Opinions on WotLK Redoubt and Shield Specialization

[Keriam]

I am having some mixed opinions on how useful Redoubt and Shield Specialization will be in the expansion. Currently, I am planning to use this spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla ... 0000000000

Basically want I want in this build is to take full advantage of threat and survival talents. Considering on all the great talents in the trees, I don't have much room to work with.

With the new strength to block value formula, strength has become a great threat and mitigation stat for paladins so there is no question on getting it. But will Shield Specialization help this? I consider Redoubt a good talent to get, but I don't think I'll miss it in the long run.

What are your opinions on these two talents? Will they be necessary for an end game MT/OT/AoE tank?

[Neuron]

as of right now im skipping redoubt and shield spec. not enough points to get everything else i want. its hard to say exactly where those 8 points went.

i am getting 5/5 strength increase. look at the new shared tanking gear, its all strength. there is 0 spell damage prot plate listed, barring stuff you can gem with sd. 0. so this time around you will have a fairly decent sized amount of strength upon gearing up at 80. so the percentage based increase works out to be alot more than on current level 70 prot gear which leaves you with base str only.

then there is the synergy. shield of the righteous now scales with block value which scales with strength to increase threat output. hammer of the righteous now scales with AP which scales from str.

they want 3 the plate wearers to use the same gear pool so it looks like its better to start planning around having str and maximizing threat through it.

then there is the fact the tree is just bloated. too much stuff to get, too many "core" talents to get. so far at 77 ive went and dropped a few points here or there out of 1hws and reck and misc talents, and ive totally ignored the 8 points from redoubt and shield spec so i have enough in other places.

now, ironically, this means that paladins following this build style have 30% less block value (sort of, its not directly less if you do something like 5pts in divine str). so you get hit harder, sort of, but not by much.

given how it seems like all of the tanks are going to be aoe tanking somewhat, they probably are restricted in the aoe tanking difficulty, which is really the single time, period, that redoubt ever is not a totally junk talent. so its one time its good is now less frequent, all the more reason to junk it.

[Chunes]

in before "omg do a forum search".

but in all seriousness, this is an active question in at least 2 active topics right now. take a quick peek and i'm sure you'll find some more info to your question.

[Keriam]

I think my main concern is, will Shield Specialization increase the block value gained from strength? If no, then the talent is really lack luster.

[Rasmfrackn]

I think my main concern is, will Shield Specialization increase the block value gained from strength? If no, then the talent is really pointless.

"Fix't!"

I know we've seen boots with block value on them now, but I don't see any possible way they could justify shield spec without applying it to str-based blocking. They'd either fix it or remove it.

[OmegaDN]

I would be fairly disappointed in blizzard if they leave the talent as is. Currently it takes a whopping 20 str to = 1 BV. So yeah, there really isn't any point to having those talent points affect it. But (as everyone knows) the ball game changes come the expansion.

I have a feeling that gear will still have BV on it, but it will be a mixture of BV and Str rather than our current BV Gear >>>>>>>>>>> BV Str.

Seriously, Blizzard isn't that dense.

Then again... I still don't know why they haven't changed it yet...

[moduspwnens]

Keep in mind, though, that warriors have it worse than we do atm. They have a talent just like ours ( http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=29600 ), and their new Shield Block is affected by this.

[SmurfZG]

Except, they don't have it linked with a five point talent which has little use except for aoe where we do more than well enough anyway.

[moduspwnens]

Except, they don't have it linked with a five point talent which has little use except for aoe where we do more than well enough anyway.

:P I guess, but it still all depends on how much threat is needed. You can pick up all the stamina/avoidance/mitigation talents pretty easily, as can warriors. It's all about the threat.

Either way, as far as tank balance, it's in Paladins' favor for it to stay as it is now (at least versus Warriors).

[SmurfZG]

Shame on you modus. It's not a competition!