Which talents do you feel are most advantageous?Follow

OK, I've read the talent list here and am trying to decide which ones I should concentrate on working towards. I'm currently only level 19 and have thus far used my points towards maxing out Improved Blessing of Might (Rank 5) and Improved Seal of the Crusader (Rank 4). My style of combat has thus far been to hit as hard as possible while trying to keep everyone else in the party healed. I have thus far given little consideration to keeping hate, as I seem to be doing that fairly well. My inclination is to try to improve my defense (particularly maxing out Improved Devotion Aura and Toughness) since I have thus far been not using a shield in favor of 2-handed weapons. I am also into blacksmithing, so I make sure I have the best armor I can get for my level. Can anyone recommend to me a particularly good talent route or combination thereof? What's worked well for you so far?

Depends on your style of play. If I grouped and had a priest with me most of the time i might go retribution of increased defensive and dps capabilities.

Otherwise, the advantages to the Holy line are huge, especially when soloing. Most importantly are the abilities which give you a 70% chance to not gain any more casting time when struck, to be able to critical heal when you choose, once every 2 minutes, and to regain the full mana cost of every critical heal.

So basically you get a mana-free critical heal once every 2 minutes. This is huge if you like to solo, especially if you like to solo in difficult areas. Also not gaining casting time when struck is pretty huge if you are a soloer. Plus the end bonus ability is nice, a 200 nuke that gets upgraded as you level, this is awesome for taunt. A stun and a nuke at the beginning of a fight allows the dps classes to just wail on mobs while you hold aggro easily.

The only thing i really miss by going holy line is +5% to crit, and the +5% damage on 1 or 2 handers, your choice, and Blessing of Kings is kinda nice in a multipally group.