Two Point Three - Oh Em Gee!

Well, i have to say that I wasn't especially looking forward to patch 2.3 when i heard that proposed Prot changes had been moved to a later patch. I figured the best I could wish for is that the new badge rewards would offer Ulu a nice chestpiece.

When I saw the patch notes for the forthcoming patch, I got my wish and more to boot:

Paladins

* Blessing of Light: Lower ranks of Flash of Light and Holy Light are now properly penalized when used with this Blessing.
* Cleanse and Purify range increased to 40 yards.
* Crusader Strike (Retribution) cooldown reduced from 10 to 6 seconds.
* Exorcism mana cost reduced.
* Hammer of Wrath mana cost reduced.
* Holy Wrath mana cost reduced.
* Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) benefits folded into the base spell. This talent now gives the benefits of the Sanctified Crusader talent instead.
* Judgement of Light: The combat log will now show the mana gained from rank 5 of this ability as Judgement of Light instead of Seal of Light.
* Pursuit of Justice (Retribution) is now 3 ranks and increases movement speed by 5/10/15% and also reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1/2/3%.
* Sanctified Crusader (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Seals, which now increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee attacks by 1/2/3% and reduces the chance your Seals will be dispelled by 33/66/100%.
* Vengeance (Retribution) duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds.
* Vindication (Retribution) frequency and duration increased and now reduces all attributes by 5/10/15%, not just Strength and Agility.
* Weapon Expertise (Protection) renamed Combat Expertise, now increases expertise by 1/2/3/4/5 and total Stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.

In one fell swoop, Blizz have enabled Paladins to close the HP gap between them and Warriors. Also on top of that, there's additional heroic badge items which show that Blizzard has finally understood what Paladin Tanks need:

* Stamina by the truckload
* Solid Avoidance stats
* Spell damage and Spell hit for threat generation

I'm now off to grind a crapload of Heroics with Ulu to get the necessary badges together. I wanna be able to buy the chest at least by patch day.