Paladin 3.1 PTR Patch Notes.

The 3.1 PTR is Up!. MMO-Champion has the low-down here. The current build is obviously very early as a number of talents and NPC/armour models are missing and a significant number of the changes mentioned previously haven't yet been included.

In general, Holy has had a lot of its' PvP talents improved but not much has changed for PvE. The ramifications of the Protection changes are likely to be significant and the new Tier 1 Protection talent will be very tempting for Holy and Prot (and Ret in PvP, though less so). The Retribution tree has been slimmed down, with talents such as Fanaticism and RV becoming more efficient damage/point but providing less overall DPS. Oh, and the effects of 'Improved X Aura' talents will now be applied to all auras, a nice 'quality of life' change IMO.

For the PvPers out there Divine Purpose has been moved down to Tier 6 Ret from Tier 5, meaning that you now need to spend 27 points into Ret for Hand of Freedoms talented stun break. Given how weak Deep Holy is for PvP I don't see this sort of change as much of a trade-off for DPurposes value, Bacon and JotP are just that bad.

More analysis later.

Official Patch Notes:

* Auras will now persist through death.
* Blessing of Kings is now trainable at level 20. Removed from talent trees.


Talents
Protection

* New Talent Divinity:Tier 1 protection talent, increases healing done by and to you by 1/2/3/4/5%. [Not Yet Implemented]
* Sacred Duty (Protection) rank 1 now increases Stamina by 4%.


Retribution

* Benediction (Retribution) now affects Hand of Reckoning.
* Fanaticism reduced to 3 ranks for 6/12/18% bonus and 10/20/30% threat reduction.
* Repentance no longer resets the Paladin's melee swing timer.
* Righteous Vengeance reduced to 3 ranks for 10/20/30%.

Undocumented Changes (Datamined by MMO-Champion)

Paladin

* All Paladin auras have had their tooltip changed to note that they work on the entire raid, not just the party.


Holy
Skills

* Exorcism can now be used on all targets, but is now a guaranteed critical strike vs Undead and Demon type mobs.
* Judgement of Light now procs off spells as well. (Previously only "attacks" would trigger this)

Talents

* Purifying Power (Tier 6) now reduces the cooldown of your Exorcism and Holy Wrath spells by 17/33%. (Previously increased the critical strike chance of those spells by 10/20%)
* Pure of Heart (Tier 5) now reduces Curse, Poison, and Disease effects by 15/30%. (Previously was 25/50% but did not include poisons)
* Blessed Hands has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 4 and now reduces the mana cost of Hand of Freedom, Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Salvation by 15/30% and cooldowns by 10/20%.
* Improved Concentration Aura's (Tier 4) reduced silence/interrupt effect now works while any aura is active.


Protection
Skills

* Shield of Righteousness now deals 130% of block value + 520 at the highest rank. It no longer causes a high amount of threat. (Previously increased damage by a set amount)
* Blessing of Kings is now a baseline ability. Trainable at level 20.

Talents

* Shield of the Templar (Tier 10) no longer increases the damage of your Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells. Instead it gives your Avenger's Shield a 33/66/100% chance to silence targets hit by it for 3 sec.
* Judgements of the Just (Tier 10) now reduces the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice by 10 sec, increases the duration of your Seal of Justice effect by 0.5 sec, in addition to its previous effect.
* Avenger's Shield's (Tier 9) damage has been increased across all ranks.
* Guarded by the Light (Tier 9) now reduces spell damage taken by 3% and gives a 50% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. (Previously reduced the mana cost of your Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells by 15%.)
* Holy Shield's (Tier 7) damage slightly increased across all ranks.
* Ardent Defender (Tier 7) is now a 3 point talent, reducing damage taken by 10/20/30%. (Previously was a 5 point talent)
* Sacred Duty (Tier 6) increases stamina by 4% now. (Previously was 3%)
* One-Handed Weapon Specialization is now a 3 point talent, increasing damage done with 1 handers by 4/7/10%. (Previously was a 5 point talent)
* Blessing of Sanctuary (Tier 5) now only grants 2% of maximum displayed mana when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack. (Previously granted 10 rage or 20 runic power or 2% max mana)
* Divine Guardian (Tier 4) now has been changed to redirect damage "(up to a maximum of 150/300% of the Paladin's health)." (Previously had no limit)
* Improved Devotion Aura (Tier 4) now increases the amount healed on any target affected by any of your Auras by 2%. (Previously only worked with Devotion Aura active)
* Improved Hammer of Justice (Tier 4) is now a 2 point talent, reducing the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 10/20 sec. (Previously had a 3rd rank that reduced cooldown by 30 secs)


Retribution
Talents

* Righteous Vengeance (Tier 10) is now a 3 point talent. When your Judgement and Divine Storm spells deal a critical strike, your target will take 10/20/30% additional damage over 8 sec. (Previously a 5 point talent)
* Fanaticism (Tier 8 ) is now a 3 point talent and now increases the critical strike chance of all Judgements capable of a critical hit by 6/12/18% and reduces threat caused by all actions by 10/20/30% except when under the effects of Righteous Fury. (Previously a 5 point talent)
* Improved Retribution Aura has been removed from the game.
* Improved Retribution Aura's effect has been merged into Sanctified Retribution (Tier 5).
* Divine Purpose has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 6.

Glyphs:

* Glyph of Exorcism -- Increases damage done by Exorcism by 20%. (Old: Your Exorcism also interrupts spellcasting for 2 sec.)
* Glyph of Divinity -- Your Lay on Hands grants twice as much mana as normal and also grants you as much mana as it grants your target. (Old: Your Lay on Hands also grants you as much mana as it grants your target.)
* Glyph of Lay on Hands -- Reduces the cooldown of your Lay on Hands spell by 5 min.(Old: Your Lay on Hands also grants you as much mana as it grants your target.)
* Glyph of Beacon of Light *new* -- Increases the duration of Beacon of Light by 30 sec.
* Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous *new* -- Your Hammer of the Righteous hits 1 additional target.
* Glyph of Divine Storm *new* -- Your Divine Storm now heals for an additional 15% of the damage it causes.
* Glyph of Shield of Righteousness *new* -- Reduces the mana cost of Shield of Righteousness by 1 to 6%.
* Glyph of Divine Plea *new* -- While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
* Glyph of Holy Shock *new* -- Reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 sec.
* Glyph of Hand of Salvation *new* -- When you cast Hand of Salvation on yourself, it also reduces damage taken by 20%.