I have once again managed to steal the
Light for another week, as regular columnists
Chris and
Elizabeth are off on their own epic quests while I am left to tend to the shop, so to speak. For today, we'll take a closer look at how the class is designed and its inherent ironies.
When I first rolled a Paladin, I didn't know what I was getting into. I rolled it mainly as a companion toon for my playing partner, my wife, who was elated at the Horde finally getting a 'pretty' race and promptly rolled a
Warlock. As I leveled with her demon-enslaving new main, the experience challenged and frustrated me and it soon became apparent that Blizzard had designed the Paladin under a completely different design perspective. I was hooked. If there are any perceived failures about the class, it is largely because Blizzard had a vision for the Paladin class that was different from traditional class designs.
Blizzard worked hard at defining each class with a clear directive to make each one feel different from the others.
Rogues had Energy, combo points and finishing moves;
Warriors had Rage, a sort of reverse Mana bar; and
Shamans had the totem system. Paladins are designed largely around the interesting Seal system. Everything that a Paladin does revolves around Seals, Blessings, and Auras, with Seals being the primary mechanic for dealing any sort of damage. For the most part, class design has worked for many classes while others, like the
Shaman, have had more than its
fair share of issues.
Personally, I love the Paladin class. My main is now a Blood Elf Paladin, with my Troll Shaman getting a little less love than it used to. I also used to play a Troll
Hunter and an Undead
Rogue. While I enjoyed all of them as I played them, it was the Paladin that appealed to me the most. To be honest, I still have no idea why. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was
hybrid aspect. Maybe, for all I know, it was the
coolness of it all. When you get right down to it, though, Paladins have -- if you examine it very carefully -- what is probably the most inherently
flawed ironic class design in the game. Let me explain.
I really wanted to call this article "The Peculiar Purple Paladin of Porcupine Peak", but aside from being fairly non-descriptive, I was afraid the reference would be lost. Instead, I decided to just state exactly what we're looking at over on the right.
I wrote 
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