Are Objective-Specific PvP Inventory Items Still Necessary?

While PvP in World of Warcrft has always involved the use of consumables, such as potions, bandages, and drinks, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion added a brand new type of inventory item for PvPers: objective-specific explosives. Explosives were actually fairly frequently used items in classic WoW PvP, and items such as Ez-Thro Dynamite and Ez-Thro Dynamite II were common sights on the faction auction houses because they were effectively cheap bonus damage, but those were more general use items than what I'm referring to. I'm speaking of items such as The RP-GG in Lake Wintergrasp, Massive Seaforium Charge in the Strand of the Ancients battleground, and both Seaforium Bombs and Huge Seaforium Bombs in the Isle of Conquest battleground, all of which were designed to help players demolish specific obstacles.

However, one question comes to mind again and again when I encounter these items in their respective PvP zones: why do these items still exist?

By that question, I don't mean to imply that these items have outlived their usefulness and should be removed from the game - quite the opposite, in fact - but I ask because the fundamental mechanics of such explosives seems downright antiquated in the Mists of Pandaria age. These days, when Blizzard wants to give players access to a zone or encounter-specific ability, it often does so through a User Interface element named "ExtraActionButton1", commonly just called the Extra Action Button because there has yet to be an "ExtraActionButton2". The Extra Action Button debuted in Cataclysm's Dragon Soul raid instance during the Ultraxion encounter, where it served as a way for players to activate the encounter-specific Heroic Will ability to negate powerful attacks, and is now a frequently-used element in many of Pandaria's dungeons and scenarios.

So here we have this user interface element that has dedicated screen real estate, can be activated by picking up specific objects (as evidenced by the Smash! ability granted by picking up Big Ol' Hammers dropped by slain Virmen Boppers during and prior to the Hoptallus encounter in Stormstout Brewery), and is entirely unused in PvP - why not use it for RP-GGs and the various Seaforum explosives? Unlike raids, which tend to become less frequented over time, battlegrounds stay in use for years, and thus I think it makes sense to expend some resources to ensure that they stay up to date and modern.

Also, we need a tabard wardrobe and a toy chest, because I no longer have spare inventory space for PvP bombs. <.<

Metzen for a 5.3 Day

Recently, a fellow Feathermooninite asked what we would do if we had the mythical lore-changing powers of Chris Metzen - Blizzard's Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development - for a day and could retroactively rebuild the lore of WarCraft as we saw fit. Since one day is quite a short period of time, it makes sense to me to focus on something that is not only relatively recent and seemingly easy to adjust, but also somewhat controversial: the Alliance storyline in regards to the Darkspear Rebellion in World of Warcraft's Patch 5.3: Escalation. I posted the general gist of this as a comment to Rohan's Alliance vs Horde Storyline Favoritism blog post over on Blessing of Kings, but I figured I would expand on the details here.

The crux of this issue is, essentially, that the 5.3 storyline vastly downplays the Alliance's war preparations and focuses almost exclusively on the Horde's (both Garrosh's Horde and Vol'jin's uprising within the Horde). On the most basic level, this shows up in Orgrimmar where Garrosh's Kor'kron soldiers are cracking down on suspected resistance and marshaling forces and supplies not too far from the city gates, whereas there's no real indication in the open world that the Alliance is assembling a war fleet, constructing siege machinery, or gathering its troops above the normal activity in Stormwind Harbor. There's a scenario and related quest indicating that the Alliance isn't merely sitting around doing nothing, sure, but it gives no real sense that it's truly an Azerothian superpower rivaling the strength of the Horde. Additionally, while changes were made to Vol'jin's dialogue during the 5.3 Public Test to show that the Darkspear Rebellion really does need the Alliance's help if it wants to survive, it does nothing to dispel the perception that the Alliance is nowhere near on par with the Horde until the Horde splinters and turns against itself - and considering that the Horde's self-inflicted implosion also happens to be the major lore reason why the Alliance won the Second War, it feels unbalanced on some level that the Alliance only ever wins because the Horde decides to throw the game.

Getting back to the topic at hand, what I would change for Patch 5.3's storyline would be to add elements that show that the Alliance is not only up to the challenge of taking the Horde head-on, but also actively preparing to take the fight to Orgrimmar. This comes in two parts, the first of which is to add the aforementioned war fleet, siege vehicles, and troop assemblages to Stormwind Harbor to give off the impression that the Alliance war machine has sprung to life and is steaming ahead full-tilt.

The second - not to mention far more substantial and significant - change I would make would be to adjust the story so that the Alliance is no longer working to assist the Darkspear Revolution, but is instead working in its own interests to subvert Garrosh's hold in the Barrens and prepare for the inevitable attack on Orgrimmar. While this would include intentionally not working against Vol'jin in any way, it would also mean that Alliance players would no longer be subservient to him either, which feels much better than questing for the ungrateful jerk after he completely forgets that Alliance adventurers answered his call to arms when he sent Darkspear emissaries directly to Stormwind during the Cataclysm era (Patch 4.1: Rise of the Zandalari) and acts like we're the ones who somehow owe him for that.

Since the question originally asked by my fellow Feathermooninite asked for specifics instead of just complaints, I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about exactly how I would implement the second change, had I the power to do so. My thoughts are as follows, starting with the quest A Little Field Work.

• A Little Field Work: Move Amber Kearnen and Sully "The Pickle" McLeary towards the southwest and closer to the path between Razor Hill and Orgrimmar.
  
  
• Gathering Intelligence: Upon completing the quest and returning to Amber and Sully, a patrol of Darkspear batriders captures the player, Amber, and Sully, and takes them to where Zen'tabra is found for The Darkspear Rebellion quest.
  
  
• The Darkspear Rebellion: This quest is effectively removed.
  
  
• Vol'jin of the Darkspear: This quest becomes the new The Darkspear Rebellion, and Amber and Sully both accompany the player and Zen'tabra to Vol'jin. Upon completion, a modified version of the infamous "calling Vol'jin's bluff" dialogue plays out between Vol'jin and Amber, but Chen Stormstout steps in when things appear to be going badly and suggests that if the Darkspear and the Alliance can't work together, they should at least try to avoid working against each other. Amber and Vol'jin begrudgingly agree to a pact of nonaggression/noninterference and Chen Stormstout offers to act as a go-between.
  
  
• Arming in Ashenvale: A new quest to make up for the removed part of the chain. Amber Kearnen tells the player to go find the Night Elf in charge in eastern Ashenvale and report recent events. She, Sully, and Chen then depart from Vol'jin's tower.
  
  In eastern Ashenvale, near the Azshara border, the player finds a small Night Elven camp, mostly made up of a pile of crates, a handful of Sentinels and wisps, an Ancient Protector, Su'ura Swiftarrow, and Tyrande Whisperwind herself. Turning in the quest causes Amber, Sully, and Chen to materialize and act as NPCs for the new hub, as well as unlocking several new quests and dialogues.
  
  To replace the "calling Vol'jin's bluff" dialogue, Tyrande will instead have a dialogue option that explains the Alliance war plan, which is for Varian to attack by sea with the bulk of Alliances forces and lay siege to Orgrimmar's southern gate to Durotar whilst Tyrande leads a contingent of troops east from Ashenvale into Aszhara in order to seal off Orgrimmar's northern gate. (That would make it the Darkspear Rebellion's responsibility to liberate their strong point in the Valley of Spirits and close off the city's western gate into the Northern Barrens.)
  
