Paladin Questions: Talents

Ok, here's my Paladin on Allakhazam.

The plan was that he would be duoing with Peecaboo(rogue) the vast majority of the time, with some guild grouping and some soloing. But mostly duo with a rogue. So I knew I'd need some improved healing, I knew I'd need to heal while getting beat on, and I knew the extra armor would be appreciated.

I never use Flash of Light, so I wish I'd spent those 2 talents elsewhere, and I rarely use Blessing of Protection, but after the Gnomergan run last night, I need to put it on a different hotkey and use it much more often. And with a 3 minute timer instead of 5, that should be easier.

My quest is, I think I want to go for either Improved Seal of Fury(taunt) or Improved Seal of the Crusader. Which is "better" though? Does Seal of Fury taunt on all nearby mobs or just the one you're hitting?
For Imp. Seal of Fury, I'd probably just put 3 points in Toughness, then 5 in Imp. SoF.
For Imp. Seal of the Crusader, I'd probably do 5 in Benediction, then 5 in Imp. SotC.

If I spend 1g to get rid of Improved Flash of Light(I'm sure I'll use it some day, but it just doesn't heal enough now with the groups I get, and isn't "worthwhile"), I'd have 2 points to play with, but wouldn't change anything else. So I'm 6 - 8 levels away from maxxing an Imp. Seal, and don't know which to aim for. Mostly, I'm a pseudo-tanking Healadin, not a Retribution/Damage focused Killadin.

Any suggestions on which Imp. Seal to aim for? Pretend nothing after the Seals matters, as both trees are similarly uncompelling, and I'll likely end up back in the Healing tree later on anyway.

I still haven''t done much with talents besides some low-level choices. One of the main reasons is that I haven''t decided whether I will ultimately be 1H or 2H. So far I''ve favored 2H but the talk is that 1H is ""better"" at high levels. I''ve yet to see it at 41--killings things just takes too long with 1H. Maybe I''m just using the wrong seals.

I took Imp fury on Fiddler so just so you know my bias. In your case, I would still do the same. I say that b/c you''re duoing quite a bit w/ Peeca. She wears leather and you wear mail and ultimately plate which means better damage absorption so you want the mob on you while she''s backstabbing. Your damage output is never going to compare to hers as a paladin and you will need to hold aggro. Toughness is also a wonderful talent.

You know, I''m not sure if it can taunt multiple mobs at a time or not, but I usually don''t have it on me for too long because I like to do judgement w/ that on the mob followed up by a seal of crusader or a seal of righteousness.

Yeah, I was gonna say keep flash of light because I use the quick cast heal a lot as a priest to keep other casters alive. But I just noticed the pally version heals for a third of the priest version so yeah, it''s relatively worthless (I never used it on Fiddler). You''re probably gonna wanna cast regular heals on Peeca anyways.

Indeed. I''m a COMPLETELY opposite build from you (2-handed maces and retribution) but if you''re going to duo with a rogue, you should a) get seal of fury up and b) learn to love Blessing of Salvation. Seal of Fury only works on the mob you''re attacking, but with 1-handed maces, you can take a couple quick swings at one guy (especially with Seal of the Crusader) then move onto the next.

I don''t use Flash of Light much at all, but again, I''m really not a healing build - more of a ""gah, I need to heal? Fine!"" one. I still train it up when I get the chance to, because maybe later that extra second will be important.

I''m a COMPLETELY opposite build from you (2-handed maces and retribution)

Whoops, I usually use Verigan''s, but was in Gnomergan with 2 Rogues, a Priest, and a Mage last night, and right before the Dark Iron guys, ended up switching to 1H+Shield.
Desperately need a new 1H.

But the point is, I use both, sometimes both in the same pull, depending on size of pull(s), types of mobs, levels of mobs, group makeup, etc. During normal adventuring with Peecaboo, I''m using Verigan''s, though. Mostly.

Only level 20, so not sure if my opinion counts, personally, I have been doing the specilizing in 2h weapons/improve my damage output.

I thought about the specialization talents, but they just seem weak to me.
Say you increase damage by 5%. 5% sounds cool, but what is that in real numbers? At 28, with Verigan''s Fist, I''m averaging ~100-120 per hit on even level beasts. So that 5% will get me 5-7 extra damage per normal hit on even levelled mobs. Which, when soloing, is about 25-35 extra damage per fight. Seems a bit pricey for 5 talent points to me, whereas reducing my LoH timer from 60 minutes to 40 minutes is only 2 talents. Adding 70% to my chance to not be interrupted by damage while casting a heal spell is 5 talents. Adding 25% to my Devotion aura is 5 talents. 5% to damage with only half the weapons I use just feels expensive at 5 talents.

I could be wrong, and I''d sure like more parries, but I just don''t see all that much in any tree that really excites me. Maybe I''m subconsciously preparing for the inevitable nerf, who knows.

That said, I love my paladin, and I like having to think about what to spec in, but I''d like to be a bit more torn because I _really_ want all of the trees, not because I don''t see any clear path.