The Circle is Now Complete

(Rorik at Light's Trust in Dragonblight)

I have to admit it, I’m a sucker for Star Wars quotes. I love using them when I can. Not the new prequel movies mind you. I only quote from Episode IV, V and VI. I’d much prefer if the new movies were never made. Anyway, the circle in this case is me going back to Protection.

Long ago, when the Burning Crusade first came out, my wife and I decided to try out this Warcraft game. I decided that once I could, I’d level as a Protection Paladin. I liked tanking monsters while my wife’s hunter Tamaril did the pewpew and killed stuff. It’s in my nature to be the meat shield while she stands at a safe distance. Leveling to 70 as a tank was fun. Even without Tamaril there to kill stuff for me, I’d go around Hellfire and gather up as many vultures as I could and tank them all without dying. To me, it really embodied what a Paladin was. Sword and shield, against the odds, bashing skulls in. It just felt like what an old school D&D Paladin should be. Once I hit 70, I realized that tanks were only for raiding and PvE and I really hated PvE. So, I went Holy and hated that even more. That left me with Retribution. So, when Ret got its first major facelift in Burning Crusade, I respeced and stayed Ret until I started Arena Season 5 after I hit 80. I’d go back and forth between Ret and Holy - Ret for questing and raiding (which I don’t mind in Lich King) and Holy for Arena with Krys, my Survival Hunter partner in 2’s.

Last week I read on Arena Junkies a thread talking about “Deep prot healing spec for 2’s” and was really intrigued. I read up as much as possible on it and saw the advantages. Protection got some major buffs recently that have great utility for PvP.

Avengers Shield silencing for 3 seconds? 20 second cool down on Hammer of Justice? I’ll take it! The other great thing is that spell power scales off of stamina! So, I came home, respeced my typical Holy spec and went deep protection with some Holy talents for increased healing. I had come home to the spec I was using to level to 70. It feels more natural to me than Holy ever did and it’s a blast to play. I use my Holy gear to do Arena matches. My Flash of Light crits can hit for 7300 health, take 2% of my mana pool and I don’t have my Glyph of Seal of Light yet. With more PvP gear and the glyph, I may be able to hit 8k Flash of Light crits. I have to make a few minor tweaks to the talent build, like a few points in Redoubt so I can tank melee better. The crowd control is beyond belief and I feel it really helps give Krys the ability to get a killing blow. What’s really great is that I’m dual spec and change to Ret for questing because I hit like a wet noodle.

It feels good to be a tank again.