  
• Battlefield: Barrens (initial): This quest would now be given by Tyrande Whisperwind with the purpose of stockpiling supplies in preparation for the coming ground assault on Orgrimmar. The methods for obtaining the Kor'kron supplies would be identical to present - killing Kor'kron commanders and laborers; stealing them from Kor'kron bases; scavenging overturned Kor'kron caravans; and escorting Alliance caravans.
  
  
• Battlefield: Barrens (weekly): Given by Su'ura Swiftarrow, this quest would be to further stockpile supplies for the Alliance, but would still yield a Radical Mojo. Supplies, as well as the mojo, could then be traded to Sully, who replaces Ravika, the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster, for Alliance players.
  
  
• The Old Seer: The only difference here would be Chen Stormstout's location when starting the quest.

Personally, I think this approach would have been preferable for many Alliance players, not least of all because allowing Alliance players to do things for the Alliance while blatantly avoiding conflict with the Horde playerbase's chosen faction feeds into the ideas of faction loyalty and uneasy cooperation without portraying one entire side as equal to a mere fragment of the other. Additionally, it shows Alliance leaders being proactive and thinking strategically about what it really means to take the fight to Garrosh, rather than being on the back-foot all the time as has been the case throughout Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria. Finally, many Alliance players have complained about Blizzard's treatment of Tyrande Whisperwind recently, especially in the scenario A Little Patience where she gives the appearance of being too impatient and bloodthirsty to be an effective leader, and I feel like putting her in charge of a significant part of the faction's efforts in Kalimdor would do much to help repair her image and show she is still a capable and trusted figure of the Alliance.

Oh, and also, I'd make it so /hugging Chen Stormstout would cause the player character to become drunk. That'd be canon. =P

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Favorite Vanity Items

This week, I've decided to participate in the Blog Azeroth Shared Topic. The prompt is from Noahdeer from the blog Be MOP, and states:

World of Warcraft is known to have a lot of vanity items that you can collect from your adventures and in this expansion Blizzard introduced even more of these silly cosmetic items into the game.

This week's Shared Topic is, "What is your favorite vanity item in World of Warcraft?"

While I'm not particularly sure I can choose a single favorite vanity item - there are so many amazing ones to choose from nowadays, such as the Puntable Marmot and The Golden Banana - I do have a particularly beloved, ultra-flashy combination that is /dancing with a Brazier of Dancing Flames while under the effects of a Super Simian Sphere.

Caution: Wear protective eyewear before viewing full size.

Can you imagine the retina-searing effect if it could be combined with Blinding Light? No one would ever dare make fun of Paladins ever again. Well, no one except Demon Hunters, perhaps. =P

However, if I were to choose a single item to spotlight - which I probably should to at least try to follow the prompt - I think I would go with the Essence of the Breeze. This item is occasionally dropped by Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, and though its visual flair is quite negligible (aren't you relieved?), its on-use effect more than makes up for it. "Unleash a gentle breeze, lightening your steps" might sound somewhat cryptic, but the result is actually pretty simple: it gives you a 10-minute long buff that causes you to be propelled forward a short distance every time you jump. If you choose to be creative (or read the comments on WoWhead), you can find a few practical uses for this item, but quite honestly it's just flat-out fun to jump around Pandaria like an over-caffeinated Virmen.

A word of caution before you go hopping about near cliffs and off ledges: the Essence of the Breeze does not include a slow fall effect, so be sure to bring one along or else you might find yourself in need of an Essence of the Spatula to scrape your corpse off the Pandarian landscape before you can resurrect. XD

My Thoughts on Flexible Raids

Last Thursday, Blizzard announced a new difficulty level for raids called Flexible Raiding, which - similar to Raid Finder in Cataclysm - will premiere with the final raid tier for Mists of Pandaria. The Flexible Raiding system, as you probably know if you pay any attention to World of WarCraft-related news sites, will require pre-formed groups of anywhere from 10 to 25 players and will be set between Raid Finder and normal raiding in both difficulty and item reward level. Its primary attractions are its ability to dynamically tune encounters depending on the number of players participating and its immediate availability for cross-realm play (it's currently unclear if the existing restrictions barring cross-realm groups from undertaking the most current raid tier for normal and heroic difficulties will be removed).

Personally, I'm somewhat torn about the feature - not because I feel there's anything fundamentally wrong with it, but because it's yet another amazing-sounding feature which, like Pet Battles, Challenge Mode Dungeons, Brawler's Guild, and Heroic Scenarios, I probably won't be able to participate in to any satisfactory degree for the foreseeable future. It certainly addresses my primary complaint against Raid Finder, though, which is that Raid Finder groups often just feel like extra large Dungeon Finder parties due to the complete lack of camaraderie between most random groups of strangers.

That said, I do not think the Flexible Raid system is without its flaws. In terms of loot, for example, I think the upper level of PvE itemization is saturated to the point where adding an additional strata of gear between Raid Finder and Valor Point/normal raiding item levels is a detriment. At some point, the excitement and thrill of winning an item upgrade gives way to disappointment that you now have to spend so many resources to in order to maximize its utility for increasingly fleeting gains as the useful lifespan of items decreases within a single raid tier. Even if you never step foot into a normal mode raid, it is going to become progressively less fun to win a belt in Raid Finder only to have to reforge it, add a Living Steel Belt Buckle to it, and gem it, then have that belt be replaced by the Flexible Raid version, re-reforge, re-buckle, and re-gem the new belt, and then have to repeat the process a third time when the Flexible Raid belt gets replaced by the Valor Point version.

Honestly, I think Blizzard has a better template for itemization in the Korean version of WoW, in which items can be upgraded up to 4 times (compared to a maximum of twice elsewhere around the world) and certain raids drop partially upgraded gear. While the system is based on raid size in Korea, I think it should be altered to work for Raid Finder and Flexible Raid gear in North America, because it turns the above issue into a contemplative game mechanic. In the belt example, if you were to obtain a Raid Finder belt with 0/4 upgrades and enhance it properly, you would then have an actual decision if a 2/4 upgraded belt were to drop for you in a later Flexible Raid: since the Raid Finder belt and the Flexible Raid belt will become identical when they have equal upgrades, do you opt to save 500 Valor Points by applying appropriate enhancements to the Flexible Raiding belt; or do you choose to save ~1000 gold by keeping the enhancements to the Raid Finder belt and upgrading it with Valor Points? Furthermore, unless Blizzard shrinks the item level gap between Raid Finder and normal mode raiding loot (currently 20 item levels), the 8 additional item levels from 2 more upgrades will still put 4/4 upgraded Raid Finder gear below freshly-dropped normal gear, which means that normal and heroic raid gear could maintain their 2 upgrade maximum with minimal negative effect on game balance.

All in all, though, I'm looking forward to experiencing Flexible Raids for myself (if the opportunity arises), as well as seeing how Blizzard will adapt the new technology going forward. Flexible Scenarios, perhaps?

Mists of Pandaria and the Possible Return of the Shockadin

Thus far in the Mists of Pandaria beta I haven't really done much of anything. Most of my "adventures", if they can even be called that, have involved running around Stormwind City and experimenting with the various spells, talents, and glyphs available in the beta thus far. However, one of the things that I have been noticing—and getting increasingly excited about—is that a preliminary look at what's available seems to suggest that the Shockadin may be making a return soon. The evidence for such is still slim, but ultimately it comes down to two particular glyphs:

• Glyph of Holy Shock: Holy Shock, as you may know, is one of the signature abilities of the Holy specialization, and is the reason why the Shockadin is named such. While it isn't a particularly powerful damage-dealing ability initially, the glyph halves its healing potential in exchange for doubling its damage-dealing capability. Considering how central Holy Shock's damage is to the entire concept of the Shockadin itself, this glyph is essentially what makes the Shockadin potentially viable.

