Ret Paladin About To Respec Protection looking for advice

[Crashmore]

I'm currently a level 62 Pally and have leveled up Ret from the start.

I'm pretty much constantly running with a dps class char ie a mage or rogue even when just questing so coupled with the fact that my group badly needs a good tank makes me want to respec prot and start tanking. I'm also drawn to the idea of aoe grinding.

So I've read over the 101 info which is a ton of info to digest. I was wondering if any of you folks have any advice specific to someone like myself getting ready to respec from ret.

I was pretty stoked to stumble across this site in my search for info on Pally Tanking. Thanks for all the great info.

Looking forward to getting some feedback..

[Lore]

Hmm, not sure what advice to give. Do you have any questions in particular?

As far as soloing goes you'll want more spell damage in your gear than a typical ret set I believe, but you'll get most of that from questing. Warrior-ish stats like strength and crit aren't as big of a deal. Get yourself a nice spelldamage weapon as well, the mace from Blood Furnace or the sword from Slave Pens are good for starters.

[Igrado]

The best advice i can give you is to read all that stuff you read again. I'm not being sarcastic. You hit the nail on the head, it's a lot to digest

Do your homework (preferably before asking questions), and make us proud!


... Oh, and reroll Horde

[Crashmore]

Having to Solo from time to time is probably my biggest concern. I've been leveling at at a descent clip thus far. I'm hoping that my change over to prot doesn't slow down my progression to 70.

Anyone have any suggestions for must have macros or addons?

Hmm, not sure what advice to give. Do you have any questions in particular?

As far as soloing goes you'll want more spell damage in your gear than a typical ret set I believe, but you'll get most of that from questing. Warrior-ish stats like strength and crit aren't as big of a deal. Get yourself a nice spelldamage weapon as well, the mace from Blood Furnace or the sword from Slave Pens are good for starters.

[jere]

Having to Solo from time to time is probably my biggest concern. I've been leveling at at a descent clip thus far. I'm hoping that my change over to prot doesn't slow down my progression to 70.

Anyone have any suggestions for must have macros or addons?

Hmm, not sure what advice to give. Do you have any questions in particular?

As far as soloing goes you'll want more spell damage in your gear than a typical ret set I believe, but you'll get most of that from questing. Warrior-ish stats like strength and crit aren't as big of a deal. Get yourself a nice spelldamage weapon as well, the mace from Blood Furnace or the sword from Slave Pens are good for starters.

It won't slow your levelling as long as you don't try to level like you are ret. Prot's strength lies in AoE. Don't try to kill just one mob unless it is in your best interest to do so. Try to aim for groups of 4 at a time and use a downranked consecrate to kill them all close to the same time. Ret is faster at single target killing, but prot is faster overall if you take on multiple mobs at once.

[Lore]

Having to Solo from time to time is probably my biggest concern. I've been leveling at at a descent clip thus far. I'm hoping that my change over to prot doesn't slow down my progression to 70.

Anyone have any suggestions for must have macros or addons?

Hmm, not sure what advice to give. Do you have any questions in particular?

As far as soloing goes you'll want more spell damage in your gear than a typical ret set I believe, but you'll get most of that from questing. Warrior-ish stats like strength and crit aren't as big of a deal. Get yourself a nice spelldamage weapon as well, the mace from Blood Furnace or the sword from Slave Pens are good for starters.

It won't slow your levelling as long as you don't try to level like you are ret. Prot's strength lies in AoE. Don't try to kill just one mob unless it is in your best interest to do so. Try to aim for groups of 4 at a time and use a downranked consecrate to kill them all close to the same time. Ret is faster at single target killing, but prot is faster overall if you take on multiple mobs at once.

Try and focus on more melee-oriented mobs as well, as you'll get more holy shield damage on them, and they're just generally easier to work with.

[rebelyell]

I've found that when taking on single targets especially casters I get them dead faster using a 2 hander and JoTC and SoR.. then when the melee shows up I put the sword and shield back on..

The hard part is some of the places around Blades Edge have plenty of casters in open space so getting a LOS on them to come to you is hard thus the 2 hander with a good spell damage works well for me. But up till now I've found it fairly easy to go through all the Thrall, Zang and Nagrand quests as prot and not be slowed down much if at all as prot. Just these 3 zones with minimal instance runs and I've dinged 69 and got plenty of spell damage gear.. I'd highly recommend the petrified lichen shield which you can get when honoured with sporregar(located in Zang Marsh).. stick a thorium or better shield spike and your AoE goodness just got so much better..

Through the quests in each area you will find good places to grind on pure melee style mobs to farm rep/gold/cloth and gain exp. BUT you should find the best gains from just questing and maybe a little grind to get the shiedl from Zang Marsh.

Just my thoughts from a Prot paly who has spent the last couple of weeks doing what your about to do.. go prot through outlands. PLUS prot spec allows you to take on many of the group quests solo.... not all but some of the suggested 2-3 player quests you should be able to solo with reasonable comfort.