Home » Cataclysm, Development, Ret Paladin General, WoW General

Divine Storm Nerf in Cataclysm

16 April 2010 5,045 views 12 Comments

Is Divine Storm getting a nerf in Cataclysm? All I keep hearing in my head is, “Divine Storm will be getting the Whirlwind treatment.”  Whugh.  It’s way too early to tell if his will be good or bad.  Divine Storm will hit everything, but hits for less damage.  Will this still be a decent amount of damage, or will it negate itself to the point of knocking it out of our single target rotations?  We will see.

Personally, I love Divine Storm as it is.  Maybe that’s because the T10 bonuses have it juiced up, but I still was quite fond of it before then.  Here is the post from Blizz: [Source]

Divine Storm will get the Whirlwind treatment (less damage per target but unlimited targets).
The difference is that paladins fit their rotations around cooldowns while warriors do so around a limited resource. So it’s entirely possible a paladin will still use DS when other attacks are on cooldown. (It will depend on what exactly the Ret rotation looks like, which we’re still developing.) Divine Storm also provides a little healing too, so it’s not exactly the same as Whirlwind. We probably wouldn’t want to get to the point where Rets feel the need to have their single target spec without DS and the cleave spec with DS. (And without knowing the numbers, it’s going to be difficult for any of you to insist that this will or will not happen.)

In general, we don’t want buttons that are good against single targets to just be better against groups of targets. It makes rotations too static and makes numbers hard to balance since “cleavey” specs can do so much more damage against tight packs of enemies. Some higher damage is fine. It just too extreme right now.

These are previews, not patch notes. Just because we didn’t mention anything doesn’t mean there is no chance of it changing.

12 Comments »

  • RetPally said:

    It’s funny that they stated Divine storm heals ‘a little’ I have had over 10k heals for hitting DS. This was when I was doing solo old world stuff and I used the DS glyph for more healing. But if u use it right it can heal for a lot!

  • lolret said:

    well dude…its not gonna be fine…..see http://cata.wowhead.com/talent and u will know what i mean…55% weapon damage from DS makes it completely useless in single target rotations… i really love ret…but such nerf will only make me….not only leave ret…but the whole class as well….since i dont like healing / tanking….
    and btw….swift ret 20% doesnt fix it anyway -.-

  • Khor (Site Admin) said:

    Don’t rush to abandon Ret just yet. Divine Storm is currently an OP attack, in that it is a crucial DPS tool for AoE AND single target DPS. Blizz is shifting the attack to AoE only, so we won’t even want to use it on single targets, unless everything else is on cooldown.

    It already looks like they are compensating with other attacks and abilities to make up for this loss.

  • lolret said:

    hi again….ty for the quick response Khor :) ….
    one thing is just we arent really sure about if they are gonna compensate or not…and thanks to cleanse nerf it looks clearly we will suffer well in cata…..unless they add some DPS buttons in cata, this would be even worse than how we were in TBC…i know this is for the sake of “balance”….but its really hard to overcome nerf after nerf…
    (i dont think i need to list our nerfs)…..but even though….i still love ret and hope they really compensate for these nerfs…including divine shield nerf…if they trade all these nerfs for powerful tools…..i wouldnt be sad :p….so yes…i think i should wait and not come up with results before everything is out…..
    lolret

  • Khor (Site Admin) said:

    We get some good news, take a peek at the new talent trees on MMO Champion. Oh, I am going to have fun today!

  • Retlord said:

    hi guys..
    i wanna ask u….Khor….a question that tired me…..
    with crusader strike available to prot….along with holy shock….along with their avengers shield 7-8k and hammer of rightousness which deals holy damage…..and their usable shield of rhightousness…
    and all we have is that divine storm as a 51 TALENT..that even no longer causes holy dps :( ….and gets treated like a warrior BASELINE skill at lvl 36…..i began askin if all this…… makes prot dps more than us….since he has more potential tools than us?
    also…..does this mean we will be turned to a foolish leveling spec…like ench shammys?
    waiting for ur answers
    Retlord

  • Khor (Site Admin) said:

    I really, really, really wish I was in Beta right now. Blizz, Beta key please! I could answer these much better with testing, but for now, I can give you my best take on it…theorycrafting if you will.

    AoE is a huge part of our leveling, and Divine Storm, with its current high damage and ability to proc seals (hello Seal of Command), made us a leveling titan after 60. Losing this ability makes me wonder as well if we are losing an edge Ret-wise for leveling. The biggest hit for us actualyl isn’t the decrease in damage. The biggest knock is the inability to proc seals. I could have lived with the damage nerf if they had left the seal proccing alone. Now it looks defunct and useless.

    That said, Protection talents do hit hard, and maybe there is something to be seen in AOE leveling as Prot…but I think we will still be putting out more damage with Judgement and Crusader Strike, with Holy Shock and Exorcism in the mix. Consecrate and Divine Storm will assist with packs, but the main leveling attacks will still be those single target attacks.

    Blizzard wants us to level as Ret if we intend to do damage and DPS. They will make the tree so that this happens. I don’t think we’re even close to seeing the final product, so until I actually get my hands on a Beta key, it’s hard to tell :(

    My gut instinct is that Ret will still be the #1 choice for leveling.

  • Retlord said:

    hi again…..:)
    well…i was concrened more about if we REALLY dps that hard to be counted as DPS spec….even compared to the prot spec….
    (i meant to ask if blizz really wanted to make us REAL DPS…..
    or it just wants to make ret only a leveling spec…not HARD DPS one..)
    I know that ret DPSes hard….but we have too few tools to DPS….while prot will have most of our content + much more other tools in cata…
    and our strongest tools… i will say sadly :( ….are being stolen from us…in nerf and nerf and nerf….and i have to say that i dont see any balance in comparing our 51-talent divine storm to warriors baseline lvl 36 whirlwind….and if so…then they should make it baseline lvl 36 too -.- ….i know this WILL cancel the healing effect…but at least we will have another button that realy adds to our dps….not a totally useless waste of talent points
    thanks,
    Retlord

  • Retlord said:

    Sorry…forgot to say something more….
    Khor…can u please link the new talent trees site along?
    thanks in advance,
    Retlord

  • Khor (Site Admin) said:

    Hey Ret, I linked the talent trees from MMO CHampion already in my most recent post on the homepage…aka the 31 point talent trees!

  • Retlord said:

    hi guys…
    looks like i am wrong in my concern about dps if thats whats gonna happen for retribution….lol thats really nice….

    P.S. :Are u sure this is will really happen? :)
    and lol….why is improved CS in prot spec? :p
    thanks (again) Khor,
    Retlord

  • Sacrosterion said:

    I personally think this will be awesome, especially in 5 man heroics. Big Pull, DS, Heal for lots to pretty much everyone in range(minus healer and a mage for example). This way you won’t die as easily:)

    And also, Apparently it might be available for all specs? Like shammans thunderstorm, and warriors bloodthirst. As has been stated by blizzard they’re still working on things. BUT, if it were to be available for a Prot paladin, then it would be better tanking. Ret paladins just need something to make it better for them selves.
    (I use WoW head as my source of info)

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