Holyssa

Heyo folks. Going to Anime Boston '08 with Orcala this weekend, so I won't be around in any shape or form from Friday morning till Sunday afternoon or so. If I can remember, I'll take some pictures & post em for everyone Place your bets: what do you think will be the Flavor of the Year for this event? And by FotY, I mean armies of kids dressed up as something from one particular genre: -Naruto ninjas -Bleach characters -Death Note people I didn't list DBZ because it seems to have died down over the course of time. Though I did spot someone dressed as Guldo last year...

Holyssa Fargleam Appearance/personality: Holy stands at exactly 5ft in height, making her rather small for a Sin'Dorei, but slender in terms of overall fitness. Her hair is platinum colored, and her eyes flicker with a warm emerald glow. Around town, she can be commonly seen wearing a kilt adorned with small runed plates, a small jet-black Libram filled with Thalassian proverbs & rites dangling by a similarly-colored chain draped around her waist, with a black blouse that you'd typically see worn by nobility. While most Blood Knights are trained to be strict defenders for the Sin'Dorei cause, Holyssa has been known to show a very compassionate side that only a handful of people have witnessed. Past: She had lost her parents during the Legion's invasion of Dalaraan, and spent a good portion of her life studying the ways of the ranger before the Scourge devastated her beloved Silvermoon. With the discovery that a newfound power could be drawn from M'uru's "light", Holyssa leapt at the chance to train & understand this power so that she could punish the very filth that had torn her home apart. Lady Liadrin had become a second mother to Holyssa in many ways, diligently teaching the youthful Sin'dorei the ways of the Blood Knights while providing her shelter within Silvermoon's decorated halls. It didn't take long for her to rise among the elites of Silvermoon's royal guard, but she quickly grew bored with the stuck up code of honor her fellow Blood Knights swore their lives to. She craved adventure, and the desire to help the less fortunate people that her brethren had so often put down & shunned...it was a feeling she herself could not figure out no matter how hard she tried, but it felt damned good. They may not be able to understand or experience the power of this "light" she wielded with an iron fist, but it brought her more satisfaction than even the most expensive bottle of port could ever hope to. Present: Having recently sworn a blood oath to the Clan, Holyssa feels as though she is among family, but also wishes to guide these newfound friends closer to Illidan's front doorstep in an attempt to wrest the Outlands from his tainted grip. When she isn't carrying her sword & shield, Holy can often be found on the Aldor Rise of Shattrath city, or strolling through Silvermoon's streets with her mind up in the clouds.

Hm...I should show this stuff to Orcala. She's always looking for ways to stunlock people to kingdom come, and nothing makes me lol more than some dumb gnome's death cries ^_^

"Aura of Deadly Protection: Increases the damage that plate-wearing classes will cause by 0.5%. Also increases the likelihood that DPS plate armor will drop by 85%." Knowing Blizzard (and our poor luck with drops), something tells me this is one of those super-secret hotfixes you just may be right about. Just think of all the shards we'll get once we do Hyjal!

Our first time attempting Aran last night...and a miracle had occurred: No one died to Flame Wreath! Got him on our 2nd attempt too. Very nice job all!

It's....too....cute... *clutches heart* *falls down*

I would SO re-spec Ret just to use this. WTB Thunderfury replica plz. I'm surprised that with WoW's popularity, more companies aren't making replicas like this.

Are we still looking at the possibility of doing Kara over two nights? I would've stayed till Curator last night, but it was a (very) rare exception for me. We still did good though, having one-shotted R&J without wiping even after both bosses got health back, and with new faces to boot. I can start as early as 7:00 if we do go the Sunday route. And if possible, I can ask Orcala to come on future runs as an offtank/DPSer (she's always looking for more badges). One night we can do Attumen --> Curator, then do Aran --> Prince/Nightbane & optional bosses. Oh, she can't post on here due to the email authentication problem, so she wanted me to say: thanks for bringing her along

earth

roots

Just to cover our butts: Netherspite tutorial video. He's NOT a hard fight, but explaining it and getting the other 9 people in the raid to understand/remember it with good coordination is like dental surgery. With a rusty drill. Please watch this movie, pause & read at certain spots, and we should have no issues kicking the crap out of him should we get this far in the next week or so. It'll be a massive help to new people, as well as help those that haven't killed him in a long time remember what they need to do.

*sprays suit black* *straps on the suit* I...am...Batma--*SPLAT*

You'll still try to braid Holy's ears, right?

Just a mini-FYI: As of March 17 (possibly this Monday coming up? Can't promise anything :\ ), I will be free and no longer have any stupid RL commitment (sorry, it's a personal thing) dragging me down before the raid. So we could possibly start just a teeny bit earlier on those days now that I can better focus & not have to race home on that day of the week. It's up to the raid, though.

I remember when I was about 8 years old, my father would take me into gaming hobby shops just to look at model tanks, planes, and painting supplies. And one of the first things I did was dash on over to the aisles with the fantasy figurines, reading through the D&D and RPG rulebooks with awe, but I didn't quite understand the whole role-playing game concept at such a young age. It was an odd memory, and something I did very often even when my brother used to collect WarHammer figurines when I was a teen, but it's still something that I owe my love for fantasy & RPGs to. Even if all I did was skim the rulebooks like a noob, it brought a smile to my face Thanks for all the happy times, Gary!

This is a well-deserved victory. Grats everyone!! Now to earn the guild some Amani War Bears! Rawrghlsauce!

