With seasons 4 and 5 both lasting 17 weeks and season 6 lasting 18 weeks, we should assume that season 7 will be at least 17 itself. The season began on September 1, 2009 which means 17 weeks would put us at the end of December. This seems reasonable under the premise of a speculated April-May Cataclysm launch thus allowing a solid three to four months for Icecrown Citadel. For those of us with a great deal of interest in the PvP aspects of WoW, this final WotLK Arena season holds twofold significance. On one hand it’s another chance for us test ourselves in PvP combat but on the other hand it’s Blizzard’s last chance to provide a balanced and rewarding Arena experience before the proverbial deck is reshuffled and new balancing issues creep atop the already massive pile.
So the question at hand is:
What can we expect from the upcoming Arena season?
What follows is a list of educated predictions about the upcoming season along with some subjective analysis.
1) If you thought Warriors and their LOLBLADESTORM was bad this season, just wait…
I don’t think it’s any secret that Warriors scale incredibly well with gear. In fact, this can irrefutably be argued with numbers alone. You can easily expect even more ArP-capped Warriors Bladestorming their way to Duelist (yes, I’ll grant that Gladiator takes a slight bit more than just one hotkey) - only this time they’ll have a great deal more raw Strength behind the attacks given the drastically raised item levels. Expect the fully realized S3/S4 Druid/Warrior in 2s and even more TSG (Holy Paladin / Arms Warrior / Unholy Death Knight) in 3s.
2) Retribution will still fall well short of being competitive at higher ratings
People other than Retribution Paladins don’t care to admit this but it’s a fact: Retribution is great at low gear-levels and splendidly awful at high ones (I say “splendidly” awful because just how bad Retribution is at high ratings, comparatively speaking, borders upon a sick happiness of sorts). While we can certainly look forward to another 400-500 damage on our Judgments and squeezing another 100 healing out of Divine Storm, we simply don’t scale at the rate other classes do. Still having trouble believing Retribution is dead at high ratings? I’m sure you’ve heard of Euneek. Euneek is arguably the top PvP Retadin in the world. You may remember his RRP (Ret/Rogue/Disc Priest) breaking the 3000 rating threshold in season’s past. You may also recall his Furious Gladiator title as a result. Well, speculate on this: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Blackrock&n=Euneek. One month ago, he was in an RRP that reached roughly 2600 team rating. Two weeks ago that same RRP was roughly 2450 team rating. Now, he is without Arena teams altogether. I’ve spoken with many such top Retadins and the overwhelming understanding is that Ret simply isn’t competitive anymore at high ratings. Need more proof? Fine. RRP has long been one of the staple comps for Retribution - a comp in which is can truly shine. So allow me one last link: http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/3/all/all/all/all/all/paladin/rogue/priest///. Bear in mind that 2500, in most BGs this season, will be cutting Gladiator extremely close. If you are still in doubt as to Retribution upper-bracket futility, then all I can do is /wave, /smile and bid you a pleasant, albeit, delusional voyage.
3) Protribution or “ProtRet” will continue to outperform Retribution in all brackets but won’t be quite as strong as it was this season
Being used to the recurring punishment dealt from the reddened hands of Father Blizzard, we have grown quite resourceful in our day. It seems the Retribution Paladin, to thrive, must always stay ahead of the proverbial curve and invent ourselves out of trouble. Such was the birth of Protribution this season. It’s a spec that features greater burst potential and better overall pressure than standard Retribution but provides us the survivability of a tank. What’s more is that ProtRet is absolutely destroying Retribution across all brackets this season as a result. Who would have thought that a damage-dealing archetype without a healing debuff or true interrupt would thrive once given excellent burst alongside a 3 second silence? You can bet on this spec continuing its dominance over Retribution during Season 8 but I’d wager it won’t be “quite” as strong as it is today. This is due to several factors. One such factor is that the element of “surprise” will be gone. Protribution will be mostly understood and planned for on the part of many teams. As it stands today, the spec is still fairly new and many teams aren’t quite sure how to deal with it. A second factor is, quite simply, that we do not scale as well as other classes with gear and the amount of pressure we apply will drop a bit as a result.
