Holy Shield appreciation thread

[Skye1013]

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

I'd have to say the whole reason I picked up a pally in the first place was the playstyle (and watching one solo ALL of the dueling mobs on one of the ledges outside BT.) I loved putting a shield spike on, running around with ret aura, and (for a while) the fiery splash enchant you get from one of the badlands quests. That combined with HS/consecration meant a lot of aoe damage, most of which I was doing passively. I know that's a big reason why blizz removed/changed a lot of things, because they didn't want tanks getting "free" threat, but damn was it fun!

[Fetzie]

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

You will be wasting it on tank swap fights if you macro HS to CS.

I quite like HS. Getting Rag swinging at you for 30k (31k blocked) is pretty awesome.

And one of the reasons I picked up my paladin was all of the flashy animation effects

[theckhd]

I know that's a big reason why blizz removed/changed a lot of things, because they didn't want tanks getting "free" threat, but damn was it fun!

It's not so much "free" threat that they minded, but completely passive threat. There are a number of design problems with having a big chunk of your threat happen automatically when someone hits you.

[Sabindeus]

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

I do not miss those days. Our class design now is infinitely superior to the nonsense we had to do in Burning Crusade.

[Blackharon]

I do not miss those days. Our class design now is infinitely superior to the nonsense we had to do in Burning Crusade.

Except for the fact that everything seems to be bubble-proof and the bubblehearth nerf I agree with the statement above.

[Sabindeus]

I do not miss those days. Our class design now is infinitely superior to the nonsense we had to do in Burning Crusade.

Except for the fact that everything seems to be bubble-proof and the bubblehearth nerf I agree with the statement above.

I totally agree with that from a personal standpoint. I liked when bubble was overpowered too. I can see why they're gradually nerfing it though.

[Aerron]

I know that's a big reason why blizz removed/changed a lot of things, because they didn't want tanks getting "free" threat, but damn was it fun!

It's not so much "free" threat that they minded, but completely passive threat. There are a number of design problems with having a big chunk of your threat happen automatically when someone hits you.

Thus why Retribution aura just seems to suck so bad?

[Fetzie]

I do not miss those days. Our class design now is infinitely superior to the nonsense we had to do in Burning Crusade.

Except for the fact that everything seems to be bubble-proof and the bubblehearth nerf I agree with the statement above.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=64457 says "hi, come grind outlands archaeology for me: I'm a 'hearthstone' with a 5 second cast time"

[Rokh]

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

You will be wasting it on tank swap fights if you macro HS to CS.

I quite like HS. Getting Rag swinging at you for 30k (31k blocked) is pretty awesome.

And one of the reasons I picked up my paladin was all of the flashy animation effects

If you think about it, your only blocking an extra 12-15k extra or so, then count the fact that you prolly have a good 20-25% chance to dodge or parry, also count the fact the boss might not even attack you when you have it running (think rag when he turns for 2 seconds and shoots at people, or gatekeeper when he casts a crystal it takes a good 2-3 seconds to get back to you, or shannox spear throw is 2-3 sec cast time)

I am my guild raid leader, so it might just be that i already have alot to keep my eyes on, but IMO the total damage reduction from the new HS is not worth me sacrificing raid awareness to watch 1 more cooldown / timer than I already do.

[masterpoobaa]

I would be nice if this talent had some use below level 80.
As it stands, an extra 20% block when you only block 5% of the time is close to meaningless. Until you hit 80, talent points should be spent elsewhere!

[Soloz]

Oh man I didn't think I would like the change but man was a wrong it is a very powerful cd especially since I am block capped mmm loving it

[Fetzie]

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

You will be wasting it on tank swap fights if you macro HS to CS.

I quite like HS. Getting Rag swinging at you for 30k (31k blocked) is pretty awesome.

And one of the reasons I picked up my paladin was all of the flashy animation effects

If you think about it, your only blocking an extra 12-15k extra or so, then count the fact that you prolly have a good 20-25% chance to dodge or parry, also count the fact the boss might not even attack you when you have it running (think rag when he turns for 2 seconds and shoots at people, or gatekeeper when he casts a crystal it takes a good 2-3 seconds to get back to you, or shannox spear throw is 2-3 sec cast time)

I am my guild raid leader, so it might just be that i already have alot to keep my eyes on, but IMO the total damage reduction from the new HS is not worth me sacrificing raid awareness to watch 1 more cooldown / timer than I already do.

When you are block capped, using Holy Shield basically has the same effect as hitting GoAK.

On Thursday I would have died had I not "saved" holy shield (healer got a meatball at rag and had to move, and my other cooldowns were already used, if I had taken another non-HS block I would have died at we would have wiped). If you feel you need to look at too many timers to keep an eye on HS, why not delegate that work?

[PsiVen]

It's not quite as good as GAnK since you're already getting 30% blocks... but it is very nice I enjoy HS now that I'm block capped, but I would still say that 90% of the time it gets used on cooldown because there's no better place for it. It lines up pretty well and makes a meaningful difference for constant rough damage intake: HS -> healers start falling behind after 20sec -> HS again to catch them up -> repeat. Naturally 40% block always would be even better, but that would be too good.

If you're sacrificing raid awareness to "watch cooldowns" you should reconsider your UI. Its purpose is to convey information efficiently, so tweak it until it does!