I have a pretty small readership. I don’t think any of them cares when I write about World of Warcraft.

But I do it anyway because this is as much a journal for me as it is entertainment for them. So without further ado…

I’ve played a Retribution Paladin for a while now and put up with all that that entails.

Among other things, it means I get asked to heal more than I get to seek retribution on my foes.

It means I get kicked out of groups because my DPS isn’t up to par with Warriors and Rogues.

It means I’m mostly ridiculed in the community.

Even after working exceptionally hard and overcoming the gear curve, I was still reviled. Even though my damage was finally better than most of any DPS I could find in a pug, I was still the odd-man out.

That all changed Tuesday when Blizzard released Patch 2.3 – The Gods of Zul’Aman.

Retribution finally got its … well, retribution. Blizzard took a long hard look at Ret Pallies and buffed them up so that they could compete.

What does this mean? A lot of things, but mainly 3% more crit and 30% less threat. That’s all WoW math, but it basically means Ret Pallies can do a lot more damage in a group.

The first day I logged in after the patch, I was amazed to find myself standing atop the pile in my first Arathi Basin match. I did more damage than 39 other people. That’s amazing.

Last night I went into my first instance since the change and helped a pug clear Steamvaults. I demolished the other DPS in the raid. No one came close the damage I did.

All while maintaining my ability to heal and bless my fellow combatants.

Did they overpower the Ret Pally? Is it fair that a class that can already heal or tank also be outdamaging Rogues and Warriors?

Only time will tell. I expect there will be some nerfs in their future. No amount of nerfs, however, is likely to return the Ret Pally back to the hated spec he was before.

For now, life is good. I am playing a class and spec that is at the top of the heap. In an everchanging game of balance and tweaks, I know well that I must enjoy it while it lasts for nothing good lasts forever.

So the Horseman’s Helm has a hidden ‘use’ function that let’s out a maniacal laugh that I can do every 30 seconds. I’ve bound it to my bubble so that when I bubble, I let out a maddening cackle. Hilarious.

Blizzard is the best video game company ever.

It’s Halloween in Azeroth and there’s no in-game holiday that I love more than Hallow’s End. Most major holidays are observed in World of Warcraft, but this one is by far the best.

Why, you ask?

Well among other things are the tasty Hallow’s End Pumpkin Treat that you can get by doing a few quests to help the orc orphans collect some candy.

These beauties give you a 20 minute costume for the festivities — it’s random, but always loads of fun.

Then there’s the innkeepers all set up for your trick-or-treating pleasure. Once per hour you can hit up an innkeeper for either a trick or a treat depending on your luck.

If you get tricked, you’ll probably get turned into a bat or a cat, and sometimes even a frog.

But if you get treated, you get a special bag of goodies ranging from candy to flimsy paper masks of one of the other races of Azeroth.

And new this year is the ability to summon and fight one of the kings of fright — the Headless Horseman.

First you fight his full body. Then his head comes off and you fight that. Then they join together and you fight them again. Fun times for everyone.

Even better are the awesome drops, such as the helm of the horseman shown right.

Though my paladin is an extremely well geared Ret Pally, this helm is an upgrade for her and I plan on squashing the horseman’s head until he lets me have this.

He also drops broom mounts, little pumpkin pets, and even a pumpkin helmet so you can walk around with a gourd on your melon. What’s better than that?

The festivities begin today and last until Nov 1st. That’s a lot of time to kill the horseman, collect candy, and dress up like a female draenei. Let the fun begin!

So I was a tad late for work this morning because of my warchief.

I was in Nagrand, helping the Mag’har tribe save their dead ancestors from being possessed by demons. It seemed like a the honorable (read: greedy) thing for a Blood Knight such as myself to do.

After I finished up that slightly messy task with the help of my wife and her pet velociraptor, I went to hang out with Greatmother Geyah and let her know that she owed me some bucks.

She went on about how the leader of their tribe, Garrosh Hellscream, was all down on himself because his daddy had drank the blood of a demon and doomed them all to be bloodthirsty buttheads.

“Waahh,” Garrosh says, “My daddy left me a rotten legacy. Wo is me!”

Then the name clicked. Hellscream…Hellscream…Where have I heard that name before? Oh right… etched right here on my axe:

“The axe of Grom Hellscream has sown terror across hundreds of battlefields.”

So it turns out that the Greatmother is the grandmother of Thrall, son of Durotan. I’d run into Thrall before, always trying to make him understand that we Blood Elves aren’t all that bad.

Thing is, Thrall didn’t know his Grandmother was alive. His dad had died when he was young, yada yada. Thrall was good friends with Grom Hellscream, though, even though Garrosh had never known his daddy.

So basically I decided to help the deranged family out.

“Look, granny, I’ll go tell Thrall that his grandmama is out here with his best friend’s son and I’m sure he’ll come set you all straight on the sitch,” I told her.

So I went to Orgrimmar and walked right into Thrall’s throne room. He has an open-door policy cuz he’s cool like that.

Thrall was like, “Granny’s alive!”

I’m like, “Yah. I took her gold.”

So Thrall tells me to go tell granny that he’s on his way. And sure enough, shortly after I get there he comes strolling into Garadar like he owns the place. A few minutes of hob-knobbing with his biggest fans, and Thrall wanders in to see granny.

Luckily they aren’t the private type, so I got to watch the whole thing. Granny’s all concerned the Mag’har are going to pot because Garrosh is a big emo sissy, always whining about how his daddy was a loser.

So Thrall never being one to let an Orc be emo, finds Garrosh and explains that although his daddy did drink demon blood and turn them all into buttheads, he also freed them from the same curse by defending the other orcs and defeating said demon with his trusty axe (that must have then gotten lost, because I totally have it strapped to my back).

Suddenly, Garrosh is all like, “I’m the son of a hero! Kneel before me, suckers!”

And that’s why I was late for work. I had to sort out the issues of my warchief’s family and friends. Being a Blood Knight is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Best Warcraft quest line ever.

So day two of Blizzcon was considerably more relaxed.  There was a lot more meaningful information about things happening to WoW in the coming patches.

I also got a glimpse of the Ret Pally changes that are upcoming.  I’m excited about those.

They’re doing lots of interesting things with Instance keying as well, such that whole guilds may get keyed at once.  Also, keying one character on your account may in the future key them all.  I don’t know if that’s just for raids, or for heroics as well.

Zul’Aman looks to be a fun instance.  They didn’t go into too much detail about the gameplay and bosses, but they did show off some of the loot.  Looks like DPS Plate is back baby!

Also, they really like the epic crafter-only items for professions like blacksmithing and are adding others soon.  Jewelcrafting, for instance, is going to be able to make epic gems out of blue gems that only they can use.  Among others, one is a +18 stam gem.

They also hinted at potions that only alchemists would be able to drink.

There’s probably more, but I just drove to San Diego for the rest of the vacation so that’s it for now.  Not a fun blog post, I know, but time is of the essence!  Shamu is calling.