Paladin Sandbox

[Oreoxd 165]

Ok so pretty much I've been thinking for a while now we should have a place, as paladins, to share our feats, both in real life, and in WoW, whether it be a ranking, and achievement, a new job, moving by yourself, or something like that.

 

For a while now I've been a part of the paladin forum's community and have met some very nice and interesting people, like fouton and that geo guy. And I've always wanted to know a bit about them and also other people who frequent these forums.

 

So I guess I'll give some info about who I am, My name is Garrett I'm 21, I currently raid as a Ret pally on Mannoroth under the name of Conquest. I've been raiding hardcore in WoW, total, about.. 5 years, with the height of my career being Naxx 40 with Tindi Losi, way back when, along with Scarab Lord. 

 

I recently started up a new account, starting under the name of Aeonarial on Boulderfist, this was about 3 years ago, I've since then transfered from Boulderfist to Tich, to Illidan, to Emerald Dream, and finally to Mannoroth. 

 

Along with WoW I play runescape, Fable, F.E.A.R. and a bunch of other mindless crap

 

I love helping others out and meeting new people with the same interests as me. 

 

Some of my most recent feats include 18,500 achievement points, Heroic Garrosh, And ranking 34th in the West on Heroic Sha of Pride as a Ret Pally. Ranked logs: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/report/Hk8MKvQbzqp4nPNm#boss=1604

 

 

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind this is not for fixing your character, though we don't mind answering questions, this is for outside people, to see the past and accomplishments of the people who are helping them.

[Geoda 253]

Awesome man. This is a nice topic discussion! Based on all the advice you give I couldn't help but presume you were a Retribution Paladin.. and it appears I was right :D

 

This would be a fun thread to keep adding to. Whether it be commenting on what others post or just posting your own accomplishments. I like the idea and it'll give a good idea of who other people are talking to amongst the forums.

 

For me? My name is Eric and I'm 27 and play a Holy Paladin for Apotheosis on US-Gnomeregan. On a personal level, I'm a security engineer for a healthcare IT company. On a wow level, many of my accomplishments are linked on my profile. However, I do enjoy giving feedback and interacting with other like minded individuals. I have found Icy-Veins to be that home for me. I look forward to working more on my off spec Ret set and hopefully putting up some BIG NUMBA! 

 

To toot my own horn just a bit, I did get #4 Holy Paladin Ranking on Heroic Deathwing 25 and #2 Holy Paladin Ranking on Heroic Norushen. Other than that, I've had numerous top #50 rankings and countless top #100's. Many of them have fell off due to the amazing disc priest I have in my guild (yeah, this is my excuse ;P)

 

Regardless, I'll be hanging around these forums for a while so ask me any questions and I'll be sure to ask you all too!

[Oreoxd 165]

Ha yeaaah I haven't ranked a lot in fact, this was my first time ranking in forever I found the drive to push myself finally and this week was my best performing week.

[Fouton 266]

:) You might have seen a few of my ranks in Dragon Soul, Geoda. I had a #1 H Morchok rank for a week or so before it was quickly beaten.

 

My name is James, I'm 22 and I have 3 Prot/Holy paladins. I'm currently working on an Accounting degree, though I was previously studying Chemical Engineering before I swapped programs. In WoW, I've always switched back and forth between my Holy/Prot Paladin and my Hunter. It wasn't until MoP where I started tanking for longer than a single patch, even if I still bounce between my 3 favored spec/classes.

 

I've always prefered Holy over Prot until this expansion, where I was just unable to enjoy the Holy playstyle as much as Prot's. In T14 I was really enjoying picking up some high ranking logs in my haste build, but since then I've gone to a Mastery build which I find much more fulfilling. The idea of not taking the damage at all feels much better than taking the damage and healing it back up while doing more damage.

 

As for my own feats, I believe I am the first paladin to have found the 55% Mastery cap as a Prot Paladin, since our mitigation can't pass 80% physical reduction. Though technically you can get more mastery to increase WoG/EF's healing, and the damage of SotR, there's just no value in it. I also was the first Paladin to solo 25 Flame Leviathan 4 towers without using a vehicle at any point in the fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsHD8YrHSP4.

 

There hasn't been much past that in terms of feats, nothing truly exciting happens as a tank until you can reach interesting levels of "hey I can solo tank that fight."

