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Our Point of View, by MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver
Sept-Oct 2009
It is a complete puzzle to me that everyone does not know or admit the way we deliver health care in America has failed millions and millions of our fellow citizens—some of whom live next door, work down the hall, and send their kids to public schools—kids who may also be uninsured and thus denied easy access to health care.
It puzzles me further that political leaders like our own Senator Max Baucus, who know the system doesn't work, would arrogantly discard discussion of real reform and "fix" the system by subsidizing more of the same in part by taxing those who already have health insurance but who nonetheless worry without relief about the hyper-inflated, benefit sapping price they must pay to enjoy the privilege.
Generally speaking that would be unionized folks like you and me.
Like the American middle class—or what's left of it.
Wrong debate
The debate we are suffering nationwide is all wrong. Instead of debating health care, we are debating health insurance.
Even the president is guilty of framing the wrong debate.
Apparently a toxic stew of political cowardice, high rolling special interests, myopic individual "I've-got-mine-Jack," and raw partisan—if not racist—incivility has made it impossible for even the most charismatic politician in America to raise the health care debate to a higher level of social accountability.
Why should we expect more from Max, or the Gang of Six, or the Senate Finance Committee, or a super majority of U.S. Senators?
It's about us
You know, it's not about you.
It's not about me.
It's about us.
It is about what we do together to build our social compact.
If the health insurance debate only boils down to your particular health insurance costs and benefits and mine, then why wonder why so many me-firsters are bonding with fat cat insurance and health care providers to bombard our nation's capitol, claiming political casualties left, right, and center?
Taxpayer funded
Twice in the last two years, the MEA-MFT Representative Assembly has embraced single payer health care reform.
Surely this surprises no one. After all, almost all MEA-MFT members work in the public sector providing vital quality public programs and services.
MEA-MFT members teach our children and adults, nurse our ill, keep us safe from those who would do us harm, collect our taxes, preserve our history, and maintain and enhance our game animals and fisheries.
Taxpayer funded.
More recently, the president has opined that his proposed public option would no more threaten the bloated private health insurance industry than public colleges and universities.
Odd argument actually. Public higher education is far from free and accessible to all.
But if he wished to promote single payer, a taxpayer funded health care delivery system free to all, he would have a far more exact analogy: America's elementary and secondary public schools—free to all.
If education in America had evolved as has our health insurance system, leaving millions of kids standing outside school room doors, could we today reform it well enough to provide free, quality elementary and secondary public education for all?
If we could, would we?
Call me a socialist.
Read previous Point of View from President Feaver.
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Back from a wonderful trip; to the Shrine of Blessed John Henry, in Birmingham. You might think that just being in such a place on such a day as his Solemnity would be wonderful enough; but there is more to it than that. Just before First Vespers of the Solemnity, I was privileged to be invited to witness the reception of the Habit of S Philip by a former pupil of mine, Mr Andrew Wagstaff. And the next morning, the feast itself, I offered the Holy sacrifice.
Andrew and I go back quite some time. He was one of the very ablest of my theological students at Lancing; then he shone equally in the Theological Faculty in Oxford. He managed the serving at Pusey House in Oxford (I had the title of Senior Research Fellow there while I was priest in charge of S Thomas's); then he became a barrister. Now ... well, you see where it has all led. But I had better come clean about something else: a month ago I spent a week in the Birmingham Oratory, lending a very inadequate hand with the clerical work of the House. And what a welcoming, vibrant place it is; both in terms of the Fathers and Brothers, and of the congregation. (Ah, and Pushkin the Cat as well!) Youth and Enthusiasm mark both! There was a good congregation at the (Extraordinary Form) High Mass on the Sunday, at which I celebrated and preached. During some of the other Sunday Masses, a couple of which were packed out, I occupied a confessional; one of those nice Baroque confessionals, in which there is a sliding panel each side and as the penitent to your left departs, you slide the shutter back, heave over onto the right buttock, and hear the confession that side, thus rocking back and forth non-stop. The queues lasted until after the end of Mass.
