Poster Tamerland from The Scryers posted an interesting nugget to consider over at the
Paladin forums today, stating unequivocally that the Alliance will be getting the Blood Elf-only
Seal of Blood in
Patch 2.4. Conversely, the Horde should be receiving
Seal of Vengeance. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, Alliance Retribution Paladins have been crying for Seal of Blood because it has, with numerous calculations, proven to be the superior PvE DPS Seal. In light of the removal of spell damage in Retribution gear and the focus on Strength (and consequently Attack Power), this has become less of a debate and more of a simple fact. Furthermore, Seal of Blood inflicts damage on the Paladin, which is
absolutely great as this is incredibly synergistic with
Spiritual Attunement, allowing Ret Pallies to regenerate mana as they're healed. While Seal of Vengeance has been argued to be an excellent tanking seal, Horde Paladin tanks have coasted along fine with
Seal of Righteousness.
Up until now, Alliance Retribution Paladins have had to balance spell damage along with other stats to optimize
Seal of Command while Horde Ret Pallies happily picked up, um... *cough* Warrior gear. If the
changes in 2.4 push through, the removal of spell damage severely gimps Seal of Command for PvE and consequently, raiding Alliance Retribution Paladins (yes, such things exist, believe it or not). Tamerland says that the writing is on the wall, and from the
lore-shaking changes glimpsed on the PTR, his claims don't seem too far off. The chained up
Naaru in the
Blood Knights' basement is gone, and the lovely
Lady Liadrin (I had to editorialize that. We swore these blood oaths, you know.) comes to Shattrath City to pledge allegiance to A'dal, who welcomes the Light-stealing, Naaru-shackling,
demon-blood using Blood Knight matriarch in a totally
WWJD moment. The stage really does seem set for such a change, and it wouldn't be the first time that Blizzard has
shaken things up in order to balance things out. Paladins were formerly an Alliance-only class once upon a time, after all. Personally, I'm stoked at the possibility. I'm not too thrilled about the Alliance getting Seal of Blood (
"my... precious..."), but if it does happen, it means Blizzard is actually listening to its community -- even if they don't say anything most of the time.
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