 

Finally, other games: I play Borderlands 2 occasionally, D3 with a few friends, Hearthstone semi often, and my NHL'10 xbox game almost daily. I'm a pretty stereotypical Canadian in that way, but at least I differ from the norm on some specific details so that I can still consider myself interesting :)

 

A final fun-fact: I've never actually played Ret, though I've learned a tremendous amount since I became the paladin moderator. The temptation of changing my Holy spec to Ret for one week just to play with it is getting stronger. I still don't understand how the rest of you enjoy the spec because when I look over it without ever having tried it, it looks like there's a severe lack of abilities and a lot of rotation holes, yet all the rets I know don't seem to complain about that. Maybe the random procs are much more frequent than I know! =P

 

Looking forward to hear from everyone else. You don't have to be a paladin to post, though we all know the superior class! *eyes Gwen*

[Geoda 253]

You guys are young! ;) I was late to the party of wow because I didn't have much free time in college during the Vanilla and BC era's. I was too busy "learning" in college. I also played Division 1 baseball too which soaked up a lot of hours. But once I graduated and got that big boy job, I had some more free time and that void in my life where I wasn't battling or competing against something. Insert WoW raiding! 

 

I do want to point out about tanks though. Tanks and Healers are very similar when it comes to recognition. Since I played sports my whole life, it was an unwritten rule that the best umpires/referee's were never noticed during a game. This meant they did their jobs so well that nobody seemed to notice them. That's how tanking and healing goes. We get minimal credit because people are expected to live and not take damage (that's what the boxing bag tanks are for!). But when they do fail.. people find out quite quickly! 

 

A quick Paladin question before Gwen jumps in and goes lolpriest on us.. hehe.. What made you all choose a Paladin as your main? Was it your first choice? Did you play other classes but finally settle? What about your name? Is there a meaning behind it?

 

I'll answer after I get others responses first :D

[Fouton 266]

I had been playing my hunter throughout Classic and BC (first raid was Kara, was a total noob so I didn't see past ZA excluding times I was carried). At one point I decided with my cousin that we would level paladins to duo ZA together when we reached 80 (it sounded possible, and I've always liked undermanning successfully). I levelled through RaF with another friend of mine, leveling as holy and thus making my holy paladin, which became my main at the start of wrath.

My cousin never end up duoing with me, though most things are solo able vs not at all, so duoing wouldn't have made a difference (damn berserk timers).

[Gwenymph 414]

Thanks for the invite Fouton.

 

I have had a project pally off and on for a year now.  Only level 87 atm.  I also feel the "wholes" in the Ret rotation and similarly never hear our Rets mentioning any dislike of it, so I do not put too much into it.  I figured one day they might be worth having as an alt at a raiding level, until then I keep boosting and gearing Priests. muhahaha

 

As far as the OP; I've had a license more years than some of you are old.  I'm in charge of cash operations for Hard Rock Casino and have graduated college..... 3x.  Krazyito does not want to work for me for some unknown reason.  I love correcting IT peeps more than I like messing w/ Pallies, so I'm sure he'd love it!  On the gaming front my main was a Rogue in Beta until Tier 4, switched to Priest and never looked back.  I chose a to make the switch to healer over dps b/c I was tired of dying... baddie. Blame my name on my wife, that's enough of that.   I think the top three achievements I'm proud of in WoW are being the first Bleeding Hollow Grand Marshal, Finishing the Naxx Meta before the drake was removed and more recently holding the #1 Priest spot on ProRaiders for almost 3 months and counting.

 

Great thread idea  

[Oreoxd 165]

What made me be a pally, in beta I dabbled with a lock, but when live came I tried pally and rogue, with rogue becoming my main because it was like me at the time, sneaky (I wasn't supposed to be playing as much as I did). Fast forward to Wrath, I started to level my paladin and quickly fell in love, then I stopped playing for most of wrath and when I came back to make my new account in cata, I started with a hunter and a paladin and have been a paladin main ever since.

[Moozedude 47]

Is just any ol' contributor allowed to jump in on this?  I like to post when I can help, and I know a lot of the theory, but I'm not a mod or major contributor or anything...

