Ret: Not Allowed to be Concerned?

When the developers make mistakes in several areas, it's the duty of us the players to try and set the record straight. That's what the Retribution community has been trying to do for months now, as well as other players who recognized these related issues as severe problems as well and dutifully brought them up. Frankly, we have done everything you have asked for in regards to giving you the feedback you require.

We don't expect feedback on everything, it's just a fact of life and we can, and have, accepted that. But put yourself in our position. We are honestly content to just see words put to action, at least that way we know the developers are listening and have verified something is off. The trouble is the state of Retribution PvP is in shambles, and nothing has been done about it period. Not gradual changes, not slight tweaks, nothing that indicates it is a concern to the developers when all the signs and testing clearly indicate there are major problems.

Another problem is so much of what the developers have stated regarding their vision for our spec has become contradictory. For example, Retribution was intended by the developers to be similar to an Arms Warrior, just with less mobility made up for with better healing/defenses. The problem is our mobility became weaker and weaker as well as our defenses and healing, to the point an Arms Warrior can now heal more effectively and efficiently in combat than a Ret Paladin. Indeed, compared to other non-healing DPS, our healing is noticeably weaker with severe drawbacks. When asked about this, the developers stated the situation was acceptable but did not elaborate or show any evidence or reasoning as to how such a situation was fair or balanced.

Another big contradiction seems to be the return of the defensive support concept in spite of the fact that Blizzard stated in their own words that the concept in question greatly contributed to the weakness of Retribution PvP. Initially stating that their intent was to move us further away from this philosophy and towards a more offensive mindset, they seemingly switched gears after removing much of our defensive power and built the spec around becoming an offhealer, but without the defensive support that allowed it to reliably function in any PvP environment. Essentially, instead of becoming more like a DPS, Retribution has become nothing more than a glorified offhealer. Put those both together, and it should be rather easy to understand why people are totally confused.

Repeated testing continues to verify what we all know about the state of Ret PvP, and considering how long this process has been going on, would anyone not be extremely concerned and even downright upset if they were put in this situation with no answers to the myriad of questions?

Look at it from our perspective. Our spec has gone from decent to completely unviable in PvP where alot of us like to play, and Lv85 and resilience will not fix it, nor will the group support environment necesary for Rated BGs. In fact, we are even less likely to even be considered because we bring nothing another cannot bring better and we require too much babysitting to be worth the effort. No Ret Paladin will ever have a real chance at getting Grand Marshal or the Horde equivalant, nor will they ever be invited to any competetive teams in the state they are now.

All we ever wanted was to simply be considered a viable melee spec, not outstanding, not god-like, just something that works. Please try and understand, we are just frustrated and most have given up all hope of ever recovering, because from all indications all we can look forward to is worse things to come.