Incidentally, you can find on the internet lovely pictures of the Ordination and First Mass of Fr Martin Stamnestroe in Oslo ... he is another former Anglican, another graduate of Pusey House. I remember happy days sitting in his study chatting and and admiring his superb collection of liturgical books. And there is the news of the profession of a new novice in the now formally erected Redemptorist community on Papa Stronsay, very dear friends of mine. No lack of signs of growth, at least as things seem from my viewpoint in the Church; and a fair bit of that growth seems to happen among the very able. Oh, and the Ordinariate's first two new home-grown seminarians are getting under way. We really do seem to be moving on from the arid years. Vivat Papa.
But back to the Birmingham Oratory. Fr Anton, the Parish Priest, very kindly made me free of 'the Cardinal's' study (with adjacent chapel). Little discoveries can be as satisfactory as large ones; we all know that on Monday December 3, Newman left Oxford for the foreign travels which led him to Sicily, serious illness, and the writing of Lead kindly light. The day before, he preached a University Sermon which could be regarded as the start of the Catholic Revival in the Church of England. But what was he doing on the preceding Saturday? I can now reveal the Truth. He was shopping ... for books. Devout tomes? Deary me, No. He bought a pocket copy of Thucydides; and one of Pindar. Isn't it a lovely mental picture; the slender, donnish, very English figure, sweat pouring down his face as he plodded round the bumps near Syracuse and traced (Thucydides in hand) the footprints of the ill-fated Athenian Expedition during the Peloponnesian War; then sitting in a cafe (I think I detected slight wine marks on some pages) and reading Pindar's mannered encomia upon the equestrian victories of Sicilian rulers in the Games.
Newman once said, I think, that he could never be a saint; because he loved literature too much. But Classicists, evidently, can become saints!
How very fortunate the inhabitants of Birmingham (and its surrounding areas) are, to have such a wonderful shrine in their midst; to be able to go to Mass in such a flourishing and well-run church. And one with such a large car-park behind it!
9 October 2012
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text: Latest Video News Benjamin Netanyahu giddy as a school boy over Trump's decision on Iran (Video) Israeli prime minister speaks out about preventing Iran's nuclear capabilities. Published 10 months ago on October 16, 2017 By Alex Christoforou 1,174 Views Share Tweet When POTUS Trump announcement that his administration will not re-certify Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, the US president made lots of people very happy. Neocons were celebrating. Saudi Arabia praised the decision. Fox News went on the offensive, pushing for tough sanctions on Iran, for violating the "spirit" of the agreement. We are certain somewhere in a CIA camp in the Middle East, Al Qaeda jihadists were happy to see some pressure placed on the country currently working towards exterminating their radical ideology. No one was happier with Trump's decision than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who joined Maria Bartiromo Sunday morning on Fox News to express his gratitude to US President Trump. Netanyahu reminded Maria that the region's Arab States (liberal democracies like Saudi Arabia and UAE) also support President Trump's decision to decertify the Iranian nuclear deal. PM Netanyahu: When Israel and the Arab States agree on something you all should pay attention. I think this is an historic moment. Related Topics:Donald TrumpIranIsraelBenjamin Netanyahu Up Next Deep State begins its campaign to associate Harvey Weinstein's sexual crimes to POTUS Trump Don't Miss Paradigm shift. The end of the petrodollar approaches, can America withstand the disruption? Advertisement You may like In Monsters We Trust: US Mainstream Media No Friend of the American People Majority Americans Want Diplomacy With Russia Over Sanctions: Gallup Persecution of Maria Butina takes a nasty turn Comments Latest Denmark As A Model For American Socialists? In Denmark, everyone pays at least the 25% value-added tax (VAT) on all purchases. Income tax rates are high. Published 10 hours ago on August 21, 2018 By The Duran Authored by Lars Hedegard via The Gatestone Institute: Here are some facts to consider before American "democratic socialists" look to Denmark for guidance, as Senator Bernie Sanders did during the 2016 presidential campaign. First of all, Danes actually pay for their brand of socialism through heavy taxation. In Denmark, everyone pays at least the 25% value-added tax (VAT) on all purchases. Income tax rates are high. If you receive public support and are of working age and healthy enough to work, the state will require that you look for a job or it will force a job on you. The willingness of all the Danes to pay high taxes is predicated on the country's high degree of homogeneity and level of citizens' trust in each other, what sociologists call "social capital." By and large, Danes do not mind paying into the welfare state because they know that the money will go to other Danes like themselves, who share their values and because they can easily imagine themselves to be in need of help — as most of them, from time to time, will be. Whenever politicians propose