Hm...I think that's all the (useful) stuff. And I do apologize for the Great Wall of Text. Now to post some personal Q&As Holy gets from people every so often: Q: If a paladin generates so much threat, why am I still pulling aggro & getting my butt kicked? A: You gotta remember that a paladin's spellpower doesn't scale the same way as oh say...a mage or a warlock. It's also the only damage source unaffected by Resistances: it will either hit, or miss, and a mob's armor mitigation does not impact this damage at all. Now, one can just say: why not do your ranged-taunt thingamajig? Because it's only going to hold their attention for a few precious seconds before a slap to the face will finally get the mobs attention. Like warriors & druids, it takes a bit of patience for the Paladin to get a situation under control rather than going apesh*t & frantically nuking the instance into oblivion. The way I look at it is this: if you want to better time your DPS bursts and not make the Paladin grumpy at the poor sap with a death wish, here's a few tips- ~ Don't open up ASAP. Much like warriors and their 3-Sunder rule, Paladins kind of have a similar rule of thumb: -Let a paladin Consecrate if possible. Count down to three ticks (3 seconds). Four is fine also, but not recommended in a timed fight where each moment costs precious DPS. -See that heuge hammer that comes down on a mob's head? That's not a Super Mario Bros. gimmick - it's a Paladin using Judgement of Righteousness on a mob, which is a typical form of burst DPS. Think of it like it was a Heroic Strike. This usually follows the consecrate ticks, or it's done immediately upon getting in range of a mob. -Watch your paladin's behavior. If the shield is glowing & constantly being raised, it's most likely a successful block, which contributes to our threat generation. ~ Misdirect is your best friend. Got a caster mob that is being a jerk? Toss it onto them and lay on the DPS. If a paladin is out of Line of Sight, hopefully the threat produced will cause the mob to follow in hot pursuit. ~Time your spells. If a paladin pulls a massive group (and this is very good to keep in mind for LoS pulls), watch out when you toss Heal Over Time spells: the mobs may be running, but the lack of initial burst damage from the paladin may have them go for the healers first! Q: I'm trying to run a buddy or two through an instance. Just how much punishment can one tankadin take? A: Paladins are famous for one annoying trait: it takes forever to kill one. In T4 or better/equal gear, it's very possible to pull an entire instance such as SM: Cathedral (from start to finish), Sunken Temple (the dragon chamber), 3 or 4 squares in Stratholme, Scholomance (several miniboss rooms), and many others that aren't too caster-heavy. In modern-day content, treat the pally as you would any other plate-wearer or feral druid: just because it's tanking 5 mobs in one pull and doing a good job at holding aggro doesn't mean the day is won. And keep in mind: with Spiritual Attunement, 10% of the healing you do contributes to it's mana pool. Q: I'm about to enter a PuG. My tank is a paladin. How do I know if this guy is good or not? A: Check their gear or talents. A good tankadin should have anywhere over the 11k HP mark in pre-Kara gear if they did their homework, and a decent selection of BoE blue armor from blacksmiths & world drops. If their spell damage is around the 150-200 mark, they should be able to hold their own in terms of caster threat should the group play it safe. Be forewarned: A tankadin using a non-caster weapon (Sun Eater, King's Defender, crafted BS BoPs, Arena melee weapons) is either: A. Someone very new to the concept. Most likely they don't have the time, gold, or rep to get a Continuum Blade or Crystalforged Sword, which are two of the cookie-cutter pre-Kara tanking weapons. Toss this fellow some Wizard Oil every now and then to help threat generation. Don't gripe if you and your buddies end up with Blessing of Salvation (-30% Threat) either: a reduction in DPS is much better than losing your life to a very unlucky/stupid DPS burst. B. Ret. Yep, I've seen it a lot: they insist they can tank well (and can sometimes do decently, given the circumstances), and yet they are wearing almost all strength & stamina gear & not a single point in the prot tree save for third-tier PvP talents like Improved Hammer of Justice. It's not a bad idea, especially during the early days of Outland, but when the majority of your spellpower-based threat comes from Consecrate spam, it isn't going to look very good with other casters in the group trying to go AoE-crazy, thinking it is safe as long as they see the golden smog. Beware! Q: Is a tankadin a good healer/offhealer? A: Based on my own experiences? Yes. And with little to no need to re-spec. I've successfully healed pretty much every Heroic as a main healer and Karazhan, with both a druid & warrior as main tank when the situation seemed grim. I don't know if it's just dumb luck, but the groups I've traveled with also had a good grasp of their class's abilities & CC mechanics. Your results may differ, however. Especially in a PuG. Gear will play heavily into filling in this role, however. Thankfully, paladin heals are very mana-efficient even during very long battles thanks to a good portion of our plate having mana-regen or spellcrit. A good number for a tankadin to aim for in terms of offspec healing is anywhere above the +1200 range, with some buff food & pots to support themselves. Q: Why do people say Spell Hit rating sucks for a paladin? A: Because it only affects abilities that are already constantly active for threat generation, such as the first tick of Consecrate, or Seals, which are a consistant form of burst DPS over very long fights. Most gear such as the Amani Punisher has just enough to prevent such unlucky resists, but any more +spell hit, and you may as well spec Shockadin. Keep this in mind also if you plan on saving for the new 2.4 tankadin armor. Melee Hit rating affects the more important spells, such as Righteous Defense, which is considered a Physical ability like a warrior's Taunt, and your chance to hit with white melee attacks. You can stack a crapton of +spellhit if you wish, but what good will it do you if the actual weapon doesn't even hit anything? Q: I can't afford to constantly re-spec. How do I not suck when asked to PvP with buddies? A: *slap* Dailies, foo'! But seriously, a tankadin isn't all that bad in PvP...in fact, they can be an utter pain in the ass depending on the situation. During BGs, they can provide an excellent diversion and last an incredibly long time as the opposition zergs them down, only to end up bubbling and healing as the competition rips it's hair out in frustration. But wait, ! Mass Dispel is the only known spell that can remove our cancer-curing bubble. With Inner Focus (next spell cast is free), they can even cast it twice in a row if properly spec'd. So how can this be prevented? Luckily for us tanks, there is Stoicism, which reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by an additional 30%. Pretty handy if you're a Retadin as well and you have the extra talent points to blow. However, don't rely on it...30% is nice, but it won't make you totally invincible.Also, want to tick off stealthers? Lay down a consecreate, and between rogue stuns, apply Judgement/Seal of Justice. Not only will it prevent Sprinting, but the rogue/druid will be stuck in the magical golden crap while Seal of Justice keeps it stunned in place until diminishing returns kick in (roughly 4 procs), unable to stealth & resume its dirty work. Fury Warriors and Shaman hit like trucks. If you want to lay on the hurt and still go toe-to-toe, keep your tanking trinkets on such as Scarab of Displacement, pop Holy Shield, and watch as the moron whittles down its own health via super fast attack speed & passive Holy damage. And of course, keep Retribution Aura up. Q: I want to power level my best buddy. The character is in the 20s range. What's an efficient way to do this without running Gnomeregan or BFD a million times? A: Two words: Scarlet Monastery. "But Holy, that place is for the L30-ish people!" Not entirely true. You can