I’m going to take a break from my regularly scheduled blogging today to talk about Warcraft. I do it on occasion, and I usually see a dip in interest from my core readership. Oh well.
This weekend I got my hands on Gorehowl, the epic axe of Grom Hellscream. He’s an uber dude from Warcraft lore, so his axe is pretty uber too.
As a matter of fact, his axe is one of the best weapons that a Retribution Paladin can get pre-25man raids — especially if said Ret Pally is not a blacksmith.
I was elated to get my hands on it, as it gets me one step closer to being a viable Ret Pally.
For those who don’t know, Ret Pallies are the laughing stock of WoW. Although lots of gear can bring decent damage, they are woefully behind the curve on being true DPSers.
After getting Gorehowl, I immediately changed from the respected Holy Spec to the shunned Retribution Spec. Afterall, I had the axe of frickin’ Grom Hellscream in my hands — how could I not destroy everything in my path?
There’s no denying that Gorehowl made a difference. It adds a whopping 98 attack power, plus an additional 70 from the Savagery enchant I put on it (it makes the axe drip blood — how cool is that?).
But was it a big enough difference? That remains to be seen, but even if it is I expect that I’ll still have trouble bringing the pain that my rogue, hunter, mage, and warlock allies can bring.
The gear requirements for a Ret Pally are just insane compared to other classes and specs. I don’t have enough time on my hands to become as awesome as I would like to.
I’m stuck with the question of whether I should stick to Ret because its fun, or Holy because its effective.
It’s a tough call.
Although Holy is all about healing and thus not a lot of fun, it’s extremely effective. The fun part comes in that I feel powerful, while with Ret I feel on the verge of powerful.
Note to Blizzard: Fix Ret Pallies. kthxbye.