tax cuts, they are met with vehement opposition: So, you want to cut taxes? What part of the welfare state are you willing to amputate? And that ends the debate. Danes, in contrast to American socialists gaining ground in the Democratic Party, are increasingly aware that the welfare state cannot be sustained in conditions of open immigration. A political party agitating for "no borders" could never win a Danish election. Danes do not suffer from historical guilt: they have not attacked any other country for more than two centuries and have never committed a genocide. Moreover, there is an even deeper truth to ponder: Denmark is not really socialist but constitutes a sui generis fusion of free-market capitalism and some socialist elements. Denmark has no minimum wage mandated by law. Wages, benefits and working conditions are determined through negotiations between employers and trade unions. 67% of Danish wage-earners are members of a union, compared to 19% in Germany and 8% in France. Strikes and lockouts are common, and the government will usually stay out of labor conflicts unless the parties are unable to agree. It is uncomplicated for enterprises to fire workers, which gives them great flexibility to adapt to shifting market conditions. To alleviate the pain, the state has in place a number of arrangements such as generous unemployment benefits and programs to retrain and upgrade redundant workers. Danish companies must make ends meet or perish. They generally will not get handouts from the government. Denmark is more free-market oriented than the US. According to the Heritage Foundation's 2018 Index of Economic Freedom, Denmark is number 12, ahead of the United States (number 18). Venezuela is at the bottom, one place ahead of number 180, North Korea. Mads Lundby Hansen, chief economist of Denmark's respected pro-free-market think tank CEPOS, comments: "Very high taxes and the vast public sector clearly detract in the capitalism index and reduce economic freedom. But Denmark compensates by protecting property rights, by low corruption, relatively little regulation of private enterprise, open foreign trade, healthy public finances and more. This high degree of economic freedom is among the reasons for Denmark's relatively high affluence." Trish Regan recently claimed on Fox Business that Danes pay a "federal tax rate" of 56% on their income. This is misleading. The 55.8% is the levied on the marginaltax for the top income bracket, only on the part of their income above DKK 498,900 ($76,500). Any income under DKK 498,900 is taxed at lower rates. And the 55.8% marginal rate does not represent a "federal" or "national" rate. It represents the total of all taxes on income: national tax, regional tax, municipal tax and labor market tax. It does not, however, include Denmark's 25% value-added tax (VAT), paid on all purchases. Regan also claimed that Danes pay a 180% tax on cars. While it is true that there was once a maximum tax of 180% on care in Denmark, the vehicle tax rates have been lowered in recent years. Today, the first DKK 185,100 ($28,400) of the price of a gas- or diesel-powered car is taxed at 85%, and if the car's price is above DKK 185,100, the remaining amount is taxed at 150% — which is of course bad enough. Denmark's total tax burden amounts to 45.9% of GDP, the highest of all countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As pointed out in the Fox Business segment, all education for Danes is tuition-free, all the way through to a Ph.D. Not only that; the state will, within certain time constraints, pay students to study. For students at university level no longer living with their parents, the monthly cash grant comes to almost $1,000 per month. No fewer than 325,000 students out of a total population of 5.6 million benefit from this generous arrangement setting the state back to the tune of DKK 20.9 billion or 1% of GDP (latest 2018 figures just in and supplied by Mads Lundby Hansen). Denmark even pays student support to 20,000 foreign students. Attempts by fiscal conservatives to cut down on payments to students have been successfully resisted by the vociferous and influential student organizations; at present it would appear impossible to muster anything like a parliamentary majority to limit the student handouts. Fox Business is right that a great many Danes are on public transfer payments. Government figures from 2017 indicate that 712,300 Danes of working age (16-64) — not including recipients of student benefits — get public financial support. But Regan's claim that most Danes do not work is ludicrous. According to Statistics Denmark, 69.9% of Danes aged 16-64 are active in the labor market. How can Denmark pay for its comprehensive welfare state, which includes free medical care regardless of the severity of your condition? Regan claims that Denmark is "heavily in debt." Not so. As it turns out, Denmark is among the least indebted countries in the world, even when compared to other Western countries. The Danish government's gross debt stands at 35.9% of GDP. Compare that to, e.g., The United Kingdom (86.3 %), The United States (108%), Belgium (101%), Canada (86.6%), France (96.3%), Germany (59.8%), The Netherlands (53.5%), Italy (129.7%), Spain (96.7%) and even Switzerland (41.9%). Comparing Denmark to the US, Madsen notes that the latter has a problem with fiscal sustainability that may necessitate tax increases. Denmark