In current World of Warcraft, Blizzard has the difficult chore of balancing 38 specializations among 13 distinct classes. Many of these specifications have had major overhauls throughout the years, and with the release of the Dragonflight expansion, the devs reworked the abilities of every class and specialization to the point that practically every single one of them plays differently than before. With such a large project, it was not surprising that some specifications need longer time in the oven than others. While significant job reworks are often reserved for the debut of an expansion, Blizzard is now extending this to the next patch by giving Retribution Paladins a much-needed facelift.

According to current Dragonflight content research, Retribution Paladins are not as popular as some of the game’s other specialties. Blizzard attributes this to a variety of variables, and with Patch 10.0.7, they are rebuilding their skill tree from the ground up to solve these issues.

For starters, Retribution Paladins have the most bloated buttons. Players don’t mind having a list of spells to use, but when that list becomes a book, locating keybinds for each spell and learning the rotation may become a difficult process. Blizzard intends to make Retribution Paladins’ primary rotation more focused and less bloated. They also aim to balance out the interactions of the tree’s talents to offer the rotation greater power and less emphasis on strong burst damage followed by disappointing downtime.

Retribution Paladins have the greatest death rate of any type of content. To bring them in line with other melee classes, the devs intend to introduce more interactive methods for Retribution Paladins to utilize passive defensives via abilities and cooldowns, as well as somewhat increasing the spec’s mobility. Finally, there will be significant changes to the specialization’s fundamental premise, which is to use light to enhance damage for yourself and your friends.

There are a few additional classes that players would want to see modified in future updates, but the Dragonflight skill tree system has been mainly well-received thus far. Blizzard appears to be abandoning old traditions, and it’s encouraging to see them address class pain points by updating problematic specialities mid-expansion.