After week of playing on the 2.3 patch of WoW, I have a couple of opinions to share.
1. The Retribution Tree is now viable for the Paladin class.
I used to play a ret-pally until about March or April when a friend convinced me to go prot after a patch nerfed the retribution tree a bit. I had a good spec (18/43/0, I think) and was pretty much indestructible, but it took forever to take down anything. With the changes in the 2.3 patch — like longer-lasting Vengeance and a six-second Crusader Strike cooldown — the temptation to return to the ret tree was too much. Yesterday I respecced to 20/0/41 (bye bye Avenger’s Shield, *sniff*…hello Crusader Strike!) and am loving the speed at which I can dish out the pain now. So, I’m back to playing the most disrespected spec of the most despised class: the ret-pally!
2. Alterac Valley sucks now.
Blizzard made a huge mistake in changing AV, in my opinion. It was the best battleground; a unique mix of PvE and PvP. Sadly, they took out all the lieutenants, changed the way marshals/warmasters worked, and messed up the honor rewards. It’s just not as much fun as it used to be. Oh well, maybe I’ll start to like it again in a week when I’ll need to start earning honor again (blasted 75,000 honor cap!).
3. Daily quests are a great idea.
The addition of more daily quests for the battlegrounds, dungeons, and cooking(!) gives players a reason to experience a wider variety of gameplay. Personally I think the daily quest mechanic (or some improved form of it) will most likely be what keeps the game alive in the long term (in addition to new content and system improvements, of course).
All in all, the 2.3 patch gets two huge thumbs up from me. These improvements — not to mention the new ten-man raid instance and the introduction guild banks — have, overall, made the game more enjoyable.
The Amazing World of Don Dueck 