Talent trees are back.

There is a general Paladin Tree and a Spec Specific Tree. Many of these talents are abilities we have had as baseline abilities.

Paladin Tree

Lay on Hands is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. This ability has been baseline for many years and it is unlikely we will spend the 3 points required to acquire it.

Blessing of Freedom is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. At the very least it only takes 1 point to acquire.

Concentration & Devotion Auras are now a talent in the Paladin Tree. This now takes 2 talent points to acquire.

Divine Steed is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. It is also essentially mandatory as it paths into Avenging Wrath.

Judgment is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 29.

Judgment is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 16. Judgment does not generate any baseline Holy Power and this will cause it to generate only 1 Holy Power.

Avenging Wrath is now a talent in the Paladin Tree.

Blessing of Protection is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. It is also essentially mandatory as it paths into reducing the cooldown of Avenging Wrath.

Cleanse Toxins is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 12. Depending on your pathing it will take at least 3 points to acquire.

Avenging Wrath is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 43. Please note the default cooldown of Avenging Wrath is 3 Minutes. This reduces it to the 2 Minutes that we are all used to.

Blessing of Sacrifice is now a talent in the Paladin Tree.

Turn Evil is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. I am glad I do not have to see it in my spell book anymore personally.

Rebuke is now a talent in the Paladin Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 12. It will only take 1 point to acquire it.

Retribution Tree

Blade of Justice is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 19. It is the very first point we need to spend to activate Retribution.

Divine Storm is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 23. It is available right after Blade of Justice.

Improved Crusader Strike is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 33.

Art of War is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 24 and 43 as 2 separate entries. Now packaged into 1 talent and available right after Blade of Justice.

Holy Blade is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 34 and was just called Blade of Justice Rank 2. Unlocks right after Art of War

Shield of Vengeance is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 26. It is a mandatory pick as it will let you unlock Wake of Ashes.

Wake of Ashes is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 39.

Hand of Hindrance is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this unlocked in our baseline kit at Level 18. In most cases would only take 1 talent point depending on how you path.

Avenging Wrath: Might is now a talent in the Retribution Tree. Previously this part of the baseline Avenging Wrath since 8.0.1. It is absolutely ridiculous to split a baseline ability into 2 separate components. Before 8.0.1 Avenging Wrath used to be a flat 35% damage increase. It was changed to 20% damage and 20% Critical Strike to make it less bland. Now they have succeeded it making it even more bland by removing the Critical Strike chance and leaving the baseline damage at 20%.

Things hidden and/or Missing?

I want to just state again I do not have Alpha access so I can not test everything for myself. I did notice a few odd things and had some help from Bolas from Wowhead to look into a few missing leveling talents.

Crusader Strike does appear to still be in the game as the mana cost is the same as live at Level 60.

Judgment has been removed which previously increased our Judgment damage by 50%. I am not sure if this is intentional. This will effect Divine Toll if it is an intentional change.

Blessing of Sacrifice appears to be missing.

There might be more as well but I will save that effort for later in this release cycle or once I get Alpha/Beta access.

In the Development notes they really put a point on our utility being front and center in the Paladin Tree. When looking at what utility we had previously we will actually be missing utility as of course we will be attempting to use as many points as possible to increase our damage. I may do a more in-depth look later but so far I am not impressed with the overall system in its current state.