4) Prepare yourselves for the return of the S3 Rogue
During Season 3, it was commonplace to witness Rogues walking around with no more than 100 to 200 resilience (the cap was somewhere around 450 at level 70) and rocking out with 4pc Slayer’s Armor. The formula was simple: stack Agility as high as you can, pop Evasion back to back at the start of a fight and blow things up. Partner this with Cloak of Ski….Shadows and they were near unkillable for 24 seconds during which time they would putting out the damage of a small raid. I believe we’re going to see the return of such Rogues next season only this time the gearing will be slightly reversed: Rogues will be wearing 4pc PvP gear, to get the newly-improved PvP set bonuses, but will throw PvE gear in every other slot. They will hit like trucks, they will be unkillable for a 24-second time slot of their choosing and “good” ones will be able to carry their teams to fairly high ratings. Although the classic 2s comp of Shadow Priest / Rogue has made a moderate comeback this season, I think you can expect the comp to return in full force during Season 8.
But Tharvolde! I don’t want to go Protribution! If all this comes true, what future do I have as Retribution in Arena?
My strongest recommendation to you would be to find yourself one of the Rogues mentioned in point 4) above. Have him blow all his CDs up front and you do the same. Faceroll like champs and enjoy yourselves. If Ret/Rogue isn’t your style, then I believe one of the “utility” Retribution specs previously mentioned by Hoff on our own RetPaladin.com forums such as this one might work well with a good Arms Warrior, Frost Mage or Survival Hunter. You would essentially be playing the role of support/moderate damage-dealing. If neither of the above two recommendations fit your needs then I would highly recommend working on sub-second response times for Hand of Freedom and Hand of Protection while getting yourself a thimble to cover the tip of whatever finger would normally hit your Cleanse hotkey or macro with. You have a very hard, uphill battle ahead of you and you’re definitely going to get frustrated. If 1800 is your goal, you’ll be fine - keep working hard and you’ll eventually get it with the right strategies. If 2000 is your goal, ensure you’re in one of the top comps for a Retribution Paladin (such as Survival/Ret/Resto Shaman) and be ready to play near flawlessly. Keep at it and you may very well find yourself in the 2000+ bracket. If 2200 is your goal, get yourself in one of the top comps for Retribution, get the sub-second response time on cleanse and Freedom going, gear yourself out as far as you can without having a Tier-2 weapon, purchase a subscription from www.smoothping.com, perfect your strategies against TSG, Spell Cleave varieties and Beast Cleave and then execute them flawlessly every single time. Manage all of this and you’ll probably see the 2200s.
However, if Gladiator is your goal and standard Retribution absolutely must be your spec, I’d recommend a good defense team for the aftermath of your murderous rampage…
November 30th, 2009 - 2:11 pm
I hate to agree, but I agree. I think the only thing ret paladins can do is to gear up as best they can during season 8 and hope for the best come cataclysm…
Unless of course something changes.
November 30th, 2009 - 3:04 pm
I’m happy with the 18 weeks of season 8.. Atleast..
November 30th, 2009 - 4:11 pm
Well now.
That’s rather disheartening, though one of my best friends is an excellent rogue…
November 30th, 2009 - 6:39 pm
Another season of SNAFU?! Color me surprised…
Just roll a warrior, give yourself one of those oh-so-lame ‘din’ names and just pretend like you’re a ret. That’s about the best option.
It’s nigh on sickening the level at which warriors get to. There’s a point at which NO healer survives vs warriors, it’s a feeling of pure joy knowing they simply wont live. As a long time ret player, the attraction is too much… Rets just aren’t good enough.
November 30th, 2009 - 8:15 pm
seems like rogues and warriors are the only viable teammates now =/
December 1st, 2009 - 2:15 am
…i’m gonna go run over some kittens…
December 1st, 2009 - 9:22 am
“People other than Retribution Paladins don’t care to admit this but it’s a fact: Retribution is great at low gear-levels and splendidly awful at high ones (I say “splendidly” awful because just how bad Retribution is at high ratings, comparatively speaking, borders upon a sick happiness of sorts). While we can certainly look forward to another 400-500 damage on our Judgments and squeezing another 100 healing out of Divine Storm, we simply don’t scale at the rate other classes do.”
Nobody seems to address this as an incredibly pressing concern… Lack of utility aside. What good is it if we can’t live up to the dmg expectations of higher ratings?!???!
December 1st, 2009 - 11:17 am
An interesting comp to watch out for is prot warrior/ret/resto druid, the “RMP killer” which beat Button Bashers at a Korean tournament recently. Shame that PvP prot warriors are few and far between though.