enter the instance as early as L20, but aggro will be insane unless you stay tucked in a corner, or just in reach of the dungeon entrance. It's recommended that your L60/70 friend goes in first, and deals with the first two pulls, especially for Cathedral since there's a mob staring right at the instance portal. Some prep work before you do this: ~Make sure you're well geared before AoEing this place down. The mobs may be L30-40ish, but still hurt when faced in droves. T4 or equivalent gear, plus some quest blues will help nicely. Hitting the Defense Cap (490) helps considerably, but isn't mandatory. ~Petrified Lichen Guard + Felsteel Shield Spike = platemail porcupine. The poison DoT will kill runners quickly, and the spike adds passive damage alongside Holy Shield. ~Trinkets! Figurine of the Colossus or anything that can help block value/rating will keep you alive a LOT longer. ~Make sure your friend is visible on the minimap before actually killing anything. Otherwise, no XP for them, and you will look like a total dope. ~Do not let your friend buff, heal, or follow you under any circumstances. If a runner brushes by them, remind them to keep absolutely still. Even at low levels, mob aggro is very fussy unless they have constant DoTs to hold their attention (see the Lichen Guard shield). ~Repairs are gonna be iffy. If needed, dash to Brill & repair, and bring multiple shields, since Cathedral & Armory will pour on the most hurt. And now the basics on pulling: -Zone in, and clear the first two pulls for each wing you plan to run. -For Graveyard (run this until they hit L25 or so, as the XP from non-elites will quickly begin to suck), run directly to Bloodmage Thalnos, hit him with Exorcism, and run back to the hallway downstairs from the instance portal. -For Library, run directly to Doan, taking care not to aggro anyone as you make a mad dash. Although it cannot be helped sometimes, you WILL aggro at least one or two pulls, and have a nice angry mob trailing you. Don't stop to DPS them! Attack Doan, and make a dash for the hallway just before the portal. AoE the mobs down, and keep an eye out for a pair of Monks that spawn by the entryway as soon as Doan dies. Keep running this till your pal hits L30. -For Armory, run directly to Herod's room, bubble (if you have mobs on you, since unlocking the door can be interrupted by damage), and attack the Champion. Run back with the mighty moshpit in hot pursuit, and use a corner to grab any caster patrols. Keep running this and Cathedral till you hit about L40 or so. -For Cathedral, run directly to Mograine and attack. Don't aggro any mobs prior to this, or you will wind up with Forbearance as you bubble & open the door, wasting time as you wait for Avenging Wrath to cool down. Pull the mobs just within the end of the corridor leading to the courtyard with the fountain, using corners to catch casters. Upon Moggy's death, you will be stuck in combat, and you cannot click the body. You have a choice at this point: 1. Go back inside and grab Whitemaine. Pull her to the start, and kill the bosses after she rezzes Moggy. 2. Run out & reset, looting the other mobs. They have an unusually quick despawn timer. This is up to your friend though, and depending on how soon he/she wants to farm the bosses. Using this method, you run all 4 wings of SM, and reset as needed. But beware: if you're L70 and plan to run a dungeon afterwards, you must wait 1 hour after 5 resets, or you will be locked out! And FYI - I did this method to level my hunter up long ago, gaining her about 14 levels over the course of three days (with rest), and plenty of cash to buy a mount & some blues. Q: I need some macros. A: Here's a few very common ones: Figurine of the Tankadin /use [combat] Figurine of the Colossus /stopcasting /cast [combat] Holy Shield What this does is it applies Holy Shield, and activates the trinket. 120 healing (which CAN crit) per tick + 8 or more Holy Shield charges with talents = 960+ health recovered per body pile. And if you want to see this combo in action, watch .EZMode Paladin Taunt /cast [help] Righteous Defense; [target=targettarget] Righteous Defense or #showtooltip Righteous Defense /cast [help,nodead][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Righteous Defense This will make it function like a Warrior's taunt: click your friend who is under attack, and then activate the macro. The Amazing Cancer Curing Bubble, aka: Divine Shield-Dancing /cancelaura Divine Shield /cast Divine Shield With two clicks, it applies the paladin bubble, and cancels it immediately. This has hundreds of different uses: it prevents Fear, removes all harmful effects, and also soaks up immensely damaging spells such as (25-man) Kael's Pyroblasts. You must be quick with this method, however. On a fast mob like Nightbane, this macro can easily cost the most aggro-happy party members their lives if you slack off!! Crushing Blow Calculator /script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combined avoidance. Currently at:",0.8,0.8,1) /script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance() +5+(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)*150/355 + 20)*0.04,1,0.5,0) Long and messy. Double check it for excess spaces when you Paste it into WoW. Then activate Holy Shield & press this macro once, and look at your chat window. If you're at 102.4%, congratulations! You're pretty much ready to take on any raid encounter, providing other stats don't muck with the number crunching. If you're below 102.4%, try to break the 490 Defense cap to become un-crittable, and stack on some Block Rating, Dodge, and Parry. Gems will help greatly with this, as will enchants to cloaks & shoulders. Warriors, this macro applies to you too, but replace Holy Shield with Shield Block. Q: WTF is a Crushing Blow? How can I mitigate this? A: Read and learn: What it means to actually be "uncrushable". The mechanics behind a Crushing Blow, and how to cope with it. Q: I'm waaaay above the Avoidance cap. Is Reckoning worth putting the talent points into anymore? A: This is a matter of personal preference, I feel. Obviously, the more Avoidance you have, the less chances you have of getting slapped around, thus having Reckoning proc a lot less, if not at all on a short fight. However, it's an amazing grinding ability when properly used, and can be a great lifesaver during messy fights like Hyjal or Black Morass, where droves of monsters come from every direction. If you must say bye-bye to Reckoning, leave at least 1 point in the talent, and put the rest in other Protection fillers like Stoicism to further increase mitigation. Q: Holy, I need a weapon that isn't made of suck & fail. A: Fear not. Here's two WoWHead.com filters: both of which list a bunch of weapons with >120 spell power that are Paladin-friendly. Tankadin-friendly Maces. (this does NOT include +healing weapons!) Tankadin-friendly Swords. Q: I want to re-spec from Holy/Ret to Prot for tanking, & plan to do this for a very long time. At L70, is it too late for me to do this? A: It's never too late. However, some pieces of gear will be tougher to fill in than others depending on the quests you completed, and the rewards you chose. A good example is the Dimensius quest in Netherstorm. Upon completion: you'll notice two of the rewards just happen to be tankadin-friendly. I've seen many pallies pick the legs because they have an insane amount of healing (pre-Heroics), and just enough spellpower to fill other roles. But how often do you see a blue-quality tanking trinket outside of dungeons that some people STILL use in their SSC/TK days? Short of farming Shadow Labs or Shattered Halls for their trinket drops, the choice for an up and coming tankadin is obvious. Grab the trinket. The legs can always be replaced with something far superior with little trouble. If you have a jam-packed quest log and still have trouble deciding what to pick amongst rewards, consult Kaliban's Class Loot Lists. It has a comprehensive list of items from dungeons & quests so you'll be less confused over gear choices. I'll add more Q&A as they come up. EDIT: Oops. Fixed some links. EDIT: Added more info as of 3/31/08. EDIT: Added tankadin weapon lists via wowhead.com.

