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dares · 11/22/07, 1:27 AM

How to play 2v2 and 3v3 as a Paladin:

Don't.

Seriously, no exaggeration. It's really not fun at all.

I run with a Warrior/Warlock/Paladin comp for 3s and we're all very good players. I've played against every good player in the battlegroup, and really, the class is just stale. I'm not going to call Paladins broken because everything we have is working properly, but the class is just terrible. Druids will outmana me (the "efficiency healer") because of supreme mobility, Innervate, and the ability to stack HOTs and just run and drink. Any minor advantages I may have in efficiency mean close to nothing when you can drop combat so easily and drink. Druids can easily match incoming damage with instant cast HOT spells and they have two burst healing options in Nature's Swiftness and Swiftmend. All of this is completely risk free and virtually impossible to shut down. Whenever a team bursts hard against my team (for the sake of argument, I'll use Rogue/Mage/Priest bursting my Warlock, a very common setup), I have only two very inflexible options:

1.) I use Divine Shield, thus eliminating possible crowd controls on me (Blind, Polymorph, Counterspell, Psychic Scream, etc.) and enabling me to spam HL11 on my Warlock. Because Wound Poison will never really drop off, my mana efficiency is complete garbage and my HPS barely matches the incoming damage. With MS/Wound, HL11 heals for about an average of 2500 every 2s. Mage (with Power Infusion/Water Elemental) and Rogue with AR can easily do 1000 dps together to a stunned Warlock. My Warrior is usually Blinded during this, and if he trinkets, he'll get Polymorphed. Because I'm spamming my Warlock, usually I can't spare the global to Cleanse it -- especially factoring in the fact he'll likely have dummy debuffs up too.

In a perfect world, my Divine Shield will last the full 12 seconds and that will buy enough time for my Warrior to begin locking down the Mage with my Warlock's Felguard. The fight then scatters as the timers begin to wear off on the Rogue/Mage, I can juke some Counterspells and we go on to win.

In a realistic world, my Divine Shield gets stripped by the Priest. Reactively, I throw up Sac on my Warlock anticipating the Polymorph. Against good Priests, they'll strip the Sac, I'll get Polymorphed and my Warlock dies. Even if the Sac sticks, it's not always possible to avoid a Counterspell. So if that happens, Warlock's usually dead without a timely Intimidating Shout or Fear. Another fun scenario is my Sac does so much damage to myself that I can't spend the time healing it (because, as mentioned previously, my Warlock's getting drilled) that the enemy team notices my health pretty compromised, the Priest fears me, Rogue vanishes and reopens on me, and they kill me and go on to win. Another issue is that my healing can barely match the damage on the Warlock. Naturally, because he's Soul Link, the pet's taking unanswered damage. Good players notice this and with a quick target switch, his pet's dead. GG. Guess what a Druid would do here? Stack Lifebloom on the pet, swiftmend/NS the Warlock, Cyclone someone.

2.) Blessing of Protection, the only other clutch ability a Paladin has. Dispelled or Spell Stolen immediately. Warlock dies.

Paladins contribute absolute zero offensively. The only ability worth mentioning is Hammer of Justice: long cooldown, highly restricted by range, highly resisted, easily dispelled. There is often a pretty major contradiction with the turtled way a Paladin has to play to avoid being abused by crowd controls (sneaking around corners and sneaking out FOLs) and the 10 yard range on Hammer of Justice. Simply put, the Paladin's growing weaknesses defensively do not warrant the complete void of offensive utility in the form of crowd controls or otherwise unique abilities.

I'm pretty fed up with the class entirely. I am currently levelling a Druid. I don't really feel I should have to, but it's the way it is. Shamans and Paladins are complete bottom tier for 2s and 3s with no real fix in sight. They seem to be making attempts at helping Shamans with the halving of Earth Shield mana cost and Water Shield buffing, but the feeling I get is that they don't really understand the way high end arena works. Paladins are pretty good against bad players so maybe that's what's intended, but being completely abused at the top end of the spectrum is not my idea of fun. Ret is still not viable at all.

