-Finally we can start treating the spec in a more general view rather than have to constantly tailor theory/advice by faction.

-Also Alliance retadins are finally elevated from their second class citizen status.

-Description: An instant weapon attack that causes Holy damage to up to 4 enemies within 8 yards. The Divine Storm heals up to 3 party or raid members totaling 20% of the damage caused. (12% of base mana, 5 yard range, Instant cast, 10 sec cooldown, Requires Melee Weapon)

-Finally something worthwhile to replace the horribly non-scaling "we use it since there's nothing else" attack in our rotation (Consecration)

-Much cheaper than Consecration, should help our mana management (12% base mana = 354 mana at level 70 vs 660 mana for level 70 consecration).

-Significant DPS boost. Especially since it seems to be 100% armor bypassing holy attack assuming "an instant weapon attack" means "causes weapon damage".

-Retadins now have Whirlwind! \o/

(-I'm assuming this will finally push Consecration off our rotation for single targets which should definitely be a good thing.)

-A few years too late, but at least it's finally here. Some might say, it's almost too late, with a lot of our abilities not using SD anymore.

-Another dead obvious change that's long overdue. This should round out retadins more as well as finally allow us to improve our remaining abilities that only gain from spell hit/crit.

-Finally a fix to an incredibly cumbersome mechanic (Seal Judge system) that should have been changed back in 2005. Less GCD fumbling to apply a simple debuff is a breath of fresh air.

-Description: Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.

-Removing a useless Seal and simplifying an overly proprietary effect, what's there not to like.

-Any judgement now adds JotC crit effect when talented, simplifies our starting rotation.

-Retadin in raid = +2% flat raid damage. Though given this, 40 yard range auras should become the default rather than a tier 3 holy talent.

-Removing BoL, BoS means there's a higher chance (or almost certainty) we'll always have our relevant buffs (BoK, BoM and BoW) assuming a minimum of 1 paladin of each spec will become the norm.

-20% aggro dump every 2 mins. Castable on others. Added utility is always nice, though I hope it doesn't lead to silly raid expectations any time someone overaggroes.

-An overall DPS increase. New AW will be a 0.2% multiplier to total fight damage if spammed (20/120 * 1.2) rather than only 0.1444 (20/180 * 1.3).

-It's less of a suicide button. With the removal of Forbearance you can use it more frequently without having to worry about the consequences/becoming vulnerable. This is especially true for PvP/Arena.

-Talented you get "50% of all damage caused bypasses damage reduction effects", which if I understand correctly will work against damage reduced by armor means we're actually gaining burst (especially in PvP) despite the 30% -> 20% damage nerf.

-Instacast and cd reduction should make this a much more frequently used spell, rather than a "once in a blue moon" deal. The Stun can work as utility in instances with undead/demons.

-A small mana potion every 20 mins is welcome. Still uncertain how much it actually costs to use now, patch notes say it "no longer drains all mana", data mined tooltips still show it as "draining all remaining mana"?

-Instance utility/CC.

-Somewhat buff to healing. I can actually see holy paladins going 15 points into ret to get it now.

-Very welcome utility/mana regen, though it's still very unclear how effective this will be depending on how random the 3 raid members that get the mana are picked. Fingers crossed that it always works for the retadin himself.

-Looking at our warrior relatives, their precision talent is still there (accessible even to hybrid MS specs, though it's not sure whether they will still exist in wotlk).
-If we're supposed to share itemization, I can see this becoming annoying.

-10% damage loss to all holy attacks is roughly a 3% overall damage decrease (assuming ~30% holy damage).

-Having the "base effect" of retribution aura something completely generic such as it is now ("thorns") makes absolutely no sense. It should be something that directly benefits the retadin/DPS, rather than being forced to use it in order to benefit from the talent.

-Raid wide "thorns" buff, even for healers and squishies, while not catastrophic, doesn't sound too comforting.

-3 points for yet more randomness, which is tied to a second ability. They should simplify rather than add more random effects.

-Giving these talents to Holy spec makes it easier and encourages holy paladins to judge frequently. With only 2 relevant raid judgement debuffs left AS WELL AS the simplification of the judging process AND the relative easy of getting "Heart of the Crusader" (tier 2 ret tree: +3% crit debuff on targets from any judgement), which pretty much all holy paladins are bound to take on their way to get Conviction (tier 3 ret tree) in order to get an additional +5% spell crit, this move is catastrophic for retadins and pretty much nullifies their purpose to be there (to keep up judgements).

-Retadins aren't used to keep up judgements anymore. Which reduces our benefit to the 2% raid damage aura. I really hope this is addressed in some way.

-While I in no way am going to dislike any buff given to any paladin spec (since I do go holy and prot frequently), it's hard to ignore how the upper part of the ret tree feels very much tailored for holy spec, that it eats into our usefulness (as explained in the above point) so much that it makes no point using a ret paladin.

-For example I can see the following spec becoming a very popular holy spec: 47/0/24

You can see a holy paladin would sacrifice very few situational abilities (Beacon of Light) and almost exclusively gain from the points in the Ret Tree (+3% crit for raid, +2% damage with retri aura for raid, +5% spell crit, +crit heals give a 60% amount HoT).

-What's the point of a ret paladin if holy spec can get all this?

-Nothing is done here. This remains a MAJOR problem, especially with the mechanics of "Judgements of the Wise" being unclear (is the retadin always one of the 3 receiving mana?). Though admittedly it's too early to tell how it will be with the reduced dependency on Consecration giving us less of a mana drain.

-We currently operate with a bugged JoW giving ~85% mana back. If this is fixed it could be another big blow.

-No mana/mana regen talent/conversion despite the fact that we're now going to be sharing itemization with Warriors and Deathknights?

-There's a high probability the "+2% damage increase" will not be listed as an effect of Retribution Aura tooltip (as it's the case with all talented buffs at the moment) leading to yet again "invisible buffs that are not recognized", one of the main complaints of all retadins.

-This sounds completely random. If it really is 3/25 it will feel like yet another diluted buff that's not actually widely recognized as a buff... which certainly does not help our case. It's the enhancement shaman (heavy focused buffs) vs Retadin (3% crit to the whole raid that's not directly noticed) argument all over again.

-As a minimum, it should "always" affect the retadin.

-Unless it's such a massive change that would allow you to recharge your mana bar in a few heavy 2h hits (which I highly doubt), having to drop your damage seal to regain mana is still a very dumb mechanic (see enhancement shamans). Time will tell.

-The jury is still out on this one. Talented, you should have an average crit rate of 70-80% with HoW now. Impossible to tell for now if it will be worthwhile without knowing all the facts.

-Using it at 35% health is welcome, though it won't really work as a finisher at that amount of health in PvP.