enjoys what he labels fiscal "oversustainability" ("overholdbarhed"). At a time when socialism appears to be popular among certain sections of the American population, its proponents would do well not to cite Denmark as a model. The Danish fusion of free-market capitalism and a comprehensive welfare state has worked because Denmark is a small country with a very homogeneous population. This economic and social model rests on more than 150 years of political, social and economic compromises between peasants and landowners, business-owners and workers, and right- and left-leaning political parties. This has led to a measure of social and political stability that would be hard to emulate in much larger and more diverse counties such as the United States. Lars Hedegaard, President of the Danish Free Speech Society, is based in Denmark. Continue Reading Latest Ron Paul: Protectionism Abroad and Socialism at Home One of the most insidious ways politicians expand government is by creating new programs to "solve" problems created by politicians. Published 10 hours ago on August 21, 2018 By Ron Paul Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity: One of the most insidious ways politicians expand government is by creating new programs to "solve" problems created by politicians. For example, government interference in health care increased health care costs, making it difficult or even impossible for many to obtain affordable, quality care. The effects of these prior interventions were used to justify Obamacare. Now, the failures of Obamacare are being used to justify further government intervention in health care. This does not just include the renewed push for socialized medicine. It also includes supporting new laws mandating price transparency. The lack of transparency in health care pricing is a direct result of government policies encouraging overreliance on third-party payers. This phenomenon is also observed in foreign policy. American military interventions result in blowback that is used to justify more military intervention. The result is an ever-expanding warfare state and curtailments on our liberty in the name of security. Another example of this is related to the reaction to President Trump's tariffs. Many of America's leading trading partners have imposed "retaliatory" tariffs on US goods. Many of these tariffs target agriculture exports. These tariffs could be devastating for American farmers, since exports compose as much as 20 percent of the average farmer's income. President Trump has responded to the hardships imposed on farmers by these retaliatory tariffs with a 12 billion dollars farm bailout program. The program has three elements: direct payments to farmers, use of federal funds to buy surplus crops and distribute them to food banks and nutrition programs, and a new federal effort to promote American agriculture overseas. This program will not fix the problems caused by Tramp's tariffs. For one thing, the payments are unlikely to equal the money farmers will lose from this trade war. Also, government marketing programs benefit large agribusiness but do nothing to help small farmers. In fact, by giving another advantage to large agribusiness, the program may make it more difficult for small farmers to compete in the global marketplace. Distributing surplus food to programs serving the needy may seem like a worthwhile use of government funds. However, the federal government has neither constitutional nor moral authority to use money taken by force from taxpayers for charitable purposes. Government-funded welfare programs also crowd out much more effective and compassionate private efforts. Of course, if government regulations such as the minimum wage and occupational licensing did not destroy job opportunities, government farm programs did not increase food prices, and the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies did not continuously erode purchasing power, the demand for food aid would be much less. By increasing spending and debt, the agriculture bailout will do much more to create poverty than to help the needy. Agriculture is hardly the only industry suffering from the new trade war. Industries — such as automobile manufacturing — that depend on imports for affordable materials are suffering along with American exporters. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (who supports tariffs) has called for bailouts of industries negatively impacted by tariffs. He is likely to be joined in his advocacy by crony capitalists seeking another government handout. More bailouts will only add to the trade war's economic damage by increasing government spending and hastening the welfare–warfare state's collapse and the rejection of the dollar's world reserve currency status. Instead of trying to fix tariffs-caused damage through more corporate welfare, President Trump and Congress should pursue a policy of free markets and free trade for all and bailouts for none. Continue Reading Latest In Monsters We Trust: US Mainstream Media No Friend of the American People Over 300 US newspapers ran editorials on the same day denouncing Trump, an event in itself that points to some high degree of collusion and groupthink. Published 10 hours ago on August 21, 2018 By Robert Bridge Authored by Robert Bridge via The Strategic Culture Foundation: Over the course of his turbulent presidency, Donald Trump has accused various media