A bit of optimism is here for Divine Storm enthusiasts (which I think most of us are…at least pre Patch 4.0.1). Divine Storm currently uses Holy power instead of mana, and can really only be used at 3 Holy Power in order to be effective. In AoE situations, Divine Storm cannot be used nearly as much, and it leaves us longing for the days long gone where Divine Storm cost simple mana and could be spammed with two T10 equipped!
It would seem Blizzard is thinking along the same lines, and would like to make Divine Storm function similar to Fan of Knives, and cost mana instead of Holy Power. Thus, you could use both Templar’s Verdict and Divine Storm in AoE situations.
Cool, right? More or less, until you realize the trade-off would be Divine Storm sharing a cooldown with Crusader Strike. You know what, I’d take that. You still have Exorcism and Judgement as single target attacks, and with Crusader Strike seemingly getting a nerf to 115% weapon damage (at the time of this post), it seems a fair trade.
This would launch the utility of Divine Storm way above its current form, and I for one would love to see what Blizz can do with this. Of course, Ghostcrawler has said these are all ideas they are toying with, but a glimmer of hope is better than no hope at all, right?
Ghostcrawler on Divine Storm
We’ve been toying with a change to Divine Storm to make it more like Fan of Knives. Specifically, you could use it whenever you want, for mana, but it would share a cooldown with Crusader Strike. It would have nothing to do with Holy Power (unless Divine Purpose still applied). The idea would be that sometimes you’re okay giving up the single target rotation of Crusader Strike -> Templar’s Verdict in return for being able to use an AE attack every 4.5 to 3 sec. It’s too early yet to know if this design will work out.
Divine Storm has a great visual and many long-time Ret paladins have a soft spot for it, so we’d like to get it back to more common use. [Source]
So we’re turning into straight-up plate wearing holy rogues. What next, stealth?
Not gonna lie, a stealth Ret would be pretty friggin’ cool
But in all seriousness, I understand the balance. Calling it ‘Fan of Knives’ was not a good choice of words by GC. It simply is Divine Storm in its former glory, just sharing a cooldown with CS.
Well I agree with you. I miss DS so much and yeah I suppose half of it is because as Blizz say it has a great visual.
My dps is still good and improving all the time but every now and then I will sacrifice a bit just to see it. Let’s hope this becomes a reality as I think most ret’s would settle for the trade off
I think the idea Ghostcrawler has for Divine Storm is fantastic! Right now I don’t even have it in my rotation, it’s just not that usable, unlike how I used it before the 4.0 patch.
Maybe they should give us a rage pool to use excorsism and a rune pool for a judgment. This just goes to show how completely directionless Blizz are concerning rets. They just want the class reduced and aren’t sure how to do it.
It is a interesting POSSIBLE change. At present , I dont not use it at all. In fact you could count on one hand, the amount of times ive flexed the button its on.
I think direction is defo lacking. All this should be sorted and tested and implemented before. Not hashing during and after.
I liked the WOTLK Ret and was comfortable with rotations and dealing damage. I have started to get used to the new rotations and Holy Power etc now and have in fact started to produce more dps then before.
I just get the feeling that were a little bit of an after thought and such statements are lip service.
Well I must admit that I like DS as it is now, but so far I haven’t tested it on high level raids only on completing achievements on zones that are going to be wiped.
WOOT! fix our crappy (n very missed
) AOE!! i like it. helps wit pve more then pvp but still..im rootin for it
If this change is implemented, would that also bring back the 2pc T10 set bonus? That’s what I really miss about DS. Being able to cast it, see all those big, yellow numbers, then in green letters “Divine Storm” and doing it all over again.
Id welcome the changes to DS – sux havin to wait for 3 HP to do any decent AoE dmg, iv even been reduced to usin zealotry with DS at times lol.