Exploring the Protection Paladin in Dragonflight & War Within: A Wishful Editorial

Retrospective of Protection Paladin in Dragonflight and Wishlist for The War Within

With The War Within on the horizon, it's a good time to reflect on the journey of Protection Paladins in Dragonflight and discuss the spec's future evolution. As a Protection Paladin writer, I have been critical of the changes made to the spec in the last two expansions. In this blog post, I will explore the design choices made by Blizzard and discuss the improvements I hope to see in The War Within.

What Blizzard Tried in Dragonflight

In Dragonflight, Blizzard attempted to reduce the uptime of Shield of the Righteous, the primary defensive ability for Protection Paladins. They aimed to achieve this through resource starvation and by removing Holy Power from Avenger's Shield. However, these changes had unintended consequences. While they made Avenger's Shield less powerful, the added effects attached to it did not feel impactful. Additionally, the overall effective uptime of Shield of the Righteous did not change significantly compared to Shadowlands.

The goal of reducing Shield of the Righteous uptime was to make it a more active ability rather than a passive buff that is always up. However, the changes implemented in Dragonflight did not achieve this goal effectively. The high uptime of Shield of the Righteous magnified the danger spikes during its downtime, creating a harsh gameplay experience. The attempt to improve the design was admirable, but the execution fell short.

• The Issue with Consecration

Consecration, another important ability for Protection Paladins, has been a topic of discussion since Shadowlands. Over time, it has become more powerful, creating a dilemma when players need to move out of it. The constant need to recast Consecration takes away from the importance of other abilities in the rotation. Blizzard had addressed the issue of Consecration's overwhelming defensive effects in the past, but it has been power creeped since then.

The changes made to Consecration during Shadowlands and Dragonflight, such as adding Consecration rank 2 and the Sanctuary talent option, increased the pressure to maintain and recast the ability. This created a significant impact on damage reduction, making it essential to be in Consecration at all times. The power of Consecration has overshadowed other aspects of the Protection Paladin's kit and mitigations.

Blizzard acknowledged the problem with Consecration during the Legion expansion and made changes in Battle for Azeroth. But as we look towards The War Within, it is necessary to reevaluate the design of Consecration to ensure a more balanced gameplay experience for Protection Paladins.

Vision for 11.0 Protection Paladin

In The War Within, I envision a Protection Paladin spec that has a 50%-60% uptime for Shield of the Righteous. Cooldowns and cooldown reduction talents should cover the remaining 40-50% when Shield of the Righteous is not active. I suggest removing Consecration rank 2 and Sanctuary, and moving Divine Bulwark back to Holy Shield. The Word of Glory ability should cost zero mana and be off the global cooldown. Additionally, a rework of Holy Power mechanics should provide more ways to generate and spend Holy Power.

This vision aims to bring Protection Paladin closer to its design in Battle for Azeroth while creating a distinct gameplay experience compared to other shield tanks. Although this may affect the spec's performance in certain content like Mythic+, the goal is to prioritize enjoyable gameplay rather than being strictly meta. Finding a balance between the strengths and weaknesses of the spec is key to creating a satisfying and engaging experience for Protection Paladins.

Conclusion

In The War Within, the focus should be on improving the gameplay of Protection Paladins compared to Dragonflight. The spec currently relies heavily on passive damage reduction through Shield of the Righteous and Consecration. By diffusing damage reduction through other sources like cooldowns, the spec can offer a more dynamic and engaging playstyle. As a fan of Protection Paladins, I hope Blizzard can find a happy medium and deliver a well-designed spec that offers both challenge and enjoyment.

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