• Glyph of Denounce: Denounce is a new Holy-only ability learned at level 20 that basically acts as our spammable ranged nuke. It's incredibly cheap, and has the added benefit of preventing its target from being able to deal critical strikes for 4 seconds after being hit. When glyphed, Denounce also gives the Paladin a 6-second buff that increases Holy damage by 20%—and virtually all damage a Shockadin deals is Holy damage, which makes this glyph a significant boost in DPS.

While the two above glyphs essentially act as the heart of the beta Shockadin, there are some additional factors to be considered

• Sacred Shield is one of our level 45 talent choices. It provides a 30 second buff on a single target that occasionally acts as a damage shield, but also increases the critical effect chance of Word of Glory by 30%. While this may not seem like that big of a deal, the lack of a Holy Power cost (unlike its alternative, Eternal Flame) and the buff to Word of Glory allows the latter become the go-to Holy Power dump. Since Holy Paladins have no way to spend Holy Power for offense, Word of Glory becomes the next best thing thanks to the Glyph of Word of Glory.

• Glyph of Word of Glory: This glyph causes Word of Glory casts, regardless of target, to also grant the casting Paladin 10% additional damage for 6 seconds. While this buff shouldn't make Word of Glory a rotational ability, since the damage boost won't make up for the lost global cooldown, it does at least mean that casting Word of Glory is slightly less of a damage loss than either Light of Dawn or Eternal Flame, which are the only other Holy Power-consuming abilities available to the Shockadin. Plus, combined with the Sacred Shield talent, Word of Glory will likely be significantly more potent for self-healing than the alternatives, as well.

• Sanctified Wrath is one of our level 75 talent choices, and allows Holy Shock to be cast without cooldown whenever Avenging Wrath is active—and that's in addition to the 20% increased damage from Avenging Wrath itself. Considering Holy Shock is the hardest hitting ability in the Paladin arsenal, and that Holy Power is significantly less useful for a Shockadin due to the fact that it cannot be used for dealing damage, Sanctified Wrath is really the only choice amongst the level 75 talents that makes any sense.

I'll probably be experimenting more with the Shockadin as I get more time for the beta test, but from basic target dummy tests it doesn't seem like it will fare too badly. It almost certainly won't be up to Retribution's standards, but given it's high potential for healing in a pinch, I think the trade-off may be worth it. At the very least, it seems like it could be an effective Holy leveling/PvP spec, if nothing else.

Brief First Impressions of the Mists of Pandaria Beta

Note: WoWhead linking isn't really playing all that nicely with the beta data. The tooltips appear to be the live version of abilities, but clicking them will take you to the Mists of Pandaria equivalents, so be sure to click through to see the beta tooltips.

I finally managed to set aside some time to check out the Mists of Pandaria beta last night and answer some questions on PlusHeal, and here were some of my first impressions from running around Stormwind and messing around with target dummies:

• Holy Radiance no longer has a HoT portion. Additionally, it's splash healing has been reduced to 50% of the healing done to the primary target, but the splashes can crit independently (thus healing for the same amount as the primary target), and it all triggers our Illuminated Healing mastery. Yes, the Illuminated Healing shield is triggered on the splashed targets, too.

• Light of Dawn no longer has a facing requirement: it now heals the most injured targets in a full 360° circle (sphere?) around the Paladin rather than a frontal cone. This seems to make the Glyph of Light of Dawn a little less valuable, even in 10-man raids, though it may become more useful for Scenarios or Arenas. It still only extends 30 yards, though, which seems a bit inconvenient considering all of our other heals are 40 yards. Also, the animation looks a bit stupid, since the healing cone now erupts straight upwards from the top of our heads.

• Mana is normalized to 102,000 mana for a level 85 Holy Paladin, regardless of gear.

• Haste is less potent. The rating now converts to a smaller haste percentage than before, plus we no longer have the 9% haste from Judgments of the Pure or the potential haste rating from our relic slot, so heals feel somewhat sluggish. My normally 1.94 sec Holy Light was suddenly taking 2.19 sec to cast, which is enough to be noticeable.

• Crit rating is also converting into a smaller percentage, but as I didn't gear crit for PvE, I'm not sure how noticeable it is.

• Spirit converts very nicely at level 85, with 1 Spirit equaling 1 mana regenerated every 5 seconds while in combat (at least, according to the tooltips). I wonder if this is consistent throughout all levels, or if the ratios change like the various stats that use ratings.

• Crusader Strike is dirt cheap at 600 mana, and might be a decent way to build up Holy Power when in melee range. In comparison, Holy Shock costs 2800 mana. It does almost no damage, though, since Crusader Strike is based on weapon damage and Holy weapons sacrifice weapon damage for spell power. Also, Sanctity of Battle seems to apply to Holy, too, (though this might be the result of a character copy error) which means Crusader Strike is available fairly frequently - roughly one in every 3 GCDs with my gear.

• Holy Shock now has a spiffy new icon. So does Turn Evil.

• Denounce (formerly Holy Wrath, though closer in current implementation to Exorcism since it seems to no longer have an AoE component) is also really cheap at 1880 mana, and does about as much damage as Holy Shock. Also, it has a new graphic.

• Between Glyph of Denounce, Glyph of Holy Shock, and Glyph of Word of Glory, I'm cautiously optimistic that the Shockadin might make something of a comeback. Unfortunately, though, it's damage output doesn't seem very viable currently.

• I miss Daybreak. Not having any mechanic that allows back-to-back Holy Shock casts makes me sad.

• My action bars feel very empty. Very empty, indeed.

When It Rains, It Pours

About two and a half weeks ago, TRI Mark 3 (the 10-man raid group I run with) had an absolutely momentous night. Not only did we manage to defeat the Madness of Deathwing for the first time as a group, but thanks to saving our Dragon Soul raid ID from the previous week we managed to have enough spare time to go back and do a full clear of Firelands for the first time, as well.

Then life happened, and I've barely been able to find the spare time and mental bandwidth to do much of anything else, including play the Mists of Pandaria beta, for which I've received an Annual Pass invite but have yet to anything with beyond installation. Fortunately, absence does occasionally make the heart grow fonder, and so I've been itching to get back into the thick of things, both in terms of the game and in terms of the blog. Let's see if the Mists of Pandaria beta will help stoke that particular fire. =P

Updated Feb 15th: Preliminary Paladin Ability Changes in Mists of Pandaria

Back before last Thanksgiving, I posted a list of Preliminary Paladin Ability Changes in Mists of Pandaria based on the Official Talent Calculator preview. Well, said calculator was updated just today, so let's go back and look at the changes once again to see how things compare. The changes listed herein are in comparison to the current 4.3.2 live game, and many are simply copied over from my previous post on the matter with details unchanged or only slightly tweaked. Note that for the most part, I will not be taking changes to mana costs into consideration unless the change fundamentally affects the purpose or usage of ability (such as turning a cooldown-limited ability into a spammable mana-limited one) because these numbers appear to still be very much in flux.

Level 1:

• Parry (Passive) was conspicuously absent in the previous update, but has now returned and is at level 1 rather than level 10.
• Armor Skills (Passive) remains relatively unchanged. It just removes the reference to training, since classes will automatically learn abilities rather than having to train them.
• Weapon Skills (Passive) is unchanged.
• Crusader Strike deals 100% weapon damage (down from 135%). The new version makes no mention of generating Holy Power, but this is likely an oversight considering the changes to Hammer of the Righteous.

