In an effort to take a class that was working perfectly fine and turn into a prom night dumpster baby, Blizzard decided to make Paladins dependent upon holy power and mana. Their reasoning behind this was because Ret was too easy and Holy didn’t run out of mana.
Is it true that Ret was easy and devoid of any thoughtful rotation? Yes. Of course it was. I don’t think there is anything wrong with an easy rotation. If that’s what people want to play, then so be it. Honestly, I thought it was kind of fun when I got to spec Ret for a fight or two and blast away on shit in Lich King. Could I do it for an entire expansion? Probably, but I can see where it would get boring.
After a few much needed buffs Ret still sucks (notice a lack of Ret in the top 10?), but not nearly as bad as the release build. There is at least one or two Paladins in the top 25 for some fights.
In the interest of full disclosure I have never really played as Holy and attempts that were made to make it an off-spec looked some like this.
To bring Holy more into balance on the mana issue Blizzard gave Holy Paladins a mana-free heal. What’s that you say? It doesn’t make sense? I know. It’s apparent I wasn’t invited to participate in the design fail-storming sessions. If I had it probably wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.
Designer in charge of fucking up Paladins: I think we should make Holy Power like combination points that stack on the Paladin instead of the target. That would be cool.
Me: This is by far and away one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.
Designer in charge of fucking up Paladins: No, really. This will be awesome.
Me: I pray to all that is holy that you are sterile and you will not pollute the rest of my world with your vile seed.
At this point I would have had the designer removed by security and I would have thrown his desk/cubicle out of the window, lit it on fire, then pissed on the ashes.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on the matter. Maybe, if you’re lucky I will come to your place of employment and torch your things and piss on the ashes.