Holy Power Woes

Man, the nerf to HoPo generation that I wrote about in February is both worse, and better, than I initially thought.

Worse, in that I have seen as many as three to four Crusader Strike misses/parries/dodges in a row at times. Let me tell you, that REALLY slows down the inflow of HoPo. It also makes the playstyle feel odd. It's just "off" somehow.

Better, in that I haven't really noticed any practical difference in my ability to tank, because after the first 25-30 seconds, nobody is catching me on threat anyway. It feels sort of like a return to the way Paladin threat was in BC. Back then, a paladin could drop a Consecrate and then go get a sandwich. In Cata, it is similar in that I can do the rotation for about 30 seconds, and then just auto-attack my way to victory. Once Vengeance is stacked up, there is no way I can lose threat.

I wish I was joking.

Back on topic. My HoPo inflow has plummeted in the past few weeks, and other than the annoyance of missing with Crusader Strike over and over again, It has had no measurable effect on my ability to successfully perform my job in a raid situation. We could almost completely ignore one of our resource mechanics if we wanted. Sure, we need to cast something every 20 seconds to keep Holy Shield up, but that is nothing. This is not how I believe Blizzard wants tanks to function.

During Cata development, Blizz stated that they wanted there to be a bigger separation between good and bad tanks. If that is really what they were going for, they have failed. They didn't make the Paladin rotation any harder than it was in Wrath, they just made if less elegant.

One of the big changes in the upcoming patch is that if you use Avenger's Shield within six seconds of a Grand Crusader proc, it will generate a HoPo. So, instead ignoring GC procs, and just sticking AS in its assigned slot in the rotation, we will actually want to use it when it pops up. That would be a welcome change, except that following your rotation/priority system to generate maximum threat is pretty meaningless right now.

Marry the potential increase in HoPo generation with the announced 20 second cooldown on Word of Glory, and Paladin tanks will be forced to use HoPo for threat, when the last thing they need is more threat.

So, what do we do? Well, since we will not be able to use our primary resource system for survivability, and we don't need threat, then the only thing left is to increase our DPS. Also, the increased HoPo income might allow us to perform the taboo and forbidden interweaving of Inquisition and Shield of the Righteous.

Welcome to the New World Order, where tank DPS actually matters.

With patch 4.1, the "skunk line" will get a lot higher.