[Fouton 266]

Anyone who wants to talk can talk :)

[Geoda 253]

Any and all welcome! This is a way for us to more formally introduce ourselves. :D

 

How did I start? I saw Ozzy Osbournes Prince of Darkness (WOTLK) commercial. I thought.. hey, if Ozzy plays, maybe I can too!

 

I obviously started as a Night Elf Hunter. Who didn't? Leveled him to about 35 and struggled. I was melee'ing. Didn't know what Aggro was or anything. It was a complete struggle. I was also questing way out of my level so I was getting wrecked. I then re-rolled on a different Server (What did server mean anyway?) and I decided a Paladin was the way to go. You're telling me I can heal myself and do damage? This sounds perfect! I leveled as Prot all the way to the top. There was no better satisfaction than taking on 10 mobs during a quest and surviving. If I needed a heal, no problem. Nearly death? Bubble or LoH. I never died! Brilliant. At that point I knew Paladin was the best class for me. :)

 

I was Prot all through Naxx, Ulduar and ToGC. I went about the first 8 bosses as Prot in ICC. I was picking up Holy gear along the way and would play around with both. I then fell in love with healing and never looked back.

[Moozedude 47]

Okay, here goes then.

 

My name is Chris, I'm 29 (almost 30), and I've been playing since 4.0.3.  I mained a prot pally through cata (heroic 5-mans was my pinnacle) and into MoP, but the new active mitigation threw me off, so I went ret.  I now have a prot warrior whom I'm loving (just started 10m N SoO last week), but I also want to go back to pallytanking.  I read all the guides and forums, know pretty much all the theory, just haven't put it to practice.  Obviously I'm new to the raid scene, but that was more fear of judgement and failure than incapability.

 

In RL I'm disabled, so I have lots of time for game.  I have three kids, and they take up all the time they want.

 

I love readin ya'lls posts, and seeing how the game grows and matures through such an active community.  Keep up the good work, fellas.  It makes a difference.

[Oreoxd 165]

If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your disability? Were you born with it? 

[LobbyBoy 37]

I was uncertain if i should post here too, but after reading all the cool posts above i will venture the step  

 

My name is Rainer, i'm 38 (- yes, i'm old ... but i love it  ) and i'm from Austria. I've studied computer science and i'm working as a software developer since almost 15 years.

 

I started WOW during the last weeks of TBC with my warlock and i did badly at the beginning . Step by step i learned the tricks and added a restro druid, a dk and my arms warri. At the beginning of Cata i started my paly which i skilled tank first. Several toons followed but atm i'm playing ret pala, restro druid and destro wl most.

I took some breaks and missed some tiers (like Ulduar  ) but all in all i'm a passionat player (even if my girlfriend hates WOW )

 

A few month ago (after a long pause) i discovered IV and was delighted. Useful guides and realy sympathic people (especially you guys here in the paly forum ) made me join this community.

 

That's all and now i have to walk my dog.

cya

[Moozedude 47]

No problem Garrett, no offense.  I suffer from a multi-diagnosis Mental and Emotional disability.  Some of it was born.  Other parts, I had to...  Earn.  First diagnosed in 2005, went untreated for several years, found alcohol to be the sloution, got a girl pregnant, married here, made more babies, aaaaaaannnnddd...  implosion.  ruined my marriage, some friendships, was losing my sanity, hallucionations...  i got help.  spent some time in a hospital.  or two.  

 

Now, I've been in treatment almost three years.  Same with sobriety, so no crazy parties, aight?  let's just learn how to down bosses better, and go with that.  :)

[Geoda 253]

I agree, the useful guides were the original reason why I drifted towards IV. But then realizing about the forum community, I quickly embraced this. I believe the sympathy, understanding and genuineness of the Admins and posters is the foundation to a stable community. So far I have seen this and trying to help. I say we keep helping ourselves and others become the best we can be!

 

To quickly switch topics though.. how is everyones feelings on how Prot, Ret and Holy performed this expansion? Did you like the Cata style better? Did you like the changes in MoP? Are you excited for WoD?

 

From a strictly Holy PoV, I am excited for some of the changes. I really like how they are limiting healers on their spells. I never liked the end of expansions where we outgear everything and can spam spells. The start of the expansion is the most difficult with the weakest gear and I quite frankly thrive in that situation. I look forward to a new Expansion and relearning another style of play!

