Ret Palas in Classic.

[alucard001]

You can use Exorcism and Holy wrath in Strath/Sholo so i dont think the dmg gets too low.

[alucard001]

Do seals dmg scale with ap?

[kovenant]

Actually not sure , i thought it was linked to holy .
But it has been too long to be sure

[Enrage]

You can use Exorcism and Holy wrath in Strath/Sholo so i dont think the dmg gets too low.

Holy Wrath has to be cast, unless you have a priest it's painful to use it. And it easy to get the aggro of another group of mobs. I like this spell, but it has to be used carefully.

The real question in BWL is: Is it worthy to have a Ret in the raid?

[Raidboss]

Hey,
as everyone else already said for PvE it's pretty much Holy or you will have a hard time finding a group.
If you are mainly looking to gear yourself for PvP I could see you getting away with grinding dungeons as Ret but be aware that its gone be a strugle.
Also: With the gear that will be available during the early days you are going to have a really hard time as ret.
If you consider ranking/ playing in a premade its pretty much Holy again.

[Imbaslap]

I would only consider 1 ret pally in a raid just to maintain seal of wisdom up as much as possible. come naxx or AQ I may reconsider for optimal raid comp unless proven otherwise.

[Armilus]

Ret paladin will never top meters but a good player with above average gear (compared to the rest of the raid) will never be at the bottom of the meter. Since just about every guild on a private server has high turn-over it should be possible for a dedicated player to be useful. I would recommend playing a different class though, arms warrior isn't that different in terms of play style but you will do a lot more damage.

[Particles]

I would only consider 1 ret pally in a raid just to maintain seal of wisdom up as much as possible

The issue is that ret's dps is always bad, but without judgement of the crusaser, it's even worse. Also, it takes very little effort on the part of one of your 4-5 holy paladins to keep wisdom up, thanks to lasting judgement.

Nightfall can brought with more uptime and dps by a warrior spamming hamstring; that warrior can even OT on fights where it's needed for added flexibility.

There really is no reason to bring a ret pally into a 40 man: if you want to ret PvE, it'll be an uphill battle.

[Moxey]

Please stop this before your heart gets broken.
You spam blessing and flash of light.

[kovenant]

Please stop this before your heart gets broken.
You spam blessing and flash of light.

and i'd say go and do it!
and see it for yourself
you will be in the bottom part of the damage meter at boss fights, not all but alot of them.
does that mean it sucks, no not really it just means the others below you suck
palas are better in
dealing damage to larger groups
burst damage
last man standing (survivability)
having the good pala can be the difference between a kill or a certain wipe, but overall they lack the dps output to be best choice for dpsers.

and still pala's are the best!