You’re completely right when you say that protribution won’t scale as well into the next season. Anyone with decent gear has already capped the damage for Shield of Righteousness, our main damaging ability. It’s a bit flawed game design that an ability has got a hard cap to its damage like that.
December 1st, 2009 - 1:34 pm
It sucks that Ret isn’t really that viable in high-end Arenas. The fact remains, if you want to succeed you can either respec/reroll or GTFO.
I love Ret but to anyone who hasn’t tried I SERIOUSLY recommend trying out Protret (or Protribution as many call it). For those who are interested you’ll find plenty of info on the WoW forums (yes, we all know they’re a cesspit of hate and trolls but they’re also a source of some decent information - shut up, just do it lol).
December 1st, 2009 - 2:45 pm
To paraphrase Blizzard: “Arenas are a mistake.”
December 1st, 2009 - 2:54 pm
Warriors have been rammed in the ass so much since WOTLK came out. It’s their time to shine.
December 1st, 2009 - 2:59 pm
“Warriors have been rammed in the ass so much since WOTLK came out. It’s their time to shine.”
ummm…what!?
December 1st, 2009 - 3:54 pm
@Rockso
Do you really think that Blizzard should run around balancing with a ”It’s time for class/spec X to shine!” mindset? Besides, it’s not like Warriors have never had a time that they shined. They just start off expansions underpowered because of the way rage works. Really, they shouldn’t be underpowered because of it, but they also should not get overpowered because of it.
December 1st, 2009 - 4:54 pm
Warriors did decent in S1 as Holy/Arms and then didn’t do so hot in S2 but come S3 and S4 they dominated. During S5 Warriors did mediocre at best but S6 and S7 have shown that Arms Warriors have returned to their place dominating arena brackets.
The only bracket where an Arms Warrior doesn’t truly shine is the same bracket that a Ret Paladin is even more worthless in: 5s.
December 1st, 2009 - 5:50 pm
@Rence
Blizzard already has that mindset, even if they don’t believe it. s5 was Retribution’s time, along with Deathknights who could click to Glad.
December 1st, 2009 - 8:37 pm
@Thethiala
We had a discussion about that match on the forums. It was really a 2-2, as one of the wins was a 1v1 game (Koreans are weird that way). That comp is also more of a counter-comp to BB than a comp to win in general.
December 1st, 2009 - 9:14 pm
What crap. i start gearing to do some arena an bam this rolls out. Almost seems like why bother with pvp ret
December 2nd, 2009 - 6:08 am
@Miridafeo
If you’re intent is simply to have fun in Arena as Ret then you should know that Ret IS “fun” so-to-speak. I have a good time when I play Ret in BGs as well as in Arena. The issue is that at high ratings it is simply not competitive.
In short, if you’re not trying for Duelist or Gladiator then you should be just fine. Go in there, swing away and have a good time - just know that the frustration will come when you’ve been tunnel-visioning that Holy Paladin for the past 5 minutes only to have his Warrior partner randomly runs over to your Resto Druid, Mortal Strike him and take him from 100-0 in a Bladestorm.
December 2nd, 2009 - 7:00 am
I should add that I’m currently having a lot of fun just carrying people to 1800 for gold. I’ve already done so with an Arms Warrior in 2s (lol Ret/Arms - although I did got Protribution for a few games for fun) and MM Hunter / Disc Priest in 3s. I think next up is an Affliction Warlock who contacted me a couple days ago and wants his weapon!
December 2nd, 2009 - 8:03 am
should change the expac name from Wrath of the Lich King to Rape of the Ret Paladin
December 2nd, 2009 - 7:16 pm
“Warriors have been rammed in the ass so much since WOTLK came out. It’s their time to shine”
…? So, seasons 1-4 and 6-7 as the premier melee dps class (along with rogues) is ‘being rammed in the ass’? Riiiiiight.
December 4th, 2009 - 7:36 am
@ Exedore
You still can’t dismiss it completely, as it’s the first comp with a retribution paladin which has ever won any kind of important tournament as far as I know. Retribution paladins are traditionally much weaker against casters than against melee, while protection paladins provide a ton of lockdown against casters as well as group wide spell reflection. It’s just a good match, really. I don’t know why the paladin did not go protribution too though.