companies, with special attention reserved for CNN, as being purveyors of 'fake news.' In one early-morning Tweet last year, he slammed the "FAKE NEWS media" as the "enemy of the people." This week, over 300 US newspapers ran editorials on the same day – an event in itself that points to some high degree of collusion and groupthink – denouncing Trump's insensitive portrayal of them, as if the notion that journalists were not in the same sleaze league as lawyers, politicians and professional con artists never crossed anyone's mind before. Even the peace-loving Mahatma Gandhi recommended "equality for everyone except reporters and photographers." But is the MSM really an "enemy of the people?" First, it cannot be denied that the US media, taken in all its wholesomeness, has been overwhelmingly consistent in its 'style' of reporting on Donald Trump, the 45th POTUS. And by consistent I mean unprecedentedly critical, misleading and outright aggressive in its guerilla coverage of him. If one is not convinced by the gloom-and-doom Trump stories featured daily in the Yahoo News feed, then a study by the Media Research Center (MRC) should do the job. From January 1 through April 30, evening news coverage of the US leader – courtesy of ABC, CBS and NBC – were 90 percent negative, which is pretty much the same incredible average revealed by MRC one year earlier. The study looked at every one of the 1,065 network evening news stories about Trump and his administration during the first four months of 2018. Total negative news time devoted to Trump: 1,774 minutes, or about one-third of all evening news airtime. That's pretty much the definition of a circle jerk. "Nearly two-fifths (39%) of the TV coverage we examined focused on Trump scandals and controversies, while 45 percent was devoted to various policy issues," MRC wrote in its report. Meanwhile, the farcical Russia 'collusion' story was consistently the main grabber — clocking in at 321 minutes, or nearly one-fifth of all Trump coverage. Of the 598 statements MRC calculated about Trump's personal scandals, virtually all of them (579, or 97%) came out of the media wash cycle tarred and feathered. If this represents an orchestrated attack on the Commander-in-Chief, and in light of those numbers it would be difficult to argue it isn't, the strategy appears to be falling flat. Despite, or precisely because of, the avalanche of negative media coverage, Trump's popularity rating smashed the 50 percent ceiling in early August and continues to remain high. In Monsters We Trust Although it can be safely stated that the MSM is an entrenched and relentless enemy of Donald Trump, that doesn't necessarily mean it's an "enemy of the American people," as Trump argues it is. Let's be a bit more diplomatic and say it isn't our friend. One yard stick for proving the claim is to consider the steadily mounting concentration of media holdings. In 1983, 90 percent of US media were controlled by 50 companies; today, 90 percent is controlled by the Big Six (AT&T, Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, CBS and Viacom control the spoken and printed word from sea to shining sea).Although many people are aware of the monopolistic tendencies of the US mainstream media, it's important to understand the level of concentration. It means the vast majority of everything you see and hear on any electronic device or printed publication is 'democratically' controlled by six average white guys and their shareholders. However, keeping track of who owns what these days is practically impossible since the dozens of subsidiary companies that fall under each main company are themselves fiefdoms, each with their own separate holdings. In fact, the already short 'Big Six' list is already dated, since National Amusements, Inc. has gobbled up both Viacom and CBS, while 21st Century Fox merged with Disney this year. As for the 350 US newspapers that penned tortured editorials decrying Trump's critical opinion of them, many of those 'local' publications get their marching orders from either the Hearst Communications or the Gannett Company on the East Coast. Now, with this sort of massive power and influence lying around like dynamite, it stands to reason, or unreason, that the corporate and political worlds will succumb to the law of attraction and gravitation, forging powerful and impregnable relationships. It's no secret that the politicians, our so-called 'public servants,' are mostly in the game to make a fast buck, while the corporations, desperate for 'democratic representation' to control regulation and market share, have an inexhaustible source of funds to secure it. Naturally, this oligarchical system precludes any sort of democratic participation from the average person on the street, who thinks just because he remembers to yank a lever once every several years he is somehow invested in the multibillion-dollar franchise. As far as media corporations being 'private enterprises' and therefore free to demolish the freedom of speech (even censoring major media players, like Infowars, simply because they whistle to a different political tune), that is quickly becoming revealed as nothing more than corporate cover for state-sponsored machinations. "In a corporatist system of government, wherein there is no meaningful separation between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship is state censorship," writes Caitlin Johnstone. "Because