My Very First Email Question
Much to my surprise, I received an actual email from an actual reader of my blog, asking for help with his Paladin.
So let's take a look at what our inquisitive new friend may want to know from Honorshammer's Seal of Wisdom.
Hi, First and foremost, thank you for the Honor's Code Leveling Guide for a Paladin. It helps. I am a true noob. Have been playing for a few months now. I have a Human pally 43 with ret spec.
Everytime I get an invite ( not many times), they want to know if I can heal? It seems thats what everyone is looking for. I am very happy with my character so far. Only until very recently, I have soloed all my grinding and questing. Of course, the higher I go the more difficult this gets.
My questions is , "Is this the right level to respec to may be Holy tree?". I truly enjoy healing peeps. It takes the pressure from the fighting all the mobs and you feel good when you Lay hands on a tank that's about to die.
I just don't know, for my level, do I have the right gear? do I have the right weapon? What helps my mana? Should I buy mana potions at AH? The other day I was in a group and someones said. Geeze nrikki you need better armor!. It made me feel bad. I really enjoyed your guide. Don't know if you can help here but I am reaching out. Have a great day!
nrikki
Check out is the sentence I bolded. This is the most important part of this email. So let's establish right from the get go that nrikki enjoys the healer role. As I tank, I think that is fantastic. We need someone to keep our sorry behinds alive while some big ugly chews on our face.
Well nrikki is in luck. Before picking up the Shield I spent about 3 months as a Holy Paladin. The healing gig was not for me, but it is for him.
Is there a "right" level to go Holy. I'm sure there are many people who can tell you their stories of how they went Holy from 10-70, and that's wonderful for them, but I don't feel it's the best course of action.
nrikki is level 43. There are a couple of things working against you at level 43 if you want to spec Holy.
First and foremost is the gear. A Holy Paladin is looking for Intellect, Mana per 5, Spell Crit, and +healing on their gear. Those stats don't start appearing on Plate armor until the mid 50s, and even then not in abundance.
Also Holy Paladins keep a set of high spell damage gear for when they need to solo, grind and quest. Again, you won't find much of that type of plate in the 40s.
As a hybrid, you need to get used to the idea of multiple equipment sets. You will have one set of equipment that you wear for soloing, grinding and questing. This will be your Ret set for now (Strength, Stamina, etc.) You'll collect another set of equipment (your healing set) you wear for groups. There is a mod called ItemRack which is great for switching between multiple sets of equipment.
The other issue is your talents. Holy Guildance is not available until level 44. You won't have the full effect (5/5) until level 49.
For these reasons and others, I am going to recommend you wait until level 50 to respec to Holy.
At 50 you can get the full effect of Holy Guidance which should help get you through until you can build up some healing and spell damage gear.
What you should start doing immediately is picking up as much Healing gear as you can get your hands on. Don't worry if it's Cloth, or Leather or Mail, just look for the stats you need (Intellect, Mana Per 5, Spell Crit, and plus Healing). Also start picking up gear with spell damage (Damage and Healing increased by xx). Again any type of armor will do. This will become your new soloing set once you spec Holy. Since you will likely have some Cloth and Leather in this set a little extra stamina is nice on this gear as well.
Lastly, start doing PVP. You can pick up some nice Neck, Back, and Rings with PVP. (Caretaker's Cape, or Advisor's Ring are examples)
Start looking for someone on your realm who can craft a Whitesoul Helm. As a miner the mats should be fairly easy to come by (20 thorium bars, 4 Enchanted Thorium Bars, 6 Truesilver Bars, 6 Gold Bars, and 2 Azerothian Diamonds). You can't wear it until Level 55, but already have it in your bank so can use it the moment you ding 55.
The comment about your gear was understandable. Your gear is excellent for a Level 43 Retribution Paladin (you could use a better ring and a new weapon. The spirit on "of the Wolf" items tends to be a poor choice for Paladins of all specs. I'd go buy an Executioner's Cleaver off your local Auction House).
However, your gear is lousy for a Holy Paladin, and that's what people are commenting on. This goes back to the multiple sets of gear comment.
When you get into groups between now and 50, bring some Mana Pots, Mageblood Potions, Arcane Elixir, and Nightfin Soup.
You will find Holy to be a great tree since you like the role of healer. It's powerful in both PVE and PVP and you will never have trouble finding a group.
