10-02-2007, 07:44 AM
Quote:I believe they did something about not being able to block while casting, since Judgement is a spell and it would cause Paladin tanks to be vulnerable to crushing blows while judging. I don't know what they specifically did; they may have just made your block chance count towards uncrushable without actually allowing you to block.
What they changed was that your normal standing position (with your shield on your back) and instant casts, where your shield goes on your back for a split second, no longer count as "casting". As you mention, a number of instant-cast spells like Judgment and Consecration, as well as the activation animation of some trinkets, were causing shields to appear on the player's back for a second, opening up small windows of crush vulnerability. That's what was fixed.
Actual spells with a cast or channel time still prevent parries and blocks, although due to latency, if you get attacked while starting a cast, the parry and block animation may sometimes still play during the cast. That doesn't mean that you actually parried or blocked while casting, only that the server saw the attack on you before your cast command reached it. Your client has already gone into the casting animation by the time the server sends back the message that you've parried or blocked, and the animations play slightly out of order. In any case, paladin healers should really forget Deflection in terms of talent spec: sure, it works when you're not casting, but unless you intend to just stand there and get beat to death, after the first attack on you, you are almost certainly casting something, and 1 talent point for a 1% chance to parry only the first attack made on you from the front doesn't strike me as a particularly wise investment.