Raid Level Boss Guide - Tankadin Evaluation by Cordelia Karazhan Boss : Attumen the Huntsman Advantaged A fairly well geared paladin tank or a marginally geared paladin tank backed by well geared healers can easily double tank the entire encounter. This makes transitions easier. The paladin's ability to generate large amounts of threat on undead mobs very quickly allows DPS to ramp up almost immediately. Boss : Moroes Advantaged A paladin has the ability to aoe tank several mobs if his gear or the healers are up to the task. Alternatively, you can have an offtank tanking one of the melee adds in the corner with Blessing of Sacrifice on him, which will break the gouge debuff. Boss : Maiden of Virtue Minor Disadvantage Silence makes this encounter more difficult for a tankadin to generate threat and remain uncrushable. Boss : Opera Event : Big Bad Wolf Minor Advantage The paladin can use ranged aggro abilities while the wolf is chasing LRRH around the stage. This is a minor advantage, but still something warriors and druids are unable to do. Boss : Opera Event : Romulo and Julianne Advantaged A sufficiently geared paladin tank can easily double tank and generate threat on both mobs. This reduces the healing load and amount of movement during the encounter. Boss : Opera Event : The Wizard of Oz Null, Minor Advantage A paladin tank can tank multiple mobs during this encounter more easily than a warrior, and just as well as a bear tank ... but this usually isn't necessary because of the mechanics of this fight. No huge advantage here. Boss : The Curator Null, Minor Advantage The ability to burst our threat during evocation phases may make it slightly easier to kill him. Boss : Shade of Aran Null, Minor Disadvantage/Minor Advantage This mob is not tankable. Warriors have more utility because of their ability to interrupt a school of magic. Tankadins can easily control 2-4 elementals via consecration, judgment, melee damage, and avenger's shield. Boss : Terestian Illhoof Advantaged A paladin tank can tank every mob in the encounter, easing the healing load and allowing DPS to go all out, all the time. Also pretty much the only way to do the encounter without a warlock AOE tank. Boss : Netherspite Null, Minor Advantage/Disadvantage The only disadvantage for a paladin tank is an inability to take over the green beam because of the mana pool reduction. A paladin has a bit of an advantage generating snap threat because Netherspite is a demon boss. This is useful during transitions to prevent Netherspite from eating the DPS right after a banish phase. Boss : Nightbane Disadvantage/Minor Advantage The fear mechanic makes this fight trickier for a paladin tank. It can be done with the 2 min CD PVP trinket and bubble and decently fast DPS, but it is significantly easier for a warrior tank to stance dance. A paladin must also sacrifice a trinket slot to tank this encounter. This disadvantage is nullified with fear wards/tremor totems. A paladin's ability to attack Nightbane while he is airborne is useful preventing Nightbane from targetting others with his breath attack, and upon landing. AE tanking the spawns in stage 2 is a significant advantage. Boss : Prince Malchezzaar Strong Advantage Paladins can generate threat on the demon lord very easily, which allows DPS to start immediately (instead of using white damage only for an entire phase 1 as some groups do). Paladins are also considerably less crushable vs. fast hitting bosses such as the Prince, which makes healing the encounter considerably easier. Paladins can completely disengage Prince during Phase 2, utilizing only passive threat generation, which almost trivilializes Phase 2. Gruul's Lair Boss: High King Maulgar Null/Minor Advantage Tankadins do not need a misdirect to pull their own target, freeing up a MD for others. Avenger's Shield needs to be used very carefully, and a Judgment is recommended as a pulling tool. Tankadins can tank Blind-Eye or Maulgar equally as effective as other classes. Tankadins have a slight advantage tanking Olm, as they can hold aggro on the felhunters while waiting for warlocks to enslave. Boss: Gruul Disadvantaged Silencing effect opens up periodic vulnerability to crushing blows due to being prevented from using Holy Shield while silenced. Lack of fast-movement ability such as Intercept or Feral Charge to use after knock-backs prevents a Paladin from ensuring they stay in melee range, which can cause a melee DPS player to die to a Hateful Strike if the Paladin is off-tanking, or at best causes the boss to be constantly moving around the room chasing the Paladin if the Paladin is main tanking. Shield Wall and Last Stand are simply too powerful an advantage to give up in favor of using a Paladin tank, and they go incredibly far towards solidifying a kill in the later growths which would have resulted in a wipe using a Paladin tank. The only advantage a Tankadin has in Gruul's is faster and more consistent threat gen, which is not insignficant if DPS is constantly threat-capped. Magtheridon's lair Boss: Magtheridon Minor Disadvantage/Minor Advantage/Advantage At 30% Magtheridon shatters the walls of his lair, causing the roof to crash down on the entire raid. This deals 5250-6750 physical damage to every member of the raid. Warriors can use shield wall or last stand to mitigate this. Tankadins can only resort to bubbling to mitigate this, but must cancel the bubble quickly to ensure no aggro loss. Topping off the tank prior to shatter should eliminate the need for last stand/shield wall/bubbling, though. Tankadins have an advantage tanking the initial adds for the Magtheridon encounter. They can tank the first two adds at once, and allows dps to start aggro early in a very time intensive encounter. Tankadins also have an advantage picking up Magtheridon and positioning him when he spawns. SSC Hydross Null/Minor Disadvantage/Strong Advantage Tankadins have a threat disadvantage on mobs that cannot be blocked, as well as a slightly tougher time gearing for resistance. Consecration by the MT helps control the adds before the OT's are able to hold aggro on them. Tankadins are advantaged in their ability to control up to 2-4 of the adds at once, with the correct gearing. Lurker Below Disadvantage/Minor Advantage Not having intercept means the off-tank has to tank longer, lowering our threat and increasing the chances for something odd to happen, like a spout starting on the OT. Slight advantage in snap aggro on the adds. Morogrim Minor Advantage/Strong Advantage Tankadins can output a lot more threat than other tanks on a boss with an slowing attack. As murloc