Quote:No, it isn't an awesome point.
Why on Earth would I use a talent build which, quite frankly, contributes almost nothing except for class skills and spells? Retribution paladins have two things: They refresh all judgements and they have a +crit aura. That's it. And if you're the only paladin in the raid, the first thing is useless.
I want to be useful and desired when I join a raid--and I want to be that based on the choices I've made, not just my base skills which anyone of the same class will have. If that's the only reason why a Retribution paladin is taken along, he might as well spec Holy and actually contribute something useful aside from buffs and cleanse.
(Emphasis Mine)
Actually, it is still an awesome point, it just isn't about why you should use any particular talent build. Theorycraft comparisons of talent trees depend on many assumptions: Primary among those assumptions is that every player is equally and perfectly willing to respec to another talent tree. But the real life is far from ideal and the availability of such 'ideal' raiders is limited.
If we take two non-ideal players:
1. A Retribution Paladin who dedicates himself to proving, night after night, that he can deal competitive DPS
2. A rogue who idly observes, each time the damage meter is posted, how everyone is double his damage.
Who do you take for a DPS role? The Paladin who never gets there or the Rogue who doesn't care?
We can play at Theorycraft all night, but the reality is that finding good people can quickly become the number one challenge of a raid leader. Especially in the increasingly tightly scripted events of TBC. It's true that a Retribution Paladin is not the best DPS that you can squeeze from a raid slot. But that player brings more than DPS (as enumerated elsewhere in this thread) and if they're dedicated they'll carry you further than any one of the many lollygaggers you might otherwise select.
Edit: I would direct those concerned with the etymology of 'lollygaggers' to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094812/quotes