Level 3:

• Seal of Command: a new single-target damage-dealing seal. "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing melee attacks to deal 9 additional Holy damage." Seal of Righteousness is being moved to level 42 and having the AoE component from the Seals of Command talent built in.
• Judgement is being moved to level 5.

Level 5:

• Judgement is being moved here from level 3 and given a 30 yard base range (up from 10 yards) and 6 sec base cooldown (down from 8 sec).
• Devotion Aura is effectively being removed. There is a new Holy specialization ability with the same name at level 60, but the effect is completely different.

Level 7:

• Hammer of Justice is being moved here from level 14, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Holy Light is being changed to a level 33 Holy specialization ability.

Level 9:

• Word of Glory appears to be having the base cooldown changed to 1.5 sec for all Paladins (down from 20 sec for Protection and Retribution, and up from the potential 1 sec minimum global cooldown for Holy Paladins).

Level 10:

• (Holy) Holy Shock remains as-is, though the new calculator seems to imply it now has a full 40 yard range for hostile targets. Not sure if this is an intended change or oversight/tooltip limitation, but considering the change from the previous public talent iteration, it might be intentional.
• (Holy) Walk in the Light is gone.
• (Holy) Holy Insight (Passive) increases your mana pool by 400%. This is likely to compensate for the removal of Intellect's ability to increase maximum mana.
• (Holy) Meditation is back! [See previous post on the topic.]

• (Protection) Avenger's Shield has its cooldown reduced to 9 sec (down from 15 sec).
• (Protection) Touched by the Light renamed to Guarded by the Light.
• (Protection) Guarded by the Light (Passive) is renamed from Touched by the Light, and has only a slim relation to the current Guarded by the Light talent. Compared to Touched by the Light it still increases total stamina by 15%, and increases spell power by an amount equal to 100% of your Strength (up from 60%), but now also reduces your chance to be critically hit by melee attacks by 6%, grants 5% of maximum mana every 2 sec, and removes Word of Glory from the global cooldown (the sole influence of the Guarded by the Light talent). It no longer seems to increase spell hit.
• (Protection) Vengeance seems to be unchanged (though it will probably follow 4.3 mechanics).
• (Protection) Judgements of the Wise is being moved to level 28.

• (Retribution) Templar's Verdict appears to require 3 Holy Power to use, and deals 165% weapon damage (up from 90% with 3 Holy Power currently).
• (Retribution) Sheath of Light renamed to Sword of Light.
• (Retribution) Sword of Light (Passive) is renamed from Sheath of Light and some effects have been changed. It now increases spell power by an amount equal to 100% of your Strength (up from 30% of attack power), no longer increases your chance to hit with spells by 8%, but instead increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 25% and grants 5% of maximum mana every 2 sec.
• (Retribution) Judgements of the Bold is being moved to level 28.

Level 12:

• Righteous Fury is unchanged.
• Redemption is being moved to level 13.

Level 13:

• Redemption is being moved here from level 12, and is mostly unchanged from the 4.3 version which increases the range to 40 yards. There's also a fairly hefty mana cost increase to 75% base mana (up from 64%).

Level 14:

• Flash of Light is being moved here from level 16, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Hammer of Justice is being moved to level 7.
• Hand of Reckoning is being moved to level 15 and renamed Reckoning.

Level 15:

• Reckoning is being moved here from level 14, and is being renamed from Hand of Reckoning.

Level 16:

• Lay on Hands is unchanged.
• Flash of Light is being moved to level 14.

Level 18:

• Divine Shield is being moved here from level 48, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Exorcism is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 46.
• Hand of Protection is being moved to level 48.

Level 20:

• No mention is made of the summon mount abilities for Paladins. Not sure if they're being removed or just not mentioned in the new talent calculator.

• (Holy) Holy Wrath is being moved here from level 28 and is now a Holy specialization ability. It only costs 9% of base mana (down from 20%), has no cooldown (down from 15 sec cooldown), takes 1.5 sec to cast (up from instant), and no longer stuns demons and undead, but instead "prevents targets from causing critical effects for the next 6 sec." Additionally, the ability is now centered on an enemy target rather than on the player, and has a 30 yard cast range.

• (Protection) Hammer of the Righteous is moved here from the Protection tier 3 talent position. Damage reduced to 20% weapon damage (down from 30%). Additionally, it now also places a Weakened Blows effect on all affected targets, which reduces their physical damage dealt by 10% for 30 sec. Weakened Blows is likely a debuff applied by multiple classes (similar to the Replenishment buff).

• (Retribution) Also gains the above Hammer of the Righteous ability.

Level 22:

• Supplication (Passive) [see previous post on the topic] has been moved to level 33 and is now a Retribution specialization ability.
• Blessing of Kings is being moved to level 30.

Level 24:

• Consecration is being changed to a Protection specialization ability at level 33.
• Seal of Truth is being moved here from level 44. It now replaces Seal of Command (from level 3), and causes melee attacks (changed from single-target attacks) to deal 10% Holy weapon damage in addition to applying Censure.

Level 26:

• Retribution Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(
• Divine Protection is being moved here from level 30, and is having the Glyph of Divine Protection effect folded in. It now provides no physical damage reduction (down from base 20%) and instead provides 40% magical damage reduction (up from base 20%).

Level 28:

• Holy Wrath is being changed to a level 20 Holy specialization ability.

• (Holy) Judgements of the Pure (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 1 talent position. It no longer increases haste, but retains the 4.3 function of increasing mana regeneration from Spirit. It now states "Your Judgement increases your mana regeneration from Spirit while in combat by 30% for 1 min".

• (Protection) Judgements of the Wise (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Protection specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power".

• (Retribution)  Judgements of the Bold (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Retribution specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power and cause the Physical Vulnerability effect." Physical Vulnerability appears to be a new debuff which increases the physical damage taken by the target by 4% for 30 sec, and is likely a debuff applied by multiple classes (similar to the Weakened Blows debuff above and the current Replenishment buff).

Level 30:

• Divine Protection is being moved to level 26.
• Blessing of Kings moved here from level 22, but is otherwise unchanged.

Level 32:

• Seal of Insight is no longer being moved to level 33 [see previous post on the topic]. The Glyph of Seal of Insight is being built in, so the seal now improves healing by 5% innately. Additionally, the seal now mentions "melee attacks" rather than "single-target attacks".

Level 33:

• (Holy) Holy Light is being moved here from level 7 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3.0 sec).

• (Protection) Consecration is being moved here from level 24 and is now a Protection specialization ability with a 9 sec cooldown (down from 30 sec).

• (Retribution) Supplication (Passive) is a new passive class ability with an effect similar to the last part of Crusade. "For 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, your next Flash of Light heals for an additional 300%".

Level 34:

• Cleanse now removes all Poison and Disease effects (up from 1 of each).

• (Holy) Sacred Cleansing (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 4 talent position. It no longer mentions the 1 Magic effect limit so it likely dispels all Magic effects.

• (Retribution) Crusader's Zeal (Passive) [see previous post on the topic] has been moved to level 60.

Level 36:

• Rebuke moved here from level 54, and cooldown has been increased to 15 sec (up from 10 sec).
• Righteous Defense appears to be removed.

Level 38:

• (Retribution) Divine Storm is being moved here from the Retribution tier 3 talent and is changed into an AoE version of Templar's Verdict. It now requires 3 Holy Power to use rather than 5% base mana, no longer generates Holy Power, no longer heals allies, and has no cooldown (down from 4.5 sec). It now states "An area attack that consumes 3 charges of Holy Power to cause 50% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards".

