Intelligence versus Twitch

One of the things that annoys me is that somehow a lot of people have gotten it in there head that twitch reflexes are the same as intelligent play or skill.  What I am referring to is the new retribution paladin "rotation" versus the old "rotation".

In the wrath era of retribution paladin (pre 4.01) a ret knew what they were going to be casting when.  They knew their priority and as things came off cool down they hit the highest priority spell for that situation.  The were procs to a point and there were some times when your priorities changed mid fight but it was fairly straight forward.

In the cataclysm era of retribution (post 4.01) a ret has no idea what they will be casting from one second to the next.  The framework is built around a proc system more than anything else.  The "rotation" as I previously discussed is basically hit you CS until you have 3 HoPo then TV.  You throw fillers in empty GCD's based on priority.  But, the largest effect you will have on your DPS is by watching your procs.  If HoL procs hit TV.  If AoW procs hit Exorcism.  If DP procs an extra HoPo point that pushes you to 3 then hit TV.  Why not just set up Power Auras to flash a big 4 (provided thats where your TV is bound) if your HoPo >= 3 or if HoL = true?  Then set up another that flashes a big 5 (again provided your Exor is bound there) if AoW = true.

I am not trying to complain about the new "rotation" I am just saying that hitting a button when something flashes on your screen does not equal skill or intelligence.  If it did, would that make a mouse that successfully hits a button to get food when a bell rings intelligent or skillful?

Quick Update

Not much to talk about.  So far I am still getting used to the new rotation.  I do ok in PvE.  In PvP it is still ok when the enemies are not dispelling.  As soon as they realize that they can dispell most of my offensive power I am done for.  One thing I am noticing is that the alliance in my battlegroup don't PvP much.  So, I get to sit in queue for 30 to 45 minutes waiting for random bg's.

A friend of mine asked me about the ret PvE rotation such as it is.  Being that most fights in PvE haven't been lasting for more 30 seconds I have dropped off Zealotry due to lack of usefulness.  Then I evaluated the differences between my PvP and PvE specs and realized they were close enough to not warrant using both my specs for ret.  As for the rotation, CS,  filler (judge, exo if art of war, HoW if under 20%, HW), repeat until 3 HoPo or HoL procs then TV.  This is pre cata since we don't have inq yet.

First few days of 4.01

I have been running battle grounds as much as I can.  The problem has been that queue times are crazy.  I sit in queue for an hour sometimes just to be into a bg that is all but over.

So far my opinion of the changes are that in disorganized PvP retribution does fairly well.  When ever I run across people who know what is what and/or have decent PvP gear it goes very bad.  I haven't had a chance to go in with a healer in my pocket yet though.  I am still of a mind that retribution doesn't bring anything to the team that others can bring better.  Ghostcrawler said we were going to get something for our mobility but, as far as I have seen that hasn't happened yet.

I have made some gold on glyphs since the patch.  As people begin to fill in their books that will taper off I am sure.  Especially since I have already seen it start to fall some.  Add to that blizzard has implemented a change where each different item you post or cancel requires a hardware action.  This significantly slows down the posting process.  I have simply stopped undercutting so, the ones who pay the price is the consumers.  Glyphs that were sitting at 15 gold are now at 50.  I sell mine for 250 across the board so I only get the sale if the others sell out.  But, I only have to repost on a sale or 48 hours.  It all really is silly.

Patch day

Ok now that I am done ranting about how they have broken the retribution spec I will try to chronical my experiance as I try to make something usefull out of it

Yesterday was partch day.  After a couple hours of updating I finally got on the servers.  I logged into Saraphina and checked out my spec choice.  I also looked at my glyphs and wrote down all the ones I thought I nigh use.  Then I went to elitist jerks and arena junkies to look into possible spec choices.  I found that I didn't really like the specs I found as is so I copied a basic pvp spec and made a couple changes.

I will link my current spec in each of these posts for future referance.

I decided against getting zealotry since I don't think I will have enough up time to make effective use of it.  I will probably change my spec frequently so, it wont be the same for long until I zero in on an "effective" spec.

I logged over to my scribe, made the glyphs I wrote down plus a couple and mailed them off.  Also threw some on the AH at stupid high prices to account for that source of income going away soon.

Logged back into saraphina and glyphed and talented.  Also had to go to the trainer for new spells.  Put some deal on my bars and qued for a random bg.  I saw that wintergrasp was in progress so, I figured I would start there.  Had a little fun running around killing allies but not really all that telling since no one knows their class yet.  We won so I went back to dalaran to wait for my bg.  It never popped.  So, I guess I will have to see tonight.

Another look to the future

I haven't been posting of late because with the 4.0 dropping soon and the Castaclysm coming soon after I really haven't anything positive to say.  The pretty much gutted all melee and buffed most casters.  The asshole CM ghostcrawler (or Greg Street) does nothing but lock threads when someone steps over the line or even comes close to it.  Apparently it is not going to be a good idea to try and play a retribution paladin in cataclysm since all the moron ghostcrawler can think of is nerfs to the spec.  When people post constructive feedback he ignores it. When people ask questions the fanboys flame it as a qq and he ignores it.  When god forbid someone complains, lock and some assholic snide remark from shitbird Greg Street.  Screw him and his horse.  The only reason I am posting here now is because if I try to post on the moron ghoscrawlers forum he will lock/ban if I state my actual opinion about where they are going with the retribution class right now.

As of right now I have not been banned.  I would like to keep it that way so I won't post there.