Last post you got a status update on my results of the first week of season 8 2v2 bracket. Sure I know that was a page turner for all you aspiring gladiators wanting to follow in my footsteps… Yes in case you are wondering I am being facetious. However today I bring you a brief Q&A on a very accomplished paladin. His name is Vhalken from the Moonguard server within the Emberstorm battlegroup. In the first week of the arena he has achieved a rating of 2048 with a record of 173-21 and managed to land his 2v2 team to the overall rank of 24 within his battle group, making him the most accomplished retribution paladin within Emberstorm. We had the great pleasure of having him answer a brief Q&A session on his opinions of season 8. |
Pamedielin: Congratulations on your success in the first week of the 2v2 arena bracket. What combination has proven the hardest since the Resilience and healing changes?
Vhalken: I would have to say hmmm.... This is a tough one since resilience and healing changes really changed the game, we have a lot of grief with the mage, discipline priest combo. Restoration Druids are fore sure back on their throne as kings of the arenas.
Pamedielin: What’s your strategy when encountering the above mentioned group?
Vhalken: Well the thing with our composition is that even though we play very well and we may at times outplay that counter composition sometimes we just can’t win. While most compositions can play their counter comps, say retribution paladin-rogue (I played retribution paladin-rogue last season to a rating of 2200) with this compostion we had counter teams and if we outplayed them we generally could overcome them. We generally go for the mage and if we keep our crowd control perfect on the priest we usually end up winning that way. We also make an abrupt switch onto the priest when pain suppression is on the mage.
Pamedielin: So as retribution paladin how do you balance resilience vs. strength?
Vhalken: Well, this is a cool question for me because I have actually considered going with resilience gems this season. I have always gemmed for strength because we get so much out of strength. On the other hand I think we get enough resilience from our armor alone. A lot of retribution paladins out there will disagree with me. I have seen some pretty high rated retribution paladins gemming all resilience this season. I think I am going to keep stacking strength until I can obtain some better trinkets.
Pamedielin: Why a Shadow priest?
Vhalken: This is my best friend and I have the greatest synergy with him.
Pamedielin: What kind of hardware are you running?
Vhalken: LOL I am running with the most ghetto keyboard and mouse you will ever come across. I am using a Compaq Presario that I bought back in 2005 and run World of Warcraft in the lowest graphic settings. I am planning on acquiring a new computer soon.
Pamedielin: For our fellow aspiring retribution paladins out there what UI add-ons would you suggest?
Vhalken: I wouldn’t know personally as I do not run with any add-ons or any UI mods. I only use Ventrilo. I enjoy playing this way I like keeping track of my own cool downs I find the extra work required on my part very gratifying. My partner does run some add-ons and I usually leach of this information from him when he communicates with me over Ventrilo.
Pamedielin: In your opinion for beginning ret paladins with less than a 1500 rating do you recommend loading up in strength or resilience? That is to say low level PVP gear or high end pve gear?
Vhalken: If by low level PVP gear you mean deadly or furious gladiator I definitely would recommend PVP gear. I began the last season in full deadly gladiator gear and ended up doing well. Gem and enchant for strength.
Pamedielin: We noticed you are using a full PVP set and not substituting the tow tier ten pieces for the two set bonus. What’s your reasoning for this?
Vhalken: I really do not have access to good PVE gear. I think I would benefit from the two set bonus for tier 10, however I like my admiring my pretty PVP gear.
Pamedielin: Do you see retribution paladins benefiting from the resilience and healing changes this season?
Vhalken: Yes and No. We could barely kill healers last season but when it comes to the arena it helps us because we used to be very squishy. I find with this change I can beat warlocks (my nemesis class) a little easier. We will have to wait for the rest of the season to see how it plays out.
Pamedielin: Any last word for beginning paladins out there?
Vhalken: I would have to say adapt to the changes. There will be more nerfs as no matter what happens people will complain about paladins because they can't beat us. Regardless to how they nerf us don't give up. Even if we go back to our pre-Burning Crusade selves there were some pretty awesome retribution paladins back then. I haven’t always been a 2000+ rated arena player. It was a very slow start and then it kind of clicked, so no matter what don’t get discouraged I am sure with some patience and experience you will all achieve your arena goals.
/y Vhalken Punch!
We thank you Vhalken and wish you the best of luck in Season 8. To all my readers out there did I miss any questions do you have any questions or comment feel free to leave me feedback in the comment section below.
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