The PTR is likely winding down, but I had to log on and try out the rebuilt Protection tree for paladins. Word had it that protection was the tree for pallys to take, overtaking ret. I must say that I begrudgingly agree. As much as I like ret, this spec actually allowed me to do more damage, and it’s new buffs are vicious. Hammer of Justice every 20 seconds gives me something I’ve wanted for a while; a steady stun. Combining that with Hammer of Righteousness and Avengers Shield allows me to take on masses of mobs much more easily then before. Blessing of Sanctuary is also an… *ahem* blessing for my survivability. My biggest problem was running out of mana, despite Divine Plea replenishing upon striking a foe. I was always having to stop and drink.

The problem is that I love ret. I would miss the increased crit, the mana regen, the benefits to Retribution Aura and my instant Flash of Light spell. I’m not sure I’ll switch from ret to prot come  patch 3.1, but once I nab my dual spec, prot will definitely be one and ret will be the other. I’ve never actually been a prot spec on live server. I’ve done holy for a while, and ‘I’m normally ret, but I’ve never done prot. I’m not interested in tanking, to be honest, so it comes down to whether I think I can dish out enough damage in prot to stay DPS. If I’m determined to keep doing Wintergrasp, I may have to go prot, due to the interrupt and stun capabilities of the spec. Will I stay ret, or will I betray my roots and go prot? We’ll see.

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