The Paladin is very widely used among world of warcraft gamers that enjoy leveling as a tank and PVP. After a battle you may be healing your team and then go right back into battle as the partys tank. This is not a problem for the adaptable Paladin class. Although the Paladin is quite versatile, it does not have much to offer as far as long range attacks are concerned. Fortunately this is not much of an issue since the Paladin will pretty much always be engaged in hand to hand combat.
Lets take a look at the various races available for the Paladin class:
When starting out as a Paladin in the original world of warcraft it was a Alliance only class with only two races to choose from. Your world of warcraft Paladin had to either be a dwarf or a human. This greatly narrowed down the playing abilities of the Paladin in wow which deterred some people from playing a Paladin. The humans ten percent bonus to reputation gained didn't benefit the Paladin much until you got to the higher levels. As a dwarf Paladin you had the bonuses of Stone Form and Cold Resistance, but the Gun Specialization of dwarves was of no use. Both races made for a fine Paladin in world of warcraft with little advantage to either one.
Not until the world of warcraft Burning Crusade expansion did the Paladin class expand to let the new blood elf horde race to assume the Paladin role bringing with them the Arcane Torrent skill. Also the new alliance race, (the draenei) is now able to become a Paladin bringing their Hot spell and aura of plus hit %.
The Paladin is a very potent character class but in the begining take it slow and don't be too aggressive when leveling. For the first several levels simply get a feel of your character and what you are able to do. Keep your fighting time minimal at first, fight a bit and then back away to make sure your ok. Always be on a quest, this will help you get better items and will help with leveling up.
If you think you have completed all the quests in your present area check again to be sure. Each trainer in world of warcraft has lots to teach about leveling up so learn all they have to offer. Also you will want to check out available professions that you might want to learn. You will need to learn professions so look into them early. Basic professions like mining can be a big help to a new character to get gold until you have leveled up a bit and learn more impressive gold getting methods. This may sound a little strange at this point but after you get through the first half a dozen levels or so you should put a little gold aside so that when you hit level twenty you can buy a mount to speed up your leveling in the wow.
Leveling a Paladin solo or in a party:
Being that the Paladin is an excellent melee fighter with both offensive and defensive auras and has self healing abilities, it is a perfect soloing character. The Paladin is very well adapted to solo play and should take advantage of that fact. Being that the Paladin is great for soloing, you should play solo most of the time. Any party will welcome a Paladin into their ranks since the Paladin is a great tanker and also can heal.
The retribution spec is a great help to the Paladin and should be use as soon as possible to increase your melee damage. At first your choice of weapons will be whatever you can get but once you have some gold I suggest you try a 2 handed weapon such as a sword,hammer or axe since they will deliver the most damage. The Paladin spends allot of time tanking or soloing and needs to concentrate mostly on dealing massive damage. With a 2 handed hammer you generally will be able to inflict more DPS to your enemy than most 1 handed ones will. If you choose to keep a sword and shield with you thats perfectly ok, but I find that using a 2 handed weapon most of the time to be the most powerful strategy. Since the Paladin specializes in melee combat, getting good strength and stamina assisting armor such as mail should also be one of your priorities. Other bonuses will be helpful to you also but for now try to get armor with these two.