[Oreoxd 165]

I didn't like it to be honest, and I'm not 100% sure I'll like it next expac, with the loss of inq. Ret just in general felt overall weaker than every other class (most apparent in how weak we were without enough haste)

[Fouton 266]

I didn't like how things changed in MoP for Prot or Holy in my opinion. The addition of active mitigation was a step in the right direction, but vengeance was the wrong direction. Then to make it worse the addition of haste made active mitigation less about skilled timing and more about just spamming everything. That being said I've been a main tank in MoP longer than any other expansion, I just found it much more mindless. WoD changes are exactly what I was hoping for, so it looks like it'll be a good expansion.

 

As for holy, I didn't like the fact that there were two different builds of the same spec that required you the completely change your gear around, it made speccing for specific fights very expensive. Then, nerfing one significantly has ruined it's value entirely. Before that though, I never cared for Eternal Flame since it was almost a required talent in the first two tiers, which seems to be what blizzard was trying not to do. It also was the integral part of the spec, which I don't think should come from talents that you're allowed to change at will.

 

Either way, those were my personal opinions, I've heard many great stories of how much others have liked their holy/prot paladins, and I can only hope they'll enjoy WoD as much as I will. That being said, WoD worries me because of seal-twisting. It looks a bit overly powerful, as if Blizzard is trying to force us to play it, and that is not what I like to see. I was hoping for a significant balance between the level 100 talents but it seems 2 will be situational, and the other will be the go-to talent. Not so awful if it weren't a skeptical change to me :(

 

I can't comment on how I will enjoy holy next expansion because it's going to be so different in ways I don't even know yet.

 

I hope to hear some good talks from other people on these subjects :) You can have 0 posts and still jump into the conversation, guys!

[Zornin 1]

Thought I'd throw my two copper in as a new user.

 

I'm a 39yr old single dad and have been gaming since I saw the old Star Wars arcade game in 1982 at a local pizza place.  The first computer game I bought was a copy of Doom, followed by Warcraft 1.  A casual friend of mine convinced me to try WoW in December of '08 just after the Wrath expac was released, and I've been playing ever since with a few small breaks here and there.

 

My biggest in-game accomplishment was being one of the first 800-900 people in the world to earn the Insane title (tied for 2nd on my old server), and I still wear the title almost 5 years later. :)  The biggest RL accomplishment is watching my 14yr old son growing up into a responsible young man who cares more about other people than playing some video game.

 

My main is a paladin and was my first toon ever created.  The ret playstyle in Wrath was just what I liked: in you face, button-mashing.  Then came 4.0/Cata with its Holy Power which kind of ruined the whole playstyle for me for a long time.  I didn't want to play another rogue class with combo points, and to this day (even though my main spec is ret) I prefer the old priority rotation.

 

PvP and PvE-wise, it feels like every group I've been in would rather have me go Holy and heal people.  Just before I hit max level on a paladin alt, my raid leader asked if I could heal for a week or two.  That stretched into almost 3 months.  Now I just don't gear up my alt spec anymore.

[Fouton 266]

That's how I ended up prot ;)

 

Paladins are doomed to be turned off into different specs, until ret becomes a superpower. Good story :)

[Moozedude 47]

Hey Fouton, I've seen ya around the guild a few times on Earthen Ring, but didn't wanna call you out like a little fanboy or something.  haha.  Besides, I've been maining my warrior lately, and it seemed silly to buttonhole you for an alt.  :P

[Geoda 253]

You all in the same guild and don't know each other? Not cool! My guilds pretty small with like maybe 100 total including everyone's alts for a 25m guild. And this is on a very underpopulated server. I can't wait for US-Gnomeregan to get a merge! We are in dire need of raiding competition.

[Fouton 266]

Haha cool! I log onto my ER character weekly to do an an run with Estarriol, my main is Fouton - Argent Dawn :) Though that paladin you see was infact my very first paladin, and my cousin who who I mentioned previously is the reason I came to AIE in the first place :D

[Oreoxd 165]

Wait who are you guys again? 

 

On a side note, does anyone have any alts to level? I need a buddy to level either a lvl 20 rogue, lvl 73 dk, lvl.... 7 shammy or a lvl 64 horde lock (the first 3 being alli)

[Fouton 266]

I despise leveling more than anything so the toons I have over 80 will be the toons I will have over 80 until the end of time (or until i do another RaF)