Holy Shield appreciation thread

[Lieris]

How good does it feel to have this back on your bars? A really fantastic change, no longer is it just the upkeep spell of old, now part of the decision making of any decent paladin tank. There are moments in Firelands where Holy Shield fits in perfectly and can be used almost on cooldown and as we reach full CTC (Bethtilak trinket!) it is set to become even stronger.

Here's my take on normal mode Firelands:

Shannox: Damage seems fairly consistent here as the boss tank so HS doesn't really excel here. Nice to have available after a dog dies to give your healers a little more margin of error though.

Rhyolith: Right there for you when the adds pop.

Bethtilak: Good to use in addition to another cooldown when you first go up to her nest. Also good after a taunt when the other tank gets widow's kiss in P2.

Alysrazor: HS seems made for tantrum tanking. Usable when tanking Alysrazor herself as you won't be doing that for much longer than 10 seconds although magic damage is the real danger here.

Baleroc: I am not very good at analysing logs but it seems like Inferno Blade can still be blocked so HS is decent here.

Staghelm: I can't think of any special uses on this fight. Tank damage is fairly consistent with no real tank killing abilities. Just use whenever it's up.

Ragnaros: Always available when it's your turn to tank. Just watch out for the timer on the hammer smash or you will waste it.

So yeah, thank you Blizzard for making the class that bit more interesting to play as

[Fetzie]

Me likey.

It is really awesome to be blocking for nearly 100k at baleroc or to use as another CD for when I need to drag one of the chicken carcases over to a worm at alysrazor.

[PsiVen]

I'm fairly happy with the new HS, but I can't say I really missed it.

The new version will be a lot easier to appreciate when I block cap... WTB Beth'tilac trinket.

[Jeremoot]

It's like having a second GAnK to push against melee attacks, and on a really short cooldown. Yeah, I love it.

[Worldie]

It's fairly good, though it now occupies the slot where there was Ardent Defender before, so it's causing more deaths than it should due to pressing the wrong cd in reaction

[Thrornir]

Shannox: Actually, push it when he gets his trident back again. He melees like a wimp without it, but picks up significantly once he's rearmed. Helps ease the healer back into the damage from 'easy... easy.. easy... ow.'

[Ocin]

*cough* boring *cough*

[Warsadin]

Love it thus far just doing random 5 mans. It's up constantly for big trash pulls and enables me to push even harder boundaries for my group, all while saving healers mana.

Really looking forward to utilizing it in the raids as there are plenty of tank-swap fights which will enable me to get more bang out of it's short cooldown and limited overall usage.

[Orthien]

I am loving having this back on my bars, I honestly did miss it. Probibly still not using it as much as I should but I do like what It can do on Baleroc.

[econ21]

I hated Holy Shield on my toolbars back in the day when you had to keep it up to remain uncrushable. It seemed a very unforgiving aspect of our rotation.

I confess I also hated the idea of bringing it back. But now we have it, I do rather like it. The CD is short enough that you don't sweat over when to use it. And it is nice to have a button to press that is concerned with survival - spending all my time pressing buttons to do with threat feels odd when threat does not seem to be a problem and my dps is regarded as unimportant. (I know we have longer CDs, but I have a habit of saving them for "oh sugar" moments - I am starting to break that habit, in part due to HS.)

[Jonlo]

Mine seems to give me 100% avoidance when I push it.

I hit the key, and go look for the insanely high blocks, nothing but dodge and parry!

[masterpoobaa]

Nice to have it back.

My 85 is far from block capped (~55-60% buffed) so its not terribly Uber.
The 30 sec cool down does seem to mesh well with Divine Protection.
I tend to use both regularly at the start of trash pulls.

For leveling a protection paladin (sub 80) its pretty damn worthless.
An extra 20% block amount sounds good, until you remember that our block chance is stuck at a whopping 5%.

[Sur-Pseudo]

Eh, Its okay. Perhaps ill like it more in time. I just find I don't use it often enough to make it not-a-horrible-nerf. Debating binding it to all my other defensive cd's so I at least don't forget about it when I hit them (but still keep a single version of it for other times)

[Cronus]

I didnt want to make a new thread since what I am about to say concerns Holy Shield.

I appreciate Holy Shield BUT NOT in its current state! I loved the Holy Shield of Burning Crusade, the main reason I started playing a Paladin (Horde for life). The ability to agro a shit ton of mobs and have them stick to you becuase of the all mighty Holy Shield. Everytime they hit you, Holy Shield deals damage back to them. It was iconic of all Paladins. Why did they take that from us?

Ok Blizzard, you have had your fun with Paladin changes now bring back Holy Shield the way it use to be. you cna leave out the part where we had to have it up for another 30% block IRC, but the part where it does damage back to the attacker. Awe, the way it use to sound as an attacker whould strike us and Holy Shield would bite back. I loved that sound! Heroic Shattered Halls anyone?

/End Rant

[Rokh]

30 sec cooldowns are a load of crap.
bound into crusader strike.. havent looked back.