legalized bribery in the form of corporate lobbying and campaign donations has given wealthy Americans the ability to control the US government's policy and behavior while ordinary Americans have no effective influence whatsoever, the US unquestionably has a corporatist system of government." Meanwhile, it cannot be denied, from the perspective of an impartial observer, that the mainstream media is nearly always positioned to promote the government narrative on any number of significant issues. From the media's unanimous and uncritical clamoring that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 (even the FBI has admitted it has no "hard evidence" that bin Laden carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon), to its gung-ho enthusiasm for the 2003 Iraq War, to the sycophantic cheerleading for a war in Syria, the examples of media toeing the government line are legion. And if US intel is in bed with Hollywood you can be damn sure they're spending time in the MSM whorehouse as well. Is it any surprise, then, that public trust in the US media is reaching all-time lows, while news consumers are increasingly looking to alternative news sites – themselves under relentless attack – to get some semblance of the elusive truth, which is the God-given right of any man? Truth is our due, and we should demand nothing less. As Thomas Paine reminded the world in the face of a different foe: "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value." Continue Reading JOIN OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL Advertisement Your donations make all the difference. Together we can expose fake news lies and deliver truth. 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One player's adventures in the World of Warcraft. Hunters, Paladins, Raiding, Mythic Plus.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
My 'Stance' On Paladin PTR Changes
Thanks Honors. Yes, we've got news from the PTR and it's not looking too good for Paladins.
# Sacred Shield: The damage absorption effect from this ability now triggers only once every 30 seconds.
# Talents
* Holy
o Infusion of Light: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the effect of Sacred Shield by 12/24 seconds.
* Lay on Hands can no longer be cast on yourself.
* Protection
o Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.
That's the latest from the PTR. Back to you, Honors!
Thank you, Todagrond!
Let's take a look at this news and the changes one by one.
Lay On Hands
This some simply isn't happening. Put down the pitchforks. How do we know this? We just happen to have Lead Developer Ghostcrawler, live from Blizzard HQ, to join us.
Mr. Ghostcrawler, would you care to comment on the Lay on Hands change?
I wouldn't worry too much on the Lay on Hands change at this point. I don't want to promise we won't change the spell for 3.3, but our intent was to revert the others only change before it went out to the PTR, which is why we didn't patch note it. We have already changed it back on our local builds. (http://wowraid.com/tracker/b11/t20677861597/recent-33-ptr-paladin-changes.html)
Okay. We can take a deep breath and relax on that one.
Divine Guardian
When something is difficult to explain and understand, that's often a symptom of bad design. We saw that symptom with Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian. The new iteration on the PTR is much simpler to understand.
You pop Divine Sacrifice and start soaking up damage. You can soak up to 2x your buffed health. When you pop Divine Sacrifice and if you are speced into Divine Guardian your raid gets a 20% damage reduction for 6 seconds. You are still only soaking damage from your party and if you absorb more than 2x your lifebar in 6 seconds the 'raid wall' remains.
The skill makes much more sense and it's a nice external tank cooldown and 'raid wall' for predictable bursts. At 6 seconds, I doubt it would overly encourage stacking Paladins, but I have underestimated the skill before so I might be underestimating it again.
Sacred Shield
So basically this change really hurts the usability of Sacred Shield for Protection and Retribution. Basically what will happen is you will get a 30s buff, and if you take damage while you have that buff, you will gain a 6s absorb shield. This can only proc ONCE in the entire 30s.
Now read the part about Infusion of Light taking it back to current internal cooldown, allowing 5 procs in those 30 seconds. What the Developers are basically doing is making Sacred Shield a 35 point Holy talent before it does anything meaningful.
This one isn't going Live either. Let's bring back Mr. Ghostcrawler once more. Mr.Ghostcrawler, what are the Developers trying to accomplish with this change?
We are trying some things with Sacred Shield to make it more of a Holy tool and less useful for Ret and Prot (without being totally irrelevant). I don't have a lot of faith that the implementation on the PTR is the one we'll go with for a couple of reasons, but our overall goal is to make Ret less tanky and the Holy tree feel like it's the right one to focus on for healing. I would expect a Sacred Shield change of some kind though. (http://wowraid.com/tracker/b11/t20677861597/recent-33-ptr-paladin-changes.html)
I understand wanting to make deep Holy more attractive. It's an issue you have been dealing with all of Wrath. It's driven, in part, because the 0/0/0 Paladin is still a decent healer.