11/22/07, 1:27 AM	#45 (permalink)
dares Von Kaiser Dares Blood Elf Paladin No WoW Account	How to play 2v2 and 3v3 as a Paladin: Don't. Seriously, no exaggeration. It's really not fun at all. I run with a Warrior/Warlock/Paladin comp for 3s and we're all very good players. I've played against every good player in the battlegroup, and really, the class is just stale. I'm not going to call Paladins broken because everything we have is working properly, but the class is just terrible. Druids will outmana me (the "efficiency healer") because of supreme mobility, Innervate, and the ability to stack HOTs and just run and drink. Any minor advantages I may have in efficiency mean close to nothing when you can drop combat so easily and drink. Druids can easily match incoming damage with instant cast HOT spells and they have two burst healing options in Nature's Swiftness and Swiftmend. All of this is completely risk free and virtually impossible to shut down. Whenever a team bursts hard against my team (for the sake of argument, I'll use Rogue/Mage/Priest bursting my Warlock, a very common setup), I have only two very inflexible options: 1.) I use Divine Shield, thus eliminating possible crowd controls on me (Blind, Polymorph, Counterspell, Psychic Scream, etc.) and enabling me to spam HL11 on my Warlock. Because Wound Poison will never really drop off, my mana efficiency is complete garbage and my HPS barely matches the incoming damage. With MS/Wound, HL11 heals for about an average of 2500 every 2s. Mage (with Power Infusion/Water Elemental) and Rogue with AR can easily do 1000 dps together to a stunned Warlock. My Warrior is usually Blinded during this, and if he trinkets, he'll get Polymorphed. Because I'm spamming my Warlock, usually I can't spare the global to Cleanse it -- especially factoring in the fact he'll likely have dummy debuffs up too. In a perfect world, my Divine Shield will last the full 12 seconds and that will buy enough time for my Warrior to begin locking down the Mage with my Warlock's Felguard. The fight then scatters as the timers begin to wear off on the Rogue/Mage, I can juke some Counterspells and we go on to win. In a realistic world, my Divine Shield gets stripped by the Priest. Reactively, I throw up Sac on my Warlock anticipating the Polymorph. Against good Priests, they'll strip the Sac, I'll get Polymorphed and my Warlock dies. Even if the Sac sticks, it's not always possible to avoid a Counterspell. So if that happens, Warlock's usually dead without a timely Intimidating Shout or Fear. Another fun scenario is my Sac does so much damage to myself that I can't spend the time healing it (because, as mentioned previously, my Warlock's getting drilled) that the enemy team notices my health pretty compromised, the Priest fears me, Rogue vanishes and reopens on me, and they kill me and go on to win. Another issue is that my healing can barely match the damage on the Warlock. Naturally, because he's Soul Link, the pet's taking unanswered damage. Good players notice this and with a quick target switch, his pet's dead. GG. Guess what a Druid would do here? Stack Lifebloom on the pet, swiftmend/NS the Warlock, Cyclone someone. 2.) Blessing of Protection, the only other clutch ability a Paladin has. Dispelled or Spell Stolen immediately. Warlock dies. Paladins contribute absolute zero offensively. The only ability worth mentioning is Hammer of Justice: long cooldown, highly restricted by range, highly resisted, easily dispelled. There is often a pretty major contradiction with the turtled way a Paladin has to play to avoid being abused by crowd controls (sneaking around corners and sneaking out FOLs) and the 10 yard range on Hammer of Justice. Simply put, the Paladin's growing weaknesses defensively do not warrant the complete void of offensive utility in the form of crowd controls or otherwise unique abilities. I'm pretty fed up with the class entirely. I am currently levelling a Druid. I don't really feel I should have to, but it's the way it is. Shamans and Paladins are complete bottom tier for 2s and 3s with no real fix in sight. They seem to be making attempts at helping Shamans with the halving of Earth Shield mana cost and Water Shield buffing, but the feeling I get is that they don't really understand the way high end arena works. Paladins are pretty good against bad players so maybe that's what's intended, but being completely abused at the top end of the spectrum is not my idea of fun. Ret is still not viable at all.