Comments on: Bubbles and Crits: Paladins from 3.0 to 3.2

By: a-guild-master, borsked-divine, cataclysm, healing, holy, illumination, mage, panel-profiles, patch-3.2.2, priest, talent, the-bossy-pally, thespius » WoW Marks

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:08:20 +0000

[...] Home › Classes › Bubbles and Crits: Paladins from 3.0 to 3.2 [...]

By: jeffo

jeffo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:17:53 +0000

@Wall and Adgamorix: there’s been some debate about whether or not this has been ‘fixed’ or not. I know that World of Logs can be a little sketchy as far as how it records absorptions and to whom it’s attributed; however, last night on a hard mode XT (10 man) I was able to pop Sacrifice/Shield twice during Tympanic Tantrums. The first case it was credited with absorbing 59K in damage; the second case around 42K. In looking through the logs I can’t find any other shields active that may be inflating those numbers. Raid buffed I stand at a little under 25,000 health. If the absorption amount was limited, there’s no way I should be approaching 59K. I’m curious what others are finding with this.

By: Adgamorix

Adgamorix — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:40:05 +0000

@Wall – That’s incorrect. What you had before was that even though DS was supposed to only absorb x% of damage, up to 150% of the paladin’s health, DS was working so that since you took zero damage, you would absorb an insane amount of damage – since you weren’t taking any, that 150% cap was never reached. What they did was fix the bug that allowed you to absorb more than the talent specified you should. It was a small enough tweak that we didn’t even really notice it.
.-= Adgamorix´s last blog ..A full 10 =-.

By: Wall

Wall — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:50:24 +0000

I could have sworn they nerfed DS so that Divine Shield breaks if it takes too much incoming damage, making it largely useless?

By: vine

vine — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:14:55 +0000

I’ve been 52/17/2 for a long while now, since we started doing Ulduar hard modes. It’s such a benefit in those fights. I tried switching back to holy/ret but I’d gotten so used to longer SS and DS.

I gear for haste and mp5 since the 3.2 changes. but I still gem the same: Intellect, intellect, and more intellect. I sit on 32k mana unbuffed, and it really is the best way to maintain decent regen. Replenishment, SoW, and Divine Plea all benefit from huge mana pools.

By: Joe Ego

Joe Ego — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:35:12 +0000

“Is there some threshhold at which point youâ€™d advise switching specs from 51/0/20 to 51/20/0?”

I don’t see any reason to worry about a threshold. Running the bubble spec gives you practice at using it and remembering your cooldowns. 8% crit is nice, but paladin gear already stacks plenty and raid buffs bring it even higher.

Tier 8 four piece bonus is very nice for the bubble spec, though 2pc7 & 2pc8 synergize nicely.

You can gem SP to boost shield and Flash/HoT strength, but matching to socket bonuses makes activating your meta easier and helps with your longevity (INT) overall. Insightful Earthsiege still provides a good chunk of mp5. Even with a bubble spec and high SP you will be casting plenty of Holy Lights in Ulduar.

By: Silk

Silk — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:16:19 +0000

Nice summary Jeffo!

My opinion – the only stats worth stacking at this point are int and haste. You’re going to get mp5 and crit on your gear no matter what and in truth they are not so far apart that it greatly matters (min maxing aside).

Shoot for the soft haste cap (676 I think from memory gives 1 sec FoL’s raid buffed) and as much int as you can get.

I am not sure, after all the complaints, that the nerfs actually achieved what they were designed to do. Paladins still stack int and bomb HLs – they care more (ie some) about mana now but it hasn’t really changed the playstyle at all.

I do wonder if 3.3 brings a nerf to beacon (back to how it was – its flat out OP at the moment) and the inevitable fix to Seal of Wisdom (yeah I get 1400 mana back per swing – I can DP + melee swing from near empty to full on a stunned Icehowl for example).
.-= Silk´s last blog ..My spec =-.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:12:25 +0000

I’m just about to start raiding (ulduar and toc not naxx/os) on my paladin, switching over from a disc priest since we have 3 priests and zero paladins at the moment.

Is there some threshhold at which point you’d advise switching specs from 51/0/20 to 51/20/0?

By: jeffo

jeffo — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:34:15 +0000

Thyra — I am enchanated as follows: hands, wrists, weapon: Max SP enchant for slot; chest is +10 stats; shield is Intellect; Cloak is haste; Legs is 50SP/30 Stam. Icewalker for feet. Head and shoulders I go with the SP/Crit enchants. I’ve heard some paladins call crit ‘useless’ in 3.2, I don’t subscribe to that notion.

For gems, I may do a little tweaking. I still use Insightful Earthsiege for my meta. Anything yellow gets Brilliant King’s Amber; Red where I want the slot bonus (plus I need one for the meta) gets the Runed Cardinal ruby, but I’m considering switching some to Luminous Ametrine (12SP/10Int). For Blues to activate meta or for quality socket bonus it’s the 10Int/5mp5 – I can’t remember all of the names right now, sorry. My current waist doesn’t have a socket, I slotted Brilliant King’s Amber in the eternal belt buckle.

I didn’t go out of my way for haste but as I came through Naxx I ended up with somewhere over 400 haste rating. This went down into the upper 300′s as I started picking up some Ulduar and badge gear to the point where I started using the haste food. I’m currently back to 443 haste (17%) unbuffed, without gemming or enchanting specifically for haste (aside from the cloak), and it’s working out pretty well so far.

By: thyra

thyra — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:09:09 +0000

Also, what about haste?? I am trying to get mine above 400 – are you finding that you need haste over crit and SP??? What are your current stats or maybe a link to your bubblicious toon??? thanks.