Level 39:

• (Holy) Beacon of Light is being moved here from the Holy tier 4 talent position and is unchanged from the 4.3 version, which only transfers 50% of Word of Glory, Holy Shock, Flash of Light, Divine Light, and Light of Dawn heals and 100% of Holy Light heals.

Level 40:

• Again, no mention of the Paladin summon mount abilities.

• (Protection) Shield of the Righteous is being moved here from the Protection tier 4 talent position and now requires 3 Holy Power to cast and has a 1.5 sec cooldown. In addition to dealing damage it causes the next melee attack against you to be blocked and increases the amount your shield blocks by an additional 25% for 6 sec.

• (Retribution) Hammer of Wrath is being moved here from level 46 and is becoming a Retribution specialization ability. Additionally, it will generate a charge of Holy Power when used, but can only be used on targets with 20% or less health or during Avenging Wrath.

Level 42:

• Seal of Righteousness is being moved here from level 3 and now has the AoE component of the Seals of Command talent built in.
• Concentration Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(

Level 44:

• Heart of the Crusader (Passive) is the always-on passive replacement for Crusader Aura and only affects the Paladin.
• Divine Plea is being changed to a level 46 Holy specialization ability.
• Seal of Truth is being moved to level 24.

Level 46:

• Turn Evil was going to be moved here from level 78 [see previous post on the topic], but now seems to be removed. =(

• (Holy) Divine Plea is being moved here from level 44 and is now a Holy specialization ability, but is otherwise unchanged.

• (Retribution) Exorcism is being moved here from level 18 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. It no longer costs mana, and instead generates a charge of Holy Power and is instant cast (down from 1.5 sec), but has a 20 sec cooldown (up from no cooldown).

Level 48:

• Hand of Protection is being moved here from level 18, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Divine Shield is being moved to level 18.

Level 50:

• Plate Specialization (Passive) is unchanged.

• (Holy) Infusion of Light (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 3 talent and no longer increases Holy Shock critical effect chance, but retains the 4.3 change which includes the option to reduce the cast time of Holy Radiance.

• (Protection) Grand Crusader (Passive) is being moved here from the Protection tier 4 talent and once again includes Hammer of the Righteous [see previous post on the topic]. Proc chance increased to 40% (up from 20%) and primary target requirement removed.

• (Retribution) Art of War (Passive) is being moved here from the Retribution tier 3 talent and now gives autoattacks a 20% chance of resetting the cooldown of Exorcism rather than its previous effects.

Level 52:

• Hand of Freedom is unchanged.

Level 54:

• Rebuke is being moved to level 36.

Level 56:

• Blessing of Might is being moved to level 81.

• (Holy) Divine Light is being moved here from level 62 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3 sec).

• (Retribution) Sanctity of Battle (Passive) is being moved here from the Retribution tier 4 talent and while it continues to affect Crusader Strike, it now also affects Judgement, Hammer of Wrath, and Hammer of the Righteous instead of Divine Storm. Additionally, it affects the global cooldown of the 4 abilities as well as the ability cooldown.

Level 60:

• (Holy) Devotion Aura is effectively the Holy specialization ability designed to replace the Holy tier 5 talent Aura Mastery and its combinations with Concentration Aura and Resistance Aura, and has no real relation to the current Devotion Aura other than reusing the name. It is an instant cast, 2 min cooldown ability which states "Inspire all party and raid members within 40 yards, granting them immunity to Silence and Interrupt effects and reducing all Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage taken by 20%. Lasts 6 sec."

• (Protection) Sanctuary (Passive) is a Protection specialization passive ability that combines the 10% increased armor value from items effect of the Protection tier 2 talent Toughness with the 10% damage reduction effect of the Protection tier 3 talent Sanctuary. It no longer decreases your chance to be critically hit (this effect has been moved to the Guarded by the Light passive at level 10) or restores mana on blocks or dodges.

• (Retribution) Crusader's Zeal (Passive): a new Retribution specialization passive ability. "Your autoattacks have a 20% chance to increase your attack speed by 25% for your next 3 melee swings."

Level 62:

• Crusader Aura is being removed and replaced by Heart of the Crusader at level 44.
• Divine Light is being changed to a Holy specialization ability at level 56.

Level 64:

• Seal of Justice is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 70.

• (Holy) Tower of Radiance (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 6 talent, and no longer generates a charge of Holy Power whenever Holy Radiance is cast (this effect has been built into Holy Radiance instead).

Level 66:

• Hand of Salvation is back [see previous post on the topic] and otherwise unchanged from live.

Level 70:

• (Holy) Light of Dawn is being moved here from the Holy tier 7 talent position and is unchanged from the 4.3 iteration.

• (Protection) Ardent Defender is being moved here from the Protection tier 7 talent position and is otherwise unchanged.

• (Retribution) Seal of Justice is being moved here from level 64 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. Now properly slows instead of capping movement speed, and states "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing melee attacks to deal 4 additional Holy damage and reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 5 sec." It's unclear how this might work with the level 30 talent Burden of Guilt, which causes Judgement to reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 12 sec.

Level 72:

• Avenging Wrath is unchanged.

Level 76:

• Resistance Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(

Level 78:

• Turn Evil was going to be moved to level 46, but now it seems it's being removed. =(

Level 80:

• Hand of Sacrifice is unchanged.
• Mastery (Passive) is gone, likely removed by the Department of Redundancy Department.

• (Holy) Mastery: Illuminated Healing (Passive) is unchanged.

• (Protection) Mastery: Divine Bulwark (Passive) is unchanged.

• (Retribution) Mastery: Hand of Light (Passive) base additional damage increased to 17% (up from 16.8%) and now includes Hammer of the Righteous in addition to Crusader Strike, Templar's Verdict, and Divine Storm.

Level 81:

• Blessing of Might moved here from level 56. No longer increases attack power and mana regeneration, but instead increases mastery by 5.

• (Retribution) Inquisition is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability and as the latter portion of Inquiry of Faith partially baked in so it lasts for 10 sec per charge of Holy Power (up from 4 sec per charge without Inquiry of Faith, but down from 12 sec per charge with Inquiry of Faith).

Level 83:

• (Holy) Holy Radiance is being changed to a Holy specialization ability and is being changed to have a 2.5 sec cast (down from 3 sec) and generate a charge of Holy Power innately (rather than requiring Tower of Radiance).

Level 85:

• Boundless Conviction (Passive) acts as a new buffer zone for extra Holy Power to prevent it from being wasted. It reads, "You may store an additional 2 Holy Power beyond the maximum of 3. No ability ever consumes more than 3 Holy Power."
• Guardian of Ancient Kings cooldown is being reduced to 3 min. Effects are otherwise unchanged.

• (Protection) Shield of the Templar (Passive) is being removed [see previous post on the topic] .

Level 87:

• Blinding Light: a new short-duration crowd control ability that costs 23% of base mana and is instant cast with a 3 min cooldown. "Emits a dazzling light in all directions, blinding enemies within 10 yards, causing them to wander disoriented for 6 sec."

Preliminary Paladin Ability Changes in Mists of Pandaria

Yesterday, Blizzard released their Official Talent Calculator for Mists of Pandaria, which includes not only the redesigned talent system, but also a list of all class skills and specialization skills. I'll spare you descriptions of all of the talents since you can just go there and look at them, and instead I'm going to go level-by-level through the Paladin abilities (both class and specialization) to outline the various changes I see. Here goes!