So allow me to offer this suggestion, originally put forth by poster Candiru on Maintankadin,
Sacred shield would make a good 11 point talent in Holy. Make Aura Mastery baseline level 80 skill.
I think that's a great suggestion. AM is more useful to all specs than the proposed Sacred Shield would be. Sacred Shield feels more like a Holy talent anyway.
If you do nerf Sacred Shield effectiveness for Protection, and that seems to be the goal, I think I'll be specing out of Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian and puts those points somewhere else.
Any comments, Mr. Ghostcrawler?
The paladin class isn't just supposed to be for support anymore, but at the same time, the original intent for many paladin abilities was to help the group. Over time however they have contributed into making the paladin into a "one-man army," able to play offensively, defensively and heal without say the stance changing or shapeshifting or sometimes event talent specialization required of other classes. Many of the LK balance problems we've had with the class are because of that core issue. (http://wowraid.com/tracker/b11/t20677861597/recent-33-ptr-paladin-changes.html)
I don't see the 'one-man army' argument at all, but I do I actually agree that one of the problems with balancing the Paladin class is our lack of stances or forms.
A central issue with the current design of the class is that a 0/0/0 paladin is a functional healer, and nothing else.
Here's a little thought exercise for you. You have a Paladin, Druid, Warrior, and Priest. Each of them is level 80 in appropiate gear for the job but they have 0 talent points.
I'd trust the Paladin to heal, but tank? Maybe. DPS? He's really going to struggle. Now think about the other classes. Obviously, the Priest can't tank and the Warrior can't heal. But my contention is that each could perform the roles they are capable of specing into as a 0/0/0 better than a 0/0/0 Paladin, in all roles except for Healing. I tend to think the reason for that because they have forms/stances.
Allow me to offer this suggestion: give Paladins some type of Forms/Stance/Presence system in Cataclysm. Tie them to Auras, or call them Auras and make a separate buff for the resistances. Then you'd have Concentration Aura for the healing 'stance', Devotion Aura for 'tank' stance, and Retribution aura for the 'dps' stance.
Thank you for your time, Mr. Ghostcrawler.
Now let's turn this over to our audience now.
What do you think? Would giving Paladins a form/stance system make the class easier to balance?
15 comments:
I like the "aurastance" idea but unfortunately this goes against a lot of the talent changes they did in Wrath where aura effects go across every aura. No one would ever want to use a resist aura or situationally switch to conc aura or something like for the faction champions fight in ToCr.
- October 28, 2009 at 10:32 AM
all i have to say is that this brings up the old arguement of making all the classes the same..
you have forms for druids, presences for DKs, stances for warriors,and now we want to add more to the mix? mage armors, hunter aspects and such are all the same in the end.
- October 28, 2009 at 11:03 AM
- Mister K said...
I think that Righteous Fury should be used as our stance mechanic as it basically is for tanking. Tie it into a talent in Holy to give healing throughput or something of that like in the holy tree. Tie it not the ret tree by giving it a modifier to crusader strike or dot effects something of that nature. It would be more like mage armor than stances that way but I think it would fit better. Or if they were really going to reconfigure Holy set it up for the next expac and use it as a modifier so that there wouldn't be any more plate gear with Int. have it modify strength to spellpower(or whatever the mechanical term will be in the expac) at 100% ratio for holy, and stam modifier for tanking and strength modifier for ret. Just some ideas anyways
- October 28, 2009 at 11:47 AM
- Westin said...
When I read about LoH and SS changes, and then a few minutes later read about how they weren't happening, I decided I was over dosing on PTR. The 3.3 PTR has been so turbulent for Paladins and so controversial (for fishermen too, but that's another QQ for another place) that I decided to step back and let the dust settle before I take anything I read seriously.
They're doing a lot of testing on the test realms, and that's good for the game, I guess. Even if it is an emotional roller coaster for Paladins ;) Too often I see things introduced on the test realms and then changed in a hot fix when it goes live - like they were "testing" it on the live realms instead.
Also: when you've soloed a handful of heroics from start to finish then yes, you qualify as a one man army.
- October 28, 2009 at 12:02 PM
- Mike said...
