing so often that a 20 second cooldown is a constraint, then that Ret paladin is spending too many GCDs healing. Spending a lot of GCDs on heals isn’t what we want a DPS spec to be doing.

We’d rather it be a big heal that is used infrequently, than a small heal that is only makes a difference to you if you give a lot of your GCDs to it.