Level 1:

• Armor Skills (Passive) remains relatively unchanged. It just removes the reference to training, since classes will automatically learn abilities rather than having to train them.
• Weapon Skills (Passive) is unchanged.
• Crusader Strike deals 176% weapon damage (rather than 135%) and generates a charge of Holy Power [ed. note: it generates a charge presently, but for whatever reason the WoWhead tooltip doesn't show it].

Level 3:

• Seal of Command: a new single-target damage-dealing seal. "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing direct attacks to deal 26 additional Holy damage." Seal of Righteousness is being moved to level 42 and having the AoE component from the Seals of Command talent built in.
• Judgement is being moved to level 5.

Level 5:

• Judgement is being moved here from level 3 and given a 30 yard base range (up from 10 yards) and 6 sec base cooldown (down from 8 sec).
  
• Devotion Aura is effectively being removed. There is a new Holy specialization ability with the same name at level 60, but the effect is completely different.

Level 7:

• Hammer of Justice is being moved here from level 14, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Holy Light is being changed to a level 32 Holy specialization ability.

Level 9:

• Word of Glory appears to be having the base cooldown removed for all Paladins.

Level 10:

• Parry is conspicuously absent. Not sure if it's being removed or if it's just not mentioned in the new talent calculator.

• (Holy) Holy Shock remains as-is, though the new calculator does not mention the 40 yard range for friendly targets. Not sure if this is an intended change or oversight/tooltip limitation, but I'll assume the latter.
• (Holy) Walk in the Light remains mostly unchanged, but no longer mentions the cooldown reduction for Word of Glory. Combined with the Word of Glory change from above, it seems the cooldown will simply be removed for everyone.
• (Holy) Meditation is gone.

• (Protection) Avenger's Shield is unchanged.
• (Protection) Touched by the Light gains some new effects. In addition to the current effects, it now "reduces the chance you will be critically hit by melee attacks by 6%" and "increases your mana regeneration by 10%".
• (Protection) Vengeance seems to be unchanged (though it will probably follow 4.3 mechanics).
• (Protection) Judgements of the Wise is being moved to level 30.

• (Retribution) Templar's Verdict appears to require 3 Holy Power to use, and only deals 39% weapon damage (down from 90% with 3 Holy Power currently).
• (Retribution) Sheath of Light gains some new effects. In addition to the current effects, it now also "increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 25%" and "increases your mana regeneration by 10%".
• (Retribution) Judgements of the Bold is being moved to level 30.

Level 12:

• Righteous Fury is unchanged.
• Redemption is being moved to level 13.

Level 13:

• Redemption is being moved here from level 12, and is unchanged from the 4.3 version which increases the range to 40 yards (up from 30 yards in 4.2).
  

Level 14:

• Flash of Light is being moved here from level 16, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Hammer of Justice is being moved to level 7.
• Hand of Reckoning is being moved to level 15.

Level 15:

• Hand of Reckoning is being moved here from level 14, but is otherwise unchanged.

Level 16:

• Lay on Hands is unchanged.
• Flash of Light is being moved to level 14.

Level 18:

• Divine Shield is being moved here from level 48, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Exorcism is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 50.
• Hand of Protection is being moved to level 48.

Level 20:

• No mention is made of the summon mount abilities for Paladins. Not sure if they're being removed or just not mentioned in the new talent calculator.

• (Holy) Holy Wrath is being moved here from level 28 and is now a Holy specialization ability. It only costs 8% of base mana (down from 20%), has no cooldown (down from 15 sec cooldown), and no longer stuns demons and undead, but instead "prevents targets from causing critical effects for the next 6 sec."

• (Protection) Hammer of the Righteous is moved here from the Protection tier 3 talent position. In addition to a damage increase to 39% weapon damage (up from 30%), it now also "reduces [the targets'] physical damage done by 10% for 30 sec."

• (Retribution) Also gains the above Hammer of the Righteous ability.

Level 22:

• Supplication (Passive): a new passive class ability with an effect similar to the last part of Crusade. "For 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, your next Flash of Light heals for an additional 300%".
• Blessing of Kings is being moved to level 32.

Level 24:

• Consecration is unchanged.

Level 26:

• Seal of Truth is being moved here from level 44. Remains relatively unchanged, but now mentions "direct attacks" instead of "single-target attacks".
• Retribution Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(

Level 28:

• Divine Protection is being moved here from level 30, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Holy Wrath is being changed to a level 20 Holy specialization ability.

Level 30:

• Divine Protection is being moved to level 28.

• (Holy) Judgements of the Pure (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 1 talent position. It no longer increases haste, but retains the 4.3 function of increasing Spirit. It now states "Your Judgement increases your mana regeneration from Spirit while in combat by 30%".

• (Protection) Judgements of the Wise (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Protection specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power".

• (Retribution)  Judgements of the Bold (Passive) is being moved here from the level 10 Retribution specialization. It no longer grants mana, but instead states "Your Judgement hits grant one charge of Holy Power and increase the physical damage taken by your target by 4% for 12 sec."

Level 32:

• Blessing of Kings moved here from level 22, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Seal of Insight is being moved to level 33.

• (Holy) Holy Light is being moved here from level 7 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3.0 sec).

Level 33:

• Seal of Insight is being moved here from level 33. The Glyph of Seal of Insight is being built in, so the seal now improves healing by 5% innately. Additionally, the seal now mentions "direct attacks" rather than "single-target attacks".

Level 34:

• Cleanse is unchanged.

• (Holy) Sacred Cleansing (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 4 talent position.

• (Retribution) Crusader's Zeal (Passive): a new Retribution specialization passive ability. "Your normal melee attacks have a chance to increase the attack speed by 25% for your next 3 melee swings" [ed. note: awkward wording straight from Blizzard—personally I think it should read "increase the attack speed for your next 3 melee swings by 25%"].

Level 36:

• Rebuke moved here from level 54, but otherwise is unchanged.
• Righteous Defense appears to be removed.

Level 38:

• (Retribution) Divine Storm is being moved here from the Retribution tier 3 talent and is changed into an AoE version of Templar's Verdict. It now requires 3 Holy Power to use rather than 5% base mana, no longer generates Holy Power, no longer heals allies, and has no cooldown (down from 4.5 sec). It now states "An area attack that consumes 3 charges of Holy Power to cause 100% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards".

Level 39:

• (Holy) Beacon of Light is being moved here from the Holy tier 4 talent position and is unchanged from the 4.3 version, which only transfers 50% of Word of Glory, Holy Shock, Flash of Light, Divine Light, and Light of Dawn heals and 100% of Holy Light heals.

Level 40:

• Again, no mention of the Paladin summon mount abilities.

• (Protection) Shield of the Righteous is being moved here from the Protection tier 4 talent position and now requires 3 Holy Power to cast. In addition to dealing damage it "[improves] your block chance by 10% for 5 sec."

• (Retribution) Hammer of Wrath is being moved here from level 46 and is now a Retribution specialization ability, but is otherwise unchanged.

Level 42:

• Seal of Righteousness is being moved here from level 3 and now has the AoE component of the Seals of Command talent built in.
• Concentration Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(

Level 44:

• Heart of the Crusader (Passive) is the always-on passive replacement for Crusader Aura.
• Divine Plea is being changed to a level 46 Holy specialization ability.
• Seal of Truth is being moved to level 26.

Level 46:

• Turn Evil is being moved here from level 78, but is relatively unchanged. No longer states "Damage caused may interrupt the effect".

• (Holy) Divine Plea is being moved here from level 44 and is now a Holy specialization ability, but is otherwise unchanged.

• (Retribution) Seal of Justice is being moved here from level 64 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. Now properly slows instead of capping movement speed, and states "Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing direct attacks to reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 5 sec and deal 12 additional Holy damage".