Having a "Stance" would also tie in nicely with the removal of Spell Plate! Wanna heal? no need to change gear, just activate your Holy Spec/Aura and go to town with The Light!
- October 28, 2009 at 12:29 PM
- Eric said...
I would hate to change the aura system, it is a great system and unique. I hate the warrior stance system and the druid form system. Its clunky to me.
Personally, I would favor nerfing the paladin's base healing abilities. If you want to make Holy more attractive and Ret/Prot less flexible, then make Holy a real healing tree.
Retribution and Protection heal too well as it is. I have done some emergency healing as an off-tank simply via DP + Seal of Wisdom and been able to keep a tank up. As Retribution, its pretty easy to throw heals around with Art of War processes, JoLight and DS. Honestly, its not crazy for me to post 7-10% total raid healing on a 25 man raid and still be in the top 5 dps.
I do think it makes more sense to simply remove some of the healing from the base class and put it in Holy.
I do like the Sacred Shield suggestion of essentially swapping it with Aura Mastery.
- October 28, 2009 at 1:14 PM
- Honors Code said...
DKs are soloing heroics as well, so I guess they need some attention. You can find a YouTube of a DK soloing heroic Halls of Lightning.
- October 28, 2009 at 1:34 PM
- Honors Code said...
There are drawbacks to my suggestion, no doubt, but I find it more palatable than what they are considering at the moment.
- October 28, 2009 at 1:35 PM
- Honors Code said...
The strength of Prot and Ret healing is part of the core issue and a big reason why ProHoly isn't going away.
- October 28, 2009 at 1:36 PM
- Lochagos said...
I can heal a modern heroic 5 man with 0 points in holy but otherwise wearing holy gear. I cannot tank a modern heroic 5 man with 40-50-60 points in protection without tanking gear - but with the gear I know I can at least as a ret spec.
I think it is more of a gear problem than a spec problem at this point. And it is only going to get worse as raid tiers improve and unwanted offspec farmed gear is lying around.
- October 28, 2009 at 2:30 PM
- Nogon said...
In my opinion the whole idea of those resistance auras should be placed in the prot talent tree to give the pally and his party/raid the buff, because like you said it ain't wort the points in divine guardian anymore
so using these to agin a passive resistance aura, is actually the same to what they're now except for the part we have to click on the button.
This would also encourage to have less pallies in the run having , for having all neccessary auras.
But yeah hey that's just my idea.
But i like the idea of saying devotion aura -> prot stance
retribution aura -> dps stance
Concentration aura -> healing stance
- October 28, 2009 at 3:30 PM
The AM to 6 seconds makes me want to start avoiding it. I think they need to remember that SS is a level 80 ability, and they should replace it if they nerf it to the ground. If it needs a crit holy shock every 6 seconds, it is still a nerf to holy (and requires another adjustment to the way some Holy play). I think it's time to give Paladins a break with a major patch and not change everything yet again. I love playing my Paladin, but if class change was available I'd have switched to another class by now. If I knew which class was least likely to change from Cataclysm, I'd be levelling them now.
Stances would require the resistance auras (of which concentration aura is one, when you think about it) be detatched from the Aura system somehow.
- October 28, 2009 at 4:28 PM
The problem as Ghost Crawler himself said is that we suffer from a core issue stemming from Classic WoW.
We were designed as a healer and buffer, then had the ability to DPS and tank added on top when they decided they should be viable.
This means as a class we are healers that can tank and DPS, and not a class that can heal, tank or DPS as the rest have been built up.
Untill this is fixed any solution will just be a bandaid that will more than likely hurt Prot and Ret at the same time.
On the topic of Aura-Stances, I think they would make us feel to similar to Warriors and DKs. I would like to see our own unique system to go will a full overhaul in Cataclysm. No idea what that would be though.
- October 28, 2009 at 4:30 PM
- Eric said...
@Honors Code
What I meant by my post was that in my opinion you fix the issue of Prot/Ret healing by nerfing the base paladin healing abilities. I think Prot and Ret both heal way too well for a non-healing spec. This is specifically because a 0/0/0 Paladin has 80% of the tools needed to be an effective healer.
Take the healing ability out of the base Paladin class and put it into the Holy tree.
- October 28, 2009 at 4:49 PM
- Dallanna said...
Go to 1:30 to see my opinion on the matter.
- October 29, 2009 at 12:56 AM


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