With the updates released for World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and its updates, the dynamics of player vs player combat have changed once again. With the new rules, its becoming increasingly popular to create highly specialized protection Paladins. If you want to avoid being another speed bump on the battlefield of your PVP server should you too invest the talent points required for deep specialization in the protection tree? Well, that depends on your playing style, but some of the new builds circulating seem to make this a choice worth making.

Obviously these builds are designed to rely heavily on the Protection tree of Paladin specialization. While the preferred PVP set up for paladins in the past relied on Holy and Retribution, this is an all new set up that when used correctly can let the Paladin absorb massive amounts of damage while still hammering away on his enemy. If you can’t absorb the high damage hits that are so common in PVP conflicts, you’ll be regretting lost time spent lying on your toon’s dead back. The whole point in wearing plate armor is to take punishment – and the protection tree when fully developed can give a paladin a host of abilities that let you take tons of damage and still not fall.

This set up works because you wind up using abilities like Guarded by the Light and Touched by the Light to generate large amounts of mana and critical heals. It also opens up the possibility of such buffs and defensive techniques as Divine Sacrifice, Sacred Shield. Combine that with abilities like Hammer of Justice for quick mob stuns, and Avenger’s Shield leaving multiple mobs dazed at range and it’s easy to see how developing the protection specialization tree can unlock some real potential for the paladin class.

If you’re tired of being slaughtered on the fields of Azeroth by the opposing faction, you should seriously consider developing a PVP Protection Paladin. For more advice on doing this, or anything else in World of Warcraft, go see Paladin leveling guide. They’ve got comprehensive guides to help any gamer pick themselves up off the ground. For a review of some of the best WoW guides and addons available online be sure to check out the website.

Like many World of Warcraft players I wrestled with the idea of diving into another expansion – WoW WotLK. I figured I’d made it to level 70, done some damage in the Battlegrounds and Arena, been around for a lot of the well known happenings like Leroy Jenkins and “More DOTS!”, and heard more Chuck Norris and Murloc jokes than one man ever should be subjected to. Maybe it was time to hang up the Druid and do something else?

I’d told myself that once Burning Crusade came out I’d max out a character, run a bunch of end game content, and be done with it. I mean, for the love of Pete, is there ever going to be an end? Will we see expansion number 23 where the level cap is increased to 1400, everyone gets a bazooka and our pets will have families and pets of their own? Is there ever going to be an end? I’m guessing the answer to this is as long as Blizzard is making money it will keep going and going and going.

A common gripe about the World of Warcraft is the whole “spending too much time” thing. For those that don’t play most of the stuff they hear about WoW is in the media. Most of the “coverage” is about addicts who sit at the keyboard for 100 hours a week and a few horrible examples of actual violence in the real world related to something that happened in game. These examples, while they may make “good” television, are by far the exception rather than the norm. I know several people that play and among them the average hours per week played is roughly 10 hours. Do you know how many hours of TV does the average American watch a week? About 30. The average American watches over 4 hours of television a day (seriously, look it up!). Not interacting or thinking or trying to solve puzzle problems or doing anything but sitting and starting at a screen for 1/6th of every day. It’s stunning.

Back to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and the decision. I really get a kick out of playing WoW as a casual player. It’s fun. You get to blow stuff up. There is a decent amount of thought and problem solving that’s needed when playing at the higher levels, especially when you get into raid situations. There is an odd online subculture within the game that can, at times, be really amusing. It’s a hobby that I happen to share with 11 million others and overall, compared to lots of hobbies, it’s pretty cheap. Try and find a hobby that can keep you enthralled for hours and that you can do as much as you want of for less than a dollar a day. It’s not easy.

So, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I’ve recently purchased the expansion. Is it the best thing ever? I’m not sure yet. Is it the coolest expansion ever to be produced by any online game ever? Not sure. Is it worth it? Look at it from a purely financial angle. This expansion is meant to last at least a year and a half, if not longer, before the next one. So spreading the cost of that expansion out over 18 months comes to $2.22 a month. Adding in the monthly WoW membership cost of $15 a month you’re looking at a cost of less than $18 a month, or 60 cents a day.

A coke costs well over a dollar and cup of coffee over 2 dollars. A movie ticket for one is around $10, add in popcorn, a candy bar and a drink and you’re very close to $18 for just a couple of hours.

So is it worth it? I’d say, without a doubt, yes. You’ll get to check out some new content, run around with your friends, and stay out of trouble for a bit. And don’t forget all the free Chuck Norris jokes and those hilarious movie name discussions where everyone replaces a word with Murloc. (”Saving Private Murloc!”). Does it make any sense? Not really. And you just can’t put a price on amusing nonsensical entertainment. Thanks!

Make it easy on yourself and get one of the best leveling guides on the market… in my opinion .