December 4th, 2009 - 5:15 pm
Rogues wearing full pve offset pieces will get utterly destroyed. What you’re forgetting about TBC is pre-nerf cheat death and the fact that far more attacks in general could be dodged. Their survivability as mutilate in WOTLK is nothing but a shadow of the past.
December 4th, 2009 - 7:44 pm
@Thethiala
There was a bigger deal made when a ret paladin was used in the round-robin round of MLG Orlando back in season3. The problem with that matchup is that the prot warrior is so incredibly dominant that he could pair with a lot of other classes and do well, whereas the ret would get nowhere. If prot warriors were a bit more balanced, you’d never see that comp.
December 4th, 2009 - 10:00 pm
The same can be said for most of our comps - we’re the second choice really. Tharvolde recommends ret/rogue/priest for the next season, though the ret can easily be replaced by the mage in order to form a stronger comp. That doesn’t remove the fact that it and ret/prot warrior/druid might still be high end viable.
December 8th, 2009 - 4:18 am
well, comming from a PvP noob (1.4k arena rating) its not as bad as it seems from here, im playing for fun with a friend of mine, a destro lock, and so far there where no 2s team that could withstand the burst, our tactic is, i go first (ret paladin ofc) bust open wings and start pummeling the dps, while my lock fears the healer and helps me nuke down the dps, 50% of the time after we down the dps the healer quits.
i usualy do arena at the begining of every season to get the arena weapon, in this case the relentless gladiators bonegrinder (the 2h mace) and after i got it i just do BGs for fun, the rest of my pvp set i get from VoA10 and 25. =)
December 13th, 2009 - 11:59 pm
Who writes this crap….really?
Get someone on your staff that knows his own ass from a hole in the ground.
@2400+
Ret still has higher representation than Pret. Although comps are pigeon holed the synergy potentials of ret + hunter and ret + mage are incredible. Pret is a more playable spec if you don’t want to conform, it is by far the more malleable play style that provides offensive utility as well as defensive.
Warriors are still a joke and easily controlled and killed when properly addressed, the trick is simple “Don’t Panic” Between sacrifice, sacred shield, instant FoLs and freedom you have more than enough tools to escape Failstorm and most warriors glass cannons, even the arp builds.
Granted warriors have amazing representation at higher brackets and the reason for this is obvious, the ARE the offensive toolbox. That will never change.
Return of the S3 Rogue? Are joking? You probably think the rogue talent trees are Sneaky - Sneakier - Sneakiest.
The agi stack in S3-S4 had to do with the jack of all trades spec being hemo shadow step builds which included sinister calling (+15% agi) this and only this made agi the go to stat for survivability (dodge, armor) as well as offensive power (crit/ap).
Modern muti rogues gem AP, wear FULL PvP gear, and crutch their defensive cooldowns and partner peels rather than game mechanics to stay alive.
Your assessment is not only far from accurate it doesn’t even address the ACTUAL buff to rogue comps being the poison changes enabling powerful envenom builds that rip through ret paladins and pretadins alike with a single dismantle and incredible nature damage.
Get hoff to write your PvP posts. At least he reads the patch notes I presume.
January 12th, 2010 - 6:39 am
Man I’ve played this game for so long. Retribution paladins are not what they once were, There is still a finesse to the class but in both PVE it is extremely boring and the only entertainment I get is from defensive ret (pvp build) utility DPS’sing but i go from 5k single target to 4k, and I am not really recognized as useful because most players just look at DPS meters. Not damage mitigation meters, dispel meters and most of a rets heals are concealed if they judge light (which if wis is up there’s no reason not too)
The only redeeming aspect of the class in pvp is utility. I love ret paladin because of the design behind the class, but gameplay wise I don’t really have fun with it anymore.
Funny I played rogue warlock in S3 and S4 and got the old 2.2k with the ShS swords build. That was my favorite way to play rogue, so when they became centered around daggers I just stopped playing my rogue completely.
Ret paladin was way more fun back then…. And the S3 gearset looked so bad ass. Yea we had a manaburn weakness (obviously gameplay mechanic flaw) But aside from that those were the good days,
Probably gonna pvp during season 8 with my fiance (disc/holy priest) And roll protribution until cataclysm in hopes the spec will be more fun again.
RIP**** Retribution 4 life <3