Level 48:

• Hand of Protection is being moved here from level 18, but is otherwise unchanged.
• Divine Shield is being moved to level 18.

Level 50:

• Plate Specialization (Passive) is unchanged.

• (Holy) Infusion of Light (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 3 talent and no longer increases Holy Shock critical effect chance, but retains the 4.3 change which includes the option to reduce the cast time of Holy Radiance.

• (Protection) Grand Crusader (Passive) is being moved here from the Protection tier 4 talent and no longer includes Hammer of the Righteous.

• (Retribution) Exorcism is being moved here from level 18 and is now a Retribution specialization ability. It no longer costs mana and instead generates a charge of Holy Power, but is not always available and states "Your autoattacks have a 20% chance to activate Exorcism".

Level 52:

• Hand of Freedom is unchanged.

Level 54:

• Rebuke is being moved to level 36.

Level 56:

• Blessing of Might is being moved to level 81.

• (Holy) Divine Light is being moved here from level 62 and is now a Holy specialization ability with a 2.5 sec cast time (down from 3 sec).

• (Retribution) Sanctity of Battle (Passive) is being moved here from the Retribution tier 4 talent and while it continues to affect Crusader Strike, it now affects Judgement and Hammer of the Righteous instead of Divine Storm. Additionally, it affects the global cooldown of the 3 abilities as well as the ability cooldown.

Level 60:

• (Holy) Devotion Aura is effectively the Holy specialization ability designed to replace the Holy tier 5 talent Aura Mastery and its combinations with Concentration Aura and Resistance Aura, and has no real relation to the current Devotion Aura other than reusing the name. It is an instant cast, 2 min cooldown ability which states "Inspire all party and raid members within 40 yards, granting them immunity to Silence and Interrupt effects and reducing all Fire, Frost, and Shadow damage by 20%. Lasts 6 sec."

• (Protection) Sanctuary (Passive) [ed. note: yes, it intentionally links to Toughness] is the Protection specialization passive ability version of the Protection tier 2 talent Toughness, and has no real relation to the current Protection tier 3 talent Sanctuary other than reusing the name.

Level 62:

• Crusader Aura is being removed and replaced by Heart of the Crusader at level 44.
• Divine Light is being changed to a Holy specialization ability at level 56.

Level 64:

• Seal of Justice is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability at level 46.

• (Holy) Tower of Radiance (Passive) is being moved here from the Holy tier 6 talent, but is otherwise unchanged.

Level 66:

• Hand of Salvation is being removed.

Level 70:

• (Holy) Light of Dawn is being moved here from the Holy tier 7 talent position and is unchanged from the 4.3 iteration, which heals up to 6 targets (up from 5 in 4.2).

Level 72:

• Avenging Wrath is unchanged.

Level 76:

• Resistance Aura is being removed, as are all current Paladin Auras. =(

Level 78:

• Turn Evil is being moved to level 46.

Level 78 80:

• Hand of Sacrifice is unchanged.
• Mastery (Passive) is unchanged.

• (Holy) Mastery: Illuminated Healing (Passive) is unchanged [ed. note: the base shield is 12%, though for whatever reason the WoWhead tooltip doesn't show it].

• (Protection) Mastery: Divine Bulwark (Passive) is unchanged  [ed. note: the base block chance is 18%, though for whatever reason the WoWhead tooltip doesn't show it].

• (Retribution) Mastery: Hand of Light (Passive)  is unchanged  [ed. note: the additional Holy damage is 17%, though for whatever reason the WoWhead tooltip doesn't show it].

Level 81:

• Blessing of Might moved here from level 56. No longer increases attack power and mana regeneration, but instead increases mastery by 5.

• (Retribution) Inquisition is being changed to a Retribution specialization ability and as the latter portion of Inquiry of Faith partially baked in so it lasts for 10 sec per charge of Holy Power (up from 4 sec per charge without Inquiry of Faith, but down from 12 sec per charge with Inquiry of Faith).

Level 83:

• (Holy) Holy Radiance is being changed to a Holy specialization ability that is otherwise unchanged from its 4.3 incarnation.

Level 85:

• Guardian of Ancient Kings is unchanged as far as I can tell due to tooltip limitations.

• (Protection) Shield of the Templar (Passive) is being moved here from the Protection tier 6 talent and no longer affects Avenging Wrath or Divine Plea, only Guardian of Ancient Kings.

Level 87:

• Blinding Light: a new short-duration crowd control ability that costs 20% of base mana and is instant cast with a 3 min cooldown. "Emits a dazzling light in all directions, blinding enemies within 10 yards, causing them to wander disoriented for 6 sec."

On PvE Scenarios

I was sorting through some of the news from this past BlizzCon and I was reminded of an upcoming Mists of Pandaria feature that I had completely forgot about: PvE Scenarios. These scenarios will essentially be smaller, lighter versions of PvE dungeons, and without the physical dungeon aspect (i.e. in an instanced open world environment). They're supposed to be similar to the various group quests found throughout World of Warcraft, but repeatable and with Valor Points as a reward.

Personally, I've been waiting for something like this since PvP Battlegrounds were introduced back in patch 1.5 way back in 2005. Back then, I was replaying my way through WarCraft 3: Reign of Chaos and I ran into chapter 2 of the Orc campaign which entailed escorting a caravan of kodos through the Barrens and defending them from centaur and harpy attacks. While playing it, I found myself thinking, 'Hey, a quest like this would be awesome to have in WoW!'

Now there's a chance that such a scenario will be made into reality, and I think that's just flat-out awesome. I really hope Blizzard takes the time to flex their storytelling muscle with the feature, because it seems like an excellent opportunity to push the Alliance/Horde conflict in a PvE setting, as well as reintroduce some of the minor characters that we haven't seen for a while, such as Gryan Stoutmantle.

On the Rivalry of Mastery and Beacon

Holy Paladins have traditionally been known through World of Warcraft's history for being the healing class with the smallest healing toolkit. Over time and expansions, our tools have grown more numerous and eventually Blizzard standardized healing abilities to some degree in Cataclysm, but generally speaking our toolkit has rarely had an excess of abilities that performed the same basic task. The current Holy Paladin mastery—Illuminated Healing—and one of the tree's defining activated abilities—Beacon of Light—seem to me to be the new exception.

As things currently stand, both Illuminated Healing and Beacon of Light are two tools that essentially share the same primary function: to act as a health buffer for tank healing. However, the two act in such conflicting ways that they feel like rivals competing for a single job rather than two distinct utility abilities that each have their place in our toolbox. The way Beacon of Light is designed makes it less appealing, even with Tower of Radiance, to cast directly on the buffed tank unless absolutely necessary, but the Illuminated Healing mastery makes it more appealing to cast directly on the tank and thereby bypass Beacon of Light's whole purpose. Since both Beacon of Light and Illuminated Healing are wasted on targets that are not consistently taking damage, the only time the two effectively work together are when multiple tanks are taking damage simultaneously and for prolonged periods of time, which only happens in raids, and even then not on every fight.

The problem is made worse by the rules governing the Holy Radiance ability in patch 4.3. Even though the ability is being redesigned as an active heal rather than a passive one, it still won't be allowed to transfer through Beacon of Light, unlike our other AoE healing ability, Light of Dawn, and our other primary Holy Power generator, Holy Shock. However, it will be allowed to benefit from the Illuminated Healing mastery, which makes it feel like it should be used on or near tanks in order to not risk making the tank's health less stable.

