Taugrim's MMO Blog

This HD video is narrated footage of my 85 Prot Pally in Cataclysm Patch v4.0.3a in Arena 2v2 with an Enhancement Shaman, Kashmír. This is my second Arena video for Cataclysm.

We worked our way up from 1750 to 1850 rating in the 3rd week of Season 9. Our team moved up the ladder from the 600s to #213. Here’s the link to our team page, if you want to check out our gear/spec/enchants/gems/etc:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/arena/wildhammer/2v2/beasteh/

Opposing Comps 

• Feral Druid / Holy Paladin
• Feral Druid / Holy Paladin (same team)
• Death Knight / Holy Paladin
• Death Knight / Restoration Druid
• Warrior / Discipline Priest
• Warlock / Holy Paladin
• Warrior / Mage

Tips

• As I discussed in the video, bridging the gap between an Enhancement Shaman’s Feral Spirit ability (a.k.a. Wolves) is to key to winning an endurance match against a DPS + Healer comp. This tactic will not work against a Warrior + Healer comp due to the Warrior’s high DPS
• To maximize the effect of Feral Spirit, Kashmír activates his PVP trinket (Badge of Conquest), casts FS, then casts Bloodlust
• For endurance fights where we are focus firing the DPS, I should have used Hammer of Justice (HoJ) stun more frequently to reduce incoming damage. The cooldown on HoJ is so long that there is no issue with Diminishing Returns (DR). However, once we’re getting close to a CC-burst sequence it’s worth waiting until we both have HoJ and Hex off cooldown
• As I mentioned in the video, if you need to heal your partner and they have a melee on them, sometimes you should create a gap before healing so that you can’t be interrupted by the melee, and if the melee decides to interrupt your cast (e.g. Warrior Intercept), they’re off your partner anyway. Force them to choose
• Check out my Prot Pally PVP Guide for the full scoop on the Prot spec

If you have questions for either me or Kashmír, please post them.

This is my 1st PVP video @ 85.

My partner Kashmír and I are new to this comp. Our record was 5-5 in WotLK, 10-7 last week, and 19-7 this week (which was really 18-6 when we factor out DCs). We’re still in the learning process.

It’s a fun and uncommon comp and our matches tend to go quickly as we’re both “DPS”.

I make some silly mistakes in the video – do as I say not as I do

Excerpt from the YouTube video description:

This HD video is narrated footage of my 85 Protection Paladin in Cataclysm Patch v4.0.3a in Arena 2v2 with an Enhancement Shaman, Kashmír. We won 18 out of 24 matches in which neither side lost a player due to DC.

This is my 6th Prot PVP video since 4.0 launched and my 1st at 85 in Cataclysm.

This video features the following opposing comps at ~1800 MMR:
- Feral Druid + Rogue
- Warlock + Restoration Shaman
- Mage + Enhancement Shaman
- Warrior + Discipline Priest
- Mage + Holy Paladin

Tips / Notes
- As I talk about in my Prot PVP Guide, you should try whenever possible to not use Shield of the Righteous unless you have the Sacred Duty buff up. The reason is that SD guarantees that SotR will crit, and if you use SotR without SD you’ll be using our Melee Crit rate, which with my gear was ~6%
- If you need to bubble yourself to heal up, it’s a good idea to use the first GCD after popping Divine Shield to cast Judgement, which procs your mana regen. Then spam-cast FoL. That way you can heal up without going bone dry on mana
- CS is often my #1 source of damage (~22% of my total). This make sense given how frequently we can use it and the synergistic buffs to damage and crit from Wrath of the Lightbringer, Crusade, and Rule of Law
- We did face comps that went after my partner since he can’t bubble, but with his Wolves and the Paladin abilities Hand of Sacrifice, Divine Guardian, and Holy Radiance, we had instant-cast tools to extend his time-to-live. I usually charged in ahead of Kash to force opponents to deal with me, and shortly after Kash would engage
- Attacking a Restoration Shaman is not a smart thing to do, it generates mana for the Shaman. LOLZ
- I had thought that Seal of Truth and Retribution Aura were underwhelming at 85, but after looking at Recount from matches I realized that SoT and RA is still worth using. SoT is typically 10-12% of my total damage and RA against melees is ~3%

Errata:
- The 2nd comp was incorrectly listed in the video as Warlock + Holy Paladin, but as I said in the video it was actually Warlock + Restoration Shaman

For detailed information about Prot PVP, check out my PVP Guide:
http://taugrim.com/2010/10/14/guide-wow-4-0-protection-paladin-class-mechanics

Please post feedback / questions / comments. Thanks!

