The new 16-point gold medal, through three Paladin talents

The first talent point you spend in Forever still goes into the top rows of a tree. The new milestone arrives with the 16th. That is not what one beta player asked for on 13 October, in a suggestion to add a one-point, specialization-defining talent at the top of each tree, so that the first point you spend changes how the character plays, and to lock out the other two once you choose. Replies compared it to the specialization choice Cataclysm introduced, and argued over whether it would break the cross-tree builds Forever allows. It was a proposal, and nothing like it has been announced.

Two days later, Blizzard’s Paladin deep dive set out the structure Forever does have. Talents become available at level 10. The familiar one-point gold medal talents sit at 11, 21 and 31 points, and they are now joined by a new gold medal at 16 points.

What a Paladin finds at 16 points

• Holy: Divine Favor. It becomes the 16-point gold medal instead of the 21-point one, so Holy Paladins reach it sooner.
• Protection: Swift Judgement. A new ability with no mana cost and a one-minute cooldown. It instantly finishes the remaining cooldown on Judgement and makes your next Judgement free. Blizzard presents it as a way to react to a resisted taunt, or to taunt several enemies in quick succession.
• Retribution: Sacred Arbiter. Holy Strike deals 20% more damage and refreshes every Judgement effect on the target, including Judgements from other Paladins.

Three trees, three very different jobs: a healing cooldown moved earlier, a tank’s recovery button and a raid-support tool for a damage dealer. The deep dive describes the 16-point medal as part of the shared talent structure; what fills it differs from class to class.

When it arrives

The 16th point comes in the mid-20s on the normal schedule. That can move: the Legacy system includes a perk, Talented, that unlocks talent points up to five levels earlier than usual.

Not quite what was asked for

The 16-point medal leaves the first point where it was. What it does is put a talent with a visible effect between the 11- and 21-point medals, a stretch of each tree that previously offered only incremental ranks.