I thought we were discussion ranged spells specifically in the context of taking down runners, though. HoR doesn’t really apply there, I don’t think, if it’s the multi-mob taunt/silence pull, since IIRC it only does damage if the mob isn’t attacking you already.
Hand of Reckoning is level 16 (I looked it up). Added in 3.0.8, and frankly it was much needed, especially by leveling pallies; still the mana cost is pretty high for regular use. Exorcism is level 20, and is even worse for prot pallies at low levels.
Actually, I think it does damage runners. Plus you get the Judgment of don’t-run-away (meh I can never remember Pally seal and judgment names, they all sound the same anyway) at a reasonably low level. (And HoR is a single-target pull/taunt with no silence - you’re getting it mixed up with [del]Captain America’s[/del] Avenger’s Shield.)
All these Pally abilities look the same to me. 
16, 20, and then art of war helping at 41. I don’t know why anyone would level as prot, since ret is better at soloing and tanking until like… 57.
I double-specced into Prot at level 40 so people would stop whining at me for tanking in a dps spec.
Because the entire point of this thread is that she’s not going to be leveling solo. **js **is going to probably play a Paladin and **Asimovian **is probably going to play a Hunter.
And pardon my skepticism, but the only Ret “tanks” *I’ve *ever seen past level 20 or so have been (a) unable to hold aggro and (b) so squishy they can’t even make it through trash. Which includes the one I just ran into at level 50 or so in BRD.
I used to ‘tank’ as Ret for me and my ex, but there was no RDF at the time and so we never went into dungeons without an 80 along. Ret is great for holding aggro in a 2-person questing group, and I thought I was Johnny Badass. …At least until I sauntered into Hellfire Ramparts and got creamed when our 80 mage buddy needed a bit of aggro management.
Ret generates way more threat thanks to damage boosting talents and seal of cleave, especially AoE. Survivability is worse, but not enough to matter since the early dungeons are easy. You’re still running 55%~ DR from armor and a shield. Ret trades off that bit of survivability for way more damage (faster runs and XP) and less downtime (faster runs again).
I don’t know exactly when prot overtakes ret. Certainly by the time you get silence on avenger’s shield (57), but it’s definitely not level 40.
I loved leveling my pally as prot. Most fun leveling I’ve had in WoW. Once you hit 30 and get Blessing of Sanctuary it’s a roller coaster ride through 70. I loved runners. “Yes go get some more of your friends to die by my side”. Except for casters, those jerks won’t walk into my consecration circle of death.
While it’s much faster when you pull large groups (I topped off at around 6 or 7 same level mobs), Ret is faster on single mobs and elites. But I don’t remember ever hurting on those either.
Here’s a link to wowwiki about AoE Prot Paladin grinding. Fun read. Basics are this: Blessing of Sanctuary, Shield with shield spike, Ret aura. … Profit!
Oh, okay, at least you’re recommending using a shield. The Ret “tanks” I’d come across were all using 2H weapons (at least the ones I noticed–it’s possible that I’m excluding good Ret “tanks” simply because I never realized they weren’t Prot).
H of Reckoning is actually very good for runners - it does some damage (often enough to kill them), and if they’re not killed, it causes them to turn back and attack you. And it doesn’t have a very long cooldown, so you can use it to pull and then again to stop a runner.
As Bird says, that’s if you want to stop them. Prot pallies usually welcome the additional company.
Probably when you get Hammer-of-hit-four-things-at-once[1], which is low 50s IIRC.
[1] (I AM Leonard of Quirm)
My pally went from 10-80 as straight prot spec and loved every minute of it. It’s so easy to level now that it really doesn’t matter much what spec you choose, so long as you’re not alternating each point in a different tree.
Oh, and the hammer only hits 3 things at once until you glyph it 
It would be wicked awesome for two-boxing, which I’ve always wanted to try. If my account still exists (and I really hope it does), and I somehow get broadband internet out here, I could buy another account, use the main one to create a Death Knight on any server, and then use that DK to powerlevel alts. Then, when those alts are comparable to existing alts on my main account, I could “double-solo” them together and have all sorts of options.
I could also at least be assured of having a two man arena team get points every week. Doubt I could beat anybody while two-boxing, but you get some points just for showing up and getting your ass kicked…or at least you used to.
Dual-boxing can be fun. I’ve never done a serious setup–e.g., with linked macros–but I’ve run two accounts on one computer simultaneously before, e.g., to run a lowbie alt through an instance.
Just keep in mind that the RAF link isn’t permanent. I think it lasts for something like three months; there’s definitely an expiration date (at least there was the last time I used it).
Blizzard never deletes WoW characters. No matter how long your account has been inactive for, you can always turn it back on. The only possibility is that you got hacked while you were away and didn’t realize it–but anything that was deleted or sold should be recoverable, eventually.
Do you still get points for two-man teams? I know they aren’t ranked anymore, or something like that. (Too hard to balance, I think was the reason.)
WooHoo! That is the best news I have had all day. Hope I haven’t been hacked, but even if I have, as long as I still have Boomer on the account, I can recover gold/gear/whatever with a bit of effort. Damn I’m missing my little gnome with the fetish for blowing things up…
Anybody know any way I could play the game without DSL or Cable internet service? I’ve heard satellite just won’t cut it, and I doubt dialup at 56k would do it. Maybe one of those wireless things? Jonesing hard for some WoW…
There’s a thing called a mobile internet stick that is a usb thinger. The thing is, it will be through your cellular carrier, which means similar data rates and prices, which means you will definitely pay the price for it!
Unless you enjoy 500+ ms, random ten second lagspikes and disconnects I wouldn’t really recommend it, but as long as you don’t try to raid it’s sometimes playable which is better than nothing I suppose.