tanks, tankadins save up to 3 extra raid slots, dramatically benefitting raid dps. Karathress Disadvantage/Advantage For tanking karathress himself, tankadins are at a slight disadvantage, as they cannot intervene out of spitfire range (which is used in some strategies). For tanking the shaman, they are by far the worst tank due to high burst and no crushings. For tanking the priest, they are disadvantaged due to lack of a spell interrupt. Tankadins are advantaged at tanking the hunter due to their ability to easily hold aggro on both targets. Leotheras Advantage Whirlwind occurs often and clears the aggro table. A paladin's ranged attacks (Avenger's Shield, Judgement) can more quickly return aggro to the tank, thus allowing for dps to start sooner. For tanking demon form, we are able to divine shield out of the debuff stack. Unlike a warrior tank, we are very unlikely to get mind controlled. Tankadins are great at killing inner demons too. Vashj Advantage Phase 1/3 - we can freedom ourselves out of roots or even generate aggro from range. Phase 2- ranged multiple target taunt makes picking up and tanking multiple nagas easy. The Eye Boss: Void Reaver Advantage The high threat generation of a tankadin allows him to hold aggro through multiple knockbacks. Boss: High Astromancer Solarian Advantage Tankadins are strongly advantaged during the portal phase when multiple adds are summoned. Boss: Al'ar (Phase 2) Disadvantage/Advantage During Phase 2, Al'ar will apply a debuff on the current tank that reduces armor by 75%, and so Al'ar must be taunted off by another tank immediately. As Warrior/Druid taunt is on a shorter cooldown, and both classes have backup taunts available in case of a resist, it is much easier to have them on the boss. Tankadins are capable of solo tanking the adds, opening raid slots for more dps. Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phases 4 and 5) Disadvantage/Minor Advantage During Phase 4, Kael will occasionally shield himself and begin to chain-cast three Pyroblasts at the MT. They hit for ~40k base damage, which is reduced in half by the buff given by the Cosmic Infuser (healing mace). It is up to the DPS to burn through the shield and interrupt Kael as quickly as possible. The first Pyroblast will almost definitely go through, but is absorbed by the Phaseshift Bulwark's use effect. The second Pyroblast should be interrupted, but in the event that it is not (particularly on learning attempts), a Warrior can use Last Stand and a Nightmare Seed to put themselves well over the 20k mark, thus surviving the Pyroblast with some hit points to spare. They can also use Shield Wall. Without Last Stand, the Paladin must use a combination of PW:S, Major Fire Prot Potion, Nightmare Seed, and the badge trinkets. On the other hand, if it is absolutely certain that the third pyroblast will be interrupted, the Paladin can bubble, taking no damage. The risk of this is that the third pyroblast will target a different raid member, if not interrupted. Additionally, Tankadins take more spell damage than a warrior(3%, 6% or 10% more depending on talents). Tankadins have an advantage tanking Telonicus: He can simply bubble out of the Remote Toy if he gets it. A tankadin can AE tank 3-4 weapons, freeing up a tank spot for another DPS or AE. The tankadin can kite or tank phoenixes: Paladin ranged abilities allow allow them to grab the phoenixes without entering melee. If correctly used toghether with Consecration, the tankadin can just kite the phoenix around without taking any damage. Mt Hyjal Rage Winterchill Advantage Tankadin superior threat generation will simply make this fight shorter When Ras casts death and decay onto the tanking position, the paladin will be able to continue producing threat with ranged spells while the warrior/feral usually has to wait out of melee range. Anetheron Kaz'rogal Strong disadvantage Mana burn substantially reduces tankadin threat, exacerbated by the DPS-race nature of this encounter. Tankadins can possibly blow up melees if they are not careful enough, using the full hitbox-range. As it is possible for the tankadin to explode, it is more stress for the healers and costs more mana to keep the tankadin alive. Azgalor Disadvantage Silence for 6 seconds, not capable of being exactly timed with HS and troublesome regarding threat, and no oh-###### buttons if too many healers are silenced. Archimonde Disadvantage Archimonde's fear mechanic makes this more difficult for tankadins. Black Temple Reliquary of Souls: Phase 1: Essence of Pain Advantage There is zero healing in this phase and tanks cycle control of the boss relying on blocks and avoidance to stay up. As a class which relies on blocks tankadins can possibly tank 2 whole non-enraged portions. Ardent Defender is a strong advantage for Tankadins here. Essence of Desire (Reliquary of Souls, Phase 2) Impossible Essence of Desire will occasionally cast a debuff on the Main Tank called Deaden that increases damage taken by a large percentage. It must be spell reflected onto Essence of Desire. She also applies an aura onto the raid that reduces everyone's total mana by an increasingly large percentage as the phase progresses. Typically it takes 4 or 5 Deadens to kill her, and as even one missed or accidentally interrupted Deaden can mean a wipe on learning nights it is definitely not possible to use a non-Warrior MT for that phase unless your DPS outgears the encounter by a currently unreachable margin. Essence of Anger (Reliquary of Souls, Phase 3) Strong Advantage Seethe increases threat generation by 300% for 10s. A tankadins burst threat mechanic scales perfectly with this, allowing a massive frontloading of threat. Essence of Anger periodically uses an attack that burns mana, rage, or energy from everyone in front of him. It burns up to 100 rage, or somewhere around 4000-5000 mana. It also does damage based on the amount of rage or mana burned. Tankadins can mana dump more effectively than druids or warriors, minimizing damage taken during this phase. Tankadins steady mana intake from Spiritual Attunement is enough to hold aggro, after the initial threat burst from Seethe. Tankadins can spike mana regen by purposefully taking damage(first mana burn), mana potions, and dark/demonic runes. (Holy sez: there were other BT bosses listed, but no tips provided for. Omitting the empty spots for space's sakes, but will paste em in should the original topic get updated) World Bosses Doom Lord Kazzak Doomwalker Minor Advantage Burst Threat and Snap Aggro with a Long range taunt allows the tankadin to pick up Doomwalker easier during phase changes.