I wish you the best of luck. Email me again and let me know how it works out.
So let's take a look at what our inquisitive new friend may want to know from Honorshammer's Seal of Wisdom.
Hi, First and foremost, thank you for the Honor's Code Leveling Guide for a Paladin. It helps. I am a true noob. Have been playing for a few months now. I have a Human pally 43 with ret spec.
Everytime I get an invite ( not many times), they want to know if I can heal? It seems thats what everyone is looking for. I am very happy with my character so far. Only until very recently, I have soloed all my grinding and questing. Of course, the higher I go the more difficult this gets.
My questions is , "Is this the right level to respec to may be Holy tree?". I truly enjoy healing peeps. It takes the pressure from the fighting all the mobs and you feel good when you Lay hands on a tank that's about to die.
I just don't know, for my level, do I have the right gear? do I have the right weapon? What helps my mana? Should I buy mana potions at AH? The other day I was in a group and someones said. Geeze nrikki you need better armor!. It made me feel bad. I really enjoyed your guide. Don't know if you can help here but I am reaching out. Have a great day!
nrikki
Check out is the sentence I bolded. This is the most important part of this email. So let's establish right from the get go that nrikki enjoys the healer role. As I tank, I think that is fantastic. We need someone to keep our sorry behinds alive while some big ugly chews on our face.
Well nrikki is in luck. Before picking up the Shield I spent about 3 months as a Holy Paladin. The healing gig was not for me, but it is for him.
Is there a "right" level to go Holy. I'm sure there are many people who can tell you their stories of how they went Holy from 10-70, and that's wonderful for them, but I don't feel it's the best course of action.
nrikki is level 43. There are a couple of things working against you at level 43 if you want to spec Holy.
First and foremost is the gear. A Holy Paladin is looking for Intellect, Mana per 5, Spell Crit, and +healing on their gear. Those stats don't start appearing on Plate armor until the mid 50s, and even then not in abundance.
Also Holy Paladins keep a set of high spell damage gear for when they need to solo, grind and quest. Again, you won't find much of that type of plate in the 40s.
As a hybrid, you need to get used to the idea of multiple equipment sets. You will have one set of equipment that you wear for soloing, grinding and questing. This will be your Ret set for now (Strength, Stamina, etc.) You'll collect another set of equipment (your healing set) you wear for groups. There is a mod called ItemRack which is great for switching between multiple sets of equipment.
The other issue is your talents. Holy Guildance is not available until level 44. You won't have the full effect (5/5) until level 49.
For these reasons and others, I am going to recommend you wait until level 50 to respec to Holy.
At 50 you can get the full effect of Holy Guidance which should help get you through until you can build up some healing and spell damage gear.
What you should start doing immediately is picking up as much Healing gear as you can get your hands on. Don't worry if it's Cloth, or Leather or Mail, just look for the stats you need (Intellect, Mana Per 5, Spell Crit, and plus Healing). Also start picking up gear with spell damage (Damage and Healing increased by xx). Again any type of armor will do. This will become your new soloing set once you spec Holy. Since you will likely have some Cloth and Leather in this set a little extra stamina is nice on this gear as well.
Lastly, start doing PVP. You can pick up some nice Neck, Back, and Rings with PVP. (Caretaker's Cape, or Advisor's Ring are examples)
Start looking for someone on your realm who can craft a Whitesoul Helm. As a miner the mats should be fairly easy to come by (20 thorium bars, 4 Enchanted Thorium Bars, 6 Truesilver Bars, 6 Gold Bars, and 2 Azerothian Diamonds). You can't wear it until Level 55, but already have it in your bank so can use it the moment you ding 55.
The comment about your gear was understandable. Your gear is excellent for a Level 43 Retribution Paladin (you could use a better ring and a new weapon. The spirit on "of the Wolf" items tends to be a poor choice for Paladins of all specs. I'd go buy an Executioner's Cleaver off your local Auction House).
However, your gear is lousy for a Holy Paladin, and that's what people are commenting on. This goes back to the multiple sets of gear comment.
When you get into groups between now and 50, bring some Mana Pots, Mageblood Potions, Arcane Elixir, and Nightfin Soup.
You will find Holy to be a great tree since you like the role of healer. It's powerful in both PVE and PVP and you will never have trouble finding a group.
I wish you the best of luck. Email me again and let me know how it works out.
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