In my Guide to Blessings, I originally advocated assigning Blessings as follows:
Pattern 1: Combined Might/Wisdom
Paladin 1 - Light on tanks, Wisdom on hunters, Salvation on everyone else
Paladin 2 - Wisdom on casters, Might on melee and hunters
Paladin 3 - Kings
This pattern has its advantages, mainly that all the complexity of blessing assignments is put on the shoulders of Paladin 1. This means that Paladins 2 and 3 have simpler assignments, which can be a great boon for an entry-level raid.
However, this pattern does have disadvantages. To maximize effectiveness, Paladin 1 needs Improved Wisdom, while Paladin 2 needs both Improved Wisdom and Improved Might. Paladin 3 needs Kings, of course. It is rare that you will get 3 paladins with exactly the right buffs, especially if you run a Retribution paladin.
So let's take a look at a second pattern:
Pattern 2: Split Might/Wisdom
Paladin 1: Light on tanks, Salvation on melee, Wisdom on casters and hunters
Paladin 2: Salvation on casters, Might on tanks, melee and hunters
Paladin 3: Kings
This pattern greatly reduces the requirements for maximum effectiveness. Paladin 1 needs Improved Wisdom, Paladin 2 needs Improved Might, and Paladin 3 needs Kings. This is much easier to get, and works well with a Retribution paladin.
The downside is that the complexity is split up between the first two paladins, and no single paladin is responsible for keeping Salvation up.
I've never had a hard-and-fast "rule" for blessing assignments, as there are many variations in raid composition.
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, I've always tended more toward your second pattern in raids with only three paladins. Like you said, it doesn't require someone to spend talents in both impWis and impMight.
Also, I don't buy into the "advantage" of keeping the "complexity" of blessing assignments out of certain players' hands. The default UI now shows duration on the tooltips of buffs you provide to a target player... mods aren't even necessary to track buff timers anymore.
I don't see a problem with remembering the greater blessing I'm supposed to give to each of nine classes, instantly rebuffing any player that is resurrected, and keeping ten minute blessings up on perhaps 1-3 offspec players if needed.
I like your post, but don't mods like provide an alternative to keeping assignments simple, and allow you to maximize the strength of the blessings (improved might, improved wisdom, kings, sanctuary) with little or no regard to complexity?
ReplyDeleteWe don't go for specific rules any more. With the Pally Power mod, our raid blessing plan might look like a check board, but setting it up is a charm for the paladin on assist - he can see exactly whether a ret pally brings improved might to the table and whether it might be even appropriate to add sanctuary from a prot pally. Yes, we had five paladins in a raid group - one ret, one prot and three healers. Good times.
ReplyDeleteSome pallies are reluctant to use the mod, but it is very powerful and allows even spot buffings and shows the timers on each blessing casted.
imo just get everyone to use Pally Power and configure individual class blessings
ReplyDeleteWe try to aim for a buff list that has one pally doing one or two buffs across the groups, and then maybe doing something else on themselves.
ReplyDeletePallyPower helps this alot, but I've found that the people you have to force to use PallyPower are also poor at remembering to rebuff.
You can use Pally Power, but if the officer assigning buffs has a plan or heuristic she follows, it makes life easier.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, lower-tier guilds tend to have a bit of trouble handling buffs for some reason. A simple pattern like the above two can make life easier for them.