Blizzard on Retribution Paladin Balance in Wrath Classic

Wrath Posted 2022/11/23 at 3:15 PM by Rokman

Hi Everyone,The team has been looking at this thread and discussing the topic of class balance amongst ourselves a lot recently, and we wanted to take a moment to talk about class balance vs. spec balance and clarify some comments that we’ve made in recent discussions and interviews, and also generally explain our philosophy around class balance in Wrath Classic.

Ogb: https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/news/wrath-classic-developer-interview-with-community-council-item-level-squish-pvp-328553 “We will be watching class balance closely, and my perspective is we should just let it be, unless a class is pushed out entirely and the community says ‘this class is complete junk, we don’t even bring them anymore’ and then I think we should take a look at it”

classclass as a whole

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Comment by TheRedBaron20The response that the entire "class" has to be underpowered before they would even touch a specific spec is so out of touch I can't even believe it. You balance at the spec level, not the class level. Holy, Prot and Ret have absolutely nothing to do with each other. It's not as if you would be buffing baseline abilities.

It's an argument that doesn't work, and I'm baffled it was even used here. I don't know if Ret should be buffed or not, we do know it gets stronger, but with how far behind it is now I'm not sure the tier set in ICC will be enough.

I think it's time to back to go back to the drawing board on class balance philosophy in classic. The game isn't even close to accurate to how it was back in the day, changes may be needed, and they should be SPEC focused, not CLASS focused. I can't believe this post even needed to happen.Comment by LostelfDamn they're treating WotLK ret as bad as they're treating Dragonflight ret. Not a big surprise, we're pretty consistantly at the bottom of meters for the sake of having the other two specs.Comment by ZylnadaRare blizzard W?Comment by llozllozI almost wanted to rage at this until I realized it was WotLK classic.

I'm really afraid that they might apply the same philosophy to retail though. and if they do I think that would be a very bad thing.

For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Ret got good later on in WotLK.Comment by BrunopolarEssentially, Rets, re-roll. Your Holy and Prot brothers are excelling, maybe pick up a shield instead.

Inauthentic changes. Of course, we'd hate for Wrath Classic to be inauthentic. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some Heroic+s to complete with an added affix and scaling to boot, and item level increases to plan for in the next phase.

Putting salt aside, I'm at least thankful for the insight, as much as I disagree with it. Might pick up a warlock instead.Comment by KaneiacThe heavy copium from all of the ret rerollers who were lied to by redditors and YouTubers about being OP and good damage finally coming home to roostComment by TheRedBaron20I almost wanted to rage at this until I realized it was WotLK classic.

I'm really afraid that they might apply the same philosophy to retail though. and if they do I think that would be a very bad thing.

For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Ret got good later on in WotLK.Comment by KaneiacI almost wanted to rage at this until I realized it was WotLK classic.

I'm really afraid that they might apply the same philosophy to retail though. and if they do I think that would be a very bad thing.

For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Ret got good later on in WotLK.Comment by califax
For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Comment by metalbearwhat a thought process

So basically, with this thought process, everyone gets a dead spec "because you have two other good specs" LOL.

What an excuse to not balance properly. Wow. Can't believe they'd just say thatComment by 1337cowslayerimagine buffing retri paladins that are S tier in arena........
Yikes.Comment by TheRedBaron20I almost wanted to rage at this until I realized it was WotLK classic.

I'm really afraid that they might apply the same philosophy to retail though. and if they do I think that would be a very bad thing.

For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Ret got good later on in WotLK.Comment by KaneiacI almost wanted to rage at this until I realized it was WotLK classic.

I'm really afraid that they might apply the same philosophy to retail though. and if they do I think that would be a very bad thing.

For classic, well, this is just the way the game was. Ret got good later on in WotLK.Comment by NavaraYea, that's like if I cried I cannot bring frost mage to the raid…Comment by kiboysLike it or not, if ret pal is buffed, you will see everyone play it. Western player base has a strange obsession with Paladin class in my opinion. Similar thing happen in China for mage and rogue.Comment by KlaytonNivelGreat post, I'm glad they didn't give in to the cries of one of the most welcome classes in a raid, as well as one of the most annoying classes in arena to deal with.

They will have their time to shine either way, no reason to give them Holy Gargoyle or something now.Comment by cgillaspie16Yea, that's like if I cried I cannot bring frost mage to the raid…Comment by ChuchundrikThis entire class must be nerfed.Comment by AzureShadow42Ret is fine. Its damage is below every real dps spec besides arms warrior in this tier, but it brings more raid utility than any other dps spec besides maybe Enhance shaman. I've not seen any 25m raid deliberately eschewing ret paladins for any reason. And it's not like there's a vast difference between ret and most other dps specs,

And they scale a bit better than many specs as well, so they will end up in the middle of the pack in ToC and then a bit better once they get their t10 2 piece.Comment by Fofmnwhat will eventually be improved, and when will it be done?

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