I hope Blizzard doesn't leave the situation as-is, especially as design moves forward for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion. To some degree, it feels to me that if the two abilities can't (or won't) be made to play nicely with each other, then either one should be altered to fit a more distinct role or the two should be rolled into a single ability.

On Item Squish

On Friday, Blizzard posted a Dev Watercooler post by Ghostcrawler about troubles they're running into with exponentially increasing item levels. If you haven't read it yet, I highly suggest you at least give it a once-over, because the various figures work to explain the problem really well. As a quick summary, the core issue is that item levels are increasing exponentially compared to character levels, and Blizzard is not quite sure how to deal with it. On one extreme, Blizzard could leave things as-is and figure out a better way to communicate and compute large numbers, while on the other extreme they could squish item levels back down to a more manageable level, but risk alienating the playerbase with the perception of a very major nerf. If Blizzard does nothing about item levels, then it needs a better way to communicate the numbers we'll be seeing on our screen (after all, it's somewhat hard to tell the difference between 100000 and 1000000 at a quick glance). If Blizzard does squish item levels back to into line with pre-expansion content, then players will suddenly feel like they've been nerfed extremely hard because their abilities that were doing thousands or tens of thousands of points of healing or damage will be brought back down to doing hundreds of points of healing or damage instead, which could be potentially disheartening even if all of the other numbers (such as target health) were brought down the same way.

Personally, my solution would be to set up a slow squish system. It would be a significantly larger undertaking up front, but it would allow for item squish to happen without making players feel like they were nerfed into oblivion. Essentially, how it would work is that Blizzard would set a hard upper limit for item levels, and set things up so that whenever tier of items would normally be introduced above that limit, those items would instead be introduced at that limit and nearly everything else would be squished a little downward instead. For example, if the upper limit were set to item level 500 and a gear tear would normally add 10 item levels above that, instead of coming out with a new tier of gear at item level 510, the current and previous tiers of gear would be squashed down to item level 490 and below and the new tier would be introduced at item level 500.

What this does is that it essentially splits one massive nerf into dozens of tiny nerfs that are far less jarring. Damage and healing numbers wouldn't suddenly jump down from the thousands into the hundreds, but instead would effectively cap out and slip down slightly (and temporarily) every time a new tier of gear was introduced, and slightly more for each new expansion. Item levels for any given tier would eventually slip down to where they would have been if Blizzard had followed a more linear methodology, and that would act as a floor so that the numbers eventually settle where Blizzard wants them to be. At some point, the exponential curve will flatten out and the hard cap can be done away with.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, this would require significantly more work right off the bat than either of the solutions Blizzard has used to highlight the problem. For one, all items would have to be made able to scale downward so that Blizzard can squish them repeatedly until they reach the desired item level. Secondly, it would mean tweaking the numbers for every raid boss every patch, or possibly linking boss numbers to expected item level numbers so that the bosses scale down naturally. Ultimately, it would probably be a very complex solution to program and implement without taking up massive amounts of developer time, but I also think it's a more elegant solution than the two Blizzard has shown publicly.

That said, I doubt the two solutions Blizzard has shown are the only options they have up their sleeves. I think it will be interesting to see how Blizzard decides to deal with the problem as Mists of Pandaria inches closer to release.

Horde Favoritism in Theramore's Future?

Warning: This posts contains spoilers for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria pre-launch in-game event. Normally, I wouldn't even talk about this since it comes from datamined/unreleased sources, but I'm going to take the fact that Blizzard has taken the time to respond to the posts (including explicitly stating what happens in the events I'm referring to) publicly on their official forums as a sign that they don't mind public discussion about this. If you would like to read the threads and the official responses, you can find the first thread here and the second one here. Click the little Blizz icons to be taken to the first (or next) Blizzard post.

The posts linked above reveal an interesting plot point for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria pre-launch in-game event: the Horde under Garrosh Hellscream's leadership attacks and destroys the port city of Theramore. After the many losses suffered by the Alliance in Cataclysm (relatively speaking, compared to losses suffered by the Horde), some Alliance players are taking the razing of Theramore to be a sign that Blizzard is outright favoring the Horde to be the ultimate victor of World of Warcraft.

I disagree. The fact of the matter is that the Horde instigating an escalated conflict with the Alliance is the only way forward that makes sense. Both the Alliance and the Horde have suffered huge losses over the course of recent WarCraft history, especially in Cataclysm, and as such, both factions are trying to consolidate their power and rejuvenate their resources. It just so happens that the way these two factions go about this is in diametrically opposing manners that cut to the very heart of what it means to be Alliance or Horde.

The Alliance would most likely undertake this consolidation by renewing and reinforcing the ties between its varying races, as well as seeking someone to champion the cause of the faction as a whole, such as happened during the Second War with Anduin Lothar (and later Turalyon). During BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed that a major quest plot point for Alliance players in the future will be to act as a squire for King Varian Wrynn as he undertakes herculean tasks for the other Alliance leaders in order to be worthy of becoming said champion. Indeed, in addition to this quest chain, steps towards closer diplomatic ties between the Alliance leaders are already being taken as Prince Anduin Wrynn has been sent to study the ways of the Holy Light under the tutelage of the Draenei, who had until then been about as far from the center of Alliance political power as possible.

The Horde, on the other hand, is in the worst shape it has ever been in. The new WarChief, Garrosh Hellscream, is despised by most of the other Horde racial leaders. Cairne is dead by Garrosh's hand and Magatha Grimtotem's treachery, Sylvannas misses no opportunity to show her contempt for Garrosh, Vol'jin has been exiled and trusts Garrosh so little that he even sent emissaries to Stormwind City to ask for aid in the wake of the Zandalari resurgence, Trade Master Gallywix is certainly using the Horde for his own ends, and who knows what Lor'themar Theron is up to. The most obvious and orcish solution? Pick a fight with the Alliance to force Horde leaders to unite under the WarChief's banner.

Additionally, some posters in the above-linked threads are complaining that the next step they fear Blizzard may take after Theramore's destruction would be another Alliance loss with no consequence for the Horde. Personally, I don't think that's very likely because the lore itself does not bear that out. When we look at why the Alliance hasn't retaliated against Horde aggression thus far, two primary reasons come immediately to mind: 1)there were urgent matters at hand with significantly higher stakes; and 2)two powerfully influential proponents of peace were in perfect position to mitigate an Alliance military response.

The Theramore incident takes place after Deathwing's death, in the lead-up to the Mists of Pandaria expansion—an expansion in which Blizzard emphasized that there were not going to be any overarching doomsday plots that would suppress the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. Even if we were to completely ignore Blizzard's emphasis on factional conflict, the fact that there is no imminent threat from the Burning Legion or Lich King or Old God-controlled dragon aspect putting all of Azeroth in jeopardy means that point number 1 above ceases to be. In other words, the Alliance can stop focusing on whether or not there will even be a tomorrow and start focusing on what kind of tomorrow they wish to live in—and chances are said tomorrow will not include a unified Horde threatening their stability at every turn.

As for the second point, the two characters preventing the military might of the Alliance from turning to face the Horde were Prince Anduin Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmore. As mentioned earlier, Prince Anduin is off studying in the Exodar, conveniently out of the way and unable to talk his father out of war. Lady Jaina Proudmore, on the other hand, is caught right at the epicenter of the conflict. Something tells me that this time she's not going to advocate for peace after the Horde levels her city.

All in all, I'm excited, because if WarCraft past is any predictor of the WarCraft future, the Alliance is about to show the Horde exactly why you don't rouse a sleeping lion from its slumber. I can't wait. >=)