Heyo folks. I figure I'd post this to help our friends & family better understand just how the tanking paladin does it's thing: all this info comes from some very knowledgeable folks over at the Maintankadin Forums, and I think it would do some good to share this stuff. "But Holy, all you gotta do is consecrate crap, chuck shields, get hit a lot, roll your face on the keyboard..." No, nubsauce. Very bad generalization there and I see it every damn day. Read on: this will help our raiders & 5-man folks get a more comfortable grasp on how the Prot Pally functions, and help calm some suspicions on this class's strengths & weaknesses as well as clarify how to make a tankadin's job easier (ex - Leotheras). At the end of this topic, I'll post some of my own commentary. "An Officers Guide to the Paladin Tank by Igrado Basics: Paladin threat is generated almost exclusively through Holy Damage. Three Points in Righteous Fury increases all threat from Holy damage by 90%. All of the following tanking abilities are increased by the Paladins spell damage, though coefficients do apply. * Avenger's Shield (a pulling tool) does 494 to 602 and jumps, hitting up to three targets total. It also will daze those targets. * Exorcism does 619 to 691 damage to a single undead or demon target at up to 30 yards. * A target that has Judgment of the Crusader on it will have its Holy damage taken increased by up to 219. * Seal of Righteousness adds Holy damage to each swing of the Paladin's weapon. * Judgment of Righteousness does 208 to 228 Holy Damage. * Holy Shield, when activated, does 155 Holy Damage per block. * Consecration is a 10-yd AOE doing 512 Holy Damage per target over 8 seconds. * Retribution Aura does 26 when struck and Blessing of Sanctuary does 46 upon a block. * Avenging Wrath is available every 3 minutes and increases all damage done by the Tankadin by 30% for 20 seconds. * Blessing of Sacrifice is available every 30 seconds, and transfers 45-104 damage per hit from the target to the tankadin for 20 seconds. Tankadin Strengths: * AOE tanking. Paladins have a strong ability to AOE tank, particularly against melee heavy mob groups. Consecration, Retribution Aura, Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary produce large amounts of threat against an unlimited number of mobs. * Crush "Immune". Properly geared Tankadins can be uncrushable before even entering Karazhan. In fact, overall they are more dependably uncrushable than Warriors as Improved Holy Shield grants 8 charges over 10 seconds. * Fast/Burst Threat. Due to the way many of the mechanics work and the fact that Paladins start with a full mana bar, Tankadins can frontload threat very quickly. This allows DPS to open up against the target sooner. Additionally, the daze effect of Avenger's Shield will make sheep easier to place away from the Raid. This mechanic also allows the Paladin extremely strong burst threat for phase changes mid-battle. (credit: HonorsHammer, Cordelia) * Long-range Taunt. While the Righteous Defense taunt is on a 15-second cooldown, it has a 40 yard range and will also taunt 3 targets off the teammate receiving Righteous Defense. As an alternative, Avenger's Shield can be used at 30 yards, easily giving over 1000 threat on up to 3 targets. (credit: HonorsHammer) * High Threat. When main tanking a mob or boss, particularly one which does a frequent number of melee strikes, Paladin threat will build very high over the course of the fight. This increased threat ceiling allows for DPS to push themselves more and more without fear of pulling aggro, increasing overall raid DPS. (credit: Cordelia) * Scalable Threat. Due to the high holy damage multiplier given by Improved Righteous Fury, paladin threat is easily scaled upwards to meet the needs of an encounter by stacking spelldamage and holy spell damage via gear swapping and consumables. (credit: Cordelia) * Reactive Threat Generation. A MT Paladin can generate close to 75% of his base threat without engaging in active melee. This can be especially helpful against bosses who have reflective melee damage, or parry mechanics. (credit: Cordelia) * CCers Protection. The many ranged threat abilities Paladins enjoy, along with the long-duration static-placement AOE spell Consecration, allow a Paladin to excell in situations where trash or boss adds are being CC'ed. The Paladin can act as protection of the vulnerable CCers by gaining initial aggro on mobs to be CC'ed from long range and providing insurance against accidental CC break or death of the player responsible for crowd control. (credit: Joanadark) * Group Composition. While a peripheral benefit, it is still notable that in most cases a tank group will include a Paladin for their auras, regardless of the spec of the Paladin. If a Paladin Tank is employed, they will be bestowing the same auras on the other tanks in the tank group, while freeing up an additional spot in the tank group for including another utility raid member, such as a Shaman for Windfury Totem or a Druid for their Tree of Life healing increase aura, while still having the same number of total tanks. Having a paladin tank also donates an additional blessing to all raid members. (credit: Joanadark) * Active Judgment. Because a MT or OT Paladin will melee, a judgment can easily be maintained on the target. Judgment of Light can help with healing melee dps in fights with small AE components. Judgment of wisdom can help mana-based dps maintain a higher level of mana, thus helping with long term dps. Improved Judgement of the Crusader will increase the crit chance of anyone attacking that target by 3 percent. (credit: Cordelia) * Avoidance of tank CC. Using Blessing of Sacrifice, a tankadin can avoid certain types of CC such as gouge, sheep, and breakable fear. (credit: Cordelia) Tankadin weaknesses: * Silence. Any long lasting silence will shut down a Paladins ability to cast causing threat to slow or even stop. Additionally, if Holy Shield falls off, the Paladin will become susceptible to crushing blows. * Fear. On multiple occasions Paladins can and have successfully MT'd bosses that fear. Paladins have 2 bubbles that can be used to overcome this and of course the PVP trinket. Fear is an inconvenience, not a game breaker for a prepared Paladin. In addition, tremor totems are a valid way to help handle fear. * Mana Burn. Mana Burn can seriously hurt the Paladins threat generation capacity, especially initial front-loading, as well as increase the damage they take uniquely among the tanking classes. (credit: Joanadark) * Mana Dependency. A Paladin without mana is a Paladin without threat and susceptible to crushing blows; however, a Paladin recieves mana back from heals recieved. Due to a change in mid '07 mana is no longer received from over-healing. For this reason Paladins often struggle in OT'ing roles when compared to a druid as these roles are often are accompanied by decreased damage taken. An over-geared Paladin could have similar mana problems but should simply downgrade his gear. Additionally, Holy Shield provides a significant part of the Paladins threat but obviously does not proc when the Paladin is not being struck. Recent Class Changes: * Stamina. Previously Paladin tanks had around 1200 fewer hit points compared to similarly geared Druids and Warriors. This is no longer the case as the changes to the Combat Expertise talents in patch 2.3 place a properly specced Tankadin at no notable disadvantage in this area. A Paladin tank with a typical tanking spec will gain a 16% boost from Stamina. Druids gain 45% and Warriors, 5%. ---------------------- Specific Examples and Explanations by Cordelia AOE tanking While this is commonly thought of as most useful during trash pulls, it is also extremely useful for dual-boss situations. In cases that traditionally require 2 tanks, the Tankadin can very effectively hold high threat on both mobs, as long as the tankadin has enough effective health to survive spike damage. Examples: * Attumen & Nightbane * Karazhan ballroom trash * Moroes and his adds * Romulo & Julienne * Wizard of Oz * Murlocs on Tidewalker * Hydross adds * Mt Hyjal trash Crush Immunity Due to 8 charges over 10 seconds, it is almost impossible for a raid boss to use up the charges on Holy Shield. Examples: * Prince Malchezzar * Illidan Fast/Burst Threat Examples: * Curator evocation phase * Illhoof increased damage phase * Prince Malchezzar Phase 2 * Hydross phase change * Doomwalker phase change * Leotheras whirlwind aggro dump Long-range Taunt Examples: * Doomwalker * Olm the Summoner High Threat Examples: * Curator * Gruul CCers Protection One of the least understood mechanics of Paladin tanking, the fundamental concept is that the Tankadin should stack intial threat prior to cc, so that when cc breaks, it is the tankadin who is the target, not the cc'er. Rather than listing encounters, the examples will describe techniques. Used correctly, this can prevent many inadvertent wipes due to CC breaking, and a mob running amok among clothies (who do most of the cc'ing). Examples: * Avenger's Shield followed by sheep. * Avenger's Shield/Exorcism followed by Shackle Undead. * Avenger's Shield followed pulling the pack of mobs through and ice block trap. This method cannot target a particular mob to be cc'd, and most often will cc the closest mob. * Initial aggro can be stacked on up to 4 non-undead targets via Avenger's Shield, Judgment of Righteousness, and a small amount of aggro can be stacked on any number of mobs by pulling them through a Consecration. * Ideally, CC should occur before the mobs enter melee range, and the tankadin should keep consecration up on the actively tanked mob, so that cc'd mobs have to run through the tankadin's consecration to get to the rest of the raid. * Avenger's shield greatly simplifies CC, as it will daze targets. * Avenger's shield should not be used on targets that need to be ice trapped by the hunter in a separate place from the immediate path from mob to tankadin. Group Composition Obviously, both Devotion Aura and Retribution Aura will benefit a tank group in terms of Mitigation and Threat. Concentration Aura will benefit casters in encounters where interrupts are an issue. The following is a list of classes that are beneficial to group with a tankadin. Examples: * Warrior. Via Commanding shout, Demo shout, and Thunderclap, warriors can provide extra health and mitigation to the Tankadin. * Warlocks. Via Blood Pact, the warlock's imp can provide extra health. * Shadow Priest. Vampiric Embrace provides mitigation and mana from Spiritual Attunement. Vampiric Touch provides mana directly. Mana is directly translated into Tankadin threat. * Shaman. Windfury and Wrath of Air totems both increase Paladin threat. Grace of Air can provide mitigation. * Retribution Paladin. Provides a vast threat increase via Sanctity Aura, and Judgment of the Crusader. Provides mitigation by keeping Judgment of Light from a holy paladin refreshed. Provides an increase in raid DPS via Santified Crusader. Active Judgment. Judgment of Wisdom procs not only on melee attacks, but spells, wands, and ranged auto-attack. Judgment of Light procs only off melee attacks. Examples: * Judgment of Wisdom. Provides mana regen to the raid on a scale similar to Shadow Priests' vampiric touch. For casters who go OOM, using a fast wand to auto-attack will provide burst mana regen. * Judgment of Light. Provides 95 healing to melee dps on 50% of attacks. Greatly beneficial to dual-wielders, resulting in healing in excess of 100 hps. Very helpful in encounters where melee dps takes extra damage that needs to be healed by the healers. * Judgment of Justice. Prevents melee trash from fleeing encounters and drawing adds. Will also decrease movement speed of kited mobs. * Judgment of the Crusader. Increases holy damage done benefitting threat and retadin dps. Improved Seal of the Crusader (if talented) provides raid-wise dps boost, increasing all crit chances on the recipient target by 3%. Reactive Threat Generation. A Paladin has passive and reactive threat generated from Holy Shield, Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, Spiritual Attunement, Seal Refreshes. A Paladin has non-melee threat generated from Exorcism, Consecration, Judgment, Avenger's Shield(if applicable), Healing(if applicable). It has been shown that Tankadins can completely disengage certain bosses and still hold very high threat. Disengaging has the advantage of eliminating reflective damage and parry damage. Examples: * Prince Melchazzar * Kael'thas Avoidance of tank CC Examples: * Moroes. A true OT is tanking Moroes on this encounter. A non-cloth wearer should stay 2nd on the aggro list for Moroes. This player should remain close to, or in melee range of Moroes. The tankadin should place Blessing of Sacrifice on the this player shortly before a gouge is expected. Moroes will gouge the tankadin, attack the 2nd on the aggro list, immediately un-gouging the tankadin, and Moroes will retarget the tankadin."

