ShoR is such a tease
I finally managed to re-download enough of the beta (we all had to delete the old beta program and reinstall for the new launcher) to get in, and the thought of testing out the new Shield of the Righteous (new name or they forgot what it was called–you decide!) had me salivating. Once I got in–after many abortive attempts–I caught a taxi to the closest Paladin trainer in Darnassus to train the new ShoR, per the instructions in my spellbook.
So I get there, head into the Temple of the Moon, and hit up the trainer. “One ShoR please,” I politely requested. She just stared at me, dumbfounded.
… That ain’t right. I check the spellbook again, and it definitely says “See your trainer.” I then opened my talent window and spotted what I spotted was the culprit: you have to talent into ShoR. Ok, no biggie. I put the point in, hit Learn, and nothing happens. I close the talent window and reopen it, and half my talents are reset. I try again to no avail, it was not meant to be.
Apparently it’s for the best I couldn’t test ShoR as-is on beta, it’s changing very shortly. Right now the tooltip reads damage is 3250 plus 100% of your attack power per Holy Power stack. So unless there’s some trickery in that tooltip description, with an unbuffed AP of 3073, I could have been shield slamming for 12469, assuming the formula is 3250+(AP*HP) and not (3250+AP)*HP. The latter would be 18969, which is ridiculous.
Sidenote: the 3250 modifier there is because I’m level 81, I believe. MMO-Champ has it at 3198, which is probably the level 80 version.
Anyway, here’s the new tooltip from what I assume is an internal build we haven’t seen yet:
Slam the target with your shield, causing Holy damage. Consumes all applications of Holy Power to determine damage dealt:
1 Holy Power: 30% Attack Power
2 Holy Power: 60% Attack Power
3 Holy Power: 90% Attack Power
So much for the quickly expired statement that ShoR would be our “highest damage ability”. At three stacks and 90% attack power, I seriously doubt it’ll hit harder then Avenger’s Shield right off the bat. Maybe with buffs and enough Vengeance and some raid gear. Obviously I won’t know til I test it, so take that concern with a grain of salt.
On a different note, I think they need to graduate the AP contributions a little more steeply. With an equal AP contribution per stack of Holy Power, I can forsee a future where (assuming we still have free GCDs) it’ll be more threat to hit ShoR at 2 HP, rather than waiting for the accumulation of a max HP stack. Though my crystal ball can’t yet see how much value there’d be to sacrificing 5% block for some more damage and threat. Perhaps if they changed it to something like 20/50/90, where you’d definitely want to wait for that 3rd stack.
Anyway, it’s all conjecture! Can you sense how much I’m itching to shield slam something?
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So is SHoR still refreshing Holy Shield, or no? My head is spinning from all the changes. :)
@Rhidach
6 August 2010 at 10:53 am #
It’s supposed to refresh Holy Shield, but I can’t confirm it first hand because the spell is bugged and you can’t get it on beta right now. Next build I’ll be able to try it.
Sweet, thanks bro. I was curious because I _thought_ the previous tooltip had mentioned refreshing holy shield. Curious to see how it all shakes out.
@Rhidach
6 August 2010 at 12:30 pm #
Oh that’s because Holy Shield is still talented and that says something like “everytime you cast ShoR, you gain 5% block per HP”. The blocking thing isn’t part of ShoR, per se, it’s its own separate deal.
Hey buddy, I’m going to test Paladins now on beta too. Until we get some solid DK patches, there’s not much for me to do, so I picked Pally as the next thing.
Since I haven’t played a pally for about a year or so, it’s quite an experience in its own right. Seals, hands, fancy stuff everywhere which is either something I’ve forgotten about or never knew before.
For example, why do we still have a Seal of Righteousness or retribution, whatever its called, and this new Seal of Truth (looks like the old DOT I tanked with). Why not just one? Surely one will be better than the other.
Also, where the hell do you bind all your Hands, so many utility buttons!
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@Anafielle
7 August 2010 at 10:53 am #
Hey Gravity! I’m sure DKs will get their time in the sun.
Haha! I’m glad someone else thinks we have too many buttons. I see screenshots of Paladin interfaces without a whole lot of buttons and I’m thinking, “Do you have everything memorized & keybound, or do you just ignore half your utility?!” It can be a little overwhelming.
I find it incredibly useful to use Clique and macro a lot of the utility buttons to clicks. I can cast these by clicking people on Grid:
Righteous Defense is shift-leftclick
Hand of Salv is shift-middleclick.
Hand of Protection is shift-rightclick.
Lay On Hands is alt-click.
Hand of Freedom is alt-rightclick.
I have heals and cleanse bound this way, too.
Divine Sac & Hand of Sac (macro’d to Rhidach or my focus target) count as major tanking cooldowns, so I have them on easily accessed buttons next to my other tanking cooldowns.
@Rhidach
7 August 2010 at 6:59 pm #
Heh, I feel your pain on all the bindings!
I think the design is Seal of Truth is for Prot, and for Ret to use on bosses/stuff that lives a long time. Seal of Righteousness can cleave with a talent, so that’s more trash oriented for them. Trying to force Ret to use different spells for different rotations.
I can’t wait for the next build when ShoR finally makes a comeback (for real real, noat for play play). I’m worried that the rotation will suffer though, especially considering the history of Paladins killing themselves with boredom by dedicating to a static rotation built around keeping Holy Shield as strong as possible.