Hello everyone,

I first picked up WoW when it first came out, and I quit a while later after my guild had downed Nefarian (I'm told that was back when that actually meant something, but I'm so far out of the loop that it doesn't really say anything about my ability in WoW anymore). I played again very shortly after BC, but ultimately I was still drawn more to DAoC.

I just had a coworker IRL use that Scroll of Resurrection on me, so I decided to try out a paladin. I've never played one before, but I figure I'll learn just as much about the class from 80 to 85 (plus getting somewhat geared) as I would have grinding 1 to 80.

Ultimately I'll be holy spec, but I'm not sure if that's best for leveling. I really dislike quests and will only do them when necessary to help further my ability to raid or pvp.

So my questions are,

What role is best for getting fast instance groups? Heal or tank? DPS seems to have pretty long queue times.

As a holy paladin, what are the basics I need to know outside of keeping people up and using my 'oh shit!' buttons when needed?

Thanks for any replies~

 

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I played a pally to 80, but stopped playing shortly before Cata.


I raided to ICC level as a Protadin and PVP'd as a Holy spec, I prefered Prot for PVE but both are completely viable from 80-85 and onwards (raiding).


It seems that you want to level using the Dungeon Finder opposed to Questing and both Heal/Prot are viable and will save time queueing versus Ret spec.


Regarding stepping into a level 80 dungeon as a Tank or healer for the first time... its not neuroscience, but at the same time it would be a little ignorant. Having said this, pre level 80 dungeons are very simple tanknspank-faceroll-blindfolded, so I am not sure how much benefit it would be to level as a tank/healer for a few levels anyway.


Make sure you learn the skills and perhaps practise a few... if you decide to heal you could even do a few PVP games to test out how everything works. If you have an 80 premade, you will need to check what gear you got... i doubt any of it would be suitable to healing/tanking (even if it is, I doubt it would be good enough to carry you through the first few dungeons in Cata).


I just took a Hunter in them and was doing crazy low DPS with the starter gear (~3-4k), when i took my priest in their originally i found i had mana issues on the 2nd dungeon and that was in a mix of Cata Blues/Greens and some WOTLK purples.


It may be worth running the dungeons a half dozen times as DPS to get your gear level up to an acceptable level - this also means you will learn the dungeon before stepping into it as a newb Healer/Tank and getting /ragequit on you!!


Good Luck either way.

 

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Cata is time for you to re-learn the game as blizzard F#O)*$# up everything from scratch.

Don't count on anything being like you remember in cata, because it all changes drastically at 80 now.

 

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Holy pally


Use seal of insight, judge when it's up,


Spam holy radiance if it's a stack fight using WoG or the flashlight and holy shock as needed.


If eveyrone's spread out spam divine light and use WoG or the flashlight and holy shock as needed.


holy shock crits prot your haste for holy radiance and divine light.


Stack int and haste.


Keep beacon on someone important, not always the tank. I sometimes dot eh dps who ends up taking the most damage and don't heal them directly, just let beacon do it.


Use your guardian of ancient kings when you need a helper to heals some more.


Use Divine Plea for mana regen.


A nice "nutshell" site that gives abilities stats etc desireable for each class. Doesn't go too in depth but is handy to get you started: http://www.noxxic.com/

 

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