This is just my 2 copper, but I guess if Blizzard REALLY wanted to ease the gold buying issue, they could take a step back & look at the many grinds which seem like one big time-eating chore: ~ Mote drop rates. Pretty much everything needs them now, and I don't even want to imagine what the ###### WotLK's items will use for materials (not real, but...30x Tuskkar Fat Globules & 25x Primal Snow just to make a blue cloak, anyone?). This could take a load off people that still need to make craftable epics and help them catch up to today's quickly-growing epic'd out crowds. ~ Riding Skill. The normal version is fine, but 5000g just so you can actually fly to a dungeon run on time or snag that one final piece of ore for the axe you've been masturbating furiously over is still kind of asinine, even with dailies or alts to help you out. If you ask me, this seems to be the biggest form of bait the gold sellers look forward to. It's fascinating how someone dings 70, claims they were dead broke just hours beforehand (imagine someone in all greens, and little to no group-quest blues), yet magically they are zooming circles around Shattrath with an epic flying machine after a quick trip to Shadowmoon Valley. I know some people save long in advance or have a BoE Epic ready for sale, but it takes a lot of willpower to avoid the seductive grasp of the Auction House. ~ Gems. Tons of new gear is coming out next patch, for PvP and PvE. Let the number crunching begin, as stamina & resilience gems skyrocket to the 100g+ range. Perhaps increasing the drop rate of rare gems from mining & prospecting will make this profession's risk/reward factor seem less hideous. ~ Twinks. I have no problem with em. Hell, even my hunter (who is just a few bars shy of 70) was once a long-reigning beast in the L19 WSG bracket with minimal tweaking & had all the blue PvP gear for her class in a matter of two straight weeks. But people can do some serious pimping out once they get a hold of daddy's credit card, and it makes the gold sellers happy in the pants.