Excerpt from the YouTube video description:

This HD video is narrated footage of my 80 Protection Paladin in Patch v4.0.3a in an Eye of the Storm BG (queued solo).

This is my 5th Prot PVP video since 4.0 launched, and in this one I discuss the (significant) changes that were introduced in 4.0.3a and how they impact Prot PVP.

For detailed information about 4.0.3a, check out my Prot Pally PVP Guide – in particular Section 14 where I break down every documented and undocumented change:
http://taugrim.com/2010/10/14/guide-wow-4-0-protection-paladin-class-mechanics

Summary of the changes:
A. Survivability has gone down significantly, primarily due to the nerf to PotI
B. Our burst damage has been toned down a bit, but we can still deliver effective burst
C. Our sustained DPS has decreased noticeably, due to the cumulative effect of multiple nerfs (e.g. to CS, to SoT, etc)
D. We have received a few situational buffs per the video (e.g. Crusader, Divine Plea HoPo generation)

In 4.0.3a, I changed specs from 3/31/2 to 0/31/5 given that Protector of the Innocent no longer works for self-heals. So Prot spec is once again “Protribution” (i.e. Prot/Ret).

To turn on enemy health bars, with class colors:
a. to show the health bar over all players, use the keybind for Show All Name Plates
b. to color the health bars of enemy players per their class: check the box for: Options | Interface| Combat | Class Colors in Nameplates

Errata / Clarifications:
1. the clips of WoG healing at the start of the video were intended to show that despite multiple changes to WoG (base healing increased, GbtL nerfed), its healing output is the same as before. My new spec doesn’t have PotI due to the nerf
2. the Alliance Pally that I killed in the middle and end of the video was Prot not Holy
3. when I killed the Lock, the 5.9k crit was from HoW not HotR
4. at the end of the video, after bubbling, I should have cast HL with the Crusader buff, instead of spamming FoL. Old habits die hard

P.S. let me know if the narration volume or game sound volume need adjusting for future vids.

If you’ve been following the Beta news, you’ve probably heard that a lot of changes are coming to the Paladin class in Patch 4.0.3 – probably more than any other WoW class – relative to what is on Live currently (4.0.1).

Here are links to posts about the recent Beta Builds (chronological order):

• Build 13221 and clarification post
• Build 13241
• Build 13245

Even with the changes in the above builds, the main Achilles heel for Ret PVP has not been addressed – namely that Ret’s burst damage relies on buffs (Avenging Wrath, Zealotry) that are dispellable. There is an excellent thread that describes the issue on the WoW Pally forum.

As far as Prot PVP is concerned, I have added a new section, Upcoming Patch Changes, to my Prot Pally 4.0 PVP Guide in which I discuss the specific changes and how they impact the spec. What I plan to do is track changes in that section, and once the next Patch goes live, I’ll update the rest of the guide with the actual changes to mechanics / talents / abilities on Live. Then the cycle will start over again.

Excerpt from the YouTube video description:

This HD video is narrated footage of my 80 Protection Paladin in Patch v4.0.1 in extended fighting against multiple (poorly geared) opponents. I made this video to entertain, to show chaining of defensive abilities, and to demonstrate the importance of strafing when fighting multiples (I blocked a ton of damage over the fight).

Before crying for nerfs, consider the poor gear of my opponents (e.g. low Gear Score, PVE gear, empty gem slots, poor gem / enchant choices, etc) and what they failed to do throughout the video (e.g. heal each other, peel, kite from me when they’re at low health, etc). Also, that Holy Pally Booths bought me at least a minute of life by taking the focus fire off me and allowing time for Forbearance to wear off and my 3m cooldowns to reset.

I did not call it out in the video, but after using SotR with 3 stacks of Holy Power, you can stun your target to re-build your Holy Power while the target is CC’d.

For more information on Prot Pally PVP, please check out my guide on this blog.

I haven’t made videos for a class / spec this frequently since my Swordmaster in Warhammer Online! Yesterday I posted a copy of my PVP guide on the WoW Paladin forum as there are many questions posted there but no clear material on how to play the spec.