Good job on last night's run guys, even with our rocky start & me having the memory span of a goldfish. Cleared through Curator with only one wipe on Opera - very impressive!

If there's one thing that makes me laugh, it's a player that just got a character via one of these gold-buying/PL services, or Ebay & has no clue as to how to use their new toy (classic example: a 60-70 warrior that doesn't know what Sunder Armor or Defensive Stance is). I can't help but wonder though: why's Blizzard making this statement now AFTER all the damage by gold companies & mote-farming robots has been done? /scratchhead

Awesome work guys! *shoves a chunk of fried-phoenix thigh into her mouth*

TK Adds: What I might suggest doing for tonight's attempts is individually CC'ing AND tanking each and every add (there's two Falconers and 5-7 birds per pack). AoE worked for the most part, but between Silences & knockbacks, I was being tossed around like a ragdoll, and we had a few casualties that slurped up time. It's a bit chaotic, which may explain the mess on TS. I'm hoping people learned their lessons from Tuesday and will keep the channels clear for when problems need to be addressed Al'ar fight: The entire fight is about being constantly on the move, regardless of phases. If you're having trouble finding a good spot which allows you to constantly hit the boss, coordinate with the other ranged classes (whether it's a hunter or another caster) in order to get a clearer method of following Al'ar and move as he floats from platform to platform. The boss has a very unusual hitbox, so I'm not surprised if you (or anyone else) had trouble attacking it in mid-flight from #4 to #1. Second Phase: What I may suggest doing for tonight is taking the adds myself. Because... 1. We have ranged taunts. 99% of the time, the two Embers will dash for a healer together upon spawning, so it's safe to taunt them from that little corner (see the above picture) and not grab mommy from the tanks by mistake. If they fly in a random direction, someone is DPSing one add faster than a tank can pick them up...a tough habit to break with a race against the Enrage clock. 2. Avenger's Shield. Again, the Embers spawn and make a dive in pairs, so this attack will tag them and generate plenty of threat for me to work with. From there? Burn em down one by one, so Holy doesn't go up like a Roman candle. As for the BigWigs issue, that's new to me. I typically reset it via clicking the orange sphere icon on the minimap once after I'm out of combat. And if that fails (which has yet to happen for me...*knocks on wood*) a quick UI reset may be needed.

Time for some feedback on Big Gay Al('ar): ~ Phase 1 went very well during final attempts. Like Vashj, keep your camera zoomed out as far as possible (whether you're DPSing or upstairs choking the flaming chicken). Get Improved Camera 2 if you got the free time as well. I generally keep my camera tilted at a flat angle (just above the ramp's floor) when tanking Al'ar up top, so that way I can see the direction he's drifting in. Zoom out until your view gives you a clear view of Al'ar, yourself, and a good 3 or 4 inches around Al'ar's targeting circle. Rotating the camera so you're facing Al'ar's back helps also, but be mindful not to accidentally right-click and rotate around. I'll post a picture of my own PoV tomorrow night. ~ Unless you are tanking adds/Al'ar, or have a battle-rez on-hand, please keep TS clear. I think a good portion of our problems yesterday were due to miscommunication. Not to say you guys have downs, but do try to have faith in the eyes and ears of your tanks: even if some of them have tentacles dangling from their faces. It also helps us better focus on technical problems, such as those trying to get BigWigs to cooperate. ~ Add tanking was fine, except for one minor inconvenience: See that ramp? Keep adds as far away from it as possible! If the add goes boom while a tank tries to stop Flame Quill, the tank gets a free ride across the room. Not good. Tank them by the doorway ramp (see the far left) during both phases. This way, the knockback from add deaths (or Al'ar himself) won't toss you off balance, and the wall will cushion your fall to a degree. If Al'ar's meteor happens to land nearby, healers must compensate by topping off the add tank ASAP. ~ Melt Armor can be negated via taunting off whoever has the debuff. I highly recommend we set up a tank rotation for this, rather than just randomly shout it out. It's not a good idea to have someone tank the giant chicken, only to have less than 5k or so life from fire damage or a loose add. Speaking of Melt Armor... ~ A friendly Tankadin tip: I use a macro from my Nightbane (pre-2.3 Fear Nerf) days which allows me to toss up Divine Shield (bubble) and remove it with just one click, wiping out the Melt Armor debuff if I am affected in less than a second. "But Holyyyy, someone will pull aggroes! WAAAGGHH--" */busshock's the whiner* Let me explain how this works with one simple WoWWiki quote: "Divine Shield does not wipe aggro, but mobs will ignore targets under the influece of Divine Shield unless there is no other valid target for them, which can lead to death of raid/party members if used in the wrong situation. It sometimes is helpfull if a tanking Paladin activates the shield and then immediatly remove the Divine Shield again (best through a macro) to instantly debuff himself from all harmfull spells, but since this means a temporary aggro loss, it is highly dangerous." I noticed this during our final attempt last night after Orcala and Cal died: MA got removed, and I only lost Al'ar for but a split second while the shield is up. He went right for me again as soon as the macro dispelled it. I cannot use this very often thanks to my 5-minute cooldown, but it will be very useful should we lose too many people, and attempt to buy more time pre-enrage. ~ Don't get discouraged. Come Thursday: BBQ'd Phoenix for all! The rest of The Eye is a guaranteed cakewalk compared to this winged pest.